Epitaph for a Cub's Fan

I have been a die hard fan of the Chicago Cubs since 1962.

My Dad took me to my first big league game at Wrigley Field that year to watch the Cubs play the Philadelphia Phillies. We had box seats directly behind the plate, three rows back. The Cubs had Ernie Banks and Billy Williams, the Phils had Johnny Callison and Clay Dalrymple. The memories, colors, and excitement are as vivid in my mind today as they were 48 years ago.

This historic franchise has not seen a World Series championship since 1908. That is 102 years...but who's counting? I am...starting today.

Although he is well paid to manage the current edition of these lovable losers, there are times when I almost feel sorry for Cubs Manager Lou Piniella as I watch this roster of excuse makers go game after game playing poor baseball. Not moving runners, not hitting the cut off man, and not getting clutch hits...or hitting at all for that matter.

When Piniella searches for options to spark this overpaid bunch of underachievers, he gets resistance from team "leaders" like Derrick Lee and Aramis Ramirez. They spout lines to the media like "leave us alone, we are proven veterans and we will eventually hit" when Lou tinkers with the lineup or gives players a day off or tries ANYTHING to get this listless bunch to perform. By the way, Lee is hitting around .200, and Ramirez .180

Here is my answer to Lou Piniella, thousands of Cubs fans across the country, and to my beloved home town of Chicago.....

Eat the contracts, play motivated players who play the game the right way, move rookies up and sit veterans who choose to rely on what they have done in the past rather than what they must do in the present. The Cubs need players who refuse to lose, not accept it with the standard line "we will get 'em tomorrow". I've swallowed a throatful of that.

The shrine that is Wrigley Field is the star of Chicago baseball, not this version of the Chicago Cubs. Until they give back to the fans who live and die with each mounting loss the same energy they receive from them, don't be surprised if its another 102 years before the next championship....or maybe even longer.