Atrocity

“There’s always next year.”  That’s all Jerry ever hears halfway through baseball season.  Every season is the same thing, and he’s stuck trying to explain to that mule that it will never be their year.  “How can someone be so blind that they can’t realize that their team is awful?  It always has, and it always will be.  Putting the blame on something else won’t solve your problems either.  First, it’s the goat, then the black cat, and now, it’s on one of their own fans who wanted to catch a foul ball,”  he finds himself always saying to those mules.
Jerry was always willing to go out with his friends.  Sadly, some of his friends were mules, always talking about the Cubs and making fun of Jerry for being a Sox fan.  Unable to see why a team like that could even have fans, Jerry agreed to go to a game at Wrigley Field with his friends.  It wasn’t something he was used to.  Jerry was a die hard Sox fan, watching every game on TV and getting tickets whenever he could.  He loved the game of baseball and played little league back in the 60’s during the Vietnam War’s peak.  Baseball was his escape from the reality of the world.  His parents were hippies in the sense that they were anti-war extremists who found themselves protesting more than spending time with him.  Jerry never followed in his parents’ footsteps and resented their lifestyle even after they died.  He hated the sight of those hippies and became infuriated at the sound of the word.
Upon arriving at Wrigley Field, Jerry was shocked at the sheer number of supporters the team had.  As a baseball fanatic, Jerry couldn’t comprehend the logic behind being taunted by fans of a team that was consistently terrible.  Just to be annoying, Jerry showed up to Wrigley wearing a White Sox jersey.  In the ticket line, Jerry was heckled by all of the Cubs fans.  He said some unwise words to the crowd and planned to proceed to his seats.  Unfortunately for him, he bumped into a man who had been tailgating for hours and was completely drunk.  After cursing and insulting the man, Jerry soon found himself on his back and with sharp pain in the back of his head.
Before waking, however, Jerry found himself in a strange world.  He was in a petting zoo in the middle of nowhere.  After looking around, though, it soon became apparent to Jerry that he wasn’t the visitor.  Jerry had become the mule and wondered if this dream could mean anything.  He realized that he had become as stubborn as the people who mocked him.  At that point, Jerry woke up from his temporary unconsciousness.  
Jerry, with his new perception, was able to enjoy the game, but he realized something.  Earlier, when Jerry had come back with snacks, he wanted to know the score.  He asked the people around him, but they didn’t know either.  Jerry realized that the franchise had caused their fans to not care about the game.  The Cubs fans give up on their team from the start of every year because of the heartbreak that comes with being a fan.  He began to feel sorry for the fans and was able to understand why they were angered whenever he mentioned his White Sox.  This team causes so much agony to their fans every year that their very existence should be in question.
After the game, Jerry spotted a hippie protesting the War in Iraq with a sign that wished for world peace.  What normally would cause anger and resentment in Jerry made him think.  Like Cubs fans, this hippie represents false hope that everything will change, when really it won’t.  It won’t get any better because better is impossible, which is a tragedy.