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.

Boy grows up in St. Louis a Cardinals fan. Boy becomes adult and moves to Wrigleyville. Boy, now married and with a child on the way, becomes enamored with the Cubs, with Wrigley Field, with his neighborhood, and wonders about the experience he wants for his child. This weekend: Cubs v. Cardinals. For the first time, he doesn’t know what to do. A very interesting read from Hoey at Pieces of Flare.

Chicago Rules: Are the Cubs having a good century? (Wall Street Journal editorial, 10/3/2003)

Even more than the players, however, Cubs fans stand for steadfastness in the face of adversity. American marriage rates fall; men leave the priesthood; and business executives rob their shareholders. But each summer Cubs fans turn out. Though not everyone takes the team’s losing ways with complete equanimity–a Web site called CubsAnonymous.com features a 12-step program to get people off their Cubs addiction–there’s something about Cubs fans that speaks to the eternal optimism of the game.

That ought to tell you something about why baseball is still the national pastime.

Cubs kind of town: Chicago expects worst, hopes for best (Don Walker, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 10/3/2003)

Mr. Walker contacted me for this story, asking me “what is it, in your opinion, about Cubs fans who expect the worst to happen each and every year?” I emailed him back with a response, but he didn’t use it in the article. I absent-mindedly replied to him at the email address he used to send me the question, rather than his work email as he had asked. So perhaps he didn’t get my response. More likely, there probably just wasn’t anything in there worth using.

But for posterity’s sake, here was my response to him:

I’m no psychologist, but I think the reason Cubs fans tend to expect the worst to happen each and every year is that the worst usually does happen. It’s human nature: when bad things happen a lot, you tend to expect them to happen again. In order to reverse a trend like that, good things have to happen a number of years in a row. Only then does a fan feel safe to have some swagger. But the Cubs, at least for the past 60 years, have only had isolated moments of success. ‘69, ‘84, ‘89, and ‘98. And in none of those years did things work out in the end. In ‘69, they collapsed down the stretch against the Mets. In ‘84, they blew a 2 game lead against the Padres in the NLCS. In ‘89, they went down in 5 games against the Giants. And in ‘98, they went down 3 games to none to Atlanta.

I’ll tell you, though, that I think right now there’s a chance things could change. Now, this might just be another isolated moment of success. But somehow this year feels different. The Cubs might not win the World Series (they’re certainly not the best team in the playoffs), but unlike in previous years in which they made the playoffs, there are people with the Cubs right now who act like they belong here, rather than this being just due to dumb luck. Dusty Baker, Kerry Wood, and Mark Prior inspire confidence in ways that players on previous Cubs teams did not.

Again, though, it will take more than one year of reaching the playoffs for Cubs fans to begin to really feel that confidence, such that they don’t expect the worst to happen. But I do think there’s a chance for that to happen.

(As I side note: If you go through my blog, you’ll see that I have been critical of Baker’s on-field decisions and lineup constructions many times this year. I don’t think he’s a good manager in that regard. What he’s good at, though, is the things that we as fans don’t see so much – the mental aspects of player preparation, etc. And I’ve never seen a Cubs manager with this much optimism. And that really rubs off on the players he manages.)

I hope this answers your question, and good luck with your article.

Sincerely,

Jason Steffens
http://cubs.june24.net