Let's be honest with ourselves.  We are Cubs Fans, and Bloggers to boot.  Criticisizing, keyboard coaching and managing, and maintainnig overblown images of our own insights ... this is what we do.  If we had better things to do with our lives, we wouldn't spend so much time here.

SO in honor of the emerging art form of Computer-Aided masochism known as SB Nation blogging, I am providing a short and simple guide to Criticizing your own team.  Think it's a silly exercise?  Well, consider Lou's quote in Today's Tribune online

Manager Lou Piniella said he would stick with slumping players such as Geovany Soto, Milton Bradley and Alfonso Soriano because he expects them all to contribute before long. Bradley went 0-for-6, stranding 10 base-runners.

"What am I going to do?" Piniella said. "You know what's amazing? From a manager's perspective, if you make too many changes, you get criticized for not being patient, and nobody knows where they're hitting.

"And if you wait too long, people say, 'Well, this guy is not doing anything.' To me, this is our best lineup for what we're doing now.

"We're going to stay as constant as we can, assuming we stay healthy. We just have to battle our way out of this thing. We're better than what we've done."

Piniella has endured his fair share of criticism this season, especially after spending his first two years in Chicago on a prolonged honeymoon.

Most of the complaints have centered on Piniella's alleged lack of fire, based on the fact he doesn't get into heated battles with umpires the way did in earlier managerial stints in Cincinnati, Seattle and Tampa Bay.

"I get yelled at because I'm not arguing with the umpires enough," he said.

Who's yelling at Piniella? Is it his boss, Crane Kenney?

Piniella replied it was the fans, not the Cubs' chairman.

"No, the fans [yell] 'Get out there and get these guys going,' " he said. "Anyway, we just have to keep plugging along."

 

See folks.  He really cares about what we think.  Whether behind the Cubs dugout, within earshot of a corner outfielder, or his secret reports from Big Z on the activities of the BCB bloggers (we know you're lurking here Carlos), we're making a difference with all our bitching here.

So, here's some ideas for how we can constructively criticize our team in the forums that do reach our coaches and players, broken up inot "helpful" and "not helpful" as determined by my own supreme expertise on all things on the face of the earth.  Feel free to add some comments if you would like (but please, no criticism - it might hurt my feelings).

HELPFUL

• When forming a criticism, research a couple of choices that are better than the one that is such a mistake.  For example, "Hey Lou,  Maybe you should limit the playing time or move soto down in the lineup until he's in better shape" (Oh wait.. he's already doing that, but you get the idea).
• Form some sort of fan club or strongly messaged slogan campaign for the preferred option ("We Love Fox!  the "Scales-0-meter" (reference to the "Shawn-0-meter"), etc)
• Think incrementally - that's the only thing that GM's and Coaches will change when they're 2 1/2 games out coming off two division titles anyway. For example, focus criticism on an obvious hole - like "why are you continuing to keep Patton on the Roster if you're not going to pitch him?")
• Make respectful and constructive suggestions - "Why not Guzman as closer?"

NOT SO HELPFUL

• Sweeping and fatalist statements with no background information - "The Cubs Suck"  "Lou doesn't give a shit about this team", "Big Z can't pitch and is taking down this team".
• Name calling or baiting- "Hey Bradley - You're overpaid and you hit like shit".  "Zambrono's a Joke and a headcase".
• Prescriptive solutions based on short term performance with no thought about the alternatives, impacts or contract/financial realities - "We need to get rid of Miles and Freel and Gregg and Patton and Soriano and Bradley, etc" "Trade Lee" "Dump Bradley".  "Send (insert Cubs player currently not playing well) to Iowa and Bring up (insert iowa player who, though totally inexperienced and unproven at the major league level, had a good week last week vs the Sacramento River cats).
• Criticisizing things that have already been done - And this can be fixed.. how?  Managers/Coaches always take risks on players - it's not about going back in time and making different decisions, it's about working with the decisions aready made.

SO, that's the start of the list for the good of the order.  For a veritable PhD thesis on how to criticize your own team by a blogger, check this out..

Happy Bloggin' BCB Brothers and Sisters!