John Fischer The Catch

Oh, somewhere in the favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville — mighty Casey has struck out.

Be still our baseball hearts — the Chicago Cubs won the World Series.

Boy did we need this. Not to take anything away from the Cleveland Indians who played an amazing series right down to the seventh game and an improbable eighth inning comeback to tie the game and send it into a rain delay. The Cubbies had just a tiny bit more at the end — a sliver more passion, that’s all — and that was the difference. And with everything so divisive in our country right now, I think just about everybody outside of Ohio was hoping for this. Certainly everyone in the restaurant we were in Wednesday night and in the bars we could hear across the street was screaming for the Cubs, and we are a long way from Chicago. It was finally a victory for the losers — a win for everyone who’s ever wished they could win when they were afraid they couldn’t.

Continue reading →