Meet the idiot cubs fan who ruined Game 6 for us.

[ubertroll]

If you're looking up following a foul ball, you wouldn't see Alou coming.

The cubs fucked it up on their own. The error by the shortstop did a lot more to lose the game for them than that foul ball.

And I'm not a "real" cubs fan, just someone who is not willing to blame an 8 run collapse on a fan or a curse.

But the whole point is that the Marlins effectively got four outs that inning--had the fan not been there, the shortstop error would never have had an oppertunity to happen. While the cubs gave up 8 runs on their own, they would have given up none had the fan not interfered.

 

[LadyG]

You know, they lost game 7, so..does it matter now?

 

[teddybear4play]

Yes.

And it will matter for all eternity, just like Buckner's screwup for the Red Sox.

Because people would rather blame the easy targets than devote thought to why their teams lost.

TB4p

 

[Guru]

He was possessed by the devil, or a goat.

Or, who really cares?

 

[MWG]

Yes.

And it will matter for all eternity, just like Buckner's screwup for the Red Sox.

Because people would rather blame the easy targets than devote thought to why their teams lost.

TB4p

I can certainly agree with this.


I don't think I've ever heard a die-hard fan (you might have) say the words, "Well, they just played a bad game."

It's always on ONE move or ONE player, or even something stupid like what happened with the guy who caught the foul. I don't often hear a plain admonition of lacking team dynamic. If a team WINS together, then they all lose together, too.

 

[teddybear4play]

I don't know if all that's true.

I assign a ton of blame in both Games 6 and 7 to Dusty Baker because he let his starters stay out too long and thereby give up the lead . . . and when you have the lead in a game where you can put the other team away, and especially when you face elimination yourself, you've got to keep it.

TB4p

 

[Pookie]

But the whole point is that the Marlins effectively got four outs that inning--had the fan not been there, the shortstop error would never have had an oppertunity to happen. While the cubs gave up 8 runs on their own, they would have given up none had the fan not interfered.

Funny ... the umpires agreed it wasn't fan interference. Where were you when the Cubs needed you?

If the Cubs make the routine plays, as any championship quality team would have, they are playing against the Yankees tonight instead of the Marlins. It's really as simple as that.

 

[Lasher]

Madden: All that timely choking made the playoffs great

Saturday, October 18, 2003

I hate baseball. So I don't want any feel-good moments that might put the game in a favorable light. Considering all that, the playoffs really couldn't have gone any better.

The Florida Marlins' ongoing Cinderella story aside, all the dreams are officially dead, and in the most painful ways possible. From the moment Steve Bartman touched that foul ball until the instant Aaron Boone's home run touched down, the psyches of the Chicago and Boston faithful were ground into fine mulch by billy goats and Bambinos, but mostly by the constricted esophagi of the players on their own teams. It was great.

The Cubs and Red Sox choked. Both teams blew big leads with the pennant just a few outs away. The World Series was in their grasp, and they let go. It was great.

To blame a curse in either case is a bit medieval. But history obviously weighed heavily on the shoulders of the Cubs and Red Sox. The Cubs haven't won a World Series since 1908. The Red Sox haven't won a World Series since 1918. Even seasoned professional baseball players can't be blamed for flinching when they constantly hear that things are going to go wrong. It was great.

When Alex Gonzalez booted that ground ball in Game 6 of the NLCS, it was great.

When Grady Little allowed Pedro Martinez to pitch too long in Game 7 of the ALCS, it was great.

When Martinez grabbed ancient Don Zimmer by his huge, Sonny Liston-sized head and spiked it off the ground like he had just toted it into the end zone for a touchdown, it was great.

Hey, does anybody still think Jim Leyland should have used Tim Wakefield in relief during Game 7 of the Pirates-Atlanta NLCS in 1992?

I hate baseball so much that I've actually been rooting for the New York Yankees. What's good for the Evil Empire is bad for baseball.

For those who think I lack compassion, I have great sympathy for Steve Bartman, the poor schnook who kept the Cubs' Moises Alou from catching a foul ball in the eighth inning of Game 6 of the NLCS at Wrigley Field.

Bartman, by the way, was listening to the game on a radio headset when he touched the ball, so he heard play-by-play being done on his own life-altering moment. Now, that is cool.

Baseball pushes the communal aspect of its ballparks. It's just one happy family, right?

But when Bartman did what any fan in any park in any situation would have done and tried to catch the ball, his Wrigley Field "family" turned on him like he were a funny uncle. Bartman was cursed, doused with beer and spit upon in a disgusting display of immature, animalistic behavior.

Bartman did absolutely nothing wrong. He didn't reach onto the field to try to snatch the ball. The ball was in the stands, which is why fan interference wasn't called. Several other spectators grabbed at the ball simultaneously. Bartman just happened to be the guy who touched it.

Bartman inexplicably issued a weepy apology that did nothing but confirm his guilt in the eyes of many. To reiterate, Bartman did absolutely nothing wrong. So why apologize?

If anything, Bartman is owed an apology.

The "fans" at Wrigley Field owe Bartman an apology for treating him so shabbily.

The Chicago Sun-Times owes Bartman an apology for publishing his name, neighborhood and details of his personal life. The minute Bartman touched the ball, he became a news story, so the paper certainly had the right. But sometimes it's good to be human.

The radio talk-show hosts and DJs of Chicago owe Bartman an apology for whipping the city into a frenzy against him. Those who listen to my radio show know I'm not above much. But ruining the life of a citizen is something I could not, in good conscience, do. Unless he got me really angry.

Rod Blagojevich, the governor of Illinois, owes Bartman an apology for calling him "stupid" and for saying Bartman should consider the witness protection program. Shouldn't the governor try to make a bad situation better, not worse? The voters of Illinois should recall this jerk and elect Bill Murray. If you're going to have a buffoon as governor, you might as well hire a pro.

Baseball needs fans like Bartman. A youth baseball coach, Bartman is said to be absolutely addicted to the game and to the Cubs. Baseball needs to embrace Bartman, not chase him away. Chicago needs to do the same thing. Every Cubs fan should put himself/herself in Bartman's shoes.

When the Cubs open yet another season of frustration at Wrigley Field next season, Bartman should be the guy to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh-inning stretch. He should be introduced by Alou, who threw a hissy fit when Bartman prevented his catch but graciously cut Bartman slack in his postgame comments.

And if the Cubs' fans boo, they will be losers in a sense that goes far beyond baseball.

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/columnists/20031018madden1018p1.asp

 

[Lasher]

Savran: Shame on Chicago, which is due a curse

Saturday, October 18, 2003

Chicago is a city with broad shoulders. It's a perception, but it's based on the city's personality. Chicago is a "say what I mean and mean what I say" kind of place. A home to tough people in a tough town that enjoys what it can to the fullest and shrugs those broad shoulders during times that aren't so good. Which is why it was rather disarming to watch them turn on one of their own in an attempt to explain their team's collapse.

Steve Bartman went to Wrigley Field Tuesday night to celebrate what he and millions of Cubs fans hoped -- expected, really -- would be a pennant-clinching nine innings.

By all accounts, Bartman was a true Cubs fan, older than some, younger than most, who either wallows or revels in his team's futility.

I gather he was a true fan because of where he was sitting at the ballpark -- well down the left-field line -- and the fact he was wearing headphones to listen to the game while watching it.

I doubt you would have seen Ben and J-Lo doing the same in Fenway's front row.

Now Steve Bartman's life has been turned upside down, not because his beloved team has betrayed him again, but because his fraternity of fans betrayed him.

There's no joy in Wrigleyville, but they don't want to blame Casey for striking out, they want to blame a bespectacled 26-year-old who saw a ball and tried to catch it.

A normal human being doesn't sit there in the stands, chin buried in palm like The Thinker statue, pondering what to do next. He saw it and he tried to catch it. He violated no rule, nor did he violate Moises Alou's space. If Cubs fans are looking to affix blame, they need look no further than the third-base dugout at Wrigley Field.

Even after the play in question, the Cubs still had a chance to retire Luis Castillo, but Mark Prior walked him. Then the single by Ivan Rodriguez. Then the error by Alex Gonzalez, which completely unnerved the Cubs.

You could see the blood drain from their collective faces, much like it did with the Pirates in 1992 when Chico Lind booted that easy grounder in Atlanta.

The error wasn't devastating, but it had a numbing effect on the entire team. But even after the error, the Cubs still had the lead and control. They could have escaped the inning with at worst a 3-3 tie, but they didn't.

Steve Bartman wasn't responsible for that. Credit/blame goes to the imploding Cubs' bullpen.

Bartman didn't give up a three-run homer to Miguel Cabrera the following night; Kerry Wood did. Bartman didn't blow a 5-3 lead in Game 7; Wood and the bullpen did.

And finally, and forgotten in all of this, it wasn't Bartman who -- dare I say it -- choked after building a 3-1 series lead with the final two games at the Friendly Confines.

The Cubs did.

There's plenty of blame to go around here, not just within the Cubs clubhouse for blowing the NLCS, but also for this entire circus.

An accusatory finger should be pointed at the Chicago Sun Times. The paper embarrassed itself and humiliated any media outlet with a shred of conscience by identifying Bartman in print. It listed his name, where he lived and where he worked. The family immediately had to disconnect their telephone, and the police had to provide around-the-clock protection for the poor guy and his family.

The fact that he was abused at Wrigley right after the game was bad enough, but he began to receive death threats, for crying out loud.

No doubt they were from the same beer-sotted louts who read -- or just look at the pictures -- in that rag, which no self-respecting parakeet would want lining the bottom of its cage.

It's reasonable to believe Bartman might have to consider leaving his hometown to live a somewhat normal life.

Is this fair? Who at that newspaper made that decision? And why is he or she still employed? Surely there's a job opening at the National Enquirer.

The whole affair is a disgrace.

Chicago won't blame its team for choking. It certainly won't credit or applaud the resilience of the Florida Marlins, a resilience missing from the Cubs in moments when it was needed most. The truth is the Marlins won the series because they were tons tougher than the fragile Cubs. But the "fans" will spew their venom at a young guy who just went to the game to see his team win, and likely had the course of his life altered in the process. Shame on you, Chicago.

Well, at least they've got Kordell and the Bears. Oops -- sorry

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/columnists/20031018stan1018p1.asp

 

[Lasher]

Cubs fans show true colors and, of course, so do media

Friday, October 17, 2003

Something was way wrong, and way before the eighth inning the other night.

Yes, it was in the ivy, nature's hallowed and verdant Wrigley wallpaper, so celebrated as such a uniquely beautiful addition to the summer game. But now -- what is that? -- a yellow leaf in there? A red leaf?

That ain't right.

Even if it was because no one could remember the Chicago Cubs ever playing this late into October, there was something just a little psychedelic about it.

Other than that though, there was nothing terribly unusual about the three-game losing streak that ended the Cubs' season, its proximity to the World Series notwithstanding. A three-game losing streak? C'mon. The Cubs have had three-decade losing streaks.

It's no accident the Cubs are never on the field this late in October. They stink. Axiomatically, the Cubs are not like the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox are generally accomplished, even good, if never quite good enough. But even the remote juxtaposition of Cubs and Red Sox in this glorious baseball postseason has underlined an emerging truth: It's all about the fans.

Baseball's Final Four was not Cubs, Red Sox, Yankees, Marlins, it was the wild emotional tournament made up of long-suffering Red Sox fans, longer-suffering Cubs fans, non-suffering Yankees fans, and essentially non-existent Marlins fans.

Who in the mass audience could possibly care if Manny Ramirez gets a World Series ring or if Derek Jeter gets another one? The audience, due mostly to the emotional indifference of the uniformed soldiers of fortune on stage, now cares more about the audience.

Regrettably, this is why this week's events in Chicago are disturbing on so many levels.

The Cubs, up three games to one on the resourceful Marlins, lost the National League Championship Series by themselves. The number of opportunities the Cubs had to change 58 years of World Series-free existence was almost incalculable. Not including Sunday, when they didn't bother to score a run in Game 5 in Florida, they had two chances to clinch at home behind their best pitchers, Mark Prior and Kerry Wood (who had not lost back-to-back games all season) and could not close the deal.

Not to be excessively analytical, but, when your pitching staff allows 17 runs in the final 11 innings of the NLCS, you're going home.

All things being equal, no one really needs to know more than that, but somehow, everybody knows the name of the Cubs fan who reached for a foul ball in the eighth inning Tuesday night and might ---might! --- have prevented leftfielder Moises Alou from catching it and further solidify what was then a 3-0 Cubs lead.

Subsequently, of course, the Marlins scored eight times in the inning and nine times the next night, but blaming one particular Cubs fan, who shall remain nameless at least in this column, is like pinning a flash flood on a raindrop.

In still another spastic fit of what I like to call Jurassic Park journalism -- we're so thrilled that we can do something that we don't stop to consider whether we should do something -- the media convulsed into action. So the Cubs fan, who did nothing wrong and nothing of consequence and nothing that six other fans seated around him were also doing reflexively, gets outed by the media. Why anyone has to know that guy's name and why a picture of his house has to end up on the networks are journalistic questions with no good answer.

The media endangered this guy, and for nothing. So that idiots who won't think things through know who he is and where to find him?

If media reaction was dreadful and irresponsible, fan reaction was equally disappointing. The fans turned on one of their own, pelting him with debris and cursing him, some of them failing to notice, apparently, that Cubs shortstop Alex Gonzales dropped the easy doubleplay ball that would have ended the inning. If fan reaction was wicked, player reaction was reliably critical, which is amazing.

Here are people working for a franchise that hasn't been in a World Series in 58 years, criticizing a customer. They should be amazed that anyone at all comes through the gates, let alone a 26-year-old diehard with hope in his heart.

Now the guy feels worse than dirt and media continue to treat him as if he were the man driving the Staten Island Ferry.

Does Kyle Farnsworth need police protection?

Farnsworth, pitching for the Cubs in the seventh, could not field an easy one-hopper back to the mound. That scored the seventh Florida run. The one that beat the Cubs. The one that kept them out of the World Series for the 58th consecutive year.

Does Aramis Ramirez need police protection? He hit a hard one-hopper to Mike Lowell at third base to start the Cubs' eighth. Lowell made a diving stop to his left, got up and threw out Ramirez, who was not running hard to first. If he's not going to run hard in the eighth inning of Game 7 of the NLCS, when is he going to run hard? Right, never. He's a dog.

Does Dusty Baker need police protection? Isn't this the second year in a row he's taken a team to within six outs of a title and no further? Is he culpable? I guess not as much as some schmo with a Walkman in the first row.

And this is what we're doomed to remember about Cubs in the foliage. How very unpretty.

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/columnists/20031017gene1017p1.asp

 

[christo]

I've always understood the Red Sox curse. I mean, if you sell the greatest player of all time to your rival for a hundred grand, yeah, you might be cursed. Likewise I get the curse the White Sox labor under. You fix the World Series, you've got some bad karma to deal with.

But I never bought the Cubs curse. I mean, some whack-job brings a goat to the game and they won't let the goat in? That's just good hygiene. It's bad enough sitting next to some slob who reeks of stale Iron City Beer and has only a passing acquaintance of soap--I don't want some smelly goat next to me trying to eat my wallet. You every smell a goat? They SMELL.

So the Billy Goat curse is, well, goatshit. My theory about the Cubs was that they are just a horrible team, with horrible management, and that it would be a sign of divine intervention (or Satanic manifestation) if they won the World Series. The Cubs stink, they've stunk for decades, and no curse is required.

But now Cubs fans have a spanking-new curse to deal with--the curse of Steve Bartman. The loathsome way the whole city turned against this completely blameless man will no doubt doom the Cubbies to years of blown rotator cuffs, balls lost in the sun, and called third strikes.

Bartman touched the ball while it was out of play--no fan interference. He was watching the ball coming to him, as any fan would do. All the fans around him were reaching for the ball, so he was just doing what any fan would do. And the Cubs, mind you, gave up 8 runs between the lines, with no help from the paying customers.

What he did was unfortunate, but understandable. What the Sun-Times did, and what the Governor did, was reprehensable. The Gov obviously thought he could curry some Windy City favor by lambasting this poor guy who, from what I read, is one of a dying breed--the true-blue baseball fan.

If you're a Cubs fan, you have my sympathy. Hey, I'm a Pirate fan, so I know all about heartbreak and horrible teams. I was rooting hard for the Cubs. But your team is really, really doomed now. Forget the Billy Goat Curse. You now have the Curse of the False Goat, of Steve Bartman. They'll be talking about this curse when the Cubs lose in the 2138 NLCS.

 

[Pookie]

I think the Cubs should get a 'do over'. Maybe Alou catches it this time.


http://www.bangedup.com/archives/cubsownedsmall.gif

Opps ... no wait ... dammit ... again ... shit ... one more try ... fuck!

 

[MNGuy]

Ah, remember last year when the Cubs were actually in the playoffs.