Featured Live Performance of the Week - The Chicago Cubs

Yep - this week only - we are going way off the rails of this feature - and talking about the Chicago Cubs.

Admittedly, I'm not a huge follower of Major League Baseball.  I follow Minor League Baseball, but not so much on the MLB side.  So, for 162 games of the year, all I knew about the Cubs was what I read on social media and in the news.  I knew they were having a STELLAR season and won over 100 games - but that's about it.  I knew their fans were excited, more than I have seen in the 4+ decades I've known of the Cubs.

But I started watching in the post-season.  Heck, they are from Chicago, and Chicago is my most favorite city of all time ever, hands-down.

What I saw was a group of grown men, wait, scratch that, a TEAM of grown men, playing the game with the same enthusiasm and excitement as the 9 and 10 year olds in the local empty lot.  The team exuded pure love for the game.  This wasn't just guys having fun BECAUSE they were winning - no - this was a team winning BECAUSE they love the game.  You could see it after every hit, every play, and 100-fold after every great play or huge hit.  There was excitement, there was passion, there was emotion, there was a pure love for the game.  And not just by some random superstar on the team - but from every player, on the field, in the bullpen, or on the bench - from every coach from the Manager to the positions coach.  Just watching from TV, you could FEEL the joy of the game.

These guys were playing baseball the way it was meant to be played.  Baseball has always embodied summer - the freedom of summer, the joy of summer break, the spectacular weather, and time with friends.  Kid or adult - summer equals fun. And Cubs = fun.

I used to follow MLB, and I still follow NFL and NHL, but I have never seen a team having this much FUN.  These guys played hard every play, every at bat.  Not because their contract depended on it - but because that is how a game is supposed to be played.  It wasn't cockiness or conceit or braggery (is that word?) - it was enjoyment and enthusiasm.

The very last play of the very last inning of the post season summed it all up in one moment.  As the grounder is hit to Cubs 3rd basemen Kris Bryant - he was grinning from ear to ear - clear as day - from the moment he saw the ball coming him until the time he threw it (and slipped on the grass) until the umpire signaled "out" at first.  That moment - caught on video forever - summed up the Cubs season.

Congratulations 2016 World Series Champion Chicago Cubs!

And congratulations to the diehard Cub fans who have stayed loyal year after year - THIS is the team you deserve!!!