Nearly 3.2 MILLION fans turned out to watch the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field this baseball season. That is an unprecedented number in sports history. No other franchise can lay claim to such fan support and loyalty. Couple that with the fact that the Cubs haven't won a damn thing since 1908 and you really have to wonder what is wrong with these people called Cubs fans.
I was one of them for almost as many years as I've drawn breath on the planet. I started swearing them off in 1998, got tempted by 2001, and wasn't fooled one bit in 2003. I have accepted the fact that the Cubs will never win a World Series in my lifetime. I doubt it will happen ever again. Why? Because they are the CHICAGO CUBS. They are the single most miserable excuse for a team in all of sports. The many years of misery provided by the Chicago National League franchise is the end result of the sickest, most horrendously failed experiment in professional sports. The second worst? The Chicago White Sox! I have no problems with the Boston Red Sox. They at least get to go to a World Series without having to purchase a ticket!
Thinking of the White Sox, a team I have always hated, I must begin to believe that the fans of this team are right about one thing. They don't support a crappy team. Attendance has faltered at the Sox games for years and years. Sure, this is the team that tore down its favorite stadium, fired Harry Caray, and failed to secure lucrative television coverage by shunning WGN and favoring WSNS (a mistake they've corrected about 20 years too late). But for the most part the main reason their attendance has been poor is because their teams have been even poorer.
When the team has done well they've seen improvements. When they return to their own losing ways, the fans don't waste their money on tickets. This is not a case of being a "fair weather friend." No, this is a case of being an educated consumer. Show me a commitment to excellence and I will reward you with hard-earned cash and even more loyalty. Show me that you're going through the motions, and I'll happily listen to the games on the radio. Why can't Cubs fans do the same?
You could argue that the Cubs have made the necessary improvements to bring a World Series to Chicago. Indeed they have done well to create a winning team. They did, after all, manage to generate back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in over 30 years. But let's be honest, every time and I mean EVERY TIME that the Cubs NEEDED to win a vital game this season, they proved to the world just how bad a team filled with great talent can really be. This team failed to exhibit any fundamental baseball skills, execute at the plate in critical scoring situations, and whined like children when things didn't go their way. This is not a commitment to excellence. This is the same old turd in a shiny new wrapper.
When Dusty Baker came to the team he insisted that the idea of the loveable losers should be shelved. He wanted the greatest fans in all of sports to have a winning attitude and EXPECT the same from the players and owners. 2003 brought MILLIONS of people to his way of thinking and the Cubs fans became people who demand excellence. They became people who were even more romantically involved with the game. They became fans who knew when to cheer, knew when to boo, and knew when to get another beer.
What happened this year when the fans showed off their new attitude and swagger? Dusty and the team chastised them all for being too critical and cried when the fans booed.
This year we baseball fans have been treated to a season of excuses. We've heard the Cubs whimper about injuries & bandy about accusations of blame towards the umpires, the fans, and even the broadcasters. Never once did it occur to the Cubs that maybe, just MAYBE the people actually wearing the uniforms might have a little something to do with a miserable and painful season.
After watching & listening to so many games this year (As an observer mind you - NOT as a Cubs fan. I watch Minor League ball now!), I have to wonder how much longer the Tribune Company, owner of the Cubs, will even pretend to have that commitment to excellence. This year the Cubs spent well over 92 million dollars on player payroll. They've made the moves to get the good guys, they've added seats in Wrigley Field, and they've spent a lot of dough to promote this new brand of winning Chicago baseball.
Well, it all worked. The Cubs drew 3,170,000 fans. They aren't in the playoffs and they barely finished third in the division. Of course, when the team was finishing in last place year after year the Cubs were spending about 45 million on payroll and other amenities and consistently drew 2-2.5 million fans. So how long can a well-run for profit business like the Tribune Company continue to throw around the cash if they can enjoy similar results at half the price?
As I write this rant the final Cubs game of the pointless 2004 season is about to begin. Yet again they will have a capacity crowd of happy-go-lucky fans eager to enjoy one last day in the sun. For today, the 40,000 people in the stands are wearing their loveable loser togs, having taken them out of the closet after a year of collecting dust. How many of these people are saddened to find out that these clothes still fit? How many of these fans can't feel comfortable in them any longer? How many of these people will be back next year.
Well at least 100 people have clicked on my "Fun With Ego-Surfing"article at The Cheersthis week. I should be much happier about that. Unfortunately it tells me that there are ONLY about 100 people reading The Cheers. We need more readers! Ah well, you've got to build a mountain from a little hill according to some old song I know.
I was just asked by a friend of mine to tape a show on ESPN about the curses of the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox. I wrote a piece about the Cubs and their many curses for The Cheers and I thought I'd reprint it here for you. I was going to wait until after they were eliminated from the Wild Card Race, but what the hell?
Incidentally, just a short time after this piece ran, the Cubs were placed right smack-dab on the cover of Sports Illustrated, which paved the way for the Sports illustrated Cover Jinx to demolish the Cubs. Unbelievable!
Recently, here in Chicago, a big to do was made about the destruction of the now infamous “Bartman Baseball.” For those who are unfamiliar with this relic, it is the foul ball that was blamed for causing the Cubs to lose the National League Championship Series last year. Steve Bartman made an attempt to catch the ball and have a fantastic souvenir from a rare Cubs playoff appearance. That’s all he did. His action may or may not have made Moises Alou miss the ball and lead to the demise of the Cubs. Regardless, “Bartman’s Curse” was born.
I got to thinking about baseball and curses. We all know about the curse on the Red Sox involving the trading of Babe Ruth to the Yankees. But the Cubs seem to have the corner of the market on curses. To some fans, these curses explain why the Cubs haven’t won a World Series since 1908. If you ask the average Cubs fan if he believes in curses, he’ll always say,
“NO! CURSES BAD DON'T BELIEVE CURSES.”
However, whenever something bad befalls the beloved team, the fans take on a rather selective belief in curses.
There’s the famous “Goat Curse” put on the Cubs by the owners of the Billy Goat Tavern after their goat was denied access to a ballgame. I must say, since that curse didn’t come along until 1945, I can’t see how that explains the Cubs not winning a World Series since 1908.
The 1980s provided a couple of good seasons marred by the “Curse of Steve Garvey“ & “Leon Durham‘s Curse”. A home run and a Buckner-esque bobbled ground ball made all the difference in the world to the cursed Cubs.
Not only do the Cubs have their own Red Sox/Babe Ruth-style curse, but they’ve got two of them. In 1964 they foolishly traded future Hall of Famer Lou Brock for future Trivial Pursuit answer, Ernie Broglio, creating “Lou’s Curse.“ The late 80s provided a GREAT pitching prospect in Greg Maddux. He won his first Cy Young Award in Chicago and things looked great for the Cubbies until the team’s owners made little or no effort to retain this future Cooperstown resident. Maddux went to Atlanta and “The Great Greg Maddux Curse of 1993“ was born.
In 1969, there was the famous "Black Cat Curse," where a fan actually smuggled a black cat into the park and threw it out onto the field, where it crossed paths with Ron Santo. Many believe that it was the cat that caused the Cubs to give up a seemingly insurmountable lead in the National League and lose everything to the Mets. Isn't it funny how nobody blames the cat for Ron Santo’s absence in the Hall of Fame? Hmmm…
The deaths of legendary broadcasters Harry Caray and Jack Brickhouse spurred a minor curse of their own. In 1998, Harry Caray, Cubs broadcaster for 16 years, and Jack Brickhouse, Cubs broadcaster for 30+ years, passed away. When the time came for fitting tributes to these great baseball men, Harry got a statue raised in his honor outside of the park, as well as the continuing tribute of the 7th inning stretch guest conductors at the park. There are frequent ceremonies and photos honoring Caray to this day. Brickhouse was honored with signs in the outfield that simply said, "Hey Hey", honoring his famous home run tag. Supposedly this upset the Brickhouse family. The newspaper writers as well as WSCR radio personality Mike North felt that the lesser display of respect for Jack Brickhouse resulted in “Jack's Curse.“ Whether this naming of yet another curse was serious or joking, the Cubs lost to the Braves in the divisional series. Greg Maddux and Jack Brickhouse’s ghost were no doubt amused.
More recently, the Tribune company (owners of the Chicago Cubs) wanted to make plans for rennovations on Wrigley Field that included putting up opaque windscreens on the outfield fences. These screens blocked the view of the rooftop viewers and Wrigley neighbors, angering them so much that “The Rooftop Curse” was born.
My favorite tale of Chicago Cubs curses came in the 1989 season (another rare playoff appearance). A fan sent a silly little poem he'd written called "The Hex" to WGN radio. It was a rhyming incantation whereby the reading would temporarily jinx the opposing team and lead to a Cubs victory. DeWayne Staats, the Cubs radio announcer at the time, would bring out The Hex at opportune times and oddly enough, the Cubs would occasionally win. THIS was exactly what the Chicago Cubs needed; a curse they could use to their advantage. It seemed as though the Cubs had it all. That is, until complaints came in from the listeners about how using any sort of spell or hex was black magic and invoked the favor & wrath of the Devil himself. They would not stand for such childish embracing of daemonic arts and demanded The Hex be removed from the broadcast. One complaint letter claimed that "Cubs fans do not condone the black arts and more importantly do not believe in the notion of curses." The Hex was removed. The team went to the playoffs and lost in five games.
Clearly, the Cubs fans have proven one thing to me.
YES. CURSES REAL. MUST BELIEVE IN CURSES!
Now, what would happen if Steve Bartman’s goat jumped off of a Chicago rooftop, landing on a Lou Brock rookie card owned by Greg Maddux? I bet Jack Brickhouse would be pissed!
That rule applies even to Minor League Baseball. My game got rained out. I can't say I didn't have fun anyway. It was still much better a time than a Cubs or Sox game.
Being game 2 of a best-of-five championship series, tonight's game was suspended and will be made up tomorrow night. My ticket stub guarantees me a spot in the stands if I can make it. I called my brother to let him know he can see a game this Friday in Grand Rapids.
Kind of a let-down after a fantastic summer in the sun, but I didn't expect it to be grand or historic. How could I top my previous game?
During the rain delay I actually got a little teary-eyed. The Cougars were playing a tape of This Week in Baseball(NOT the same without the late, great Mel Allen) and one segment featured Harry Caraysinging "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and the story behind its tradition at Wrigley Field.
I used to loathe Harry and his asinine comments & his singing. Ever since the day he died I've missed the bastard. This year especially,I hear that stupid song and I miss being a kid, playing catch with my dad or my brother, & living a simpler life without so many complications.
I hope I can go to one last game before it all goes away for the winter.
When summing up My Baseball Summer I was certain I was done going to games. All the seasons are essentially over. All that is left are Major League games, which as I've stated before, are not as much fun if you live in Chicago.
My last game had fireworks, The Lansing Lugnuts, and I caught a foul ball! How could I end a summer of baseball any better than that?
How about this? CHAMPIONSHIP BASEBALL!
Yes indeed, I have one last chance to watch a Minor League game and to make it better, it is a game for the Midwest League Championships. We rarely ever get to see championship baseball around these parts so I am still amazed at the prospect.
My local Kane County Cougarsare playing their last home game of the season against the West Michigan Whitecaps. I haven't checked the standings, but I know that this is their World Series so I am very excited! I am sure it will be a nice epilogue to a great summer. I'll give you a report later.
While I'm gone, send more people over to The Cheers to readmy latest article. I'd like to get the total number of readers over 100 before I leave.
This is always among my least favorite times of the year. I don't really buy into the whole "dog days" thing, because there are many beautiful days to enjoy towards summer's end.
No, I get sad for a few reasons.
The amount of bookings decreases. This is a temporary thing but I ALWAYS end up believing I'll never get work again.
Most Minor League& Independent Leaguebaseball seasons come to a close and I am forced to pay a little more attention to the Majors, which in Chicago is NOTHING but a bad time!
The worst of all games, FOOTBALL, becomes the prevalent televised ball-handling activity.
I've never liked the game. It is filled with convoluted rules and too much of the game can be affected by the presence of ONE great superstar as opposed to the hard work of several good no-name players. This is not a team sport nor is it an entertaining one.
Plus, if you live in the Chicago area you become very aware of the fact that we have NO "professional" sports teams at all, much less a football team. Chicago has had a few championships to boast about, but for the most part, being a fan of a team in Chicago is a little like being a closeted masochist. You LOVE the pain, but don't want anyone else to know about your obsession.
Tomorrow SHOULD bring about the BRAND NEW LOOK of The Cheers! I'm looking forward to seeing how the new look and more enjoyable features will affect the readership of the magazine. I have one article in the issue, "Fun With Ego-Surfing" which talks about internet fame and the fun of Googlism. I hope you enjoy it!
I just got back from Battle Creek, Michigan, where I enjoyed a Minor League Baseball game with my brother and my wife. The Battle CreekYankees lost UGLY to the Dayton Dragons. I've been to many Minor League & Independent League games all summer and will likely see my last one of the summer today when I watch the Kane County Cougars take on the Lansing Lugnuts.
I've written a few articles about baseball for The Cheersand I'd like to reprint one today about my love for the lesser-known teams of America's Minor Leagues. TRUE baseball fans will understand. Enjoy!
UPDATE! 10:21 PM CST, While at the Cougars/Lugnuts game (the Lugnuts winning 11 to 8) I caught my first foul ball! It actually landed behind me, hitting a lady as it fell. She missed the ball and it rebounded my way. Not quite as heroic as my catching it on the fly, but at least I didn't reach over and knock some gal out of the way for a stupid baseball. For one brief moment I thought about giving the lady the ball to make up for the large bruise whe was going to have for missing the thing...then I said, to hell with that!
In my part of Illinois, I am fortunate enough to have no fewer than five professional baseball teams within an hour’s drive and I am not including the Cubs or the White Sox. Really, given their records of mediocrity for nearly a century, can you still consider those teams professionals? Independent & Minor League Baseball is making a huge splash of popularity across the nation, creating an atmosphere where fans can enjoy a game played by professionals. The stadiums are intimate & the level of play on the field is great. It allows the game of baseball, professional baseball, to find homes in parts of the world that might not be able to support the high salaries, exorbitant ticket prices, and outrageous fees for food & souvenirs that are inherent with the more popular Major Leagues. Seeing the game played by people who are playing for the love of the game as well as the hope of making the big time is refreshing if not vastly more affordable. Recently, my younger brother Matt came to town for a visit. He’s also a huge baseball fan and we have shared many memories associated with the game. From competing against each other in Little League, to getting autographs from the players at Wrigley Field, we both thoroughly enjoy baseball. He even treated me to a Minor League game last year by taking me to see the Toledo Mud Hens, a Minor League affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. Before my brother’s visit, I’d seen a few Minor League and independent league teams play back home. Matt had only seen Major League games before and the Mud Hens were the sum total of his Minor League experience. We’d talked about the state of the big league game and how disillusioned we’d grown with our favorite teams. I decided to return his kind gift of a game with a trip to Alexian Field, the home of the Schaumburg Flyers. The Flyers are a relatively new team, being part of the Northern League of independent teams. They are not affiliated with any Minor or Major league system. The teams in the Northern League have a few former and future Major Leaguers on their rosters. Regardless of their miniscule links to the big time, baseball is being played! We had an outstanding time and Matt was most impressed with the quality of play, the beautiful stadium, and of course, the low cost of a ticket. We sat behind home plate, extremely close to the action, and bought our tickets the day of the game. Even being late for the game, we procured these great seats for the low price of $10.00 per seat. Add in a few excellent plays on the field, a hit batsman, and a fine argument between player & umpire and our trip to see the Schaumburg Flyers defeat the Kansas City T-Bones was a very memorable experience. The seed was planted and a crazy idea was born. Why not take in a game the next day? We could go see the Kane County Cougars, an A-level Minor League team near my home. A quick check of their website and we were poised to see more professional baseball. This time we got great seats down the first base line for $5.00 each and enjoyed a game in the sun played by a few future All-Stars! The Cougars have a few current Major Leaguers included in their past and who knows if they’ll have more. Thinking about it, who cares? The Cougars gave the Burlington Bees a Father’s Day they, and the Martello brothers will never forget. Four teams and two different leagues in two days. Now we recognized our mission: see as many consecutive local professional baseball games as we could. We frantically searched the internet for schedules.
Sticking with the Northern League, we went to Joliet, IL the next day to see the majestic Silver Cross Fieldwhere the MIGHTY Joliet Jackhammers took on the St. Paul Saints of Minnesota. Even though the Jackhammers fell on this day, this was possibly the nicest of the new local stadiums and for a variety of reasons, we had the best time. Everything from the team uniforms to the silly promotional games played in between innings provided Major League entertainment. The next day found us witnessing an extra inning contest. The Rockford RiverHawks of the Frontier League, another independent league, defeated the Richmond Roosters to the delight of a small but proud group of fans. This game provided a few memorable moments, not the least of which being the Roosters properly executing the famous “hidden ball trick” and tagging out an embarrassed RiverHawks player. THE HIDDEN BALL TRICK FOR GOD’S SAKE! You can watch a million Major League games and never see anyone try the same play that had previously only been successfully attempted by the Bad News Bears! THIS was AWESOME! Our last day of baseball found us on our only out of state trip. We went to Gary, Indiana to watch the Gary South Shore RailCats get trounced by the team that stared our ridiculous journey, the Flyers. Once again, the cost of baseball and the quality of the field, the players, and the fun far outweighed any former alliances and emotions we had for Major League baseball. When it was all over we’d seen 9 teams & 5 stadiums in 5 days. Four of the games had us sitting a few rows behind home plate and all the tickets were purchased the day of the game. I’d acquired quite a nice assortment of baseball jerseys and Matt started a collection of baseball hats. Not including food and souvenirs, we’d spent LESS than $50.00 a piece for 5 days of professional baseball and entertainment. We didn’t even have to pay for parking.
We’d have seen six games together had another local team, the Windy City Thunderbolts, not been out of town that week. I made the trek myself a few weeks later and saw them endure a loss to theSpringfield Ozark Mountain Ducks. I even took my mother-in-law since the field was so close to her home and tickets were buy-one-get-one-FREE. Two tickets behind the plate for a mere $8.00. I did have to fork over an outrageous $2.00 for parking, but I forgave the local heroes. Matt extended his baseball holiday by one day when he discovered he could watch the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers of Appleton, Wisconsin. I game him a little grief about not staying in Appleton an extra day to see the “other” team in town, the Appleton Legends. He could have at least watched the Oconto Justice, the DePere River Bandits, or the Green Bay Billys by heading a little farther north. Quitter! What I’ve discovered in my own back yard was my favorite sport and a piece of Americana. I know that the game is alive and well. Sure, every one of the players in these small-time leagues would gladly trade in their home-spun values and love of the game for the big-time dollars and hero worship found within the Majors. I don‘t care. For now, at this level, the game is once again perfect . I can afford to watch the professional sporting competition I love. PLUS, I have the added benefit of watching these games without the heartache associated with devotion to a Major League team when your team loses. If you live in Chicago, there’s NOTHING but heartache! I have no emotional attachment to any of these independent teams and while I root, root, root for the home team out of respect, I don’t care who wins. I just want to watch and enjoy the game.
Thinking back to Barry Bonds and the Home Run Derby, I am reminded of something I saw at my Windy City Thunderbolts game. After P-Nut Williams cracked a towering home run over the outfield wall I was asked to contribute a few bucks to the “home run bucket.” This is an old-school baseball tradition where a home team player is rewarded with donations from the crowd for hitting the big hit. The money collected goes directly to the player. Since these guys rarely make more than $850.00 to $2,500.00 a month for their play, a few dollars for a home run seemed more than reasonable. Two home runs were hit that night and I gladly paid to watch players hit them. It made perfect sense to me.
This time we got great seats down the first base line for $5.00 each and enjoyed a game in the sun played by a few future All-Stars! The Cougars have a few current Major Leaguers included in their past and who knows if they’ll have more. Thinking about it, who cares? The Cougars gave the 
Our last day of baseball found us on our only out of state trip. We went to Gary, Indiana to watch the 
Matt extended his baseball holiday by one day when he discovered he could watch the 
Thinking back to