I think I am a freak, and my wife knows it. Cannot wait to be in left field tonight.

Now that we’re all in that sentimental mood, anyone want to dedicate these playoffs to someone or something?

I’m dedicating this October to my Grandma Margaret who force-fed me the Cubs as a toddler and through adulthood. She died last year, but would have loved this team.

I can get decent game recaps elsewhere, but emotions and thoughts like this post cannot be found in the media, but only amongst true fans.

I can’t explain it, but my feelings going into this year are 180 degrees different from las year’s debacle. I am so excited for these games to start.

This season started out as one of the worst seasons i could have imagined. My father in law passed away in March from health complications. And while he was in the hospital my wife and i asked him for one thing, to do his best to bring a World Series Championship to the Cubs after he reached the heavens. Her dad was one of the best guys around, and the nicest man you will ever meet and he was a clear front-runner to actually pull some magic upstairs. He was a diabetic and absolutely loved Ron obviously, and he would get upset and whine just like Ron.

A few months later, my wife and i looked at each other and said – maybe, just maybe your dad is still working on that Championship. Now being 11 wins away from a magical season and one that we believe her dad brought upon us is great.

My wife’s sister said last week that the Cubs would win it all this year because her dad is not alive to see it. And i quickly corrected her and said no, it will be because of her dad, and that is when i think she really thought that this might be the year.

Win or lose, it is a game, and there are bigger things in life but – damnit this is gonna be fun and i just wanted to thank my father-in-law.

Go Cubs!

I’m sick with anxiety. I’ve had diarreha for the last day, a bad headache, and bad baseball dreams all night. Am I taking this too serious?

..I will there tonight with my Dad, the 2nd postseason Cubs game we have attended together. I hope I can bring him to many more this postseason.

When I asked him if he could go (silly question I guess) there was no hesitation… “Yes! I’m 70 years old, you dont miss things like this”

I cant wait. Go Cubs!

Off early at work. Go home, change into appropriate gear, enjoy baseball like only October can provide.

I cannot wait.

has given them losses pretty much everytime I wear it….

Not being looked at in October.

Fukudome shirt for me.

I remember handing my hat to my dad after the cubs blew the lead and telling him to burn it I was crushed as only a 12 year old fan can be. then in 89 my dad pulled the hat out of a box someplace and it became my 12 year olds hat.

Dad is 81 now and dancing in the streets but unfortunatly mom passed away in 02 and she was the big Cubs fan in the family. I’m sure she is wearing a huge smile right now.

My son came into town last night for his high school reunion and the first question he asked was whether or not that old hat still survived .I’m pretty sure it’s gone but we are on the lookout for it.

That does matter to this Cubs team. Home field didn’t seem to matter in the 2003 playoffs. The Cubs played better in Atlanta and Florida than they did in Chicago in postseason. It’s different for this club.

This 2008 Cubs team is 55-26 at home this season. I think this Dodgers series will go 5 games with the Cubs winning at Wrigley Field to wrap the division series up. I still wish game 5 of the 1984 NLCS had been at Wrigley. That club played well at home. That’s water under the bridge now. The new magic number is 6 (3 Cubs wins, 3 Dodgers losses). Let’s hope we have a new magic number about which to worry after this series.

You summed it up nicely Al…I have many of the same recollections (except for ‘69…was before my time). No doubt to this day, that the ’84 team was the best in the NL. I have those same feelings about this team. Let’s do it…Go Cubs Go!!

As I sit here thinking about tonight and the future I cant help to think about all the players and fans that werent as lucky as were going to be. All of you watching from up there thank you for all you did. Next year starts tonight, this season. We need and deserve this. Go Cubs GO!!! p.s. in my dreams last night all I kept hearing and seeing was some old man yelling holy cowwwwwwwww!!

after you were, so I lived the same Cub fan life as you did. The strangest part about it is that while we are living through these moments, it’s almost like time stands still. I can remember exactly what I was doing at every moment that you mentioned.
 
As a Cub fan, we have been robbed of the joy of being champions. Coming up short is so much a part of our nature, that we dare not even think of the moment of winning it all. You would think that living through the ‘85 Bears triumph and MJ’s golden years would have sated our appetites for experiencing being a winner, but alas, it’s not even a close second. I really want to experience that golden moment.

As we start this journey to what I hope will culminate in the title of World Series Champion, I hope that we can enjoy these moments and allow them fill us with as many good memeories as the bad ones that we have lived through. I pray that Lou and his charges have the stuff that champions are made of. I know they will represent us well, make us proud and award all of us with the trophy we so richly deserve.

I don’t think I’m going to be able to get a single thing done today. I need to go drink some coffee to settle me down today.

Has anyone been as good as Ted Lilly and he is game 4 (if necessary) starter. That is crazy if you think about it.

Hey Al … I read a quote from you in my local, small town newspaper this morning (280 miles south of Chicago). Your words were quoted and made the national wire service, along with a plug for bleedcubbieblue.com! Way to go!

Could be the best year of all!!!!

This team is absolutely special. For me, I think one characteristic about it that separates (and elevates) it from previous Cubs playoff incarnations – and other Chicago championship teams – is that there is no “cartoon” character. No Sammy, no Michael, no Fridge, no Ozzie. This is a solid team of pros, vets and young players, who know what they are supposed to do. No individual commands the media spotlight. Just play the game the right way.

History, curses, and lovable losers be damned. This is our year!

I wouldn’t be a Cub fan if it hadn’t been for the way he called the game. Let’s win one for all the great announcers in Cubs history! Go Cubs!

You can’t turn it on like a faucet, and, ‘on any given day…’ If you could, or if that wasn’t always true, it wouldn’t be baseball. And we couldn’t have that. Don’t like to conjure Nixon but I remember something he said about the deepest valleys and the highest mountains. Wouldn’t have it any other way. Go Cubs.

This made me choke up a little. Sometimes I wonder if I’m cuckoo for wanting it this much, but it’s always good to know I’m not alone. Thanks, BCB.

Complete roster won’t be announced until later AM.

And I think that was because it was my first taste of the postseason. I remember keeping track of the magic number and counting the number down. It felt like a personal assualt when Will Clark got into that skirmish with Mark Grace (who was my favorite player) at first base [remember that? at WRIGLEY no less], only Clark backed up his talk with an otherwordly series. Still hate that guy.

….is 4 years old. I went to pick him up from Sunday school last week and the teacher asked me if “Go Cubs Go” was a song. (I live in Houston). Turns out, when she asked what song they wanted to sing next, my son pulled out some Steve Goodman. Made me proud.

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