It's been a frustrating few weeks to be a Cubs fan. Aside from the lousy play of the team, there has been an absolute media trainwreck that could result in Milton Bradley and Carlos Zambrano being shipped out of town (at their own request). We saw this already with Sammy Sosa in 2004 - he was one of the most (if not THE most) popular players in franchise history but the Chicago media tarred and feathered him to the point that everyone felt pleased with themselves when he was shipped out of town in exchange for Mike Fontenot and a bag of balls.
Many people over at ACB have been claiming that they will quit their Cub fandom if one/both of these guys are run out of town by the media/fans. I don't know how serious they are about jumping ship to, say, Another Rangers Blog or become Dodgers fans or who knows what - I'm even crappier at reading people's levels of serious on the internets than I am in person. If that is the case, and ACB as I know it is essentially dissolved, I will be pretty disappointed. For one, I like the people over there, and the random conversations we have. But I will still be a Cubs fan (albeit a very frustrated one) if they blow up the team this offseason.
I was 'born into' Cub fandom through my Cub-fan parents, and became a pretty serious fan after the awful 2003 playoff disaster, but as time has passed the main reason I'm a Cubs fan is this - I have the vain hope of hearing Ron Santo experience a Cubs World Series championship. I know all the criticisms of Ron as a broadcaster/player/etc (and even agree with many of them), but the This Old Cub documentary really sucked me in. It's kind of foolish, but I guess that's what being a fan is all about.
August 27, 2009
Cub fandom
August 24, 2009
Random non-baseball post
Over at ACB, you can find my take on how the Cubs will tease us in the last month of the season. There's still of course a slim chance that they could make the playoffs, but I'm not holding my breath. The Cubs left a window open for the Cardinals through injuries, ineffectiveness, and all around shitty luck, and the Cards traded 4 of their 5 best prospects to make themselves the best team in the NL. It's a tall order.
Now that the Cubs season is essentially over, I'm beginning to get sucked into the English Premier League, thanks to a few EPL fans over at ACB. They're Tottenham Hotspur fans so I decided to join in on the fun. So far, it's been pretty exciting to watch - they've won their first 3 games and sit atop the league table. Despite the fact that I 'played' for many years in my youth I know zero about high-level football strategy etc. but that hasn't stopped me from enjoying the games. Spurs have a great offense - they only play 2 of their 4 strikers, but I would bet that their two bench guys would be starters on many other EPL teams (and may get snaked by them for just that reason). Wednesday's game vs relegation candidate Hull City was especially exciting, as Jermain Defoe collected a hat trick against their decimated defense. Spurs beat Big Four team Liverpool in their opening game and won an ugly game on the road against a good Hammers team as well.
I'm also starting to awake from my American-football slumber as well, now that FFL drafts are on the docket. I'm still a casual Packers fan, and I'm excited by the switch to the 3-4 defense. As far as the Favre stuff goes, I wish him well (though of course I wish the Packers to BEAT the Vikings). I really like Aaron Rogers at QB and think Favre should have retired a few years ago (though he did have a good season once the team got him some quality WRs). The problem with Favre from the past few years is that he's a good QB who thinks that he is still a great QB. Given the Packers still-questionable O-line and Ryan Grant (who I am still not sold on), the Packers just aren't a great fit for Favre. I think he can really succeed in MIN though, since Favre is NOT going to be expected to carry the offense there. With the Bears adding Cutler, this should be a fun season in the NFC North.