Soul

Not to worry..... we have our secret weapon tonight !!! Old Style substitute for the Gatorade!

Judging on past experience? There was prolly a 50/50 shot that Sori bobbles the ball. Not that bad a risk.

Hahahaha anyone think we have a prayer in hell of hanging 2 more on Penny?

Insanity.

In case you hadn't noticed, the Cubs are in first place going into the last month of the season, being trailed by one team that is at least just as flawed and another that is far more flawed. When it comes to playoff chances, how good the Cubs are relative to the teams in their own division is the only thing that matters. Whether you find it amusing or not, the odds are in favor of the Cubs making the postseason, thus necessitating a postseason roster, which it seems to me is worthy of at least some discussion. I'm glad you are amused, though. I'm also amused, because of course this discussion means we are about to tank.

Yeah that was an odd comment. He's going to remember this? So what, is he going to refuse to acknowledge the cheering if he starts pitching good again? Oh noes!! :-s

Yeap. That's pretty much how I read it too. And I can't say that's wrong. Could very well happen that way. But I've never bought into the "I would rather never go than go and get beat" line of thinking. Give me a chance, any chance. If my team gets slaughtered, I'm still more excited than if they tanked out.

Mental Midget!!

I don't have a link or anything but I'm pretty sure Lee and a few others came to his defense too. Hmm. I'll take your word for it. I miss a lot of stuff like that not being in IL anymore, but I couldn't really remember seeing anyone speak out like that. Definitely, Lee came to Jacque's defense. He also didn't like it a few years ago when it was aimed at someone else (LaTroy? Corey?). Derrek has been outspoken against the booing of Cubs at Wrigley (and good for him). Good for him. I respectfully disagree though.

yeah really. 98 years of failure but it's wrong for fans to voice displeasure? Come on.

And those Yankee fans were correctly labeled idiots by most of the rational world. Do you think Cubs fans are idiots for boo'ing Z? Z has done nothing close in the Majors to compare at all to what Arods done. Not idiots, but definitely selfish like Z said. I think people have a right to be selfish when they are spending their money to see a game. I suppose it's also selfish of me to hope a movie is good when I spend $8 to go to the theater. And it's selfish to expect good food when I go to a restaurant. Consider us all selfish! Do you boo your waiter if he drops a plate of your food? Z obviously realizes he didn't pitch well, which means booing just boils down to the fans trying to make themselves feel better. Or it means fans are emotional while at the game. Z is allowed to be emotional while pitching why arent the fans while watching? I think everyone has conceded that you are "allowed" and it is your "right" to do so as a fan. That does not make it correct thing to do, just like Z's emotional outbursts are not always appropriate. I think it's the correct thing to do. I want fans to boo when the team sucks like today. Lets me know people aren't just sitting there enjoying their hot dogs and beer.

True, and fans should also know that cheering won't help a player either. The effect of the crowd on the performance of athletes, at least in baseball, isn't all that much. Call me old fashioned, or just a moron. I still believe a team can possibly feed off a crowd during a rally, even though it can't be scientifically quantified.

Well I hope you are all correct. We just paid this guy a fortune to be our Ace for the next several years. Spending a couple of them rehabbing an arm injury would not be my idea of a good time.

what are they supposed to do though really? Standing O when he leaves from another terrible outing? Clap? I really dont know what the alternatives were, and its not like all 40000 there were booing, id say it was a very low percentage as it didnt come across tv well at all. let's not be foolish and suggest that i may believe a standing ovation to be appropriate. i would do nothing and be sad that my team is losing and playing poorly. zambrano (or whatever player is struggling) probably isn't going to benefit from being boo'd. that's just my opinion. if old people at the complexes i mow were to stand around and boo everytime i missed a spot while weedeating, i would probably get nervous and only get worse. that's me, though. Perhaps if you did a poor job and they never said a word you would continue mowing poorly. After all, what does it matter if they don't care?

The fans are concered that their ballclub is blowing a golden opportunity at a playoff berth. I fail to see how that is "only thinking of themselves." Wouldn't it also be a good thing for........oh I dunno.....everyone else if the Cubs made it? Fans boo because they want better for their team and their city, as well as themselves. Saying it's a selfish thing to boo is a total misread, IMO. It just shows me that Z's head isn't where it needs to be. What Z most desperately needs is to find out why he no longer gets hitters out when he has done so consistently for 4 years. And he needs to find that out in very short order. Do people really not think booing is selfish? Of course it is. The only reason Joe Schmoe in the bleachers boos Z for a bad performance is so he can make HIS feelings known. It doesn't make Z perform any better or create any positive outcome for the team. The only person it benefits is the booer. Therefore it is selfish. For the 8,000th time, no one is saying fans don't have the right to boo. For some reason it's the automatic line that everyone has to repeat when this type of thing happens. You have the right to boo anyone you want. That just doesn't mean it's always right. There is a difference. I don't recall harping that "fans have the right to boo," but I strongly disagree that it is solely a selfish act and your explanation rings untrue to me. The "right to boo" thing wasn't directed at you, but it's been said a bunch of times in this thread. How do you disagree that it's not selfish? The fans are booing because they are upset and they want the player to know that. They should know that booing your own team's player doesn't help him to perform better. I don't agree that a player will never respond to being booed, will never feel any additional motivation from it. How do you know this is the case?

Bingo. Illinois should be pretty good this year. Much better than I originally was going to give them credit for. For Mizzou's sake, I hope that they are good. Oddly enough, each fan base seems pretty disappointed by this game. Illinois fans feel they should have won this game. And Mizzou fans are disappointed we almost blew another game. I guess I'm glad Mizzou won but they have got a lot of work to do to live up to the media picking them to win the north. I hope it's more of Illinois being good than Mizzou blowing it. Anyways, hopefully in the next few years each team will be ranked and maybe we can get this thing on national tv. I think I saw a blurb that Juice is likely to play next week, so that's certainly got to be good news for Illini fans.

The fans are concered that their ballclub is blowing a golden opportunity at a playoff berth. I fail to see how that is "only thinking of themselves." Wouldn't it also be a good thing for........oh I dunno.....everyone else if the Cubs made it? Fans boo because they want better for their team and their city, as well as themselves. Saying it's a selfish thing to boo is a total misread, IMO. It just shows me that Z's head isn't where it needs to be. What Z most desperately needs is to find out why he no longer gets hitters out when he has done so consistently for 4 years. And he needs to find that out in very short order. Do people really not think booing is selfish? Of course it is. The only reason Joe Schmoe in the bleachers boos Z for a bad performance is so he can make HIS feelings known. It doesn't make Z perform any better or create any positive outcome for the team. The only person it benefits is the booer. Therefore it is selfish. For the 8,000th time, no one is saying fans don't have the right to boo. For some reason it's the automatic line that everyone has to repeat when this type of thing happens. You have the right to boo anyone you want. That just doesn't mean it's always right. There is a difference. I don't recall harping that "fans have the right to boo," but I strongly disagree that it is solely a selfish act and your explanation rings untrue to me.

Here's how I look at it. There are plenty of horrendous teams out there that never hear boos. Wanna know why? Because their fans no longer care. Careful what you wish for, Z.

Yikes, the years have not been kind. Hehe. Hopefully the arm has resisted the effects of age?

The fans are concered that their ballclub is blowing a golden opportunity at a playoff berth. I fail to see how that is "only thinking of themselves." Wouldn't it also be a good thing for........oh I dunno.....everyone else if the Cubs made it? Fans boo because they want better for their team and their city, as well as themselves. Saying it's a selfish thing to boo is a total misread, IMO. It just shows me that Z's head isn't where it needs to be. What Z most desperately needs is to find out why he no longer gets hitters out when he has done so consistently for 4 years. And he needs to find that out in very short order.

I've seen enough of Z to know he's great when he's on. I think there's something wrong. Most of the time his velocity has been down from the usual 96-98 to 91-93 this year. Sure he reaches back and gets it up there, but only occassionally now. His breaking stuff isn't targeted very well, his release angle is all over the place. He's never looked like this ever that I recall. I wouldn't rule out a physical injury.

Simple solution. Let Marshall pitch and use Trachsel to give Z a break.

The Trib doesnt have the article up yet, but I explained a little more in another post. When the article comes out Ill post it. But he doesnt think he deserves to be bood. i see that now. i was sure he was just saying he heard the fans and knew that he sucked, this just blows me away. i guess it's time to start the move to run him out of town, should be fun Right after signing? Oh God, this could really start to suck.

I'm trying but he's making it very difficult right now.

Looks like Houston just brought in Qualls.