Cub Hater

This season is setting up to be a disappointment for Cubs Haters. Most springs Cub Haters can enjoy watching all of the Cub’s fans getting excited about the upcoming season. You would think after over a 100 years of disappointments that maybe, just maybe Cubs fans would start to see a pattern. Apparently bad beer and stale hot dogs cloud your vision. But this year they seem resigned to the fact that despite having a payroll of $40 million less, the Cardinals are the better team. The best part of being a Cub Hater is listening to all of the Cub’s fans unwarranted optimism during the spring and knowing that at some point in the near future those same people will be crying in their Old Styles. It is one of the rites of summer here in Chicago. But this year is different. There is no young 3rd baseman who is supposed to be the next Ron Cey and turns out to be a dud. There is no this is the year Prior, Wood or Zambrano are finally going to get their acts together. I know I have seen it 20 times, but I still enjoy watching the Cub’s fans have their hearts ripped out in late summer when they realize that once again it is not going to happen. The one hope is that they somehow get to the brink of success and there is another Bartman incident. One can only hope.

The Cubs have found a creative way to squeeze a few more dollars out of fans. The have started a Cub's membership which for a mere $249 allows you to buy 12 tickets before everyone else and a few other trinkets. European soccer teams often have a similar system, but you not only get to buy tickets earlier but you get a significant discount. I would say who is stupid enough to sign up for something like this, but of course
Cub's fans are that stupid. Of course those dumb enough to sign up still will not be able to get tickets to the good White Sox or Cardinals games because the Cubs set those aside for the scalpers.

While the current President may be a White Sox fan Cub's fans can take solace in the fact that the World's biggest Cub's fan is the Governor of Illinois.

True Ron Santo was a very good player. He is probably one of the best players not in the hall of fame. But they have to draw the line somewhere and it should be somewhere above Santo. His stats do not justify his getting in. A .277 average and 342 HR is not hall of fame worthy. The biggest problem for Santo is however that he was the 4th best player on a team that never won anything. Banks, Fergie and Williams all deserve to be in, but 3 players from a team with no playoff appearances is already a lot.

Money can bring in all the high priced superstars.He can try to buy the World Series. But money can not reverse the curse. Hendry knows that he can never put together a winning team the old fashioned way. He knows the only hope is for him to outspend every other GM in the central by at least $40 million.

Parts of Wrigley Field may still be the oldest in the NL. Like the Abu Ghraib style bathrooms, the small seats that face center field, which may have been okay for football but doesn't work for baseball, the seemingly endless rows which make having a center seat on an airplane seem pleasant and . But much of what made Wrigley great is gone. Ten years ago you felt like you were stepping back in time when you walked through the gates. Now it feels like you paid $60 to go to a minor league game. Wrigley used to be almost devoid of ads. Now there is not a square inch, other than the bottom of the bathroom troughs, which I am sure Hendry is working on, that is not covered in ads. The cup holders have an ad, the score boards have more adds than scores, the wall behind home plate has an ad, the outfield wall has an ad, every where else has an ad.

The famous bricks are almost all new. Behind home they were ripped out several years ago to add high end seats. The bleachers were torn down a few years ago so the outfield bricks and ivy are all new. The few remaining original bricks are hidden behind eyesore folding chairs that have been added to the field.

All of this destruction is because Hendry can not put a winning team on the field unless he just goes out and buys all the high priced players he can find.