Central issue: These Cubs make their own history

They were called chokers.

They were doomed to be victims of history.

The 2008 Cubs, naturally, had been cursed.

That archaic hyperbole was flushed Saturday with the stale waters from whence it came, and despite pronouncements that their pitchers were too injured and their bats too tired, now you can merely call them too much better than everyone else - and the 2008 Central Division champions for the second consecutive year.

It marks the Cubs' first back-to-back playoff appearances in 100 years.

"It's a great feeling, but it's just the start of what we set out to accomplish this year,'' said Cubs GM Jim Hendry. "We hope this is really the first step.''

The absurd notion that history would somehow destroy the Cubs didn't fly for the regular season, but there's little doubt the Cubs will hear it again as soon as they lose a single postseason game.

"I think it's just a crutch, a story when people get lazy and can't explain something they don't understand,'' Hendry said. "I just know it's never been a problem for the players here and it's never come up in any meeting with the baseball people.

"Over time you learn to roll with it, like with the stuff about choking. I knew this club was good enough to be in the postseason and I thought we had enough character and talent in that clubhouse that if we didn't get it in, it would be because someone beat us, or played better than us, not because we couldn't mentally handle a pennant race.''

It's odd because no one has a more storied and brilliant history than the Yankees, and they'll be home next month.

The Cubs have the worst history of any team in any sport, and yet here they are with 10 days to rest their players and set up their rotation, while the remaining NL teams fight to survive.

Further proof that history has nothing to do with 2008, and especially the players who would rather answer questions about tax returns than goats and fables.

"I think I can safely speak for everyone in the organization when I say we don't care at all about what's occurred here before in relation to how it affects us now, which is not at all,'' Hendry said. "Not one person here believes in any of that (stuff) about a curse or a hex or garbage like that.''

That is not to say, however, that Hendry doesn't understand the pain of a fandom hurting from decade after decade of misery.

"It's not that I don't care about the people who have suffered, or that I don't understand their passion and their pain, but I don't feel the burden of 100 years of history,'' Hendry said. "Don't get me wrong, because for a non-Chicago guy, I think I'm acutely aware of the fans' love for this team and appreciate very much their support for the team.

"I'm cognizant of it and I know the fans have lived through some hard times.

"But as baseball people, past failure has absolutely no bearing on how we operate.''

Players today - well, most of them, anyway - couldn't tell you who's gone from the team since spring training, let along who was here a year ago or five years ago.

They certainly don't care about 1984 or 1969, and if forced to do so, couldn't tell you for which team Ron Santo played. If you asked them to name the second baseman in '84, or who played first and left in '69, few would have a clue.

Call it self-centered if you must, but that reality protects today's Cubs from any knowledge of what took place here before they arrived.

"I think that's probably true of a lot of guys,'' said Ryan Dempster, the team's most valuable player and teammate. "It doesn't mean we don't care about the fans, because we do. We want to celebrate a World Series with them.

"But it's true that we don't care what went bad when we weren't here. Don't care at all. Doesn't mean a thing. We want to win the World Series. That's what means something.''

And so now the Cubs will get their chance.

The marathon is over. The winning of a division in a stroll is done. Anything less than a huge margin of victory in the Central would have been a disappointment, given their payroll and talent.

They handled that part, and deserved a party Saturday because of it.

Now, they must win seven games to reach the World Series.

That is the next big prize, elusive for 63 years.

It's one of the worst years the National League has ever experienced.

It's all there for the Cubs.

Can they close the deal?

It says here that they will.

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