The holidays are over...blogging goes back to normal

The Jewish holidays, which have lasted nearly a month, are finally over.

A non-Cubs fan actually feels sorry for Cubs fans. You have to admit though that Cubs fans know what they are getting into when they decide to become a Cubs fan. It's always "maybe next year." It's never, "well, maybe they just won't win in my lifetime."

That had to be rough, worse than those other season-ending debacles. A six-month period of unprecedented hope comes crashing down in four days of abject failure, the only saving grace being that the end came as a straight nosedive, no teasing ups and downs.

I've been following baseball for about 48 years, and that was definitely the best Cubs team I can remember seeing, with apologies to the 1969 club for whom the memory grows dim.

All season long I kept hearing Cubs fans asking themselves this one question, and now that it's over, I can't help but ask it myself:

If the Cubs can't win it this year, when will they ever be able to win it?

Here's a list of Cardinals that became a member of the Cubs and vice-versa.

When centerfielder Jim Edmonds first suited up for the Chicagoans on May 15, 2008, he became the bookend of Nicol as the 304th major leaguer in the long history of the Cubs and Cardinals to play for both franchises.

The long-time Cards star Edmonds leaving the San Diego Padres and joining the Cubs was especially alarming and disturbing to many. The fact that St. Louis was paying $2 million of his 2008 salary only added salt to the open wound.

The discomfort increased throughout the summer as the 38-year-old found new life while helping power the Cubs to 97 regular season wins and their second consecutive NL Central Division title. Yet, even Edmonds could not alter the three-and-out NLDS result that ensued for the second year in a row.

Edmonds actually balanced out the current ex-Cubs, ex-Cardinals factor this season. The outfielder joined starting pitcher Jason Marquis as the two Chicagoans that previously called St. Louis home. In the other dugout, starting pitcher Todd Wellemeyer and shortstop Cesar Izturis first wore the Cubs uniform.

Though Edmonds and Izturis will become free agents at the conclusion of the World Series, both could be back next year. Either way, there should be at least one “ex” on each roster in 2009. Marquis will enter the final year of his initial three-year Chicago contract while Wellemeyer is arbitration-eligible, but under Cardinals organizational control.

Seth Rogen will star in a cancer comedy.

Kristen Bell speaks about the DVD extras on Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Since comedies from the Apatow empire tend to benefit from a lot of improvisation, Bell said the "Sarah" script changed "a ton" from the time she first read it.

"I would venture to say it changed about 50 percent," she said. The plot and characters "were created by Jason [Segel] and the majority of the scenes were in there, but the way they allowed us to work - there was a long rehearsal process where we were allowed to ad-lib through all of the scenes and think up scenes on our own that would be good for characters."

And after a lot of drama, Bell enjoyed the comedy.

"It's always been my dream to become a stand-up comic," she said, "but I just don't think that I have the balls to do it. To sit down and try to write a stand-up routine would scare the bejesus out of me. I'd rather make a very long public speech. So being able to work in a comedy with all these people I admire so much and attempt to keep up with their improv skills was really thrilling."

What about writing a comedy screenplay?

"There's a sense of permanence that comes with writing," she said. "I feel like I could go into a room and, fingers-crossed, make some people laugh, have some good zingers, but to be able to put them on paper just gives me so much anxiety."

"Writers would probably say the same thing about what you do," I responded.

"I know," she said. "It's so weird the things that are in your comfort zone and being a writer is the hardest job to me. You're putting jokes on paper and 100 people are reading them and going, 'That's not funny.' That sense of judgment, I'd be crying every day. I'm sensitive."

Rob Riggle has his own talent holding deal with CBS now.

The Cards have let Mark Mulder walk.