September 18, 1908: What it means to keep the faith.

Full disclosure ... I root for the Cubs, but I also happen to be a Red Sox fan. Don't throw stuff at me, I bring this up for a reason.

I was born and raised in Massachusetts, and had my 10 year old soul crushed by the ill-fated events of the 1986 World Series. I then went through the emotional anguish of the 90's where the Sox got pounded in the playoffs year in and year out by the A's and the Indians, followed by a shellacking from the Yankees to close out the decade in 1999. And of course, since we've mentioned the Yankees, I then got to "enjoy" the 2003 playoffs when Aaron Boone went ahead a ripped my heart out with his home run over the Green Monster.

Then comes 2004 ... and those same Yankees are in the process of putting a beatdown for the ages on the Sox. By this time I'm 28 years old and the years of anguish are catching up to me. I love this team, but they keep crushing my spirit ever year, and now they're down 3-0 to the stupid Yankees and I'm questioning why I put myself through this agony every season.

And while telling all of this to my Dad on the phone, he simply replies, "Keep the faith."

That was it. He didn't offer any deeper of an explanation or reasoning as to why the Sox still had a chance, he simply said "keep the faith."

So I did.

As any fan of baseball history can tell you, what happened over the course of the next four days was an adventure for the ages. I spent night after night watching these marathon baseball games that were emotional roller coasters that had me gnawing off every fingernail while running to the bathroom to pee between every single half inning because I was so nervous my bladder was going nuts.

And after each game I would talk to my Dad on the phone and we closed every call the same way ... "Keep the Faith."

The Sox won four straight, and we kept the faith. They mowed down the Cardinals in the World Series, and we kept the faith. And even as they celebrated on the field with their first World Series win in 86 years and I wasn't even sure if what I was watching was real life or some kind of weird dream, we kept the faith.

So I share this with you because Cubs fans need to keep the faith. And I know you do, because I write this blog every day, and I interact with Cubs pages on Facebook, and I follow Cubs chatter during games on Twitter ... and I see it everywhere.

Despite 108 years of emotional anguish, despite countless heartbreaks, and despite d-bag fans of other teams mocking you ... you Keep the Faith.

And while I am a Sox fan from my upbringing, I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the Cubs as well. Personally, I've always felt like you're "allowed" to have one AL team you root for and one NL team, and the Cubs have always been my NL team. And really as a Sox fan, it's such a natural progression given the mirrored history that the two teams have shared.

Add in the fact that the 2016 squad is chock full of guys I love to root for ... Theo, Rizzo, Lester, Lackey ... and I have really enjoyed following the Cubs this year. Heck ... I even like Matt Murton!

At this point I'm sure you're wondering ... "That's a lovely story, but why the heck are you bringing it up in the first place?"

Well, today in 1908 the Cubs lost a tough game to the Philadelphia Phillies by a score of 2-1 in 10 innings. In addition, the red hot Giants swept a doubleheader against Pittsburgh, causing the Cubs to fall four and half games back in the standings with only 18 games left in the season. I won't even bother going into the details of the game today, because they don't really matter. All the matters is keeping the faith.

Needless to say, the media was not "keeping the faith," as the Tribune wrote ...

"A fatal puncture was inflicted among the Cubs pennant prospects."

Obviously it wasn't fatal since ... spoiler alert ... the Cubs win the 1908 World Series, but a lot of people were ready to give up on the team and spend the offseason lamenting about what could've been if things ended up differently.

The next three weeks of this blog are going to be a fun read ... a lot of big things are going to happen, including a couple historical events that haven't been duplicated since.

I hope you take the journey along with me, and I also hope you "keep the faith" as the 2016 Cubs look toward making their playoff run. It's gonna be a great one!

Talk to you tomorrow!