They're not called baseball's best fans for nothing

You gotta hand it to Cubs fans.

Despite all they've seen, all they've known and all they've been told, they still keep the faith.

Even when they're sitting in Aisle 4, Row 8, Seat 113 -- a locale known in Chicago lore as the "Bartman Seat" -- they still find a way to hope against hope.

"Maybe I can fend off the curse," Cubs fan Sebastian Siethoff said after settling into the notorious seat for Game 3 of the National League Division Series.

It was an optimistic thought, but perhaps a tad unrealistic for a club that has defined futility for the past 99 years. Much to the dismay of the 43,157 fans in attendance, the Cubs were swept out of the playoffs Saturday in a 5-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Critics may consider it a deserved sweep, given various managerial decisions and a lackluster offensive performance. But then you look at the fans, the long-suffering, eternally optimistic, true-blue fans.

The entire park stood chanting "Let's Go, Cubbies!" until the very last out. When that sad final moment came, they briefly booed the team as the players walked off the field.

"It hurts to watch people celebrate on our field," Andy Jeffreys of Schaumburg said. "That's what stings the most."

Minutes later, Cubs Manager Lou Piniella emerged from the dugout and waved to the fans. The brief acknowledgment as he made his way to the post-game news conference drew wild applause from the still lingering fans.

"He turned this team around," Angela Thompson of Chicago said. "I'm crushed that we lost, but I still love Lou."

Cub fans entered Wrigley Field Saturday like Midwestern Pollyanna's with bright smiles and signs reading "It's Gonna Happen." Gurnee resident Kalyn Cramer, who was celebrating her 18th birthday at the game, believed the Cubs would win because they owed it to the North Side.

"We're the best fans ever," she said. "Everyone's so spirited. We never give up."

Gurnee resident Steve Kosanovich purchased his World Series tickets from a broker more than a month ago, weeks before the Cubs clinched the National League Central division. At the time of the purchase, he believed the North Side would be hosting the event for the first time since 1908.

Even when the team lost its first two playoff games in Arizona, he still had faith.

"I've done my part," he said. "Now the Cubs have to do theirs."

Even if Cubs fans don't admit it, however, they may be subconsciously resigned to their unfortunate fate. When Seithoff arrived at his seat Saturday, fans around him groaned and yelled "Jinx! Jinx!"

The green box seat sits in the same spot along the left field line as it did on Oct. 14, 2003. It's decorated with Cubs stickers now, an unofficial commemoration of the chilly autumn night when Cubs fan Steve Bartman seemingly snatched a foul ball from Moises Alou's glove.

The play was the first in a chain of events that denied the Cubs a spot in the World Series that year. It also added another chapter in the book of North Side curses.

For Saturday's playoff game, several seats in Bartman's former row were property of the Wrigley Co. The corporation's marketing department raffled them off to employees on Friday and the first pair went to Jeni Golomb, who purposefully avoided picking seat 113.

"Just in case it was cursed," she said, "I'm not taking any chances."

Her co-worker Siethoff, however, had no clue he would be sitting there. After finding his spot, he gamely posed for pictures of himself hanging over the railing and fans pretending to choke him.

"I was instructed to keep my hands to myself," he said, laughing.

Bartman jokes aside, Cub fans had little to chuckle about as they left the park. With their voices choked with emotion, many shook their heads and found comfort in the words that have gotten them through the past 99 heartbreaking years.

"There's always next year," Jeffreys said. "I know it's cliché, but there really is always next year."