I have grown up awash in a sea of Cubbie blue. My mother gave me the oral history of her family’s love affair with the Cubs. I was parked in front of the TV each year things went great, and then fell apart. 1989, 1998, 2003 — lord help me, 2008, 2015.

I was also in front of thE TV last night. As the game ended, I had man-tears hiding behind my eyelids. I called my mother — who is 60. She was bawling. That paragraph should tell you all you need to know.