Those old Cubs -- Banks, Santo, Williams, etc. -- became part of the community. Santo grew up in Seattle. But he moved to Chicago full-time when he became a Cub, and he's still here. They didn't make enough money to take the winter off, so they often took off-season jobs, in the city where they played, and wound up settling there, raising their families there, etc.

Today's athlete doesn't do that. These guys play in Chicago, but in the winter they go back to the D. R., or Venezuela, or some other warm climate (Arizona, Florida), where they settle. I believe the only Cub who lives in Chicago year-round is Kerry Wood, and that's likely only because his wife's family is from this area.

The point is that this causes some disconnect between the player and the fan base. The huge dollars they make doesn't help this any, either. The athlete of thirty or forty years ago was more of a "regular guy", who perhaps made somewhat more than his fans, and could still relate.

Today's athlete lives in a gated community and doesn't associate with those of us who root for him. That's why you get tirades like Z's yesterday.

JMHO, of course.

Cubs fans are more passionate about the wins AND losses. Cubs fans are slowly becoming like Red Sox fans. That is, perform well, without stupid mistakes, and you'll be adored. Run through a stop sign, and walk five batters in two innings, while making $18m per year, and you set yourself up for some boos.

Like Al said, you can't expect sympathy for boos when you don't ask for a respite from the cheers.

Z, like every other, athlete needs to accept it like a man, and go out there (while incidentally earning a ridiculous amount of money regardless of his performance) and do better the next time.

   No disrespect intended, but since you brought it up, it might be something to keep in mind.

However, watching the game yesterday, I told my wife this is the first time this year I would have booed if I were at the game.

Zambrano willfully and stupidly charged through a stop sign with the play (and the coach) directly in front of him.  Then, to compound it, he took his emotions out to the mound and blew up.  These are 'boo-able offenses' in my book.

Physical errors do not deserve booing, but brain-dead play certainly does. Z just isn't a smart player, both between the lines and between the ears.  There's nothing "sad" about yesterday.  I would like to think had Fergy Jenkins come completely out of character and had done the exact same things as Z yesterday, the fans would have let him know about it.  And had this hypothetical example occurred, Fergy would have accepted it.

I was very pissed off at Carlos yesterday and his comments in his post game press conference didn't help my mood at all. I do think an apology from him to the fans is needed. Let's see if he mans up and makes one.

That said, how else would you have the fans express their displeasure? The sad thing to me is I doubt that many were surprised Zambrano ran the stop sign. I doubt many were surprised he subsebquently let it affect his pitching. I doubt many were surprised he wasn't able to get it together again once he started pitching poorly. So, once he left the game, they boed. And, I doubt many were surprised at his antics as he left the field, and I doubt many were surprised by what he said later. And why haven't many been surprised by this entire chain of events? Because they've seen this movie before, and nothing changes. Zambrano's man-child mentality has been tolerated because 1) he's a talented pitcher and 2) everyone expected him to eventually grow out of it. Well, he hasn't grown out of it and his talent isn't casrrying him through anymore. He can definitely do better and doesn't really seem to want to address the root of his problems. So again, in light of all that, what's a fan to do?

Booing Jones mercilessly became counterproductive and unnecessary. That said, he was deserving of some of it.

If you're going to bask in the cheers when you do well, you need to take the heat when you don't.

As for changes after 2003: Yes, I think the expectations have changed. And I think that's wonderful. For too long, this fan base tolerated mediocrity and out-and-out bad baseball -- bad play, bad managing, bad decision-making on personnel and a miserly approach to investing in the ballclub. There is no reason for that to go on in a market the size of Chicago.

Personally, I think 2004 was more of a turning point. I found that team much more of a disappointment than the 2003 team. The 2004 team was a lead-pipe cinch to at least make it to the playoffs, if not win the whole thing. Aside from the Santo-Williams-Banks-Jenkins teams of my youth, that might have been the most talented Cubs team of my lifetime.

Certainly the WS victories by the Red Sox and the White Sox made it even more clear that the Cubs were alone on their island of futility, and contributed even more to the fans' discontent. The Cardinals winning last year just twisted the knife a little bit more.

I have been a Cubs fan since I was 5 years old and come from a long line of them. My grandparents came and went without seeing them win a WS. My parents are on the verge of doing the same thing. I don't think it's too much to ask for the Cubs to at least play in the thing once in 60-something years and maybe even win it once in 100.

Consider this: A franchise from another country (Toronto) has won it twice; a franchise that didn't even exist when the Cubs won the division in 1989 (Florida) has won it twice, with a massive teardown in between; and a franchise that was a newborn (Arizona) when the Cubs won the wild card in 1998 has won it, too.

I think Cubs fans have been patient to a fault. Ninety-nine years is long enough.  

In the years since, I've gone back to Wrigley periodically and have seen the change. It's still a lot better than the Philly, NY, Balt and DC crowds to which I have become accustomed, but it's not really "The Friendly Confines" anymore either. I read this and the other thread and I'm really not surprised to hear the b.s. justifications for coming down on your own players at the park, but it is true that the ticket we purchase entitles us to be whatever kind of fan we want to be.

Z deserved what he got yesterday because of the continual letdown that he has shown over his last 6 starts coupled with the idiotic baserunning.  If yesterday was a one-time deal, he doesn't get booed to that extent.  If he goes out his next start and has a quality game, I bet he gets a standing ovation.  Cub fans love him and want nothing more than to give him his "love."  But what he did yesterday, in a pennant race, was absolutely, positively booable.  

Selfishness and stupidity on a baseball field are inexcusable when they are getting paid that much.  A lot of us work at least 40 hours a week for chicken scratch in jobs where if you let your guard down for a minute, people die.  The least that these guys can do is pay attention and hustle for 21 hours a week for God's sake.

GO PLAY........

So say some ChiSox fans...

And now we are being bashed for BOOING? We expect too much? We are hurting the fragile psyches of these modern, pampered, athletes???

So which description is correct?????

Sorry, this disgusts me. I was hoping some day boos would ring through Wrigley Field for disgusting play. It's been too long in coming.

This topic would have been laughed at by Yankees fans. They expect to win. They demand excellence.

And thankfully, more Cubs fans than ever expect it.

Leave the 'romance' for novels. I've been following this team since 1964 --and I want results. I'm tired of having this team be the butt of jokes. Win, and win now. Win for millions of Cubs fans who have passed on and NEVER seen a World Series.

The Florida Freaking Marlins have 2 World Championships -- and no fan base to give a damn.
Maybe these idiots would prefer playing in front of 9,000 fans? Play the games in a gdamn library --would that be better?

Name me a MLB team who loses consistently and has THIS loyal of a fan base. You can't do it -- no other team fits that description. (The Red Sox no longer count.)

Damn right I'm going to boo. And shame on an athlete who blames the fans for his failings.

On Sunday, July 7, 1968, a father took his 2 young sons to Wrigley Field for their first ballgames -a doubleheader against the Pirates.  The boys tightly held their Dad's hands as they walked up the steps from the dark concourse emerging into the brilliant sunlight and the sights and sounds of batting practice.  In game 1 Kenny Holtzman started for the Cubs and retired the Pirates in order.  In the bottom of the 1st with Steve Blass pitching for the Pirates, Don Kessinger led off and flied to left.  Glenn Beckert and Billy Williams followed with line drive singles, then Ron Santo walked filling the bases.  Ernie Banks stepped to the plate to the loud chants of "We Want a Hit" --  smacking a majestic grand slam onto Waveland ....  and the Cubs won both ends of the DH, 5-4 and 4-3.

That was my introduction to Cubs' baseball.  Dad is now 76, my brother 44 and I am 45.  Dad can remember the pennant winners of '38 and '45 -- and we've all lived through the agony of '69, '84 and '03.  Every March we go to spring training; every summer we sit in the bleachers.  So this thread's opening comments about loyalty and family hit the mark pretty darn close.  Many of you have similar great Cubs stories and memories -- which is our collective heritage and legacy.

In an earlier post I commented on the change in Cub fans this year.  Simply put, we just don't want to wait any more !!!  Generations of fans have gone to their graves without once seeing a World Series championship -- and many of us do not relish sharing their fate.  The booing, well, that's an expression of a hundred years of pent-up frustrations from seeing way too much bad, inept and fundamentally unsound baseball from our team.  We are not demanding the Cubs become the Yankees with their 26 championships, or even the arch-nemesis Cards with their 10.  But is one, just one, in our lifetimes too much to ask?

Do we have to collectively shed tears over players being booed now?

Booing is a civilized form of expressing displeasure.  Cubs fans didn't boo Corey patterson, LaTroy Hawkins or JJ out of town--it was the unaccaptable play and with 2 of the three their confrontations with fans that exacerbated the booing.

Nothing has changed since 2003 or since 1969 except that the players are mostly multi-millionaires with a sense of entitlement.  It's hard to ask a millionaire to have a professional approach to the game when he already doesn't give a hoot.

The Cubs players have this misguided impression that playing in Chicago means the fans will accept anything because it's just a big pick-up bar in the sun.  The Cubs fans have always booed bad baseball and jackass players like Zambrano.

Nothing has changed.  If you are a pro and approach the game with respect then you know you'll get booed in certain situations.  No one likes that but a child does not like discipline either.

I am on the fence with booing people like Will Ohman and some others but a rookie, who is nervous and on the mound for the first time under those circumstances?

That is lame...period.

My conclusion is that booing will decrease as fans grow accustomed (re-accustomed?) to the idea that players are being held accountable by the staff, and booing is not needed for the message to get through.