Someday

This post will be a letdown after all of the buildup.

Anyway, I still do not know what to say about the Cubs and their dismal performance in the playoffs.  I was truly dumbfounded by how terribly they played.  This was not the same team I had been watching all year.  I could look into the dugout and see a team that had lost its heart.  The Cubs were in first place since the spring; they quite often had the best record in all of baseball and almost always in the NL.  They had an undeniably outstanding team--a perfect combination of great pitching and great hitting, and everyone on the team at some point shone brightly.

And then they fell.

If not this season, then when?  Will it actually never happen for the Cubs?  But if this most superior of lineups could not make it happen, then who can?  The Cubs were certainly a better team than the Dodgers.  Certainly better than the Phillies.

I do not believe in curses, but I do believe in self-fulfilling prophecies.  

But it was a great season.  I got to Wrigley to see a few games, and I saw some exciting moments on TV.  I loved watching the team go out day after day and play great baseball. 

I have been a Cubs fan for many many years, though I am not as seasoned as some.  But I do find myself repeating the old mantra of the Cubs fan: Next Year.

Next Year.  

And though the Cubs will be almost equally as strong next year, I find myself ever so slightly less hopeful than I have been in the past about Next Year.