A Long, Bitter, Unhealing Winter Ahead

Like we don’t already know.

I mean it is pretty astounding if you think about it, if nothing else its just not good journalism b/c its been done to death. Pretty cool pictures in that slideshow though.

I agree with you Al that these “reminders” get over done, but this one hit me like a ton of bricks, especially after your “Elegy” analysis.

Cubs players put on the uniform, and somehow may succumb to greater “self-imposed’ or "environmentally-induced” stressors and pressures that evoke poor playing behavior that would not otherwise occur.

Perhaps if this “negative, stress-producing” history and all of the stimuli that “condition” or contribute to “pressure-induced” poor play truly contribute, then THIS does need to be explored and investigated as to HOW to effectively minimize or better yet, ELIMINATE these negative environmental influences from Cubs players performance.

The behavioral trend is quite clear and compelling: Cubs perform in stellar or at least consistent winning fashion in the regular season (Before condition); during postseason play, the magnification and reality of a shortened time line to finally achieve the “Big Elusive Prize” intensifies the “longstanding negative history” stimuli that the media, fans, and even the unique post-season ballpark environment bring to the same playing environment, that had previously been “The Friendly” and “Winning” Confines.

That winning and relaxed environment now gets established as a “pressure cooker” to perform well in order to finally gain the “Holy Grail”!

I do not believe that any other sports team, barring the 2004 Red Sox, that you cited, have ever had to adapt and adjust to such difficult and menacingly subtle, but nonetheless lethal and toxic “pressure conditions” in the postseason. And will this intensity likely lessen in the ensuing seasons – barring “The Miracle” happening?

An initial intervention to consider could involve a functional assessment of how to desensitize these “stressor” conditions from the very beginning of the season – in Spring Training; and continue to implement the interventions (during the regular season and into the post-season) that successfully produce positive results. Individual players and team interventions should both be covered to maximize total team effectiveness.

I believe that a “psychology of winning” is involved with the historical and regularly predictable post-season collapses of the Chicago Cubs.

An analogy would be witnessing an everyday stellar and consistent work performance by an employee, but given a significantly reduced time period to “prove” their merits, within a high frequency stress filled environment, their performance deteriorates under conditions in which the employee had never learned to perform fluently before. The employee’s “collapse” occurs, and a myriad of “excuses” and non-scientific learning explanations spew forth. Yet, under repeated conditions, the same deteriorated performance predictably occurs again!

In the case of the Chicago Cubs, their recent and past history does merit investigation of the psychology of stress-induced factors affecting poor post-season playing behavior due to non-fluent learning under intensified conditions.

The field of Applied Behavior Analysis has much to offer the unique Sports Psychology needs of the Chicago Cubs. After all, the problem at hand is dealing with human behavior and their environmental learning conditions.

Thank you again Al, for prompting me to put on my professional hat during the Cubbies most dire time of need!

Perhaps new ownership will be interested in a more scientific and positively progressive learning/teaching approach to a psychological/learning problem that gets demonized as a “Billy Goat Curse” and other superstitious behavioral explanations.

In the mean time, while the Cubs get their Head Case resolved .. we grieve. I am posting this from a thread I started 24 hours after the Horror ..

Grieving can take five stages – our fan base goes through these too often ..

Forgive me, Genetic, if the crisis counselor and pastoral counselor shows here: you can speak far better on this then I could, it might seem ..

Posited by Elizabeth Kubler Ross many years ago, there are five stages of the grief process people endure in times of great loss. As infinitely diverse as people are, ultimately, their behavior is predictible and quantifiable, so the grieving of the Cubs Nation will be expressed somehow in these kinds of ways in the days and weeks ahead.

After the initial shock and reaction wears off (and all of these posts are showing this), you segue into the following kinds of reaction, all marked by the emotional and rational baggage they all bring — I borrow these from Wikipedia since I can’t quite bring myself to write examples that Cub fans can pen in all too easily ..

1. Denial:
Example – "I feel fine."; "This can’t be happening."’Not to me!"

2. Anger:
Example – "Why me? It’s not fair!" "NO! NO! How can you accept this!"

3. Bargaining:
Example – "Just let me live to see my children graduate."; "I’ll do anything, can’t you stretch it out? A few more years."

4. Depression:
Example – "I’m so sad, why bother with anything?"; "I’m going to die . . . What’s the point?"

5. Acceptance:
Example – "It’s going to be OK."; "I can’t fight it, I may as well prepare for it."

Everyone will feel these. Everyone will grapple with them. Grieving takes place when ever any significant loss is endured (loss of a loved one, failure to reach a personal goal, divorce, destruction of a home by fire, etc.). The fan base of the Cubs has to deal with this every year, it seems, for the past century. Every failure is a unique meltdown for us that has an additional bizarre twist .. because in the end, because it is a GAME and it is a sport that will resume again NEXT SEASON, unlike say the loss of a child, the whole thing is set up annually to happen all over again .. with the potential for the FULFILLMENT of success.

Along with that comes all of our hopes, our dreams, our personal stakes we put into the chase of what is purely a professional sport involving two teams of athletes competing against each other to earn a living. It’s what it’s come to mean to us – the endearing fondness and faith we invest in them and all of the cultural baggage that comes with it -that becomes threatened, on the line, and then savaged.

In the end, the Cubs themselves have to deal with this every year – and we go along for the ride and it affects the way we live also in ways we often never quite connect the dots and see. There’s no way to really gauge what they might feel but the shots of Z, Pie, DLee and the team after they imploded, night after night showing their own facial expressions is enough to convince me that they too are human and hurt with us. They’ll have to go home today to their families and loved ones and live with this all winter long, with a chance at redemption next spring .. or DFAville.

And I’m also thinking of No Southern Belle and her own and what they’re having to endure right now .. on top of this .. after losing her certainly beloved father after game 2 ended and who didn’t live to see the Cubs get into the world series. I’m thinking about the millions of Cubs fans who felt the same way and who are thinking about their own family who didn’t live to see it.

I’m thinking about the Cubs fan like Al who’s invested soooo much of his or her life into following everything the Cubs do and who has joyously put so much of himself out there to document and rally us. In light of this sorrow, can anyone blame him for not wanting to deal with this for a couple days??

I’m thinking about the young Cub fans out there who don’t have anything else but sport to live for and who will use all the escapes of youth to drown sorrow .. and who may not learn how to handle it better and not reinforce destructive behaviors in their lives that hurt themselves and others.

And yes, I’m thinking about my own personal history, what I’m going to say tomorrow at work, how my own Cubs fan family (scattered all across the nation) is taking it (I simply didn’t have the heart to call either of my divorced parents or my 4 brothers to see how they endured), and how much of my own life I put on hold to follow the Cubs … and

The problem with this kind of grief we Cub fans have felt, it got progressively worse as the NLDS progressed, it has a history of failure a century long, and that the beckoning of the New Year will bring us back into a place to join all over again. And we’ll do it. I know I will.

Why? Because as a Cubs fan who passionately loves this club as surely as I did as a boy since 1969, I too still feel that I must "keep the faith" and believe .. after a fitful sleep, I realized I still have the old blue Believe bracelet on I wore all season long. Being a minister helps me understand what faith is a bit more and what it means to have it tested and tried, so I guess my decision to root for the Cubbies gets a bit more crossover from that.

In the end, however, there are more important things in life then the Cubs. We all know that – how much of our lives we’ve exposed to the implacable cruelties of sporting reality is what we’re grappling with and nobody expected that This Next Year That Was Here to end the way it did .. again .. So the pain fills our lives again, and yes, I am grieving too.

because of the huge and “surprise” letdown coupled with the horrific collapse in all aspects of the Cubs play.

I first attended Wrigley as a three year old, and lived through the debacles of 1969, 1984, 1989, 1998, 2003, 2007, 2008. The first two years listed and 2003 were the most non-accepting for me – took much longer to gain final acceptance and move ahead -as I always do – hence the name GCF!

My analysis above only came about by grieving through the other stages via other BCB postings, comments, and frequent private embittered, rantings of outrage and disgust to close caring family and friends.

I use this caring and empathetic BCB community to help assuage the bitter and deeply disappointing feelings that emerge from the passionate love and devotion that I have and ALWAYS will embrace for the Cubs!

My above analysis is a genuine attempt to get past the other stages and think about the future and how to avoid future disappointments. I truly believe that the Cubs players, management, and fans need to try to think positively and productively about their future too -as you state, when the time is right for each of us.

My acceptance is rather complete, and this does not mean that I felt any less pain, or tortured, disappointing feelings – I did!

In the end, and in the beginning I am and always will be in love with the Chicago Cubs and what they represent to me as a worthwhile and passionate part of my life. As I get older, I just realize that the future is where I will relish my positive thoughts for The Miracle, but in the present, I can try to contribute to what I believe are areas to correct and improve the final achievement of this Quest!

Thanks for your kind and thoughtful, considerate reply. Genuine Cubs Fans are a big part of my devotion to this team!

To requote and tweak Ernie from 1969,

‘The Cubs Will Be Fine, in 2009!’

Someday…