The rest is silence
Every magazine, every pundit, every prognosticator said before the season that the Cubs would win their third consecutive National League Central Division championship this year going away.
The Cardinals clinched the Central Division tonight.
I'm happy for Mark DeRosa.
This ought to be the Cubs' party tonight. Sure, there were injuries. Sure, players had sub-par years. But the major reason why it's the Dirty Birds, and not the Cubs, who are taking the champagne shower tonight is that GM Jim Hendry had probably the single most bone-headed off-season even a Cub general manager has had in the fifty two years I've been following the team.
While I'm pulling for DeRosa, otherwise I really don't care what happens in the playoffs and World Series. What I do care about is Hendry and Tom Ricketts putting together a team capable not only of taking the Central back next season, but of making a legitimate stab at that illusive world championship.
This is the first of my fifty two years as a Cub fan in which I haven't really cared. The season was sabotaged by Hendry before it even began. I made up my mind after the Cubs were swept last October in the first round of the playoffs for the second consecutive year that for me, the season would begin in October. I realized the moment I heard about the DeRosa trade that for me, there would be no baseball season this year.
Taking the division back from the Cardinals is only the beginning of what I expect from the Cubs next year. I will be satisfied with nothing less than victory in the NLDS and a berth in the NLCS. A concerted effort this off-season not only to build a team capable of regaining preeminence in the Central Division, but of legitimately contending for the whole enchilada will be my minimum requirement for caring.
I hope the Ricketts-Hendry regime makes that effort. I want my Cubs back again. But I refuse to accept stupidity, incompetence and inertia any more. Fifty two years of it is quite enough. And I think I speak for Cub fans as a group when I say that from this point on, the Cubs will have to either merit my support, or do without it.
No more taking the team backward, like you did last winter, Mr. Hendry. And no marginal improvement, no minor adjustments here and there. This winter you go all out to put a team on the field that can win it all, and this time you engage your brain. Otherwise, don't expect me to root for what you offer me.
The Cardinals clinched the Central Division tonight.
I'm happy for Mark DeRosa.
This ought to be the Cubs' party tonight. Sure, there were injuries. Sure, players had sub-par years. But the major reason why it's the Dirty Birds, and not the Cubs, who are taking the champagne shower tonight is that GM Jim Hendry had probably the single most bone-headed off-season even a Cub general manager has had in the fifty two years I've been following the team.
While I'm pulling for DeRosa, otherwise I really don't care what happens in the playoffs and World Series. What I do care about is Hendry and Tom Ricketts putting together a team capable not only of taking the Central back next season, but of making a legitimate stab at that illusive world championship.
This is the first of my fifty two years as a Cub fan in which I haven't really cared. The season was sabotaged by Hendry before it even began. I made up my mind after the Cubs were swept last October in the first round of the playoffs for the second consecutive year that for me, the season would begin in October. I realized the moment I heard about the DeRosa trade that for me, there would be no baseball season this year.
Taking the division back from the Cardinals is only the beginning of what I expect from the Cubs next year. I will be satisfied with nothing less than victory in the NLDS and a berth in the NLCS. A concerted effort this off-season not only to build a team capable of regaining preeminence in the Central Division, but of legitimately contending for the whole enchilada will be my minimum requirement for caring.
I hope the Ricketts-Hendry regime makes that effort. I want my Cubs back again. But I refuse to accept stupidity, incompetence and inertia any more. Fifty two years of it is quite enough. And I think I speak for Cub fans as a group when I say that from this point on, the Cubs will have to either merit my support, or do without it.
No more taking the team backward, like you did last winter, Mr. Hendry. And no marginal improvement, no minor adjustments here and there. This winter you go all out to put a team on the field that can win it all, and this time you engage your brain. Otherwise, don't expect me to root for what you offer me.
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