It all comes down to this.

7 months of baseball decided in 1 game.

I've purposely not written anything here about the playoffs this year. I figured I'd wait until the Cubs were out and post my thoughts then. As the Cubs kept winning I realized waiting until it was over I'd be too emotional one way or the other, and what needs to be said should be said now.

28 years since I was first "forced" to watch the Cubs with my Mom (we'd just moved to a new town into a house that only had cable in one room). 28 years of countless summer afternoons glued to WGN. 28 years where more often than not the Cubs had no realistic chance of winning anything. 28 years of more heartaches than I care to remember. 28 years of both loving and cursing my Mom for passing on the torture of being a Cubs fan.

Win or lose, nothing that happens tonight will affect how wonderful this season has been. More excitement, more fun and more happiness than the previous 27 years combined. Not winning it all won't change any of that.

That said, I want to fucking win.

I want to live in a world where for the next 360-something days the Chicago Cubs are champions. I want to bury the goat, the black cat, and the lovable losers tag forever. I want to feel what Red Sox fans felt in 2004. I want to know the past 28 years were all leading to this.

Let's win this for Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams and Fergie Jenkins. Let's win for Jim Frey, Don Zimmer, Jim Riggleman and Lou Pinella. Let's win for Andre Dawson, Ryne Sandberg and Mark Grace. Let's win for Kerry Wood and Mark Prior. Let's win for Harry Caray, Jack Brickhouse and Steve Stone. Let's win for Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Zambrano. Let's win for Steve Bartman. Let's win for the millions of diehard Cubs fans who've lived and died in the last 108 years who never got to experience this.

Most of all though, let's win this for my Mom.