Chicago Cubs Madness has come to the semi-finals

Chicago Cubs: A personal conundrum

I admit that this is a bit personal for me, but my love of the game and appreciation of the Cubs comes from my dad, who grew up in Chicago in the 1960s and 1970s. He grew up on Santo, Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins, Don Kessinger, and Randy Hundley. Me- well, I great up on Ryno, Hawk, Mark Grace, Shawon Dunston, and Maddux. That being said, Maddux left after the 1992 season- right in the middle of my formative adolescent years.

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Instead of watching Maddux lead the Cubs to the playoffs on WGN, I had to watch the arguably the greatest pitcher of my generation pitch on TBS (Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, and Pedro Martinez could all get in that argument, but none of them pitched for the Cubs, so we’ll just leave that right there).

While Maddux is probably the greatest Cub pitcher of all-time, and he’s the last man standing in our bracket, he just doesn’t carry the same gravitas and weight as someone as venerated as Santo. My dad tells stories about Santo and Banks and Williams from his childhood, and I can’t think about Maddux in the same way. Maybe this will change in 50 years, but for now, Santo is onto the final matchup, I guess there’s a reason there’s a statue of him outside Wrigley Field, right?