It’s hard to appreciate the product on the field this season. If last season’s 97 win team was a perfect storm, their mediocrity is the result of another perfect storm. I honestly don’t know if this team has to suck for a few more years before the fair weather fans that make everyone else look bad finally leave this team alone and go pull for the Cardinals, White Sox or Yankees. I don’t care. When I read comments across the internet that the reason why other baseball fans hope the Cubs never win is because of what the fans did to Steve Bartman, I wonder if that World Series is truly worth anything.

Maybe if the Cubs hadn’t passed on DiMaggio or if we hadn’t imploded in 1969, the angst might not be at monumental levels. Do I hate it that teams that haven’t been around for twenty years have World Series titles? Of course I do. Do I hate it that Cubs fans may have spoiled our opportunities at getting good free agents? You betcha. Curb down on racism or it’s just going to get worse down the road. You know what? You can be a racist. That’s your right. However, keep your mouth shut in public so no one can hear what you have to say. And if you can’t keep your mouth shut, don’t go to Wrigley Field so other people have to hear you. Has this August implosion driven us this stupid that we excuse racist comments towards players we don’t like, as if we could be selective about such things?

You decided to be a Cubs fan. You didn’t have to be a Cubs fan just because your parents were Cubs fan. I come from a family of Yankee fans, so imagine that. I broke ranks with my family, not accepting the fandom that has some of the greatest history in the game, and embraced the Cubs. They’re my team and there’s no turning back. Am I upset? Sure. We all are. This team fell apart this month, which hasn’t sit well with us at all. It doesn’t excuse the racism. Nothing excuses it.

god this is freaking awesome.

what happens if a player hates it so much that they would rather not play here????

Wht happens if we boo Bradley so much that he says I would rathe walk away then play here…

…to say the Cubs haven’t won a World Series in 101-years? Don’t we have to write off the seventies and much of the eighties when they were actively trying to be the doormats of the National League? We can get almost fifteen years back right there!

Yes. Lunatic’s? No….Lunatic is a very subjective word. Like my favorite movie cop Dirty Harry said, “opinions are like assholes, everybody has one”.

Like it or not, this team’s fan base changed forever in the 24+ hours between the evenings of 14-Oct-2003 and 15-Oct-2003. The expectation now is the highest it’s ever been and the highest it will ever be.

Prior to those 2 days, it was like, “we hope we win but if not it’s just nice to go to Wrigley”

After those 2 days, it is now like, " !@#$%^&*()! why can’t this team do better?!??!?"

Everything now is magnified, just like the analogy of the fishbowl that is New York City. Everything said is analyzed and argued, every move on and off the field is analyzed and argued.

I mean just look at this blog. There’s people arguing 1,000 shades of gray about booing. Are you kidding me?! It’s simply a microcosm of frustration. It’s not lunatic behaviour, it’s highest expectations.

Mid Oct, 2003….when it all CHANGED.

Either we are beer-guzzling party animals in the bleachers who don’t even know a game is going on or we are savages who are so hell-bent on getting a championship, there is hell to pay for not achieving it.

Both are stereotypes. Any attempt to paint this fan base with a single brush, is not only absurd, it is wrong.

stayed home and ignored the team when it isn’t doing well? This would describe the Cubs fan base pre-1984. Even then, we were accused of only coming to the park to boo because we were unemployed — just ask Lee Elia. (I guess you could also say there is a historical pattern of fan frustration here, followed by the expected absurd reply from members of a team when it all goes south.)

South Side side fans stay home when the White Sox are not doing well. Add Milwaukee, Kansas City, Houston, Oakland, San Diego, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Florida to that list. The team is ignored.

Which is better? Overly passionate or dispassionate fans?

I’ve seen the recent treatment of Bradley. The crowd is now just one ugly mob. I wouldn’t want to play for those type of fans either. And you wouldn’t get just chirping hand gestures from me either.

Just you NBF.

I became one the day after October 14, 2003.

Think of every analogy you can involving heartbreak, betrayal, and the crushing of one’s spirit. You come home and your spouse is in bed with you best pal; your accountant takes off for the Caribbean with your savings; another inventor steals your sure-fire idea and makes a mint. You feel jilted and crapped all over, and your life is never the same afterward.

Well sir, that’s how I felt when a pennant-clinching game against the Marlins went badly wrong and Florida went on to the World Series instead.

Up until then I had the faith of a child in the Cubs, even in the face of letdowns like 1998, 1989, and 1984. Not to mention all the letdowns of sub .500 seasons and the crash-and-burns of individual games. I could rationalize the lack of talent, the failure of proper strategy, the hostile environments on the road, and even the overconfidence at times. I hung in there, my trust and belief fully invested in the North Siders.

But not after 10-14-03.

Seeing a team utterly collapse as they did after The Play That Shall Not Be Named ruined me. There wasn’t a trace of overconfidence or a lack of talent in the ’03 Cubs. The stars were aligned perfectly. They were an unsinkable vessel…and yet they still foundered. And I flew into a blind rage that scared even myself. I was all the victims in “28 Days Later” rolled into one. My dear wife had to grab my arm and threaten divorce to keep me from chucking a beer bottle through our TV set.

From that day (and the next one) forward, I lost all patience with the Cubs. My trust and belief were completely gone. To have been a Cubs fan since 1977 and be treated to the slap in the face that was the 2003 NLCS was enough. I became less a fan of a ball club, and more like a customer of a utility company that offers an attractive suite of services but never lives up to the bill of goods it sells.

You certainly wouldn’t want me in your company. I’m miserable when they fall behind early, when they give up a hit in the top of the 9th clinging to a slim lead, when they strike out with RISP during a tie game. I swear a blue streak for 2 solid hours. Of course, I’ll switch channels if they’re losing in the 4th and flip back later to see the score. And even when they win, I’m already looking at the starting matchups the next day to see if they have a chance against the opposing starter.

I’m sure there are fans of the Rangers, Expos-Nationals, and Mariners that also agonize over their team’s misfortunes. It hurts when you invest so much time and attention in a team and see no reward for your efforts. Coming into proximity with greatness only to stumble again (e.g. 2004, 2007, 2008) doesn’t help the situation, either.

Now, I’m not completely crazy because 1) I know the players don’t work for me and therefore owe me nothing, 2) I know baseball is probably the most unpredictable of all American professional sports, and 3) I realize that by nature I’m an impatient person who gets too intense and serious about the trivial. I understand I brought all this on myself.

It used to be that I could weather my post-2003 state by saying “I’m in it until they climb Everest and make the World Series; then I’m done with the Cubs and baseball forever”. I was willing to endure my growing suffering, justifying it as a temporary state until the Cubs won a pennant. Then I will have seen everything worth seeing in baseball and no longer have interest in the game. But who knows when they’ll do it? What if it takes another ten years, or twenty, or one hundred? Do I really want to spend my life getting even more angry? Have I become the addict that says “I can quit any time I want”?

If you don’t hear from me again, God bless you all and keep the faith I’m sorely lacking. You’re better people than me.

which is CaliCub is certainly justified to have, is one of the many reasons that there’s a lot of negative vibes at Wrigley.

Lots of heartbreak. Lots of angst. Lots of people want to see the team win. Lots of people don’t see “Loveable Loser” as anything to cheer about.

Those of you outside of Chicago need to hear the shit tossed at us when we leave an opposing team’s venue. “Another 100 years!”was the chant from drunken Padres fans in the streets of San Diego after Gregg’s HR toss to Kyle Blanks.

In Los Angeles, where I never usually hear this…..as I stood by my car, reading the paper in the parking lot after Saturday’s loss…a Dodgers fan drives by and says… “Coming to see the sweep tomorrow?” Easy to say when you are in a moving car, huh?

I say nothing. Milton Bradley ought to do the same. He’s getting paid very nicely to perform. And, of course, as I have stated many, many times — a player’s salary doesn’t correspond to his play or what he “should” be doing. His salary is a statement of his market value at that given time he signs a contract. So, don’t boo anybody for what they “should” be producing. But, I’m getting off topic here.

We take more crap as Cubs fans for our visibility. I’d wager when the Rangers lose, the two or three fans that might go to see them in Anaheim are barely noticed.

If some people’s behavior changes, that’s unfortuante. If it’s racially charged, that’s also unfortunate. But when a team’s #1 icon is Ernie Banks, I have big time trouble with a blanket statement. If a couple of drunks toss beer, and yell shit — that’s not indicative of all Cubs fans.

I blew up a few years back myself. That’s been chronicled here. For me, it was out of character, for anybody who knows me, personally.

Some people turn away, some people boo. I’ve thought of ignoring the team. But, I like baseball too much and just can’t change allegiances to the hot team of the moment. Americans like winners, and will jump on any bandwagon they can see for a good time.

But that’s OK, too. It’s our free choice.

All Cubs fan deserve a ‘do-over’ every now and then. If fans get a bit tweaked from time to time……it’s all a part of the Cubs fan experience, for better or worse.

Some players cannot perform in NYC. Obviously, some players cannot handle the pressure-cooker experience that is now Wrigley Field. Perhaps it’s best if Milton moves on. Good luck to Jim Hendry, or whomever has the task of accomplishing that.