I don’t think I’ll be able to watch much more of the postseason. For the past few days I have had this really bad taste in my mouth that won’t go away.

Gosh, it really seemed like this year was going to be different. It just really did.

the only consolation is that the Brewers just lost too. But I really couldn’t care less about the playoffs now.

“I don’t want hope. Hope is killing me. My dream is to become hopeless. When you’re hopeless you don’t care. And when you don’t care, that indifference makes you attractive.”

(BTW my wish is for a Dodgers/Red Sox WS with the Sox proving to Manny that he was mere baggage, and then taking home their third ring at his expense…)

A 38 year old man crying over baseball. I just don’t know if it is worth it anymore.

would be a major understatement! I’m sure I’m still in shock. this season was for me a bigger dissapointment than the 1984 NLCS. I work at a burn plant (we burn garbage to make steam and electricity) and seriously considered burning all my cubs stuff. Thats how bad I feel. I probably wont though,and just wait for another dissapointing next year.

MLB needs to see the BIG dropoff from no fans watching the rest of the yyear

I am just so tired of the team losing. It won’t help when another team wins the WS in the year that we SHOULD have.

great work with this board Al. It was fun posting on here. can’t wait for next season, i guess..

They are just a bunch of arrogant, bandwagoning pricks. They would boo almost every Cub player (I am sure they were booing when Fonty was injured) and for every pitch called a strike against them they booed. Classless, hell I even think Yankee fans are better..

Is trying to figure out what the hell can we do next year? Like Al said, you win 97 games and are among the league leaders in every major statistical category, and yet this happens. I’m not giving up hope, and I’m not looking for a drastic blowup of this team. We still have a golden window of opportunity to win with the players we have.

However, I do think that it will be a Cubs team that comes out of nowhere, maybe a young developing future Cubs team like the Rays, or an overachieving Wild Card team that just sneaks into the postseason, that finally wins it all. The pressure and expectations of 100+ years is the curse itself. The fans, the players, we’re all cursed with wanting to win the World Series so damn bad, we let the pressure get to us all.

Someday, we’ll go all the way. Go Cubs.

which are the only series I’m old enough to remember. Last year I had the “Pick yerselvs up, this team is ready fer next year!!” attitude. Losing to Livan and Doug Davis (Doug Davis!!) didn’t seem real, it was surreal. I knew we were better than the D-Backs. 2003 I could taste it, the sweet bliss of winning it all, it was right in front of us, ready for the taking. It felt magical, Disney-like almost. It hurt to lose that NLCS, but I felt pride that we got so far, accomplished so much, and were only starting with Wood & Prior’s careers. 1998 I knew we were grossly overmatched, and was just happy to be playing. An anomaly, maybe, but hopeful for the future, yes.

This year, however, I felt as if my expectations were high – but not exuberantly so. We were first in runs, walks, slugging, OBP; we were second in ERA and runs allowed, first in wins, hits, and strikeouts. We were the second best team in baseball, and had eight men selected for the all-star game. No player stood out as the MVP, yet we can all name our favorite contributor – Soto, DeRo, Demp – and each and every man was worthy. We beat good teams and rarely lost to the bad ones – sweeping the Brewers in a four game series, taking six straight from the Braves, sweeping and getting swept by the Sox. Never did this team seem out of control, always in command. Our starter moved to closer, and our closer became our best starter. We traded for our #3, who would be a #1 on any other team. We were in first for 134 days, were 35 games over .500, and only 2 games under it. This team is ripe with age. We are not old like the Yankees, but we are ripe with veterans and proven youngsters. Batters are an average of 30 years of age, and pitchers, 28.9. The most fans ever came out to cheer this 2008 team on – 3,300,200 – and watched this team raise 97 W flags. We yelled our first “Shark in the water!”, figured out we have a Little Babe Ruth on our hands, and one of our most hated and respected rivals turned into one of our own, Jimmy Ballgame.

I am numb from this season. It held so much promise, so many memories, and felt like This Is The Year. I cannot give up, because I Am A Cubs Fan. I’ll be here next year, and the year after that, before, after, and when we win it all. But this one hurts.

Dan

I am DONE with the team that I have followed since I was 6 years old. I’ll certainly be happy if they ever win it all, but I have zero faith that it will happen in my lifetime.

I have not lived in Chicago in 14 years, now getting closer to more than half my life away from Chicago, so it is increasingly silly to keep rooting for them.

The ballpark is still great, but I now have a championship-caliber team in my backyard here in Tampa. They play loose and the right way, and are fun to watch, and won the hands-down best division in baseball.

I just don’t have the time to waste on the Cubs franchise anymore. I will fully admit that many of you who will be back next year are stronger than I, and I wish you no ill.

But it’s OVER for me…GO RAYS!

My last opinion today……I have mixed emotions about weather or not 2003 or this year was worse….in some ways this year was because I expected the Cubs to do well in the playoffs….where as 2003 was a pleasant surprise….but in 03 they did compete and play hard every game…this year seemed like a “ghostwalk”…..I really think 84 was the most painful b/c the Cubs were supposed to have home field advantage that year and the TV networks took it from them.

It is just baseball….we all like to watch baseball and comment on it more then the “average” person…so it is a bit “emotional”….The sun will come up tomorrrow, the holidays are coming up, winter will come and go andd spreing will be here again b4 we know it…….as Stephen King once titled a short story “Hope Springs Eternal”….

I mentioned this once before. Bruce Weber took his young and nervous U of I team bowling often just to break up the tension among the players. These past 3 games you could see the lack of cohesion among the players.

All I can say is that this has been a year of many firsts…including the first time I’ve seen the Cubs win the division two years in a row.

Add a Lefty power hitter, and sign a sinker baller pitcher, and a fuy like Juan Cruz, and we improve a ton.

Lets say we got a Dunn. That’s your power hitter. Sign Lowe. Sign Cruz to get the ball to Marmol, Wood.

But if I were Hendry, I’d offer whatever Texiera wants. There’s your Superstar/MVP candidate.

Give it all the writings and ideas a good rest. Let the ideas stew in the subconscious and come back to them in a few months. For me, I will be heading up to the mountain streams with fly rod and reel for some close encounters with wiley trout and cool clear air. Good times be with you, and thanks Al for the time and effort……..we’ll be ready for 2009 when the air begins to warm and baseball returns once again. You can count on few things in life, but you can count on that. Go Cubs!

The confessional is cute, but there are a few points I have a philosophical problem with:

1) The whole Red Sox ‘idiots’ thing.

It’s made to sound like some team identity decison when in fact, it arose from one guy – Kevin Millar – who made a point to tell everyone that would listen AFTER their 19-8 drubbing that they didn’t give a care about anything. It was entirely a win-win situation. A goofy clubhouse presence making a move that had absolutely ZERO downside. What the Red Sox experienced was a historical anomaly from a talented team, which is why I never bought into the notion that the Cubs would ever come back. It was a freak occurence and it happened to a different team. Stuff like that doesn’t repeat.

2) The Season Was a Failure

I just don’t believe that. The CEO of this website was in the bleachers for something he repeatedly said was the greatest season in his fandom. Now it’s worth terming a failure? Then why was everything else so wonderful? You want to espouse the notion of living in the moment, then don’t say it’s been a great season and this is a great team, repeatedly.

Look, Soriano hadn’t hit since his stoned/slumpbuster photos showed up on the internet. For being the offensive straw that stirred the drink, is it any doubt that the offense failed to show.

And from a non-cubbie related philosophical note, this notion of shutting the team down once the division is captured should be well-received as a terrible idea. Once you willingly drop momentum, what makes anyone think they can pick it up again? Think about the simple fact that had the Cubs actually played out the string like a bunch of professionals with the best team in the league and actually taken the last series with Milwaukee as a challenge rather than an obligation, they may have never even had to deal with the Best Hitter of our Generation and a pitching staff that matched up well with the Cubs lineup.

Forget historical pressure, this team completely failed in the stretch from the top-down. There’s no one to blame but themselves. Leave history out of it.

That first week after the season is over is really tough for me, it leaves a gaping black hole of time. Hope there are some good movies to watch.

Al, I love the Roger Hornsby quote but I don’t think I can look at that for a while. The waiting begins, again.

I don’t even want to talk about this team/series/year right now.

Just wanted all you to know the pain is felt everywhere. I am an Angels fan —a Cub’s fan by marriage. I lurk here frequently and just felt compelled to post a little something.

I wanted nothing more than a Cubs/Angels World Series match up. The Cubs seem to have lost the fire in their eyes….much like what my boys have done.

Don’t know what else to say other than “sorry” and there is always next year. I keep telling myself that about the Angels. It doesn’t help though.

I haven’t been here in awhile and only jumped back on site for these past few games primarily because I wanted to share the ups and downs with like-minded fans.

We’ve been through the agony and the ecstacy as Cubs fans. We came really close this year but 2003 hurt alot more. I told myself at the beginning of this year I wasn’t going to get emotionally involved because the Cubs represent unrequited love. Someone else mentioned that earlier, and it’s something I’ve felt for a long time.

Of course I’m disappointed. I’ve been a Cubs fan since I saw Ernie Banks play and thought as a kid, “what the hell is this great player doing with this bunch of bums?”

But as fans, we have no input, no authority and no responsibility for how they perform or don’t perform on the field. We either show up and support the club, or we don’t. My guess is that next year, the stands will be full and there will be new fans, old fans and the merely curious. They won 97 games this year. That is something to celebrate and as fans, we did.

I believe 100% that the hype gets to them. If someone asks you every day about the last l00 years, and you are “human”, there’s no way you can’t get caught up in that. I would love to see them add a sports psychologist to their staff. Really. Forget the holy water, get a specialist in to help them deal with the pressure.

I already miss the warm summer days, listening to Ron and Pat, hearing the song, “Go Cubs Go”. It was a great year.

And I know, I just know that no matter what, I’ll be listening to every game next year. I’ll put up my “W” flag when they win and will wear my Cubs cap anytime I’m on the court playing tennis.

late inning wins this past season. The year before they would have lost many of those. I feel horrible that they lost but I have a very loving family and that is comforting to me. I also have a love of football and basketball so I do have those to look forward too.

I don’t follow any other baseball team so I doubt I will watch much if any baseball the rest of this season. I am a Cub fan so I will be here next spring cheering for this team. That will never change.

As one of the more visible Cubs fans in a small eastern college town (Ithaca, NY), I’ve attracted a lot of interest (and now sympathy) from friends who don’t share or fully understand my peculiar passion. But your comments, and those of many others on BCB, have kept me emotionally conntected with those who, like me, at some point in their lives, lived and died with every Cubs game.

That said, leave it to the Cubs to script new ways of losing that leave one feeling worse than the letdowns of years past. As William Faulkner said, the past is never dead. It’s not even past. Faulkner may not have been a Cubs fan, but he’d understand how we feel. And he’d also know that we’ll be back again next year.

Now it’s time for my Cornell Big Red hockey team to get ready to take it to your Colgate Red Raiders.

that’s what I believe and that’s who I am. I’m just bleeding a little more today. I will miss the cubs, Pat and Ron and all the positive things I’ve read in the most enjoyable summer in my lifetime as a cubs fan. I’ll keep reading this website because it’s the best thing that has happened to any cubs fan. Thanks Al, I just can’t believe the time you devote for all of us. I can’t wait for spring training and for a new season. I will watch with interest as this team changes, as all teams do in this age of free agency.

Lastly, my 2 cents. My quote with my screen name was from Pinella last year. Changes were made in the Cubs and look where we’ve come from. A miserable 2006. Playoffs two years in a row and the best record in the NL. We have another step to take. I think we’ll take it but I can’t predict if it will be next year, the next or sometime after that. I enjoy the winning, this is uncharted territory for all of us. Three years in a row will be something and I believe it will happen. We’ll get to the series, Pinella has us on the right track and I’m anxious for the future.

I will never abandon the Cubs, never. Here’s to the final step, this is still only the beginning.

“….I realize the phrase I hated most ‘wait till next year’ is actually the most beautiful thing about baseball. Just like life there is always the chance that tomorrow will be a better day someday the cubs will win it all and as Cubs fans we’ll be there in the mean time we will celebrate the wait.” -Chasing October

Right now I cant celebrate the wait but the pain will fade someday…I am only trying to numb the pain now. I have cried several times today thinking about everything this team accomplished, the come from behind wins, 8 all-stars, the soto game, the clinch, sweeping the brewers, a-ram’s walk-off vs. the sox…almost every game this year MEANT SOMETHING. But the only 3 games that actually mattered we lost. We did nothing at all to remember in those 3 games. It took only 3 games, 3 losses, and THE SEASON is over. The season I’ve been waiting for, the season I thought

It hurts so bad.

I have a trip to Chicago planned this week, I just wanted to be in town for a couple days and be near the magic of this season. Now I will just have to enjoy the city and drink with fellow sad cubs fans.

Just another season to put under the belt. But I look at like this: the sweet will never taste as sweet until you’ve tasted the sour. This one was really, really, hard to take in; but whenever it happens, God-willing, it will be the sweetest thing I’ve tasted in my life.

See you guys in the Spring.

I’m just disgusted beyond belief today and feel really numb… It’s going to take awhile to get over this feeling and I’m sure once February comes around I’ll be excited once again.. I’m crushed but they just didn’t have it… I too thought this team was different but I was wrong… Ughhh and I’m still shocked it was over in 4 days after everything… Damn it!

When the Cubs season ends each year, I go though a rather depressing realization that for the next few months (until spring training opens), I have to ge a “grown-up” again.

Today, I did many of the summer-transition-to-fall household chores that I had been delaying hoping for an extended October playoff run (maybe even ending in the World Series!).

I took out the window air conditioners and closed all the storm windows. I put in the front door storm window. I put in a new air filter in the furnace and made sure all the room vents were open and clear.

I began to pack away the deck furniture and took my son back to his dorm after he had come home for our MSU Homecoming weekend.

Soon, I’ll take apart the hammock and store it for the next five months. I’ll get out the snow thrower, start it up and make sure it’s ready for a Michigan winter.

Leaves are falling and will need to be raked.

THIS is the stuff I now have to look “forward” to – …with no Cubs baseball to be my companion as I do my chores.

I don’t mind it really. I just wish I could have delayed having to do it alone for a few weeks more…

It’s still hard for me to wrap my mind around exactly what happened, or exactly why it happened.

I think that years from now, far removed from the emotion of the last four days, it’ll still be hard to comprehend.

I need a break from baseball for a while. But I’ll never truly leave. They’re still my Cubbies.

Just over four months to spring training…

Thanks for all of the effort you put into BCB for us all year long. Yes, we’re all heartbroken. It will be a long winter. We’ll get through it …

I am only 23. I have religiously watched this team since ‘98 and it is taking it’s toll. I’m sure I’ll bounce back but I really could have cried last night. Hats off to you older fans who have seen this kind of thing happen on numerous occasions and still root for the Cubs. I hope I have the same will as you do if, God forbid, I don’t see them win by the time I’m 60.

I would first like to say thank you for all your hard work on this sight.

Great Job.

Second, I think you are being far to kind in your assessment of this team. They quit. Plain and simple. They quit.

Shame on this team. They have, at the very least, lost my respect.