Front Page Talking Points

FOR THE WEEK OF OCT. 31, 2016

World Series has extra drama as the Cubs and Indians each struggle to end many decades without a championship

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1.gifRead World Series coverage and share a stimulating detail or comment.

2.gifFind news from your city or state that stirs hometown pride.

3.gifUse a high school sports article to show how a player, fan or coach has similar feelings to those at the World Series.

The baseball World Series that began last week is extra-noteworthy. It's a historic matchup between teams that went 174 years combined without a championship. The Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians have the longest current title droughts in Major League Baseball -- 107 years for the Cubs and 67 years for the Indians. Until last week, the Cubs hadn't been in the World Series for 71 years. One player remains from the 1948 championship Indians, 95-year-old Eddie Robinson. No player is alive from the last championship Cubs or the last to make a Series appearance in 1945. The team had never played a World Series game on TV, at night or with an African-American on the roster.

Now the Indians are ahead three games to two after the Cubs won Sunday night at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Cleveland could clinch it Tuesday at home. If the Cubs win again and a seventh game is needed, it'd be at Cleveland's Progressive Field on Wednesday. "We're going to battle. We're going the distance," says Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo.

A veteran sportswriter, former Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times columnist Mike Downey, puts the impact in humorous perspective: "These are a couple of big-league organizations that throughout the years have taken a terrible ribbing. 'Hello, Tribe fans, welcome to Major League Baseball, sort of,' said fictional sportscaster Harry Doyle in "Major League," a 1989 comedy film. . . . As for the Cubs, well, let's just say the joke's long been on them. I have been known to make a few myself: 'The last time the Cubs won a World Series, the team picture was done by Leonardo da Vinci.' . . . I can't believe I'm saying this, but one of these teams is actually going to win the World Series! Don't laugh."

Player says: "The Cubs have a lot of history. We have a lot of history. To win a championship here after all of this time, that would be pretty cool." – Mike Napoli, Cleveland Indians designated hitter

Sportswriter says: "One team will give its fans a memory of a lifetime. . . . The other's anguish will last at least another year." – Bob Nightengale, USA Today

Hall of Famer says: "This erased a lot of failures that the teams have had." -- Ryne Sandberg, retired Cubs second baseman

Front Page Talking Points is written by Alan Stamm for NIEonline.com, Copyright 2024

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Common Core State Standard
SL.CCS.1/2/3/4 Grades 6-12: An essay of a current news event is provided for discussion to encourage participation, but also inspire the use of evidence to support logical claims using the main ideas of the article. Students must analyze background information provided about a current event within the news, draw out the main ideas and key details, and review different opinions on the issue. Then, students should present their own claims using facts and analysis for support.