J.R.

Agreed. Anyone but St. Louis would be alright with me right now. And I'm sure St. Louis feels the same way about us. But somehow I don't think they have to worry about the Cubs winning a world series this year. Chicago needs a world series, but White Sox fans would turn it into something horrible. They wouldn't focus on the fact that they were the best team in baseball that year, they'd focus on the fact that the Cubs DIDN'T win it. Instead of celebrating a win, they'd be looking for the first available Cub fan to put down. I thought of that but, there are plenty of Chicago Baseball fans who need and deserve a WS. The chance to see that WS Trophy paraded down Michigan Ave. is worth it... No, it's not. That would effectively taint the whole thing for all eternity. Yes, I'd rather sit through a new Cardinal dynasty than see one measly Sox title. The Cards and their fans are our neighbors, our rivals, our respected foes. The Sox and their fans are nothing more than the evil twin, mirror universe version of us, they're pure scum of the earth vermin with no redeeming qualities.

I like the Wild Cards, they keep interest going in many markets late into September every year. It would be pretty sad heading into the home stretch with all eight playoff teams already decided.

Fricking ridiculous.

The horror, the horror

That's an old, silly and completely irrelevant argument, as Baker's been doing stupid crap like discouraging patience and starting Macias since Day One. :roll:

I'll keep watching this disaster, while devoting more energy to rooting for the destruction of the Astros and White Sox, both of which are set for a beautiful implosion in their respective LDS IMHO.

So the bastard with the toothpick is dining on his own dung tonight ... 'bout time, the rest of us have been at the trough going on two years now.

Open revolt, harlots in the clubhouse, meth labs in the bullpen ... whatever it takes to get Baker canned, I'm all for it.

Beautiful play by the little puke.

The comment isn't nearly as ugly as this lineup. Dusty is an abomination.

The most embarrassing thing about this club is Baker's continued presence. Why the hell is he still here? If Hendry won't fire him the Trib needs to find someone who will.

The proverbial donkey balls are getting a good bath tonight.

I puke whenever Macias starts or is first off the bench, but I like that post.

It's scary that I find myself agreeing with wretched columnists more and more often.

Yeah, that'd show'em. Nobody's ever booed in Wrigley before. Why boo? I'll feel better if I vent. Taking a break is NOT an option.

Not for me. If this crap keeps up, rest assured that I'm going to boo the hell out of them next time I hit Wrigley.

Nice hit, but I could do without the ridiculous baserunning decisions ...

Great post.

Ignore the numbers all you want, but they don't lie. 45 out of 103 seasons the Sox outdrew the Cubs. If that is "always done" to you, fine. What are you saying? Are the Sox now competing with the Cubs on a national stage? Remember, we're talking about a club that can't even claim anything resembling regional appeal.

It would be silly to ignore the circumstances that led to the construction of the "Base Ball Palace of the World," in the early part of the century, or the infamous closing of Wrigley's upper deck in the early 1960s. Sure, the Sox had some great years, and the Cubs in turn had some cobwebby turnstiles. My argument about the "ancient past" wasn't based so much on the yearly numbers, but on the fact that the NL franchise had a built-in pedigree that the AL guys envied. Why else would they have taken the Cubs' old name? The Sox have had an inferiority complex from day one. You were saying that the Cubs and Yankees' respective relationships with the Sox and Mets couldn't be compared, and I'm saying that the Cubs do share a similar blueblood pedigree from their earliest days. The Sox haven't drawn 2 million fans since 1993, in spite of hosting both a division champion and an All-Star Game in that timeframe. The Sox' numbers have been ridiculously bad for a big market team, especially in the late 1990s. If it were possible to a worldwide body count - and let's limit it to diehards - of Cubs and Sox fans, you'd see my point about dominance. I suppose the point of all my ranting and raving is that the dynamics of this "rivalry" have completely changed since the Tribune and Reinsdorf took charge of their respective franchises in the early 1980s. The Sox are still fighting for fans in Chicago like they've always done while the Cubs are claiming allegiance from all over the country, and have fans in places across the globe. The Sox' fanbase just isn't in the same league with the Cubs'.

Not really. The ownership group is purchasing the majority share in KTRS. They'll be able to control the content and subject matter. The affiliate network basically renders KMOX's higher signal argument moot. There are local affiliates to cover every area of Cardinals territory (Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, etc). These days not a lot of new fans come because of the radio station like in the past. Now it's all generational or ESPN exposure. Albert Pujols highlights are going to recruit more Cards fans than KMOX today. The station rights, new stadium, championship contending team, and maketable stars like Pujols make it an extremely profitable sale for the group that came on board with Ray Lankford as it's most recognizable player. It's certainly less important now, but I still think a presence on one of the few true blowtorch stations in the country is too valuable a commodity to let slip away.

This is unbelievable. Completely shortsighted on the Cards' part ...

Dusty IS at fault. Think of all the stuff that "Dusty Teams" were purported to be all about ... and then realize that this team is the antithesis of most everything he was brought here to enact. It's August, we're in a fight for our season's life and the team played like the lazy, ignorant, goofball outfit he's made it into. By their fruits, ye shall know them ...

That was ridiculous. Dusty has got to go.

Of course he's biased ... but that's not the problem. The man is boring/corny to the point of annoyance, and that's an opinion shared by many. It's embarrassing to have him on national television. You'd be much better off putting your excellent radio tandem in the spotlight. I wasn't speaking in terms of "national stars" in regard to the Mets. I thought we were speaking strictly in "owning the town" terms there. There is a basis for the Cubs' place as THE Chicago baseball team from a historical perspective ... the Cubs were extremely successful during a period more or less bookended by the years 1876 and 1945, and had staked a claim to the city well in advance of the White Sox' assumption of the Cubs' discarded nickname in an effort to soak up some of the positives tied to it. Later, the team was so popular that when Halas brought the Staleys to Chicago, he sought out an association with the successful Cubs franchise. The Sox' park was bigger, but it was left to host the Cardinals football club that would be run out of town in 1959, as the Sox nearly were 25 years later. That's all ancient history, but it illustrates the fact that the Cubs and Sox have for the most part occupied a 1-2 order on the pole. Periods of overriding Sox popularity are an aberration IMHO, not the result of some imagined pattern of on and off city dominance. It's all somewhat irrelevant now though, given that the Cubs' diehard and far-flung following insulates them from hitting rock bottom from an interest perspective. The Sox have no such cushion, and it's demonstrated when their attendance and fan peripherals go off the cliff whenever they struggle on the field. Why not? Wrigley Field is still standing, and efforts are underway to keep it that way. The games are still on WGN. Cub fans still have fun no matter where they gather, be it Wrigley, road parks or message boards like this one. Cub fans are still raising Cub kids. The kinship that bonds us all is still strong. All the stuff that sustains the fan base through thick and thin, through winning or losing is still in place ... I don't know why you think it's all going to go away. It goes far beyond that. John McDonough is an excellent marketing man, but the fact is an idiot could look good in that office. For a wide variety of reasons, the Cubs are likeable when they should be despised and inspire passions that are completely and totally undeserved given the dismal performances of the last 60 years. If generating popularity like that enjoyed by this team were a simple matter of marketing, you'd see it done all over the place. The Tribsters' marketing mavens are largely just along for the ride ... you give them far too much credit. It doesn't take a ton of brilliance to see that keeping an awesome park in place and giving fans unparalleled access to games are good ideas. It would be foolish to underestimate us.