Chap­ter 20: Unfin­ished Busi­ness, takes us into the world of the Cubs as they reflect on the piv­otal moment when Super Bowl LVI took place on Feb­ru­ary 13, 2022, at SoFi Sta­di­um in Ingle­wood, Cal­i­for­nia. This remark­able event wasn’t just sig­nif­i­cant for the sport, but also for deaf ath­letes, as play­ers like Trevin, Chris­t­ian, Jory, and Enos found them­selves not only rep­re­sent­ing their team but the broad­er deaf ath­let­ic com­mu­ni­ty. With 70,000 spec­ta­tors in atten­dance, the stage was set for a pow­er­ful cel­e­bra­tion of inclu­sion, marked by the appear­ance of deaf per­form­ers dur­ing the half­time show. The NFL’s com­mit­ment to break­ing stereo­types was on full dis­play, but even amidst this mon­u­men­tal achieve­ment, the Cubs felt a yearn­ing for more. Though they took pride in their his­to­ry-mak­ing moment, they couldn’t help but feel the sting of their recent cham­pi­onship defeat, crav­ing the taste of vic­to­ry rather than the con­so­la­tion of sec­ond place.

Despite the dis­ap­point­ment, Coach Kei­th Adams knew how to trans­form the sting of loss into a moti­va­tion­al tool for the Cubs. He remind­ed the team that their jour­ney was far from over and that they had “unfin­ished busi­ness” to set­tle in the next sea­son. With Enos grad­u­at­ing, the team had to come to terms with a change in their ros­ter, but key play­ers like Trevin, Felix, Jory, Cody, Chris­t­ian, and David remained com­mit­ted to the goal of redemp­tion. Coach Adams suc­cess­ful­ly per­suad­ed Kaveh Angoorani to extend his play­ing career for one more sea­son, offer­ing a sense of con­ti­nu­ity and expe­ri­ence. The Cubs under­stood that their suc­cess in the upcom­ing sea­son would be defined not just by their tal­ent, but by the men­tal resilience they were devel­op­ing in the face of adver­si­ty. It was clear that their deter­mi­na­tion to win was stronger than ever, and they were eager to put their hard work into action.

The off­sea­son proved to be a crit­i­cal peri­od for the Cubs, as the dynam­ics of their train­ing evolved. No longer were they sim­ply going through the motions—they active­ly sought to improve and become stronger as a unit. The weight room, once a place that required push­ing from their strength coach Galvin Drake, became a hub of activ­i­ty where play­ers arrived with the inten­tion to out­do each oth­er. The sense of urgency that had been miss­ing the pre­vi­ous year was now pal­pa­ble, as the play­ers chan­neled their frus­tra­tion and dis­ap­point­ment from the pre­vi­ous sea­son into a com­mit­ment to improve. Coach Drake observed the trans­for­ma­tion, not­ing that the Cubs were now dri­ven by a desire to hold each oth­er account­able, push­ing their lim­its to ensure that their next sea­son would not be anoth­er missed oppor­tu­ni­ty. This renewed ded­i­ca­tion laid the foun­da­tion for their phys­i­cal and men­tal growth, set­ting the stage for a sea­son in which they would aim to prove their worth on the field.

Dur­ing this peri­od of intense prepa­ra­tion, play­ers like Alfre­do Bal­tazar took the time to con­nect with their her­itage and share the Cubs’ jour­ney with their fam­i­lies. A trip to Mex­i­co allowed Alfre­do to meet with extend­ed rel­a­tives and com­mu­ni­cate his accom­plish­ments as part of a deaf foot­ball team. This wasn’t just about play­ing football—it was about show­ing his fam­i­ly that deaf ath­letes could excel in the sport. As the first per­son in his fam­i­ly to play foot­ball, Alfre­do sought their approval, and his desire to prove him­self became a dri­ving force in his prepa­ra­tion for the sea­son. His ded­i­ca­tion to the sport was reflect­ed in the phys­i­cal trans­for­ma­tion he under­went dur­ing the off­sea­son, as he ded­i­cat­ed him­self to the strength and con­di­tion­ing nec­es­sary for suc­cess. More than just a play­er, Alfre­do became a sym­bol of deter­mi­na­tion and inspi­ra­tion for his fam­i­ly and his team, rein­forc­ing the idea that sports could offer not just per­son­al growth but the oppor­tu­ni­ty to bridge gaps and fos­ter deep­er con­nec­tions. His jour­ney exem­pli­fied the pow­er of sports to shape not only ath­let­ic careers but also the rela­tion­ships that sup­port­ed those endeav­ors.