My Facebook Thoughts

Monday, October 08, 2007

Why I Really Don't Like The Cubs.
(Disclaimer)
I am White Sox fan. I was born and raised a White Sox fan. I do not like the Cubs.


I'm often asked, "Mark, why don't you like the Cubs?" Well, I'm not often asked, but I needed fodder for today's blog. It's still a valid question though. I have made no secret here and in the real world that I do not like the Cubs. People will also say, "It's Chicago, you have to support your own". I say, "No". My team for baseball, is the White Sox. Here are my thoughts.

First, would be tradition. I was raised as a White Sox fan and to root root root against the Cubs. I would guess this has to do with geography. My Dad's family was a south (sowf) side of Chicago family. My grandfather worked in the Stockyards. They were not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. So baseball was their luxury. The White Sox were within walking distance of where they lived so the White Sox became their team and thus my team.

Secondly, the Cubs honor losing. In 1998 when the Cubs won the National League Wild Card I remember a lot of talk about past great Cub teams. The focus was mostly on the 1969 Cubs team. A team that lost a sizable lead at the end of the season to miss the playoffs entirely. Little mention was made of the '84, '89 teams that actually made the playoffs.

Thirdly, Cubs fans (well not all, but most). Every team has good fans, bad fans, smart fans, dumb fans (sounds like a Dr. Suess book). The Cub fans you see most are the dumb ones. The ones that for the last hundred years keep coming back for more without question. They are like the guests on a Maury Povich show whose spouse has been caught cheating.
"Please baby take me back. I'll get better. I wont cheat again. I promise baby, pleeeeeease."
They kiss and make up and then five months later they are back on the show. Cub fans need to step back and take a long look at their relationship with their team.


Fourthly, Cubs ownership. The owners are probably the biggest reason I loath (nice word huh!) the Northsiders (Nortsiders). They know that they could put a team of Emperor Penguins in uniform and they will still sell 2 million tickets each year. As long as they have someone to butcher the Take Me Out To The Ballgame song, a savior, and there are bleacher seats available, the fans keep coming. Each year the owners give the fans a savior. The one player or coach that will carry them to the promise land. Former and current saviors. Lou, Soriano, Zambrano, Dusty, Lee, Prior, Wood, Sammy, Grace, Sandberg, Dawson, Durham, Buckner, Kingman, and so on and so on.

Growing up my Dad always tried to emphasize how to play a game to win. Being disabled never got in the way of this philosophy. We found ways to play sports. Because my brother was disabled also, I had an opposition on the same level of play (although I was much better). If you play a sport, you play to win. The Cubs go against this. Which is why they are home for the holidays.

P.S.
To all Cub fans. Yes, I know the Sox sucked this year.

7 comments:

Tara said...

Ok Mark, I don't claim to understand sports in any capacity. I had to go ask someone who assured me that both the Cubs and the White Sox are from Chicago. Being from NY it seems to be a crime to utter any discouraging word about the Yankees (but apparently ok to not like the Mets). MY bro was actually dumped by a girlfriend on a trip to Boston (she was from Mass) because he refused to take off his Yankee hat.
Anyway why are there two Chicago teams? or two NY teams? Is there some reason they are in the same city, why not let the rest of the state have a team too?
I'm also told here in NY we have 3 football teams, at least 1 is from Buffalo so NYC doesn't get them all in that sport. So why the monopoly?

Mark Ploch said...

Money!

Anonymous said...

did you hear that there is a recall on all of the Cubs playoff merchandise... it’s apparently due to a choking hazard...

Anonymous said...

Correction: My brother thought he was better than me but let me assure blogger world he was not. I have stats to prove things.

Mark Ploch said...

My brother was an accountant for Enron, need I say more?

Anonymous said...

At least we never cheated....enough said

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sox_Scandal

Mark Ploch said...

And you never win, either.