MELISSA BLOCK, Host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.
ROBERT SIEGEL, Host:
In 2008, the Cubs are at the top of the National League. This could finally be the year. But they have lost eight of the last 11 games, and as NPR's David Schaper reports, late season collapses are all too familiar for Cubs fans.
DAVID SCHAPER: Fans of the Chicago Cuba are nothing, if not devoted.
SHIRLEY ROGNER: We're Shirley and Sandy Rogner(ph). We've been Cub...
SANDY ROGNER: We've been Cub fans since...
ROGNER: ...since - 1938 was my first game.
SCHAPER: Fans their whole lives, the Rogners have never seen the Cubs win it all.
ROGNER: Well, very frustrating for a lot of years. And we live with their wins and we died with their losses. But we stuck with them. And...
ROGNER: We've had lots of disappointments.
ROGNER: Yeah.
SCHAPER: The long slumps, late-season collapses, (unintelligible), Shirley calls them, playoff series losses in 1984, '89, '98, 2003, and again last year. But despite decades of heartbreak in a late-season skid now that is making many Cubs fans' brows sweat and stomachs churn, Sandy Rogner remains confident this year's Cubs will finally get back to the World Series.
ROGNER: Were not trying to salute ourselves, but we think they came from out of shadow this year.
SCHAPER: And it's not just the Rogners who think the Cubs have the shot. Many fans say this year's team is different than the few they thought have had a chance in the past.
TOM PEPZEL: They seem to be playing together really good as a team.
SCHAPER: Tom Pepzel, a 56-year-old steelworker from suburban Madison(ph), says this year's Cub team is all business with a strong and the pitching staff, good defense and timely hitting.
PEPZEL: I just think it's their year and whether it be a 100 years or whether it be last year and this year, doesn't matter.
SCHAPER: But even in the midst of yet another September slump, lifelong Cubs fan Don Smith from Chicago's north side says this about curses.
DON SMITH: It's all about (unintelligible). We could kill 10 goats and offer them up to the baseball gods - wouldn't make any difference. We're going to win because we've got a good team.
SCHAPER: And Smith should know a good team after seeing so many bad ones.
SMITH: I remember with my little transistor radio, you probably don't remember transistor radio. I have bled with the Cubs far too long. The wounds are healed. I feel great. And we're going all the way.
SCHAPER: David Schaper, NPR News, Chicago. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
