This is Why I want the Braves to Lose

I had tickets to Wrigley, Game 4 in 1998.

Swept in three. By the Braves.

It was the worst that night in that Hampton Inn motel room next to Midway, watching the Cubs lose game three. I felt so bad, because I felt like I'd dragged my family to Chicago for nothing.

And for that reason, the Cubs' losing actually got to me.

You bullshit yourself. You tell yourself that it was cool to get to go see Wrigley the morning after, when it seemed so empty and gray and cold. We ate at McDonald's, and Mom got interviewed under the marquee by WGN. She told them we'd come all the way from Tennessee. You tell yourself it was fun to go see the Shedd Aquarium when the Cubs should have been playing. You say it's alright to go to Navy Pier.

And I think we all felt that way.

And as nice as it was...and with all apologies to my family....and as much as I know that it's just a game, and not all that important in the scheme of things...it was one of my least favorite days I've ever spent.

And I hold nothing against the Braves, exactly.

Living in the south, the Braves kind of end up in your consciousness all the time, and I'm a forgiving soul, believe it or not. I hold no true ill will against the Braves, per se.

But it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I could watch a Braves game and not think about that night, in the Hampton Inn next to Midway, where I actually took the Cubs' losing to heart.

We have the opportunity to take it back.

And I'll be there for it.

We'll make Javy Lopez eat his words.