Okay, let me preface this by saying that I am not from Chicago, I don't blame that Bartman guy, and I am the biggest idiot in baseball (i.e. a Tigers fan).

Because of WGN (God bless 'em), I have seen many Cubs games over the course of my 25 years. Naturally, I have always had a soft spot for them, especially since they aren't in direct competition with my favorite team. Lots of guys have favorite NL/AL teams. My NL boys have always been the Cubs. The last three games have been such a nightmare that I can't believe it. I don't really have anything of substance to say right now. I just can't believe that it happened. I can't believe that of the two teams I wanted to make the Series (Cubs and Sox), it was the Cubs who blew it first. Really, this is the perfect board to talk about this, because I'm an educated guy and know that curses don't really exist. But in comics, they happen all the time. The Cubs are a helluva comic book team.

And has anyone considered that Dusty might not be as great a manager as everyone (myself included) once thought? I always felt like he got the most out of some pretty average teams in SF, but it turns out I was right. What he got was THE MOST that he could have gotten. The last two nights he left in the starters as though it were the regular season and you're worried about screwing your bully up for a week. This is the time of year to bring in starters if necessary (see Jack McKeon's decision tonight), and to screw up the rotation if that's what it takes. Wins are what matters this time of year. Keeping a starter who is gassed in so that he's in line to get a win is ludicrous.

I'm running out of things to write. I just had to vent, so I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense.

Pal, I am from Chicago, and I got 14 more years of hurt on you. I remeber 1969. My 85 year uncle has 60 more years.He remembers the pennants of the the 20's & 30's plus 1945.

Suck it up. This is what being a Cub fan is all about. You apreciate the broomstick as it goes up your heinnie, you don't cry about it.

I hope people cut it out with this Bartman guy. It's ridiculous. 99.9% of us would have gone for that ball. Are sports really that important that this guy's life should be ruined?

As for the Cubs, I'm disappointed, too. It's a great story and the atmosphere at Wrigley is awesome. Even with Florida drawing it's still not a baseball city. That said, the Marlins are the most exciting team of the four and I really dig watching them play.

I think it's actually fairly well known that Dusty Baker is a great leader but not strong with the strategy side of managing. Ultimately you want the leader so Dusty is a top guy.

The Cubs should always contend in a small market division as long as Wood and Prior stay healthy but they were so close this year

Hey, I'm not crying. I'm drunk. There's a world of difference. And I never said that I had the market on pain cornered, despite my status as a fan of the worst team in baseball. And I can keep from being shattered, but I still don't like it. I really thought that 1945 was about to become irrelevant. Moreover, I've seen a lot of talk online about how Prior and Wood need to leave Chicago, and I can't get my head around the notion that people really believe that this team can't win. There is no curse; there's just years of bad teams. Furthermore, you don't get this close on luck. I just don't want to wait another year. God knows the Tigers aren't going to be worth a damn anytime soon.

Plus, how sweet would a Wrigley/Fenway World Series have been? My guess is a helluva lot sweeter than Yankee/Pro Player Stadium.

Cubs fans know intellectually that they are born to pain, but the inevitable shafting must have been particularly painfull this year.

That poor Bartman guy is going to need the Witness Protection Program.

In America to a huge section of people, yes they are. Of course anyone with a wit of sense knows that they are only games, that have no meaning at all. But you know how it goes, people are stupid, so yes this poor saps life will most likely be ruined. I feel sorry for him.

Two words: Bill Buckner.

Buckner? How about a muffed grounder by Leon Durham in 84, two years before Buckner? And how about the final fate of Donnie Moore after he lost the ALCS or whatever it was called then by giving up a home run? That would be the ultimate tragedy.

Its over, I've healed and maybe next year when players the like of Jim Thome, Ivan Rodriguez and Robin Ventura become available, the Tribune Co. will pony up the dough instead of putting meat in needed positions. And lets not even get started on the litany of players let go/re-habbed & let go, like Bill Mueller, Rod Beck,etc. etc. that could have helped.

I never heard Moore's story before now (That's why I love my Google toolbar). Tragic...

I just found an interesting site, www.thedeadballera.com, that chronicles the deaths of ballplayers. They have a neat piece on the Mays/Chapman incident.