Through Both Lenses: It’s Just a (Video) Game

Does Art imitate, mimic or mock Life or Does Life imitate, mimic or mock Art

The first time I saw the Cubs win the World Series Steve Trachsel was the winning pitcher as the north siders swept the Yankees in the 1999 Fall Classic. I saw a crude looking dogpile ensue, Morandini, Sosa, Grace, Gaetti, Wood and Lieber were all involved from what I could see. It was oddly encapsulating, so much so that I put the controller down and let the moment kind of wash over me.

I’ve watched this about 20 times now.

[youtube http://youtu.be/0a9kLDdAot4]

It means nothing. The Cubs aren’t closer to actually winning a World Series. It didn’t actually happen like the 2005 World Series win happened for the White Sox. All of this is an imagined scenario that has played in my head for a longish time now. The Cubs will still, in all likelihood, finish in last place, or damn near close to it this year. The pitching rotation is still awful, they still don’t have a cleanup hitter, and their future rides on a competent front office. There are no players on the current roster that would clearly be on the team that would deliver on the tantalizing scenario that was painted out for you in that video game commercial.

I readily admit all of this. I’m also allowed to enjoy that video clip as something that warmed my own little baseball heart.

You kinda have to be a cranky dick to defecate all over that commercial. I would hate to live my existence as the guy that calls other people out for enjoying hope. That’s all it is, hope. You can see it now, in your head. Cubs uni’s all packing together on a pitcher’s mound, celebrating their own immortality. What kind of asshole spits on that dream? I understand the good-natured ribbing, our own Raul Parra gives it to me all the time about the Cubs. What I don’t understand is the kind of soul it takes to become so jaded that a feel good video cannot be enjoyed by anyone because, well, 2005 happened and that was a real thing.

Stop enjoying things! Stop hoping for a future where that can be a reality!

I won’t, because I’ve done that scenario countless times over countless video games, knowing that the actual team was really far away. I’ve put the controller down to watch my pixelated soldiers celebrate history, just to imagine what it would look like in real life.

To be a Cubs fan is to have an intimate relationship with heartbreak. I’ve stated that we all know the numbers by now, and they don’t really need to be repeated at this point. What we have now is simply hope in a new front office. This commercial is an extension of that hope.

My heart has a soft spot for these types of things. I won’t say that this commercial gave me goosebumps (one of my friends said that it did give here the bumps), but what it did is remove me from the cold analytical world I occupy in March and allow me to dream just a bit about a possibility. It allowed me to forget about who the Cubs should keep and who they should trade at the deadline. It allowed me to forget the PECOTA projections, TAV, WHIP, EqSO/9, all of that. It took me to a place where nothing can go wrong during the summertime. I went back in time and I caught a brief glimpse of myself, looking at the TV screen, watching the Cubs win an improbable World Series, and it made me smile.

Let us enjoy it, it’s all we have.

Episode 008 – ALEXEEEEIII! YES, YES, HISTORY!

In this episode, we forget football ever happened, we review Soxfest, interview Alexei Ramirez and Dayan Viciedo, review a great Chicago brew (not Ronnie Brewer), discuss a lot of baseball, and reveal our favorite sports books of all time.