La forza del destino.

Translated from Spanish, it means “the power of fate.” In the postseason, it explains everything.

It defines why Reggie Jackson is a Hall of Famer, how we remember an old first base umpire (Don Denkinger) and the reason Dent really is a four-letter word for Red Sox fans. Each one of those people on a night in October changed the mood of a faction of the public.

The premise of the phrase is that if you wait long enough and believe, the impossible will ultimately happen. However, dreams come true but they don’t come for free. For me, it doesn’t end positively.

The 2005 World Series looks like it was scripted by a group of writers (which would make sense seeing as how the Spanish phrase is a title to an opera first performed in 1862).

The Chicago White Sox aren’t supposed to be in the World Series, they are supposed to be known as the second-class team in their own city. History tells us the White Sox are most recently known for throwing a fall classic instead of winning one.

It was as if the moment Paul Konerko made the 27th out, the pinnacle had been reached for generations of fans. The selfish person in me knows exactly what these fans (some of which are currently in this newsroom) are now going through.

Now that the World Series match up is days away, Sox fans will try to imagine how their team will win it all. Quite honestly, this reporter hopes they can because they don’t want to live with addressing the true meaning of the power of fate.

In the script of the opera “La Forza del Destino,” the three main characters die after reaching their own version of utopia only after they realize that’s as far as they were destined to go in their journey.

Last March, my Illinois Fighting Illini went on a run in the NCAA Tournament that I will never see again. The night of the championship game against North Carolina, Illinois went up 2-0 on a Deron Williams jumper and at that moment it hit me. “This is as close as I’m going to come to my team winning a championship.”

North Carolina proceeded to go on a 9-0 run and depression began to set in. The entire undefeated run, the impossible comeback against Arizona and never once did I actually conceive them finishing it off. My conscious subconsciously believes they are supposed to play a more talented UNC team in the championship game (2004), Nick Anderson is supposed to miss a box out to lose in the semi-final (1989), you can see where I’m going with this.

Friday, head coach Bruce Weber raised the 2005 Final Four banner during Midnight Madness. It was at that moment, La forza del destino came to be. The fat lady has already officially sung.

The 2005 World Series will define what the power of fate means for their beloved White Sox and their fans. La forza del destino and the manager is Latino, maybe things are looking up for the south siders. Then again…

Matthew Stevens is a senior journalism major, and if you would like to meet him on a fateful date under the moonlight you can request that @[email protected].