TORONTO -- From the basement of his future in-laws' home, with an autographed portrait of Ernie Banks staring down at him, Kurt Evans bellies up to his computer, logs on to his Chicago Cubs blog and proclaims the unimaginable.
"The whole idea of the blog is that the Cubs are going to win the World Series," Evans said. "And when they do, the apocalypse will come."
His Web site is called Goat Riders of the Apocalypse, a tribute to the so-called Billy Goat Curse. It's a place where Cubs fans gather to complain and praise. There are recaps of games, breakdowns of trades and analysis of everything from free-agent signings to a particular player's degree of scrappiness. The site's official motto is, "The End is Nigh, the Cubs Are Going to Win the World Series." And if they do? "We're obviously no longer going to be relevant," Evans says.
Evans, who grew up in western New York, discovered the team on WGN and moved to Canada after meeting his Canadian fiancée, follows the team by watching games online and making occasional trips to Wrigley Field. He and a friend began the blog after the disappointing end to the 2004 season as a way to express their frustrations as well as entertain and uplift other Cubs fans. Evans is a sales manager for an Internet advertising company, but admits that most of the time he is online -- as well as anywhere else -- is spent daydreaming about the team.
"Even at the grocery store, between deciding which type of grapefruit to buy, I'm wondering what the Cubs are going to do that night," Evans says.
Evans, who says he doesn't believe in black cats, curses or billy goats, thinks 2008 is the Cubs' year. And when that happens -- when, not if -- he anticipates the euphoria will rival the birth of his first child.
"There's a guy in Wrigleyville who has a sign that says, 'It's Gonna Happen.' I don't think it's gonna happen. I think it's gotta happen. It needs to happen. And I believe it will happen very soon.
"You can't make up for watching a team lose year in and year out," he says. "But maybe you need a lifetime of sports misery to experience that single moment of unrelenting joy."
Wayne Drehs is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at wayne.drehs@espn3.com.