Chicago Cubs: Being a fan has never been more rewarding than right now

A wild ride to cap off an unforgettable 2016

When I’m 100 years old (I decided a long time ago, 100 is a nice round number), 2016 will forever be the best year of my life.

I assumed that year was locked up when I got married in September. For more than 10 years, I was best friends with my now-wife. All of the sudden, I was watching her walk down the aisle toward me – which was a pretty incredible moment. After a week in Punta Cana, we came back to the end of the regular season and the start of playoff baseball for the second-straight year.

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My brother-in-law came up from Nashville for the World Series. After watching the Cubs cruise in the deciding game of the National League Championship Series, we thought we were ready.

We were wrong. So very, very wrong.

The next seven games included a roller coaster of emotions I didn’t even experience on our wedding day. At least on that day, as emotional as it was, I felt fairly confident she wasn’t going to bail and leave me hanging.

But when Rajai Davis hit the game-tying blast off Aroldis Chapman, I can confidently say it was the single-worst moment of my life. The Cubs aren’t just a team to me. It’s an integral part of my day-to-day. I’ve got a room in my house dedicated to nothing but this team and my lifelong love affair with them. So when that liner cleared the wall, it was nothing short of heartbreaking.

The 10th inning flipped those emotions on their head, taking me from one of the lowest points of my life to the highest. Pat Hughes’ call of the final out is still one of my favorite things to listen to. My wife, my brother-in-law and I stood in our living room, anxiously awaiting that final out.

And what a moment that was.