The Cubs are being documentized

March 12th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

Think quick, sports fans: what team is the most tormented, the most woebegone, but also the most celebrated, the most beloved in all the land? Ding, ding ding! The Chicago Cubs is correct! So wouldn’t this make perfect documentary theater? Encapsulating the highs and lows of the Cubbies within the city’s undying love for them in what is now 100 years removed from their last World Championship?

The dude that made “The U.S. vs. John Lennon” (ohhhhh yooooooko) thinks so. Emphasis mine:

A documentary on the ‘08 Cubs with the working title “We Believe” has begun production, and the Oscar buzz is unmistakable. According to Mark DeRosa, all the Cubs need is to write a happy ending, like, say, end the 100-year drought.

“If we win the World Series this year, it’ll probably win an Oscar,” DeRosa said. “I’ll get to walk the red carpet. We’re going to Sundance!”

[ … ]

Scheinfeld, who grew up in Highland Park and attended Northwestern, said he had wanted to do something on his hometown team for years.

“I’d just done a documentary on John Lennon, I’ve done one on God and heaven (’In the Name of Heaven’), and it was like, ‘Now what do I do?’ ” Scheinfeld said Tuesday at HoHoKam Park. “[It’s] about the love affair between a great city and its team.

“We’ll have a little bit of the history of the Cubs, and of Chicago, but mostly it’s: ‘How does this thing come together, and what is this tapestry all about?’ ”

The usual suspects will be mentioned in the documentary — the black cat, the Billy Goat curse and, of course, the Bartman episode.

And then if the Cubs don’t win the World Series this year, they can add in a bonus section on the DVD version entitled “the documentary curse.” Because clearly, without the black cat, Billy Goat and Steve Bartman the Cubs would be three championships richer by now. Riiiight. But hey just keep believing that. It makes for a great documentary story, right?