Hope is the worst

I know there are two responses after reading the headline:

1. Kyle is going to complain about his shitty teams again.
2. Finally, someone is commenting on how much Faith Ford's character killed the the show "Hope and Faith."

I will cover both because, unlike my favorite teams, I don't like letting people down.

Starting last September, I was pretty excited about what was about to happen. The Cubs were calling up some young talent and fans could finally see pieces of what the management was building for the last few years. The Bears were set to kick off and they were, according to some people, a dark horse Super Bowl Contender. The Illini, though still a few months off, were going to tip off soon and could remind people that U of I is a Basketball school.

Well, this has been a weird few months. The Bears had such a horrendous season that basically everyone was fired and now players are being traded away to try and erase the memories of whatever the hell that shit was. The Illini somehow managed to frustrate me, and many others, just as much as the Bears. The Cubs have actually made me happy, and they haven't played since September.

Were my hopes too high? Possibly. There were holes showing both those two teams flaws. The Bears, in their "important" third preseason game, looked looked lost going up against defending Super Bowl  Champion Seahawks. The Illini would go on to lose their Senior starting Point Guard Tracy Abrams. It was a wake up call that maybe this wouldn't be as great as I imagined. Why would I let my brain get in the way of my hopes?

The part that sucks is starting next month, the team I have the most hope for begins their season. I have  tempered my expectations for the Cubs (or at least tried to.) I think they will be competitive, but miss out on the playoffs. Kind of like how the 2007- 2008 Blackhawks would just miss out on the playoffs, but a lot of people knew that this was a team on the rise.

However, though 90% of me knows that Cubs will miss out on the playoffs, there is still a part of me thinking "what if."

Hope is a terrible thing. It can overshadow the little bits of success your team had because you expected more. It can ruin your day because you think your team should and could win every game. It can just ruin something as great as sports.

I still have hope though. I will always have it. Maybe the Bears can at least be competitive and not shit the bed. Maybe the top recruits will gel well with the experienced core coming back next year for Illinois and they can surprise some people. Maybe this time the Cubs will defy the critics and everything will work out. Maybe, just maybe, hope won't be the thing that ruins sports for me.

Unless Faith Ford ever shows her face to a game. She sucked in that show and I'm just the first to admit it.