It is not standard operating procedure for us to use this space in order to profess support for a professional sporting franchise. However, desperate times call for desperate measures, and this seems as good a time as any to break from that norm.

Even the most ardent baseball enthusiasts would likely be hard pressed to name the best pitcher on the roster the last time the Chicago Cubs won a World Series (it was a fellow named Mordecai Brown, by the way.) A few more could probably name the three members of that team’s legendary and Hall of Fame bound double-play trio of Tinkers, Evers and Chance. Yet even the most casual of sports fans could probably identify the year of the Cubs last championship as 1908. Yep, for Cubs fans it has been 107 long, agonizing years since the Cubbies last won it all. Along the way there have been curses, close calls and a mountain of heartbreak for the Cubs faithful. But there are signs that their century of misery may soon be coming to an end.

Having defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in the one-game wild card round of the playoffs and having vanquished their oldest and most hated nemesis, the St. Louis Cardinals, in a nailbiter of a five-game series, The Cubs are only four victories away from their first World Series appearance since 1945. Only eight wins stand between them and baseball nirvana. No fan base has endured more losing over such an extended championship drought as those on the north side of Chicago. And no other fans deserve to see their team win it all more than those of the Chicago Cubs.

At Wrigley Field, home of the Cubs, they raise a flag simply adorned with a W after each Cubs win. We sure hope they, and we, get to see the Cubs fly the W eight more times this fall.