On Nov. 2, sports fans around the country witnessed the greatest professional baseball game of the century.
World Series Game 7 was played between two historic losers, pitting the Chicago Cubs against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field.
Chicago’s last title was in 1908, while Cleveland’s was in 1948. That totals to 176 years of losing between the two franchises.
When the 10 inning marathon finally ended, the Cubs celebrated like children playing in the snow.
And why not? For the first time in 108 years, the Chicago Cubs are baseball’s World Champions.
The Indians sat in their dugout with only broken hearts and missed opportunities to fill the void of silence.
One could argue, in that moment, the Cleveland Indians and their fans were the saddest people in America.
I beg to differ. Major League Baseball commissioner Robert Manfred should beg to differ.
Because on that Wednesday night, the Chicago Cubs killed baseball.
Maybe that’s a gross exaggeration.
Maybe it isn’t.
What I do know is that the Chicago Cubs erased one of the greatest stories in professional sports history.
Cursed by billy goats and black cats, the Cubs could never seem to win enough, never mind capture a championship.
At times, the Cubs would come close to winning before falling flat on their faces as soon as they came within shouting distance of the top.
For more than a century, the Cubs were the benchmark for disappointment, and a loss in Wednesday’s Game 7 would have given the baseball industry that story line for another season.
The Cubs constantly finishing short was an entertaining and distinctive story line for baseball.
Yes, there are bad franchises, and the Cleveland Indians were one of them, but losing has always been synonymous with the Cubs.
Yet people loved them no matter their terrible history.
Fans appreciate the humor of being terrible because they could watch Chicago’s unceasing misery from afar.
Even Cubs fans — 86 percent of whom found camaraderie in losing, according to a Yahoo Sports poll — often made their lovable losers the rear-end of jokes.
Some may argue the Cubs could turn this title into a dynasty, and dynasties draw people to sports, either through love or hate.
But all things must come to an end, and dynasties are no different.
When the Cubs finally stop winning, they will be like every other average sports team in America.
The Cubs made losing great. And the fans may have to wait another 108 years before some poor franchise makes losing great again.