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Hurricane aids Cubs' turnaround

Pat Murray

Hurricane Ike blew everything in its wake off course, including this column.

I was halfway through a piece about the perils of a Division I-A program such as the Miami University RedHawks scheduling a game against a Division I-AA program such as the Charleston Southern University Buccaneers. Then the winds came.

Inspired by the storm here in Oxford, I decided that I would write about the situation in Houston and on the Texas Coast instead. Despite the damage done by Hurricane Ike, Astros owner Drayton McLane pushed strongly for Major League Baseball to leave last weekend's series between the his team and the Chicago Cubs in Houston instead of moving it to a safer location.

I criticize McLane for putting finances and baseball ahead of the good of his community. As he said to The Houston Chronicle before the storm made landfall, "This could be the biggest series in the history of this season. And the fans would be a tremendously inspirational force for our players."

Both teams are in pennant races, and moving the games to Milwaukee would certainly swing some mojo the Cubs' way. Instead of playing at home in front of their own fans, Astros were forced to travel to Wisconsin and play in a stadium affectionately dubbed as 'Wrigley North' for the overwhelming amount of Chicago fans there that easily made the short trip across the border.

As it turns out, the Cubs caught a little more than some mojo, as Carlos Zambrano no-hit the Astros up in Milwaukee Sunday night.

I got to see about three pitches. The "emergency power" in the dorms kicked on just minutes before the game ended. I walked into a room with ESPN on the TV. Two of my friends, Cub Faithful both, were sitting there and instructed me not to say a word. A few minutes later: pandemonium in Milwaukee, Chicago and at least one room in Oxford, Ohio.

It was the first no-hitter for a Chicago Cub in 36 years- a gap of an eternity for most teams, but a blink of an eye for this Chicago franchise that has not won the National League Pennant since 1945 and has not won a world series since 1908.

But can one game turn around the winds of fortune for a team that has struggled recently and has such a great burden of history to shoulder?

Perhaps the person who would have the best idea is the man of the hour, Carlos Zambrano. In respect to whether or not he could have pitched as successfully if the game was played at its originally scheduled location in Houston, the Chicago ace likened his performance to a magic trick.

"I don't know," Zambrano said to The Chicago Tribune, "we'll have to ask Criss Angel, or Houdini, I don't know ..."

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Zambrano's words echo the sentiment of many people, Cub fans and baseball fans alike, when it comes to where this team is headed. The past hundred years have been a wild and, at times, painful ride for the team and its fans. Who is to say where this year's installment will end?

As far as the Century of Struggles is concerned, if it won't end now, then when can it come to a close? As Steve Goodman sang in his signature tune, "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request," "the law of averages says: anything will happen that can."

If it doesn't happen this year, it shouldn't happen.


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