My last Cubs poem was written very late into the night following that most infamous and regrettable of games that we would love to forget; but unfortunately gets woven in the fiery depths of our tortured Cubs fabric.

I do not believe in jinxes, other than human mismanagement - which too many Cubs teams have been "over blessed" with for far too many seasons.

In the "Hope Springs Eternal" optimism of Opening Day 2008,  I am sharing a poem that I dedicated to my Mom, who died in early July 2003, before the Cubbies clinched their Central Division Championship.

Perhaps my 2008 Cubbies poem will be written very late into October with Mom permanently grinning her beaming Cubbie Blue smile - forever and ever!  Amen!

 [Note by hellfreezesoverwaittillnextyear, 03/31/08 8:09 PM CDT ](Poem Follows)

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After spending time in Texas with the USAF and completing school in San Marcos, I returned home to Chicago in the late Seventies at long last.  Suffering from major Cubs and Wrigley Field withdrawal, I vowed to never leave home again, and remedy my baseball fever ASAP.

I was fortunate to attend Opening Day 1980 in Wrigley.

Later that night I composed my first ever Wrigley Field/Cubs poem.  Al, I hope that you allow me to post this here to share with my favorite Cubs community.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1980/B04170CHN1980.htm

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Baseball Musings just posted a review of the Cubs projected lineup production for this year that looks very promising:

http://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/024657.php

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"Bear" repeating just in case we get too serious and hypertensive in the final stretch:

I abhor averages. I like the individual case. A man may have six meals one day and none the next, making an average of three meals per day, but that is not a good way to live.
Louis D. Brandeis

Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done.
Louis D. Brandeis

Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story.
Casey Stengel

If we're going to win the pennant, we've got to start thinking we're not as good as we think we are.
Casey Stengel

Most ball games are lost, not won.
Casey Stengel

No baseball pitcher would be worth a darn without a catcher who could handle the hot fastball.
Casey Stengel

Now there's three things that can happen in a ballgame: you can win, you can lose, or it can rain.
Casey Stengel

Oldtimers, weekends, and airplane landings are alike. If you can walk away from them, they're successful.
Casey Stengel

Son, we'd like to keep you around this season but we're going to try and win a pennant.
Casey Stengel  

The Yankees don't pay me to win every day, just two out of three.
Casey Stengel

Two hundred million Americans, and there ain't two good catchers among 'em.
Casey Stengel

You gotta lose 'em some of the time. When you do, lose 'em right.
Casey Stengel

You have to have a catcher because if you don't you're likely to have a lot of passed balls.
Casey Stengel

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Wrigley Field North references do not play well in Cheeseheadland.  The SB Nation site for our Northerly Neighbors is usually a place that I enjoy  perusing, if only to check on the current milk and cheese futures.  Tonight I found a rather disturbed "poll" posted there, that BCB readers might want to take note of, if only to remind Brew Crew Ball fans that BCB stands for Bleed Cubbie Blue!

Below is the "poll" that was posted (any guess which team's fans were notably missing?):

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by Buzz Bissinger, NY Times, June 3, 2007 appeared in the NYT Play Magazine section:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/sports/playmagazine/0603play-wood.html?ex=1339560000&en=1b7292 1630385363&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

(Buzz Bissinger is also the author of "Friday Night Lights" and "Three Nights in August")
 

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After reading some of the latest BCB diaries, yet again, bemoaning the Cubs latest, and historical, woe-is-us, this team REALLY sucks laments, I turned to a book by Stephen King & Stewart O'Nan about the 2004 Red Sox: FAITHFUL.

The book chapters are indexed and titled by months.  Appropriately, the chapter titled June, is subtitled 'The June Swoon'.  Even more ironically, the accompanying chapter's black and white photo shows Nomar G. while fielding a ground ball.

Here's where Stephen King & Stewart O'Nan come in to play... &nbsp. So, for what it's worth, here is Crane's poem, 'In the Desert' written in 1905, EVEN before Cubs fans had a chance to be embittered, cynical, pessimistic, forlorn, catastrophic, and any other negative descriptor you may feel or wish to add:  

In the Desert

In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said: "Is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter - bitter," he answered;
"But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart."

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Remember the old Alka Seltzer commercial (well some of you may not): "Relief is just a swallow away!", is what their caricature "Speedy Alka Seltzer" would pitch.  Well, this is exactly what the Cubs need right now!

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Al,

Thank you for your tremendously inspiring and laudatory account of my favorite Cubs player of all time!  

Yes, I will ALWAYS acknowledge that Ernie IS Mr. Cub, but as one of our posts indicated, perhaps view Ron as Mr. Cub 2.

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Before there was Harry Carey, Steve Stone, and Ron and Pat calling Cubs games for WGN, THE man in the booth was Jack Quinlan, a voice and human being beyond stellar in his spirit and the scope of accomplishments that he enriched us with in his too short-lived life.

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