I Need an Intervention

by Luigi on May 11, 2007 9:32 PM CDT Comment 17 comments

It is mid May. The "June Swoon," if it happens, is still a few weeks away. On paper, the team looks pretty good. The Pythagorean postulated by some of the stat heads tells me we should be competitive within the admittedly weak NL Central. Why then, do I have this feeling of doom?

I've admired and defended Al's often time irrational exuberance because I share his feelings. Yes, as far as the Cubs are concerned I too have been an optimist but I feel myself slowly being sucked into the same whirlpool of despair that so many of the other posters have been in for years. Is it possible or me to forestall being sucked under? The reality of the present day is acting like a giant hand that is pushing me into the abyss. It's like a pair of cement overshoes.

We recently came off a series sweep that had many posters cheering wildly but who did we defeat? The Nationals. The worst team in the National League and we beat them by the skin of our teeth.

To whom did we just loose two-out-of-three? The Pirates: Possibly the second worst team in the National League.

This evening we played a good baseball team and had our butts handed to us.

What does that make us?

Please, please, someone. Throw me a life preserver. Al, I need some words of encouragement. I have been a Cub fan for a long, long time and every time I've gotten my hopes up they have been dashed, crushed, stomped on and flushed right down the toilet. Crap, I still owe people money from 1969.

I don't want to become one of them. You know; the defeatists, the sour pusses, the constant whiners and complainers. It just isn't fun to be that way but the cold hard reality is almost too much to deny. Oh dear God, why hast thou made me a Cub fan?

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of SB Nation or Al Yellon, managing editor (unless it's a FanPost posted by Al). FanPost opinions are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable baseball fans.

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Truth is......

this team isn't that good. I'm always hoping this team to succeed, but this year didn't look all that encouraging from the beginning of Spring training.....the biggest reason being their apparent lack of depth in the starting rotation-and go figure they're the most pleasant surprise thus far. always a chance in the weak NL central, but they haven't shown too much determination thus far. I'm generally eternally optimistic about this team (especially the last 3 yrs), but from Feb. 1 this team hasn't looked like a legit contender. Hopefully I'm wrong

by LuisSalazar on May 11, 2007 9:51 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

My approach

No matter what happens, being a Cub fan has taught me many valuable lessons.

Humility
Patience
Misery loves company
Losing attracts maggots
The sun always arises tomorrow
Managing is easy

Players win awards but teams win championships.

by tharr on May 11, 2007 10:12 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

LMAO at...

... "Crap, I still owe people money from 1969."

This is the way all Cubs fans have had to learn to look at life -- with good humor. Because if we don't, we'd just walk through life every single day completely depressed.

Irrational exuberance? At times, yes. Just wait till you read my recap later.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al on May 12, 2007 3:57 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

cubs

being a cubs fan teaches you this.wait for someting to go wrong and expect to lose.being a pessimist i guess i deserve to be a cubs fan. wish i could walk away sometimes but i know i cant.

by NOMAR on May 12, 2007 5:59 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Why the despair

my brother? So we lost one game (it's still early, which I say until Aug.)I would like to say that I feel Pie added more to this team than his play on the field, which was minimum. His youthful enthusiasm was so refreshing. It seemed to me that once he joined the club they started to turn it around. More fun to watch. They sent him down and it seems like the life is sucked out of this team.

I digress. The hope I maintain is that this team is not that bad. Thus hope will prevail until it is to late , August right? And at the point they are offically out of it, I start to dream about tearing the team down and hoping that some future star arrives from our farm system.

It is all cycles. Winter-hoping they sign a star free agent, or make that block buster trade. Spring comes, and yes hope springs internal. Summer is here. Normally pain and suffering. Fall rolls around and you wonder how you can be so stupid to actually think this team was any good.

"You can't take life to seriously, you don't get out of it alive"

by wild bill on May 12, 2007 6:38 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

To further

my thoughts, forget the past. I really believe collectively Cubs fans think very negative. Why? Because of the past. Suggestion to all, forget the sorrow and saddness we all have endured. Some for many more years than others. Pity the young ones, kidding. Throw out those cement boots, or use them for a planter. Free yourself, become a Yankee's fan.

"You can't take life to seriously, you don't get out of it alive"

by wild bill on May 12, 2007 6:48 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

No, Oh Please, No!

A Yankees fan? I'd rather have bamboo splinters pushed under my fingernails. I'd rather spend the rest of my life alone on a deserted island. I'd rather suffer the death of a thousand cuts.

How could you suggest such a thing? I feel as if I've been slapped hard and told to snap out of it. Okay, okay. The Cubs will win the central and even maybe go on to greater accomplishments. My faith is back. Guz will shine today and we will actually have people on base when someone goes yard. Yes, hope is revivied.

A Yankees fan? Did you really suggest that?

And so it goes.

by Luigi on May 12, 2007 7:43 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Welcome back

ole faithful one. Nearly lost you, but I had to take drastic measures. It seemed to have worked. Keep in mind though, it will always be there to be used when needed.

"You can't take life to seriously, you don't get out of it alive"

by wild bill on May 12, 2007 7:52 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Team

Initially, the Nationals are clearly the worst team in the NL. THe battle for second worst isn't an issue. So what. Even the worst team in the league is going to win at least 1/3rd of their games. This is baseball, not football, basketball or Hockey, and even the best team in baseball is going to lose an occassional series (or even be swept) by the worst team in baseball.

The Pirates are not the second worst team in the NL. They likely aren't the worst, or even the second worst team in the Central. The worst team in the Central, and the third worst team in the NL, is likely the Cardinals. Any chance that they may have had has been destroyed by the loss of their Ace. The Phils are like the Cubs, badly constructed, and when you add in bad field mangement, they are the second worst team in the majors. The Giants are also quite bad. The rest of the teams in the NL, including the Cubs, should be in the mix for the division or the wild card. With the exception of the Mets, no one else is a clear favorite (although the Brewers may be separating themseleves from the pack). Its still early. Far too early to panic even if the Cubs get swept by the Phils.

The major problem with the Cubs is that it was badly misconstructed by Hendry. It is loaded down with expensive veterans that will not be of help in the future. It throws away all of the bullet biting that occured last year by playing the young players (particularly the pitchers) by giving them some experience in the bigs and then throwing them back to the minors. This is the year that the young arms from last year should have begun to follow up on last season and build for next season when they would have had one of the best young staffs in the majors.

The Cubs needed to bite the bullet and play the young players. Its how winning organizations rebuild.

But they did not, so now lets see if the bailing wire machine can hold together and win.

by Frustrated Fan on May 12, 2007 8:04 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Very well

put. I believe with regards to your reference "taking the bullets" is so true. Many of us have watched the explosion by the Tigers. It was that course they took with their pitchers. I also agree on how this team is constructed. They had such a great opportunity to transform this team at the end of last year. As a long suffering fan, believe me I could have gone through this year watching the youngster's take their lumps.

"You can't take life to seriously, you don't get out of it alive"

by wild bill on May 12, 2007 8:53 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

While I agree...

... with most of this analysis, clearly, the second-worst team in the majors is the Royals.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al on May 12, 2007 9:34 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree

they might be worse than the Nationals. I limited my discussion to teams in the NL.

by Frustrated Fan on May 12, 2007 2:20 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Understood...

... I just read where you wrote "second-worst team in the majors", which implied you were including the AL too.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al on May 12, 2007 2:38 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yup.

My fingers mistyped. Sorry. The Royals are also very bad, arguably worse than the Nationals (and with fewer chances to get good down the road). The Nationals have at least three players better than anyone on the Royals in Zimmerman, Kearns and Johnson and Church and Lopez may develop into serviceable MLB starters. In other words, the Nationals have at least 5 players that would be on most team in the majors and would threaten to start. As for the Royals...

The Nats problem is that they are biting the bullet and have a truly untested pitching staff.

by Frustrated Fan on May 12, 2007 8:02 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

The Royals...

... actually have some decent young players in DeJesus, Gordon and Butler. It's their pitching staff that's a mess, despite Meche pitching fairly well. I still don't understand the point of that signing.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al on May 12, 2007 8:11 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Job well done.....

n/t

"I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this." Sue369

by timeforachange on May 13, 2007 12:21 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Luis- you don't need an intervention.....

You need a life.

I'm sorry. I don't mean to make personal attacks. I don't even mean it as an attack. It's actually good avice. when someone starts 2 diaries- one looking forward to 2008 and another saying he needs an intervention because of his baseball teamand it's not even the middle of May....well that's sad.

I like this Blog a lot. But I find that participating in it daily really warps reality. Each game is over analyzed and over dissected. And suddenly you find yourself getting furious about the Cubs and it's only the middle of fucking May!!!!!!!!!

If you truly are looking for advice, my advice would be to stay off the Blog for a week. Hang out with friends. do something else. De-prioritize the Cubs for awhile. At quit filling your head with voices that speak in absoluts and negativity.

Otherwise you're going to be the kind of guy who posts diaries on looking forward to 2008 when there's still over 120 games in 2007. And those guys are losers. Don't be one.

"I can't be held responsible for what I personally tell my goons to do...."- C. Montgomery Burns

by yahoodi on May 13, 2007 5:40 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs