|
CHICAGO (AP) #8212;To the list of the most famous figures in the long history ofthe Chicago Cubs #8212;which to date include a beer-loving announcer best known forbellowing #8220;Take Me Out To The Ballgame, #8221; a goat that wasn #8217;t allowed into agame and a fan who bobbled a foul ball #8212;we now can add the name Theo Epstein.A newcomer who never swung a bat or pitched a ball in the majo football online r leagues, theCubs #8217; new president of baseball operations had fans scrambling to buy Epsteinjerseys #8212;at least until Major League Baseball told vendors to knock it off.Chicago faithful are even hoping (stop us if you #8217;ve heard this before) thatmaybe they can do something their parents and grandparents never did: Live longenough to see the Cubs win the World Series. #8220;I #821 football online 7;m 84, how much longer can I wait? #8221; said Minnette Goodman, a lifelongfan whose son, the late folk singer Steve Goodman, wrote the upbeat #8220;Go CubsGo #8221; that #8217;s played after every Cubs win. Of course, he also wrote #8220;A Dying CubFan #8217;s Last Request #8221; as well.For all the excitement, augmented by the 37-year-old Epstein standing strongin front of Wrigley Field #8217 football online ;s famed ivy-covered wall, fans of the team that hasn #8217;twon it all since 1908 are also trying to keep their expectations in check #8212;somemore successfully than others. #8220;They #8217;ve been promised so much so many times, they #8217;re waiting to see whatthey #8217;re going to get before they #8217;re jumping for joy, #8221; said John Klebba, a cookat Murphy #8217;s Bleachers, a tavern football online just across the street from the statute of thelate announcer Harry Caray and the centerfield entrance to Wrigley #8217;s bleachers.Then, as another worker hung Christmas lights #8212;since things are usuallyquiet around here at World Series time #8212;Klebba finished an age-old saying witha decidedly Cubs-like twist: #8220;Fool me for 103 years, shame on me. #8221;Others are trying to keep things football online in perspective, too. #8220;I #8217;m not saying I have hope, I won #8217;t say that, #8221; said Steve Rhodes, alongtime fan whose Chicago-oriented Web site once posted a song #8220;Please StopBelievin #8221; #8217; when he sensed Cubs fans thought the team might actually make theplayoffs.But it #8217;s hard to keep the optimism in check. Rick Kaempfer sure can #8217;t. #8220;I would describe it football online as unbridled giddiness, #8221; said Kaempfer, creator ofjustonebadcentury.com, the logo of which is a Cub with a big tear on its cheek.Epstein sure has a sparkling resume. He was named the youngest general inmajor league history when he joined the Boston Red Sox in 2002 at the age of 28.Two years later, he was the youngest GM to win it all as the Red Sox broke along championship drought of their football online own #8212;86 years, not unlike the misery Cubsfans have famously endured.Under Epstein #8217;s guidance, Boston went 839-619 in the regular season and a34-23 in the playoffs, winning more than 90 games in all but two seasons. Ofcourse, Epstein presided over two of the biggest meltdowns in baseball history,the 2003 ALCS loss to the Yankees and last month #8217;s disaster in which the Red Soxblew a football online nine-game lead for a wild-card spot and failed to make the playoffs. Noteam had ever done that before.The Cubs went on a $300 million spending spree before the 2007 season andwon two straight division titles #8212;before being swept in the first round bothseasons. The last two years have been a disaster and Epstein is looking mightygood to Cubs fans. And who can #8217;t like a guy who once fled Fe football online nway Park in agorilla suit on Halloween after a tiff over his contract extension went public?He resigned and stayed away from the team for several months before returning tohis old job.To Kaempfer, it #8217;s not that Cubs fans don #8217;t understand they could be settingthemselves up for a fall. It #8217;s just that the same fans who knew the Cubs wouldnot reach the World Series the instant Steve football online Bartman deflected that foul ball inthe 2003 playoffs #8212;even though that was in Game 6 and Chicago had anotherchance #8212;let themselves time and time again believe that everything will beperfect. #8220;It #8217;s like being at a wedding and seeing this beautiful bride come in withall her hopes and dreams, #8221; he said. #8220;You know she hasn #8217;t found out about thedirty socks and the football online flatulence, but on this day I #8217;m happy for her. #8221;Cubs fans are quick to point out some differences between the situationEpstein is walking into now and what he walked into in Boston. Sure, they say,there are similarities, starting with the dueling curses (Billy Goat in Chicagoand Bambino in Boston).But Epstein is not inheriting players like slugger Manny Ramirez(notes) or starpitcher Pe football online dro Martinez(notes), guys who were already in place. #8220;The reason (they won) is they had good ball players, #8221; said Sam Sianis,the owner of the famed Billy Goat Tavern, whose uncle put the curse on the Cubswhen they wouldn #8217;t let his pet goat attend the 1945 World Series.Of course, even if Epstein stocks up on the kind of players that could makea contender of the Cubs, Sianis said he football online might not want to follow the lead ofprevious team executives who have turned down his offers to bring a goat over toWrigley Field to lift the curse. Or, he said, Epstein at least might want toavoid repeating a mistake of 1984 when the Cubs did not take let him accompanythe team to San Diego to finish the Padres after taking the first two games of abest-of-five-game playoff series. #8220;And look w football online hat happened? #8221; he said. #8220;They lost three games. #8221;For now, though, thanks in part to the film #8220;Moneyball, #8221; guys who pull thestrings behind the scenes can grab the stage sometimes. One paper this weekwrote about Epstein in a story titled #8220;The Cubs Latest Rock Star. #8221; #8220;How can it not be exciting? #8221; asked Rhodes, before quickly finding thecloud to go w football online ith the silver lining. #8220;We know something #8217;s going to go terriblywrong but it #8217;s still one of thee most exciting things that #8217;s happened to thisfranchise in a long time. #8221; Follow Yahoo! Sports' MLB coverage on Twitter. Updated Oct 29, 4:09 pm EDT football online
|