I did not plan on making the Chicago Cubs a topic for two days running, but today it struck me anew that I really would prefer they not win a World Series for the first time since 1908 …

Because I love, love, love long championship droughts, and when it comes to North American sports, nobody can match the Cubbies and their 107 seasons since they won the 1908 World Series.

We need to keep our serial fail-ers because we have so few to appreciate and argue about and pay attention to.

See? Here we are, discussing the Cubs, not because they won 103 games, not because we like Wrigley Field — but because they haven’t won since Teddy Roosevelt was president.

A few years ago, we had far more serial losers, and those we have left … are precious to those of us who like a good story — and the long, long attempts by hapless clubs to win a championship are always good for stories.

Consider:

Back in September of 2004, we had three grand droughts in baseball, alone.

The Boston Red Sox had not won a championship since 1918, before they sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees.

The Chicago White Sox had not won a championship since 1917.

The Cubs had not won a championship since 1908.

Then in a span of 13 months, we lost two of those three to the realms of success.

The Red Sox won the 2004 World Series after coming from 3-0 down versus the Yankees, erasing the Curse of the Bambino. A great story, but a great loss to sports droughts.

The following season the White Sox won the World Series, just when some of us were beginning to think the baseball gods intended to punish them forever for the “Black Sox” throwing the 1919 World Series.

The Cubs are our last great example, when it comes to a monstrous American pro sports streak of not winning. After them, the longest span of time in baseball since winning a World Series is a mere 67 seasons (40 years behind the Cubs), by the Cleveland Indians — who also are in the playoffs this fall.

Some other choice losers we would prefer to keep, just because it is fun:

—Toronto’s Maple Leafs. They have contrived not to win the NHL’s Stanley Cup since 1967 — 48 seasons ago. And this is not just any NHL team. This is one of the Original Six, and the most important hockey club in Canada, the most important hockey country.

–Detroit’s Lions. They not only have not won a Super Bowl (or even played in one), the Lions’ most recent NFL championship was in 1957 — 58 seasons ago. That means 50 non-championship seasons during the Super Bowl era, and eight more before that when the NFL was a small and not particularly significant league.

–The NBA’s Sacramento Kings. Not really a prominent streak of failure, and spread over five (!) cities, but this franchise has not won a title since 1951 — 65 seasons ago. They were the Rochester Royals when they won the 1951 NBA title (effectively NBA pre-history). They next did six non-title seasons in Rochester, then 15 as the Cincinnati Royals, followed by 13 as the Kansas City (and sometimes Omaha) Kings, followed by 31 also-ran seasons in Sacramento. That’s a significant streak, though it loses impact because of the franchise shifts.

Anyway, I prize lovable losers, and the Cubbies are the best we have. The goat! Bartman! The ground ball that went through Leon Durham!

We can carry on, I suppose, if the Cubs win this year, but living without their impressive history of failure will not be as compelling.