Who cheers on tanking?

I went to hundreds of games where that team was going nowhere.

The Cub problem is that Wrigley really is a fun experience to watch a game. A good portion of the younger people use it as a tailgate to the weekend party. They don’t care who is winning.

That’s always going to be there.

No offense but nobody goes to whatever the Sox park is named today for the park experience. Maybe once to see what it is about. But it is not a destination.

So they need to put a good product on the field.

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You know me like that.

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I'm not offended but I think you have a few things wrong. First, most people at a Sox game are on their own dime. Many people at every Cub game are there as guests on corporate tickets.

Also, I certainly didn't invent the term "tank wins". I think the Score may own the copyright. A bunch of guys who never pay for a ticket.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Kash, and Don

Alright, I don’t even know what tank wins means. I assume it has something to do with being bad for better draft position.

I will just say, and this my personal experience, I get invited to way more Sox games for corporate outings. I almost never get a Cub game invite.

I assume -

1. The tix are less expensive.
2. Easier to get a suite.

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You know me like that.

When Sox players leave, they still love Jerry. When Flub players leave, they tell ownership to get bent.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

3. They trust you’re a connoisseur of baseball and want to give you only the best.

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That's just it. I don't think it is "always going to be there". I think the success and the World Series win ended that. The Cubs aren't going to be Lovable Losers when they lose 100 games next season. They'll just be losers.

One thing I remember bernstein saying a long time ago is that Cub games were singular events. Lots of fans attended the games and if they lost it was a great time and if they won it was even better. But the win or loss wasn't related to the larger season or the pursuit of a championship. The Cubs win a championship? That was a pipedream. Like watching greyhounds chasing a mechanical rabbit you knew they would never catch.

That's all gone now. The Cubs are a normal team. Wrigley isn't quaint the way it used to be. There are hideous video boards cluttering the outfield and screaming walkup music by Imagine Dragons and Arctic Monkey.

They aren't going to be given the Lovable Loser breaks the way they used to be. My friend who is the biggest Cub fan I know and has had season tickets for 25 years said he's out next season. I doubt that will actually be the case, but one thing for sure, he ain't happy and that's something new.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Kash, and Don

Well maybe if the guys that won silver sluggers , gold gloves , MVPs, ROY’s didn’t disappear down the stretch and playoffs last 3 years , they would’ve gotten paid .

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Right. When the team is good, better attendance.

The Cubs don't have to put a good team on the field to sell almost 100% of their tickets, and they're still bad more often than not.

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I don't think that's really true. Of course there will be more seats sold than people in the park because of the corporate tickets I mentioned, but you're going to see a half empty ballpark this September.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Kash, and Don

I don't think so. Maybe on a Tuesday night when its 50 degrees and the wind is coming in off the Lake that will happen. Or if the Cubs are beyond brutal and are sitting on 90+ losses already in mid Sept. IMO there will be 30K+ the vast majority of games at Wrigley the rest of the this year.

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While I agree the Cubs' Mystique is gone, the seats will still have fannies in them. It's still touristy. Hell, it's MORE touristy than ever.

Some Cubs fans hold out the attendance thing like it speaks to their character as baseball fans. It really doesn't. It speaks to the fact that Wrigley Field has become a tourist destination/frat party. Because of that fact, they're going to have solid attendance even through a rebuild. I also don't see that atmosphere changing anytime soon. It's going to take Generation Z having a different outlook on baseball, if they care at all, to change it.

THIS.
I do think Cub fans are done with the loveable loser attitude, but Wrigley is still a destination and an experience. That's not changing. June through September, the ballpark will still have butts in seats.

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Even the Attendance Trophy is fake.

STOLEN CHAMPIONSHIP! AUDIT THE TICKET COUNTS!

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I guess I do to a degree. Basketball and hockey are sports where you need stars and the best place to get them is at the top of the draft. There are times when a complete teardown, tank, and rebuild is the best path. The Hawks should have blown it up completely instead of this halfway, Seth Jones acquisition bullshit they did which will end up resulting in mediocrity pushing the rebuild down the road. Now baseball is obviously different since prospects take so long and their success rate is much lower.

As much as I dislike the Cubs and the Ricketts, I don't really see anything wrong with that letter. It will be interesting to see what and how they spend this offseason. I know they have gotten a lot of prospects with trades going back to the Darvish trade but do they even have high ceiling prospects for this rebuild? Regardless, they're going to need time for those guys to develop. If they go cheap this offseason it will be awfully hard to justify their ticket prices and Marquee Network fees that so many of you are paying.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

The thing is, I am a dumb guy but can come up with easy solutions.

You lose 100 games, you drop 5 spots in the draft. You lose 105, you drop 10 spots, etc.

You win 80 or mor games and don’t make the playoffs - you get a comp pick or 2mm more in international money, something like that.

A good-faith gesture to the fans would be to eat the rest of Heyward's contract and give a youngster playing time in RF next year. Dump Happ too....he's not going to be the next DJ LeMahieu.

We are looking at a couple of rough years, regardless of what Ricketts or Hoyer say.

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similar to the letter i received from 'doc's', the wisconsin-based prognosticating experts.

going into the summer of 1995, i was coming off a good season of nba/nhl action. i never was/am/will never be an expert on college football. to 'boost' my chances of keeping/increasing my winnings, i signed up for doc's 1995 college football service. can't remember how much it was, maybe $1,200...plus i got his famous red book.

long story short - doc's went something like 4-22 the first month (seemed to only take home dogs, especially big 10). i stopped playing and sold the rest of his season's plays to someone for $600. you call them on saturday mornings and get their loser plays.

doc's sent a letter to their customers in january 96 - apologizing for their worst season ever and offering a free super bowl pick and over/under. the letter said, "dallas and the over". i played pit and the under and got back much i had lost.

i know doc's had a great reputation and maybe they still do - the letter was good business sense; the free plays in the letter were not. the 1995 football season just wasn't their year.

443 + denishumblebrag = match

I disagree. Next year it's going to be very empty, because there is a big legion of season ticket holders (myself included) who essentially take on the risk of unsold tickets. That big group is going to shrink massively by 2023. 2022, many season ticket holders will re-up knowing there will be a strike and holding out hope that 2023 the Cubs will get much better. But they won't. 2023 is the year the Cubs discover life without their unpaid ticket sellers.

That magical waiting list is non-existent at this point.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Yeah, if the Cubs weren't concerned Ricketts wouldn't be writing a letter.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Kash, and Don

I went to a game during the last series vs Cincinnati, the one we all knew could be the last time we saw the beloved core players in a Cubs uniform. Park was 50-75% full. It's not going to go to the pre-Harry Caray days of 7k, but there is trouble on the horizon.

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As a long time fan I agree with many of the posters here.

Remember actually thinking Mike Vail would be great after he has a few good weeks as a late call up, can almost hear Brickhouse saying, "Wait to next year", but next year actually did come with the championship, hard to rebottle the feckless enthusiasm of an unknowing fan base.

When you also throw in the fact that there are a million other things for hapless young guys to do than hurry home to catch the last few innings of the game and then go in the back yard and mimic Ryne Sandberg's batting stance while playing whiffle ball with your buddies, it makes it difficult to imagine they will be the same hot ticket they once were after the middle aged Cub fan groups ages out.

Your top quote is pretty wrong, they're not going to sell even close to 100 percent if their season ticket holders walk. And I think the ballpark will be half empty by 2023, if not 2022, on a regular basis. Unless they start lowering the prices significantly.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20210804/ricketts-promises-quick-cubs-turnaround-but-can-he-deliver

I hope they get it turned around fast. But way too many holes and way too many questions. Their best shot is if the new labor agreement compresses the market for player salaries, and they can pick up free agents at more reasonable prices while the best teams have legacy salaries locked in.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

you think so?

i left myself open to ridicule by sharing my euro plays/amounts here. if i fail, no shame. if i do well, no bragging.

I share a Cubs season ticket—I get ten games. I already told the holder I’m out for next year. I have two tix to a Wed 1:20 game on the the 23rd. I can’t go, and can’t find someone willing to go for free. So I’m eating $180.

This is the same reason I got rid of my Bears tix. Thursday night December games versus the Lions are worthless.

I’m better off just choosing the games I want to attend on the secondary market and optimizing the matchups/weather and paying a premium.