Cubs Update

Re: The 100th Annual Cubs Watch Thread

I thought my 5-year-old son might think it was neat that the Cubs were playing last night. I mean, he just got his jersey and hat this week, and his first game is tonight.

He instantly recognized that he owns the same hat as the guys on TV. Then Manny popped one out. Suddenly, he had decided that the Dodgers were the better team.

About an inning later, he said, "I don't like the Cubs. They're boring to watch." I'm glad he was able to make the distinction between his Cubs T-ball team and the losers that dropped last night's opener.

 

Re: The 100th Annual Cubs Watch Thread

I haven't read ALL of this . . . so help me out . . . am I the only one who noticed that Smith referred to a certain marvelous strip of local
concrete as "Addison AVENUE"?!)(&%)&((#$!?

 

Re: The 100th Annual Cubs Watch Thread

It's not worth reading the whole thing.
I wouldn't be surprised by that typo, but as a life-long Cubs fans, I finished that article and thought, "Well, there's 20 minutes of my life I'll never have back."

 

Re: The 100th Annual Cubs Watch Thread

Ah, the Cubs fan panic. All I heard from fans was, wow, everybody's watching the games this year, and fans are cheering like mad and rallying their team. And then they get down 4-2 -- IT'S ONLY FUCKING 4-2!!!! -- and the silent sound of death is interrupted only by the occasional boos. Cripes, this team has come back a lot this year, and the fans sit on their hands like the world is collapsing around them? I guess everybody was saving their voice to start bragging next year about leading the league in attendance again. Unreal.

 

Re: The 100th Annual Cubs Watch Thread

Guys, which one of Alfonso Soriano's two post-season hits as a Cub is your favorite one?

 

Re: The 100th Annual Cubs Watch Thread

Maybe the Cubs are just trying the Costanza opposite approach. Instead of getting well ahead in a series where clinching is within reach only to have it painfully wrested away, they are going to fall into deep holes in each series, and then come back to win in dramatic fashion.

Re: today. Which Zambrano shows up? The guy who threw the no-no 3 starts ago or the guy who gave up 5 or more earned runs in 5 of his last eight starts. The guy who held the Dodgers to 1 run at home or gave up 7 earned a week later in LA? Let me check with Costanza to see which he prefers.

 

Re: The 100th Annual Cubs Watch Thread

Was one of them an infield single or bunt? That one.

Wouldn't it be better to debate which strikeout in which he looked most inept? More material to work from...

 

Re: The 100th Annual Cubs Watch Thread

Also, Lou Piniella and the players have to stop pretending there is no such thing as curses. Maybe there isn't. But there is such a thing as players tightening up under the pressure of hearing about a 100-year drought (how else to explain Ryan Dempster) and a crowd reacting to every bad break like their dog just got run over by an ice cream truck. I wonder if he and the players would be better off acknowledging it, and reminding fans (and players) that one grand slam doesn't mean it's time to abandon ship.

 

Re: The 100th Annual Cubs Watch Thread

You mean, you think there wasn't as much rewrite/massage time for Smith as usual, and it showed?

 

Re: The 100th Annual Cubs Watch Thread

I just don't think he broke any new ground. Wow, the Wrigley bleachers are a party - complete with flowery descriptions. I'm usually a big Gary Smith fan, but that one just didn't do it for me.

 

Re: The 100th Annual Cubs Watch Thread

As he pointed out it was the same fucking article he wrote 10 years ago.

 

Re: The 100th Annual Cubs Watch Thread

Players generally don't give a shit about curses or, for that matter, any of a local club's history. In this case, these guys play for the 2008 Cubs and a good many didn't play for the '07 team and a good many won't play for the '09 team. They will go home to Phoenix or Japan or the Dominican Republic or California in the off-season. So they stay pretty focused on the present. That curse crap is something for the fans and the media to talk about.