SB Nation User Blog: cubnational

reverse engineering: who should NOT be in the HOF?

cubnational — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:57:54 -0000

Ok, ok .. we all know and believe here in the Cubs Nation that Ron Santo has been long overlooked, dissed and ignored by the Hall's committees and should have been there several years ago. That's non negotiable. I'm not going to argue the point.

On a blog linked within a Fanshot comparing Santo to Richie Allen, the rather delusional author was trying to convince his readership that Allen was the better men with rather specious reasoning. The discussion afterwards was a bit energetic and one person made the rather interesting comment:

I vote to remove about 40 guys already enshrined who lack the definition of greatness.

An interesting perspective .. while I don't like to speak ill of the dead or alive, I'd be curious to know who YOU might consider for such a vote. I got some of my own idears .. what are YERS?

How would a Cubs and Rays WS have gone down?

cubnational — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 05:14:46 -0000

A long winter is ahead, so I may as well ask it now. I'm going to just have to get this off my chest, since the inevitable question comes up ..

What if somehow, the Cubs had played up to their potential in the postseason this year? What if It Did Happen?

What if the Cubs had engaged in a hard fought series of NL championship games in which no one got hurt, every starter went deep into their games and a brilliant combination of defensive/offensive team effort had brought them over the Dodgers and the Phillies to the doors of the 2008 World Series?

How would we have done? Assuming the Cubs didn't repeat the chokesterism from 2007 and played some decent, competitive and exciting baseball that this whole 2008 season prompted and set us up to expect from them and they actually took the NL pennant, what would have gone on in the 2008 World Series between the Cubs and the Rays?

Personally, watching the Cubs get basically owned by the Rays earlier this year was not particularly encouraging. I will have to drag the videos out to watch and try to pretend they're WS games. If they were, admittedly, coaching and matchups would be different, but the play was still pretty decisive. The Rays just looked a whole lot better than we did .. even though we ended with almost identical records.

Engaging in "What If?" speculation is the lot of the Cubs fan so I guess I'll bite and send up the flag and see what you scholars, dreamers and fans say. You're Lou Pinella and you're coaching a team that was still on a roll - who's going to be in your lineup and rotation? Or you're an observer wondering how to hedge your bets. Or you're a fan just trying to figure out how to save a spot at the fence gate and watch even an inning or so of a WS game since you couldn't sell your kidney on Ebay to afford getting a ticket on StubHub. What would happen?

Slightly OT - Guy Eats 20 Pound Cheeseburger And Lives As the great sage Willy Wonka once...

cubnational — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 05:04:40 -0000

Slightly OT - Guy Eats 20 Pound Cheeseburger And Lives

As the great sage Willy Wonka once said:

For some things in life, there are no words.

Now That TNT/TBS No Longer Have Anything To Do With The MLB Postseason ..

cubnational — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:59:48 -0000

.. at least until NEXT season, I must confess, I'm going to miss them ..

We won't get to hear Bon Jovi's whiny vocals on that godawful music video played a couple gazillion times.

All of my questions on E.J's Mailbag will never get answered on air.

I'll miss that synchronicity of the Cubs' deep sixing .. er .. threeing .. with interspersings of "Titanic."

So long to Chip Carey saying "fisted" a dozen or more times in a game.

It's going to be a long winter not hearing Buck Martinez' mumble on air.

All those good patrons of the Cask N Flagon won't get to see the "Steve Harvey Show" the rest of the season (or Red Sox baseball, for that matter.)

Worse of all, I won't get to see another fiendishly witty commercial for Frank TV.

Yes, our last video connection with the MLB postseason of 2008 now fades into view .. our last ethereal link to when Next Year Was Here and when It Was Gonna Happen, the final vital connexion to a history that might not again repeat for another century. Or maybe next year. God only knows.

One thing's for sure, I'm going to really, REALLY Miss the big TBS Sports cavalcade. Rolling, rolling, rolling ... keep them doggies rolling.

Please, Len and Bob .. never leave us alone in the dark. Ever ..

Will there be a second coming of Rich Hill ?

cubnational — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:19:42 -0000

With the past year of ups and downs, I don't think know. He posted a 1-1 record at Daytona and that's about the last thing I've heard of him. I don't think he was DFA'd was he?

I'm still amazed at the rise and fall of Rich. It's like as soon as he lost sight of the strike zone this year that the rest of the train fell off the tracks with him to the point that he got bounced all over the Cubs' system trying to get him back to an even keel. It looks like he barely broke even this year. From that honorable 11-8 season to near oblivion is one heck of a fall for a 28 year old guy. Will he come back and be a factor at all in the Cubs next spring, let alone next year?

Whoever did this Cubs 08 VDO trib should get an Academy Award

cubnational — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:32:31 -0000

For most heartwrenching Video of The Year.

I couldn't resist it .. I just couldn't. I dug around in YouTube for a bit looking for 2008 Cubs highlights. This video clip was among the hundreds, among many that rambled on about goats, curses, Marty Brenneman, etc.

It had the Eddie Vedder song on it, which I haven't had the stomach to listen to since the playoffs began .. because the song ultimately is a song about yearning and fulfillment, love and commitment to a journey. This is not a song a Cub fan waiting for 100 years to end wants to hear .. that "SOME DAY we'll go all the way .."

It's great to watch, and it was done clearly with an eye on keeping us all believing in the journey's end, but I have to be honest with you .. tonight, since the loss last week, as I watched this, I had to fight back tears. This one all but dug my heart out with a spoon.

But it's a great video: if you haven't seen it here it is

Formation of the Cubs Fans In Recovery support group

cubnational — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:14:02 -0000

Well, the Cubs Nation's hearts are once again broken and the pieces are being stomped on. Once again, it's like loving passionately for months a righteous young fox only for her to text you she'll be your BFF -- after you've seen her going off into the sunset with some scabulous runt. You feel utterly crushed, betrayed, etc. yada yada yada. Ad Infinitum added if you're a Cubs fan. Yep, it's Monday. All month.

From family desertions from Cub allegience to workplace wags waving brooms at me today, I've seen all I want to see of this familiar detour into postseason angst .. just in the past 36 hours but know it's a side trip that isn't going to get any better. Withdrawal from the heady drug of the vibe of Wrigleyville has begun and I hate the taste it leaves in mouth. I've reached more than a few times to the remote .. and realized that there are no Cubs games anymore .. ANYMORE.

Next, I think I'm going to wake up in a cold sweat .. screaming at another missed Bobby Howry pitch .. or a Soriano AB .. or a Fukudome strikeout .. or 4 infield errors .. or .. or .. or .. urk ..

I am sure that this will be a Nationwide trauma we will all likely need therapy for a while on. You can only submerge yourself in a bender induced stupor for so long. I've said I probably will log off here for a while .. but I just can't quit you, BCB familia. We all need help from a power greater than ourselves.

So, I am now going to suggest the formation of the Cubs Fans In Recovery Support Group. There's nothing like the power of group therapy commiserating with other witnesses to the Horror of October 2008 in a safe, nonjudgmental setting where refuge from retraumatization would be a priority. What's needed now is to allow Cub fans to hook up, decompress, deconstruct and devent - to squarely face the challenges presented to us in daily life by yet another Post Post Season Meltdown, version 2008, with fearless self-inventory and laughter.

We who'd be in a Cubs Fan In Recovery will come because we finally found another Cubs season imploding. We still hated to admit that we couldn't help but root safely for the Cubs during the NLCS AFTER THE GAMES ENDED the past two years running. Then we heard from other Cubs fans that we we had a problem (We thought so for years!) We found out that many people suffered from the same feelings that we did. We found out that we had these feelings because we had an addiction to the Chicago Cubs that has pretty much come to dominate our lives and we we no longer had the power to mediate that.

We decided to try and face up to what our loyalty to the Cubs had done to us. Here are some of the questions we tried to answer honestly. If we answered YES to three or more of the following questions, we could see that we're in deep trouble with our addiction to the Cubs.

See how you do:

Remember, there is no disgrace in facing up to the fact that you have a problem:

1) Do you wear something on your body that has a Cubs logo on it every day?

2) Do you have your cell phone set to receive ESPN Text Alerts on the Cubs?

3) Have you subscribed to MLB TV even though you live in Chicago?

4) Do you also keep reaching for the remote waiting to watch the updated news for the next round of the NLCS thinking the Cubs might've squeaked in?

5) Are you still going to hock your kids' college trust funds for the season ticket lottery you just won, courtesy of Cubs.com?

We'll be convening every 4th Saturday night at Gorganzola's, a little pizza joint on Clark Street about 5 blocks south of Wrigley .. far enough where the park can't be seen, to help keep any relapses of the post traumatic stress syndromes all too familiar to Cubs fans for generations. (We realize just coming up Clark Street itself may be too much, so we're suggesting meeting downtown at Jose Ole's even, just under the L tracks off State/Washington).

We'll keep you posted as to the next phase of therapy ..

We weren't duped by the Cubs ..

cubnational — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 05:47:41 -0000

.. we were witnesses to the Cubs choking.

Plain and simple. The great mystery is how and why this happened again, the way it did ..

(cue 2007 Post NLDS Cubs interviews for further reference ..)

97 wins means they did something right .. and barely five days ago, we knew what it meant. And now, three losses in the postseason sent them home. Why .. why .. why .. why this again happened simply defies explanation or objective analysis.

All I know is that it has exceeded my vast threshold for Cub-related pain and my toleration to it has blown some inner emotional fuses here. I am severely being led to not log on to BCB for a couple months after this utter travesty, this black hole of anti-hope in all things Chicago Cub related.

Man, this one just pulled everything out of me .. Fortunately, I do have a life outside the Cubs .. and I dearly hope and pray that you, Cubs Nation, also have had a good one between games and between bouts. This on hurts, but life does indeed go on. Don't let the drama consume you .. grieve if you must, but never without hope. Next year is .. ah, I dare not say it .. but I hope you get my point ..

As tapped out as I am, I'm going to remain a Cubs fan until the day I die, and I will bleed Cubbie blue always .. it's just for now, for the first time in my Cubs fan life, all the Cubs videos, DVD's, Kerry Wood T's and W flags and Cubs jackets and jerseys are all going into the closet and I won't be pulling them out until next spring. I'd rather not hear about the team for a while. The heart of this old Cubs fan needs some downtime and I'm putting the 2008 season to bed (I could care less about the rest of the CS's or the World Series) .. my Chicago Cubs aren't going there and I'll not go any farther with this wonderful game without my beloved team.

There are those who will curse and despise and blast you. I'm not one of them.

So I mean this sincerely .. thanks, Chicago Cubs, for a memorable year (we'll put this last week in retrospect soon enough). You still are the NLC champions .. and for that we are grateful. We know you tried and lost and we know you weren't playing to do so - even though our hearts were dug out of us by the plastic spoonery of your play these past few days. We know as a result you're going to have the longest of winters ahead and so will we.

But your summer was a ride we all enjoyed with you and I expect to be aboard next year. And I'm sure quite a number of us will too.

It's just that for now, I think I'll go back to focusing a bit more on my ministry and outreach .. and if I don't get back with you for a while, I'm sure you'll understand.

BENCH FUKUDOME

cubnational — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:58:11 -0000

BENCH FUKUDOMEBENCH FUKUDOMEBENCH FUKUDOMEBENCH FUKUDOME

I think that about says it

reasons why the Cubs will win thursday ..

cubnational — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 05:09:59 -0000

Let the venting, griping and window jumping go on in the other threads

1) The team will remember how tonight's tasting like last year and will dig in deep and come out to play some ball tommorrow.

2) Lou will be smart enough to realize that game plans can go out the window when necessary and will make better use of the bullpen quicker ...

3) This team is simply far better than the one from last year. They are going to relax, refocus on having the fun they've had all year long and make the Dodgers pay dearly.

4) Z will come with his A game and be his best friend on the mound

5) The crowds will have energy tommorrow like never before. They will make Clark and Addison shake. It will impart something to the Cubs.

6) The big boppers are going to snap out of it .. all it takes is one good inning to break the funk and start clogging bases again productively. Tommorrow is that day ..

7) We are Cubs fans .. we will always Believe .. ALWAYS .. GO CUBS!