What is your Rock Bottom?

[soccer10k]

When the Pirates pass us and we are last in the NL Central.

 

That should happen over the next couple of weeks.

 

Agreed. But this is only because we don't play the Royals this year. Although having the worst record in all of MLB would be rock bottom.

[IowaCubsFan]

The only acceptable rock bottom for a winner is anything less than a championship.

 

If that sounds ridiculous to you, then you just hit on why we are a perennial loser, while other teams make runs at World Series titles.

 

We have been lulled into accepting low standards. We take the scraps from winners and pray for a miracle, while others are implementing strategies designed to produce champions.

Who is accepting low standards?

 

Hendry isn't accepting low standards, either. He just has no idea what he's doing and actually believes he's buidling a winner.

 

Standards are too low if anything other than a Championship is acceptable.

 

Hendry may have convinced himself he's building a winner, but he's put himself in the sweepstakes for better players than what we have. He just settles for less and the Trib, being the board room faceless owners that they are, don't allow him to spend whatever it takes.

 

We could build from the minors and save alot of money; that's an alternate route to spending a ton of cash. Other teams have done it. But Hendry has built a farm system of crap with no emphasis on fundamentals, no emphasis on OBP. It's terrible. Those are low standards. Takes alot of work to build a winning franchise. Ours has never shown---and I mean NEVER shown----the gumption to do the damn difficult work and the long hours and the digging in the dirt that it would take to turn this thing around, either from the FA perspective, or the development perspective. Those are low standards.

 

Where is the teaching? Where is the commitment to acquiring the best, no matter the cost? Where is the accountability? Don't hand me the payroll figures, either. I'm so sick of that argument. Trib bloats it's payroll on junk players so it can claim it wants to win. Bull-pucky. They care like a millionaire cares when he buys his 15th Mercedes.

 

Some may think they're going to live forever so they can handle a few more years of terrible baseball in the hopes that it works out. I did this in the '80s. I'm too old now. Seriously, I've bled Cubbie blue for 40+ years. I want to see a Champion before I die. I watched my Dad die without ever having seen one just last year. I'm sick of this nonsense. Everyone has a clever argument why this stuff is all going to work out, or it isn't as bad as it seems. Meanwhile, we continue to tank over & over. Enough! I want some accountability. Who among us would have a job with this kind of performance?

 

=D> =D> =D> =D> =D>

 

My grandfather lived 82 years, having never seen his beloved Cubbies win it all. He died a year and a half ago. I can't bear the thought of the same thing happening to me. .

 

And I completely agree about the payroll; I get tired of hearing that the Cubs have the fifth highest payroll in baseball. They could spend $100 million MORE than the Yankees if they wanted to; they're a GD Fortune 500 company for Chrissakes! But by paying skids like Jacque Jones and Neifi Perez, they just make it look like they're spending money. Then when a player like Furcal comes along, they flinch when another team comes in with a better offer. Tell me, would the $3 million more per year that Furcal wanted each year be worth a 70-point improvement in OBP in the leadoff spot, keeping three major-league caliber pitchers in your system, and Derrek Lee not snapping his wrist like a twig?

[Andy]

I don't see how it could get much worse than this, but to say it can't is tempting the Baseball Gods. The torture has, no doubt, only begun.

[halplm]

Dusty Extended...

 

It will make me no longer care anything for the team for at least until he's fired...

Agreed. Dusty and staff being extended would be absolute rock bottom for me.

 

It's not so much that things couldn't get WORSE... I mean, things can pretty much always get worse... but if Dusty is extended... nothing worse that happens will actually FEEL worse...

 

That's rock bottom... and we won't start coming back until he's fired...

[Shilzzz]

when i realized a couple games back that we aren't going to win this year, and also for many more years to come. when i realized that it doesn't matter whether or not baker gets fired. when i realized that nearly no one in the organization has an iota of what makes a winning team, that's when i hit bottom. it may have been when wood gave up the third homerun against the nationals(i think) when this occured to me.

[macuser1]

A friend of my dad's once threw his tv out the window while watching a Cub game in the 70's. That is a sure sign of hitting rock bottom.

 

I threw a remote control a the screen; the screen didn't break but the remote did. Does that count? :lol:

[IowaCubsFan]

A friend of my dad's once threw his tv out the window while watching a Cub game in the 70's. That is a sure sign of hitting rock bottom.

 

I threw a remote control a the screen; the screen didn't break but the remote did. Does that count? :lol:

 

I broke my remote into about 30 pieces during the eighth inning of Game 6.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

A friend of my dad's once threw his tv out the window while watching a Cub game in the 70's. That is a sure sign of hitting rock bottom.

 

I threw a remote control a the screen; the screen didn't break but the remote did. Does that count? :lol:

 

I broke my remote into about 30 pieces during the eighth inning of Game 6.

 

Funny, I drank about 30 beers.

[Jon]

The only acceptable rock bottom for a winner is anything less than a championship.

 

If that sounds ridiculous to you, then you just hit on why we are a perennial loser, while other teams make runs at World Series titles.

 

We have been lulled into accepting low standards. We take the scraps from winners and pray for a miracle, while others are implementing strategies designed to produce champions.

Who is accepting low standards?

 

Hendry isn't accepting low standards, either. He just has no idea what he's doing and actually believes he's buidling a winner.

 

Standards are too low if anything other than a Championship is acceptable.

 

Hendry may have convinced himself he's building a winner, but he's put himself in the sweepstakes for better players than what we have. He just settles for less and the Trib, being the board room faceless owners that they are, don't allow him to spend whatever it takes.

 

We could build from the minors and save alot of money; that's an alternate route to spending a ton of cash. Other teams have done it. But Hendry has built a farm system of crap with no emphasis on fundamentals, no emphasis on OBP. It's terrible. Those are low standards. Takes alot of work to build a winning franchise. Ours has never shown---and I mean NEVER shown----the gumption to do the damn difficult work and the long hours and the digging in the dirt that it would take to turn this thing around, either from the FA perspective, or the development perspective. Those are low standards.

 

Where is the teaching? Where is the commitment to acquiring the best, no matter the cost? Where is the accountability? Don't hand me the payroll figures, either. I'm so sick of that argument. Trib bloats it's payroll on junk players so it can claim it wants to win. Bull-pucky. They care like a millionaire cares when he buys his 15th Mercedes.

 

Some may think they're going to live forever so they can handle a few more years of terrible baseball in the hopes that it works out. I did this in the '80s. I'm too old now. Seriously, I've bled Cubbie blue for 40+ years. I want to see a Champion before I die. I watched my Dad die without ever having seen one just last year. I'm sick of this nonsense. Everyone has a clever argument why this stuff is all going to work out, or it isn't as bad as it seems. Meanwhile, we continue to tank over & over. Enough! I want some accountability. Who among us would have a job with this kind of performance?

I can think of maybe one team that spends no matter what the cost and they haven't exactly been living up to their expectations (a championship every season). And I don't think giving Hendry more money would solve the problem. Think of what a good GM could have done with just the Jones/Neifi/Rusch/Dusty money.

 

I just don't see why failure means they have low standards or don't care. Winning from ownership on down means more money and more security, so it's not like they have an incentive to lose. I think the trends throughout the organization just show that they don't know what it actually takes to win and refuse to rethink their own philosophies.

[Scott G. F.]

A friend of my dad's once threw his tv out the window while watching a Cub game in the 70's. That is a sure sign of hitting rock bottom.

 

I threw a remote control a the screen; the screen didn't break but the remote did. Does that count? :lol:

 

I broke my remote into about 30 pieces during the eighth inning of Game 6.

 

Funny, I drank about 30 beers.

 

 

yep!

[Derwood]

Rock bottom for 2006 is being mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.

 

wouldn't typing "tomorrow" have been easier?

 

/joke thief

[Derwood]

I just don't see why failure means they have low standards or don't care. Winning from ownership on down means more money and more security, so it's not like they have an incentive to lose.

 

no, but setting record attendance #'s with a 70 win team isn't incentive to go out of their way to win either. Until the ticket money drys up, we get token effort

[Jon]

I just don't see why failure means they have low standards or don't care. Winning from ownership on down means more money and more security, so it's not like they have an incentive to lose.

 

no, but setting record attendance #'s with a 70 win team isn't incentive to go out of their way to win either. Until the ticket money drys up, we get token effort

I don't think they're naive enough to think that near-capacity attendance will continue. And, in fact, it hasn't this season. They're only averaging 95.4% of capacity so far. They've only been over 3 million for two seasons and will be again this year only because of the increased capacity. They didn't even break 2.7 in 2002. There isn't much of a reason to believe that attendance won't suffer if this keeps up. If that happens, the Cubs will be losing a significant amount of potential revenue.

[Derwood]

I just don't see why failure means they have low standards or don't care. Winning from ownership on down means more money and more security, so it's not like they have an incentive to lose.

 

no, but setting record attendance #'s with a 70 win team isn't incentive to go out of their way to win either. Until the ticket money drys up, we get token effort

I don't think they're naive enough to think that near-capacity attendance will continue. And, in fact, it hasn't this season. They're only averaging 95.4% of capacity so far. They've only been over 3 million for two seasons and will be again this year only because of the increased capacity. They didn't even break 2.7 in 2002. There isn't much of a reason to believe that attendance won't suffer if this keeps up. If that happens, the Cubs will be losing a significant amount of potential revenue.

 

i hope they do

[BigSlick]

We've been discussing in various threads what it will take for the Cubs to hit "rock bottom". What will it take for YOU the Cubs fan to hit "rock bottom", and what defines your "rock bottom"?

 

I'm not quite there yet, but the games that I attend this year, I will not wear any Cubs gear. No hat, no jersey, no t-shirt, no jacket - nada. Regular summer street clothes and a non-Northsiders hat.

 

 

http://home.kc.rr.com/emison/royals.gif

[Sammy Sofa]

I was driving home from a friend's house after watching game 7 in 2003...it was a party, a lot of people were bummed, I tried joking around, getting mad, etc., etc. just to try and pick my friends' spirits up. Finally went home at about 2-3 in the morning...driving along the highway about 2 minutes from home and had to all of a sudden pull to the side and weep. And I MEAN "weep." Like sobbing and choking and yelling and punching the seat. I've never in my life felt a moment of such pure sadness and rage at the same time. It was a good 10 minutes before I could drive again.

[Soul]

I just don't see why failure means they have low standards or don't care. Winning from ownership on down means more money and more security, so it's not like they have an incentive to lose.

 

no, but setting record attendance #'s with a 70 win team isn't incentive to go out of their way to win either. Until the ticket money drys up, we get token effort

I don't think they're naive enough to think that near-capacity attendance will continue. And, in fact, it hasn't this season. They're only averaging 95.4% of capacity so far. They've only been over 3 million for two seasons and will be again this year only because of the increased capacity. They didn't even break 2.7 in 2002. There isn't much of a reason to believe that attendance won't suffer if this keeps up. If that happens, the Cubs will be losing a significant amount of potential revenue.

 

i hope they do

 

So do I. Not sure we'll see much decrease this year though. People already have their trips planned.

[CuseCubFan69]

My rock bottom would be a Baker extension and then watching Hendry trade the best young players the Cubs have for some washed up vets.

[Guancous]

I'm done this year when Tony Womack gets the starting nod. I would rather see Eric Patterson get rushed. I'm hoping I see neither.

[CubsBullsBears]

Cubs losing, Dusty extended, Cardinals winning, White Sox winning, Cardinals-White Sox World Series. That keeps going, that will be rock bottom.

[CubinNY]

I am almost postive that somone has already written this but it will be Dusty's extension.

[Jon]

Not sure what kind of money is at stake in ratings, but yeesh:

 

Teddy Greenstein[/url]"]Bottom line, the Cubs' popularity has taken a giant hit over the last two years. In 2004, Cubs games drew an average rating of 9.1 on WGN/WCIU and 6.5 on Fox Sports Net. (One ratings point equals 34,380 Chicago-area households.) This season they're at 4.9 on WGN/WCIU and 3.4 on Comcast SportsNet. So the audience is down about 45 percent.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Not sure what kind of money is at stake in ratings, but yeesh:

 

Bottom line, the Cubs' popularity has taken a giant hit over the last two years. In 2004, Cubs games drew an average rating of 9.1 on WGN/WCIU and 6.5 on Fox Sports Net. (One ratings point equals 34,380 Chicago-area households.) This season they're at 4.9 on WGN/WCIU and 3.4 on Comcast SportsNet. So the audience is down about 45 percent.

 

Ouch! The biggest reason I have missed so many games this year is because of work, but I can only remember 4 times where I have been home while they played and I actually watched them (out of maybe 12-15). Only once did I watch the entire game.

[Derwood]

Not sure what kind of money is at stake in ratings, but yeesh:

 

Bottom line, the Cubs' popularity has taken a giant hit over the last two years. In 2004, Cubs games drew an average rating of 9.1 on WGN/WCIU and 6.5 on Fox Sports Net. (One ratings point equals 34,380 Chicago-area households.) This season they're at 4.9 on WGN/WCIU and 3.4 on Comcast SportsNet. So the audience is down about 45 percent.

 

Ouch! The biggest reason I have missed so many games this year is because of work, but I can only remember 4 times where I have been home while they played and I actually watched them (out of maybe 12-15). Only once did I watch the entire game.

 

i bet they lost all 4

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Not sure what kind of money is at stake in ratings, but yeesh:

 

Bottom line, the Cubs' popularity has taken a giant hit over the last two years. In 2004, Cubs games drew an average rating of 9.1 on WGN/WCIU and 6.5 on Fox Sports Net. (One ratings point equals 34,380 Chicago-area households.) This season they're at 4.9 on WGN/WCIU and 3.4 on Comcast SportsNet. So the audience is down about 45 percent.

 

Ouch! The biggest reason I have missed so many games this year is because of work, but I can only remember 4 times where I have been home while they played and I actually watched them (out of maybe 12-15). Only once did I watch the entire game.

 

i bet they lost all 4

 

Shockingly, they actually won 1 of them (250 winning %, right in line with the last month).