I'm being put to a loyalty test.

Baseball can be a maddening game. Exhilerating, too. Take my Chicago Cubs. Yesterday, they lost 12-0 to Anaheim. Stunk up the joint. Played terrible baseball. Today, they beat Anaheim, 12-1. Played almost flawless baseball. Smelled like roses. I'm a diehard Cubs fan. I threaten almost daily to renounce my allegiance. But I always come back. The next day. For more suffering. The Cubs taunt us. They've lost 16 games this season by margins of one run. The most in the major leagues. If they had won half of those games, they'd have 8 more wins and 8 fewer losses. They'd be in the thick of the pennant race. The Cubs find ways to lose. In tough and heart-breaking ways. Maybe that's by design. The aim is to put Cubs fans to a test. To a loyalty test. --Jim Broede-