God love the Chicago Cubs, right? It's been 99 years since they last won the world series, and this year they're in the post season. Let me correct myself and be a little more exacting. They last won the world series by beating the Detroit Tigers on October 14, 1908:

• 98 years, 11 months and 17 days have passed.
• 36,146 days have whizzed by.
• 5163 weeks have come and gone.
• 867,504 hours were spent by four generations of fans waiting for another title.
• 52,050,240 minutes have passed since the city of Chicago could celebrate their Ursidae team winning it all.
• 3,123,014,400 seconds, well, this one is just plain depressing..

Yet, there is new hope in Chicago. Players, coaches and even fans think they have a chance to cast the curses aside and win a title. They all seem to be unconcerned with the various theories as to why the team has languished .

Since we're all about numbers let's look at how the world has changed since the Cubs last won the world series:

• The population on earth has increased from 1.6 billion to 5.9 billion, an increase of 4.3 billion. Imagine if most of them were Cubs fans. Baseball would probably still be a daylight only affair. 
• Telephones, television and the internet were invented. These are all tools used by Cubs fans to share their common depression and frustration.
• 17 US Presidents have served.
• Chicago is now the leading city for suicide in the United States.
• The Chicagoland area has grown from 2.1 million to 9.5 million, an increase of 7.3 million people who have grown to learn, live and die with the phrase of, "There is always next year."
• The list of teams winning the world series since the Cubs is long: Pirates, As, Red Sox, Braves, White Sox, Reds, Indians, Giants, Yankees, Senators, Cardinals, Tigers, Dodgers, Mets, Orioles, Phillies, Royals, Twins, Blue Jays, Marlins, Diamondbacks and Angels. 

Lots has happened, but one need only look to towards Aisle 4, Row 8, seat 113 for the reason why the Chicago Cubs will never win a world series. Something always gets them, whether it's a cartoon character named fan or some unknown dark, foretold occurrence. 

Bookmark/Search this post with:
delicious | digg | reddit | furl | google | yahoo | technorati | icerocket