* All this bluster about a playoff berth? Please…
Fans will be celebrating the National League Central champion Chicago Cubs at a noontime rally in downtown Daley Center Plaza today. […]
The Cubs’ first playoff series begins Wednesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix.
* The Cubs would be in third place in every other division except the NL West, where they’d be in fourth place. Yet, Mayor Daley is cynically jumping on the bandwagon…
Like the sun setting over the lake or ketchup garnishing a hot dog, there are some things you just don’t expect to see in Chicago.
But there was Mayor Daley on Saturday, wearing a Cubs hat.
* From an e-mail I received the other day…
Where’s the Cubs coverage? I remember back in 2005 you had Friday blogs for months about the Sox. I want equal time. I want the Cubs up front and center. Get on it.
Be careful what you wish for.
- OneMan - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 9:54 am:
They said on WBBM 708 that the MLB encouraged such things.
- ChuckAmuck - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 9:58 am:
The Cardinals backed into the playoffs last year and won the World Series. The Cubs have a shot.
- wndycty - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:00 am:
The rally today is being held because the Cubs have peaked and there will be nothing else to celebrate this year.
- Leigh - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:00 am:
I think the Sox will have a good off season rebuilding for a better run next year. What was the name of that other Chicago team?
- Rich Miller - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:01 am:
ChuckAmuck, keep dreaming. It will be that much sweeter when your team blows it again.
- Siyotanka - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:05 am:
Being a cardinal fan living amongst cub fans was/is not easy…all things being equal tho’…I would hope that the Cubs do great in the post season…so we here in Illi-noise land have some GOOD news to revel in…!!
- Leroy - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:05 am:
Haha…Chuck’s got you there, Rich.
Any bets on which playoff game we see Obama in a Cubs hat? Hillary?
- Rich Miller - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:16 am:
Leroy, Hillary is a Cubs/Yankee fan. So, I’m sure she’ll be donning one or both of those hats very soon.
- Ryno - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:17 am:
If I remember right, the White Sox didn’t quite enter the playoffs in blazing fashion–nearly blowing a 15 game lead. And then relying on AJ to cheat his way on to first to ultimately beat the Angels.
Sox Fans may relish their revisionist glory days, but Cub fans get to live in the moment of October baseball.
- wndycty - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:21 am:
Also Obama has maintained he is a Sox fan, he did not switch his allegiances out of political opportunity.
- He makes Ryan Look like a Saint - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:22 am:
Wheres Bartman!!! Keep him away from Wrigley!!
- Rich Miller - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:22 am:
Ryno, “moment” is the operative word. Enjoy.
- Anon - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:25 am:
In the past 3 years, the St. Louis Cardinals won over 100 games, but lost the Series, then won the Series after going 83-79. So toss out the records.
The Cubs played something like .575 - .580 baseball for the nearly four months after the Pinella Tirade of June 2. That translates to about 93 wins over an entire season. That is the team that is hitting the playoffs, not an 85 win team.
Their bigger problem is that they lost the season series to every other NL playoff team. They racked up wins vs. weaker teams, and lost to the better ones.
- Bud Man - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:35 am:
Monday is the “official” rally day for MLB playoff teams. See http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070929&content_id=2238650&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
According to the article, this was started in 2004 so I’m sure the Dirty Sox had a rally day to. You Cubs haters (yes Rich you too) really should chill out and root for the home team. I know that jealously is painful, but grow up. I know most Cubs fans rooted for the Sox because they are an Illinois team and it was high time they won for a change. Stop taking out your frustrations from the horrible season the Sox put up. GO CUBS!!!
- jerry 101 - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:38 am:
Bud Man - White Sox fans didn’t ask for you Cubs fans to jump onto our bandwagon and take up our seats at the stadium.
I will be very happy to avoid Wrigleyville and continue to predict that the Cubs will be swept away in 4 games by the Diamondbacks.
I have absolutely zero interest in seeing the Cubs win anything. And besides, the Cubs are only a year away from setting a record of futility that may never be broken - 100 years of suckage.
Ahem…Diamondbacks in 3.
- jerry 101 - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:39 am:
oops…sorry for the double post…I tried to switch that number to 3 (stupid LDS and its five game series).
- Rich Miller - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:50 am:
Bud Man, perhaps you should go back and read those posts from 2005. You Cub fans were going nuts that a Chicago team was actually winning. Turnabout, my friend.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:54 am:
“moment” is the operative word. Enjoy.
OK, Rich. I think I see a wager coming on.
Cubs win the WS, Miller appears in a Cap Fax blog post wearing a Cubs Hat, jersey and pajama shorts.
Cubs go 3 and out vs. Diamondbacks, all Cubs fans here have to send a .JPEG of themselves that Miller can draw mustaches and funny glasses on, and post it at Cap Fax Blog.
Wake up the rivalry! (Da da da da daaaaah)
- JonShibleyFan - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:56 am:
FWIW, according to the saturday Sun-Times (too lazy to provide a link, but I will if people think I’m lying), Daley was congratulating the Cubs (there is no denying he is a huge Chicago cheerleader), and the organizer of the event at which he was speaking put the cap on his head.
His quote, and I am paraphrasing, was “you see how fast I took it off…”
Not fast enough to keep the news photogs from the money shot, though. Credit to them.
Also, Ryno, though the Sox did make it way too interesting in September, they were in first place from game one through game 162, and they all but swept the playoffs (mediocre teams don’t go 11-1 in the post season). Don’t schedule your day off for the World Series parade just yet.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:56 am:
It’s not that I’m concerned that I might lose such a bet. I’m not. It’s just that I think I might actually die if I donned such attire. So I must politely refuse.
- Chicago Cynic - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 11:12 am:
Until BudMan posted that bit from MLB, I was about to rant about how pathetic it was because the Cubs haven’t won anything yet and how it’s wayyyy premature and how only losers celebrate before the their goal is achieved. Now that I see it’s something instituted by MLB, I still feel that way but at least it’s good to know it’s league wide idiocy and not just cubbie idiocy.
I’m a lifelong suffering Cubs fan, so I won’t believe until they’re actually there…and that won’t be this year. Diamonbacks in 4.
- Cardinal Nation - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 11:23 am:
As a Cardinal fan, I hope that the Cubs win the World Series. I am sick of hearing how pitiful the NL Central is. Wouldn’t it be great to have two World Series champs in a row from the NL Central?
- The Horse - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 11:46 am:
yea… 1908 wasn’t that long ago
- Jim Fregosi - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 12:13 pm:
I still do not know if I would have given Ozzie a four-year contract.
- unbiased - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 12:23 pm:
Ryno
You may want to check your facts. The Sox finished the month of September 2005 with a winning record, winning their last eight games in a row. On top of that they held off an Indians team that played nearly .800 baseball! They finished with 99 wins.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 12:25 pm:
Let’s forgive Ryno. Cub fans tend to know little or nothing about baseball.
- lee elia - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 12:41 pm:
its like cheering for blagovich
- GA Watcher - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 12:50 pm:
Mayor Daley offered Governor Blagojevich some advice at the Cubs rally this afternoon. He suggested that the Governor invite Lou Piniella to Springfield after the playoffs are over to help straighten things out. Rich, perhaps that should be a QOTD: who do you think would do a better job of straightening out the State of Illinois, Ozzie Guillen or Lou Piniella?
- Gus Frerotte's Clipboard - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 1:02 pm:
In the incredibly unlikely event that the Cubs had won the World Series before the White Sox, Cubs fans, to the extent they cared, would have rallied around the White Sox when their turn came.
But the White Sox won first, and now the White Sox fans want to see the Cubs suffer more, and still rage with hatred against the Cubs. The White Sox could win ten World Series in a row, and would still never feel benevolently toward Cub fans.
That’s why I like White Sox fans.
- jwscott72 - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 1:05 pm:
It must suck going through life being so cynical and unable to enjoy other people’s success.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 1:06 pm:
I thought exactly the same thing two years ago, jwscott72. Consider this, and future posts, a bit of payback.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 1:07 pm:
And, Gus, you obviously weren’t reading this blog two years ago. I was. I read every comment. So, spare me the crying game.
- Mr. W.T. Rush - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 1:12 pm:
How badly was BlunderBoy Blaggo booed?
Did he repeat his recent disclosure that he knows more about baseball than governing?
- Rich Miller - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 1:13 pm:
By the way, this is what Ryno posted the day after the White Sox clinched the division…
===Ok. Call us sore losers, call us disrespectful, call us whatever names you want, BUT
If you call yourself a cubs fan, there’s no way you can root for the sox. It’s an impossibility.
And in the event of a Sox/Cardinals world series, a cubs fan only option is to root for injuries.
So, can we end the discussion of why cubs fans should support sox because it’s ridiculous and insulting to cubs fans. And by the way, if you’re a sox fan who cheered for the cubs, shame on you.
thank you.===
Go read all the comments to see what it was like back then before you get all defensive, Flubbers.
It was like that every day. Payback is a bummer, eh? We’re just beginning.
- Wumpus - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 1:18 pm:
Daley is the mayor of the SOuth and North sides, as well as the West Side, I believe. he is showing class by wearing a Cub’s hat. he is not throwing out allegiance to the Sox, just wishing the other team well since the Sox are out. Playoffs mean money for the city.
Why can’t the Cubs make it to the WS? They have a good as shot as anyone, provided they are clicking.
Why can’t you fools be happy for the other team? I understand the 6 times they play each other, but this bitterness is silly and makes CHicago the 2nd city.
- Wumpus - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 1:20 pm:
GA watcher, I prefer they bring Zambrano to straighten things out.
BTW, to any Barrett lovers. How’d he do after he got traded to SD, good riddance to a nice guy, but a dumb baseball player.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 1:23 pm:
jwscott72 wrote above: “It must suck going through life being so cynical and unable to enjoy other people’s success.”
This is what jwscott72 wrote on the eve of the series with Houston… “Astros in 6. It’s time for all Cubs fans to rally around Houston.”
- Arthur Andersen - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 1:27 pm:
AA is a Cards fan who wants to see the Flubs join the Century Club.
DBacks in 4.
- Team Sleep - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 1:44 pm:
There’s no way the Cubs make it out of the first round. Sorry, Cubs fans, but Zambrano has been up-and-down and the pesky D-Backs lineup will get to him. I’m also interested to see what Ted Lilly does with the spotlight directly on him.
The Cubs offense is fine, but it’s their pitching that you Cubs fans need to fret.
I’m a Red Sox fan who is content enough with the 2004 champsionship that I won’t get greedy. When the ChiSox beat the pulp out of them in the 2005 playoffs and shrugged my shoulders. But I also will be loudly rooting for them during every game. Big Papi woke up at the right time.
- Gus Frerotte's Clipboard - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 2:06 pm:
Rich, I wasn’t being sarcastic, nor am I engaging in crying. I’m not a Cubs fan, I was just observing a difference in personality between the two groups. And don’t forget, I included a qualifier indicating that I was only talking about what it would have been like if the Cubs had won first. I did read the blog a couple of years ago, and you’re right, most of the Cub fans were rooting for Houston. I think if the Cubs had won first, they would have gotten great satisfaction out of being genially patronizing to the White Sox fans, whereas the White Sox fans will want to be venomous toward Cub fans regardless of the scenario. I like venom better than being patronizing, so I like White Sox fans better.
- Ryno - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 2:08 pm:
I was as eloquent and on-point then as I am now.
- jwscott72 - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 2:08 pm:
LOL Hoisted on my own petard! Slow day at the Capitol Rich?
- Steven Bartman - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 2:11 pm:
Let’s go Cubs! I just got my green turtleneck out of mothballs and put new batteries in my walkmen. I am making the trek to Phoenix and have secured seats by foul territory in left field. Hopefully
Soriano stays out of my way when I try and catch a ball.
Go D-Backs!
- Independent - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 2:37 pm:
Things are looking good for the Cubs {shudder}. Arizona will be a quasi-home game, certainly a much friendlier environment than Philly. The Cubs on paper are as good as anyone in the NL.
- Paul Richardson - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 4:40 pm:
1. No matter what happens, I plan on enjoying the Chicago Cubs playing baseball in October. It has happened so few times in my short life. We can never have too many opportunities to celebrate.
2. I rooted passionately against the Sox a couple years ago and expect real Sox fans to do the same this year against us.
- onlooker - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 5:35 pm:
I live in Phoenix now…just moved out here from Springfield 3 months ago…and there are just as many (if not more) Cub fans here as DBacks. Either way, it’s a great series and I’m very excited to go to the games this week. There is a rally in every city that has a team in the playoffs. I’m headed to the Dbacks in about half an hour (only because Mark Grace is there and I want a picture. hahaha)
- Concerned Voter - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 7:54 pm:
First, qualifying statement - I’m a White Sox fan.
That out of the way, as much as it pains me I have a grandmother in her 80’s that is a die hard Cubs fan, so for her sake, it would be nice if they won it all.
Now for the fun. I liked Da Mayor’s comment to Blago about sending down Sweet Lou. And by the way, it’s nice to see that he has all the problems of our state solved, that he had the time to spend in Chicago for a pep rally. I felt bad for the fans when he kind of dragged his speech out. Notice how the downstate cub fans were mentiond by him, again towards the end, always leaves downstate last.
- Robbie - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 8:13 pm:
you guys want to talk stats? how about the fact that the d-backs only won 5 more games than the cubs?!?!?!!? you can talk all you want about a weak national league central or any other worn out kindergarten talking points. but fact of the matter is, 5 games out of 162 is NOTHING. Thats a game a month. The d-backs weren’t exactly the Yankees of old winning 100, 110, or even more games.
if you idiots would look up any actual information, you would find that the d-backs rank LAST in the league in batting average and on base percentage. they rank a whopping 14th out of 16 in runs scored. they were a normal 5-5 in their last 10 games so they aren’t coming in on a hot streak. additionally, they have a sub .500 record in road games this season. also, the pitching ranked behind the cubs as far as major stats. (era, whip, baa, ops against, etc…)
even more telling of the teams… the Cubs finished the season with a run differential of +62! the d-backs you ask??? a run differential of -20!!! pretty impressive if you ask me! that gives the d-backs an expected win loss record of 79-83!!! thats pathetic. I am glad that we get the d-craps! colorado and san diego actually have the 2 best differentials in the national league.
GUYS GET SOME NEW INFORMATION! the lack of original thought in this thread is kinda pathetic. For people so in tune with political dealings, there is not much sports knowledge.
Sorry the Cubs fans hated on you in 05 Miller. I am a pretty supportive Cubs fan and was glad to see both StL and ChW win. But to act like a 7 year old getting his revenge is kinda silly. Shouldn’t you be above that?
- Bud Man - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 8:34 pm:
Well said Robbie. The projected win/loss is a great stat and should be paid attention to.
Sox fans are not above acting like a 7 year old getting renvenge. They know VERY little about baseball and that is why you always hear the same recycled jokes and rhetoric. Chicago in 4. GO CUBS!!
- Blue Dog - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 9:37 pm:
…know very little. Cub fans enjoy their ball park. Instead of having a statue of a player outside of the ball park, they have a sports caster. Anyways, all is falling in line for the cubs, even though they have a losing record against the teams in the NL playoffs.
- ChuckAmuck - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:32 pm:
Rich
Just so I understand, are you predicting a first round exit for the Cubs?
- Lula May - Tuesday, Oct 2, 07 @ 8:40 am:
After watching Daley and Blago yesterday I’m rooting for the Diamondbacks.
I’m a northsider and I’m sick of watching the selfindulgent, spoiled yuppie, delusional,Cubs Fans.
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