Covering championship euphoria to the utmost

Go, gulp, Cubs!

Heh. Heh. That's not easy for me, as a White Sox fan, to say. I still consider one of my chief failings as a parent to be that I raised three Cubs fans. One does wish, after all, to shelter one's children from a lifetime of heartache and disappointment. But there it is, and here we are. And, truthfully, the only way I could be happier about the present state of affairs baseballwise would be if the White Sox hadn't been such a source of heartache and disappointment this season. I mean that from a personal point of view, but it is even more true from the perspective of a hometown newspaper person.

Championship runs create an excitement factor that is all out of proportion to their practical value to society. It would, for example, be much more cause for celebration and glee if Illinois' feuding political leaders could produce a manageable budget, but even if it came to pass — a prospect perhaps even more unlikely than a Cubs World Series championship — it would hardly stir tens of thousands of people to their feet in cheers. Can you just imagine three or four weeks of front-page stories about the state budget process with photos of applauding taxpayers, video replays of tense committee meetings and sections packed with arcane statistics and Las Vegas betting lines? Come to think of it, maybe it would be worth a try covering politics that way sometime, but in the meantime, professional sports provide the emotional jolt that energizes people, regardless of their politics or social values.

And what a jolt it is. Chicagoans are still basking in the afterglow of a Stanley Cup hockey championship — the third in recent years. And as thrilling as that is, as thrilling as it was to watch the White Sox win in 2005 and to recall all those heady Bulls championships in the '90s, I've never seen anything quite as powerful and moving as the euphoria pulsing out of Wrigley Field in 2003, before that fateful Alex Gonzalez error, of course. Keeping in mind that this Cubs team has already significantly overachieved based on the expectations last spring, you can feel that euphoria starting to build even now.

Whatever your personal affections, it's an impressive thing to behold, and a joy — albeit an exhausting one — to cover. I confess to some feelings of compassion toward avid Cubs fans in our office who, while welcoming the opportunities to interview fans and players and make it to exciting locations to chronicle the reactions and feelings of the town, can't fully unleash their inner maniac and enjoy the games with reckless abandon. There is a level of professional discipline in their work that non-journalists may not fully realize or appreciate.

Part of that discipline, by the way, involves days and hours of seeking out distinctive angles, interesting stories, unusual ideas, special people and any other imaginable opportunity to help people enjoy this moment even more fully. In that regard, they can use your help, so if you know of someone or someplace whose experiences at this time are unusual and would help others in Chicago both celebrate the Cubs and understand what that celebration means, let us know.

With any luck — and a lot of good baseball — we could have another three weeks or so of great stories to tell and an atmosphere of excitement to enjoy. We want to fill them to the utmost. It won't be the same as covering a political stalemate over the budget, but thank goodness for that, right?

Jim Slusher, jslusher@dailyherald.com, is assistant managing editor for opinion at the Daily Herald. Follow him on Facebook at facebook.com/jim.slusher1 and on Twitter at @JimSlusher.