2016 is the most looked-forward-to of any Cubs' season I can remember.

This isn't about looking back on a Cubs season and judging it that way.
LIke in '96 when the Cubs were 74-72 on September 13th but then lost 14 out of 16 including sweeps by the Cards and Reds and the summer was completely ruined.
You wouldn't know what a horrible year that was until it turned horrible.
You have to discipline your thinking to what you were thinking about the upcoming season before it happened.
How much were you looking forward to it.

You could call it "expectations", but that's giving this thought too much credit.
Because for the vast majority of our Cub Fan lives, we already knew the Cubs were going to be awful.
So the looking-forward-to part might not necessarily be all about wins and losses.

Like, for the entire '80s?
Those were fun, innocent years.
I looked forward to beer, a couple wins, some sun, and more beer.
If they won... we were so lucky!
When the Cubs actually turned out to be good in '84 and '89... I didn't know that would happen.
Al Gore had yet to invent the internet, and who knew what Dallas Green was doing in the winter.
Yes there was Ryno and Grace and Sutcliffe and Dunston and Andre - some of your all-time fav Cubs.
But there also seemed to be lotsa luck.
That whole '80s deal seemed to be kind of a Pete Rose line drive that happened to bounce off Lee Smith's back and turn into a game-ending double play.
And more beer.

The '90s were OK.
But honestly there wasn't much to look forward except your basic "I can't wait for baseball" because baseball.

On the other hand, I was absolutely looking forward to the Cubs going to the Series in '04.
They'd come so close in '03.
In '04 they had the same basic group of guys - I was so positive about it I couldn't even talk about it or I'd jinx it away from them.

2008 we were all looking forward to an awesome season, for sure they'd win the division and then maybe...

2015 was... the wild card year.
Totally something to look foward to and we've talked about it to death.
We knew some of the kids were coming and if they were unlucky then they'd Corey Patterson, you know?
But they didn't, did they?
Nobody knew that in January, though - I certainly didn't think they'd do as well as they did.

Conversely at the '09 Cubs Convention when we all listened to Lou talk about needing to be more left handed, so lets pick up an already documented crazy person lefty bat in Milton Bradley.
And dump cool right handed guys like DeRo.
I wasn't looking forward to that year.
Not at all.
Jim Hendry ruined it long before the season started.

I didn't count any of the recent rebuilding/throw-away years in the drawing.
(Duh, nobody looked forward to that.)

And I cheated on 2005 because nobody, especially me, could know that that year would end up being the pinnacle of terrible with the White Sox vs Astros in the World Series.
Didn't I get athsma and have hernia surgery that year too?

But now, we have 2016.
I believe there has never been a more looked-forward-to season.
For me, I'll include any sport, too.
The end of the '84 Bears season with the loss to the Niners and Singletary doing the "we'll be back" thing - that had me really looking forward to '85.
Probably that was the former all time champ in the looking-forward-to seasons.
Not now though.
This Cubs team is loaded like never before in my life.
I have never, ever looked forward to any season as much as I do this one.

Like there's an apple pie in the oven.
Smell that?
I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Comments

[Kevin Johnson]

Just. Stay. Healthy.

Those are the words I'll be uttering all year like a mantra.

As long as we stay healthy, the sky is the limit.

I remember '04 like it was yesterday. Non-stop bad luck. And yet, we still won 89 games. That team would've won 105 games if Kerry and Prior had stayed healthy...

Oh, and if we had re-signed Lofton and dumped Patterson.

But anyway... water under the bridge.

2016. I'm ready.

[Donna]

I put up my new calendar and noticed that Monday is February, which means Spring Training is coming. I simply cannot wait for baseball!!

[Bud]

We play too...

Ballplayers play at baseball. We play at rooting for baseball.

The worst games to play were the ones where you knew going in that you were about to get your ass kicked...like that pickup three on three basketball game I was in once when my two teammates were a guy who's 5'-5" on tiptoes and another guy with a beer belly and a 4" vertical leap. Our opponents were 3 douches, ex-college players...givin' us the whole swag routine.

Guess who won?

So now I'm playing at rooting for our Cubs (like we do every year). And guess what? Our fans are positively LOADED! We expect to win. Bring on the Cards and Bucs fans... we're ready to compete!

Winners out. First to 20 pts. wins. You guys go ahead and take it out.

U can't touch this...

[Rich Beckman]

I got a good laugh from your painting, Tim. More laughs from the text! Thanks!

I look forward to getting lots of good laughs from this upcoming season (for some reason, a few years ago I started laughing heartily when good things happen to my teams.)

Here's a quick Youtube of the Pete Rose shot off of Lee Smith for the double play:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3gnuDuWV5A

[Tim@Cubby Blue]

I'm SO GLAD to hear you say that, Kevin.
Sometimes I think I'm nuts.
To me, up until last year and what's going on now, 2003 was my personal fav best year ever as a Cub fan.
That's not a looking forward to thing.
Even with the painful end, that's a look back at the year thing.
And 2004.
Shit man.
It was in the bag.
Except for what you bring up.

[Tim@Cubby Blue]

Good GOD THIS IS GOING TO BE SO COOL.
I cannot wait to savor every W, Donna.
Plus, all the cool things that'll happen as we watch the team form.
Spring hurry!

[Tim@Cubby Blue]

I sense your excitement, Bud Jordan.
Coming soon!

[Tim@Cubby Blue]

Do you remember that play?
Can you believe how cool the internet is?
Because you could be at a bar somewhere trying to explain that and nobody would believe you.
Just... awesome.