Editorial: 2016 Cubs legacy: The pleasure, not pressure, of pursuing success

For years - OK, for decades - the Chicago Cubs have carried a heavy burden. Not only was each year's team expected to take on the demanding challenge of pursuing a professional baseball championship, it also bore the responsibility of dispelling the notion that curses, superstitions and dark unseen forces hold sway over the hopes and dreams of a city.

Today, no more.

Over the course of seven spectacular games, as well as two previous series and a 162-game season, Joe Maddon and Crew showed the world what championship baseball is all about.

Baseball.

It's not goats or black cats or fans in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It's accurate pitching. It's timely hitting. It's unforgiving defense. It's astute, gutsy managing. It's overcoming mistakes in all those areas, as Game 7's many heartstopping moments (errors in the early innings, two runs scoring on a wild pitch, a two-run homer off a tired closer in the bottom of the eighth, to name a few) amply demonstrated.

And above all, it's fun. It's the pleasure of pursuing success, not the pressure of avoiding failure.

Could that be the gift Maddon - and of course, his boss Theo Epstein - bestowed on the city with this team? The assurance that winning a championship should not be a relief but a joy.

Not, "Thank goodness, we finally did it!"

But, (to recall another famous lover of the Cubs and the game), "Ho-lee Cow! Look what we did!"

And being there is not the joy. Getting there is.

That is the spirit of the 2016 Cubs. It's been evident from the earliest days of spring training. It remained strong when one of the team's best hitters was knocked out of the regular season in the third game. It survived during a late June mini-swoon. It grew through a resurgent July and August, and crescendoed when that injured hitter surprisingly emerged from rehab to rejoin the team in the World Series, warmed up and ready to play, just when it needed him most.

Throughout all the excitement and hoopla, it's also been evident in the innocent charm, the boyish thrill, the purposeful dignity that Maddon's young team brought to Wrigley Field.

The city of Chicago has much to thank the Cubs for in 2016. But it's not that the team dispelled a curse. It's not that it removed the city as a punching bag for sports comedians around the country. It's not that it simply silenced the noxious "Wait 'Til Next Year" dirge.

It's that it moved us with the anthem of "Look At Me Now!" It's a song with an especially sweet melody this year. A tune that may become familiar around Wrigley in years to come. A philosophy that is worth remembering for all of us, whether we're fretting over the pressures of winning a simple baseball game or fighting through the rigors of our own complicated daily lives.

Thank you, 2016 Cubs.

For everything.