Apparently the Cubs Were a Lock for the WS

[MillerParkSouth]

That is, until the Mets got Johan.

 

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/couch/769492,013108couchweb.article

 

I saw some article somewhere else too that was discussing the impact the Santana trade had on the Cubs, and the general feeling was that they were impacted big time because it was a foregone conclusion that they were the team to beat in the NL. It amazes me how so many people forget that the Cubs weren't that great last year. They won, what, 85-86 games? They barely held onto the division and practically tried to give it away in the last couple of weeks and then got embarassed by Arizona in the NLDS. I'd say with the improvements we've made and with the improvements the Reds have made that they're far from a lock to win their division, let alone the NL pennant. The Brewers may as well not play the season because the NL is a two team race. Unless of course the Cubs get Bedard, then everyone may as well take their ball and go home. Sometimes the media makes me want to freak out! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif

 

 

[Patrick425]

Sometimes the media makes me want to freak out!

Keep in mind that this "media" is the Chicago Sun Times.

[jwaltz]

The Chicago Sun Times isn't exactly an unbiased paper. I do laugh when they say the Cubs were the favorites for the WS considering the Diamondbacks beat them in the playoffs and Arizona improved a bunch with Haren. Plus Arizona's so young they are only going to get better. In my opinion the Diamondbacks are the favorites even with the Mets getting Santana.

[MillerParkSouth]

Naturally, I think the Chicago media would be a little biased, but I don't think you'd see the Journal Sentinel putting out a piece like this. I agree that this still doesn't make the Mets the favorite to win anything. Even with Johan, their rotation is very shaky and their lineup has some holes in it. I think all 3 divisions are going to be very competitive this year, which should be great.

[JohnBriggs12]

MillerParkSouth, I live in Chicago area. This has been the consensus of the entire Chicago media including print, talk radio etc. It's nothing new. To them an NL Central title is a foregone conclusion. Even "experts" like Steve Stone has been saying that the Cubs are far and away the best of the division. In fact I've yet to hear one comment from anyone either in the Sun Times, Tribune, or radio, that anyone including the Brewers in the Central is even so much as a threat to the Cubs.

 

The Cubs were 9 1/2 games better than the Brewers from June 29th on. So there is some basis for their optimism. The Cubs are getting heavily bet in Vegas too.

[derflotr]

The tone of that article just reeks of Cubs fan.

 

Cliff notes: Last season was a complete waste, and without Erik Bedard the Cubs' season is shot.

 

The whole last section entitled "Falling Farther Behind" is hilarious. Absolutely no mention of the Diamondbacks, who were absolutely the favorite to win the NL before the Santana trade (the Diamondbacks may still be the favorite anyway). To say the Cubs were the favorite in the NL and then go on to say how awful they were last year with no improvement this offseason doesn't make sense to me.

[Ennder]

I don't think the Diamondbacks were ever the favorites to most people. It is the media, they are just in it to get a reaction out of people so the article doesn't really bother me. The Brewers had a 12-25 stretch in late july through august and we choked away the division. Hopefully now that the young guys have been through a pennant race they won't repeat that next year and we'll play more like the .568 team we were the rest of the year.

[TooLiveBrew]

considering the Diamondbacks beat them in the playoffs

That was an ol' fashioned visit to the woodshed, not just a defeat. What are you gonna do, it's Chicago...

[NeedMoreFans]

The Cubs could lose- for the season- Lee, Ramirez, Soriano and Zambrano in spring training, and they would still be the favorites to win the World Series...that is in the eyes of the Chicago media and fans.

[rluzinski]

Am I the only one who has no emotional investment with regard to what the Chicago media thinks about the Milwaukee Brewers? To be fair, I don't like in the Chicago area, so I'm not subjected to it on a regular basis but I'm certainly not going to seek it out. It's like listening to a conservative talk radio station when you are a liberal, and shaking your fist at the radio in disgust. What did you expect? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[MillerParkSouth]

haha, I live a few blocks south of Wrigley, so i have a huge emotional investment in what these fools think. I think I just need to take a deep breath and relax and realize that we're in good shape here.

[trwi7]

Felix Pie, Rich Hill and Sean Marshall all can go.

Please fire Jim Hendry and hire Greg Couch as general manager. That would make me a very happy Brewers fan.

[Tbadder]

This is the kind of article I love; I mean absolutely love. It makes me laugh that deep from the belly laugh, and think about how stupid humanity really is. No wonder cockroaches will outlive humanity. Sure the Cubs are a slight fav to win the division again, but a threat to win the world series? The Cards winning the series used up all the "undeserving team takes it all" karma for at least another ten or twenty years. I say keep 'em coming Sun Times. You've got your finger on the pulse of the "Cosmic Black Humor" being. Thank you indeed.

[pete]

Its the same ol', same ol'. Even before they got KoooooooSKAY, winning the division was gonna be "easy." Now, heck, just bow down baby.

 

There was an article a couple days ago that had the same flavor in a Chicago paper and I thought about starting a thread with the best quote and a url. The articles would pile up and then it could be referred to later if, ya know, lightning strikes and they don't have a glorious overwhelming victory. I got the idea when I came across some ESPN article on Favre on an oddball Bears forum and couldn't later find it again, even on ESPN. He sucked, was old, et cetera.

 

Additionally if you look at national media, often times the media members carry an emotional attachment to their old home team. Bill James is a Bears fan I believe and likely a Cubs or Chisox fan. The Footballoutsiders guys, who are quite in vogue now as heavy stat creation and analysis migrates to football, have a bunch of guys from Seattle. Looking at their comments before the season is hilarious.

 

Having said all that, I listen to WSCR and the ESPN affiliate now and then when the local shows are uninteresting. They do have guys who are more objective.

[GenoSeligPrieb]

There's this one dork on WSCR middays who sounds like Dr. Demento, Mike Murphy. He skews old as hell, practically shines the shoes of his sponsors, interrupts the flow of the show by clapping and singing the sponsor's names and jingles, and overall comes off as if he's doing radio in the Council Bluffs instead of the #3 market in the country.

 

And when Santana Claus got traded to the Mets, he whined "Why can't the CUBS get a major star like this?" Obviously, he forgot about Fukudome, Soriano, and the salary-absorbing trades of Aramis Ramirez, Derrek Lee and Michael Barrett, to name a few.

 

Again, I don't hate the Cubs. I just can't. But when I hear crap like this, I'm just not as sad when they fall short.

[flosses like fossas]

that article could've been written by any of the millions of cubs fans who've grown accustomed to doomsday theories and the drastic big-spending moves that have characterized the club the past few years. not only does the article over-dramatize a move by a team in a different division, it assumes that bedard would be a patch for any of the myriad problems that are certain to befall the cubs this (and every) season while freely bidding adieu to the club's best prospects. digression: i couldn't be more sick of hearing about eric bedard.

[hawing]

I keep wondering, how could the Cubs not be a lock for the World Series? The year ends in 08.

[Leinie Lodge]

Hawing is right, according to MLB.COM:

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080212&content_id=2371012&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

[homer]

MillerParkSouth, I live in Chicago area. This has been the consensus of the entire Chicago media including print, talk radio etc. It's nothing new. To them an NL Central title is a foregone conclusion. Even "experts" like Steve Stone has been saying that the Cubs are far and away the best of the division. In fact I've yet to hear one comment from anyone either in the Sun Times, Tribune, or radio, that anyone including the Brewers in the Central is even so much as a threat to the Cubs.

 

I don't read Chicago print but the sports radio has already annointed the Cubs division champs. Of course, these are the same guys that said they were done in May of last year so I really take what they say with a grain of barley.

[erbacaine04]

There's this one dork on WSCR middays who sounds like Dr. Demento, Mike Murphy. He skews old as hell, practically shines the shoes of his sponsors, interrupts the flow of the show by clapping and singing the sponsor's names and jingles, and overall comes off as if he's doing radio in the Council Bluffs instead of the #3 market in the country.

 

And when Santana Claus got traded to the Mets, he whined "Why can't the CUBS get a major star like this?" Obviously, he forgot about Fukudome, Soriano, and the salary-absorbing trades of Aramis Ramirez, Derrek Lee and Michael Barrett, to name a few.

 

Again, I don't hate the Cubs. I just can't. But when I hear crap like this, I'm just not as sad when they fall short.

Yeah and now Steve Stone says that the Cubs should walk away with the Divison... I used to like what the old fart had to say.... In fact I remember listening to him last year Before Braun and YO came up and he was singing their prasies and said that they would both be a force in 2007......

[ozzybourne]

anyone remeber ron santo clicking his heels after a win, while running out on the third baseline towards the outfield?

 

or on channel 9 "hey,hey" "hey,hey" by the legend-jack brickhouse?

 

that was 1969. one of the biggest chokejobs ever. (the brewers last year was much smaller by comparison)

[smbrewersfan15]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3244658

 

Even Dempster is spouting out his mouth. Anyone else like that the Cubs keeping setting themselves up to put their feet in their mouth? Guess that Kool-Aid down south is good! This is their year to end the drought!