Yesterday was a fantastic day for one simple reason: a Cub made the hall of fame. Everything else could go wrong but with the voting results in, all the negatives of the day are redeemed. I grew up watching the sure-handed Ryno make play after play at second base; I was in attendance for the Sandberg game in 1984; I remember the press conferences when he signed his record deal and then retired shortly afterward. It is a shame that Cubs fans must look for joy and hope after the season ends but perhaps all of Cubdom needed this recognition from the country's sports writers. A terrible season, a quiet, ineffective off-season, a hundred years of futility is made that much better because a bunch of people checked Ryno's box on their ballots. From my window I can see the snow falling in small, rapid flakes that cover the layer of frozen rain in the frigid 28 degree temperature; but in my mind I can see the green infield grass of Wrigley Field and see Sandberg lunging behind second base and I feel good about baseball again, about the game of my youth, the game of my life, one of the first loves a boy knows, and despite the heartbreak of 2003 and the bitterness of 2004, I feel my hope return a little and await the report of pitchers and catchers in February.