From eternal hope to possible lost mystique, Chicago Cubs fans rally round

The Chicago White Sox won the 2005 World Series in a four-game sweep of the Houston Astros. It was the first World Series championship for Chicago's American League franchise since 1917, and also the first since then for the city of Chicago.

That was 88 years, although the sentimental outpouring did not equal what had taken place one year earlier when the Boston Red Sox won a World Series for the first time in 86 years (1918).

The Red Sox and their fans had the "Curse of the Bambino" to eliminate. With the White Sox, there was an easy one-liner: They had thrown a World Series since last winning one (the 1919 Black Sox Scandal).

Then the Cubs came along in 2016 and that might have exceeded the New England fanaticism over the Red Sox win. For the Cubs, it had been 108 years (1908) and longer stretches of futility in baseball's post-World War II era.

They rallied from 3-1 down against the Cleveland Indians and won Game 7 in 10 innings — 8-7 in Cleveland. There were wonderful tales of Cubs fans hooking up TVs at the site of graves housing grandparents to watch their beloved Cubbies.

Several of those tales actually might have been true.

"It was probably my greatest night as a sports fan," said Cory Provus, the Twins' radio play-by-play announcer and a Chicago-area native. "One reason is I had a chance to celebrate with him."

"We went to Game 4 at Wrigley," Provus said. "We lost to fall behind 3-1 in the Series. Leaving the ballpark that night, you were thinking, 'There's no chance.' "

The Cubs won the final three games. The Provus contingent was elated. And then came expectations. The parade hadn't been held yet and there were the headlines: "Will the Cubs repeat?"

Provus smiled and said: "Young club … we were thinking, 'This might be a dynasty.' And then ownership kind of went all 'San Diego,' like the previous time the Padres put together a promising club and then broke it all up right away.

"The Cubs … those young stars. Where'd they all go?"

This conversation occurred Friday at Target Field after I came to Provus with a theory:

Before 2016, it wasn't frustration — it was a feeling of being star-crossed, mixed with a streak of eternal hope.

You know? Exactly like fans of the Vikings. The world's out to get us … but some day the Purple will win a Super Bowl.

And then you win, and you're not special anymore. Not only do you want more as a fan, you feel as though you deserve more.

Look at the Red Sox. They have won three more World Series since 2004. The Yankees have won only one in that time. The Red Sox are no more lovable than the Yankees … and in a relic of a ballpark with cramped chairs and aisles.

The Cubs were at Target Field on Friday to a start a three-game series, their fourth visit to this ballpark. There was a need to test my theory on lost mystique, although maybe talking with Cubs fans who had made the trip from the Chicago area to see their team might not have been an objective audience.

Robert Benjamin comes from Niles, Mich. He attended his first Cubs game in 1985, one year after the Cubs blew a 2-0 in a best-of-five NLCS vs. San Diego.

"I don't know … winning the Series was great fun, and they're the same Cubs to me," Benjamin said. "I have a schedule to attend 112 games this season. I'm flying from here to Houston to see that next series."

OK, let's try these two fans over here, talking happily in their Cubs gear — Nikki Jensen and Beth Hartzler from the Chicago area. They looked puzzled at my lost mystique theory and then Jensen said:

"That 2016 Series was pretty good. I lost my husband to a sudden heart attack in 2018, and one of the great memories I'll always have will be celebrating the Cubs winning together."

I'll give up on that note.