My thoughts on the Cubs

[DawgatAuburn]

I don't know how many thousands of Cubs games I've watched over the last 35 years. I've loved players that probably most of you guys have never heard of, convinced that some of them would be part of the team that finally got it done. I've spent just as much time if not more wondering, maybe even doubting, that I would ever see this happen in my lifetime. I'm not a believer in curses but when your history includes the called shot, the goat, the Lou Brock trade, the black cat in 69, 1984, 2003, the sweeps in 2007 and 2008, well....you can start believing in just about anything. I've yet to completely process what happened last night, not just for me, but for the millions of people who have agonized with the Cubs for years upon years, decades upon decades.

I've posted this picture a few times over the last several years. To me, it perfectly encapsulates both the expectations and the anguish of Cub fandom. I hope this guy, and the people he represents, is experiencing a high more intense and more long-lasting than all the lows he's suffered through over the years.

 

[1msucub]

I agree whole-heartedly with everything you said, D@A. I think we can safely replace that picture with this one now:
View attachment 5336

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

Yeah, they are on pace to do it again in 2,124

but Congrats!

 

[DAWG61]

Congrats to the city of Chicago and to the 1% of Cubs fans that were actual fans before the Cubs went Yankees style and bought Epstein and the team.

 

[seshomoru]

I don't feel like putting up with this **** today. W

 

[Dawgzilla]

17 the Cubs. If they aint losers, then they aint lovable.

 

[PonderThis1]

Congrats to the city of Chicago and to the 1% of Cubs fans that were actual fans before the Cubs went Yankees style and bought Epstein and the team.

This X 1000

 

[MSUDC11]

Get used to this, D@A. You've got a young team that's built to last. Probably going to get a few more rings in the coming years.

As a Red Sox fan of a team that's also on it's way back up with really young talent, I can't wait for the day we get a Cubs-Sox World Series. It's coming soon. How freaking awesome will it be to see WS games rotate between Fenway and Wrigley.

 

[EngDawg]

Congrats to the city of Chicago and to the 1% of Cubs fans that were actual fans before the Cubs went Yankees style and bought Epstein and the team.

I'm a Braves fan, but couldn't help but pull for the Cubs.

 

[JungRebel]

I am happy for the Cubs fans who have suffered for a lifetime. As soon as you win another one though, the hate is going to be real from the rest of the baseball community. Loveable losers no more.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

I'm a 1%er then. Gave up during the NLCS and the World series when they were down.

Glad to be proven wrong for the first time.

 

[thekimmer]

delete

delete

 

[HueFreeze]

haha you should get a clue ...yankees style

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/national-league-central/chicago-cubs/

hate us now! we don't give a damn! WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!!

 

[dorndawg]

Good stuff D@A. Soak it up - I know I am.

 

[dorndawg]

Congrats to the city of Chicago and to the 1% of Cubs fans that were actual fans before the Cubs went Yankees style and bought Epstein and the team.

A) The Cubs 2016 Opening Day payroll ranked 14th in MLB
B) In last night's starting 9, 6 players made their ML debut with the Cubs (Schwarber, Bryant, Rizzo, Russell, Contreras, Baez)
C) Of the remaining 3, Dexter Fowler and Ben Zobrist were very nice off-season additions but not big splashes. Heyward was the one major bat signed, and was more or less an albatross the entire Series.
D) Of last night's pitchers,Kyle Hendricks made his ML debut with the Cubs. Lester is the one big pitching contract and has been more or less worth it. I think the Cubs paid about 4 million in pro-rated salary to Aroldis Chapman (plus gave up a great prospect in Adam Warren), but I'd still call that one of the great bargains of the century for his October alone, and he's a FA after this season.

So basically what I'm saying is, don't dare let the facts get in the way of your witty story...

 

[1msucub]

Congrats to the city of Chicago and to the 1% of Cubs fans that were actual fans before the Cubs went Yankees style and bought Epstein and the team.

1% and quite proud.

 

[Thirty-Two Dive]

I'm not a master of the written word. But my thoughts on the Cubs mostly mirror yours. I'll attempt to expand further...

The last month has been surreal. Prior to the new regime, you couldn't fathom this kind of run from Cub baseball. It was usually, in competitive seasons, a product of declining veterans, with a few young guys providing depth. They just kind of hoped to back into a World Series, by virtue of making the playoffs. The equivalent of throwing something against a wall enough times, with hope of it finally sticking by accident. If there was post season play, the free agents would be gone weeks later, with the Cubs seemingly only holding the bad contracts. They were bad, because there was little possibility they would match past performance, or they were bad character players, on the verge of imploding the clubhouse. Once they met the futility of the playoff season, there was only hope that they would make it back...

Because I became a Cub fan as a product of the early 80's "Superstation" boom, the '83-85 seasons indoctrinated me on the boom/bust relationship of being a Cub fan. Without Dallas Green, there would have not been a boom, to go along with that bust. (As well as the hall-of-fame jersey in D@A's avatar.) The '88-90 seasons repeated the same pattern. Outside of that, it was just the hope of reaching .500, until the passing of Harry, and the injection of great power into Sammy (and a great deal of baseball). I remain convinced, that the Tribune Corp.'s philosophy of ownership, was to remain as close to .500 as possible. Pay enough to give hope to the legions of fans, while fleecing them in the process, but not spend enough to make the team truly competitive, and raise expectations to a point, that not winning it all would kill attendance/sales. Hope sells, and that's all the Trib wanted to sell.

Until Theo brought the blueprint, and created the Cubs Way, I was content with having a passion for a team that was mired by not only the Tribune's business model, but the incompetence of GM's from Himes to Hendry (mostly the Stench of Ed Lynch). The decades of free Cub Baseball, served daily on WGN, cemented a Stockholm Syndrome that would still be present today, if not for the Ricketts Family purchasing the Cubs. Everyone who has paid attention, for the last 5 years, knows what has happened since...

They not only got rid of the monkey on the back of the franchise (decades of incompetence, and the manifested curses they brought), but the monkey that was on OUR backs, of being addicted to really inferior baseball.

You bet your sweet tuchis I celebrated last night, like no other...

 

[Chesusdog]

Heyward was the one major bat signed, and was more or less an albatross the entire Series.

That last bat with the bases loaded was one of the most pitiful things I've seen since we last played an SEC opponent.

 

[dorndawg]

I said at the time it was literally the worst MLB at bat I'd ever seen by a non-pitcher. Hell I think he swung at one that hit the plate after bouncing three times.

 

[OneParticularHarbor]

I'm a long-timer due to WGN and echo DaA's thoughts. Ironically, WGN quit showing the Cubs nationally in 2014, just as Theo's plans came together. And even more ironically, WGN will show the victory parade tomorrow nationally. http://tvline.com/2016/11/03/chicago-cubs-world-series-victory-parade-wgn-america/