Clark & Addison Blog - CubHub.net

I think Cub fans suffer some degree of post-traumatic stress when it comes to key injuries and late summer division leads. 

With the hopes of the franchise resting on the shoulders/arms of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior in the first part of this decade, it was bitterly disappointing to watch them self destruct with injury after injury. So when the news came down today that Woody would be making his 12th career trip to the Disabled List, Cub nation seemed to react some degree of doomsday feelings. In reality, Wood has been out 10 days already, so he will only miss a few more before rejoining the team as closer. GM Jim Hendry made a statement prior to today’s game that while Kerry’s blister was getting better, he is still a few days out and probably needs to throw some before he returns to live action. So he said that puts him on target for a Tuesday or Wednesday return to action.  See - not so bad.

With the surging Brewers and the Cardinals hanging around, the Cubs division lead has dwindled to just 1 game going into todays action. So the nay-sayers are coming out from under their rocks (mostly Sox fans, I would guess) with the smack talk of how the Cubbies are wilting and how they knew this team wouldn’t go all the way.  Some fans who lived through 1969 are still trying to make sense of what happened that year as well. 

The 2008 Chicago Cubs are not the 1969 Cubs, and the 2008 Kerry Wood is not necessarily the Wood-Prior of ‘04, ‘05, & ‘06.  Wood’s medical issue is not an arm or a shoulder or an elbow - its just a blister. Josh Beckett gets blisters. Heck, Big Daddy Rick Reuschel used to get blisters all the time too.

I say, cut ’em some slack, have some faith, and enjoy the ride!  All teams go through peaks and valleys throughout a long baseball season.  And during this discouraging stretch - whatta ya know - the Cubs are still in first place and starting to make some noise again!

I heard a lot of chatter yesterday about how the Cardinals will finally fall back down to earth in losing Albert Pujols until the All-Star break. Cubs fans were privately rejoicing in his injury, feeling like maybe this really is Our Year. A few hours later though, Alfonso Soriano takes a pitch off his ring finger knuckle on his left hand, knocking him out as well. Soriano may actually be out longer than Pujols with the early prognosis of 6 weeks on the DL.  That actually puts his return somewhere between the All Star Game and the trading deadline. I think there is some mystical karma at work here in the Cards losing Pujols and the Cubs losing Soriano within about 24 hours of each other.  The moral for we Cub fans is to be careful when we wish others poorly, as that karma train can come backing into the station at any time, often right over your foot!  Be humble and keep winning, the rest will take care of itself.

Since release of the current issue of Sports Illustrated featuring Kosuke Fukudome on the cover, I’ve heard more rumblings about the existence of the cover story curse.  The Cubs team is 3-5 since the April 30 release date (May 5 cover date).  However Kosuke Fukudome is batting .320 in that span, going 10 for 31 with 3 doubles.  So… curse or no curse?

Ok, so the Sam Sianis Goat Curse is well documented in Cubs lore.  But there is another well accepted curse in sports - the Sports Illustrated Cover Curse. 

Now with Kosuke Fukudome cover story in the new Sports Illustrated, I must ask: Do two curses cancel each other out?  The definitive answer comes in October…