If there’s one thing we’ve learned in this title town of ours, with 12 major championships since the Bears last won the Super Bowl 30 years ago, it’s that, in hindsight, victory always seem inevitable. Of course Scottie Pippen is going to lead a bunch of scrubs to start a comeback from a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter; of course Michael Jordan is going to push off, just a smidge, and hit a game-winning basket at the buzzer; of course A.J. Pierzynski is going to steal first base and trigger a rally and the White Sox’s starting pitchers are going to throw four straight complete games and Paul Konerko is going to hit a grand slam and Juan Uribe is going to make a catch diving into the stands; of course the Blackhawks are going to rally from a 3-1 deficit in games against the Detroit Red Wings, and of course Patrick Kane is going to bury a disappearing puck in the net in overtime. Of course: it had to happen.
“We are good,” Joe Maddon insisted on arrival, imposing that mantra on the Cubs last season. And in the end they were too good even to allow their Cubsiness to ruin it. They were a beautiful, charming, above all skilled group of players, and they won our hearts rather than breaking them. TV cameras at one point caught Rizzo in the dugout telling Ross, “I can barely control myself right now. I’m an emotional wreck.” Word later leaked that Jason Heyward, much maligned as a $185 million bust as a free-agent signing last off-season, had rallied his teammates with an emotional, Knute Rockne-style inspiration speech during that rain delay, and the Cubs came out immediately afterward and put the game away.
