Gotta be honest-- I thought the celebration and commesurate media coverage was a tad embarrasing.

Don't get me wrong.  I, too, tipped back a few cold ones and was feeling all warm and fuzzy on the inside after San Diego and Greg Maddux helped pitch the Cubs into the playoffs Friday night.

But then I saw some old-timer on TV being interviewed by some hapless, lame local TV reporter.  The first words out of this guy's mouth?

I have waited so long for this!

Got Alzheimers?

Look people--this is the fifth Cubs' team to reach the postseason since 1984.  It's not great but, of the twenty-six franchises that were in existence in 1984, the Cubs rank 10th in postseason appearances.  It'll be 11th if San Diego gains entry into the postseason later today, but still--they're in the top half.

So shame on the weekend media for being so breathlessly exuberant.  Way too over-the-top.  The front page of Saturday morning's Sun-Times proclaimed "THEY DID IT."  The first line of the same day's Chicago Tribune editorial read:

Steve Bartman come home; all is forgiven.

Huh?  Since when did backing into a division championship with 85 wins suddenly erase the awful history of Cubs' baseball since World War II?  The Cubs have done nothing that should anymore be considered unique for them.  What will be unique will be when they finally get over the hump in the NLCS.  When Aramis Ramirez  hit a grand-slam off of Dontrelle Willis in Game 4 of the 2003 NLCS to lead the Cubs to a 3-1 series lead, it only meant that it had taken the Cubs 19 years to get to the same point where they had been in October 1984 after winning the second game against San Diego--one game to win with three cracks to get it done.

And while the '03 Cubs technically crept closer to a pennant than the '84 team in that they didn't blow their pennant-clinching lead until the 8th inning (in '84, the lead was lost in the 7th), the results are the same--the Cubs are 0-6 in the Tribune Era in pennant-clinching games.

I was 12 years old in 1984 and remember watching the clinching on TV.  What I'll always remember was some Chicago fans, who had made the trip to Pittsburgh, that were walking through the stadium with a long sign that read: 

39 Years Of Suffering Is Enough

The division-clinching in '84 was worth celebrating.  Beating Atlanta in the 2003 NLDS also was worth celebrating, as it marked the franchise's first postseason series victory in ninety-five years.  But the Cubs have twice come close to winning the pennant in the last twenty-three years and gaining entry into the postseason is merely the first step in getting into that position.  Can we try to reign it in a little?

I'll close this entry by relating something I saw Saturday.  I had worked that day (and yes, I was a bit groggy from Friday's clinching) and took the Metra out to the suburbs to meet up with some old friends of mine.  At the Galewood stop, I looked up from the book I was reading as the train was pulling out of the station and noticed a repair shop located on the other side of the tracks from the station.  This repair shop had a message up on it's marquee.  If I had noticed it earlier, I would have taken a picture, but the train had already begun to move.  In  fact, if any of you Goatreaders take the Metra Milwaukee West Big Timber line, I'd be grateful if you could send us a picture of it as I feel it expresses the right sentiment for the occasion.

This is what the marquee read:

COME ON CUBS.  FINISH THE JOB.