I sit and wait – always waiting.

Oh, what did I do to deserve such a fate!?

12 ... 11 ... 10 ...

The clock ticks.

9 ... 8 ... 7 ...

I can feel it: The end is near! This tortuous ordeal will soon be nothing more than a specter of the past, a memory that will disappear into a deep abyss, gone forever.

6 ... 5 ... 4 ...

Will it finally be my turn to leave this white, black and blue prison, this purgatory, a stale, stagnant place that threatens to drain the hope from my very soul?

3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

I have waited long enough; I will be a slave to time no more. It is my time now to choose as I please, to ascend to greater things. Now I go!

0 ... Click To Try Again ... 30 ...

I sob silently.

The waiting will go on. My grain of sand waits, packed tightly among others, for a trip to the Promised Land, waiting for what may never come.

29 ... 28 ... 27 ...

Why does time mock me so? Does it lord itself over me for sport or out of sheer malice? In a way, the life of a Cub fan is encapsulated in this day: Waiting – for a win, for next year, for happiness.

26 ... 25 ... 24 ...

My time will come, I suppose, and the reward will be all the sweeter, the land of milk and honey richer than any could ever envision.

23 ... 22 ... 21 ...

How can a little box, a box I cannot even hold in my hand, be so cruel? Its feigned sincerity and petty excuses ...

20 ... 19 ... 18 ...

The prime games will quickly sell out, while I wait – always waiting – for the screen to change, to bestow its blessings on a kind and gentle man.

17 ... 16 ... 15 ...

Until that time comes, I sit and stare, stuck between heaven and hell, in the Virtual Waiting Room.

14 ... 13 ... 12 ...

I've waited for a championship my whole life.

11 ... 10 ... 9 ...

Surely I can wait a few hours for tickets.

8 ... 7 ... 6 ...

Maybe this time I'll get through.

5 ... 4 ... 3 ...

Just maybe.

2 ... 1 ... 0 ...

And then:

Bliss.

A schedule appears before my eyes, 81 joyous possibilities that dazzle the mind and remind why I suffer through this every year. I can hardly contain myself – baseball is almost here! – and I am helpless no more. No computer or cruel browser window can hold me down, or shatter me like glass. I am in.

My time has come. Now, I wonder, will the Cubs' come, too?

The choice is made, payment is sent, and then...

Welcome to the Chicago Cubs Virtual Waiting Room!

30 ... 29 ... 28 ...

Again, I sit and wait – always waiting...