GhostRunner

From the March/April 2008 issue ... NL East: Philadelphia NL Central: Chicago (followed by MIL, HOU, STL, CIN, PIT) NL West: Arizona NL Wild Card: San Diego Also of note: Batting Champ - Pujols, HR's - Ryan Howard, RBI's - Derrek Lee, MVP - Chase Utley, Wins - Carlos Zambrano, ERA - Webb, K's - Johan Santana, Cy Young - Carlos Zambrano Fukudome is also mentioned along with Geovany Soto, Homer Bailey, and Cameron Maybin as potential ROY candidates. If anyone wants the AL predictions posted, let me know.

I'll never knock a player for having confidence in his team's ability ... rather that than the opposite. Of course, the irrationally superstitious me worries that this is tempting fate and not worth the risk. :unsure:

Here's the CSN Spring Training broadcast schedule (all times presumed Central): Sat, March 01 - vs. Angels, 2:00 PM Sun, March 02 - vs. Giants, 2:00 PM Mon, March 10 - vs. Brewers, 3:00 PM Tue, March 18 - vs. Royals, 3:00 PM Mon, March 24 - vs. Rangers, 3:00 PM Tue, March 25 - vs. Giants, 3:00 PM

Banzai: Japanese battle cry; means "ten-thousand years" Bonsai: Japanese art of tree miniaturization; means "potted plant"

1 X 10^idiotic

Mark sez: "Hey Chicago ... you're #1!" http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/1107/priorfingerjv2.jpg That's the actual image posted with the MLB.com article. :-k

Wow, no offense, but that's totally myopic IMO. I share the sentiment about changing the tradition of non-winning, of course ... but the Cubs will still be the Cubs when they win the World Series again, provided new management doesn't screw it up by changing the team's identity. The Red Sox are still the Red Sox, although the attitude of the fan base and their public perception has certainly changed since. To each his own, I suppose. :|

Why is this so hard to grasp? Yes, we all understand that the primary purpose of an MLB team is to win the World Series. That's obviously the first and foremost concern for all the players, fans, executives, and the city as a whole. But why the oft-used implication that this can come at the expense of practically everything else? Winning may be everything, but when you're a fan of a sports team, it's not the only thing. Willingness to throw aspects that make the Cubs the Cubs under the bus just to win a World Series is disgusting ... if you renamed the ballpark to Tampax Field, and the club became the Chicago Hygenics, and the uniform colors switched to pink and powder blue, and the place was plastered wall-to-wall with Massengill advertising, but - oh! Hallelujah! - they win the World Series, is it really worth it in the end? Are you satisfied with having sold a part of your identity for that victory? Maybe my example is blowing things way out of proportion, but no more so than your original premise. The ballpark's name is important, more important to most fans than some may realize. And selling the naming rights - altering a core factor of the team and changing something all Cubs fans relate to and identify with - does not guarantee anything, nor do I think it would change much in the way of team payroll.

Do you really care what the place is called? Definitively and unambiguously, yes, I care about what the place is called. With the recent trend for acceptance of increased revenue in exchange for lost ambiance and tradition, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised if some people give a slight pause, groan, but then eventually accept this proposal. Personally, I'll hold a grudge towards that geriatric elf until he chokes on dry toast. Even in the hyper-cynical realm of the sports world and this message board, I hope that the majority of Cubs fans would see this as an untouchable. UnderArmour ads on the walls ... ugh ... but I'll deal. Eyesore centerfield batter's-eye outhouse - pointless, but I can live with it. New Japanese-language advertising to "welcome" Fukudome and increase marketing to Asian-American baseball fans: blah, but more fans is always a good thing I guess. Changing the name of the field (one of only a few truly iconic items associated with the team ... ivy, scoreboard and marquee complementarily) is a taboo, hands-down. Yes, it's advertising already, I know. But there's still something to be said for tradition and posterity, in despite of trends. Identity is a term over-used and under-valued, and the Cubs, Cubs fans, and Wrigley (like it or not) are elements of an identity tied to Chicago National League baseball. Start messing with the icons of that identity, and you won't have to move the team to the suburbs to achieve that perfectly sterile, mega-mall, baseball+sushi+convenient shopping+all brought to you by our good friends at Verizon type of atmosphere ... you'll have it on-site in the [insert corporate name here]-ville neighborhood that the ballpark's located in already. When it comes to renaming Wrigley Field: go to hell, Zell. [-( ... feel free to move to rants, if necessary.

I giggle immaturely everytime I read his name online or in TSN. :P

Oh yeah, I posted that! And YOU must be smoking too much chicken pot, that was posted a year and a month ago. Wow, you're right. Why the hell did I think it was just last month? Memory is weird. I voted peach, btw.

We just went through all of this a month ago ... LINK. You guys must be smoking too much chicken pot.

That sod is expensive stuff, especially when you have to buy it twice. Big price jump, and unjustified despite the post-season "appearance", but if it keeps more advertising signage out of Wrigley then I can let it go.

Frankly, if people find that they can't adequately express themselves through a 120x120 image, then they're trying too hard. I voted for the 100x100, personally. There's an entire site I frequent, deviantART, that restricts its users to 50x50 avatars. Nobody there complains, and, in fact, the restriction gets people thinking creatively to maximize the content of the small space.

IDK, I'd kinda want to see Augie win a WS ring. Augie Ojeda, 2007 World Series MVP That's it for me . . . I'm going to bed with one inning left, so the Cubs will surely come back and win now that I won't be watching.

I have to get up for work at 5:00 Central . . . but for some reason I'm still watching this mess. :x

Soriano post-season (OBP/SLG/AVG): 2001 New York Yankees .333 .379 .276 2002 New York Yankees .211 .353 .118 2003 New York Yankees .267 .296 .225

This game is on pace to last around 4 1/2 hours . . .

Hey, looks like Len found a jacket.

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/3886/cubswinll3.jpg

http://www.cubworld.com/category/a_cubworld_cam

the CubsWorld cam shows cops outside Wrigley . . . people lining up, but not too many

Finger Eleven - One Thing, because this feels like 2004 all over again. :cry:

That actually makes me feel a bit better. Unbelievable, the Cardinals announcers just mentioned the Cubs score and really seemed to revel in it. Al Hrabosky can drop dead. Seriously.

The OP has a valid argument, albeit a poorly-worded one, and it's a point that I've thought about and mentioned here years ago. I don't think that the amount of fans or the "quality" of the fans would change too much - there are already massive numbers of bandwagon Cubs fans that come out of the woodwork during seasons like this. But winning the World Series, something that all a long-term Cubs fan's frustration is predicated upon, would cause a dynamic shift in the character of the team. Someone here will no doubt snark about me claiming that a sports team has a character, or a feel, but it's that emotional makeup that comes along with being a fan of the club. We all know the history, we all know that people have been born, lived, and died without seeing the brass ring get pulled, and for better or worse a large part of the identity of being a Cubs fan stems from that emotion. It's the sea change in historical and emotional context that a WS win will bring that sparks questions like the OP's. It's really got nothing to do with volume of fans or whether bandwagon fans will come or go. It's the fact - like it or not - that being a Cubs fan will suddenly be seen in a different light in the event that they break the losing string.