The Audacity Of Hope Poem by michael spangenberg

For those who think baseball is just a
game of foolish men playing around with
their balls, think twice, Finally.

They had it, they blew it, then a 17-minute rain delay.
After waiting 108 years, what was another 17 minutes?
With more twists & turns than a San Francisco street
It wasn't the way they had drawn it up, but they did it.

After 108 years of waiting, the Chicago Cubs won the
2016 World Series with a wild 8-7,10-inning Game 7
Victory over the Indians, the real ones? No, they're
made completely extinct in the battle of Wounded Knee
Two Wrigley chewing gums for the price of one.

Did the Cubs sell their souls in pursuit of a championship?
Three months and hundreds of triple-digit fastballs later
Few were debating Mephisto's move.

A roller-coaster of emotions spilled out in a game
That lasted almost five hours, featuring some wacky plays
A blown four-run lead, and some 10th unsavory heroics
That last minute sealed the deal.

It was a perfect ending for a franchise that had waited
Forever for just one championship
- Your father's stomach never will be the same.

Tears flowed across Cubs Nation after the final out
Fans responded with the world's biggest group hug
Remembering all the loved ones who could only imagine
What it would be like to experience this moment of pure bliss.

The curse of the billy goat expired, black cat too. And what was the Name of the foul-ball dude? No matter. It was never really his fault
Now he's just a footnote in Cubs history.

One-hundred and eight years is a long time, and Cubs fans have Suffered through a lot of bad baseball before getting to this day
The catchphrase fans uttered over the last century & change
'Just one before I die, ' a plea that fell on deaf ears decade after Decade, Well, fans can die in peace now, thanks to Cubs.

2016 is the year, the year of the Cubs, the audacity of hope
They've been waiting for the DoJ antitrust department
To come in and get them, they conspired before the season
Even started. This is the year of April Folds, June Swoons
Not to mention partisan FBI's October innuendo Surprises.

It was one for the ages, for not-fanatic sport fans too
Cubs landslide victory keeps the fire of Hope alive
With 108 years of patience so gloriously rewarded
How can one not believe in carrying on
Fight against the odds - against injustice.

They say the surest way to make a dream
Come true is to design it dream, pursue it
Then live it to the fullest extent, life's too short
What Che Guevara said about the revolution
It's not an apple that falls when it is ripe
You got to make it fall, go-for-it-like-crazy.

All those in disbelief that impossible
Dreams cannot, somehow, come true
That mercy cannot embrace justice
That women cannot become US president
That climate change cannot be curbed
That economic equality cannot be achieved
November 2016 are totally blown-into-rags
Defeated by beloved all-time loser, Cups
Pre-eminent team at the upper hand
writing history by tremendous victory.

Footnote - Credit where credit's due: this is a poetic variation
Based on Paul Sullivan's pretty amazing sport journalism
Chicago Tribune, November 3,2016.