Actually, it was a 5 game series. but it was memorable. Kerry Wood besting Mike Hampton in a great finale.

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Go Cubs!!!!

The discussion morphed.

All I did was quote a long time Cub fan and current Cub player who, in a rare move for the organization, has placed the responsiblity of winning and losing games on the players

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

When was the last time the Cubs were a low payroll team.

This whole Ricketts argument is a total slight of hand. A team can win and make money with the salary of the last few years.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

So why are the Cubs so popular, exactly? It certainly isn't the winning. So it must be the everything else. Why do they want to change the everything else part?

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

I think, and maybe my Cubs fan rose colored glasses, that no one in the front office truly believes that the stadium is more important than the talent. Obviously greater revenue for any team can't hurt and Rickett's comments were just attempting to get the average Cubs fan on their side to pressure a deal through as quick as possible. The guaranteeing of a World Series is silly, but that's been done before by owners, players etc in all sports so there's really no reason to read anything into that.

I agree with RPB that the day games are more detrimental than helpful.

Also agree than ES should stop speaking.

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Team Cutler.

I disagree.

I think ES should just stop breathing.

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The last couple years (since losing Lee and Ramirez and trading Zambrano and having his contract expire) they have become a low payroll team. Before that, in the early 80's they had a low payroll. In the 90's the payroll was not real high. Sosa and Grace made some coin, but overall it was not a high payroll. It wasn't until the Trib decided to try to win before selling the team, that the payroll went up considerably. Thats when they traded for Lee, and Ramirez, as well as Garciaparra and then Soriano. Now it's back to where it was before that. Soriano is the big bucks guy, much as Sosa was, with few others making much.

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Go Cubs!!!!

This reads like a parody of Elmhurst Steve. Seriously, I couldn't write a mocking post any better.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Hey, you want to remember it as a horriffic year, go ahead. Focus on all the unfortunate things that happened in games 6&7 of the NLCS. I would rather look back fondly on a great season, a playoff series victory and an NLCS that had some great highlights but just ended in an unfortunate way.

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Go Cubs!!!!

It's like if SHARK decided to do an ES parody.

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Team Cutler.

I don't really know why this needs to be pointed out, but the fact that it was a great season up until that point is why it is a meltdown.

I guess Chernobyl wasn't a meltdown either. It worked great but just ended in an unfortunate way!

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!