Cub Tracks Is Still (Mad) Dogging You

This is an almost shockingly full edition for a Sunday.

From Comcast SportsNet

• This is the making of Greg Maddux. The article focuses somewhat on what could have been for the Cubs.
• Here's more proof that Maddux was a pitching genius.
• For their part, the Cubs took out a full-page ad to congratulate Mad Dog.
• Maddux was drafted by the Cubs in 1984. Turns out, that was one heckuva drafting year for the city of Chicago. Of course, the downfall in this link is the panel from Sports Talk Live, where one panelist calls Jack Morris not getting into the Hall "a travesty."
• The Cubs will be in the Tanaka Sweepstakes. Here's how Tanaka's status impacts the Cubs.
• The Cubs have some famous fans you already know about. But it looks like you can add Ice Cube and Johnny Manziel to the list.
• No surprise, but Javier Baez and Kris Bryant headline John Sickels' top 20 Cub prospects. I posted this in the fanshot about these rankings (yes, they still exist). This is the money quote from Sickels in the comments, discussing comparisons between Baez and failed Angels' prospect Brandon Wood and the ability to make adjustments to being challenged:

Baez is a different sort of person. I get the impression that when Baez fails at something, he says "fuck this shit," makes an adjustment, and takes it out on the pitcher.

From Cubs Den

• The position previews continue at second base.
• The BBWAA's worst crime is creating apathy, not stirring outrage.
• Site owner John Arguello talks about the summer of '77, his first year of love and heartbreak with the Cubs. I was born on opening day that year, so I'll also log that as my first year of following our boys in blue.

• Everyone is asking Greg Maddux for his keys to success. Two more that have come up are staying healthy and constantly learning.
• The Cubs and White Sox will indeed enter the Tanaka bidding fray.

From the Chicago Sun-Times

• Letting Greg Maddux go to the Atlanta Braves as a free agent is a move that still haunts the Cubs.

From the Daily Herald

• Greg Maddux was great because he never gave in.
• Cubs-ish, but beat writer Bruce Miles was honored. It'd be nice if the Herald actually let Miles do his job.

Miscellaneous

• I saw this stat in the Cubs Den Twitter feed and it blew my mind. Greg Maddux faced 20,421 batters in his career. Only 133 of those batters made it to a 3-0 count.
• Yahoo's Jeff Passan thinks the Cubs stink. And that the Ricketts are cheap. So some of you will love this article. Basically, this is what happens when a national writer tasked with following all of the teams takes a snapshot of one particular team that isn't very good. It's missing a ton of context.
• Here is the 2014 Cubs Convention WGN Radio event schedule.

Today's food for thought

• This map entertains me. It's a population distribution map of the U.S., using "Canada" as the unit of measurement.
• Astronomers may have identified another class of planets.