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
Posted by Berselius at 11:17 PM
Labels: Carlos Zambrano, Cubs, fandom, Milton Bradley
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
It's not going anywhere, b. I'm disappointed and pissed at how some of these guys are being treated by the fans, but I'm a Cubs fan. I'm embarrassed because of it at times, but that's life.
That being said, I'm not sure I can be the same kind of fan I am now if the Cubs drop Zambrano in the same way they did Sosa. I'll still be a fan and write about the team, but I'm going to care a lot less than I do know. I hope that does not happen.
It stinks when the team trades away your favorite players. I was a hair's-breadth away from buying a Jim Thome whitessox jersey this spring, which would have ended up sitting ironically next to my Griffey Jr. white sox t-shirt. They really make it hard to love the south siders (unlike the phils).
I don't know how it is with the media in Philly, Ben, but the sports media in Chicago are a bunch of agenda-driven hacks. Their hatchet-job scapegoating of Sosa in 2004 was bad enough, and now they're just keeping that train rolling.
It's even worse when your favorite players just fall apart. I have an old Prior t-shirt buried in my dresser to avoid my looking at it.
Post a Comment