In the early days of baseball, the Chicago Cubs, who started out as the Chicago White Stockings, were an excellent team. In the years from 1876 to 1945, they finished in first place in the National League sixteen times. They won six of the first eleven National League Championship titles, in 1876, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1885 and 1886. They became the Cubs in 1903 and played in the World Series in 1906, 1907, 1908, 1910, 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938 and 1945. They won the World Series in 1907 and 1908.

But then something must have happened. In the 62 seasons from 1945 to 2007, the Cubs had only 17 winning seasons. They played in the play-offs only five times, 1984, 1989, 1998 (as the wild card), 2003 and 2007. They never won the National League pennant, and never played in the World Series.

Did something happen in 1945? It sure did. Cubs fans call it the Curse of the Billy Goat.

It has to do with a guy called Billy the Goat and his pet billy goat. He owned a tavern near the Chicago Stadium, now the United Center, that was originally called the Lincoln Tavern. He had bought it in 1934, in the midst of the Depression, for $205. He paid for it with a check that bounced. (But, as the website of the Billy Goat Tavern is quick to point out, he made good on the check through the sales receipts of his first week-end.)

Once, a goat fell off a truck that was passing on the street and wandered into the tavern Well, that's the story, at least. Sianis named the goat Murphy and sort of adopted it as a mascot. He grew a goatee to resemble his pet and started to refer to himself as Billy the Goat. Then he changed the name of his pub to the Billy Goat Tavern.

Billy the Goat was a Cubs fan and he had Chicago Cubs tickets. And there he was, on October 6, 1945, ready to go to Game 4 of the World Series. He brought along his goat. Does that surprise you, too? It surprises me. It has never occurred to me to bring a goat, or more likely, my cat or dog, to a baseball game. But Billy the Goat brought the billy goat. And the billy goat was dressed to the nines, draped with a blanket that read, "We got Detroit's goat."

Two versions of the story are commonly told at that point, but they both involve Cubs owner Philip Knight Wrigley. In the first version, when Sianis arrived at Wrigley Field with Murphy, they were both admitted. More than that, Sianis somehow managed to go onto the field and lead the goat around. They returned to their seats and stayed for part of the game. But at some point the ushers ejected Billy the Goat and his billy goat from the ballpark. Why? Because, according to Wrigley, other fans were objecting that the goat smelled.

In the other version of the story, the ushers didn't let Murphy into Wrigley Field to begin with. An argument ensued, Sianis appealed to Wrigley and the duo were asked to leave the park. In this version, too, it was because the goat smelled.

And then came the curse. Upon being ejected or denied entry to Wrigley Field, Sianis either raised his fist to heaven, or hollered at the ushers, or went back to his tavern and told his patrons that "the Cubs will win here no more!"

But, here, the facts become verifiable. The Cubs lost the game and lost the Series to the Tigers.

More lore: the story is that, when the Cubs lost the Series, Sianis sent Wrigley a telegram, or a postcard from Greece (where he had gotten to awfully fast in a pre-jet-age time), that read, "Who stinks now?"

But, again, the facts become verifiable. That was the last World Series that the Chicago Cubs have played in since. When things got close, when the team was good and it looked like they had a chance, something weird would happen.

In 1969, the weird thing was a black cat. The Cubs looked great that year. Among the men wearing Chicago jerseys that year were Hall of Famers Ernie Banks, Billy Williams and Ferguson Jenkins. Ron Santo, who has not yet been elected to the Hall of Fame, was also on the team. And Hall of Famer Leo Durocher was the manager. At one point the Cubs led the second-place New York Mets in the National League East (when there were only two divisions in the league) by 8.5 games. But the lead had shrunk to about 1.5 games when the Cubs met the Mets at Shea Stadium.

During the game, a black cat slinked onto the field, circled Ron Santo in the on-deck circle, had a look at the team sitting in the dug-out and slinked away again. Guess what? The Cubs lost the game. And went on to lose 17 of their 25 games in September. They finished the season eight games behind the Mets.

In 2003, the weird thing wasn't a billy goat. It was a scapegoat. The scapegoat's name was Steve Bartman. The Cubs had had a great season and were playing the Florida Marlins in the National League Championship Series. If they won the series, they would win the National League pennant and would go on the play in the World Series. They were leading the series 3-2 going into the sixth game at Wrigley Field. In the eighth inning of that game, the Cubs were leading 3-0 with Mark Prior pitching. A pop-up foul into the stands seemed to be in play and Moises Alou was reaching for the ball. But the fans in the stands also reached for it. One fan, Bartman, knocked the ball off course and out of Alou's grasp, preventing what could have been an out. Alou, visibly irate, appealed to the umpires to rule fan interference, but none was called. In the next play, Alex Gonzalez bobbled a ground ball. If he had fielded it surely, he could have begun an inning-ending double play. And then the Marlins scored eight runs and won the game and it was all Steve Bartman's fault. Well, at least, that's what people seem to think.

Then the Cubs lost the seventh game to the Marlins 9-6 and it was all Steve Bartman's fault. Even though Bartman didn't attend the seventh game. Having left Wrigley Field before the end of the sixth game under a security escort for his own protection, he spend some time at home under police protection, eventually issuing a contrite and heart-broken apology and changing his family's phone number.

In light of the Curse and the subsequent record and the weird things that happen to upset hot streaks and winning teams, various individuals have tried various ways to reverse the curse. Sam Sianis, William Sianis' nephew, has made various attempts to bring a goat to Wrigley Field. The Cubs themselves have brought a goat onto the playing field at Wrigley to walk the bases in an attempt to break the spell.

The infamous ball, the one that was knocked out of Moises Alou's grasp by Steve Bartman, had been retrieved that night. It was demolished, boiled and the steam was collected to add to a spaghetti sauce that was served and eaten at Harry Caray's Restaurant. Nothing has seemed to work to reverse the curse in the past. But now?

Now, during the 2008 All-Star break, the Cubs have been in first place in the National League Central Division since sometime in May. They are tied with the Los Angeles Dodger for best record in the major leagues - both teams are playing .600 ball. They had eight players elected by the fans or selected by other means for the All-Star Game. That hasn't happened since the Pittsburgh Pirates sent eight to the All-Star Game in 1960.

It has been 100 years since the Cubs last won a World Series. One hundred - a nice round number. A century. Ten decades. You may or may not believe in the Curse of the Billy Goat, but in fact the Cubs have the record for the longest stretch by any baseball team since their last World Series appearance or World Series win.

We will have to work our way through the second half of the season to see if the curse, if there is one, is over. We will have to see if 100 is a lucky number or, like so many others, an unlucky one.

But in the meantime, tell us. What do you think? Do you think there is a Curse of the Billy Goat? Or is it all a lot of hooey?