Not many Red Sox fans can hearken back to 1918 for their big series win. I don't any think Cubs fan by definition can live to be 100, so 1906 is not even a reality any more. Yet if you meet Red Sox and Cubs fans, they are among the most passionate and loyal in the game. You pretty much have to be when you've seen your team come up with thousands of ways to lose and absolutely no way of winning it all.

I have a special place in my heart for the lovable losers. As far as national feeds, I can get Atlanta Braves on TBS and Chicago Cubs games on WGN. I take great pleasure in watching the Braves lose, and I usually cheer when the Cubs pull out the win. That's right, I'm a closet Cubs fan. I stop what I'm doing to watch Sammy Sosa tear into a pitch (cork or no cork).

The same goes for the Red Sox to a lesser degree. I will always root for my team, the K.C. Royals, to wallop the Red Sox in any encounter, but thanks to 1970s baseball history, I have no love for the Yankees. The Bronx Bombers are the eternal nemesis of the Red Sox, and for string of three years in the late 70s, the Yankees stepped on the Royals to get to the World Series. Damn Yankees.

With the most unlikely of match ups in the League Championships, the Cubs and the Red Sox both found themselves with golden opportunities to get to the World Series. A Red Sox--Cubs series would guarantee one of the losers to break their curse. Oh yeah, the curses.

Baseball is the most magical and superstitious of sports. Streaks, slumps, grooves and whiffs happen with as much luck as talent. Breaking a streak in a positive or negative way is not easy. The Red Sox have the Curse of the Bambino. When they traded away Mr. Baseball Babe Ruth to the Yankees, things have gone lousy since. Boston won 5 World Series before 1918 and none afterwards. Coincidence? Yeah, right. The Cubs have the goat. Literally. Since a goat trotted onto their field (a goat?), many a player and fan has played a role in the Cubs demise each year.

With six outs left in Game 6 of the NLCS this year, the Cubs led 3-0 in the eighth inning. If they could get through it, the Cubs would make it back to the World Series for the first time since 1946, but the goat would not be denied. A simple foul ball turned into the worst moment imaginable. As Moises Alou charged toward the stands to get the out, a fan not paying attention to the player stuck out his hand and prevented the left fielder from making the play. Much a like a team that had been cursed for the 20th Century, the Cubs went on to give up 8 runs in the 8th inning to lose the ball game. The next day, they came back to lose the deciding Game 7.

The Red Sox took a different road for the same result. After battling back and forth with their hated nemesis, the Yankees, all year long, the Red Sox were winning 5-2 in the bottom of eighth of Game 7 of the ALCS. Six outs away from glory with their ace Pedro Martinez on the mound. Not quite as drastic as the Cubs (but who is?), they gave up 3 runs to tie up the ball game and ultimately losing in the 11th on an Aaron Boone home run. Your World Series contestants: The New York Yankees and The Florida Marlins. No Cubs, no Red Sox. Losers lose. Again.

I rooted for the underdog. I wanted to see the cursed World Series happen, but it didn't. These curses are serious things in baseball, and they don't go down lightly. A couple crazy 8th innings, and the streaks stay intact. What else can I say but "Wait 'til next year." Or maybe the next.

Chris Jungle loses on a regular basis without a curse.