THE AGONY OF DEFEAT

On Sunday, October 7, 1984 I was at O’Hare field on my way home from Bermuda. My wife and I had front row tickets to see the Tigers play in the World Series. We were anxious to see if their opponent would be the Chicago Cubs or the San Diego Padres. When are got off the plane at O’Hare there were Chicago Cubs fans everywhere. It seemed like everyone we saw had some kind of clothing with a Cub logo. Every TV was turned to the Cub game and people held their breath with every pitch. It was the first postseason appearance by the Cubs since 1945. The Cubs had won the first two games, but then lost the next two. This was it. Winner take all, loser go home.

Keep in mind that Cubs fans were more than a little used to disappointment. But in this game Leon Durham hit a two-run homer in the first and Rick Sutcliffe, who was 17-1 during the regular season was on the mound. He only gave up two infield hits through the first five innings. What could possibly go wrong? Surely the curse of “Billy the Goat” had finally been overcome.

True Cub fans should have known better. The Padres scored two runs in the sixth. Then in the seventh inning, the Goat got his revenge. Carmelo Martinez scored the tying run when Tim Flannery hit a sharp ground ball that went under the glove of Leon Durham. By the time the inning was over the Padres led 6 to 3. The San Diego Padres went to the World Series, for the first time ever. The CUBs, well they went home.

By the time we caught our flight, O’Hare had morphed from the happiest place on earth to the temple of doom. All of the Cubs signs and logo disappeared within seconds. In an incredibly short period of time we couldn’t even find anyone who admitted to rooting for the Cubs. I talked to some of the people who had been wearing Cubs gear just a few minutes ago and asked them what happened. They all made similar comments. We should have known better than to get our hopes up in the first place. Some of them had literally brought a change of clothes just in case. I haven’t seen anything like that since, until now. One just needs to look at the whining howls of desperation by liberal Democrats. The look on their faces is remarkably similar to that on those Cubs fans in the 7th inning. They still hold a tiny shred of hope, but deep down they fear the impending doom.

Judge Kavanaugh will be confirmed tomorrow and the whole world will realize that Democrats lost, again. This defeat is magnified because of the numerous times Democrats told everyone why they couldn’t afford to lose this one. Why this mistake may last for decades. That is why they promised to stop this, no matter what it takes. We now know that it takes someone or something other than them. Don’t be surprised if the disappointment turns to outrage. Sadly, there are likely to be violent protests from the illogical and uninformed masses. The good news is that outrage will be directed more toward Democrats than Republicans. Yes, Republicans are the evil villains in this script, but Democrats are the people who let them down at the worst possible time.

What are Democrats going to do? Pretend it didn’t matter after all? Or how about doubling down on insanity by campaigning with a promise to impeach Brett Kavanaugh for something? That would be nothing short of mass suicide but it may be the only option that prevents left wing Democratic base from disappearing faster than Cubs fans in 1984.

Watch and enjoy. The agony of defeat is all too real for those on the losing side, but their agony just makes the sweet sweet smell of victory linger even longer.

TDM