I’m not a Cubs fan. For full disclosure, I’m not even a baseball fan. Historically, baseball games have been an excuse for me to eat too many overpriced hotdogs and feel a twinge of nationalistic pride as I belt out the national anthem with a crowd of half-drunk men.   Every now and again a world series will come along that means something. It stirs up entire cities and sleepy fans out of their hibernation. The Cubs, (and the Indians for that matter), have shot an adrenaline jolt into the American pastime.

As I was talking with a friend of mine (who happened to be in Chicago for game 5) I realized what a big deal the series is for these two ball clubs. The Cubbies (am I allowed to say that if I’m not a fan?) haven’t won the series in 108 years. The Indians haven’t won in 68. Entire generation of fans have been born and died without ever celebrating a pennant. Longer are those who have dared to dream about being world champions. A couple thoughts came to mind for me:

1. Don’t ever count out the long shot. We all love winners. But do you know what we love more? Long-shot winners. The come-from-behind or come out of nowhere team is always going to stir our hearts more than the easy bet. The little guy gets our devotion cause it just feels like the right thing to do. Nobody wants to cheer for Goliath . . . David is our guy. I think this is why this World Series is so special. Two long-shot teams with a history of going nowhere have made it big. So when we see the Cubbies or Indians do what no one thought plausible, once again we begin to believe anything is possible.

2. It’s funny the things that unite us, and sadly, the things that divide us. In a political cycle that is beyond insane it’s nice to see something so simple as baseball unite thousands of people. Just for a week or two stadiums are filled with people of different color, different religions, different socio-economics and they stand shoulder-to-shoulder cheering. High fives, hugs and even tears are commonplace during the series. The thought occurred to me . . . we are a unite-able people.

3. They never quit. Faithfulness is not sexy. It’s never been en vogue. We prefer hyper-gifted, charismatic sluggers who will WOW us with their magic. Our culture is built around superstars—sports superstars, singer superstars and even pastor superstars. We like to hitch our wagons to the guy or gal who is going up. This is why I like this World Series. Two teams who for decades had stink ‘em up seasons but they stuck it ‘em out. There is something incredibly admirable about in-your-face faithfulness. Stick-to-itiveness. Never giving up.

So when game 7 is over and I’ve eaten my quota of hotdogs and screamed myself hoarse, I will be happy knowing that whoever wins they have reminded us all of what is actually possible when you dream, play nice with others and never quit.