on that last point, i think if/when the team is legit good again, that sort of activity will pick back up. what i feel towards the cubs of the last 3ish years or so is generally just apathy. if things look like they're going well, my interest picks up. when things are going to horsefeathers, as they have been for a while, i still follow day to day but don't have a ton of interest in discussing them. there was a similar vibe in here around 2011/12 when theo came in and we realized they were going full tear-down. a lot of people said stuff like, "i'm not sure i'll ever be back where i was in 2008," which was definitely true for some. hell, things were so bleak in 2012-13 that even i found myself venturing into the daily minor league threads. but when things started to turn around, things seemed to pick back up here too in a big way. i know 2023 is even further away from the golden era of these types of places, but i still imagine things will pick back up things if/when the team is legitimately looking good again.