Next year's here. Already?

They say that the greatest four words a baseball fan wants to hear is "pitchers and catchers report".

Yes, spring training is upon us.

I'm a baseball fan. Big time. I'm also a Cubs fan, and that bugs me more and more as the (futile) years go by.

Unless you've been living in a cave, to paraphrase the disgraced A-Rod, and you have any interest in Cubs baseball, then it's likely that you know that the single-game tickets go on sale on February 20. I say, "So what?" We're not gonna fall for this again.

Are we?

I sure hope not. My active love for the team (meaning showing up to Wrigley) has been waning over the last few seasons. I have not gone very much at all, actually. Tickets are hard to come by, first of all. Unless you are able to spend some time, IN FEBRUARY, making all of your baseball plans (summer, right?), good luck getting seats. Sure, you can always "get" seats, but you know that they don't come cheap, and it IS going to cost you.

Just as an aside, the brokers really tick me off, but that's another story altogether; please don't get me started on THAT (Wrigley Premium Ticketing. Ugh, give me a break. Don't even try to tell me that they are a separate entity from the Chicago National League Ball Club).

Secondly, and more importantly, the Cubs are the Cubs. Every year is supposedly THE year. Last year was going to be the ultimate: the 100 year anniversary, AND a World Series win. It was boldly predicted in the team clubhouse last February, ala Ryan Dempster, and the team choked.

Again.

In the exact same fashion as the year before.

Three and out.

Dempster is still on the team, by the way. For his sage-like insight, I'm sure.

The whole season comes down to that. Some have said that the idea of "Cubbie culture" and the "lovable loser" moniker are behind Chicago Cubs fans, and that the expectations from the fans are now higher and loftier. The team is supposedly being held accountable, now, for all of the years of faithful futility on our, the fans', part.

I somehow doubt that.

The seats will sell very quickly next week. Maybe sell out the season altogether. It is certainly not a far-fetched notion. The so-called "greatest fans in the world" really are fans of Wrigley Field and all it has to offer. That's the truth. It's not really about love for the team, I don't think.

But so what, I suppose. Wrigley really is the coolest, no doubt. We go there every summer because of that. The sun, the ivy, the 'hood, all of it. We have a blast. Heck, I'm even excited about Billy Joel and Elton John playing a concert there (huh, you are?). I saw the Police two summers ago, which melted my face with it's righteous awesomeness, so I know how cool it is for concerts.

Then the season will be over, with the likely outcome being that the Cubs did not, yet again, win it all, just like last year, and just like next year.

Just wait.

So it goes...