5668...

... It was a good year for baseball.

2008 is the 100th anniversary of the last time the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, and here on the North Side, there's an excitement in the air. Last week, the rivalry between the Cubs and the White Sox saw two first place teams face off, and the Cubs swept the series. Tomorrow they try again, this time on the South Side.

2008 is also the 100th anniversary of the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," which no one I've ever met can read without saying it in a sing-song meter (take... me, out, to, the, baaaaall, game). Now there's a good pop song.

I can't say whether more Chicago Jews are Cubs' fans or Sox fans; like the city itself, it's probably split about evenly. For example, I'm a recently converted Cubs' fan, and this is one issue I'm afraid to bring up in my mostly South Side proud family. I do know that I'm not alone wearing my Cubbie Blue to shul on shabbos, though. And after growing up in one community that's been persecuted for thousands of years, 100 years of waiting until "next year" is like a piece of kiddush cake.