General Cubs Chit-Chat

[Sammy Sofa]

holy [expletive]!

 

this guy is a mod at WSI. what [expletive] alternate universe is he living in? holy [expletive] the delusion/misinformation here.

 

I hope he has been thoroughly mocked and shamed for that

 

nah

 

http://www.whitesoxinteractive.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=3257805#post3257805

 

to be fair, most in that thread were ridiculing hawk for the comment, though

 

I had only really checked that site out for specific game threads, and looking over it more recently that place is really, really weird. Like, disconcertingly so. There's a wide swath of posters there that just have these bizarre opinions about the Cubs and Cubs fans that flat-out sound like some kind of paranoia. It's very odd.

[David]

I hope he has been thoroughly mocked and shamed for that

 

nah

 

http://www.whitesoxinteractive.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=3257805#post3257805

 

to be fair, most in that thread were ridiculing hawk for the comment, though

 

I had only really checked that site out for specific game threads, and looking over it more recently that place is really, really weird. Like, disconcertingly so. There's a wide swath of posters there that just have these bizarre opinions about the Cubs and Cubs fans that flat-out sound like some kind of paranoia. It's very odd.

yep

 

i think you have to have a log in to look at game threads, and the one i had got banned years ago for just posting "he gone" when crede struck out in a big spot against the cubs in like 08 or 07. last time i tried signing up i couldn't get approved.

[TruffleShuffle]

just realized i'm going to be on vacation in new zealand during the first 4 games of the world series, and hiking the routeburn track (definitely no phone/internet coverage) for games 3 and 4. :x

 

yeesh, and i thought me having a concert during an NLDS game was bad.

 

why would you plan such a thing?!

 

my girlfriend has a conference in auckland and new zealand is one of my favorite places in the world.

 

just got carried away and didn't consider all the implications. :(

[Sammy Sofa]

 

nah

 

http://www.whitesoxinteractive.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=3257805#post3257805

 

to be fair, most in that thread were ridiculing hawk for the comment, though

 

I had only really checked that site out for specific game threads, and looking over it more recently that place is really, really weird. Like, disconcertingly so. There's a wide swath of posters there that just have these bizarre opinions about the Cubs and Cubs fans that flat-out sound like some kind of paranoia. It's very odd.

yep

 

i think you have to have a log in to look at game threads, and the one i had got banned years ago for just posting "he gone" when crede struck out in a big spot against the cubs in like 08 or 07. last time i tried signing up i couldn't get approved.

 

I mean, I totally get "I don't like team X, therefore their fanbase are a bunch of turds;" plenty of us do that here, ESPECIALLY with the Cardinals. But I can't even really explain well why WSI seems so unsettling. It's a combination of "we don't horsefeathering care about those guys, and let's keep reminding ourselves of that" and these continual bizarre attempts to over-explain the psychology or groupthink of Cubs fans to a really creepy level. I can't imagine being that hung up on another FANBASE. Not a team...their fans. I lived in Chicago for close to a decade, knew plenty of White Sox fans (hell, basically the entire side of my mom's family are Sox fans), encountered plenty of Sox fans, and yet not once had a single experience along the lines of what poster after poster brings up there. They seem to just be trying to trump each other with stories of how cruel, rampaging Cubs fans have abused them, which is just a depressingly masochistic type of fandom I don't want to know. Sad sack, lovable loser-type Cubs fans are bad enough, but this is something else.

[Banedon]

I mean, I totally get "I don't like team X, therefore their fanbase are a bunch of turds;" plenty of us do that here, ESPECIALLY with the Cardinals.

 

But....they really are turds.

[Tracer Bullet]

I mean, I totally get "I don't like team X, therefore their fanbase are a bunch of turds;" plenty of us do that here, ESPECIALLY with the Cardinals.

 

But....they really are turds.

 

Yeah that's just wrong. Everyone hates the BFiB.

[imb]

speaking of BFIB, i've always had this weird desire for cubs fans to en masse begin referring to themselves as the BFIB ... just like sarcastically absorb that title. It would drive cardinals fans insane.

[UMFan83]

 

I had only really checked that site out for specific game threads, and looking over it more recently that place is really, really weird. Like, disconcertingly so. There's a wide swath of posters there that just have these bizarre opinions about the Cubs and Cubs fans that flat-out sound like some kind of paranoia. It's very odd.

yep

 

i think you have to have a log in to look at game threads, and the one i had got banned years ago for just posting "he gone" when crede struck out in a big spot against the cubs in like 08 or 07. last time i tried signing up i couldn't get approved.

 

I mean, I totally get "I don't like team X, therefore their fanbase are a bunch of turds;" plenty of us do that here, ESPECIALLY with the Cardinals. But I can't even really explain well why WSI seems so unsettling. It's a combination of "we don't [expletive] care about those guys, and let's keep reminding ourselves of that" and these continual bizarre attempts to over-explain the psychology or groupthink of Cubs fans to a really creepy level. I can't imagine being that hung up on another FANBASE. Not a team...their fans. I lived in Chicago for close to a decade, knew plenty of White Sox fans (hell, basically the entire side of my mom's family are Sox fans), encountered plenty of Sox fans, and yet not once had a single experience along the lines of what poster after poster brings up there. They seem to just be trying to trump each other with stories of how cruel, rampaging Cubs fans have abused them, which is just a depressingly masochistic type of fandom I don't want to know. Sad sack, lovable loser-type Cubs fans are bad enough, but this is something else.

 

Man this is so well written about WSI. They are really weird delusional people. Back when the tribune owned the Cubs, one of their posters used to keep a daily count of articles written about the cubs vs. articles written about the sox in the 'cubune' as a way to prove their strong bias toward the Cubs. Now its just ranting and raving about the fans and they especially hate joe maddon and 'see through his gimmicks'

[Ding Dong Johnson]

speaking of BFIB, i've always had this weird desire for cubs fans to en masse begin referring to themselves as the BFIB ... just like sarcastically absorb that title. It would drive cardinals fans insane.

looks like there's room for that in the banner

[JennieGarthAlgar]

speaking of BFIB, i've always had this weird desire for cubs fans to en masse begin referring to themselves as the BFIB ... just like sarcastically absorb that title. It would drive cardinals fans insane.

 

Greatest Fans in Baseball

[Old Style]

So happy with the 6th starter making an appearance in the rotation again this week. That means I get to see Lester & Arrieta pitch Friday & Saturday in Houston.

[David]

[tweet]

[/tweet]

This appears to be based on the FG playoff odds on season stats to date mode

 

still fun to see

[Sammy Sofa]

I mean, I totally get "I don't like team X, therefore their fanbase are a bunch of turds;" plenty of us do that here, ESPECIALLY with the Cardinals.

 

But....they really are turds.

 

Yeah that's just wrong. Everyone hates the BFiB.

 

Oh yeah, I'm not knocking anyone for not liking another fanbase; there's tons of legit reasons to not like Cubs fans, and even more reasons to not like Cardinals fans. WSI just has a cluster of posters that take it a weird level where they need to talk about how the Cubs and/or Cubs fans have wronged them somehow. Like it was mentioned, when you're obsessed with the idea that newspapers or radio stations are covering one team more and taking it personally, that's just odd.

[itisallpartoftheplan]

Those percentages make me sad. It again makes me realize that the chances of winning it all even in a year where over 162 we are the best are still not great. Even the best odds still have it as a 70 percent chance of not winning it.

 

I want to win it all really bad. I just do.

 

 

They're the favorites to win the LDS. If they do that, they're the favorites to win the LCS. If they do that, they're the favorites to win the WS.

 

Therefore their WS win odds can be no lower than 51%. QED.

 

True. But its also like putting Shaq on the line, hoping he's hitting 3 straight.

 

But way worse free throw shooters are trying to make theirs too.

[David]

 

 

They're the favorites to win the LDS. If they do that, they're the favorites to win the LCS. If they do that, they're the favorites to win the WS.

 

Therefore their WS win odds can be no lower than 51%. QED.

 

True. But its also like putting Shaq on the line, hoping he's hitting 3 straight.

 

But way worse free throw shooters are trying to make theirs too.

 

But there are 7 of them and one Shaq and only one can do it, so it's still considerably more likely that one of the other 7 does it.

[imb]

 

True. But its also like putting Shaq on the line, hoping he's hitting 3 straight.

 

But way worse free throw shooters are trying to make theirs too.

 

But there are 7 of them and one Shaq and only one can do it, so it's still considerably more likely that one of the other 7 does it.

 

this is the stupidest horsefeathers to even bother thinking about. Yes robot, the field has better odds than any one individual team, the same as every sport every year.

[BigSlick]

I don't think its necessarily the same as every other sport - I think in Basketball the edge an individually great team has over other teams can push much higher than a baseball team can in a 7 game series, they have so many possessions and their best players can touch the ball much more often than in baseball. Baseball as a sport just has way more uncertainty and 'luck' involved.

 

Personally what I think is important about looking at these measures is hedging against unrealistic expectations and the high chance disappointment sets in (and more importantly then, assessing blame for failure which isn't really failure}. So, otherwise relatively smart sports hosts Matt Spiegel and Jason Goff keep going on how if the Cubs don't make the World Series its a huge failure/disappointment, whereas even in the most favorable conditions they're underdogs to get there, even though they're one of the best teams in the past decade or so. A loss in the playoffs would be hugely demoralizing, but understanding its the way of baseball and that the point is to make the playoffs many many years in a row and hoping to hit that crapshoot one or multiple years out of it is the name of the game.

 

I would hate nothing else than if public opinion soured on the team because they just happened to hit the wrong coinflip.

[David]

 

But way worse free throw shooters are trying to make theirs too.

 

But there are 7 of them and one Shaq and only one can do it, so it's still considerably more likely that one of the other 7 does it.

 

this is the stupidest [expletive] to even bother thinking about. Yes robot, the field has better odds than any one individual team, the same as every sport every year.

 

stupidest thing to bother thinking about? nah. it actually should be the main thing anyone thinks about when it comes to the mlb playoffs, lol. wtf?

[jersey cubs fan]

 

But there are 7 of them and one Shaq and only one can do it, so it's still considerably more likely that one of the other 7 does it.

 

this is the stupidest [expletive] to even bother thinking about. Yes robot, the field has better odds than any one individual team, the same as every sport every year.

 

stupidest thing to bother thinking about? nah. it actually should be the main thing anyone thinks about when it comes to the mlb playoffs, lol. wtf?

the main thing? No

 

No it should not. It should be in the back of your head as a reminder to not get carried away, or react to negatively to a loss. But the main thing is thinking about the team playing and hopefully winning.

[David]

 

this is the stupidest [expletive] to even bother thinking about. Yes robot, the field has better odds than any one individual team, the same as every sport every year.

 

stupidest thing to bother thinking about? nah. it actually should be the main thing anyone thinks about when it comes to the mlb playoffs, lol. wtf?

the main thing? No

 

No it should not. It should be in the back of your head as a reminder to not get carried away, or react to negatively to a loss. But the main thing is thinking about the team playing and hopefully winning.

 

i mean, with regard to whatever team you're a fan of, yeah, but that's a given.

 

i basically just try to approach it as being excited about having the dice roll and seeing what happens rather than having expectations going in. it's hard not to, though, with how consistently well this team has performed for the most part. emotionally, though, i kinda am expecting it to happen this year, which i can't help.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

If anyone like me was curious, here are the teams that were at least 5 games better than the rest of MLB in the Wild Card era, and how they did in the playoffs. The Cubs are currently 7.5 games better than the next best team.

 

2011: Phillies +5, Lost LDS

2009: Yankees +6, Won WS

2001: Mariners +14, Lost LDS

1999: Yankees +8, Won WS

1995: Indians +10, Lost WS

 

Also worth noting that no team has been more than 2 games better than the rest of MLB in the two wild card era.

[bukie]

The Cubs are a Super team, and Super teams win the World Series: http://www.si.com/mlb/2016/09/06/chicago-cubs-record-postseason-world-series

[David]

The Cubs are a Super team, and Super teams win the World Series: http://www.si.com/mlb/2016/09/06/chicago-cubs-record-postseason-world-series

 

ha, that's practically the same analysis TT just did.

 

worth noting that only 3 of the teams (2 WS winners) listed were in the wild card era. still as encouraging as any anecdote, though.

[Banedon]

The Cubs are a Super team, and Super teams win the World Series: http://www.si.com/mlb/2016/09/06/chicago-cubs-record-postseason-world-series

 

http://25.media.tumblr.com/616643c1687e1aea5d703a1454981901/tumblr_mmwxa6lEH11sqhaa9o1_250.gif

[Tracer Bullet]

 

stupidest thing to bother thinking about? nah. it actually should be the main thing anyone thinks about when it comes to the mlb playoffs, lol. wtf?

the main thing? No

 

No it should not. It should be in the back of your head as a reminder to not get carried away, or react to negatively to a loss. But the main thing is thinking about the team playing and hopefully winning.

 

i mean, with regard to whatever team you're a fan of, yeah, but that's a given.

 

i basically just try to approach it as being excited about having the dice roll and seeing what happens rather than having expectations going in. it's hard not to, though, with how consistently well this team has performed for the most part. emotionally, though, i kinda am expecting it to happen this year, which i can't help.

 

a roll of the dice? Teams that just squeak into the wild card should be feeling lucky they get one more roll of the dice in the playoffs. Good teams that win their division should feel good heading into the playoffs, but know it's going to be a battle every series.

 

The Cubs have a laughable run differential and are by far the best team in baseball. That doesn't guarantee anything and no one should be totally shocked if horsefeathers happens and we lose. But acting like we aren't in a meaningfully better position than every other team (barring some freak injury in the next 2 months) is just as stupid as acting like they should just hand us the trophy b/c we're so much better than everyone else. If you're trying to protect yourself by tempering expectations, that's cool. But a horsefeathering dice roll?