Six years ago tonight, I was happy. Unthinkingly happy. Unconsciously happy. It was a haze of bliss then, and it’s a warm feeling now.
I imagine that, someday, when November 2 rolls around and I think about the anniversary it marks, I might be filled with more sadness than happiness. There would come a point – some year in the future, couldn’t say yet exactly how long it would take – when the distance from November 2, 2016 will feel so vast that I can no longer just be at peace on a day like this. I mean, obviously ‘1908’ at some point became a negative thing rather than a ‘woot woot we won this thing in 1908, baby!‘ thing.
Six years isn’t long enough, thankfully, and I look up at the various Cubs World Series artwork and trinkets and pictures around my office and just smile. That World Series, and especially its conclusion, was such a happy, happy, happy time. I still like what I wrote after the win.
OK. But. Pretty soon I’m going to want the Cubs to make another deep postseason run so I can lean on more recent anniversaries. A thing is often special precisely because it is rare, but I am pretty sure I would fully and completely appreciate another World Series win after, say, seven or eight years. That’s enough time for me …
If you’re looking to re-live any of Game Seven, Marquee is going to be airing the whole thing tonight at 7:30 pm CT. The hook? It’s going to be the Pat-and-Ron audio for the broadcast, which was Pat Hughes’ idea.
Ian Happ won his first career Gold Glove last night after his outstanding season in left field. It was a really, really poor crop of defenders this season, but this isn’t a situation where Happ was simply best of the worst – he was really good, by the eye test and by the metrics. And I am still thinking a lot about how he suggested that knowing he was going to be locking down left field in 2022, rather than moving between center and left, really helped him max out his defensive performance there. Moving around isn’t for everyone, but that isn’t levied as a criticism; some guys just wind up at their best when they have the perfect position, for them, to focus on.
Happ credited Jason Heyward with helping him a great deal defensively in his development as an outfielder:
Also, love this quote from Happ on how his little kid self would wonder what the heck was up (): “Little kid Ian would probably be wondering why I’m playing left field and not shortstop,” Happ quipped. “But his expectations were pretty high. I grew up watching Omar Vizquel highlights and thinking that his accomplishments with the glove were the coolest thing in baseball. … To be able to have this one on the mantel and to have the award with my name on it is really, really cool.”
Looks like the Cubs to me:
Want:
For any of you in Maryland, FanDuel is offering a pre-registration bonus of $100 just for signing up. You’ll have it in your account when sports betting launches. So there you go.
I’ve gotta believe if you were tipping this obviously in today’s game, even if you were throwing 99 mph with a good slider, you would have some issues. Even if players and coaches didn’t pick it up immediately, the video analysts would:
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