Living the Dream

Legendary broadcaster Jack Brickhouse once said "any team can have a bad century." He was joking, of course, but the Chicago Cubs franchise, whose games he worked for decades, entered 2008 on the brink of making his words come painfully true. A number of expansion teams in the four major sports never have won a World Series, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, or NBA title in their brief histories. But no team ever has gone 100 years without winning a championship. Following the Cubs' quest to avert that infamous distinction is the backdrop for Living the Dream, which, for author Jim McArdle, it truly was. McArdle, a former Cubs employee as editor of the official team magazine Vine Line, quit his job to devote himself completely to the 2008 Cubs' season. Thanks to clubhouse access generously offered by the team and an apartment located just beyond Wrigley's left-field fence, McArdle was uniquely positioned to compile this fascinating story.