The first draft of this post assumes you know me and my background, so it might be a little confusing at first. You could put two and two together by reading my profile, but who has time for that? I'm a New Yorker living in Chicago, who loves both places, and while my sports allegiances mainly reflect my East Coast roots, I pull for the adopted home town teams when they aren't playing the Yankees, Giants or Knicks. But what about when they play those other New York teams? In here lies the dilemma.
For the first time, probably ever, I'm in a no lose sports situation, that simultaneously is no win. That the New York Mets are facing the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS, that begins tomorrow in Queens, is leaving me in a bind. For those who know me, I'm a life long Yankee fan, but I'm also a fan of the game and it's history.
I'm also no Mets hater. When it comes to the team in Flushing I take the attitude Vito Corleone had with The Turk: I wish them luck so long as their interests don't conflict with mine.
And actually this post season my interest in the Mets goes beyond just New York-centric jingoism. I feel good for Terry Collins, the Mets manager. He took the job in 2011 knowing that the organization was in a shambles financially, which meant no big free agent signings to cover for the lack of major league ready prospects down on the farm. The Mets weren't very good between 2011 and '13, it's true, but they always seemed to play hard. It might sound strange to say about a consistently sub .500 team, but they were often fun to watch, and I have to believe that owed to their manager's no nonsense yet enthusiastic style.
Collins, after holding the fort for three seasons, cheerleading a loser, enthusiastically waving the orange and blue in defiance of reality, had to be relieved to see, like most of us did last year, that things were going to finally change for the better. Most experts saw them competing for a wild card berth this year, but beyond all expectations they won the division out right. There were rumors before last season even ended though that now that the Mets were competitive again they were going to shuffle Collins out and bring in a "real" manager. That didn't happen, and now the Mets are back in the LCS quicker than most expected. I'm happy Terry Collins gets to enjoy the rewards after suffering through some very lean seasons, made more agonizing, I must imagine, knowing that losing was a part of the short, and even intermediate, organizational game plan.
As for the Cubs, according to some records, there are possibly fewer than 75 people alive in the world today who were born before the Cubs last won the World Series. This is even more amazing when you consider the blessed event happened in 1908. I'd be surprised if any of them remember it, or if they are still in the mental state to remember something that happened 107 years ago, cared then or now.
Yes, 1908. Teddy Roosevelt was president of the United States, of which there were 47. Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and JFK weren't born yet, and Lyndon Johnson was two months old. Blessed Mother Teresa was also yet to be born. There was still a czar in Russia. St. Pius X was pope, and the Vatican City State was yet to be established. A loaf of bread was .5c, and people still though the moon was made of green cheese (OK, I made that last one up). I could go on, but you get the picture: the North Siders are due.
And the city of Chicago and its environs are electric with anticipation. Like the Mets, everyone thought that the Cubs would be improved this year, but no one thought that they were a serious contender. They are a wild card team, but out of a very tough division that produced three playoff teams, and had a better regular season record then either the Mets or the NL West champion Dodgers. So the City of Big Shoulders has a reason to celebrate and be confident.
When they won the division series Tuesday the next morning's Tribune published something like a 100 point front page headline normally reserved for for luxury liners hitting icebergs and world wars ending. That night the streets around Wrigley Field were crowded with people waiting to go crazy at the final out, neighborhood bars were filled to overflowing, the stars fell from the sky and the moon turned a blood red. As a jaded Yankees fan I can't help but wonder what they're going to do if they actually win it all? I mean, don't they know it's still a long way to go, and while winning the first round is wonderful, it's not a dancing with wild abandon in the streets with an Old Style in one hand, a Vienna beef frank (NO KETCHUP, EVER!) in the other while kissing a total stranger worthy event? Come on guys and gals, a little decorum! Act like you've been here before!
Well, the truth is they haven't been here very often in the last century plus, and when they have it's ended in bitter disappointment. So while I'm a spoiled Yankee fan, for whom anything short of getting to the World Series is considered a failure, it's actually refreshing to see the enthusiasm, joy and just plain giddiness of the Cub fans, and the affect the team's run has had on the city.
I really do hope all goes well for the Cubbies. I was here for the Bartman "incident," and things got ugly really fast. The city was in a similar state of euphoria at the prospects ending the then 96 year championship drought, and the team's collapse in the 2003 NLCS (not Steve Bartman's fault, by the way) left the eternally optimistic Cub fans uncharacteristically bitter for years afterward. The positive spirit is back, and it's great to see.
So what to do? I have friends who are fans of both teams, in both metropolitan areas. I'm a New Yorker by birth, and a Chicagoan by the grace of God. Any other year, with the Yankees polishing off their golf clubs in October, I'd gladly take a brief joyride on either teams bandwagon. But I just can't get myself to take a side. First, because I feel strongly about both teams, and I hate admit it, I'm not sure its safe to. I have to live here, and I would like to visit New York again in my lifetime.
I could say that I'm rooting for the Chi-York Cubmepolitans, which I know is not going to get me off the hook, either. I'm just going to stay in a neutral country the next week or so, knowing that whoever wins the LCS, I'll have someone to root for in the World Series.
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