Say Good-Bye To The Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are going, going . . . gone?
The Small Bears have lost six of their last seven games. This swoon coincided with a Cardinals surge, so suddenly the North Siders are four games off the National League Central pace.
Ace Cub pitchers Ted Lilly and Carlos Zambrano are on the disabled list. So is outfielder Reed Johnson.
Third baseman Aramis Ramirez, this team’s offensive catalyst, is trying to play through a chronic shoulder injury. There is no end to this team’s misery.
The team seems cursed, again, as Chicago Tribune columnist Rick Morrissey wrote:
“Chances are, if Ramirez has to dive for a grounder when he returns, he not only will reinjure his dislocated shoulder but break a leg in the process. That’s the theme of this season, isn’t it? Not necessarily that the Cubs have been done in by injuries, though you certainly could make that argument, but that bad things just happen to this club. If it’s not one thing, it’s the other, unless it’s both. A Ramirez injury become a Carlos Zambrano meltdown. A Milton Bradley meltdown becomes a Geovany Soto slump. If Ryan Dempster isn’t hurt, then Ted Lilly is.”
Cubs fans normally remain stoical in the face of failure, since they have had so much practice at it. But one of them snapped and dumped beer on Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino during Wednesday’s ugly 12-3 loss at Wrigley Field.
Oh, well, there’s always next year.
MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE
Questions to ponder while waiting for the Cincinnati Reds to rebuild, again:
- Did anybody really think Brendan Ryan would blossom into such a spectacular shortstop and reliable hitter?
- Is Alex Rodriguez starting to feel more like a thoroughbred these days?
- Are we the only ones eager to see USC taken down a peg? Isn’t it time for all of us to starting pulling for UCLA?
- Can we all agree that Lawrence Phillips‘ NFL comeback dream is officially over?
LANE KIFFIN, LIGHTNING ROD
Tipsheet’s favorite SEC coach has fired up rival programs with his antics. The first-year Tennessee coach has made quite a mark.
Just ask Florida offensive lineman Matt Patchan. “I’ve got nothing to say to that guy,” he told The Gainesville Sun. “He’s a bozo.”
QUIPS ‘R US
Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing about the unseemly Rick Pitino/ Karen Sypher affair:
Rick Bozich, Louisville Courier-Journal: “The world tilts for Rick Pitino now. His motivational riffs, his player discipline and his recruiting battles will not be viewed the way they were viewed before this Jerry Springer episode erupted in his life. Every twitch in the University of Louisville men’s basketball program will be examined through this freshly clouded prism. You take a king-size personality and achiever like Pitino, put him in the middle of combustible topics such as marital infidelity, a $3,000 payment, abortion, religion and extortion, and you wonder how long and how fiercely this story about his encounter with Karen Sypher will rage.”
Mark Bradley, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “He’s among the most successful and charismatic people in the Western World, but I’m not sure success and charisma will save Rick Pitino. This isn’t He Said/She Said. This is He Admitted To Police, which is an altogether different thing.”
Jay Mariotti, FanHouse: “No matter how Pitino sweats and spins, the conclusion is that no, he can’t survive this, regardless of his standing among the college game’s elite coaches. If he were thinking straight, he’d offer his resignation, but he is too combative for a common-sense exit. Unlike professional sports, where adultery is a fact of daily life, a collegiate coach is required to be a multi-year father figure, administrator and mentor for the young men he recruits. He also is expected to be a pillar of a university and cornerstone of a community, especially in a city such as Louisville, where Pitino and his program rank with the Kentucky Derby and Churchill Downs as proud civic symbols and national identity sources.”
Tim Dahlberg, The Associated Press: “Sure, Pitino’s contract lists moral depravity and dishonesty as possible causes for termination. But let’s get real. Winning basketball games is a lot more important than taking the high moral ground at most universities. Besides, where is Louisville going to get another coach who can win and win big? No need to even look. Pitino said Wednesday he was at Louisville ‘as long as they will have me’ and, by the muted response of the university to the scandal, that figures to be as long as he keeps winning.”
SNOOP DOGG, FOOTBALL COMMENTATOR
Maybe he could work for ESPN full-time.
MEGAPHONE
“I promised my dad I would come back and play baseball like he asked me, his last word. Making it back feels like I just took something off my shoulders. The fact that I got a win or whatever is very good, but to actually be able to make it back like I promised my dad I would do, it was probably my best gift. That’s for him. This one’s for him.”
New Phillies pitcher Pedro Martinez, on winning his comeback game for his late father.
I did not read they Philly papers, but of all the coverage given Pedro’s return, that quote is my favorite part of the story. Thank you for finding and reporting that.
“Say Good-Bye To The Cubs” eh? Seriously, I realize Gordon probably doesn’t write the headline, but really, we are in early August. Say goodbye in early September when we are 8 ahead. Please. (TLR’s probably tearing his hair out seeing that right now.)
As to the first question in Mysteries, I believe several people right here in Tipsheet thought that Ryan would be good if given the chance. In fact, had LaRussa given the guy a real chance last year like he should have, we wouldn’t be sitting here waiting for the next mental implosion of Khalil Greene because we wouldn’t have had to trade for him…
Pedro promised the Yankees he would return to baseball? The Yankees are his Daddy, right?
Does anyone else find themselves automatically smiling everytime the Cubs drop another game in the standings? I’m like Pavlov’s dog, I just can’t help it…
Snoop Dogg likes hockey, which makes him ineligible for hire by ESPNBA.
Where’s the headline “Bleacher bums uphold their drunken reputation” or “Not-so-friendly confines throws cup of beer on Phlyin’ Hawaiin’. Come on #24, if this were Phl you’d jump on this for 3 days.
Yeah, the Cubs are not done. Not by a long shot.
Damn, the Snoop link is disabled. What did he and Stu have an in-def conversation about?
Seriously Tito?
The slogan would have been:
“Considered Useless By August”
But the name Cuba was taken.
We can pretend we have a team chasing us just so we don’t get lazy down the stretch.
Mariotti writes: “Unlike professional sports, where adultery is a fact of daily life, a collegiate coach is required to be a multi-year father figure, administrator and mentor for the young men he recruits. He also is expected to be a pillar of a university and cornerstone of a community”
My mind went directly to Norm Stewart and how he was all those things plus some - and he was still cut loose. That’s a rough business.
I work out at the air force base and they are people from Chicago that also work here. My question to them is…why? why are you a cub fan and why raise your kids as Cub fans?
I had the a cub fan the other day tell me how cub fans stay throughout the game unlike Card fans. I replied that’s because Card fans have jobs to go to the next day!!!!!