Pundits agree: Just kill me now

Well folks, It's "Wait till next year time" again on the North Side. But really, did anyone actually expect anything else? It's nice how some things are dependable in life: the rising of the sun, the changing of the seasons, and the collapsing of the Cubs.

I actually have a different theory. I believe that George W. Bush is responsible for the Cubs late season slide this year. The Bush machine knows that with yet another devastating disappointment that Cubs fans everywhere will be dropped into an (annual) deep depression and will be that much less likely to come out and vote after yet another world series without their team. Have any doubts about this scenario? Just look at who did win the wildcard. It wouldn't be a team from the President's own home state would it?

Day of dismay at Wrigley Expect better. It is manager Dusty Baker's pledge to himself as much as to those Cubs fans who had the highest of expectations for the team when the season began.

Dusty still in denial on 'choke' Cubs manager Dusty Baker disputes the idea in some circles that his team choked. ''That's just a word for not having another word,'' he said. ''It's sort of disheartening that people feel that bad, but you can't stop people from how they feel. Is everybody that doesn't win a choker? We played a lot of games in a short period of time.''

Collective groan follows Cubs' collapse They knew it was a long shot. But maybe the Cubs could pull this one out and maybe fate would curse some other teams for a change and maybe the Cubs would keep winning.

Players rue little things that led to '04 collapse The Atlanta Braves beat the Cubs for the second straight day Saturday to eliminate them from playoff contention. But Cubs catcher Michael Barrett couldn't get it out of his mind that the Braves were fearful of a division series clash with the Cubs.

Baker hopes to keep focus on field in '05 Some Cubs officials were not pleased to read Steve Stone's comments in Saturday's papers in which Stone said he regretted nothing when asked about the fallout from his critical remarks about Dusty Baker's managing.

They just plain blew it How else to describe a star-studded team falling so short of such lofty expectations?