By the time you read this, there’s a good chance it could all be over. A magical run come to an end, yielding to a curse more persistent than anyone outside of Chicago could think possible. But Chicago knows. Cubs fans know.
To them, Cleveland’s remarkable 2016 sports year isn’t improbable – it’s fate. Of course Cleveland would win two major sports titles in one year (the Cavaliers in basketball and the Indians in baseball - if they can close out the Cubs). Such a storyline makes the Cubs’ 108-year World Series drought that much more painful. For Cubs fans, the universe is clearly conspiring against them to make their sports agony as intense as possible.
But at the moment, all is not lost. The Cubs won Sunday evening, forcing Game 6 in Cleveland. Win that game on Tuesday night, and Chicago will have created the perfect storyline for Wednesday: a winner-take-all chance to redeem more than a century of frustration for Cubs fans.
Imagine, for just a second, what it must feel like to be one of the Chicago players. They are acutely aware of what is at stake. They know that not only is a World Series ring on the line, but also a chance to make history. If they fail, it will likely be the most painful failure of each of their careers.
Personally, I would love to be a fly on the wall in their locker room. Are they talking about how important these next two games are to Chicago? Or do they make small talk, avoiding any mention of the curse? Perhaps they are upbeat in light of having won Game 5. I’m guessing that they believe in themselves, and they’ll need that confidence.
Even without being there, I’m positive the players aren’t having one particular conversation. There’s no way they are talking about losing.
Sure, they know the odds. Curse or no curse, the Indians are likely to win the World Series at this point, considering they have a one-game lead and home field advantage. But any player saying “Guys, let’s admit it, we are probably going to lose” would get kicked out of the locker room.
And when the players take the field, they’ll do so fully intending to win. They’ll build each other up. Encouragements of “let’s go” and “we’ve got this” will ring out from the dugouts. Everyone will be focused on the chance they have to succeed, not the long odds that they face.
So why not the same with climate change? Why has our social discourse on this issue been so negative? Sure, it’s a significant challenge. Failure to solve climate change will have dramatic and lasting impacts on our natural systems and our ability to live on this planet. But we’d be foolish to focus on that.
I say, “Bring it on, climate change!” Collectively, we will overcome. We have the technology we need to stop it and then reverse it, if we can just scale up and invest properly. And even more climate-friendly technology is being innovated each year. We have a lot going for us.
It’s the bottom of the eighth inning in Game 7, and climate change is leading humanity 6-3. But the heart of our lineup is coming to the plate, and we’ve made late-inning comebacks before. All we need to do is keep our spirits up and redouble our efforts. We’ve got this.
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