On being a fan

But Z is a big baby;)

All I ask on this site is that when you criticize someone else’s position, do it with respect and don’t resort to personal attacks.

Not too much to ask, I don’t think.

If someone presents facts that dispute what I say/think, I listen to what they have to say.

Thank you, folks, I’ll be here all week!

Everyone who posts here should read this. I rec’d it and I hope everyone else does.

what it means to be a Cubs fan. And the best I can come up with is a comparision to how Texans are proud of being a Texan. I once was talking to a true native Texan (the type who still believes that Texas is its own country) and I asked him

if I have a son and he is born in Texas, and both muyself and his mother are not Texans, does that make him a Texan?

His answer was classic, one I never will forget

If you throw a cat in the over, and she has kittens, does that make them biscuits

That is the mentality of a Texan about being a Texan or transplant. They love their Statehood. Texas State History is required in both High School AND College in Texas. There is an amazing amount of great history that you can learn just shutting up and listening to the “elders” talk.

Being a Cubs fan is much the same. We are very passionate about our team, and we are not the fastest to welcome a “transplant” (which I would classify as a band wagon fan, or Johnny come lately), until they have earned their stripes (right or wrong, it happens). When the negative “troll” type come into the room (figurative or literal room) we react accordingly based on the mood that the Cubbies have set for us. That troll in “Texan” is the person who moves here and always talks about how great his “home” is compared to Texas, and is usually welcomed with “if it is so bad, go back home, we do not need you”

That being said, great post Drew.

Very well said Drew. I have been a visitor to this blog for the past 3 or so years. I enjoy it for the most part. However the negativity through the game threads and even a lot of the fanposts makes me refrain from participating.
I mean seriously I am as disappointed as any of you about the start to this season. But look at the glass half full rather than half empty!! We are all FANS!! This team is in a rut but keep the faith!!

…I thoroughly enjoy ripping on GameBoard. He’s a pile. I want Dunn.

I really hope this helps but I won’t hold my breath.

You describe what it means to Bleed Cubbie Blue

I’ve often wondered: why do we root for a business organization?

Bear with me for a moment. This isn’t the most well thought out idea I’ve hard or even the brightest but it makes me wonder (and it generally applies to all sports).

What “team” are we really rooting for anymore? You’ll answer “the Cubs” but what does that mean? If you look at the team year by year the names change constantly due to free agency and trades and all that (I’m not expert so I can’t explain it). Really, the past few years, there’s been a lot of 1 year contracts with the Cubs players.
Why did/do people hate the Yankees so much? Because they acted as a business organization and bought all the best talent they could.

It’s a societal/capitalist thing, I’m sure. These players can play, we would pay to watch, somebody will pay them to play. Al has several times said “baseball is a business.” Well, I don’t like that. I like rooting for my team because I like the players. And I like it when players have a connection to my team.

I won’t stop rooting for the Cubs (or the Bears). I like watching sports and it makes me happy. But maybe that’s the problem. maybe we need a fan strike!

I don’t know what else to say. It just bothers me that sports is business. That there’s nothing that really distinguishes one team from another other than who can spend what money.

But I understand why there are people that do. I like to be more of a reactionary fan, and for sometimes my opinion is fully based on the previous nights game.

I’m just a fan with a lot of dislike in me, especially when it comes to “scrappy” or “grindy” players.

For the most part all the different ways of being a fan are represented on this site. I think that makes this whole place better.

I thought this was fitting for this conversation.

Q: Can you please talk me off the ledge?
— Every Cleveland fan

SG: Sure. You came to the right place. I am an experienced sports loser who had to go through sports rehab twice (getting healed by Super Bowl XXXVI and the 2004 baseball playoffs) before realizing you need a substantial shift in karma before a fan base believes in its “cursed” team or its “cursed” city; then and only then will good things happen. (FYI: This is the theme of my Red Sox book.) But you need some sort of catalyst. For Red Sox fans, it was the Dave Roberts steal. That’s when we gave in. There’s a grainy, “Blair Witch”-style clip of the steal on YouTube that I love and can’t stop watching. It’s just perfect. No sound, nothing happening; just a shaky shot from some fan in the bleachers. In the blink of an eye, suddenly Roberts is streaking across the screen and barely beating the throw. The camera starts shaking. Everyone celebrates. The franchise will never be the same; we just don’t know it yet. And that’s one of the great things about sports: Everything can change in five seconds, three seconds, even one second. You just don’t know.

I don’t believe in curses or jinxes, but I do believe that a franchise (or even a city of franchises) can pass a point with its fans at which they expect bad things to happen — always, without fail — and the players almost get contaminated by that negative energy. Sadly, there’s no way to stop it; no pill to take, no exorcism to be had. It has to happen organically. For Red Sox fans, it was the Roberts steal. For Cleveland fans, Cubs fans and Bills fans, it will be something else. But it WILL be something else. It’s just the law of averages. There is no infinity button for failing in sports. At some point, things turn. They always do.

We all know the parallels between the pre ’04 Red Sox and our Cubs. We all want what they now have. And we WILL get it someday. The law of averages dictates it.

So i choose to enjoy the cubs. And i can’t, for the life of me, imagine being a fan the way many here are. If you truly, legitimately, deep in your heart hate the players, hate the front office, hate the manager, hate the farm system, just hate hate hate hate hate everything, why are you here? Find something you like. Find something you enjoy. And let the rest of us wear our rose colored glasses, content to be a fan of something we love, and content to continue to be hopeful that this is the year until we are mathematically proven otherwise.

Hell, I’ll drink a few to this. Good stuff Drew!

For me no fan roots against players on their own team and there are people here who have made it clear they root against Zambrano and Bradley for starters.

If they were actually bad guys and there is absolutely no evidence to suggest they are it would be different.

But what can I expect when people compared Zambrano to Vick last week? I wonder about people who put as much value in a gatorade cooler as a dog.

Sucker: a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal.

I don’t see the difference.

http://deadspin.com/5277790/

Bears related, but relevant.

My city, my team, for better or worse. Usually worse.

Occasionally, however, certain guys break through the uniform and I form an attachment to them, albeit an often unreasonable attachment. For example, I miss DeRo not just because of the offense he provided or his versatility. I miss DeRo because I’ve rarely heard a guy give a better interview. He was such a centered, humble professional. How could you not root for him? I love Kosuke and Reed because they seem the same way to me. I want guys like that to win almost as much for their sake as mine.

I put up with the guys who seem like complete douches when they wear my team’s colors, but the uniform doesn’t blind me to their faults.

And even if I didn’t agree with you, your way of presenting an argument is exactly what makes this site so enjoyable to me. Rec’d.

Bravo and well done, sir.

I mentioned in another FanPost that the Cubs are my last link to baseball, that seeing them win the pennant is the last baseball thrill I’m holding out for. I say this not out of anger or bitterness – catch me on a good day and I’ll tell you the same exact thing. Experiencing the Cubs in the Fall Classic is sort of my own personal Mt. Everest as a baseball fan, so anything else would be hard to top. Actually it would be impossible to top! So that, combined with my own jadedness towards the current state of the game, is why I feel the way I do.

Best post of the year, IMHO. Bravo!

I believe we’ll all agree on to a certain extent. It’s why I abhor the term “casual fan”. But besides that, there’s always ups & downs. I don’t care for the ledge-jumper, nervous nellie or whatever we like to call them. One little bad thing and all hell breaks lose; too much a knee-jerk and often missing substance.

However, the statements you made here, I have to take some exception.

But I’m a Cubs fan, and I have my team’s back. Slam Z for being a baby, and I’ll dispute it. Denegrate Bradley for not talking to the press, and I’ll support him. Complain that Fonty is too short, and I’ll expect you to supply him with elevator shoes. And I have my fellow fans’ backs too. Troll the boards, and I’ll flag you. Steal money from my friends, and I’ll expose you. Scream, and I’ll make sure you reap what you sow.

You can’t dispute blindly support Z recently; his actions are detrimental to the team. He must GROW UP. The Cubs aren’t paying him a $91.5M contract to be an ass-clown. This isn’t a team looking to hover near .500 in a re-building year. This is supposed to be a team contending for baseball’s holy grail. Anything limiting that focus must be corrected.

Bradley…we knew what we were getting. It’s not about him. It’s about the team. I have to again envoke a Ryno HoF speech clause, “…the name on the front is more important than the name on the back”, this warrants it. Bradley needs to play the game and shut the hell up.

You need to be the one to “flag people”. Finger pointing, irks me especially under the PC guise. We don’t need formal blog police. It should happen when warranted and by whomever chooses to do so. I see several folks here stepping up to the task; that’s great! Remember, when you point your finger, 3 are pointing back at you. If someone screams, know the content before passing judgment.

Being a true fanatic is great. But you can’t blindly argue with people when they bring up legitimate issues with portions of the team. If they’re off base fine, dispute it. But disputing just because it’s disparaging to your team only makes it appear as if you’re drinking the kool-aid or wearing the Cubbie Blue sunglasses. It’s sort of like the parent that can’t admit their kid ever does anything wrong. My kids do wrong things all the time; just like I did at their ages. It’s up to my wife and me to provide them the discipline and education to make better decisions in the future.

You speak for more people than you know

Someone earlier in this thread said he was wondering why we root for a business organization. I’ve thought about that too, and I think I have the answer. We’re not rooting for the corporate entity. When we’re rooting for the Cubs, when we’re wearing the hats and jerseys, and using the nicknames with which we’ve all become familiar (e.g., “Z”, “DLee”, “Rami”), we’re rooting for ourselves and for each other.

When I’m on a game thread, I can tell some of you have been there with me on all the ups and downs of being a Cubs fan. I feel something with you guys that I don’t feel anywhere else. I remember going to Wrigley Field in the late 70’s with a friend and watching the Cubs come from behind, 4-1 in the ninth inning, to beat the Mets 5-4. My friend and I were young hippies and had a blast sitting next to this elderly couple who brought a cow bell, and were ringing that thing everytime a Cub did something good. When we got the hit to win the game, the four of us were jumping around together, hugging each other, smiling, laughing and screaming with joy. I’ll remember that moment the rest of my life. It was a meaningless game because the Cubs did nothing that year overall. But I’ll always remember it because of the fun we had with that couple.

That’s what sports does, it brings us together in a way we wouldn’t normally mix (notice that none of us know what the others do for a living, what we earn, or whatever, because no one cares). When the Cubs beat the Braves in the ’03 playoffs, I knew that there were many like minded people celebrating with me, and I took great pleasure in sharing that joy. I love being on a game thread after we win and clicking on the “Go Cubs Go” link and imagining you are all singing with me. I love the posting of the “Milton Cubs Win” picture, the kid in the Cubs hat, and the Cubs jumping around home plate picture, and reading all the fun posts. Doing all that alone would be a fat drag.

I am a fan because I want to share with you all my joy when the Cubs win, and share my sorrow when they don’t. I am a fan here because it’s so much more fun with all of you than it is alone.

Go Cubs.

I have really enjoyed this thread and particularly thank drew for the articulate expression of “fandom” that initiated the thread. All you you folks have done a good job of describing this affliction we all share! The signature of Cubfansince1957 may say it all even “IF IT TAKES FOREVER!!” ….we plan to be there!
 -a cubs fan since 1948.

GO Cubs GO! Live, die, breathe, keep the faith and never boo Cubbie Blue. Even when he hits two batters in a row and walks in the winning run. Go Cubs!

The Cubs are our team, for better or worse. We will be there when the stars align and our team, our Cubbies, come out on top. We have to believe that, we do believe that and that’s why we bleed Cubbie blue.

Thanks for posting this, Drewish. I agree with you on most of your definition of fandom. I don’t understand booing a Cubs player for not doing well, unless it is for lack of effort.

I live in San Jose, California, and read an article several years about a local retired Cubs player by the name of Ernie Broglio — yes, the guy they traded Lou Brock for. If I recall correctly, he was a nice, retired guy, who volunteered for Little League for many years. I was starting to like him as I read the article, until I got to a part where he said that, after he got traded to the Cubs that he thought his heart was really not in the game anymore. I couldn’t help but think “they booed him for being a bum, and how about that, he actually WAS a bum”!

I respect your opinion and your devotion to the Cubs. I may tend to be critical of the Cubs, the Manager, and the GM, but everyone has a right to root for this team as hard as they want. As far as this blog goes, there are a lot of differing opinions and hopefully people will respect those even when they disagree.

This has been a great season for the Cubs so far in terms of the team overcoming many obstacles to remain in the hunt. Still a long way to go and if this team doesn’t make the playoffs so long as they play hard I think it’s a team to be proud of. If we stand pat (from a management perspective) and don’t make the playoffs then I’d be disappointed that the bottom line prevailed.

drew I totally respect your dedication to this team. The fans that maintain optimism through it all are to be admired. I have long considered myself one of these people as well. I am constantly the one when my fellow fan friends say “season over, they suck”, that responds with “yeah I don’t think so”.

I think we need balance in every facet of life and this is no different. Therefore, eternal optimists are needed and have great value in the world of sports…especially that of the Cubs.

That being said…my response to this post also has to include the fact that simply because some of us can offer criticism to this team because of some defecit or lack of success, does not make us any less of a fan(atic) than you or anyone else. True there are those who live for the critical and I have no idea what void in their lives they are trying to fill cause it makes little sense. I can say though, after our whole Soriano discussion, that I am no less of a fan than you. I am as dedicated and loving of this team as you are. I just try to assess and address issues that I percieve as defecits. I love the Cubs and hope they go on a run that puts all other runs to shame this year. I will even say I am not one who will add…“but I doubt it”. It is possible.

I just want it to be known that most of us here love htese Cubs, some just have less patience than you do. you are probably a very good parent…seriously.