It has been 63 years since local tavern owner William Sianis and his pet billy goat were asked to leave Wrigley Field during the last World Series to grace its Friendly Confines, but the legend it spawned refuses to die.
The "Curse of the Billy Goat" is as much a part of Chicago Cubs history as Tinker to Evers to Chance, the double-play combination that played such a large part in the most recent Cubs world championship, which - at last count - was exactly 100 years ago. The Cubs have not been back in the Fall Classic since owner Philip Wrigley ordered the smelly goat out of the field level in 1945 and its master decreed they would never win another National League pennant.
Now, no one seriously believes that a disgruntled and long-dead farm animal is making the ball bounce funny in the playoffs this year, but the ball is bouncing funny again anyway, and you have to wonder just what the Cubs and their fans have done over the past century to deserve the longest title drought in baseball history. Even discouraged Orioles fans have to admit nothing they have gone through over the past 11 years compares to that.
The curse was ceremoniously lifted on several occasions by Sianis before he died in 1970 and more recently by his nephew Sam, but the misfortune marches on. The Cubs squandered that big NL East lead to the Amazing Mets in 1969 and blew a two-game advantage in the best-of-five NL Championship Series against the San Diego Padres in 1984. And, of course, nothing quite compares to the deflected foul ball in the 2003 NLCS that turned generic Cubs fan Steve Bartman into the symbol of all that has befallen the beleaguered franchise.
Which brings us into the Lou Piniella era, which already has featured one unsuccessful playoff appearance and is about to feature another. The Cubs were swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Division Series last year and came up winless in the first two games of the 2008 Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Wrigley Field.
Nothing terribly supernatural about that, but the Cubs had the best regular-season record in the NL this year and had dominated the Dodgers (5-2) in head-to-head competition. They also figured to have a little numerological karma stored up because it has been exactly a century since their last world title.
