10/16/2003 09:53:00 AM by Rob

To readers Joe and Tex-Mex

To Joe: I gotta say, you are exactly the type of Polly-anna brainless "cub fan" that I have been railing against since the beginning. How old are you? How long have you been a "fan"?

When I was 6, 8, 10, even 13 years old, I believed Ernie Banks when he said the Cubs were going "all the way" this year. If Ernie meant going all the way to Sports Corner for a chin-tightener, maybe he had a point. But this year marks the 34th year I have sat and watched the Cubs miss out on the World Series, and they have done it nearly every way humanly possible.

There ARE such things as momentum, and trends. When these guys are quoted as saying that "they don't believe in curses, etc", they are so full of shit their eyes are brown. Maybe there isn't such thing as a curse, but there ARE trends, and the Cubs arrow has been trending downward for 60 years. Until they show me otherwise, and NOT A SECOND BEFORE, I will assume the worst, not the best scenario.

If expecting the best, when 58 years of results suggest otherwise, makes you a Cub fan, then FUCK IT, I don't want it.

And Tex-Mex, what fan of which team are YOU? To suggest that I LIKE wallowing in my own filth is not only insulting, but suggests to me that your understanding of human nature is not completely formed, either.

Yes, maybe it appears to you that I don't have a life outside of railing on incessantly about the Cubs, but let me fill you in on my life. I have a wife, a family, and 98% of my energies are spent making sure that they are provided for. I live in North Central Illinois, literally, and I drive 100 miles each way for my job, because there isn't jack shit available between here and there. When I get to my job, I spend several hours a day making sure that a $4 billion company has financial data available to it. When I get a chance, I indulge in my one and only hobby, keeping up with the sports world. I spend about 20 minutes a day writing here. I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder, which is mostly passed along via genetics, but partly due to the fact that I lived with parents that were themselves both children of alcoholics, and I was subjected to a moderately severe pattern of mental abuse that I have worked over 7 years to overcome. Along the way, I have managed to pick two of the most unsuitable creatures possible to marry, and between the two of them, they took away my whole life savings, my dignity, and what little emotional strength I have left. My poor wife now took on the responsiblity of bringing me back to some semblance of what I used to be, and this takes every ounce of energy she has.

It takes everything I have to perform my job and drive home, so that my family is provided for, and after I get home, hear about the kids' day, help them a little with homework, go to football, volleyball, and basketball games, cub scout meetings, and band recitals, I manage to spend a little time trying to connect with my wife. I do not watch TV, I do not do much reading anymore, and I do absolutely NOTHING for myself but be a Cub fan.

In a completely stressful life, there is nothing more I would like to be able to do than sit here and say that MY TEAM, the Chicago Cubs, were Champions of the National League. If you want to find me, and say that to my face, I would then proceed to hit you, and try my best to pummel you until you were senseless.

So, fuck you very much.

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