Brutal, brutal season - worst I can remember

[SouthSideRyan]

If we're going to talk miserable seasons based on expectations followed by failure, you can't really top '04.

[Fred Hornkohl]

Honestly Fred, the 1985 season may not have had that bad of a record, but with the start that team had and the expectations from the previous season that was the most miserable season I can remember

 

Point taken. That team started out 34-19 and looked like they were going to steamroll everything in their path. Then Rick Sutcliffe went down with an injury, and one by one, every one of our starters did a stint on the DL. There's no question that it was a miserable season. It was terribly disappointing and bewildering. But I doubt that many CUBS fans would say they were embarrassed to be CUBS fans in 1985, which was the point that the original poster was making about this year.

 

Second point taken. 1985 was so disappointing because of the great discrepancy between the results and our expectations. The records alone don't just don't describe how we feel about our team, but I have yet to find a way to quantify our expectations. A 60 degree sunny day in early March in Chicago feels warm and wonderful and has us thinking about summer time. The same day in early September will feel a little chilly. Our expectations are formulated, at least in part, by recent results.

[mookie]

Zambrano crashed his car yesterday. Fitting end to this season. Quite fitting.

[lumafia]

It's perfectly acceptable for a fan to consider the 2010 season the most brutal season he/she can remember. The level of success, or failure, in the mind of a fan can be sculpted by many things, none of which can be defined as right or wrong.

[treebird]

WE HAVE IT BETTER THAN:

blue jays

reds

 

http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/world_series/world_series_carter.jpg

 

 

http://jockpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/1990-cincinnati-reds.jpg

 

 

i said at the beginning of my post that i was born in 1985 and didn't watch baseball before 1995, so that's when i was starting. i don't care about what happened before i was aware of the game. please read my posts before making useless replies to them.

[erik316wttn]

If we're going to talk miserable seasons based on expectations followed by failure, you can't really top '04.

 

I cant argue with that one. Damn, was that '04 team stacked. How did we not win the WC?

 

Friggin Victor Diaz.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

 

i said at the beginning of my post that i was born in 1985 and didn't watch baseball before 1995, so that's when i was starting. i don't care about what happened before i was aware of the game. please read my posts before making useless replies to them.

 

Fair enough, my bad. For some reason I was thinking 1990 was the cutoff.

[Soul]

Yeah, this year wasn't stellar but not even close to the worst.

[bhogg]

I think it was '99 that the cubs pulled within 3 games or so near the end of July or august and then went on an epic fail streak -- something like 9-30 to piss away another season.

 

 

I've been watching since I was a little guy -- '83 I think. 85 was tough, but I was way to young to fully understand the crapiness. Most years in the late 80s through the early 90s were very similar. No one expected much and if they approached .500 people were relatively happy.

 

2006 has been the worst for me. There was nothing good about that season.

[XZero771679666304]

The mere fact disappointment comes into the equation is proof of how much worse things have been than this.

[erik316wttn]

I think it was '99 that the cubs pulled within 3 games or so near the end of July or august and then went on an epic fail streak -- something like 9-30 to piss away another season.

 

 

I've been watching since I was a little guy -- '83 I think. 85 was tough, but I was way to young to fully understand the crapiness. Most years in the late 80s through the early 90s were very similar. No one expected much and if they approached .500 people were relatively happy.

 

2006 has been the worst for me. There was nothing good about that season.

 

I thought the Cubs pretty much tanked in early June of that year. I know it was right around the time of my HS graduation that they went to Cleveland and completely crapped the bed and I think it was all downhill from there.

 

I haven't checked, but that's how I remember it.

[bcl412]

I think it was '99 that the cubs pulled within 3 games or so near the end of July or august and then went on an epic fail streak -- something like 9-30 to piss away another season.

 

 

I've been watching since I was a little guy -- '83 I think. 85 was tough, but I was way to young to fully understand the crapiness. Most years in the late 80s through the early 90s were very similar. No one expected much and if they approached .500 people were relatively happy.

 

2006 has been the worst for me. There was nothing good about that season.

 

I thought the Cubs pretty much tanked in early June of that year. I know it was right around the time of my HS graduation that they went to Cleveland and completely crapped the bed and I think it was all downhill from there.

 

I haven't checked, but that's how I remember it.

 

I haven't found much about it but that was the year we signed Marmol apparently.

[MWV]

It was mentioned earlier, but 2004 has to be one of the worst seasons of recent memory. Disappointment is predicated upon expectation; that team was much better (on paper) than the 2003 squad. Years like this one are not pleasant, but they're far from excruciating. Not caring is easy when a team that was expected to be mediocre fails to crack the .500 mark at any point in the season.

[daske17]

That 97 season was rough. Starting out 0-14... I remember sports reports wondering if the losing streak would end, not when.

[Soul]

What I remember most about '85 was all the adults around me freaking out during the 13-game losing streak. That left a wound on my psyche that persists to this day :)

 

'84 was all about my Dad having champagne on ice after we won the first 2 games of the NLCS.......and watching that champagne sit, day after day until the inevitable death of the dream.

 

This year was about expectations for mediocrity, and then watching those expectations happen. Nothing really surprising at all, good or bad.

 

I guess I would characterize '10 as a season where my interest in the Cubs was relatively low from the beginning, and stayed that way throughout the season. I just didn't care all that much compared to other seasons, outside of seeing how our home-grown and younger players performed.

 

I'm looking future with this team. The now is pretty blah.

[SouthSideRyan]

It's perfectly acceptable for a fan to consider the 2010 season the most brutal season he/she can remember. The level of success, or failure, in the mind of a fan can be sculpted by many things, none of which can be defined as right or wrong.

 

Then I think it's perfectly acceptable to define it as being overly dramatic and "only the Cubs"ic

[jersey cubs fan]

If we're going to talk miserable seasons based on expectations followed by failure, you can't really top '04.

 

You probably can. That team won more games than the '03 team. The problem is people were delusional with how good they thought it could and should have been.

 

 

I think the thing that makes this season sucks more than most is we're well past the point where the ownership question is playing a role and the new owner should have realized by now that Hendry is part of the problem. Yet he's going to return and get a chance to hire his 4th freaking manager while blaming everything but his dumbass philosophies for the problems.

[Guest]

If we're going to talk miserable seasons based on expectations followed by failure, you can't really top '04.

 

You probably can. That team won more games than the '03 team. The problem is people were delusional with how good they thought it could and should have been.

 

 

I think the thing that makes this season sucks more than most is we're well past the point where the ownership question is playing a role and the new owner should have realized by now that Hendry is part of the problem. Yet he's going to return and get a chance to hire his 4th freaking manager while blaming everything but his [expletive] philosophies for the problems.

I think it's a little misleading to say he gets to hire his fourth manager. Interim guys shouldn't really count for the point you're making.

[jersey cubs fan]

If we're going to talk miserable seasons based on expectations followed by failure, you can't really top '04.

 

You probably can. That team won more games than the '03 team. The problem is people were delusional with how good they thought it could and should have been.

 

 

I think the thing that makes this season sucks more than most is we're well past the point where the ownership question is playing a role and the new owner should have realized by now that Hendry is part of the problem. Yet he's going to return and get a chance to hire his 4th freaking manager while blaming everything but his [expletive] philosophies for the problems.

I think it's a little misleading to say he gets to hire his fourth manager. Interim guys shouldn't really count for the point you're making.

 

I don't know why I was adding Don Baylor to the list, although he was assistant GM at the time. His third.

[erik316wttn]

That 97 season was rough. Starting out 0-14... I remember sports reports wondering if the losing streak would end, not when.

 

Nothing quite like being out of it by mid-april.

[Guest]

If we're going to talk miserable seasons based on expectations followed by failure, you can't really top '04.

 

You probably can. That team won more games than the '03 team. The problem is people were delusional with how good they thought it could and should have been.

 

 

I think the thing that makes this season sucks more than most is we're well past the point where the ownership question is playing a role and the new owner should have realized by now that Hendry is part of the problem. Yet he's going to return and get a chance to hire his 4th freaking manager while blaming everything but his [expletive] philosophies for the problems.

I think it's a little misleading to say he gets to hire his fourth manager. Interim guys shouldn't really count for the point you're making.

 

I don't know why I was adding Don Baylor to the list, although he was assistant GM at the time. His third.

Your original point still stands, though. He's had ample opportunity.

[jersey cubs fan]

8 years

1 90+ win season

 

It's mind boggling.

[lumafia]

8 years

1 90+ win season

 

It's mind boggling.

 

Yeah, mind-bottling. You know, when things are so crazy it gets your thoughts all trapped, like in a bottle?

[illiniguy]

The frustrating thing to me is tha the Mets have had a similar go of it lately. But, they have decided enough is enough and are changing up their philosophies and going a new way. Meanwhile we seem content to stand pat and save money. It also worrie me that Ricketts is saying he wants to build through the farm and then didn't really spend a lot in that area either. I'm worried he figured the average fan doesn't follow the international signings and the draft all that closely, thus he can say that's what they are doing as an excuse to not spend money.

[Sammy Sofa]

Yes, the Ricketts' plan with the Cubs is to not make money.