CHICAGO -- Greg Maddux was the Opening Day starter in his Braves debut when he beat his former team in Chicago in April of 1993. Cubs fan Dan Lepse remembers it well.Cubs lost 1-0, he said. Coldest I have ever been in my life.Lepse also recalls it was the day he proposed under the Wrigley Field marquee to his future wife Tricia, who immediately ran for the bathroom because it was the only place that had heat.The first person she told we were engaged was the bathroom attendant, he said.Ah, the Cub fan. Much has been said, mocked and dissected in regard to this unique species. Motivated by a deep, often familial and civic loyalty, energized by unbridled and childlike optimism and distinguished by a gnawing and perpetual state of angst, Cubs fans may resemble those from other cities and towns, but its the rare combination of these traits that sets them apart.Psychiatrist and lifelong Cubs devotee Neal Spira would not go so far as to mix business and pleasure and say Cubs fans are a textbook example of any particular psychosis.No, no, not textbook, Spira said. Maybe a paper, though. You could definitely write a paper about the psychology of the Cubs fan.Dr. Leo Weinstein, Spiras colleague at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis, goes back to a central theme of psychotherapy in probing Cubs fans, and the theory that unconscious childhood feelings get expressed in adulthood.It taps into this feeling a lot of us have that things should be fair, that people should take turns and its our turn to win, he said. It also taps into the idea a lot of us believe subconsciously that if you suffer enough, youll be rewarded.Cubs fans have suffered for 108 years, so it only makes sense well be rewarded -- not because our team is good or that Theo Epstein and the front office have assembled a winning team, but because its right. And when [that] turns out not to be true, were upset. People have a hard time giving up that feeling ... but its a problematic way to live your life.Dan Lepse laughs at the prognosis but doesnt altogether dispute it.Lepse is a resident of Seattle, and he became a Cubs fan for life at age 8, when his father took him on a Midwestern baseball swing after their hometown Pilots moved to Milwaukee. On their trip to Wrigley, Seattle native Ron Santo hit a home run, Fergie Jenkins earned the win and a little boy fell in love.This year, Dan and Tricia celebrated their Sandberg anniversary, or in laymens terms, their 23rd. (Ryne Sandberg played as a second baseman for the Cubs and wore No. 23.)In addition to remembering the 40-degree temperatures and the wind whipping off the lake on that day in April 93, Dan also remembers his wife being none too happy with the amount of time she had to wait [for the proposal].But I guess that was the Cubs fan in me, he said. Always leave em wanting more.The couple have three daughters: Sammy (after Sosa), Kerry (after Wood) and Addison (after the street bordering Wrigley). Dan has a Wrigley Field turnstile in his house.And when Lepse interviewed for his current job of sports information director at Seattle Pacific University eight years ago, he told them if the Cubs made the World Series, he would need to take that week off.Lepse would buy a ticket and go see the Cubs by himself during summer visits to his brother in Chicago.I have seen so many things in that ballpark that should have driven me away, things major leaguers should never do, the bad baseball you encountered seeing the Cubs at Wrigley for any number of years, Lepse said. Ive left the park really frustrated. But theres something about going to see a win, even if your team [is] in last place. Thats uplifting. Its not a lost cause.Psychologist and happiness researcher Stephen Schueller likened the addiction and devotion Cubs fans have to their team to learned helplessness.As things replay over and over, its easy to rationalize away a one-year thing, said Schueller, assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern. You fail so often, you feel theres nothing you can do.Youre doomed to fail because youre a Cubs fan. Its a little sad. But Im an optimistic person, so I hope they win and break the curse.Of course, they already have broken the one that extends 71 years, the last time the team reached the World Series, which comes into some conflict with Schuellers study of happiness.Happiness is based on low expectations, he explained. When you have high expectations, a lot has to be delivered to get emotional. The Cubs were always that team you didnt expect to make it. ... But this year, they were a team of destiny and started out the season on such a historic pace, so fans had really high expectations, and thats really dangerous as far as ones emotional impact.A World Series loss could be very tough to take.It will be really hard on people, depending on how it goes, Spira said. If they really fold, I think people will be destroyed. If they go for it, people could feel good about it.Its inconceivable to some that the Cubs traditional cry of Wait til next year would take on a whole new meaning if they win the World Series. In the meantime, that long lost child in every Cubs fan can do little but wait.It has been 108 years [since the Cubs last won the World Series], so its long overdue, Weinstein said. For that reason, the thinking goes, we will win. The worlds magical forces will make the world just.Every year, were just waiting for justice to occur. Tim Brown Youth Jersey .7 million, one-year contract, a raise of $2.2 million. 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Johnathan Abram Youth Jersey . -- Peyton Manning will have all of his wide receivers available for the first time in a month when the Denver Broncos begin their playoff run Jan. DENVER -- Semyon Varlamov put recent struggles behind him, and the Colorado Avalanches sputtering offense did the same -- at least for one night.Varlamov had 32 saves, Patrick Wiercioch and Rene Bourque scored 22 seconds apart and the Avalanche beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 on Tuesday night.Gabriel Landeskog and Blake Comeau also scored for Colorado, and Wiercioch added an assist for an offense that scored more than three goals for the first time in 12 games.Weve been waiting for this (for) pretty long, Varlamov said of the four goals. Its always nice to see them.Varlamov had been a victim of Colorados lack of offense when he went through a personal five-game losing streak. He struggled, too, posting a 3.07 goals-against average during that stretch, though he bounced back in a losing effort against Boston on Sunday.He followed that 44-save performance with another strong one against the Kings.The team played well in front of me, he said. When the guys score lots of goals it gives you more confidence.Dustin Brown scored for Los Angeles and Peter Budaj stopped 26 shots. It was the Kings fourth straight loss after opening their five-game trip with a win in Toronto.We hit some posts, but we didnt bear down on the chances we had, Drew Doughty said. We have to make our chances count.The Avalanche had not scored a regulation goal for more than five periods before getting two quick ones at the start of the second.Wiercioch broke through when he stuffed the puck between Budajs skate and the post at 1:10 for his second goal of the season.I was skating behind the net and saw him cheating off the post, so I tried it, Wiercioch said. It doesnt work a lot in practice. Maybe he was reading pass because we had a guy coming down in the slot. I was able to get my stick around and jam it off his pad.ddddddddddddBourque then put his stick on Mikko Rantanens shot from the blue line and redirected it past Budaj at 1:32. It was his fifth of the season and third in three games.The Kings had several chances to get back into it before Brown scored. With Tyson Barrie off for hooking, Nic Dowd backhanded the puck to the front of the net and Brown knocked it in to make it 2-1 with 31 seconds left in the period. It was his third of the season and just the second power-play goal in the last 33 chances for the Kings.The Avalanche made it a two-goal game at 11:32 of the third when Comeau beat Budaj with a shot from between the circles. The Kings challenged play, claiming Jarome Iginla interfered with Budaj, but the goal was upheld upon review.We challenged it because the goalies in the blue paint and he gets bumped a little, Kings coach Darryl Sutter said.Landeskog scored an empty-net goal at 18:23 to make it 4-1.Game notes Avalanche C Nathan MacKinnon had a career-high 10 shots on goal. ... Kings C Anze Kopitar missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury but is expected to skate Wednesday when the team returns to L.A. ... Avalanche C Matt Duchene will make the three-game road trip with the hope of playing as early as Thursday. He was on the ice for Tuesdays morning skate and could be a full participant at Wednesdays practice. He has also missed two straight games.UP NEXT:Kings: Host Edmonton on Thursday to start a stretch of four of the next five at Staples Center.Avalanche: Begin their three-game road trip in Dallas on Thursday night. ' ' '