Cubfanintheknow

I've had the distinct pleasure of meeting Ernie Banks in person and talking to him about our beloved Chicago Cubs. It would be easy--REAL easy--for players such as himself to wash his hands of this entire organization given it's track record of winning championships (or lack thereof). When baseball fans think about former Cubs, his is likely one of the first names to come to mind. Would you want to be that guy who's forever tied to 98 years of futility? Yet his optimism is so incredibly contagious it's almost unbelievable. He hit 512 home runs during an era when pitchers ruled the game. He was an all-star at two positions. He was the first, genuine power-hitting shortstop the game had seen. If there's anyone more deserving of a statue at any ballpark anywhere, please tell us who. Congratulations, Mr. Banks!

Roger Clemens is going to pitch for the New York Yankees? Wow! I must not be paying attention to EVERY OTHER STORY ON SPORTSCENTER ABOUT HIS RETURN! Here's ESPN's new rundown: --Highlights of a game --Clemens returns! --Highlights of another game --When will Clemens be ready? --Highlights of another game --What impact will Clemens have? --Highlights of another game --What did Clemens have for breakfast this morning? Sheesh!

Ronny Cedeno. He can basically play the two middle infield positions. Cedeno in the outfield? Just can't see it. Send him down and call him back up when Izturis is DFA'ed in a few weeks. (A guy can dream, can't he?)

It's that good? Worked pretty well for the Cardinals when they racked up a grand total of 83 wins last year.

I was thinking the same thing! It's frustrating to have to see threads such as this. Note: not knocking the posters, just the fact that Cub fans are again predicting how soon the team can get back to .500 baseball.

Ignoring a talk show host is one thing. Ignoring a 7-12 start, last in a terrible division? Much different, indeed. I'm certainly not ignoring the bad start (which is now 7-13). I'm just being a little more pragmatic. As should a lot of other posters. No. We shouldn't. Yes we should. Why should we? What makes you think this is any different than the other hundred seasons of failure? I don't think anyone who's saying, "It's not over yet" believes that THIS IS THE SEASON! Its just really hard to write off the year when there are 142 games left. Does this team have issues? Absolutely. And they aren't being glossed over. But there is just too much baseball left to call it a season. Edit for typo.

Ignoring a talk show host is one thing. Ignoring a 7-12 start, last in a terrible division? Much different, indeed. I'm certainly not ignoring the bad start (which is now 7-13). I'm just being a little more pragmatic. As should a lot of other posters.

This thread has the feel of a sports talk radio topic. This morning, Steve Rosenbloom basically said the same thing on ESPN 1000. According to "Rosey," the phone lines were lit up with angry Cub fans wanting to bite his head off. If I had the patience, I'd have called in myself. But I would have just said to Cub fans, "Hang up right now. This is just another case of an idiot talk show host/sportswriter goading fans. If you ignore the man he'll go away." It's not as if I'm looking at this team through Cubbie-blue colored glasses. There are problems. But there's also too much time for them to be fixed. Especially in the NL Central.

Says the guy whose favorite team got Scott Rolen for Placido Polanco and Bud Smith. Or Mark McGwire for a bag of balls. Comparing the Phillies organization and the trades that team makes to the Marlins is extremely disrespectful to the Marlins.

A simple and pretty plausible explanation why Sosa spoke Spanish in front of a congressional committee: It's one thing to rattle off all those trite phrases in broken English, i.e. "I'm a warrior." "I come to play every day." "I just trying to help my ballclub play better." But it's a completely different thing to sit in front of Congress and deny you're using steroids. I wouldn't want my words confused, either. Too bad he didn't use that explanation. I'd have bought it.

I liked how the commentators said the guy wasn't tossed for throwing the slice, but for "ruining a good piece of pizza."

Pat Hughes is awesome! He knows the game and is very descriptive in his play-by-play call. He also knows how to engage Ron Santo--which can be pretty tricky given how rough Santo can be at times (although I think he's great, too!). And he has a great sense of humor, which is a must when you take into account the team he's calling games for.

There's a doctor on the Card's medical staff with the last name of Patella? I wonder if he works closely with the team's strength coach, Gary Barbell. It's actually Paletta. Not anymore.

There's a doctor on the Card's medical staff with the last name of Patella? I wonder if he works closely with the team's strength coach, Gary Barbell.

That is a valid concern, but if he'd keep Wrigley and allow for baseball people to run things it can't be all bad right? His success with the Mavs has been long-term. Snyder has never won at all. I don't see how the comparison is valid, although I certainly admit there's no way to predict with 100% certainty that Cuban would be successful here. The Redskins are Snyder's first venture into the world of pro sports. I've read several bios on Cuban (in newspapers and magazines) and the articles always mention how Cuban has learned how to run a pro sports franchise and develop a team (kind of like the team he has now) rather than try to buy a bunch of good players but still suck (like the 'Skins).

And in other news... The sun rose in the east again. And Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

A Mariotti topic is not atop this board. Mariotti's writing style is atop this board. Go ahead and count how many posts are actually talking about what Mariotti wrote. I don't read the guy. I appreciate a columnist who writes pieces based on facts, Mariotti doesn't do that.

When you're as broken as the Cubs, you have to spend money to fix things. Waiting for the farm system to pan out hasn't proved a good strategy. Nor has signing second-tier free agents. And they're certainly not going to be able to trade their way to the top. Right now (again... RIGHT NOW), spending money is their only avenue to improvement.

We would have another Atlanta Hawks ownership group situation where some of the owners want to make a move, and others don't-which forces the courts to freeze our free agent signings effectively keeping the team from getting better. I'm sure we all live for that type of situation. That's the first thing that came to mind when I read an article about this in the Trib. In my opinion, a group of investors is just a watered down version of Tribune Co. Don Levin is a much better option. And he says he doesn't have to line up investors. He already has the dough.

That's why your GM needs to be able to sell the heck out of your team and force him to want to stay. You would need a gun (or some other credible threat of force) or a contract stupidly large to force me to want to stay without checking the FA market if I was in his position. There are simply no adequate words EXACTLY!!!

That's why your GM needs to be able to sell the heck out of your team and force him to want to stay.[/quote] You're kidding, right?

I am absolutely amazed at how many people are surprised by Aramis Ramirez not signing. Even if the Cubs had offered you the moon, wouldn't you want to find out if there was another team willing to offer the moon, a couple dozen stars and an option on a comet? Rare is the free agent who jumps at the first offer.

Here's more on the potential sale of the tribune from NBC 5's website: http://www.nbc5.com/news/10275626/detail.html

Sammy Sosa was much trickier. Much, much trickier. My son was only seven when the Cubs traded him away. I don't remember exactly what I said to him. I just remember it was very hard explaining it all to a seven year old boy who loved Sammy Sosa and couldn't understand why the Cubs would get rid of such a great player. My son was still a couple months away from turning eight when Congress held its hearing on steroids. Again, It was very difficult explaining this to a seven year old child. But I tried my best to explain to him that some people think Sosa took drugs and cheated to be a better baseball player. I told him it was probably true but didn't know for sure. And I told him it made me pretty sad that a Cub player that I cheered for would be involved in something like this. There was probably already a little hypocracy on my part because Sosa's alleged steroid use was something I suspected, but nothing was proven and he was a Cub so he got a free pass. Ironically, my son just asked a couple days ago if Sammy Sosa could still play. I didn't get into the specifics of steroids, only telling him that he could still play if a team offerred him a contract. But no one has done so because he hasn't played in a year, probably can't play defense if his life depended on it and because of the steroid allegations, no team wants to take a chance with him.

I don't want Barry Bonds. No way! No how! I want the Cubs to win a World Series title just as much as the next guy. But I also want a team I can root for. I want good players with at least decent character. They don't have to be "lovable". But they also shouldn't be steroid-bloated cheaters who can't play defense and put aside the greater good of their team for their own personal gain. I don't want this guy for personal reasons, too. I have a nine year old who absolutely loves baseball. Reads about it all the time. Watches Sportscenter on a daily basis. And loves the Cubs almost as much as I do. I've had discussions with him about Bonds and the steroid allegations and how it's very likely the guy has cheated his way past Babe Ruth on the all-time home run list. I've talked to him about the dangers of doing drugs, including performance-enhancing drugs like steroids. The very, very last thing I want to do is to teach my son the hypocracy of now rooting for such a shameful character because now he's wearing a Cubs' uniform. Sorry to all of you who want Barry Bonds. But I don't want the Cubs selling their souls to a self-serving jerk like Bonds.