Day 2 - Another day game...

So, I wake up at 11am. I work nights and usually don't go to sleep until about 430am and last night was no different. I had plenty of time to reflect on my decision and I was actually glad that I made it. I watched the Dodger highlights on Sportscenter and found that they were 2-0. Good for them and by "them" I mean the fans, players and coaches. Well, good for everyone EXCEPT the McCourts. I truly wish the Dodgers the best. I will be back around next season maybe, or maybe that's me hoping that they sell the team by then. Sell it to Magic Johnson. Why not? If he's looking for a stake in an NFL team, why not an MLB team? Shit, Mark Cuban has the money. We know he would shell out the cash to try and buy a championship. anyway, as you can see, as soon as the Dodgers are brought up I stray towards bitterness. Let's keep this about my Cubbies.

I made it official yesterday by changing my profile pic on my Facebook page. I mean, nothing is more official than Facebook. A relationship isn't set in stone until that relationship status ditches its "single" moniker and takes on a new life with the "In a relationship" tag. Then when you add the "In a relationship with ____" it gets realy serious. So, the same would go with my fanship. I took a little hell from my friends. I got accused of it being an April Fool's joke, but this is no joke. I'm all about the Cubbies this week.

My old Dodger fan habits struck again by me missing the first two innings, again. Day games, they are hard to keep up with. To me a day game means that I'm gonna be hungover by 7:30pm and wide awake because of the two hour nap I just took. Anyway, I turn it on, thanks to a head's up from Cubs fan #1 that the MLB package was free this week. It's the top of the third, Cubs trail PIT 2-0. I watch as Zambrano the Headcase gets the Cubs' first hit, only to get stranded on 2nd. He has trouble finding the strike zone but it is the Headcase. No big deal. I can feel the energy. At any given moment, our big bats are gonna come alive and we're gonna blow this thing wide open. Pena is gonna show that he was worth the money. Our $126 million dollar payroll is gonna pull through. By the eighth inning, I'm still waiting. It's 3-0 PIT and I remember the words Cubs fan #1 told me yesterday. Words to live by. "We're down 2-0 in the sixth. We aren't winning this one." The only difference is its 3-0 in the eighth. So, I learn that if the Cubs are down by 2 or more runs in the last third of the game, they aren't going to win. At least you can leave the stadium early which is something I can relate to. It doesn't matter in L.A. Up 2, down 2, no-no going. You're bailing in the seventh inning to beat traffic or to avoid a beating some baldy that couldn't handle his Bud Light is gonna throw at you.

Anyhow, game #2 is deja vu. No hope for a comeback. No rally caps. No late inning heroics. Just another loss and a no win, two loss record. 160 to go. On pace for a 162 game losing streak. 104th year is underway and it's looking grim. It's all too familiar. There's always next year week.

I check the score again and it's 3-2 PIT in the bottom half of the eighth. I knew it all along. I knew these guys would pull through. It's a tie game. Soriano gets his first hit of the season to tie this bitch up. Two on, two out, some guy I have never cheered for, or heard of,  in my life is up and I'm going ape shit. Tyler Colvin don't fuck this up. It might be another 23 innings before we have another runner in scoring position. YES! Colvin walks and ex-Dodger Blake DeWitt doubles in two. Blake joined the Cubs last year when the genius Coletti traded this young talented guy for 87 year old Ted Lilly. ANYWAY!!! 5 runs in, two on, two out. That's nine batters. We just batted around the order. Fuck U Do Me strikes out. We're headed to the ninth three outs away from our first win. There is hope that this could be our year. Marmol has Cubs fan #1 a bit nervous. Nervous? this boy is fire. 3 K's later, he locks in our first win. Good shit boys. Cubs fan #1 texts me "The beginning of a 161 game winning streak." I feel the same way...

Day 1: LET'S GO CUBBIES!

Day 1, 12:30 pm: I get to my friend's house, a Phillies fan, and their game is starting. I let him know about my plan for the summer. He enjoys a good laugh out of it. Seventeen minutes pass and I put my fist up and say it..."Let's go Cubbies". It is quite refreshing actually. The first time i didn't hate that it was baseball season. then eighteen minutes after 12:30 pm, I realize I'm a Cubs fan. Seven long miserable days where next year is always our year.

A friend and his friends are meeting at Chicago Pizza at the beaches for a 2:20 start. My Cubbies are hosting the Pirates. I'm pumped. Fresh fade, digi socks and Lebron Christmas' on my feet. It's go time. I get there at 2:40, 20 minutes late, a habit formed from my Dodger fan days. Who gets there on time? Cubs fans do apparently. I tell everyone what is happening with my fan-ship. They are glad to welcome me on board the Cubbies' train. And no longer then 5 seconds on board, after we leave the station, they hit me with it. They told me it was going to be hell. Seven days of expecting nothing because Cubs fan gave up expecting greatness 80 years ago. Expect nothing, and you will still get disappointed according to a Cubbies fan. So, I order an Italian Beef sandwich. A fave amongst Chicagoans. I settle in. It's the third inning Cubs are up 1-0. Shortly after they're up 2-0. This could be the start of something new, something good. Then the 5th inning comes. Top half. Pittsburgh has one guy on and ex-cub Ronny Cedeno is up at the plate. The talk around the table is how he's a bum and he's an easy out. He walks. One out and one walk later, the bases are drunk and immediately, the mood around the table gets somber. They're worried. Im' not. Dempster has this. 2-2 count, relax guys. Thirty seconds and a "slider that didn't slide" later, the score is 4-2. And you can tell, these guys are preparing for another long season. Then it dawns on me, I'm in for a long week. My friend tells me, "We're down 2 in the 6th. We are not coming back." and there it is, they don't come back. They lose the game 6-3. Zero wins, one loss, 161 to go and there is always next year. I am getting the hang of this Cubs fan thing. Can't get used to it though...
Edit: Interesting take on cubs loss. Cubs fan #3: Well, I'll take the Astros loss. Me: *PUZZLED LOOK ON MY FACE* Cubs fan #3: I'll take a division loss any day. Cubs fan #1: Bullshit, the Astros closer is my fantasy closer and he just blew the save.

"Final Day"

So, yesterday I woke up and knew that it was Opening Day of the 2011 MLB season. Usually an exciting day, today seemed a bit different. I wasn't as excited as I've been in past years. There wasn't a new face to be excited about. There wasn't that feeling of knowing, or hoping in most cases, that this was our year. In fact, if it was our year, that meant it was our year to not expect anything good, let alone great. See, I'm a Dodger fan. Born a Dodger fan. Bred a Dodger fan. Planned on dying a Dodger fan. Dodger Fuckin' Blue ya know. I bleed that shit. I love that team. I LOVE that stadium. I love our fans. (Sidenote: In no way do I condone what took place last night at Chavez Ravine. I mean critically injuring a Giants fan over a baseball game is absurd. HOWEVER, I expect that. That fan should've expected it too. The police are currently looking for two adult males, shaved head, Dodger jersey, extra baggy pants, brown skin. I bet they are hot on the trail...) anyhow, back to the Dodger stroke fest. I loved everything about that team. I mean we have Vin Scully bitches! But, and a HUGE BUT, our owners are the McCourt's and they are tying up the team's money in McDivoreCourt. They have fulfilled their own needs over the team's. Millions of dollars spent on lawyers and legal fees. Alimonies totaling more than what most people will make in a lifetime. Children's salaries who do absolutely NOTHING for the team. We as fans have needs. We as a team have huge needs. We need a huge arm. We have to have a HUGE bat. We don't have any of those. Kemp and Ethier are outstanding ball players, but they won't carry us to October let alone through October. Our ace is Kershaw, who is a beast, but he is not a true ace. We have a bunch of "scrappy" guys who are capable, but not dependable. Truth is, this is NOT our year. And as long as we have Frank and his Jester McCourt, it will never be our year.

Anyhow, after waking up and having this empty feeling about baseball, I decided enough is enough. I will no longer line the pockets of these two assholes. I will not help them out if they will not help us out. Everyone knows the business of baseball is to win, and in turn, you get fans to show up, unless you are in Miami, in which you're fucked. I can no longer sit around and cheer for their divorce because when you cheer for the Dodgers, you are cheering for their divorce lawyers. when you buy a ticket and a Dodger dog and a tall can of Bud Light at the stadium, you're paying for Mrs. McCourt to get her nails did. But not a day longer for this Dodger fan. See, I am officially boycotting this team. Nothing against the players, but it is THEIR team now. It is no longer OURS.

What am I going to do? I love staying up til 130a to see if we lost won. Who am I going to cheer for? Then it hit me. I can accept applications from teams and their fans to tell me who to cheer for. I mean there are 27 teams left to choose from. ANGELS and GIANTS are absolute no-no's. I'm a passionate guy and I passionately hated those guys for so long, I'd rather give up baseball all together then to succumb to being a fan of either of those teams. Flashback 2002, I finally understood how Andy Stitzer felt in 1986 as he told me "The only thing I hoped was that their two team planes collided in mid-air. So, I posted on facebook and my friend steve suggested that I join the misery train and become a Cubs fan. so my reply was quite surprising, even to myself, and I said SURE, WHY THE FUCK NOT? So, I then came up with the idea of cheering for a different team each week from Fri to Thurs, I will have a new team and this week , Week #1, it is the Chicago Cubs. This is gonna be a tough one...Wish me luck and stay tuned... I will leave you with this song...