Bill Shanks: Cubs fans, we feel for you
To think the Chicago Cubs have played 70 years without a trip to the World Series is sad. We can only hope (unless you're a New York Mets fan) Chicago fans soon will be rewarded with an event that has not happened in most of their lifetimes.
It should also make all of us feel guilty to complain about no team from Georgia winning a major sports championship in a long time.
But it has been a long time.
It's hard to believe we're coming up on the 20th anniversary of the Atlanta Braves winning their only World Series championship in Atlanta. It seems like yesterday, doesn't it, when Tom Glavine shut down the mighty Cleveland Indians and David Justice hit the game-winning home run on that cold October night in 1995?
How long will it be before the Braves get back to the Fall Classic? Well, watching this year's postseason teams might make you realize just how far the Braves are to getting back to somewhere they visited frequently in the 1990s. In fact, with five appearances in the World Series that decade, it was almost like that was what the Braves did every season.
After their worst season in 25 years, the Braves have a lot of work to do. We've continually heard about the 2017 season, the year the Braves move into the spanking brand new Sun Trust Park. But it might take a bit longer than that to build a championship team considering how far they have fallen in the last year.
Progress is being made, but it's going to take time. We might be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Braves' only championship in Atlanta before believing the Braves are close to realizing that dream once again.
The Falcons never have won a title since joining the NFL in 1966. They got close in 1998, when they lost to Denver in Super Bowl XXXIII. Despite Thursday's loss to New Orleans, Atlanta's season has gotten off to a great start with a 5-1 record in the first season of the Dan Quinn era. There is a renewed hope that the new head coach can get this franchise on track to be a Super Bowl contender.
The team that might be the closest to a run for a title is Atlanta's basketball team. The Hawks got to the Eastern Conference Finals last season before losing to Cleveland. Atlanta's new season will begin in a few weeks, and with an improved roster, the Hawks should have another shot at being contenders. But are the Hawks true candidates to win the NBA Finals? Well, only time will tell, but they likely will have to once again go through LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The football programs at Georgia and Georgia Tech seem to be stuck in neutral. It has been 35 years for Georgia and 25 years for Georgia Tech since they raised championship trophies. That's too long for programs in this football hotbed state with tremendous talent. We should frankly expect more, especially with programs all around them in the Southeast doing much better.
There have been winning seasons for teams in Georgia, but what about championships? Forgive us Cubs fans, but we would like one, too. Maybe if they win one on the north side of Chicago this year, we'll have hope those dreaded championship droughts can end. If the Cubs can do it, certainly our sports teams in Georgia can, as well.
Listen to "The Bill Shanks Show" from 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WPLA Fox Sports 1670 AM in Macon and online at www.foxsports1670.com. Follow Bill at www.twitter.com/BillShanks and email him at thebillshanksshow@yahoo.com.
This story was originally published October 17, 2015 at 8:38 PM with the headline "Bill Shanks: Cubs fans, we feel for you ."