Support the news

The Duty of the Cubs

This article is more than 12 years old.

Oh, you who bet on horses running far behind the pack,
And those of you with extra millions filling up the sack
Where you have kept your money as it's mostly multiplied...
It's time dump it out and show the Tribune what's inside.
For something north of half a billion, you can have the dream
Of owning baseball's mutt. It's his'try's hapless, hopeless team.
Old timers could explain for you, the charm that is the Cubs...
A team that hasn't won for near a century. While clubs
With much less money, fewer fans, and parks in smaller towns
Have won their rings, the Cubs have wandered as unlucky clowns
All up and down the standings. They have finished everywhere,
Except in first when all the games were done. They just weren't there.

So do I care who buys the Cubs? Do I care who prevails
When all the bidding's over and the Tribune fin'ly bails
On this ursine investment that's increased, I've heard it said,
By some one half a billion? That's a lot of papers, Fred...
I don't. It doesn't matter. It is all the same to me,
As long as that new owner knows enough to clearly see
That he or she has bought a winner only if they lose:
The owners of the Cubs must never goof up and confuse
The act of winning with their mission, with what's needed more --
A team that knows deep in its soul what it's in bus'ness for.

Each year there is a winner, every season someone's first.
That's not to say the Cubs must necessar'ly be the worst,
But they must be a team that falls below the very top,
And then comes back again to show that they, like us, can't stop
Our strugg'ling 'cause we don't prevail; we must get up each day,
And though we know we'll prob'ly lose, we still go out to play.
Oh, once there was another team that helped us know our fate
Was bravely to endure although we knew we'd not be great.
That ball team was the Boston club, but in a recent fall,
The Red Sox lost the script and they went out and won it all,
Which leaves the luckless Cubbies, and whoever buys that team,
Must understand that theirs is not to win and not to dream
Of winning, but to strive and fail in entertaining ways,
So we can go on seeing ourselves in all their future days.

This program aired on April 4, 2007. The audio for this program is not available.

+Join the discussion

Support the news