What happened to the site

[Guest]

I guess the take aways are that I, like most others, have just become apathetic to the Cubs over the course of the 2000's. That and the Social forum is the one to check out.

 

That explains the message boards, but what gives with the home page having an article from November being one of the top stories? Does the board creator no longer update the page or does he suffer from the same apathy or grow tired of articles of our players going on the DL?

I care...I have just been swamped with other things in real life. The front page never got that much traffic even when I was posting content there on a regular basis. I'll try to get back to it, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to get there.

[XZero771679666304]

Also, a lot of people were jumping on the Cubs bandwagon in 2003-04 who have since jumped back off.

[kente777]

Does anybody know how baseball attendance has been in general? I would think economic downturns would contribute to a decline in interest.

[hardcorecubfan]

I am down right excited for this team, we are only 8.5 back, I thought we would be 13 by now, esp. with Soto just coming back the Wells/Cashner dl and everybody else who decided to join them. Then Byrd deliberately leans into a pitch so he can have a few days off. It could be worse, we could still have Carlos Silva.

[CarolinaCubFan]

In the last decade, the White Sox have won a World Series, not to mention the Cardinals have added yet another trophy to their case.

 

Of course, we're sitting here having the same worn out conversation.

 

Technology allows me to follow any and all teams now. The Indians are fun to watch right now.

[Tarver]

If they lowered ticket prices to a level commensurate with the quality of the product they might do more walk up business. I don't think I'm speaking just for myself when I say I'm sick of hearing this FO's excuses/watching their incompetence. A complete overhaul is in order, and hopefully next year will bring renewed interest.

 

They'd also make a hell of a lot less on their advance sales, which is where the majority of tickets are being bought.

 

But they likely would have had more advance sales. I know more than a few people who decided to wait because the advance prices were so ridiculously high.

[jersey cubs fan]

If they lowered ticket prices to a level commensurate with the quality of the product they might do more walk up business. I don't think I'm speaking just for myself when I say I'm sick of hearing this FO's excuses/watching their incompetence. A complete overhaul is in order, and hopefully next year will bring renewed interest.

 

They'd also make a hell of a lot less on their advance sales, which is where the majority of tickets are being bought.

 

But they likely would have had more advance sales. I know more than a few people who decided to wait because the advance prices were so ridiculously high.

 

I think it's a fair assumption to make that the ticket prices are pretty close to the optimal level for maximizing revenue. People don't want to go because they suck and they've sucked for while. The price is not a problem if the team was any good.

[illiniguy]

I can only speak for me, but I moved away and don't feel like paying 200 bucks a year to watch a bad Cubs team. Couple that with the cheap Royals' tickets here and a bunch of young talent coming to KC, I have started to watch more Royals' games. Still love the Cubs, but am tired of the front office having zero accountability.

[SouthSideRyan]

Your 200 bucks is a drop in the bucket. Most people who travel from out-of-town for Cubs games(be they transplants or Iowa bluehairs) aren't going to be deterred by a 10-15 dollar difference on their tickets.

[illiniguy]

Your 200 bucks is a drop in the bucket. Most people who travel from out-of-town for Cubs games(be they transplants or Iowa bluehairs) aren't going to be deterred by a 10-15 dollar difference on their tickets.

Oh I know they don't care. I'm hoping though the empty stands are at least starting to worry Ricketts though.

[Old Style]

We just got swept by the [expletive] last place Astros.

[jersey cubs fan]

Your 200 bucks is a drop in the bucket. Most people who travel from out-of-town for Cubs games(be they transplants or Iowa bluehairs) aren't going to be deterred by a 10-15 dollar difference on their tickets.

Oh I know they don't care. I'm hoping though the empty stands are at least starting to worry Ricketts though.

 

I'm sure it's worrisome. What I want to know is if he draws a correlation between his crap GM and his crap team. If he just thinks it's a short-term blip, or Quade's fault, or bad luck, this team won't get better.

[jersey cubs fan]

If somebody from Philly offers you their tickets to a Cubs/Philly game and you accept, is it a fau pax to retroactively refuse said tickets?

[Guest]

You guys are just growing up. The older you get, the harder it is to care about baseball in the same way you did in your teens and early 20s.

 

 

Age has nothing to do with it.

 

Of course not. It's just a big coincidence that a very sizable majority of the people in this thread were between 13 and 25 the last time they really felt the Cubs' fire for multiple seasons.

 

There were 15+ page game threads regularly in the summer of 2009. People didn't stop posting here just because they're 18 months older. The Cubs went from 97 to 83 to 75 wins and are on pace for 69 wins in 2011. This isn't hard to figure out. If the Cubs sign Pujols/have a good offseason, people will start to get excited about the team again. And people will certainly start posting again with the game threads getting busy if the Cubs start winning games with some regularity and are in the divisional race.

 

People didn't post much late in the 2006 season either outside of topics about Rich Hill and game threads when Hill started.

[SouthSideRyan]

If somebody from Philly offers you their tickets to a Cubs/Philly game and you accept, is it a fau pax to retroactively refuse said tickets?

Yes

[jersey cubs fan]

If somebody from Philly offers you their tickets to a Cubs/Philly game and you accept, is it a fau pax to retroactively refuse said tickets?

Yes

 

Dammit.

[J.R.]

I regularly check out another Cubs board that I won't name here. There is always stuff to read there.

 

I would come here more often if there were more posts to read.

 

It's a vicious cycle.

[cubweiser03]

Well im getting old(er), like a lot of the other dudes that were at the beginning of this website. I still recognize a lot of the guys names on this site and im talking like 8 years(thats a long freaking time when it comes to dog internet community board years), thats cool, actually really cool; not a lot of sites can get his type of 'socialisation'. Also, we are all sooo smart now....used to be a lot of discussion about SABR because this forum was a great way to share and get in on all that early metrics 8-) . METRICS? METRICS! Now its like metrics yada yada yada, stuff is all over the internet to get by yourself and i dont need another OPS discussion.

 

I still love the site and a forum for what it is now. I may not come as frequently as the past but i still like visiting and posting.

[Sosa21MVP]

I'm 35 and the main thing that has changed in my approach to my sports teams is that I'm able to put things in perspective after a loss a little better. I don't let the losses bother me for hours or days (in the case of football) anymore. I still yell at the TV during the games just as much as I ever did but once the game ends I am able to let it go quickly.

 

The problem with this 2011 Cubs team is there really isn't any future for the current roster as a whole to become a winning team. Obviously some parts are going to have to be replaced/traded/etc. Castro has an exciting future but when he makes the playoffs for the first time as a Cub (hopefully it happens) you know it will be with a completely different team around him. I entered this season hoping this team could at least hang around .500 for a while and stay within shouting distance of contention into July/August if not longer. Obviously the injuries don't help much but even with a fully healthy roster I'm not sure this team could do much better than break even.

[Outshined_One]

Does anybody know how baseball attendance has been in general? I would think economic downturns would contribute to a decline in interest.

 

That's a pretty good point in terms of fan interest. I'd be curious to see how the Cubs compare with other teams in terms of attendance figures, ratings, and the like over the past 5-10 years. It may be that baseball in general is going through a swoon, although the Cubs could be doing better or worse than other teams in those regards. Plus, while a lot of people bring up 2003, it seemed like there was comparable interest, if not better, in 2004, 2007, and 2008.

 

In terms of my own interest, I'll catch a few innings here and there, and also check the scores when I miss games, but that's about it. Starlin Castro is the only healthy guy on the team I really care about. I'm following the minors, but this has been a lackluster year (by and large) due to injuries and trades. At this point, I wouldn't mind seeing the Cubs clean house in the offseason and attempt a youth movement in 2012.

[Sammy Sofa]

I never understand why people would only care about Castro, as if he's the only one who potentially has a big role in the future of the team. What about Garza?

[erik316wttn]

The franchise is located in one of the top 3 media markets in the country, and nobody cares about our competition in the market. The franchise is in serious trouble only if they keep making stupid mistakes.

 

Not saying that the franchise is in trouble.. but you DO realize that we're talking about the Cubs, right?

[XZero771679666304]

I never understand why people would only care about Castro, as if he's the only one who potentially has a big role in the future of the team. What about Garza?

 

And Soto. And Marmol. And anyone else likely to be a Cub for more than the next year or two.

[SouthSideRyan]

The franchise is located in one of the top 3 media markets in the country, and nobody cares about our competition in the market. The franchise is in serious trouble only if they keep making stupid mistakes.

 

Not saying that the franchise is in trouble.. but you DO realize that we're talking about the Cubs, right?

 

THEIR UNIFORMS ARE CURSED

[dew1679666265]

I never understand why people would only care about Castro, as if he's the only one who potentially has a big role in the future of the team. What about Garza?

 

And Soto. And Marmol. And anyone else likely to be a Cub for more than the next year or two.

 

There are quite a few players on this team that I'm interested in following - Castro, Cashner, Garza, Soto, Marmol, Wells, Marshall, Barney, LeMahieu, Colvin, Baker, Shark, etc. All of those guys can potentially impact the team to some degree in future seasons and I'm interested to see how they do.