Shane Dale Assistant Sports Editor

The city of Chicago ÷ at least its North Side ÷ is no doubt still in mourning over the cruel twist of fate its baseball team was once again handed this week.

Are the Cubs cursed? Was it just bad luck? Were the Marlins really that resilient?

Or is there some other force at work here?

What happened to the Cubs this week was not indicative of the will of the baseball gods, but rather, their masters: the professional sports gods.

Saturday Night Live cast member and Bostonian Seth Meyers once complained on SNL's Weekend Update that, "Everyone and everything Boston roots for, loses. If Boston rooted for gravity, we'd all be floating three inches off the ground."

ÎScuse me, Seth, but hasn't your city's basketball team won 16 championships in the last half-century? And didn't your Patriots win a Super Bowl out of nowhere two years ago?

It seems as though a city's professional sports success tends to even out over time. Take Boston's situation: The Celtics have had enormous success over the last half-century, but its baseball team continues to choke year after year. Chicago? Take the Bulls' six championships in the Î90s as well as the Bears' Super Bowl XX victory ÷ and throw in the Cubs to balance the scales. Denver's Broncos and Avalanche have won a combined 4 titles in the last 8 years ÷ but Denver also has the Nuggets and Rockies.

And Phoenix? Unless you count arena football's Arizona Rattlers ÷ and let's not ÷ the Diamondbacks gave the state of Arizona its first-ever pro championship in 2001. Plus, the Suns have had only one losing season the last 15 years.

The Cardinals, who have had one winning record since moving from St. Louis in 1988, and the Coyotes, who are 0-4 in the playoffs since moving from Winnipeg, Canada, in 1996, counter Jerry Colangelo's franchises nicely.

That isn't to say that what was bestowed upon Cubs fans this week was justified. The manner in which the Cubs lost the NLCS was surreal, heartbreaking and just plain wrong.

The Cubs may be lovable losers, but there's another reason why so many people across the country, most of whom have never lived in Illinois, adore them so: Nearly all their games are broadcasted nationally on Chicago's WGN.

Though I've only been to Chicago once, the Cubs used to be my favorite baseball team ÷ and still remain a close second behind the Diamondbacks. I remember being a Cubs fan even before they last made it to the NLCS in 1989.

I loved to listen to the broadcast tandem of the late Harry Caray, color commentator Steve Stone, and Thom Brennaman ÷ now the play-by-play man for the D-Backs ÷who filled in for Harry in the middle innings.

I remember rooting for Andre Dawson, Ryne Sandberg, Shawon Dunston and Mark Grace (whatever happened to that guy?) even before I was out of elementary school. I loved to hear Harry lead "Take me out to the Ballgame" during the seventh-inning stretch. And I loved to hear Harry cry, "Cubs win!" ÷ and hear him on the verge of crying when they suffered a tough loss.

If Harry hadn't passed away in 1998, Tuesday's game would've done the trick.

I talked with the Wildcat's assistant news editor, a diehard Cubbies fan from Chicago, shortly after the Cubs lost Game 7 Wednesday night. Somehow, he was more upbeat about the loss than I was.

He explained that it's not necessarily victory, but rather the pursuit of victory ÷ the hunt for a World Series appearance and championship ÷ that motivates Cubs fans. In this way, they have something to look forward to for next year.

It's said that Alexander the Great wept because he had no worlds left to conquer. By the same token, had the Cubs gone on to win the National League pennant and World Series this year, the Windy City faithful ÷ not to mention millions across the country ÷ would have nothing left to root for. And if the Cubs were to shed that lovable loser tag, they would cease to be special.

The Chicago Cubs would be just another baseball team.

By losing ÷ and specifically, by losing in the painful manner they did in game 6 ÷ the Cubs will be more loved and adored by fans across the country than ever before.

Last week, Minnesota businessman Bryan Reichel won a five-year legal battle for the rights to the term, "America's Team," after a federal trademark panel said that no team had exclusive rights to the title.

A suggestion to Mr. Reichel: If America loves an underdog, how can any franchise be more "America's Team" than the Cubbies?

Shane Dale is a political science senior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.