BCB After Dark: Never surrender

Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the afterparty for night owls, early-risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. So glad to see you after tonight’s game. Please let us take your hat and coat. Bring your own beverage. I hope you stick around a while.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Tonight’s 7-6 Cubs win over the Cardinals was the team’s biggest ninth-inning comeback since April 29, 1979. You’re free to continue to discuss that win here. Or if you’re just waking up and finding out about it, beginning your discussion of the win.

Last time I asked you about the Cubs philosophy in trading and whether or not they should not trade any of their current major leaguers to their rivals. A majority of 59% said that the Cubs should trade their players to the highest bidder, no matter which team they were. Another 32% said that the Cubs should not trade with their rivals—and that broke down as 23% said no deals with NL Central teams and 9% said no NL Central or the White Sox.

Tuesday is the night I do the shorter version of After Dark and I don’t bother with the movies. But I can always put in a jazz tune so here’s the Brad Mehldau Trio playing Radiohead’s “Everything’s in Its Right Place.” [VIDEO] I think I earlier presented doing Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android,” but I don’t think I’ve done this one. But as I’ve written before, I think it’s easier to get into jazz if it’s a tune that you’re familiar with in the first place.

So tonight was the Cubs biggest ninth-inning comeback since 1979 and I do indeed remember that game against Atlanta. In that game, the Cubs were down 5-0 with two outs and men on first and second. Ted Sizemore walked and then Tim Blackwell hit a two-run single. After another RBI single by Larry Biitner, Bobby Murcer hit a three-run home run to give the Cubs a 6-5 lead. I had to look up all of that except there were two outs and Murcer’s home run. That I remembered.

If you grew up listening to Jack Brickhouse like I did, you got used to his relentless optimism. No matter how far the Cubs were down or how hopeless the situation was, Brickhouse used to like to say that the Cubs were just a walk, a bloop and a blast from getting back in the game. That game in 1979 stuck out because of all the times Brickhouse said something like that, it came true that day.

So, did you think the Cubs were just a walk, a bloop and a blast from getting back in the game tonight? Or did you bail earlier in the game? Did you come back when you saw the Cubs were making a comeback or did you head to bed without even knowing the Cubs had won?

I’ll be honest. I started watching tonight’s game (with the Smokies game running on my laptop) but when the NBA Finals started, a switched over to that game. I checked back in on the Cubs at halftime and noticed that things had gotten worse. It wasn’t until late in the Bucks win (and congratulations to the Bucks on their first title in 50 years) that I realized that I hadn’t gotten a notification on my phone that the Cubs game had ended. So I checked on Gameday and noticed the Cubs had the bases loaded and no outs, but still trailing 6-1. So I flipped back and forth between the two telecasts until the Bucks clinched their title. I saw the Cubs take the lead on Happ’s clutch double and Kimbrel’s save.

So what did you do? Were you watching the Cubs the entire game? Or did you bail on the Cubs and watch the basketball game? Did you come back and watch the thrilling end like I did? Cast your vote and tell us what you did in the comments.

(Addition: Consider “watch” to mean watching TV or listening on the radio.)

Thanks for stopping by. We’ll see you again tomorrow night.