SB Nation User Blog: Cubfansince1957

For those of you interested in such things, the Cubs, when ranked against all other major league...

Cubfansince1957 — Thu, 14 May 2009 04:43:25 -0000

For those of you interested in such things, the Cubs, when ranked against all other major league teams, rank #1 in RPI ("Relative Power Index"), which is a way of rating the teams, taking into account a variety of factors. Helping their standing is the fact that they are tied for first with respect to strength of schedule.

Not playing the Pirates yet will do that to you.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/rpi

Steve Rosenbloom's Recent Blog Entry Saying the Season is for Naught without a Series Victory.

Cubfansince1957 — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0000

I just finished reading a blog post by Steve Rosenbloom saying that nothing was acceptable for the Cubs this postseason other than a victory in the World Series. He said "to publicly declare that anything less is OK is a self-inflicted Cubbie Occurrence." My apologies to all for my inability to figure out how to get the URL on here (though some of you may appreciate not having to read that drivel).

I'm really ticked off about this. I have posted a response saying that he isn't going to ruin my season by declaring that all is lost if they don't win the Series. If the Cubs don't win the Series, Aram's walk-off homer vs. the Sox doesn't go away, the 9-1 comeback vs. the Rockies doesn't go away, the comeback last week against the Brewers with two outs in the ninth doesn't go away, etc. That's the thing about baseball, the good things stay with you.

I smile everytime I see the video of Santo's kicking his heels at the end of a Cub victory. I tingle everytime I see the replay of the Sandberg game in 1984. I get chills when I think of how it felt to watch Kerry Wood shut down the Braves in the '03 playoffs. Those things haven't gone away merely because those teams didn't win the World Series.

I have to admit that, in the response I posted, I said that I felt that the Cubs had to, at least, win the National League pennant to avoid having a bitter taste in my mouth. It is true that I will be severely disappointed if they don't do that. But, I have started wondering what you guys think.

So, let's hear it. What do the Cubs have to do to make this season a good one, or have they done it already? I think Rosenbloom's attitude is just plain wrong. And acknowledging the possibility of not winning the Series, or even the NLCS or the NLDS is just plain realistic (the Cubs, who I think won 88 games in '03, beat the Braves, who I think won about 103 games, so that stuff happens).

Or is even talking about the possibility of less than complete success the "Cubbie Occurrence" that Rosenbloom thinks it is?

Poll

Do the Cubs have to win the Series for this to be a memorable season for you?

Yes, definitely

64 votes

No, it's been a great season regardless of what happens.

85 votes

I'll be happy if they win the NLDS and the NLCS.

40 votes

I'll be happy if they win the NLDS.

0 votes

189 votes | Poll has closed

Does Lou Give Big Z some extra rest, after his no-no?

Cubfansince1957 — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 05:03:51 -0000

I think I would. The magic number is "7", with about 15 games to play. It gives us a margin of error, and we need Z at his best for the playoffs. They've been doing it with Rich Harden a lot. Steve Phillips, over at ESPN, said tonight that no team in the National League can match up with the 1-2-3 punch of Zambrano, Harden and Dempster. I'd like to see that trio make it to the playoffs healthy, though they should pitch some before the end of the season.

What do people think?

Great night for Cubs fans. Great year for Cubs fans.

Go Cubs!

Poll

Should Lou Rest Big Z an extra day or two since he threw 110 pitches against the Stros in his no-no?

Yes

84 votes

No

16 votes

Wait and See What Develops in the Pennant Race

35 votes

135 votes | Poll has closed

Here's a picture of me and my BCB shirt in Goblin Valley, Utah, aka Miller Park! Sorry for taking...

Cubfansince1957 — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 06:15:31 -0000

Here's a picture of me and my BCB shirt in Goblin Valley, Utah, aka Miller Park!

Sorry for taking up so much space before and thanks for all the help folks in teaching me how to get a picture posted.

Does Clint Hurdle have something against the Cubs?

Cubfansince1957 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:42:28 -0000

I thought it was curious that Clint Hurdle's initial selection as an All-Star Assistant Coach was Willie Randolph, instead of Lou. Given Randolph's firing, of course, he did select Lou to fill in. But should Lou have been a fill-in? I know that the Manager from last year's pennant winner gets to pick whom he wants, but why Randolph over Lou? Lou's team won its division last year, and Randolph's choked.

That alone wasn't enough to make me wonder. But now I see that Hurdle picked Ben Sheets to start the All-Star game, over Big Z. I'm bummed because it would have been neat to have an all-Cubs battery start the game for the NL. Rahula Strohl, at ChicagoSports.com has an interesting blog entry where he compares stats for Sheets vs. Big Z, and they are virtually identical. He wonders why Sheets over Zambrano.

Finally, Hurdle announces his batting order and the two Cubs remaining as position starters, Fukudome and Soto, are batting eighth and ninth, respectively.

Does he have something against the Cubs? Or is this just coincidence? Although I'd prefer Marmol got some rest and didn't pitch, will Aramis Ramirez get in? I suspect Aram is just too good to leave on the bench. Just ask Albert Pujols! ;-)

Just something to spice up an off-day.

The 1969 Cubs

Cubfansince1957 — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 04:56:26 -0000

In Al's article about today's 5-3 win over the Rockies, he mentioned how this season, at least so far, felt a lot like 1969. Several people (including myself) posted messages in the thread agreeing with him. One poster said something, though, about how that team had the biggest collapse of all time, and how they didn't want to talk about it.

As we know, it was a heck of a collapse, but it wasn't the biggest. But that's not the reason for this FanPost. To twist some classic words, I don't come here to bury the '69 Cubs, but to celebrate them. That team had four Hall of Famers on it (I include Ron Santo here because he will get elected one day) including Ernie Banks, Billy Williams and Ferguson Jenkins. It had what might be the Cubs' best infield since Tinkers to Evers to Chance, i.e., Santo at 3b, Kessinger at SS, Beckert at 2B and Banks at 1B. It had one of the most awesome starting rotations in Cubs' history, including Fergie Jenkins (21-15, 3.21 era, 23 complete games), Bill Hands (20-14, 2.49 era, 18 complete games), and Ken Holtzman (17-13, 3.58 era, 12 complete games).

Have you ever noticed the flags that fly in the Cubs' outfield (shown frequently on WGN) of the players whose numbers have been retired? Three out of four of those players were on the '69 Cubs (Banks, Santo and Williams, with Sandberg being the sole non-'69 Cubs player with a retired number). The 1969 Cubs were part of a string of six straight plus .500 seasons. The last time Cubs teams had done that were a string of 13 consecutive plus .500 seasons beginning in 1926 and ending in 1939.

Have you ever noticed on the left field foul pole, the words "Hey! Hey!"? That's from another '69 Hall of Famer, Jack Brickhouse. Some of my earliest memories are of listening to Jack Brickhouse announce games that no one cared about except me (and a few other die-hards). I heard the genuine excitement in his voice, and the sadness, as he went through the 1969 season with me and other die-hard Cubs fans. God rest his soul.

That song we all sing at the end of Cubs' victories, "Go Cubs Go". That's a Steve Goodman song, and he lived and died with the '69 Cubs along with all of us as well. God rest your soul too, Steve.

The '69 Cubs permeate Wrigley Field and everything that happens there.

Regardless of what happened in the past, if the '08 Cubs do it, we'll all celebrate and feel wonderful about it. But, if the Cubs had never come close since 1945, if they'd never broken .500 and been the doormat of the National League every single year, there would be something missing today.

Without those glorious years, where we came so close, where we fell in love with other heroes, other than DLee, the Big Z, Aram, Dome and so on, and where we cheered and cried with others who aren't there with us today, that makes today feel so wonderful. It is the fact that we've reached for it in the past, and failed mightily, rather than with a wimper, that sweetens it all.

Go Cubs!

A Cubs fan's live view of the Cubs 7-6 win in Denver.

Cubfansince1957 — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 05:42:02 -0000

Just to fill in for Al and all the others who post stuff about the live games they've attended, let me fill in for one game, tonight's game in Denver.

One thing is that the Rockies apparently still haven't figured out how to handle ticket sales (see, World Series ticket fiasco, October, '07). We had to pick up our tickets at the "will call" window. They have multiple windows broken down by alphabet. Each line had about 60-70 people in line. We got in line about 20 minutes before gametime, and didn't get into the stadium until the top of 2nd, just in time to see Soto hit his home run. Get it together, Rockies!

I don't know how he looked on tv, but I thought Rich Hill looked pretty good. A few Rockies really hit him hard, but that seemed to be confined to one inning only. A very encouraging sign for us, since he usually doesn't pitch well here.

Soto was a monster tonight. The one out he made was actually a frozen rope, but it was right at someone.

Tulowitzki's homer was a real Coors Field job, i.e., it just barely cleared the wall, and probably wouldn't have carried that far in thicker air. I'd have been really bummed if the Cubs had lost because they really hit the ball better than the Rockies overall, and yet had to struggle to pull off the win.

I thought Lou's substitution of Pie as a pinch runner for DLee in the 9th was curious, because DLee is no slouch on the bases (remember the double steal earlier in the game with DLee and The Riot?), and it caused Pie to come up in the 10th, in a spot where I'd have love to see Lee hitting.

You have to love The Riot, getting the game winning hit. And you also have to love Aram's homer to take a short-lived lead in the 9th. You have to love Marmol's fire when he took the mound in the bottom of the 10th (did they show him slamming the rosin bag to the ground before he threw his first pitch - he looked pumped). And finally, you have to love that, as with the two OT games in Pittsburgh, this was a game they'd have lost last year.

All of you guys probably know this just from watching the game. For some stuff that you couldn't probably tell on TV, I'd say the crowd was probably about 50/50 Cubs/Rockies fans (at least from where I was sitting 10 rows up from the field a little ways down the left field line from 3rd). I'd say we kept up our end of the bargain, as my voice is as sore as it's been from yelling at a game in years ("Let's go, Cubbies!) I did tons of high fives with lots of hard-core Cubs fans at the end of the game.

I'll say this for the Cubs/Rockies series here in Denver. I've been to a lot of the games and I've never had anyone give me a bad time for rooting for the Cubs. Indeed, people have always been courteous and good fans. I've gotten into some good discussions with Rockies fans during Cubs games, and we've had a good time rooting against each other.

As I was leaving, a woman with a frown on her face looked up at me (I'm 6'5") and said "congratulations." The usher at the top of the stairway asked me, with a big smile, if I'm coming back tomorrow (do you think my Cubs jacket and hat gave me away?) I told him I've got to work, and we patted each other on the back. I doubt that stuff like that happens at a lot of ballparks.

Oh, me, my jacket and hat witnessed the Cubs' 10,000th win. How cool.

Thanks to all of you for letting me share my fun with you. I look forward to hearing from you guys as we root the Cubs on through the season.

Go Cubs!

I'll be at Tonight's Game in Denver

Cubfansince1957 — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:26:15 -0000

I always get envious reading everyone's posts about going to see the Cubs at Wrigley. Living in Denver, I only get see the Cubs in person once a year. At the last minute today, I got some good tickets for tonight's game, down the left field line, about 10 rows up from the field. Hopefully, Cubs fans will take over the stadium tonight. We've certainly done it before.

I am so pumped!! Go Cubs!

Books about Cub Fandom (and George Will's Editorial in Newsweek)

Cubfansince1957 — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:13:04 -0000

I thought you'd be interested to read George Will's annual editorial on the Cubs. I won't bring up politics, so don't flame me about what you think about Will's other columns. Like us, he's been a Cubs fan for years, and that should be enough for us.

Here's the link to his editorial.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/129576

His article is actually a little too cerebral for me (I know it's tongue-in-cheek). He could have said it all in one sentence:

"Being a Cubs fan is a higher order of existence."

About sums it up, don't you think?

Soriano Hurting??

Cubfansince1957 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 06:56:19 -0000

On page 53 of the February 4th edition of "The Sporting News", they have the following:

"Cubs LF Alfonso Soriano caused concern among North Side fans last week when he said "I don't know how I feel about my leg," in response to a question about the health of his torn quadriceps, which clearly slowed him late last season. The Cubs got only 19 stolen bases out of him in 2007, and if he is still worried about the leg, they won't get many more this year."

I hadn't heard this. Does anyone know anything about his health? It would be a big blow to lose his speed, especially if he's going to lead off again.