Passion of the Cubs Started Early – Too Early

By: Chicago Sports Review

For Chicago Cubs cronies, the controversy surrounding Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson’s new film, is old news. Sacrilegious, sure, but Northsiders have been for weeks dealing with the Passion — of the Cubs.Perhaps the greatest threat to the success of either? Overwhelming expectations.

Gibson’s film is purported to contain the most graphic and realistic representation of the last hours of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, savior of mankind. The finest yet depiction of The Greatest Story Ever Told? Those are some serious expectations.

Chicago’s North Side is expecting the resurrection of championship baseball, through Maddux of Wrigley, and his host of followers. Maddux is a Cubs resurrection story himself, returning to Wrigley as he nears the end.

Clark and Addison has been a baseball sanctuary for years. Well, there have certainly been countless prayers placed there.

It’s also been the Woodstock of baseball. Rabid fans, high on loyalty and drunk on, well, beer, fill the venue to see performers of the highest level, though most haven’t performed at their best.

In years prior to last, expectations for next season would surface around May, when the Cubs were already effectively eliminated from the playoffs. Those expectations were thus given time to simmer and fade to some degree. This is a franchise still looking for its first back-to-back winning seasons since 1971-72. Now, however, fans are faced with a team that played deep into October last year, and then amazingly, spent an off-season fine-tuning a roster with aspirations to go the distance.

Even pundits in the national media, typically forecasting failure, have admitted the sins and curses of the North Side may soon be forgiven and forgotten.

Scary, because even the Cubs themselves have to admit it, pushing passion levels out of control. However, cheery Cubs should learn to take a page from the Lou Holtz handbook of self-deprecation to keep the passion palatable.

Instead of Dusty Baker claiming that he has five pitchers that are capable of winning twenty games, as he did this week, we’d prefer he state that he has five pitchers who haven’t proven a darn thing. Say it Dusty, “Maddux has one ring, but that’s not much considering he was with the Braves. The rest of ‘em…ain’t done a thing!”

Please don’t push this passion prematurely out of control.

Then there was Sammy claiming, in the midst of baseball’s potentially scarring steroid scandal no less, that he was so excited he actually lifted weights in December for the first time. (Who needs a Woodward and Bernstein for BALCO with statements like that?)

Sammy, finally excited? This is the in-house Tazmanian Devil, sprinting out to fire up fans between every inning, making groundskeepers consider airbags on the right field wall.

And not to be outdone, a front office that historically plays Pilate when things get ugly, never claiming responsibility for a tragedy, suddenly has grown decisive. For two consecutive years, the Tribsters have (slowly) relented, allowed the payroll to inch higher, and have given GM Jim Hendry a reasonable proxy for true flexibility. This is not the Bronx, but it isn’t quite the old Chicago either.

The Cubs have addressed holes, gone after free agents, and even (gasp) begun discussions with the intent to sign their core of preternaturally talented pitchers to long-term deals.

This is scary. Expectations. No, like, real expectations. This is the kind of thing Yankees fans deal with. This is what Braves fans experience. These are not the kind of sick apparitions that can be dissolved away in a bath of Old Style.

No, current Cubs fantasies can only melt away while awash in champagne.

For true fans of a team that usually makes water out of wine - instead of the other way around - the expectations are frightening.

The Passion is here, and like the controversy surrounding Mel’s version, it doesn’t appear to be vanishing any time soon.

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