True Blue Cubs Fan

After the Cubs clinching of a playoff berth Friday night, I was excited. For I am a huge Cubs fan. Yet somehow me and my friend were deemed "anti-Cub" later in the evening at a local diner. Apparently we are not real Cubs fans because we refuse to believe this Cubs team is the best team in baseball, let alone ever. I guess something like actual record (Cubs have worst record of all playoff teams) should not get in the way of beliefs.

To be honest, we probably should have kept our mouths shut. It was a night of celebration and we were just as excited as everyone else. It was also very clear these idiots knew very little about baseball and very just blacking out on Cubs Kool-Aid. But that's just not my nature. For better or worse I'm very opinionated and I feel the need to interject when people say stupid things.

Without going into all details, I'll just repeat one "argument". According to Idiot #2, it's because of people like me that the Cubs have not won in a World Series in over 100 years. My "negative" attitude affects the team and contributes to their failure. I guess if we all just had happy thoughts everything would turn out perfect. This is not unlike criticism I get for wanting the troops to come home. My thoughts that we are not "winning" is apparently affecting our troops. If only we projected positive thoughts everything would change. So in this spirit I will start playing the lottery and be 100% optimistic I will win. Based on this logic, I will win.

The flaw thinking in the examples above is the difference between wanting and believing. You will be hard pressed to find a bigger Cubs fan than myself. Yet that doesn't mean I blindly follow the Cubs and automatically agree with everything they do or ignore my eyes and declare them the favorites. Do I want them to win it all? Of course. Do I think they will? Most likely not. Do I think they are a lock to win it all? No. There is a huge difference between the 3 questions above yet there are people who can't differentiate.

Sometimes I think life would be much easier if I could just except a world in black and white. The Cubs are always the best. The US only does good things. The US is the best in everything. But the world does not work that way. There are nuances. And I'm not sure if life is really any easier if you stay firm to your beliefs as universally true. In fact, it's gotta be hella frustrating. For if the Cubs do not win, it's not because they were not the best team. Hence, there is no need to make any changes. If we just keep things the same everything will work out. This creates such a passive situation were you have no control over the situation. That has to be frustrating. We're not "winning" in Iraq not because of anything we are doing but because of other people. Therefore, we do not need to make changes - eventually everything will work out. Given this worldview, why should I wake up in the morning? Everything is already decided and if it doesn't happen that way it's not like there are any changes we could make to correct it.

So as the Cubs begin the playoffs Wednesday I will be watching and cheering them on enthusiastically. I hope beyond hope they can put together a great playoff run and bring a championship to Chicago. And I will try to enjoy this run for what it is instead of dwelling on the negatives - shut off my reality filter just a little bit. GO CUBS GO!

Tags:

*sports*baseball *MLB*Chicago *Cubs*belief *reality *Tom G*opinion *playoffs *World Series *Iraq *politics*liberal*conservative*Democrat *Republican