By David Stanczak

There’s a guy in Oxford, Mississippi who needs a new Cubs t-shirt. I saw him one fall when I was taking my daughter back to school. He was coming out of Wal-Mart, wearing a Cubs-blue shirt with the team logo on it. C-U-B-S was printed vertically in big letters. It was an acronym for Completely Useless By September.

True last year and several years before that. But guess what? It’s September, and the Cubs are in the thick of contention for a playoff spot. Although they are third in their division, they have the fouth best record in baseball, and they’d be in first place in 4 of the 6 divisions.  And, more deliciously, they are getting in the heads of Cardinal fans. The Cubs can’t possibly catch the Cardinals in the regular season; they just keep on winning. If their fans had any self-respect, they’d get bored and quit watching them. But, come playoff time, it’s essentially another season, and Cardinal fans know it. Being 20 gazillion games over .500 doesn’t mean anything then. The only thing that counts is the next 1 game, or the next 4-7 games. And anyone can get hot for that many games. At one point in the season, the Cubs won 15 out of 16 games. If they did that in the playoffs, you’d have somethingI haven’t seen in my lifetime, and something my 95 year old father hasn’t seen in his lifetime: a Cub championship.

I’m not making any predictions. I’ve learned in my long life as a Cub fan that doing so is the quickest and most direct path to disappointment, depression, and renewed interest in football (and any other non-baseball sport).

I’m joyful, not just for the Cubs but because they help me not think about football this year. The Fighting Illini are now the Suing Illini (everyone’s doing it: disappointed rejected faculty wack jobs, ex-Chancellors, ex-football coaches, and players). They are picked to finish ahead only of Purdue in the Big Ten (or 13 or 14, or however many it is now). And the Bears will start their season off against the Packers. The last season opener with that much promise was when the Christians opened against the Lions in Rome.

Enjoy the fall, everyone. It may or may not be fun, but I can promise you it will be interesting.

David Stanczak, a Forum commentator since 1995, came to Bloomington in 1971. He served as the City of Bloomington’s first full-time legal counsel for over 18 years, before entering private practice. He is currently employed by the Snyder Companies and continues to reside in Bloomington with his family.

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