It's going to be a nerve-wracking week.
Tonight, the Cubs play Game 7 of the World Series against the Indians, after some truly wonderful baseball list night:
The first-inning sequence in a 9-3 victory at Progressive Field stunned a nervous crowd of 38,116 into silence and announced, loudly, that the Cubs had come ready to rise to the occasion. Facing a win-or-go-home scenario, the Cubs arrived with an intensity the Indians failed to match. Zobrist smacking Anthony Rizzo's hand with more emotion than he has shown all season only underscored the impact of the collision. Passion is contagious too.
By the time Addison Russell hit the first Series grand slam in Cubs history in the third, they knew. Everybody knew. From Zobrist's zealous reaction to Russell's expressive response rounding the bases, the Cubs made clear from the get-go they had no intention of going home. One of the biggest innings of the season occurred in the first, when the Cubs scored three runs and locked-in starter Jake Arrieta struck out two of his first three hitters, as if to say, "I've got this."
There was much joy in Mudville—or at least in Lakeview—last night. Also no parking, which the Chicago Police say will continue through Friday.
But with five days and change until polls open Tuesday, the presidential race has tightened, and Republicans in Congress are already threatening to smash the board if they lose the game:
I just heard what seems to be the closing argument from Donald Trump and his supporter Paul Ryan. In so many words, if Hillary Clinton wins, we'll throw so many investigations her way that nothing will ever get done and it will be nonstop tension and drama.
Republicans in the 90s realized they usually could not win on policy and made a conscious decision to practice opposition by scandal and investigation. This latest turn of the email case is really just another example of this. What Trump and Ryan are arguing now is little different from the Republican strategy of creating legislative gridlock and then running against governmental paralysis. It's just pure gall and dishonesty. It would be funny if they weren't in a position to put the country through it again.
Remember: people are most dangerous and unpredictable when they're losing. And the Republican Party is losing its war against history.