Like a tease worthy of Charlie Brown’s football or 108-year curse, I’m afraid the Chicago Cubs’ victory last night in Game Five of the World Series merely staved off the inevitable. It must happen this way, no? The victory gave Chicago fans that foolish ray of hope which makes things like running gags and curses so effective. Yet so mean.

I must say, however, that last June I felt the same way about the Golden State Warriors, one game from an NBA Championship (they still are). There fortune smiled upon the land of Cleve, then dubbed Believe, where fate resumes its play this Tuesday eve.