Finally, The World Series

Well it’s finally happened, something big, something really big.  A certain sports team from a nearby major city has accomplished the unthinkable for the first time in over a100 years. Yes, you know what I am talking about; the Chicago Cubs have won the National League Pennant, and will compete in the World Series against the Cleveland Indians. I can hardly believe I am actually saying that. The Cubs are in the World Series. It has a wonderful ring to it after so many years of heart break and pain. I have to say that I have enjoyed being a Cub fan all my life. The ups and downs of each season have kept me riveted to the radio for years. There have been many incredible victories, but many disappointing endings to those wonderful summers as well.

I have been hoping for this my entire life, starting in 1969 when I was just seven or eight years old and fell in love the Cubbies. They were great that year. I can still remember getting home after school in time to watch Willie Smith hit a game winning homerun on opening day. I believe it was the bottom of the eleventh against the Phillies when Smith blasted a pinch-hit two run homer into the bleachers in right field. That game triggered a season where the Cubs were in first place all the way until the end of August before they hit a cold streak and lost to the Mets. It was heartbreaking.

When I was a kid, each spring we would hurry off the school bus and fly into the house. We would turn on the television to channel 9 in hopes of watching the final couple innings of that day’s afternoon game. It was just so exciting to see the crowds at Wrigley Field cheering on the beloved boys in blue. When summer came my parents usually let us watch a couple innings after lunch each day before we had to hurry back to the hay field. I remember at the supper table asking my Dad or brothers who won the game, hoping they had heard on the radio.

Last Saturday night about the seventh inning, one of my brothers sent me a text that read; do you believe in miracles? My answer was, yes, I do believe in miracles, and I also believe that if you put together a team loaded with great players, and add a premiere manager, it is likely that your team will do amazing things. And, that is just what the Cubs have done so far this year during the regular season and the playoffs. The great thing is that they have now beaten the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers, and for the first time since 1945 they are playing in the World Series.

The Cubs have come pretty close a few times in my lifetime, but even though they made the playoffs, they haven’t been able to make it to the World Series until now. 2016 could be the year that they win it all. We’ll have to wait and see. For some reason it feels like the pressure is off now that they have made it to the big dance. All they have to do is go out there and compete with the tenacity that they have shown all year, and they will have a great chance to win it all! I have a good feeling about this team, because they have a mix of young players and veterans to teach the young guys how to play for the big prize.

There’s a scripture in I Corinthians 9:24 that reads; Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Go Cubs Go!