Hope Springs Eternal

Those are three of my favorite words: "Hope" "Springs" "Eternal." Especially, in the context I use them most often, when justifying my prediction at the onset of every baseball season that the Royals and Cubs will meet in the World Series. In my dream scenario, the Cubs triumph via a walk-off home run in the seventh game. Realistic I know.

But Hope Springs Eternal. That's what spring training is all about. I know Royals fans who think they will contend this year. How crazy is that? I've seen minor league teams more talented ... theirs for instance.

So beautiful. It's as if they won't lose 100 games this year.

But Hope Springs Eternal. It has to in a game where fans believe fairness runs only as deep as a team's pockets. In the spring, we forget for a moment that some infields make more than entire teams. We believe in the first rounder who hasn't shown any promise at all (Luke Hochevar I'm looking at you). We just know that somehow, someway, the team will gel, and give us a run. Like the Tigers did under Jim Leyland or the Marlins did under ... well Jim Leyland (I'm seeing a pattern here). Is it logical to think our teams will just turn it all around? No.

But Hope Springs Eternal. Sometimes I wonder why. It might be the weather. Now, we can watch spring training on television. Us northerners see all that sun and believe the team is glowing. They may be baked, but they certainly aren't glowing. Even the good teams aren't very good in the spring. I think nice weather warms people to the delusions that teams like the Pirates and Astros and Nationals and Royals and A's won't suck. It's actually just the opposite. They most certainly will suck.

But Hope Springs Eternal. And I am so grateful for that fact because this year I have a feeling. Cubs vs. Royals in the World Series.