My Cubs: How the Legendary Losers Taught Me to Love Baseball Again.

There is no good reason I am still a Cubs fan.

I grew up a Cubs fan. However, the rest of my family didn't pay much attention to baseball and after the cork bat scandal removed Sammy Sosa from my podium of childhood adulation and placed him among the ranks of A-Rod, Tony Gwinn and Curt Schilling, I, too, gave up on the sport for many years.

I rediscovered baseball in college, thanks to the influence of three friends, of whom two were, and continue to be, passionate Cardinals fans. Additionally, my fiance's father is also a lifelong Cardinals fan and of all my friends, these three Red Bird men are the ones with whom I discuss baseball most frequently.

Add to this the Cubs' dubious record and, like I said, I'm not sure how I'm still a Cubs fan.

However, I do have a few reasons I continue to hold fast to my Cubbies.



1. Being a Cubs fan has reminded me to lose graciously. The sun will rise tomorrow morning just the same, though at times it doesn't seem like it will.

2. Baseball is as much about tradition as it is about the game. I've never heard fans of any other sport discuss players of days gone by like baseball fans do. I feel a kinship to days gone by when I take in a ballgame. My family have always been Cubs fans, so I will always be a Cubs fan.

3. Being a Cubs fan has made me love baseball for more than just baseball.  Were I to root for a team like St. Louis or (heavens forbid) the Yankees, the enjoyment of baseball as a game would be lost. My focus would be on the win-loss record, OBPs and poor calls by the ump, rather than the cadence of the announcer's voice as he calls the game, the young boy and his father in the row in front of me, the old men in the barber shop arguing about the good old days between pitches. These are the things that make baseball such a powerful game to me and if I were to cheer for anyone but the Cubs, I fear I'd lose them, or worse, trade them for a win-loss record.

And so, for better or worse, win or lose, go Cubs go.