Couldn't bring myself to do it yet

[cubbieinexile]

Around about 1990 or 1991 I walked away from baseball. Hurt my arm, got busy being a teenager and so forth. Then went away to school and traveled the country for awhile so I never really had time or the ability to follow the Cubs or baseball. Then somewhere around May or June of 1998 I became a baseball fan again, and more importantly to this forum a Cubs follower again. I was finally settled down, though it was in a far off city, so following the Cubs over the internet was like having a little piece of home with me in this new city. I came back to Chicago on vacation and took my Dad to see a game, Sammy hit his 56th homer that day and tied Hack Wilson for team homer record. The Cubs collapsed in the end and had to play one game playoff. My apartment building didn't have cable so I had to go to a bar to watch the game. Unbelievably they were watching wheel of fortune and didn't even know the game was on, some sports bar. Anyway watched what was perhaps the most boring potential no hitter in the history of baseball and big games (Steve Trachsel will do that to you). I watched the game surrounded by Larry Anderson and a bunch young September pitcher call ups, who interestingly enough were more interested in watching young sensation Charlie Batch make his first Monday Night football debut.

 

After that season I was hooked on baseball and the Cubs again, and even though the Cubs were horrid the next couple of years I was able to maintain my interest in baseball and the Cubs through a new recreation I had just discovered, fantasy baseball. I played through 1999 and 2000 and won both times. The next year the Cubs seemed to have righted the ship and seemed to justify my faith in them. Of course the Cubs collapsed again at the end of the season but again it was alright because once again I found another interest to keep me occupied. That interest was online forums and more specifically the forum on Cubs.com. Plus I had another outlet as well, I had the Philadelphia Phillies with a young exciting core and team from 2001 was winning. Tickets were cheap and the stadium close, so it was ok when the Cubs took a walk in the wilderness.

 

Then along comes 2003. What a roller-coaster. I think I wrote that team off at least 5 times that year. They make it to the playoffs by the skin of their teeth and even beat the Braves to finally advance a round. Of course we all know what happened next, I don't think I am alone in saying that I was on the verge of crying when the 9th rolled around in game 7. But it was ok because for the first time we had a future we could honestly say we'll get them next year. But then 2004 and 2005 happened.

 

Now here we sit on the verge of 2006 season starting and suddenly Mark Prior's shoulder feels sore. What a complete surprise to the Cubs organization. I am disgusted and dejected with the Cubs. I do not wish to root for them anymore. I almost want to start to follow the Brewers, but I just can't. I don't live in that city, and it was owned by the Seligs at one point so its hard to do it. Though lately the Brewers are doing more and more to make me change my mind. They got an owner who so far looks like he is actually thinking about the fan and what he wants. And I'm not just talking about the players on the field, but how they go about treating their fans.

 

Anyway I not going to say this do or die time or this is the last straw. But I will say I'm beginning to care less and less about the Cubs. Who i replace them with and even if I replace I do not know.

[da bears]

I wish the Cubs did not have such a strangle hold on me as well. It only ends up hurting in the end. Its tough being a Cub fan.

[Drew Doughty]

I did cry when 9th inning of game 7 rolled around.

[soccer10k]

I almost cried after the eighth inning of Game 6. Game 7 didn't really affect me all that much because I just knew they were going to lose. I knew Game 6 was the Cubs chance and they blew it. Game 7 was basically a formality.

[KatJ]

I almost cried after the eighth inning of Game 6. Game 7 didn't really affect me all that much because I just knew they were going to lose. I knew Game 6 was the Cubs chance and they blew it. Game 7 was basically a formality.

 

I dressed up as Bartman for Halloween, primarily because it was an easy costume. But some of the torture I have imagined heaping on Gonzalez should keep me in Purgatory for a long, long time.

[soccer10k]

I almost cried after the eighth inning of Game 6. Game 7 didn't really affect me all that much because I just knew they were going to lose. I knew Game 6 was the Cubs chance and they blew it. Game 7 was basically a formality.

 

I dressed up as Bartman for Halloween, primarily because it was an easy costume. But some of the torture I have imagined heaping on Gonzalez should keep me in Purgatory for a long, long time.

 

Whenever people ask me about that game I always tell them that I blame Alex Gonzalez more than Bartman and I blame Gonzalez more and more every day.

 

Any person that says they wouldn't have gone for that ball is lying. You can't control the fans. The players are getting paid to make plays on routine ground balls like the one Gonzalez muffed. That is controllable. Damn you Alex Gonzalez. Damn you to hell.

[Outshined_One]

I almost cried after the eighth inning of Game 6. Game 7 didn't really affect me all that much because I just knew they were going to lose. I knew Game 6 was the Cubs chance and they blew it. Game 7 was basically a formality.

 

I was depressed for two weeks after Game 6. Game 7 managed to reel me right back in, but I pretty much knew it was a lost cause.

 

Just thinking about it makes me pissed off. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!^y$%#&u%^uwuyh!!!

 

*Throws a chair out the window*

[Andy]

Game 6 was the last time I could ever be optimistic about the Cubs. Ever since then, it's been all bad, all the time. Although the fact that we've head roughly 8,563 DL trips in the last two years hasn't helped.

 

I'll still never forget so much about that season. I cried when Karros caught that DP ball to clinch the division on the 2nd to last day of the season. Cried when we won the NLDS. Lost my head on the Sammy 9th inning homer and the Aramis granny in the LCS.

 

Game 6 ruined everything. And I never, ever, ever blamed Bartman for anything. He's just part of the mythos. It was all Gonzalez.

 

Got sucked back in a little bit in Game 7 after Wood hit the homer (if we'd won that game - instant legend status for life for Wood).

 

Nothing ever felt right about 04. With the 03 Borowski that team probably wins it all, but the pen was just all kinds of awful. The Victor Diaz game was the last straw, and the 16K Prior no-decision leading to a loss at the end of the year was another straw.

 

05 sucked except for DLee.

 

I hope 06 is better, but it looks more and more like 04 redux, except without the winning record.

[erik316wttn]

To quote Brokeback Mountian: "I wish I knew how to quit you."

[Balsa]

After the '94 strike I lost all my interest in baseball. Many cite '98 as when they came back to the fold. Not even then for me. Sure, if I was bored, I'd turn on a game, but I was busy doing other stuff and didn't care too much.

 

It was the '03 season that really brought me back. I still can't believe game 6 happened. I still find myself saying "Five outs, five outs away." I knew after that we didn't stand a chance. You can't lose that game and have much morale left.

 

I still have those Tribunes from the '03 playoffs.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

I love baseball, plain and simple. If the Cubs won 60 games year in and year out, it would have no impact on my love of the game. I'd kill for a WS win, but I definitely wouldn't stop watching if they came up short yet again. The Cubs are such a small, meaningless part of the grand scheme. Why put so much into them only to be so devastated when they fail?

[goonys evil twin]

Why put so much into them only to be so devastated when they fail?

 

It's not a choice involving rational thought or logic.

[Diffusion]

Waaaaa wwwaaaaaaaa wwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

A baseball team isn't for October, it's for life.

[Blizzau]

 

Game 6 ruined everything. And I never, ever, ever blamed Bartman for anything. He's just part of the mythos. It was all Gonzalez.

 

 

I'm surprised no one in this thread has blamed Alou for blowing his top and unnecessarily freaking out at Bartman. That, in my opinion, was the act that caused the entire Cubs team to lose its focus. Gonzales then booted the ball, Prior's concentration broke, and we all know the outcome.

 

Dang you, Moises.

[rocket]

maybe it's prior's fault for being such a whiney little girl for allowing alou throwing a hissy fit to break his concentration.

[BigbadB]

Nice post CIE! We have a very similar history with this organization. The strike is what made me walk away from the game for awhile. The steroid induced home run barrage is what brought me back, sadly enough.

 

I've been cheering the Cubs since Milt Pappas threw his no hitter. That is still a top 5 moment in all of my years of watching Cub baseball.

 

Fantasy baseball is probably what most likely lifted my interest in the game to an all new level. I read your stuff at Cubs.com, and I still enjoy reading your stuff here at NSBB. But, more interest in the minor league organization has also helped my interest level.

 

My interest in the game has taken a hit. I'm not excited for the start of this season. I have made no effort at all to land tickets to Cub games in Arizona, San Diego or Los Angeles.

 

To look at where we were in 2003 and to where we are now in 2006 is depressing to me. The farm system is weakened by trades for players in the last year of their current contracts. Big money has been spent on guys who have probably already had their best year somewhere else. Injuries, injuries, injuries. Someone's going to break their nail today and need to go on the DL for the next month and a half. It's saddening.

 

I've watched the current manager reward poor play by getting another start tomorrow. I've watched him put the worst possible choice to lead off in the lead off spot. Not just once, but consistently. I've watched him leave starting pitchers in the game well after the outcome has been determined.

 

The direction of this team this offseason was one that I do not agree with at all. The focus to improve speed and defense was the wrong choice. If it was 1930 or maybe even 1975, that might be the right way to go. However, it is 2006. Baseball stadiums are built like phone booths nowadays and the power teams who put runs on the board and the pitching staff that keeps the ball from leaving the yard will be the teams that stand the best chances to win.

 

During my return to the game, players contacts have reached a whole new level. A-Rod has won what so far with his 250m contract? That's what I thought. It's a team game. Always has been. Ticket prices soar year after year making it nearly impossible for a middle income family of 4 or 5 to afford to attend a game. All the controversy surrounding the game these days has certainly stripped the game of it's "national pastime" status.

 

Foreign born players who have the gift to play baseball better than most come to this country and have handed to them the "american dream", yet they are so selfish of anyone around them to even remotely consider switching positions for the benefit of the team. No, it's not all foreign born players. But, the selfish behavior of Alfonso Soriano, who wouldn't be making 100K playing professional baseball in the Dominican Republic can come to our country and dictate where and when he plays, and that turns me off even further. Sammy not wanting to hit 6th in the order was another instance that angered me to no end.

 

I'm still hanging in there, but the future of this organization is looking a bit grim to me. I'm not a fan of several players on this team. I'm not even close to being as excited as I was in 2003. It wasn't just coming oh so close in 2003 either. I felt this organization was in a position to win year after year for the next umpteen years because of the depth of the minor leagues and the available cash to spend.

 

Facinatingly enough, I can't place any blame at all on the Tribune. They have opened up the purse strings more and more each year of the 2000's. The ineptitude of the current regime is where I place all the blame. Juan Pierre is probably going to be a pretty good lead off hitter for us this year. However, he will likely only be the 2nd best lead off hitter this team has had during this decade. I doubt many can even name the best lead off hitter the Cubs have had this century. Many people scoff at me whenever I mention his name. I'll go ahead and mention his name. Mark Bellhorn. Table setter du jour. He scored 78 runs in less than a half season of at bats in 2002.

 

What would Dusty do? Attempt to turn him into a bottom of the order RBI man. :roll: People aren't going to agree with a lot of this post, and it would go on forever if I attempted to list all the things I feel are wrong with this organization. Bottom line, my interest is waning badly. I need Cedeno and Murton and Lee and Prior and Zambrano to breathe some air into the fire. The problem is that if they end up winning with this team, a team I'm not real fond of in general will have accomplished something I didn't really think they had a chance of doing, which only disproves my theories on how a team should be put together and how an organization should be run.

 

I'm not attempting to say that I could run an organization better than the current regime. I just don't like their philosophies as much as I like other teams philosophies.

 

If Neifi Perez is playing everyday and hitting at the top of the order, I'll find myself turning off the tv and finding something else to do with my spare time. I've dedicated too much time to this game already to believe that anything good can come from it.

 

I love the Cubs and I love the game. But, I haven't been this frustrated since I walked away from the game during the last strike. Another one of those strikes is probably not all that far off. If they can't use steroids to bring the fans back to the stadiums next time, what will they use?

[cubbieinexile]

I jsut can't get interested in minor league baseball. To much risk involved, too much having to rely on organizations words, and reporters biases. You follow a guy for a couple of years in the newspaper or journals or even on the internet. think he is going to be something, get frustrated when they don't give him a chance or when he never develops, and then what? What was it all for?

 

As for the players, I don't really like them either. Around about 2000 I got a Cubs Jersey and I couldn't figure out whose name and number to put on the back. Sammy was a good player but I could never embrace to the point where I would actually put his name on my back. Didn't want grace either. Finally I decided to get an away jersey and put Sandberg's name on it, that way if anybody asked I'd say I got it in 1997. To this day I still can't think of any active players name I want to wear on my back.

 

I've been a big critic of this team ever since they went and got Baylor, and that didn't change when they got Baker. For the most part I liked what they did before 2004, except for getting Goodwin. And it gave me hope, but then the season started and they were just so unlikeable.

 

Its one of the reasons why I hang out much much less at Cubs forums now then I used too. I want to enjoy talking about baseball not b.itch and moan about things I do not enjoy. But that is what the Cubs have become for me, so instead I hang out in more general baseball sites where I can talk about things that I enjoy.

[Andy]

I'm surprised no one in this thread has blamed Alou for blowing his top and unnecessarily freaking out at Bartman. That, in my opinion, was the act that caused the entire Cubs team to lose its focus. Gonzales then booted the ball, Prior's concentration broke, and we all know the outcome.

 

Dang you, Moises.

Moises wears his emotions on his sleeve, and I don't think his reaction should have been all that surprising to anyone. Plus, he apologized for his reaction before Game 7.

 

Bottom line is that Gonzalez had the highest F% of all NL shortstops in 2003 and that was a routine grounder. Even distracted, any competent player should be expected to make that play.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I'm surprised no one in this thread has blamed Alou for blowing his top and unnecessarily freaking out at Bartman. That, in my opinion, was the act that caused the entire Cubs team to lose its focus. Gonzales then booted the ball, Prior's concentration broke, and we all know the outcome.

 

Dang you, Moises.

Moises wears his emotions on his sleeve, and I don't think his reaction should have been all that surprising to anyone. Plus, he apologized for his reaction before Game 7.

 

Bottom line is that Gonzalez had the highest F% of all NL shortstops in 2003 and that was a routine grounder. Even distracted, any competent player should be expected to make that play.

 

Seconded, Moises is an emotional guy, and make no mistake, that was fan interference, so he was justifiably upset. But Gonzo's error should be the focus of that collapse.

[soccer10k]

I'm surprised no one in this thread has blamed Alou for blowing his top and unnecessarily freaking out at Bartman. That, in my opinion, was the act that caused the entire Cubs team to lose its focus. Gonzales then booted the ball, Prior's concentration broke, and we all know the outcome.

 

Dang you, Moises.

Moises wears his emotions on his sleeve, and I don't think his reaction should have been all that surprising to anyone. Plus, he apologized for his reaction before Game 7.

 

Bottom line is that Gonzalez had the highest F% of all NL shortstops in 2003 and that was a routine grounder. Even distracted, any competent player should be expected to make that play.

 

Seconded, Moises is an emotional guy, and make no mistake, that was fan interference, so he was justifiably upset. But Gonzo's error should be the focus of that collapse.

 

Not under the rules it wasn't. The ball was going to land in the stands and therefore was not interference.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I'm surprised no one in this thread has blamed Alou for blowing his top and unnecessarily freaking out at Bartman. That, in my opinion, was the act that caused the entire Cubs team to lose its focus. Gonzales then booted the ball, Prior's concentration broke, and we all know the outcome.

 

Dang you, Moises.

Moises wears his emotions on his sleeve, and I don't think his reaction should have been all that surprising to anyone. Plus, he apologized for his reaction before Game 7.

 

Bottom line is that Gonzalez had the highest F% of all NL shortstops in 2003 and that was a routine grounder. Even distracted, any competent player should be expected to make that play.

 

Seconded, Moises is an emotional guy, and make no mistake, that was fan interference, so he was justifiably upset. But Gonzo's error should be the focus of that collapse.

 

Not under the rules it wasn't. The ball was going to land in the stands and therefore was not interference.

 

CFP did a great breakdown at some point afterwards about this, too bad we don't have it any more. Bartman was reaching over the railing. But regardless, it shouldn't have mattered, Gonzo should've made the play, Alou should've worn PF flyers and caught it anyway, etc.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

http://www.gotwinlakes.com/images/Bartman.jpg

[KatJ]

I'm surprised no one in this thread has blamed Alou for blowing his top and unnecessarily freaking out at Bartman. That, in my opinion, was the act that caused the entire Cubs team to lose its focus. Gonzales then booted the ball, Prior's concentration broke, and we all know the outcome.

 

Dang you, Moises.

 

Oh, he's on my list too. But unlike Agony, I figured he had built up a good enough reputation as a player to justify his outrage.

 

Bartman, Mo, Prior, Agony, then that triple. Typical Cubs clusterduck. It's like you recognize the moment and let fate take its course. Anyone on that field could have called in the players for a JOKE, for Pete's sakes, to release the tension (Grace would have been helpful there). Rothschild and Baker stayed affixed to the bench like there was a 2-ton magnet attached to them. Joe Buck and company ran off at the mouth as usual. And all the fans could do was watch the implosion.

 

I totally understand cubbieinexile's POV here. I think the organization owes the fans BIG TIME. These piecemeal injury reports feel like excuses, and it's really gotten old. (I'm tired of these guys resembling Swarovsky crystal more than disciplined, durable professional athletes.) If the best you can do with a $100 mil payroll is fourth place (I'm talking 2005, although I'm not very optimistic about 2006 at the moment), you should get out of the business.

[cubbieinexile]

I really don't blame Bartman, though I'm not happy with him. I don't think the anybody would have done that is a good defense. I've seen plenty of fans do the exact opposite on plays like that and as a fan of the home team he should have had his head in the game. On top of that if I recall correctly he already caught a foul ball earlier in the game so it wasn't even like it was a once in a lifetime moment for him. Anyway enough about Bartman he wasn't what I wanted to talk about.

 

I blame AGon for his miscue, but again he is a minor guy in this. The guy I blame the most is Dusty Baker. Having Prior pitch 7 innings and throw a ton of pitches when his team is winning 12-2 was stupid. Staying with Wood in the 7th game when he clearly didn't have it the whole game, and Kat is right Dusty sitting their and doing virtually nothing in the 8th when it was all unraveling. If I remember right Dusty had every intention of letting Prior play right on through the 8th. He let him hit in the bottom half of the 7th. Again if I memory is right I think it was looking like Prior was running on empty that inning from the beginning, and that to escape that inning would really be a matter of luck. Of course the Cubs almost got that luck but instead it went the other way.

[C.C.]

Waaaaa wwwaaaaaaaa wwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

A baseball team isn't for October, it's for life.

 

Good post! I'm a Cubs fan for life no matter what! I hear about these quiters every year as a Cubs fan and I pay them no attention because these aren't true Cubs fans. I'm a Cubs fan and proud of it! When we do win it all I'd rather be with the true fans who stuck by them and party it up with them, then these bandwagon jumper fans. Cubs are in my blood! Can't do anything about it. BASEBALL IS LIFE!