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The Chicago Cubs are an imaginary baseball team that has been used by millions of comics in skits for over a century now. Their tales of comic torment and near triumph (only to have something funny happen to cause them to lose) have entertained generations of comedy and baseball fans, particularly St. Louis Cardinal fans and Chicago White Sox fans. Fans hope that one day the Cubs will grow up and become bears.
Contents * 1 Origin * 2 Through Time * 3 Popularity Today * 4 Info about the team
[edit] Origin
In 1901, comics Abbot and Costello became big baseball fans after the creation of the American League of baseball. They loved the sport, and they also saw the potential for a great line of comedy to come from goofs that could happen in the sport (commonly called errors), from misthrown baseballs to tripping while running.
The duo especially loved the National League, and they were upset that their base town of Chicago didn't have a National League team. Therefore, in September 1901, the duo came up with a fictional franchise named the Chicago Cubs, a bumbling group of misfits who tried their hardest, but just couldn't get the results they needed to win games. Skits involving the Cubs would often involve poor attempts at bunting, bad base running, throwing gaffes, and even a guy who died after running through a wooden outfield wall (which especially went over well with some of the newly-formed Mobs in the 1920s during Prohibition). They still did better than the Rockies, as they became the 2nd worst team in the Majors. Many argue that this is an invalid argument because the Colorado Rockies did not exist at that time. However delusional Cub fans insist this to be true.
There are two theories regarding the origin of the nickname "Cubs". One is that the franchise was somewhat of a knockoff of the Chicago Bears football team that had just recently come into town. The other is that "Cubs" doesn't refer to bear cubs at all, rather, it's an acronym for Completely Useless By September. Other theories suggest that the team had to come up with a name that would satisfy the vast homosexual fanbase of the Cubs. A name such as Bears would be too violent for them.
However, the skit nearly came to a screetching halt in 1907 & 1908 when the duo decided that their "Lovable Losers" (as they had affectionately come to be known) had lost enough. Those years, a series of skits had the Cubs finally obtaining a winning record and going on to win the World Series. Reactions were swift: the duo would constantly have bar stools, chairs, and beer bottles thrown at them, and they were chased off the stages with shotguns. Convinced, they decided to have the group never win anything ever again. (A tradition that has gone on to this very day.)
Through Time
As Abbot and Costello's comedy careers started to come to a close, other comics (in a show of appreciation for such comedy gold and because of the continued success of the team) decided to "pick up the mantle" and carry on the tradition. Most skits were some of the old shtick, but some very talented comics turned the Chicago Cubs into a team for the ages.
Over time the Chicago Cubs have been the worst thing to happen to the planet Earth. The Cubs not only caused the Chicago Fire and the Chicago Flood of '92 but also they notably caused Global Warming (i.e. The Chicago Heat Wave of '95) On top of that it was the fact the Cubs lost which drove many a megalomaniac insane. The Cubs also started the crash of the stock market that caused the Great Depression. Basically all problems in our world today can be traced to the Chicago Cubs. The Cardinals have been fighting valiantly to stop the evil of the Cubs since 1885.
Most times, comics would add provisions that the Cubs would get to the brink of actually winning something, only to blow it in the end (a median version of what Abbot and Costello attempted in 1908). For example, in a particularly memorable 1984 skit, the Cubs made it to the National League championship series, but lost when a baseball rolled between a players legs. An extremely popular gaffe was added in 2003 by a young comic named Moises Alou. The Cubs, again in the NLCS, are on the cusp of winning when a baseball player loses a pop foul into the bleachers, blames a fan for interfering, and promptly causes the rest of the team to choke.
The fan in question, one Steve Bartman, now spends his remaining years as a herdsman in the rolling vast lobster plains of Juno, Alaska.
