12/31/2003 01:30:00 PM by Rob

The Curse is real!

First off, I do not blame Game 6 on Steve Bartman. Bartman interfered on a foul pop that Alou had, perhaps, a 50/50 chance to handle cleanly. Even afterwards, there was still one out, it was still 3-0, he did not give up the walks, the blown grounders, and the home runs.

I bristle whenever I see or hear someone blame Game 6 on him. However, I do wonder whether or not the dim moronic mope doesn’t in fact have his finger on the pulse after all, and is just not articulate enough to truly explain.

There is a Curse! And it isn’t a Billygoat Curse, either, for I believe it was in effect long before 1945.

The Book of Revelations says that all of the seven Seal Judgements were announced by a sign, such as a clap of thunder, the sound of trumpets, or a black horseman riding from the mists.

In 2003, Bartman was not the cause of the Curse, but the manifestation of the Curse itself. If he wasn’t born at all, someone else would have to have been there to stand in the way.

In 1989, the World Series featured two Bay Area teams, and it was postponed by a massive earthquake RIGHT BEFORE GAME 1! Guess which team lost to the Giants that year in the NLCS? This HAS to be related, somehow.

In 1984, the Cubs only needed one win in San Diego. Mike Royko wrote an inflammatory column about SD fans. If he hadn’t, someone else, Bob Greene or someone, would have. Now, Royko wasn’t the one who couldn’t bend over to stop the grounder. He was merely the foreshadowing.

In 1969, the Cubs blew a massive lead to the Mets, after a black cat ran across the front of the Cubs’ dugout at Shea Stadium.

In 1945, there was the matter of the Billygoat. But, at the time, the Cubs had lost the last six World Series they had been in. In 1932, Babe Ruth had his “called shot”. Now, whether you believe that he was pointing at the bleachers, the pitcher, or the dugout, or merely reminding them of the pitch count, something electric happened at that moment that is not forgotten 70 years later. He had already hit one homer in the game. How come nobody brings that one up?

The second one was the Curse, announcing itself.

But here’s one more thing to consider: there’s another team in town, and they haven’t won anything in over 80 years themselves. So one town, two teams, no titles in over 80 years! Everyone else, no matter how poorly run: Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns, Washington Senators; all have had their moment in the sun. All except for the Chicago teams, and Boston, and they have their own thing.

One might blame it on the Black Sox scandal, except that the Cubs blew a World Series in spectacular, Game 6-fashion, eight years before the scandal. One could say that the Black Sox themselves are merely representatives of the same Curse.

Perhaps it is due to the improbable way the Cubs won their last championship, which itself would not have happened if it weren’t for “Merkle’s Boner”. By rights, the Giants should have won that game, and the pennant that year. Maybe Johnny Evers withdrew ALL of our karma when he pulled that win out of his ass. If so, did he blow it for BOTH Chicago franchises?

I don’t know, but at this point in time, if you do not believe that there is something otherworldly that is standing in the way of the Cubs winning a championship, you have no soul, no appreciation of the role spirits play in this world.

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