Coping Mechanism - How to Deal With the Cub Backlash

what I cant handle is the crap from our own fans (you know who you are)…and writers telling me how tortured I am…and the curse stuff and poor us we havent won a WS in 100 years. Heck, I can handle Sox and Cards fans its Cubs fans that leave me sort of speech-less.

Come hard or go home with your bashing. That nonsense about 100 years, some crotchety Greek dudes’ goat, and El Barto make me ill more than a bag of salt and vinegar potatoe chips. To me, it’s been only 38 years (my age) since the Cubs have won the WS. Why? It’s my life and I don’t know jack BP (before Paul).

I dont have a problem with my Sox friends at all….we pretty much talk baseball. As I said above, its the Cubs fans that I know that I usually end up in an argument with, that hate being a Cubs fan . They are totally negative and apologetic to other team fans for liking the Cubs…I cant stand it. That said, this is my personal experience. And yes I have met horrible Sox fans too, but I give a crap about them.

“Consider the source.”

Growing up, all the kids in my class were White Sox fans, and admittedly, I would root for the Sox to lose so I could rub it in their faces. Being (slightly) more mature now, whatever the Sox do is fine by me. Plus, the Cubs aren’t as bad as they were when I was in grade school, so I’m less likely to be interested in what the Sox are doing since the Cubs are still worth watching in the waning days of Summer (and I don’t have to deal with those little punks anymore).

As for my theory about it (and I’m sure many Sox fans will tell me I’m wrong), the massive popularity of the Cubs has (understandably) made Sox fans less than enthused about the attention the Cubs receive compared to the Southsiders. Can’t say I have any statistical evidence, but I’ll assume most White Sox fans are outnumbered by their Cubs counterparts, whether it be at school, work, whatever, same as I was in grade school. As you mention, the Cubs haven’t won crap in a century. Why they continue to receive more attention than the Sox, especially after the 05 ring, is surely maddening to fans of the Southside.

Also, there’s a percentage of people in any fanbase who come off as annoying, foolish, ignorant, etc. Large number of Cubs fans, large number of the aforementioned.

Either way, I don’t really care about that stuff anymore. I just want to win.

The internet is good at revealing people for who they really are. It’s a powerful group mentality to kick a dog when it’s down, so the idea isn’t much different on the internet. Until the Cubs can prove they are one of the big boys (win another World Series), the cyber bullying will turn to the Indians, assuming they have not won another World Series by then. I’m not saying it’s right, but the internet mimics the school playground to a large extent.

to Sox fans who want to run their ring in our faces…

They wanna bring up 1908 and all that, well we might not have won a world series
in over 100 years… but we never threw one either…

Can you say Black Sox… I knew that you could…

I can get hating a team like the Yankees. Or the Lakers. Or Duke basketball. For obvious reasons. But how do you hate a team that hasn’t won in over a century? At a fundamental level of logic, wouldn’t the feeling generally be pity, not hate?

I get that Cards fans dislike the Cubs. I dislike the Cardinals. I root against them every single game they play. Not because I hate them. But because a Cards loss is always a good thing for the Cubs. But Cards fans genuinelly HATE the Cubs (and Cubs fans). I live in St. Louis. I see it all the time. On Facebook, I see “f*ck the Cubs” statuses randomly pop up. On the radio, I hear these hosts talking trash. And I’m not talking sports radio. I’m talking music stations. Within the past couple weeks, they were talking about someone and randomly the one guy said something about how all female Cubs fans are whores. It just blows my mind the amount of vitriol that is spewed.

If all you can say is Cubs Suck, Cards Suck, White Sox Suck, Theriot Sucks, basically I assume that you Suck. And you’re not very bright. It’s the insult of the weak minded and alcohol has nothing to do with it.

I don’t mind the Left Field Sucks/Right Field Sucks stuff. It’s just amusing from my view in the grandstand. Nothing compared to years ago when bleacher clearing brawls would break out.

The White Sox fans seem more into out-and-out bashing. We understand that you’re the red-headed stepchild of the Chicago media. I, too, would be upset if every game I went to had a half full park. But it’s not our fault that your fans have decided to take the rivalry and turn it into something less than desirable. They really need to learn some new insults. It’s not like we don’t know that 1908 was the last World Series win. If you don’t like our park, DON’T GO. More tickets for us.

I live in an area that’s pretty well split between Cubs and Sox fans. My bosses are White Sox fans. I get the occasional jab now and then but I give it right back. My sister is a White Sox fan. She takes the Go Cubs Go song and changes the lyrics into something along the line of “Cubs suck”.

I have a few friends who are Cardinals fans. We have spirited discussions about different players and talk stats and whatnot. I know that’s not the case between every Cubs/Cards fan but I’m glad at least that my friends are respectful. I know someone who is a Marlins fan and she just out-and-out hates the Cubs for no reason other than they’re popular. I’ve never understood the idea of pouring more energy into hating another team than rooting for your own.

It’s all baseball. Why can’t we all step back from the pinstripes and the logos and realize that?

No, I’m not implying that major news and entertainment outlets hate the Cubs – quite the contrary, as Big Media long ago annointed those "cute li’l Cubbies" as Chicago’s Team. As we know, in the last 25 years, the Cubs have received more national attention than any team this side of the Yankees, a fact that can only irritate fans in other cities, and enrage our south side brethren.

Even more, who can deny that the national media downplayed the Sox spectacular run in 2005, essentially implying that the wrong Chicago team won, and that Chicago baseball fans cannot ever have peace until the Cubs win the Series. In short, the media took one of the greatest playoff runs ever, and told us in so many words to "T’row it back!" That sort of propaganda can’t help but inflame the natural resentment some southsiders hold for the money, media, and lakefront views that they believe shape northside attitudes.

If you’ve come on board since ‘84, it may be difficult to understand that many Chicagoans once were fans of both teams. Sure, a friendly rivalry always existed, and it’s impossible to be impartial, but I enjoyed the Sox wins in ‘59, ‘83, and especially the playoff near-sweep in ‘05 almost as much as if the Comiskeys were my #1 team, and I’ll bet I’m not alone, even on BCB.

If you love baseball and Chicago, I believe it’s only natural to support both teams while ignoring the corrosive envy and loutishness of some Sox fans, along with the partytime ignorance and silly traditions of some Cubs fans. Above all, avoid traditional media if you can. If you can’t, then recognize that most journalists on deadline will always play into acceptable stereotypes. For sportswriters looking to fill time or space, one easy story today is always "typical Cubs fans" and their prideful Cult of Losing.

Let’s not reinforce that stereotype. Enjoy the Sox when they deserve it, and let’s start deconstructing that Cult of Losing that mystifies and infuriates so many within and without Cubs Universe. To that end, let’s get rid of some stupid traditions: The humor in "T’row it back!" wore off sometime before ‘84, and the tie-in between "Take Me Out…" and third-rate celebrities never should have been made.

I can take the Cubs suck, if you have proper baseball knowledge to back it up. (I.E. Zambrano winning 9 games last year or Soriano striking out with 2 me on in the 8th inning) That’s fine. And part of any sport.

But what really gets to me is when people who consider themselves a “fan” have no freaking idea of their team other then what side of the city they play on.

That is probably the one thing that pisses me off to no end. The 100 year crap is old, and is pretty useless when you tell it to a person who follows said 100 year team.

But if your going to get into a baseball discussion with me, and put down my team and have nothing to back it up, be prepared for me to call you out on the deficiencies of your said team. And by the way, dont get all pissed off when you get upset that you dont have any idea what the hell your talking about :)

Saying that said team on the other side of town is the 2005 World Champions, doesn’t give you any credit in a 2010 baseball discussion.

The fact that so many of you are taking seriously this poster’s claim of an outpouring of “Cubs hatred” is surprising to me. I, for one, have no idea what he’s talking about.

Yes, White Sox fans, announcers and a certain manager express open contempt for the Cubs; of course they do, they’re a cross-town rival. We express the same contempt for them, only our manager has a little more restraint about it (our fans, not so much).

Yes, Cardinals and Brewers fans are little different, maybe even more aggressive. Again, they are our major rivals.

But I’ve watched baseball in a lot of cities. Most fans and announcers either (a) don’t care at all about what’s going on with the Cubs, or (b) want to see us finally win one.

I think this hatred is all in your head(s).

…just sitting on his hands, sweat beading on his brow, and muttering through clenched teeth…

“Must… not… respond… Must… not… respond… Must… not… respond…”

In my opinion, one reason that Cub-bashing seems prevalent among Sox fans is that the White Sox don’t have long-standing rivalries to focus on within their own league. I italicize “seems” because the Cub-bashers are only a small minority of Sox fans, albeit a very vocal one.

Many Cubs fans reserve their vitriol for the Cardinals and, to a lesser degree, the Brewers. This is reflected in some of the comments above as well as the “Sox don’t matter – our rival is the Cards” posts and comments that crop up here during the crosstown series every summer.

The White Sox, however, don’t have such a comparable rival within the division. Right now, the Sox could claim a rivalry with Minnesota but that’s a temporary thing, a product of the fact that the two teams have been in direct contention during recent seasons. That’ll probably fade with time, just as the late 80s/early 90s rivalry between the Sox and Oakland faded once the two teams were no longer the leading contenders within the same division. On top of that, the White Sox got stuck in the AL West for 25 years, whereas the two geographically closest teams in their league, the Tigers and Brewers, were in the AL East. In the absence of that traditional, long-standing rival, many Sox fans focus their animosity on the Cubs.

On top of that, it’s clear that the Sox organization itself promotes Cub bashing. Not always openly, but the frequency with which Ozzie and Harrelson say obnoxious things about Cub fans leads me to believe that such statements are at least tacitly encouraged. And that makes some sense – the Sox see such a rivalry as being good for business.

Finally, this situtation isn’t unique to Chicago. In fact, it’s almost identical to the dynamic in the Bay Area – the Oakland fans spew much of the same animosity about the Giants fans but the SF fans are more focused on their traditional rival, the Dodgers. A lot of the same arguments are employed there too, with the A’s fans holding that Giant fans are fair-weather yuppies only interested in eating wine and sushi and being seen at their fancy ballpark.

when in Houston, wearing any one of my Cubs jerseys with pride, I actually get more shit from other Cub fans who flew in from Chicago, and by Chicago I mean somewhere within a few hundred miles of the city, and might have been to the city three times in their lives.

Last season I had a guy who did everything he could to make it seem as if I was not a true Cub fan, and even tried to challange me on being a Chicagoan. Now mind you, I spent 24 years in Chicago, and have a Chicago Public School Edjumakashun from Taft High School. This guy was from Deerfield (via Antioch, IL). He tried to drill me with questions about the city, etc. It was sad when Houstonians were telling him that he was a surburbanite of Chicago and bought me a drink.

Another time a guy from Rockford was trying to impress ladies, explaining how Rockford is the where all the people from Chicago go to party and bar hop, etc. I found this hilarious, especially when my friend with me was BORN, RAISED, and owned property there since his parents have passed. When the guy decided to start drilling us with questions about Chicago and Rockford, my friend explained how his father has a retired mug from Old Chicago in Rockford, and where he golfs in the Rockford area when visiting, amongst other interesting tidbits about the area, the guy finally gave up his act, and we watched him move to another group of ladies and start the same routine.

I have had a lot of fun in Houston, including when a friend and I went there to see Clemens first game vs the Giants (we wore our Wood and Sandberg jerseys) and have met some great people to watch a game with there, and it seems that more of the rude people i deal with there are fellow Cub fans who are concerned with trying to establish who the real Chicagoan is.

On June 28, 2002, I went to a Cubs/Sox game at the Cell. Kerry Wood started, the Cubs roared out to an 8-0 lead. Then Wood and several Cubs relievers (including some kid named Zambrano) got hit hard and the Cubs lost 13-9.

I was wearing my Wood jersey that day. As I was leaving, some Sox fans walking behind me started yelling “Cubs suck!” I turned around and said, “Today, I can’t argue with that.”

Shut ’em right up.

I lived near NY city for 8 years. the reason its seems so bad in chicago w baseball is because there are 2 teams. Try being in NY with 2 teams in every sport, and yes they do consider the NJ teams to really be NY. the trash talking up there is fierce. Fortunately i got to just sit by and enjoy, but when the yanks and mets went to the WS, it was pretty ugly.

living in a family where you are the only Cubs fan while everyone else is a Cardinals fan…They call and tease me especially when the Cubs don’t do well in the playoffs.

When we finally win it. Then if you want to tell them to suck it, you can. OR you could not say anything and just wear a WS t-shirt everyday. That would get ’em.

ignore the idiots. Why let them get to you??? If they do get to you, it is your fault. It’s just a game.

since they took our cast off name as a hand me down when they first came into existence.

Don’t think I’m going to rehash those experiences.

I feel your pain but also in this thread are good reasons why fans go crazy on Cubs. Big brother v little brother comments, well of course they hate us look at where they have to live comments, our ballpark is better than yours, etc. Cubs fans have devised coping mechanisms and comments which are just as bad and as patently annoying.

But it is in all sports read some of the comments on this thread from my favorite basketball team the UL Cardinals they are littered with ignorant comments from fans of our rival the UK wildcats. Drives me nuts and happy that I don’t currently live where there are any UK fans to listen too! In fairness there are some pretty ignorant comments from the UL fans too!

Man, this is eerie how you have exactly the same issues I do.

I’ve seen fans from almost every team pick on the Cubs, simply cause they’re an easy target. It’s so angering, especially when we have so little to take pride in to stave off the barbs (for these nitwits, nothing less than a WS win would be enough to shut them up). But I look forward to the day when these twits will have to just shut up and watch us celebrate. Until then, I either garner support from my fellow Cubs fans and sympathetic fans of other teams (who are more numerous than one would imagine), and occasionally tangling with some of these haters just to show them we won’t take their crap lying down (l know the best thing to do is ignore the taunts but I just can’t help myself sometimes).