If you’ve heard it once you’ve heard it a hundred times, fan is short for fanatic. Of course, there are levels of fanaticism and irrationality, and true fans don’t have to justify their emotions. In my case it’s the Cubs, but I know most Chicago sports fans have strong feelings about the Bears, Sox, Bulls and Hawks. One needn’t be a fan of all or multiple teams to appreciate the overriding concept. I’m tired of non-Cub fans telling me and others that we shouldn’t worry about the ups and downs (and right now it’s definitely the downs) of a 162-game season. We all know it’s a marathon and not a sprint but let us overreact to crappy play and get way too excited for brief upturns. Right now the team is playing like garbage and it’s fair to question everything. When the Cubs were in the middle of each of their 10-game winning streaks, Craig Counsell said how important it was to keep piling up wins and not worry about the how or why. Stacking up the wins is beneficial when you are in the middle of an aggravating losing streak. I think he and his coaches were trying to figure out what they were doing correctly, but he didn’t owe the media or the fans an explanation. It would probably have blown our minds anyway. Likewise, his inability to communicate why the team stinks on toast right now is frustrating.

During the 25-26 NFL season legions of Bears fans questioned how good the team was despite an improved record and exciting wins. Those that doubted were dubbed haters. There’s an odd presumption that the 26/27 version will be necessarily better despite the fact that history doesn’t support that hypothesis. That predictions are being made despite the fact it’s only May, is ridiculous in my mind, but I appreciate that fans are that passionate and are open to debate so I won’t rain on their parade, I just will look elsewhere for summer entertainment.

In my next post I will discuss the particulars of this awful stretch of Cubs play.