Curse Words

The curse is over for Cubs fans, and for a few glorious hours, the curse of 2016 was over for all Americans. The Cubs survived being down 3-1 in the World Series, they survived an unlikely Cleveland comeback in Game 7, they survived the collapse of their seemingly invincible closer, they survived Tarpocalypse, and they survived the massive weight of their own cursed history to, at long last, bring joy to Mudville. And Americans got a four-hour break from political news and a much-needed reminder that baseball was our national pastime before we fell in love with the act of destroying our own republic from within. To both the Cubs and the Indians who gave us one of the great nights in baseball history: thanks, we needed that.

+ From me, a few words on the end of the curse: Why was everyone so stressed? The Cubs do this every 108 years like clockwork.

+ “Yes, Game 7 was played on the same day as the annual Catholic holiday to remember and celebrate the dead, and pray for their safe passage from purgatory into heaven. You can’t make this stuff up.” ESPN’s excellent Wright Thompson: In Chicago, the final wait for a Cubs win mixes joy and sorrow.

+ Here’s an idea for a new TV series: Bill Murray’s face watching baseball.

+ Quartz: The Breaker of Curses: No one is as good at their job as baseball’s Theo Epstein is at his. (Chicago and Boston are both Theocracies now…)

+ And thanks to the Internet, we can credit a guy named Gio who made this Twitter prediction two years ago: “2016 World Series. Cubs vs Indians. And then the world will end with the score tied in game seven in extra innings.” When I showed this to my kids after the Indians tied it up, they were unimpressed because Gio failed to give an exact score. (Just to give you an idea of how tough a room I have to play.)