DivineBovine

What a buffoon. And he knows THREE people who hate Ryne Sandberg. Stop the presses! Ryno is a total prick! I knew it! Its good to be hated. In sports, it means you're good. I love it. Because there hasn't been a team is pro sports history that has been good without haters.

What worries me is that they are playing teams that care about winning. Teams that will be playing for their playoff lives. That makes more a difference than anything. Uh, how can you possibly say that you don't care if you're playing whether against a team that wants to win at all costs or bunch of minor league call ups and journeymen?

I sure hope they have a cushion going into the last few weeks, because the Cubs have BY FAR the toughest schedule at the end of the season. In the last 19 games: 3 at St. Louis 3 at Houston 3 vs Milwaukee 3 vs St Louis 4 at NY Mets 3 at Milwaukee Every team with a winning record, every team except Houston playing for something. I have to say, I'm a little concerned. They'd better build a lead.

Even reporters like David Haugh, and announcers like Tom Thayer have admitted that neither has been better than the other. Both have been pretty boringly "ok". They've had a few mistakes, they've had a few nice moments, but generally, they've both been meh. Neither is ahead of the other, though Haugh said if pinned down, he's say Orton's been better, but not in any significant fashion. Then Orton is better. I've heard Rex is a great practice QB, but an average to below average game QB. If he can't blow Orton out of the water in practice, he is the #2 QB. Also, stop saying that Rex is a game manager and Rex is not. Both have around the same TDs to INTs. A game manager doesn't throw 50/50. Now maybe Orton is better at managing the game now, but we don't really know that from experience. And stop saying that Orton is 12-3 or whatever as a starter. He was the worst starting QB in 2005. He was 12-3 in spite of his play. I remember that Sunday night game when Orton was QB and Rex came in. The offense starting clicking right away. The field was opened up. Naming a starter now is meaningless if they are still competing for the job. It's not childish, it's trying to counteract the overwhelming idiocy that runs rampant through the media and fans. The first preseason game is home, and inevitably Grossman will be booed. The 2nd game, when Rex starts, will be away, so he won't be booed. Kyle is a low risk low reward QB. As a rookie he was high risk, but he was a rookie. You can't really take a lot from that showing. I don't think it's the least bit inaccurate to think of him as more of a manager. Whereas, Rex is a higher reward QB with huge risk. As a veteran he's still shown nearly unprecedented disasterous tendancies. I think the Bears would like Rex to be their QB, if they are a comfortable that he can limit the disaster. I think they are willing to go to Kyle, if Rex either stops showing the upside, or keeps showing the downside. But they are forcing both guys to go through training camp, and the first two games with the same chance to start. I'm fine with that, and I don't really understand how anybody can't be. Sure, you'd like to have one starter you can count on. But the Bears don't right now. So there's no good reason to just name a guy for the sake of naming a guy and pretending there is no longer a QB competition/controversy. I happen to agree with every expert that we are totally screwed from a QB standpoint. Rex is the only chance we have, IMO. Orton is never going to take any team to the promised land. He has no arm, and he can't make any big plays. Rex can make big plays. He's also probably a good practice QB. That's because he can be quite good when there is no pressure. But of course, he has a weakness. Teams quickly learned that once he gets blitzed, his QB IQ goes into the toilet. He started shuffling he feet, stepping back, jacking the ball, throwing picks. The whole league seemed to figure it out 2 years ago, and carried it into last year. We can only hope that he and the Bears have figured out how to deal with defensive pressure. That's the only chance we have, because I think Orton to me is a known commodity- he sucks. Rex has actually shown that he can win games with his arm. Orton has never won a game for the Bears, he just kept them in it so the defense could win it. Unfortunately, I think we are screwed either way.

This is all a bunch of nonsense. The whining about ownership always was overblown. They ran the team like crap and employed horrible personel decision makers. That is why they sucked. It wasn't because of spending or the drive for profit. How can you say its nonsense? Is it so absurd that the motivations of a publicly traded company with shareholders might be different that those of a sports fan who happens to be rich? The Cubs clearly never had the smarts of the Twins or the A's. Nobody is denying that. But neither did the Yankees or Red Sox. My gripe is that the Cubs never spent the money they should have given their fan base and revenue. Look at their payroll in relation to the league for the past 10-20 years. Yes, we can all point out about dumb personnel decisions. But to me, stupidity is more forgivable than greed. It's true that smart decision making can to a large extent overcome a big payroll, but it can never make a consistent winner. And payroll will roughly correlate with wins, even if there are exceptions. That's undeniable. In the last 5 years, the Cubs have been in the playoffs twice. Both times the team that beat them had a payroll significantly lower than theirs. Money was never the issue...or at least not in recent years. Even a team that doesn't spend money is going to make the playoffs occasionally. That's what happened in 84, 89 and 98, 03. To me, it's not acceptable for a team with our fan base and revenue to make the playoffs 4 times in 20 years. That's pathetic if you ask me. And to lose to smaller market teams- it happens. Once you are in the playoffs, anything can happen. See how the Yankees have faltered lately and wild cards have won their share of recent WS. But that's not the point. In a single series, anything can happen. That's a given. Even at 7 games, any mediocre team can knock off the best team in baseball. The only thing that one can control is getting to the playoffs. I'm a firm believer in that. And in order to consistently make the playoffs, you have to spend money. The Marlins or D Backs are never going to have perennial contenders. They have to get lucky to get the right prospects that produce, and hope to win before they leave for free agency or are traded to shed payroll. Too bad for them. And we made the playoffs last year partly because we started to spend money. And you can say that we signed Soriano because the Trib was going to sell the team. Come on, when have the Cubs even been mentioned with a elite free agent. Ever.

This is all a bunch of nonsense. The whining about ownership always was overblown. They ran the team like crap and employed horrible personel decision makers. That is why they sucked. It wasn't because of spending or the drive for profit. How can you say its nonsense? Is it so absurd that the motivations of a publicly traded company with shareholders might be different that those of a sports fan who happens to be rich? The Cubs clearly never had the smarts of the Twins or the A's. Nobody is denying that. But neither did the Yankees or Red Sox. My gripe is that the Cubs never spent the money they should have given their fan base and revenue. Look at their payroll in relation to the league for the past 10-20 years. Yes, we can all point out about dumb personnel decisions. But to me, stupidity is more forgivable than greed. It's true that smart decision making can to a large extent overcome a big payroll, but it can never make a consistent winner. And payroll will roughly correlate with wins, even if there are exceptions. That's undeniable.

Well, they don't pay other teams. They pay MLB in the form of a Superstation tax per game. There is a good article on the Library of Congress website about Superstations and the FCC which explains this somewhat. Why do you think the Braves flagship is no longer TBS? http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/1997/62fr55742.html SBCA presented evidence that both the professional baseball and basketball leagues extracted additional compensation from WGN in Chicago and WTBS in Atlanta--both superstations known to be widely distributed on satellite--though the amount was not quantified. SBCA Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law at 72-73. Not denying that such a fee existed. Just feel it was absurd that this was an excuse all those years for a pathetic payroll. In 1997, the year of your link, the Braves had a $53 million payroll to the Cubs $31 million. In 1998, it was $71 to $61. In 1999, it was $79 to $55. In 2000, it was $84 tp $60. Need I go on? The Braves had the highest salary in the NL through from 1997-2000. They were in the top 3 through 2004, ahead of the Cubs. The Cubs were average at best, often getting outspent by such teams as the Rockies and Cards. Clearly, the Superstation Tax didn't hurt the Braves as much as it hurt the Cubs. I can't see how anyone can objectively look at TV/radio revenue without doubt, considering the Tribune also owned the primary source of TV and radio broadcasts. Trust me, there is no way a guy as smart as Mark Cuban and other superrich guys are bidding $1 billion plus if they don't see the possibility that the team can earn like the other elite teams in the sport- by that I mean the Yankees and the Red Sox. Maybe they aren't in it strictly for the money, but hey aren't dumb enough to throw away money just to own a baseball team. Look back at the payrolls of the Cubs in the past 10 years. Once one sees how much Cuban spends in relation to other teams, I think anyone would look back at the years of the Trib as the dark years of Cub ownership. And what can we expect from a publicly traded profit making machine.

That ridiculous 1 foot outside strike that this umpire is calling is killing us. We have to swing at bad pitches outside.

Years and years of signing players like Hundley and Alou. Letting Maddux walk over a lousy million bucks. All those years claiming the Cubs were losing money because they had to pay other teams for broadcasting games on WGN. Sorry, the Trib hasn't fooled me. Its easy to write checks that someone else is going to have to pay. Trust me, the Cubs will be way better off with Cuban than a corporation whose sole objective is making money.

Howry is single handedly responsible for like 10 of Marmol or Woody's appearances. Worthless piece of crap.

Is there anyone better at turning a 7 run lead into a save situation?

Call me pessimistic, but I'm sick of blowing teams out and then not being able to score against scrubs the next game.

I'm so glad this game isn't on WGN so I don't have to watch this piece of !@#$ team.

I hope we lose by 12. I can't stand these 1-2 run losses.

That's 2 runs courtesy of wild pitches. And the Cubs can't buy a hit that matters.

He can't GIDP here. How about a grounder to SS just to prove he hasn't lost it.

Setting up another LOB.

Now everyone is swinging for the fences. Even Theriot.

Oh geez, couldn't you just take one for the team?

Can we get a hit with a runner in scoring position?

Yeah. Dead cat bounce.

We need Soriano and his solo HR's. At least we score.

Good God. We suck.

Yes! Setting up the GIDP for Lee.

Come on Kosuke. Let's get some more LOB's this inning.