It's a dark night in history.

Today was all about how to get Tony to Wrigley Field in Chicago so that he could blog the World Series. But that was obviously putting the cart before the horse.

Tonight is all about how to get the World Series to Wrigley to begin with.

I want the Cubs to win so bad that I announced half-inning updates on the game in my seminar tonight. Had an ESPN live update of the game on a laptop in front of me as I led the discussion. But the darn ESPN choked at all the crucial moments.

And so did the Cubs. After class, I reached a TV, where I discovered to my dismay that the Cubs were down 4-3. And then a Florida Marlins player rocked a triple off the ivy and it was 7-3. Dusty Baker hung in there too long with his starting pitcher as the latter was running out of steam.

So now we're down to Game 7 -- the seventh and deciding game in the best-of-7 series.

There's no doubt who America wants to win this thing, and it ain't the guys in the black hats. The black hats with the "F" logo that looks like a handgun.

No, we're all rooting for the Cubbies. "Rooting" is too mild a word. There's no word for the level of hope we feel.

What we're missing is faith. Cub fans are already crying in their beer. Hey! It ain't over! Let's live for tomorrow.

And pray, too, if you know how. Please, please, Lord, give us another week or two to watch and admire the Cubs. And a pennant -- a real pennant -- to hang from the rafters for years to come. Another week or two of baseball in the Friendly Confines. Another Chance.

Still, we worry about The Billy Goat Curse.

Remember the "Cheez-borgie, cheez-borgie" lunch counter routine from the golden era of Saturday Night Live? "No Coke -- Pepsi." Well, that's inspired by a real live place under Michigan Avenue in Chicago called the Billy Goat Tavern. And legend has it that the owner of the Billy Goat, a Greek-American fellow, put a hex on the Cubs after he and his real live goat were denied entry to Wrigley during the last World Series played there, in 1945.

He since recanted, but some people swear that Greek curses can't be withdrawn on request.

Maybe they're wrong. We hope they're wrong. We have to have faith that they're wrong.

As the legendary philosopher MC Hammer once noted, That's word, we pray.