gus_dog

I look at it this way - When Grossman is 100%, get him out there playing. If he is not 100%, then he carries the clipboard. I don't care if he's 95%, keep him on the sidelines until he can physically perform at top flight. Once he is 100%, I don't understand why you would ever keep him on the sidelines. Orton is the guy who should be carrying the clipboard right now - he's only playing out of necessity. He is adequate, and I think his future is bright, but really, Grossman is the superior player, IMO.

Yum, yum :eats crow:, that was tastiest crow I've ever eaten. I'll have the leftovers on Thanksgiving. :D

I'm as much of a Bears-head as the next Chicagoan, but I think da Bears are get their arses handed to them on Sunday. I hate to say it, but it is JMHO.

Froemming screwed him out of a perfecto.

Pujols won.

That's a reasonable point. Do you want a guy who helps you score 10 runs in May, but only 2 in August, or do you want a guy who helps you score about 5 runs, consistently? This is an extremely weak point, actually. The flipside of it is equally true - I'm too lazy to do it, but if you look up the pre-all star break stats, I'm sure it will favor Lee just as much (in fact, moreso) as these favor Pujols. So Lee was significantly outperforming Pujols for the first 3/5 of the season, and Pujols outperformed Lee for the last 2/5 of the season. What's the big deal? It's only a weak point if Lee's numbers didn't come back to earth right when the Cubs needed the extra help (tight race for the Wild Card). The other point is that Pujols was more consistent throughout the season. I disagree. The voter should look at the whole season in aggregate. Looking at it piecemeal is not fair to anyone, period.

Sounds like me (born in '62) and my brother (born in '65), except we were in central Illinois. My dad was a huge Cub fan. I drifted away for awhile when I lived in Saint Louis, but then 1998 brought my Cubness back to the fore. After that, I convinced my wife to move to Chicago. She was from Niles, MI, so getting closer to MI was my best angle. It worked, so now I watch or listen to every game, and I participate in a group which owns season tix. I am fully back into it. Not sure yet if that is a good thing.

New Orleans too...2-6 The rest of those teams are a combined 20-8 right now. If you ask me, that's a pretty tough schedule.

Wasn't that the one where after he tackled him and while he was lying on top of him, he looked at the ref and held his arms out in the "I didn't do anything" gesture? Yes, that's the one. I was screaming at my TV (a bad habit) as the play was unfolding. It was an obvious hold (tackle). Then, during the subsequent Bear offencive series, they called Tait for an incredibly cheap hold that was nothing more than him putting his hand on the outside shoulder of the lineman. :x Those refs sucked. [-( #-o

I know that was not your intention in this post, but I think almost every single Cubs fan I have ever met thought that the Curse of the Billy Goat was just bunk. Most Cubs fans know that this history of losing can be attributed to cheap ownership, lack of development of an effective farm system, and sheer ineptitude of players, management, and the front office. The irony of it all is that the Cubs have had a better overall history than the White Sox. More overall wins. More World Series appearances. More playoff appearances. And so on. Yet, here we are today. And, up until recently, I have come across an incredible number of White Sox fans that hated the Cubs more than they loved the White Sox. To them, the best days in Chicago are when the Cubs lose and the White Sox win. Do you want to know how many fun IMs and voice mails I got from White Sox fans after Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS? There are four reasons I'm cheering against the White Sox. First off, AJ Eyechart is one of the more despicable people in baseball from everything I've read. Every single controversial play that he's been involved in during the postseason has made me want to vomit. Secondly, Mark Buerhle is a classless tool. Way to accuse Greg Maddux of throwing a spitter, champ. I'm sure White Sox nation will love you when you bolt for the Cardinals in free agency. Secondly, Ozzie Guillen is an incredible jerk. He's perfect for the White Sox; a guy who will happily bully umpires, make the choke sign to opposing dugouts, and just generally acts like a tool. But, most of all, it's their fanbase. You want obnoxious and classless jerks, visit the Cellblock some time wearing the gear of an opposing team. Take a gander over at White Sox Interactive, where they have an entire forum dedicated to Cubs bashing. Yes, there are people over there who are respectful, intelligent, and mature. But, from my experience, these people tend to be the exception more than the rule. Using a comparison with the Red Sox, Yankees, and their respective fans, I liked Bill Simmons' use of having the Yankees being your top rival in high school who always got the hottest women, seemed to have everything easy in life, ended up going to a top college, and pushed you around at his leisure. The comparison in Chicago is that the White Sox was the obnoxious jerk at your high school who was dumb as a box of rocks, was not particularly well-liked by most people in high school, and who made a habit of picking fights and stuffing people into lockers. After he graduated, he went into a dead end job, became an alcoholic, and now spends his days engaging in schaudenfreude, reveling in the misery of others despite being a drunken, fat loser himself. Only now he's won the lottery. That's pretty much how I feel right now. Ugh. WOW!!! AJ is despicable? Yet, if Michael Barrett did the same thing, he'd be a genius. Buerhle is a classless tool? Hmmm, let's talk about Carlos Zambrano. Ozzie is perfect for the Sox, let's discuss Herman Franks, or better yet, how about Dusty Baker in Game 6 when he was managing the Giants. And let's start hacking away at the Sox fanbase, shall we. Classless, eh? Yeah, I notice how, at the "Cell Block", they're ALL drunk, posing to anyone that will pay attention and yapping away on their cell phones while waving at their friends on the other side of the field, only to leave around the 7th inning. If the White Sox were the obnoxious jerks in high school, then what were the Cubs? Wannabes, dorks, losers - yet lovable? This is exactly what fuels the Sox fans hatred for Cub fans. It used to be hatred of the Cubs, which is what it should be. I remember going to Wrigley and getting a bleacher seat on game day and seeing the same old guys harping on me for blowing off class. No cell phones and no posers. Just people who really wanted to watch a ball game. Now, it's the place to be and the Trib knows it. They're the midwest version of the Yankees, except for one thing - they can't and won't win. Get a grip Sparky... the Sox won and the Cubs didn't... Go grip yourself, 'Sparky'. If a Cub fan, cannot go to a Cub fan forum to drown his sorrows on a lost season, especially when the hated Sox win it all, then there's something wrong. I'll tip my cap to the Sox - they won it all, but there's no way I'll be happy about it. BTW, welcome to the forum! :D

I did the same yesterday. Then, for fun I decided to gouge out my eyes with a rusty hypodermic needle. It hasn't been a good few days for BeerHere. After congratulating my Sox-fan-friends, I relaxed by going to the dentist and having a root canal done without anesthetic. Ahhhhh, it's all good!

[group hug]Everyone[/group hug]

I've been a Cubs fan my entire life, and don't bear any ill towards the Sox. I'm not from Chicago though, so I don't get this "hate the team from the same city" dynamic. Maybe I'm delusional, but I think with the Sox winning the WS that the pressure is going to be on everyone for the Cubs to win now. Otherwise, they're going to risk losing those fans they've just expected for the last 20 years. The 2008 season is only two and a half years away. If the Cubs reach a century of futility, I believe that many people will just say, "F it," and find something else to do. I only wish I had tickets to the Cubs Convention. I can only imagine how bad the Q and A session is going to be. If you lived here for a little while, you'd get it. Boy, would you ever. There will be no more or less pressure on the Cubs to win it. Really, the organization has been trying, obviously. They just have been unable to get over the hump. Think about it. From 1946 through 1983, they NEVER once make the post-season. Then came (coincident with Trib ownership) 1984, 1989, 1998, 2003. Obviously, they are trying, and there is plenty of 'pressure' to win. More 'pressure' is not going to do anything because, IMO, it is impossible to put more 'pressure' that what already exists. They spend the money, and they have competed (at least intermittently) over the past 20 years. Compared to the Thirty-nine years prior to that, I would say that's a dramatic improvement. They just haven't been able to put it together yet. Will they ever? Who knows. Probably, eventually. It's OK to feel bad because yet another year has gone by without a Cubs WS title. It is also OK to be disappointed because it is the Sox who have garnered the laurels. Time to move on. I can't wait until spring training starts!

You realize that your little dancing banana is what EVERY Sox fan uses over at WhiteSoxInteractive, right? It's an ear of corn, not a banana. You can download it from a Nebraska Cornhusker fan web-site.

That is if the four horsemen don't roll by first... Right. I thought I heard a trumpet last night... If you live in Oak Park/River Forest like I do, the sound you heard was fireworks and cheering Sox fans. Oy! #-o Yes, I was awakened last night by fireworks that continued for some thirty minutes. I am envious. Let's go get one for the best fans in baseball - Cub fans!

Hey polosprt, here is how some of my fellow Cub fans and I are going to combat this: This Friday is casual day, so we are going to be Cubbed-out to the max (with every piece of cubs gear I can wear simultanously), regardless of whether the Sox win or lose. Cub jacket, shirt, jersey and cap. I think it's a fine time to do it. 8) Our offices are in NBC tower, so we will garner visibility.

I have held season tickets since 1999. Believe me, I have thought of dropping them, but...this is where your approach doesn't pass muster...if I do, then they actually win, I will be kicking myself. If you wait until they are 100% successful to 'invest' in them, then your 'investment' will cost alot more, and/or you may not be able to do it at all due to unavailability. Your message works well in theory, but practically speaking, it is not necessarily effective. Win or lose, they are popular, and continue to be so. As a dyed-in-the-wool fan, that can be frustrating, but it is what it is.

How so? Cubs fans, coming to a Cub fan website/forum to diss the White Sox fans???? The stupid Sox fans at my office never fail to gig me this post season at every oppotunity at work. I just ask them what the Cubs have to do with it? I never said jack to them when the Cubbies were in the post-season. Why? Because they were irrelevant. It is most certainly NOT a 'pot-kettle situation', it is more like a 'jerk-sox fans situation', which is normal, I guess. I don't hate the Sox, but I can't stand their fans.

What a bunch of morans!

:lol: awesome. That's just classic!

Maybe on the morning show. C'mon, get serious. If the Cubs were in the World Series, WGN would dedicate at least an hour for pre-game, and who knows how long the post-game and news spot would be. It would actually be nice to find out, but alas, it was not to be this year....I woder if it ever will?!

Big difference between writing a few comments on an anonymous internet forum, and gloating and taunting to their face. I would never say 'boo' to a Sox fan about their team, unless they initiated the conversation. I would never taunt them, nor gloat if they lose. I don't care enough to actually bother. However, for the jag-off Sox fan who was standing in my office the day after they won the pennant, taunting me and asking where Zambrano & Prior were: he can bugger-off!! I told the guy that the Cubs were irrelevant, and asked why would he bring them up when they weren't involved. He says, well all the Cub fans say...blah, blah, blah... I ask him if I personally ever said these things to him, to which he replied "No". With that I asked him to shut up and leave my office. On this forum, however, I can say what's really on my mind. There are no repercussions, other than being banned (oooh!), so that's how it goes. I find that internet forums are not a good way to guage how people will act (or react) in physical social situations. In closing, I will just say.... GO ASTROS! :P

Again, when did it become mandatory for Cub fans to hate the Sox? Who wrote that..., besides you? See: first page, original poster, 4th post (i.e. J.R.'s sig), 13th post (that you replied to, actually, in agreement). Seems to me that most of the White Sox-obsessed posters are the haters that start threads like these. Which I think is juvenile and petty. One might ask then, why reply to it in support of the Sox? Well, just to make a point that there is another stance available, and it's not as silly as it sounds. Well, I didn't see the word 'mandatory', but the statement is, for the most part true. Drop into a Sox pub or other such point of congregation for Sox ilk, and ask them how much they would be supporting the Cubs if the roles were reversed. The most likely answer is none. Right or wrong, that's just the way it is. I grew up a Cardinal-hating kid in central Illinois, pretty much ambivalent toward the White Sox, but after living in Chicago for a number of years, I really can't stand their fans, and that has bled over to the team. This is what it is like (in Chicagoland) for the most part. Outsiders don't care so much because it is really tough to find more than one White Sox fan outside the Chicago area, so they are ambivalent (as I once was) toward the White Sox.

Again, when did it become mandatory for Cub fans to hate the Sox? Who wrote that..., besides you? I won't argue with that.