Learn to persevere a while longer...maybe forever.

Things have turned bad for the Chicago Cubs after two months of playing good baseball. Posting the best record in the major leagues during that momentous stretch. They’ve lost 9 of their last 16 games. Yes, they’ve gone 7-9. Fortunately, first-place Milwaukee has slumped, too. So the Cubs are only one game out of first. But one of the Cubs' best hitters, Alfonso Soriano, tore a quadriceps muscle in his leg Sunday, and he’ll be out for up to six weeks. The Cubs missed Soriano’s bat and lost 2-1 to Houston in 10 innings last night. Things are starting to go sour. The vibes aren’t good. Yes, so-called shit happens. In baseball. In life. Some of us let that get us down. Others find a way to cope. I’m not sure the Cubs as a team will learn to compensate, and make up for the loss of a key player. The team, as a whole, may begin to feel sorry for itself. The Cubs did that last season, when perhaps the team’s best hitter, Derrek Lee, broke his wrist and sat out for two months. Yes, the Cubs have to learn to tell themselves that a good team finds a way to not only survive, but to succeed. To cope. To make the best of bad situations. To overcome adversity. But I don’t personally get my hopes built up over the Cubs’ future. Because I have no control over how the Cubs play. Oh, yes, I wish this were the year that the Cubs win the World Series for the first time in 99 years. But alas, it may not happen because the baseball gods choose to not let it happen. It ain’t time yet for Cubs fans to be jubilant. To get a feel for Nirvana. The baseball gods may be teaching Cubs fans a lesson. Learn to persevere a while longer…maybe forever. –Jim Broede