Lovable Losers night a celebration of futility

Though it has nothing to do with baseball, there's a famous novel with a title to which any Cubs fan can relate: One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Wrigley diehards immediately know the sad truth, because it has been that long since their team won a World Series.

Faithful Cubs fans now have a place to mingle and commiserate once a month throughout what might be the season, thanks to Oak Park author Donald Evans -- the guy behind the 2007 sports gambling novel set in Chicago, Good Money After Bad (Atomic Quill Press, $14.95).

With the help of some Elginites, Evans launched in April a live version of the Lovable Losers Literary Revue, which gathers at El Jardin restaurant, 3335 N. Clark St., not far from Wrigley Field. The next session will meet at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Admission is free. If you can't make it, there's a Web site, www.lovablelosersliteraryrevue.com.

"I liken this to a cross between Dean Martin's Celebrity Roast and public radio's Wait, Don't Tell Me -- both irreverent and funny showcases that go for the jokes but also possess a great deal of intelligence," said Evans, who intends to keep things "festive and funny."

The initial performance included readings, music, trivia games, dancers and a duo from Elgin providing a bit of the color. Kyle Bault of Elgin did some emcee work and gave updates on the Cubs/Pirates game playing on TV, while Jeff Myers of Elgin did his Harry Caray impersonation. Both men have been invited back.

"It was delightful. And I'll have a better Caray by then," said Myers.

If all goes according to plan, George Rawlinson's State Street Publishing in Elgin will put out an anthology called This Year Is Next Year -- Again, based on the Lovable Losers blog posts.

The Cubs nights and the blog were created because, "I wanted to do a pub crawl in Wrigleyville to promote my novel. I thought it would be a good way to tie the sports backdrop of the story to an audience of sports fans -- me and a few other authors with Cubs themes in their novels -- and I started contacting people," said Evans.

That was how he met Randy Richardson, author of the Wrigley-tinged murder-mystery Lost in the Ivy (Publish America, $19.95). Richardson read at the first gathering and is running the Web site.

"Lots of other Cubs fans and artists, many whom are working on projects related to the 100th anniversary, are lining up," said Evans. "Rick Kogan (of the Chicago Tribune) will be a guest at some point, and Jonathan Alter (of Newsweek) said he would be a featured guest during his annual summer trip back home."

Alter has contributed to the online project as has Russ Bradburd, a former college basketball coach who penned the memoir Paddy on the Hardwood Floor: A Journey in Irish Hoops (University of New Mexico Press, $24.95). Other bloggers include Sid Yiddish, Bill Mitchell, Christine Sneed, Sean DeLauder, photojournalist Tammy Lechner and Dave Studeman of www.baseballgraphs.com and www.hardball.com.

A true-blue believer, Evans said, "the Cubs will eventually win a World Series. They have to, right? If you keep throwing your hat into the ring, over and over again, you're going to eventually -- this is just simple math -- win it all.

"Besides, it's not like I picked the Cubs. I don't remember ever having a choice. From the time I was a little boy, I was going to Cubs games with my uncles and dad, wearing the cap, pretending to be Banks and Santo and DeJesus and Reuschel, talking Cubs with friends and neighbors and relatives, tracking scores. I mean, what, I'm going to one day decide the Yankees are for me?

"This is sort of my lot, and I think it's that way for most fans," Evans added. "That the Cubs have been so consistently horrible, well, I'm too old to cry, so I prefer to laugh. I suppose there's pride in sticking with something."