2013 Cubs catch all thread

[IlliniKrush]

I couldn't care less about the Cubs now but that season at the time made me despise everything about them and their fans. That October sucked until that game.

Agreed.

 

Bonus points for correctly using "couldn't care less."

 

I'm glad I wasn't down at u of I yet because I probably would have killed myself from the awfulness even before the collapse had begun. I could only imagine how bad it was.

It was really bad. I skipped classes just so I didn't have to walk to class, through the quad etc. Didn't go to any bars for a few weeks either. There were Cubs bar crawls, the whole 9 yards.

 

There was never a doubt in my mind they'd lose game 7. I wasn't worried a bit.

Edited October 14, 2013 by IlliniKrush

[witesoxfan]

Everything about that summer sucked. Our family moved in August of that summer, the Sox blew a division lead in September (thanks Jose Paniagua! Ironically, blaming him is doing the exact same thing Cubs fans do to Bartman). The Cubs pulled through in the clutch, the Twins won, and both the Yankees and Red Sox won, though I believe I hated the Red Sox less at the time. It had just been an awful postseason up to that point. Then the Marlins happened, and everything was right in the world again, and then 2 years later, the Sox would win it all.

[IlliniKrush]

Everything about that summer sucked. Our family moved in August of that summer, the Sox blew a division lead in September (thanks Jose Paniagua! Ironically, blaming him is doing the exact same thing Cubs fans do to Bartman). The Cubs pulled through in the clutch, the Twins won, and both the Yankees and Red Sox won, though I believe I hated the Red Sox less at the time. It had just been an awful postseason up to that point. Then the Marlins happened, and everything was right in the world again, and then 2 years later, the Sox would win it all.

Josh Beckett SOS

[fathom]

Josh Beckett SOS

 

Can we induct him into the White Sox Hall of Fame?

[chw42]

Everything about that summer sucked. Our family moved in August of that summer, the Sox blew a division lead in September (thanks Jose Paniagua! Ironically, blaming him is doing the exact same thing Cubs fans do to Bartman). The Cubs pulled through in the clutch, the Twins won, and both the Yankees and Red Sox won, though I believe I hated the Red Sox less at the time. It had just been an awful postseason up to that point. Then the Marlins happened, and everything was right in the world again, and then 2 years later, the Sox would win it all.

 

Yes 2003 sucked a lot. I actually lost some friends in middle school because I wasn't a Cubs fan...

[IlliniKrush]

Can we induct him into the White Sox Hall of Fame?

Yes. Absolutely yes. Was such a big fan that October.

[Kyyle23]

Derek Lee straight beasted in that series IIRC

[cabiness42]

2003 NLCS Game 6 on ESPN Classic right now. DLee just tied it in the 8th.

[Rowand44]

I actually really liked that Marlins team at the time too, looking back at it some of the players I liked are just gross now. I was a big fan of Pierre, Castillo, Carl Pavano, Cabrera and Beckett at that point, yuck.

Edited October 14, 2013 by Rowand44

[witesoxfan]

I actually really liked that Marlins team at the time too, looking back at it some of the players I liked are just gross now. I was a big fan of Pierre, Castillo, Carl Pavano, Cabrera and Beckett at that point, yuck.

 

I don't think there's anything wrong with being a fan of Cabrera. He was and still is a monster.

[Rowand44]

I don't think there's anything wrong with being a fan of Cabrera. He was and still is a monster.

Well duh. But I hate him now cause he's a big fat stupid face who beats up on my favorite team cause he's a mean person.

[cabiness42]

Well duh. But I hate him now cause he's a big fat stupid face who beats up on my favorite team and his wife cause he's a mean person.

 

[Jake]

Cubs got their guy!

 

Oh, wait...Girardi went back to NYY

[LittleHurt05]

Talk about the way back machine...I was at U of I when they lost, and I remember writing the best away message in the history of away messages, just ripping the Cubs and all the bandwagon, dbag fans around campus for the past couple weeks. Seriously, 50%-60% of people going to class were wearing some sort of blue. Sororities ordered t-shirts. Bars had playoff logo glasses ordered. It was the worst thing ever. My away message was the biggest, best "f*** off" ever. I wish I still had it.

 

 

I wish I could say you were over exaggerating, but you are totallly not. It really was that bad down there, suddenly everyone was the biggest Cubs fan ever. I actually toughed it out and watched game 7 at Legends with a couple Cubs fan friends. That ended up being very entertaining. (And I was wearing a White Sox shirt )

[clyons]

Anyone catch Comcast's "5 Outs . . ." special? I enjoyed watching Dave Kaplan relive his obvious agony.

[Pants Rowland]

Anyone catch Comcast's "5 Outs . . ." special? I enjoyed watching Dave Kaplan relive his obvious agony.

 

I heard on the radio this AM that it was well done and really took the focus off the foul ball in left and spread the cause of the collapse around to a whole slew of variables.

[flavum]

I wasn't impressed with the Cubs film. The music was over-the-top and too loud, and it could have been cut by 20 minutes.

 

And get Dusty Baker a new chair.

 

[caulfield12]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/rosen...,1800408.column

 

 

On Five Outs....Rosenbloom, funny stuff.

 

Rips Alou and Ramirez for having tickets back to Dominican for the day after Game 7 already purchased....and Andy McPhail and Crane Kenney get taken apart too for playing into the curse nonsense.

 

Baker also a target, of course.

[Milkman delivers]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/rosen...,1800408.column

 

 

On Five Outs....Rosenbloom, funny stuff.

 

Rips Alou and Ramirez for having tickets back to Dominican for the day after Game 7 already purchased....and Andy McPhail and Crane Kenney get taken apart too for playing into the curse nonsense.

 

Baker also a target, of course.

 

Thank you

[caulfield12]

Thank you

 

 

For the link or no mention of Yasiel "Wild Horse" Puig?

[Milkman delivers]

For the link or no mention of Yasiel "Wild Horse" Puig?

 

For not posting the entire thing

Edited October 16, 2013 by Milkman delivers

[caulfield12]

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-10...stro-joe-maddon

 

Rosenbloom ripping on Epstein/Wonderboy Regime.

 

Before the gig's up, I wonder how much money Epstein will have made?

 

Notes that some Cubs' fans want to trade Castro for Maddon straight up, haha.

[Chicago White Sox]

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-10...stro-joe-maddon

 

Rosenbloom ripping on Epstein/Wonderboy Regime.

 

Before the gig's up, I wonder how much money Epstein will have made?

 

Notes that some Cubs' fans want to trade Castro for Maddon straight up, haha.

I think the Theo hate is getting a little heavy right now, simply because most Cubs fans had unrealistic expectations to be begin with. I kept hearing from my Cubs friends that 2015 was going to be the year they became competitive again. Fans were cool with losing because they thought they'd gradually see the development of more and more young stars and then the signing of a plethora of free agents leading up to the 2015 season. I always thought this view was way too optimistic, because they only had a couple young players on or close to the major league roster and nowhere near an elite system yet. IMO, this was always going to be a 4 or 5 year process, at minimum, since they still needed to acquire a ton of talent and develop these guys through the system. The only way that was going to change was if guys like Castro, Rizzo, & Samardjza developed into stars and Theo got extremely creative in acquiring talent.

 

Two years later, both of those items have failed to come to fruition. The three young guys have regressed/stalled and Theo hasn't really done much other than commit to his small-market approach to rebuilding. Whether this approach ultimately works remains to be seen, but it's quite humerous seeing Cubs fans start to panic. I think they're starting to realize Theo isn't a god and can't make talent appear out of thin air. It's going to take 4 or 5 years of losing to get that talent, and maybe longer if Rizzo & Castro don't take that next step in 2014. So much of their hope right now lies in the hands of a handful of young prospects including Baez, Bryant, Almora, & Solar. If the first one of those guys to reach the big leagues flops, it's going to be mayham on the north side.

[caulfield12]

I think the Theo hate is getting a little heavy right now, simply because most Cubs fans had unrealistic expectations to be begin with. I kept hearing from my Cubs friends that 2015 was going to be the year they became competitive again. Fans were cool with losing because they thought they'd gradually see the development of more and more young stars and then the signing of a plethora of free agents leading up to the 2015 season. I always thought this view was way too optimistic, because they only had a couple young players on or close to the major league roster and nowhere near an elite system yet. IMO, this was always going to be a 4 or 5 year process, at minimum, since they still needed to acquire a ton of talent and develop these guys through the system. The only way that was going to change was if guys like Castro, Rizzo, & Samardjza developed into stars and Theo got extremely creative in acquiring talent.

 

Two years later, both of those items have failed to come to fruition. The three young guys have regressed/stalled and Theo hasn't really done much other than commit to his small-market approach to rebuilding. Whether this approach ultimately works remains to be seen, but it's quite humerous seeing Cubs fans start to panic. I think they're starting to realize Theo isn't a god and can't make talent appear out of thin air. It's going to take 4 or 5 years of losing to get that talent, and maybe longer if Rizzo & Castro don't take that next step in 2014. So much of their hope right now lies in the hands of a handful of young prospects including Baez, Bryant, Almora, & Solar. If the first one of those guys to reach the big leagues flops, it's going to be mayham on the north side.

 

 

It's the curse of Dwight Smith, Jerome Walton, Brant Brown, Gary Scott, Bobby Hill and Kevin Orie.

 

I do think if Epstein didn't have that Ivy League background that the expectations would be more realistic...that and the two World Series championships, it's a curse that guys like Friedman and Billy Beane have been able to escape, although the reverse is also true, not having won it all is held as a black mark against them.

 

It's the same problem the White Sox/Hahn are going to face if Viciedo, Garcia, Abreu and Hawkins don't progress.

 

Fans are going to forgive Hahn for the recent past, Dunn, Keppinger, etc. But they're not going to forgive 2-3 rebuilding seasons with no hope of progress in sight.

 

Then there's the spectre of the Cardinals, Pirates and Reds to deal with for Cubs' fans. 10/14 playoff appearances for the Cards, for example.

 

 

At least there's some hope for the White Sox because Verlander, Cabrera (I'm sure he'll be back to normal next season) and Fielder are/were looking very vulnerable at different points of this season, and the back of that bullpen is still a work in progress.

Edited October 19, 2013 by caulfield12

[Kyyle23]

It's the curse of Dwight Smith, Jerome Walton, Brant Brown, Gary Scott, Bobby Hill and Kevin Orie.

 

I do think if Epstein didn't have that Ivy League background that the expectations would be more realistic...that and the two World Series championships, it's a curse that guys like Friedman and Billy Beane have been able to escape

 

Lmao wat