W-O-W

Not even Rex Grossman's incompetence could ruin my sports Sunday. Even as the Bears were getting trounced by Dallas my beer tasted good. You see there come times when sport becomes just plain fun. It makes fans giddy. That is what is happening right now with the Chicago Cubs. The team is rolling and looks to be in a real nice position to capture the franchises first division title and playoff appearance since the memorable 2003 campaign.

Things have changed dramatically in one year on the Northside. Remember the last home game last season? There was more excitement about the off field news (MacPhail being relieved of his duties) than anything the Cubs did. That day John McDonough took the job of Club President and made this bold statement:

"My goal is singular. The purpose of what I've been asked to do is for the Cubs to win the World Series. Not win the wild card or win the division or win the pennant. It's time to win, it's time to win the World Series. It's time to reward these tens of millions of fans who have waited for a long time."

Guess what? 12 months later it looks like Jim Hendry and John McDonough are about to roll snake eyes on the one year turn around. That turnaround began with the hiring of Lou Piniella. An old time/in your face baseball manager with a reputation that proceeded him. Hendry signed several free agents that have panned out amazingly well. JH deserves executive of the year consideration if the Cubs pull this thing off. Yes I just said that.

What can I say about the job the Cubs did this weekend against the Pirate lefthanders. Sunday was the icing on the cake of a great homestand (5-1). What looked like two scary series against the Reds and Bucs ended up being the games that gave the Cubs some distance in NL Central race. As all of you know down in Atlanta, the Braves were taking 3 of 4 from the struggling Brewers. This gives the Cubs a HUGE 3-1/2 game lead with only one week to go in the season.

The Magic Number (or Brewer elimination number) stands at 4. If all goes according to plan later on this week there will be a party in Cubdom.