Break-Up? No, I Just Wanted to Take a Break...

Dear Cubs.

We need to talk. I think I owe you an apology. After Thome hit that home run on Sunday, I said some things I'm not proud of. For that I am truly sorry, but you have to understand how frustrated you were making me.

As you finished up your series with Atlanta, we were having the time of our lives. Remember? Oh how we laughed as you completed the sweep of the Braves. We were on top of the world then. 19 games over .500 with an 11 game home winning streak and your longest losing streak at that point was only 2 games. Then you went on that trip up to Toronto. It's a terrible place to play and I could tell you missed home. But you toughed it out. That made me so proud. But that's when the trouble started.

You headed down to Tampa and it's like you became a totally different team. Do you remember our first fight? I remember it like it was yesterday. After losing a close first game, I should have noticed the early warning signs in game 2. First Johnson has back spasms, then Edmonds hurts his foot and then Z is pulled out with shoulder trouble. Z! I was so worried it was making me sick, but I still had faith in you. You had been so good to me all year that I knew you could bounce back. But you didn't. It's like you were trying to hurt me. 7 runs in the 7th? Was that some sort of joke? I was so angry when that game ended I could spit, but I told myself that you deserved my support. You had earned it. It was, after all, your first 3 game losing streak of the year and you were coming home to play the White Sox.

I was so excited for you to be back home that I could barely sleep that night. What a weekend! I mean, the walkoff HR and then those two straight DOMINATING wins! Unreal! It was like I had you back. Maybe it was all the travel that made you so bad in Tampa. "Maybe things will go back to normal now," I thought. I was confident you had righted the ship and with Baltimore coming to town, I knew in my heart that the worst was over.

Boy was I wrong. After losing two out of three to the Orioles (seriously, the Orioles!) I thought maybe you would at least show up against your crosstown rivals over the weekend. Not a chance. Do you know how embarrassing it is for me to root for you when you play like that? Did you even think of my feelings when you were serving up gopher ball after gopher ball? Did you even consider how much you hurt me with your sloppy defense and base-running gaffes? You didn't did you? Typical.

So, yes...after Thome hit that home run I turned off the TV. I cursed you and your lousy rotation. I bitched about Aramis' lack of hitting, your costly mistakea and all the other things you did wrong over the past two weeks. I prayed for rain outs in SF and St. Louis. What did you expect? But then I crossed the line. I said that I wasn't going to watch you play anymore. I meant it at the time sure, but when I woke up the next morning I realized that I had made a mistake. You've had so many injuries during this bad stretch and who knows, if one wild pitch had bounced a different way or if they hadn't decided to use semi-drunk minor league umps on Sunday, we might not be even having this discussion.

Unfortunately, being the stubborn man I am, I couldn't back down from my boycott. I had to show you that you had hurt me. So I did it. No TV, no radio...I even ignored my fantasy teams. It was hard. I kept wanting to peek at a score, but I couldn't. Then this morning, I turned on WGN news and saw that you won! I was so happy for you it was like I was floating. But then it hit me.

You won without me. You didn't need me cheering every hit or fretting over every pitch. I started to wonder, "Am I the reason you lost those games?" I know it sounds crazy, but I was truly worried.

That's why I wrote you this letter. I wanted to make sure that it was OK with you that I watched tonight. I know I was a jerk and you have every right to be mad. Just say the word and I'll stay away from you as long as you want. If you think I'm a jinx, so be it. But if you can find it in your heart to forgive me, I'd love to be able to watch you play tonight. So what do you say? Can you cut this overly-obsessed, borderline insane and apparently really long-winded fan a break for old time's sake?

Go Cubs.