Signing Milton Bradley seemed like a good idea the time, after the Cubs fell to the Dodgers in last fall’s National League playoffs.

Never mind that Bradley is basically a designated hitter, due to injury issues. Never mind that the National League only uses the DH during those infrequent visits to American League parks.

Never mind his famous irritability and volatility. The Cubs had to have a big left-handed bat – and they were willing to trade away Mark DeRosa to create a lineup spot for him.

Oops!

Bradley was a miserable failure – and a miserable person – pretty much from the moment he arrived.

“It’s just not a positive environment,” he complained to the Daily Herald newspaper before getting axed. “I need a stable, healthy, enjoyable environment. There’s too many people everywhere in your face with a microphone asking the same questions repeatedly. Everything is just bashing you. You go out there and you play harder than anybody on the field and never get credit for it. It’s just negativity.

“And you understand why they haven’t won in 100 years here, because it’s negative. It’s what it is.”

He wrought havoc on the Cubs clubhouse chemistry and became a constant distraction. He ranks among the worst free-agent signings in Chicago sports history.

So Cubs general manager Jim Hendry had to own up to his mistake, suspend him for the rest of the season and prepare to move him down the trail.

Ryan Dempster offered this assessment to the Chicago Tribune:

“At the end of the day, he was provided a great opportunity to be part of a really great organization with a lot of really good guys. It just didn’t seem to make him happy- anything. Hopefully this is a little bit of a wake-up call for him and he’ll realize how good of a gig you have. It probably became one of those things where you start saying things that you’re putting the blame on everybody else.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to look in the mirror and realize that maybe the biggest part of the problem is yourself and (not) wanting to be here and play every day, and (not) wanting to have some fun. It didn’t seem like he wanted to have some fun, even from spring training. Hopefully this is something that can be good for his career and good for him as a person.”

Yeah, well, don’t count on it.

TALKING THE TALK, WALKING THE WALK

New Jets coach Rex Ryan sounded the clarion this week. He implored his team to take down the vaunted Patriots – and he asked New York fans share to in this quest.

And, sure enough, his Jets stepped on New England 16-9. The Patriots seemed taken aback by Ryan’s bold proclamations, but they couldn’t make him pay for them.

So Ryan walks tall this week in New York City.

“I don’t know how much talking was done last week. Was there some?” Ryan quipped after his hallmark victory. “Sometimes we talk a little bit, but only because we have confidence in our football team.

“The big deal is, we’re a football team that should be respected.”

But now that the Jets have won their big game, where do they go from here?

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions to ponder while Donnie Avery goes back to work on his ball security:

• Are the Rams sure they couldn’t use a veteran receiver like Ronald Curry right about now?
• Wasn’t Randy McMichael supposed to be a major weapon in this West Coast offense? What happened to all that?
• If Jaime Garcia is healthy enough to pitch huge playoff games for the Memphis Redbirds, why isn’t he healthy enough to help the Cardinals?
• After Sunday’s wretched performance, should Tony Romo focus more on his on-field activities than what happens off the field?
• Isn’t it great to see Chad Ocho Cinco battle on after the NFL stripped him of his ability to Tweet?

YOUR OBSCURE ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

The Daily Mail newspaper of London knows not of our baseball team, as this news report on Twitter indicates:

The social networking site Twitter is clamping down on fake celebrity accounts after being sued in America.

Thousands of famous names have fallen victim to impostors, including Britney Spears, Foreign Secretary David Miliband, the Dalai Lama and even the Queen.

This summer, Mr Miliband was forced to deny quotes widely attributed to him after the death of Michael Jackson. The comments had been written on a seemingly plausible Twitter account under his name.

Twitter has decided to act after Tony La Russa, the coach of an obscure American baseball team, launched a legal action over a fake account. He claimed that postings in which he appeared to make light of the death of two of his players had been ‘hurtful’.

QUIPS ‘R US

Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:

Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times: “For several long minutes after USC’s 16-13 loss to Washington on Saturday, Trojans Coach Pete Carroll stood at the edge of the Husky Stadium tunnel, staring ashen-faced back into the swarming mob as if peering into the smoking wreckage of a car he totaled. Which he did. A luxury car. Smashed it to bits.”

Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle: “Usain Bolt won his final race and says he’ll take a long vacation. When you live in Jamaica, where do you vacation? Akron?”

Dan Daly, Washington Times: “With 30 saves and a 7.21 ERA entering Saturday, the Phillies’ Brad Lidge has gotta be a shoo-in for the Fire Marshal Bill Award . . .  Lidge has been so combustible this season that the Phillie Phanatic has been treated twice for singed fur . . . Talk about doing a 180. A year ago, Brad was the best reliever in baseball. This year, he’s the asbestos reliever in baseball.”

Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel: “There are reports that AARP pro wrestling legends Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan are coming out of retirement to fight each other. Can you say Sansabelt wrestling trunks?”

Bill Simmons, ESPN.com: “Fans are like women. We are loyal. We are passionate. We are (occasionally) crazy. We have long memories, and we cannot forgive being hurt. You can break up with a woman once — and only once — and they might take you back, but they will put you through hell first. If you cheat on a woman? They might take you back, but they will never forgive you, and eventually, the whole relationship will self-combust.”

Greg Cote, Miami Herald: “Buffalo cornerback Leodis McKelvin’s front lawn was vandalized after he was the goat in last week’s 25-24 loss to New England. The perpetrator was apprehended. Bills coach Dick Jauron has since made bail.”

MEGAPHONE

“The fans were non-stop. There were a lot of F-words that weren’t ‘Florida’ being yelled at me. It was beautiful.”

Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin, on getting a rough ride at Florida.