Let the Suffering Begin: Diary of a Longtime Cubs Fan!

Hope springs eternal this time of year for us Cubs fans - mainly because we haven't played a regular season game yet. Club President Theo Epstein, who rebuilt the Red Sox and his GM Jed Hoyer have said this is year two of a three year rebuilding progress. So another year or two and the Cubs will be competitive, not 100 + game losers like last year. Much like my co-worker and good buddy Bobby G, I am a die hard Cubs fan. We're smart enough to step off the emotional roller coaster once the team gets 20 games out of first place by the all star break, but right now - for us, Cubs fever is running high.

I am 52, and went to my first Cubs game at Wrigley Field when I was 9. My mom moved to Chicago for a job when I was very young and I was raised by my grandparents here in Evansville. A couple of times a year my grandma and I would take the train to Chicago to see my mom. In 1969, a co-worker of my mom took me to see the Cubs host the Houston Astros. The Cubs had such great players in that era: Ron Santo, Billy Williams, Ernie Banks, Fergie Jenkins and more who keep them in the race all season long that year until they fell apart in September and the Mets won the division.

So, with only a few Spring training games under their belts, the Cubbies begin to stir the emotion within me that despite what everyone says, even team management, this could be the Cubs year.

Below are a collection of Cool and not so cool Cubs jpegs that friends have shared on my Facebook page over time, plus a few that I just like myself.

So, off I go...expecting the worst, but hoping for the best! Go Cubs!