DURING THE NEXT two weeks, history is going to be made. Something all of us will remember always.
I’m not talking about the election, I’m talking about the World Series. One team hasn’t won in 68 years and in fact its home city, Cleveland, had no championships in any major sport for more than 50 years until the Cavaliers won it all in June.
Chicago’s drought is even more epic, hard to believe epic, in fact. The Cubs haven’t won the World Series since 1908, 108 years. To give you an idea of how long ago that is, the last time the Cubs won the World Series, the Ottoman Empire was still a thing. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were still a thing.
As a sports editor, one of the more difficult things we have to do is cover losing teams; teams that are struggling with shorthanded lineups, etc. In Friday Harbor, I once had to cover a football team that lost something like 30 games in a row. Often times by scores of 50-0.
Right now, the winless Port Angeles football team is going through a similar struggle.
As a sports writer, it’s a tough job. You don’t mock, you avoid verbs like “slaughtered,” “annihilated,” etc. These are just kids playing for free, for the joy of playing and it’s important to always keep that in mind. I’ve had heated arguments with editors who insisted on ripping bad teams as “awful,” “pathetic” etc. Why do it? Why rub salt in the wound? Save that for the pros.
But, you know what about that Friday Harbor football team? For one year, and one year only when I was there, they were good. They went something like 9-3 and made the second round of the playoffs. That one year was that much sweeter because of all the bad years most of the players had gone through.
Something’s got to give
In the bigger world, two perennial losers are on the cusp on something unforgettable. I knew someone in Montana who was a huge Cleveland fan; he refused to even speak to me when the Indians played the Red Sox in the 2007 ALCS and I think in some ways, he never forgave me when the Red Sox won that series in seven games, like I somehow had something to do with it (And truthfully, I never gloated nor rubbed his nose in it, simply not my style.). I often wonder how crazy he went when first Ohio State, then the Cavs finally won it all.
My favorite bartender in Montana was likewise a huge Cleveland fan. When Cleveland went down 3-1 to the Warriors last year, he told me “that was it. I give up. I’m never cheering for Cleveland again. To hell with it.” When Cleveland came back and won, he insisted it was because he gave up and he vowed he would never cheer for Cleveland again, because when he stopped caring, they won. But I know he was lying to me.
I can relate to both of them, even the guy who gave me the silent treatment. I grew up both a Red Sox and 49ers fan. The 49ers were probably the worst team in the NFL in the 1970s, at one point they went 4-28. Even when they were good, they had heartbreaking losses in the postseason. They once blew a 28-13 lead to the Cowboys in the playoffs. Back in the 50s, they blew a 27-7 lead in the playoffs. This was the ultimate loser franchise.
Then came 1981 and Joe Montana, Bill Walsh, Hacksaw Reynolds, Fred Dean and “The Catch.” I’ll never forget that entire year. I was 16 and it was the year after my dad died. He hated the 49ers and I started cheering for them out of teen defiance. And for a bit, the pain of losing him was eased.
The lifelong losers had become winners. And now they’re back to being losers again, and it appears for a while.
Similarly, I went through ridiculous highs and lows with the Red Sox. I became a fan after Fisk’s home run in Game 6 of the ’75 World Series.
Then I went through Henderson’s home run to beat the Angels in the 86 ALCS, followed by Buckner’s error in the World Series. Then came Grady Little not pulling Pedro in 2003, and at this point, I honestly threw in the towel. I completely gave up. I had my own “that’s it, I give up. To hell with it” moment.
Then, of course, we all know what happened in 2004. The comeback from being down 0-3 to the Yankees and then the sweep over the Cardinals in the World Series. I grabbed ahold of that towel again. I honestly didn’t know how I was supposed to feel afterward. It was almost more of a feeling of relief than euphoria. It felt different from the 49ers win. I was so much younger when that happened, I had forgotten how it felt for your lovable losers to become winners.
One of these days, you fanatical Mariners fans will know that feeling. Maybe soon if the Mariners can make some tweaks to their pitching.
Trust me, kids, Port Angeles football players, going through those rough times will come back and make the winning times that much sweeter, whenever they may come and in whatever form. There’s lessons to be found in perseverance, sportsmanship, being true to oneself, etc.
So, here’s a toast to the losers. May you continue to hope, fight and steel yourself with, “maybe today will be our day.”
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Sports Editor Pierre LaBossiere can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or plabossiere@peninsuladailynews.com.
