October 27, 2004 is a date that is ingrained in my memory, not just because it was the day the Boston Red Sox broke the supposed "curse" by winning the World Series. It was the day my father passed away. Those 2 events are not totally unrelated, though. I became a Cubs fan because of my father. It was the one thing we had in common. We were very different in most ways. He was a bus mechanic and loved working with his hands, while I have always been somewhat mechanically challenged. He prefe...