The Cubs Chronicle

A friend pointed out this phenomenon to me today, something he and his brother “have talked about for years.” I’ll let him explain:

There’s an army out there of normal looking guys. 25-38 yrs old. Average height, weight, build. Glasses (although in the mid-nineties many of them switched to contacts along with Maddux.) Mild mannered, responsible fathers and citizens.. Not prone to wild flights of fantasy or leopard skin pants.. Many of them lawyers.. but all of them die-hard cubbies.

I can spot one out of a crowd, no problem.

The reason for this phenomena? 1984.

1984 was a coming of age for a whole generation of these guys. A glimmer of hope, a spark of interest in a perennial underdog team that would set in stone a pattern of being patient and waiting for “next year". Thus cultivating a mental state of calm, dependable determination that would grow to effect every area of their lives. Right down to their standard issue blue t-shirts.

Why have they all developed into such polite, polished and respectful young men?

One man. Steve Stone.

Endless hours of WGN cubs commentary by this unassuming guru seeped into these young men’s subconscious minds, shaping them like soft clay.

Has Stone created a generation of monsters? No. They’re pretty much all good guys.

Surely everyone has noticed this phenomenon.