Chicago Baseball Fans
Just as I was once a liberal Democrat, after the Braves left for Atlanta and before the Brewers came to town, I was a Cubs fan. I still follow the team in the papers and Chicago sports radio, though with a dispassionate distance nowadays. But because I used to be a fan of the team before I had a team of my own, I’m entitled to an opinion.
Let’s face it, the Cubs are more fun when they’re bad. The wailing and gnashing of teeth from across the border is heartening to Brewer fans who have no expectations of greatness in their baseball nine. Plus, it’s a morality play. If Cub fans were better people, they’d deserve a better team. Arrogance defines them. Beat them ten times in a row and if they beat you in the eleventh, they say, “See, I knew we were better.”
I would describe typical Cub fans as the penultimate bandwagon jumpers. They’ve all been Cub fans since they were born, or so they say. Now that the White Sox are good, they’ve all really been White Sox fans since they were born and the only reasons that they own Cub season tickets is that they needed the tax write-off and they wanted to drink during the afternoon.
In my time in Chicago, I found true White Sox fans were more loyal, more steadfast. True White Sox fans can’t name more than a handful of Cub players. They have never paid for a ticket to Wrigley. These people didn’t flee to the suburbs or buy condos on Lake Shore Drive. They stayed in their neighborhoods as the city changed around them. They’re still in their first house, often the house they themselves grew up in. They always voted for Mayor Daley, no matter which one. They suffered in silence when the Cubs became the “in” team in the 80′s despite the fact that their team also had some success. Because of this humility, loyalty and perseverance, they have been rewarded with one of the best teams in baseball. A lesson for us all: stay in your zip code.
Cubs fans do indeed deserve the bad team they have, one that will lose over 100 games this year despite one of the highest payrolls in baseball. I don’t think that has ever happened. If it has, I don’t remember the last time.
Why? Because they are willing to tolerate the bad product the suits at the Tribune Co. put on the field. If perhaps after the All-Star break, more and more fans would show up at Wrigley Field disguised as empty seats and cut down on the revenue, the suits might — repeat, might — take the hint.
But that won’t happen. “Dustbin” still talks about making a run for the playoffs despite being 22 games under .500 and having 50 losses and the 2nd worst record in baseball. Baker continues to chew on his toothpick while his baseball team fails to execute basic fundamentals that even my American Legion team executes.
They should fire in order: Andy “MacFail,” Hendry and “Dustbin.”
But that won’t happen. Watch Baker get a 2 year extension because (a) Hendry did and (b) “Dustbin” is Hendry’s man.
I’ll be surprised if Baker survives the all-star break.