Sept. 21--As October approaches, this season's competitive Cubs are creating buzz throughout the Chicago area. And fan expectations are all over the map.
There's the uber-positive, this-could-be-our-year crowd (who think that every year).
The pessimistic, I'm-not-going-to-get-my-hopes up crew.
And the Goldilocks group -- the positive-yet-realistic thinkers who enjoy each minute of the season minus the pressure to win.
After all, the Cubs haven't won the World Series in more than a century, but fans still wake up, put on their team apparel and passionately, patiently root for them anyway.
Superconfident Cubs fan Stacey Crawford, 31, finds herself in the first group "every year."
Last week she sat with her husband, Bryant Crawford, who said that before the two wed, "I was told I had to be a Cubs fan." With friends, the couple watched the first of two Pirates games early that afternoon at the Cubby Bear, a sports bar across from Wrigley Field. Stacey was all smiles.
"I'm really optimistic," she said of the remaining season.
In full disclosure, she's thought the same thing for nearly 30 seasons. "I have more confidence than I should," she allowed.
One of her friends, Pete Gordon, lifted his right calf, where a Cubs logo has been tattooed since 2003, the last time he was sure the team would be champions.
"I'm waiting to add to it as soon as they win the World Series," the 43-year-old said. He echoed Crawford: "I'm always optimistic."
Stephen Schueller, a clinical psychologist who teaches at Northwestern University, said optimism is a good thing. But too much of it could mean you're out of touch. If a loss sneaks up on you, it could be catastrophic.
"This upper 5-10 percent of (overly positive) people tend to be more depressed," he said. "It helps to be realistic."
Schueller was clear though. Realism does not mean pessimism, where the second group sits. These are the head-shakers and the naysayers who love their team but hate heartbreak, so they avoid optimism altogether.
"This is a psychological coping mechanism a lot of people use," he said.
It's how 41-year-old fan Sarah Marren is getting through this season. She loves the Cubs to her core. She's raising her 3-year-old son, Timmy, to love them too. But looking ahead this fall, she's covering her eyes.
"If I think about it deep down inside I get excited, and then I catch myself," Marren said. "I've been through this before and I cannot let myself get there. It's not worth it."
Make no mistake, though, she said: She wants them to win. It's that deep emotional investment that prevents her from getting too excited until the end.
So what do experts say about shielding yourself from premature celebration? Does it work?
"Research shows that's not the case," Schueller said.
Sitting out on the climb for fear of the fall cheats these pessimistic fans from the fun moments -- good games, stellar plays, even gaffes like streakers and fan-caught foul balls worth laughing about later.
"By having lower expectations, we're losing out on the opportunity to feel good about what's going on now," Schueller said.
And what's going on now is great, said Lori Franklin, 51, of Wheaton. She sat in the Cubby Bear last week with her husband, Bob. Together they fit into the third group. They're both positive fans but are cautious because so far this season they've had some back and forth.
Earlier this year she said to him: "Next year definitely."
"No! This year," he said at the time.
"He always says, 'Have faith, have faith,'" she said. "Now the way I see them play, I think definitely this year."
But that afternoon, her husband also changed course. "I'm the other way around."
Together, they laughed.
The Goldilocks group sitting on the middle of the seesaw are best positioned for personal happiness, Schueller said. That mindset allows you to experience the good and learn from the bad, because "if you're really a Cubs fan, you should enjoy the ride while these things are happening."
The same goes for players, said Sara Buxton, with the Chicago Center for Behavioral Medicine and Sports Psychology. No matter how much projected pressure a player is feeling from a fan base or teammates or coaches or the news media, the expectation to win "is a myth."
"It's a cognitive thought that you made up," Buxton said. "Expectation is always in the future, always an unknown. And it puts this weird pressure and connection on something that's supposed to bring joy to the players and fans."
Instead, when stress builds, players can fold.
"If they're focused on winning, they lose track and control of what they have to be paying attention to at the moment to get there," she said.
The positive-realist outlook seems to ring true for the rest of life, too, Schueller said. Pay attention, but don't get too caught up. Enjoy the good, but don't crush yourself in the bad. And keep moving forward.
That's what 51-year-old superfan Jim Obert is doing. As much as he's studied the past -- he was a fact-spitting, score-remembering fiend while waiting to close his tab Tuesday at Sluggers, another Wrigleyville sports bar -- he said this season has surprised him.
"I didn't expect them to be this good, this early," he said. "They've done it right."
He mentioned he was positive, but not too worried. And above all, there's no rush.
"They haven't won in 107 years," he said. "There's always -- I don't want to use the word 'curse' -- but they're young. I can wait three to four years for them to win a championship."
And when -- not if -- it happens, he said, "It's gonna be epic."
rcrosby@tribpub.com
