Opposite Ends of the Field

"Wait 'til next year." The Chicago Cubs have been living by those words for a century. Fans return to Wrigley Field every season just to see if this is their year. It's called "believing in your team," and while crazy, it's also admirable. No team is perfect -- not even the New York Yankees (sorry, Yankees fans) -- and nobody knows this better than Cubs followers. After this season, Jaguar baseball fans could learn a thing or two from those eternally hopeful Chicago Cubs. It was a hard season for the program, but there will be a "next year." Fortunately for the USA Jags and their fans, it's usually only one bad year at a time. Baseball at South, in case you didn't know, is an institution, and if the team has a bad season, it is just that -- one bad season. Fans can spend hours questioning what went wrong. Were the starting pitchers not confident enough? Was the bullpen too shallow? Why did the club blow so many leads? Was the offense too spotty? Was it inconsistent fielding? All of these questions -- and more -- circled the grandstand at Stanky Field this past season, but the problem is that fans can't ever truly know what goes on in the Jon Lieber Clubhouse. It doesn't pay to question, but we do it. When a consistently solid team has a rough year, every fan is an expert. The fact is nothing can change the 2009 season. They ended it with a 25-30 record, the first time since 2000 that they finished under .500. While difficult for the team, the coaching staff, and the fans, it helps to remember that they not only won the Sun Belt Tournament that year, they did it again in 2001. They were also the regular season Sun Belt champions for the next four years. If history has proven anything, it's that Jag baseball can survive. Steve Kittrell has run a successful program for 26 years because he knows how to lead, no matter the odds. He is already planning for next season and maintains the positive outlook that has helped him lead the Jags to milestone after milestone throughout the years. Solid leadership from veterans andclearly defined pitching roles are some of the elements that he believes will turn the Jags around in 2010. "We lost some key players," Kittrell said in an e-mail, "but we still have a good nucleus to work with and want to contend for the Sun Belt crown next season." For the Cubs, next season has yet to arrive. For the Jags, next season is already here. It's not worth it to dwell on what went wrong in 2009; let's look forward to the fall preview and the 2010 season. Expect a tighter club, a few new faces, some strong leading veterans, and, if Coach Kittrell has his way -- and he often does -- another Sun Belt title.