I think, nope, I KNOW many in that organization feel that Kenny was a minor part of it, including Kenny. Forget about Ozzie?

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

They love to pretend like the Cub fans here are doing this, when it is clearly not the case. We have went over this time and time again around here.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

It used to be Cub fans went to the games no matter what. Now that the attendance is down about 40%, that mantra can't be spewn.

Now, it's that cub fans are so dumb because they are still Cub fans that are following blindly, which is also wrong. I can assure you that if 2015 doesnt show a team with top level rookies and some other well paid veterans, that has a team shooting for .500 (slow start, finish well), that the pressure will be rising quickly to a level never seen in Chicago sports.

I believe this is being all in committed to a plan. Signing guys for big money is not ALL IN if you can trade them. ALL IN implies no way out.

The Cubs have no way out if these rookies dont produce.

At the same time, Theo knows it. he has said it. He said he has asked the fans to have extraordinary patience and in exchange he owes extraordinary results. Well, I am paying with my extraordinary patience (And ticket prices), so now I can expect my results and if I don't get them, I am not even going to come close to sitting back quietly.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

The biggest con Ricketts, Theo & Co. have perpetrated is making a boogieman out of the rooftop owners. As if idiot broad Beth Murphy is the only thing standing between them and their coveted World Series. Think about how dumb that is.

_________________
Ecclesiastes 5:8

More like a concerned uncle of a brilliant slacker whose parents look the other way

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

Some of the criticism of Theo isn't valid. Renovations being on hold are somehow being on Theo not being able to close the deal. Ok, well he's president of baseball operations not business development. But because a guy like Bernstein says Theo is Jewish so he'll be able to close it out with fellow Jewishman Rahm. And then bitter delusional Sox fans hold it against theo renovations aren't started even though it was never his role.

I don't hear much about that. To me, the criticism is simple. Theo's been here three years now and this year will probably be just as bad as the last two years. He pretty much purposely created the worst team in baseball for three straight years, and he's getting applauded for it. The 76ers created the worst team in the NBA for a half season and they are getting torched about how they're embarrassing the league and the sport and something must be done about tanking because of this atrocity.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

You are correct but he is guilty of too frequently intermingling the two in discussion

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

What Cub fans here are applauding him?

Just about every Cub fan here has been realistic about what is going on.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Correct. He has hidden behind the fact that they are waiting... waiting for a new TV deal, waiting for a Jumbotron. These are the things that will make the Cubs winners. I believe the company line goes something like, "when the baseball plan syncs up with the business plan..."

_________________
Ecclesiastes 5:8

Every one except jimmypasta.

_________________
Ecclesiastes 5:8

No.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I believe most fans here except jimmypasta are on board with Theo's plan. Am I wrong?

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Being willing to wait to see if a plan works and applauding him or sucking him off as JORR so eloquently put it are not the same thing.

I am not exactly thrilled with how things have went the last 2-3 years, but I am willing to give him time. I have definitely not been happy with the course of things over my lifetime as a fan, so I am glad they brought in someone that has a clear understanding of what he wants to do. I see no reason to jump up and down and go all jimmymeatball every day around here during the wait. If his plan fails there will be plenty of time for that.

RPB, myself, and others here have voiced just about the same opinion on things. Yet you guys continue to act like we are worshipping at the feet of Theo. Just not true.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I believe I said "slurping".

_________________
Ecclesiastes 5:8

I'm not saying anything like worshipping. But that post still sounded like you applaud the idea. Every GM that's ever taken over a team has a "clear understanding of what he wants to do." And it pretty much never involves losing 95+ games three years in a row in the third largest market in the country.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I guess you can see however you want. If being willing to give the man time is applauding then I guess I am an applauder.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I was talking about the way you phrase things when talking about him. Acting like he's the only guy who has ever taken over the job with a clear understanding of what he wants to do.

How much time are you willing to give him?

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I realize he is not the only one who would have a clear understanding of what he is doing. That is not what I meant. With the Cubs over my lifetime it has seemed to be the same plan recycled over and over again. They try to buy their way to things and they have never really put the emphasis on rebuilding their entire organization. Even when McPhail came in talking about doing similar things as Theo it quickly ended up the same old song and dance. I am glad to see that Theo and Co are willing to stay the course. Will it work? Who the hell knows, but I am willing to give him the time to see. My patience will begin to wane if things do not start to really turn around in 2015.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I'm giving him a chance, but I'm cautiously optimistic. Despite what is said on this board, he does have a track record of success. It doesn't mean I'm slurping him.

_________________

Well it appears Ricketts lied to him about the purse he would have to work with.

Theo and Jed have gotten ripped for Jackson, swaimer, Dempster trade fuck up, Rizzo and Castro contracts and lack of organizational pitching depth. But the positives in transforming the organization into the modern era outweighs their errors.

They've transformed the organization as a whole. Even if they fail I'll thank them for laying the foundation for the Cubs to be a modern run organization.

Hey, I've been plenty critical of TheoAndJed's grand plan. Don't lump me in.

_________________

Okay. But be careful. You know what happened to jimmypasta.

_________________
Ecclesiastes 5:8

Theo has long tentacles.

_________________

I guess I wasn't the only one who had this thought:

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/telander ... -nice.html

Coming back to Wrigley Field after a half-year away is always special.

How dormant are the vines? (Pretty dormant.)

How much does the beer cost? (Eight dollars.)

How low is the wind chill? (Twenty-eight degrees.)

What is the new motto? (‘‘It’s the Party of the Century!’’)

How long has it been since, um, you know? (One hundred five years, five months, three weeks, one day.)

Then there’s the always-fun question: How long till next year?

The royal-blue flag with the white ‘‘L’’ rippled in the sturdy breeze above center field after the Cubs lost 7-2 to the Phillies on Friday at Wrigley Field, then again after they lost 2-0 on Saturday.

Yes, ‘‘L’’ still stands for losers. Some things remain the same in Cubdom.

Other things do change with the Cubs, if only because each year they don’t change makes the pain of no change sharper.

I truly thought I had heard it all from these Ricketts folks. After foisting an average of 94 losses on us the last four seasons, I didn’t think there was any more nonsense that could spew from chairman Tom Ricketts’ mouth about delaying, ‘‘starting over,’’ ‘‘rebuilding,’’ ‘‘trying to do it the right way,’’ splitting the atom and beating Rosie O’Donnell in a leg-wrestling contest.

But then I heard this as I drove to the home opener, as it was replayed from a morning interview on WSCR-AM (670).

First, some setup. One of the hosts had asked, as a rational person will, why the Cubs couldn’t put a decent team on the field as they meticulously build their golden beanstalk to the baseball gods above. How about, like, just an average team to tide us over for however many decades this might take? A tiny gift from president Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer?

I can’t say for sure that Ricketts sneered, can’t say that he scoffed like a fop being handed a bottle of Boone’s Farm Country Kwencher for inspection at a fancy wine bar. But it sounded like he did.

‘‘Eighty-three games?’’ he said. ‘‘Theo and Jed could do that in their sleep!’’

Strike me dead, he said that.

And I say: For the love of God, take a nap, guys, and give us 83 wins! Just do it.

Eighty-three wins are nothing? Sleepwalking garbage?

May I refer you to 2006, when the Cardinals won the World Series with 83 victories. The Mets won the National League pennant with 82 victories in 1973. The Twins won the World Series with 85 victories in 1987.

How long must we wait, Cubs? Forever? Why, the Florida Marlins won the World Series in 1997 — in their fifth season of existence!

Ho-ho! So we dis 83 victories and four-plus years like they’re moron’s work?

I will ask this again, as I have asked so many times in the 4½ years the Ricketts family has owned the Cubs: What other service business gets to stay open while it serves its clientele botulism-tainted meat, delivers termite-laden lumber, provides worm-infested seed corn?

The Cubs are 1-4 and have scored eight runs in five games. Think that hints at a problem on offense? Pitcher Edwin Jackson gets a jillion dollars a year, and he finished 8-18 last season and has a no-decision this season. Slugger Anthony Rizzo can’t slug with men on base.

We hear that billionaire Warren Buffett might jump in as a minority owner, as the Rickettses extend their proverbial hat for funds to help redo Wrigley. Who’s next? Jimmy Buffett? Little Miss Muffet?

Why do we spend all our time talking about business, money, rooftops and bricks and never about winning baseball? Sorry to keep asking questions, but this was the home opener, and people already were booing.

Tom Ricketts said fans will be really excited ‘‘when they see the plan in action.’’

Whatever that plan is. Whoever’s still alive.

_________________
Ecclesiastes 5:8

Theo has a record of success. I just hope for the best. Could be a huge failure and waste if years

I just see no point in pounding my fist and cursing them. Ill just wait and hope they get good.

The plan is in action, it's been in action for several years and this current team looks to be the worst one ever.

1.)Lose 100 games per season for several seasons
2.)??????????
3.)Win World Series.

slurper

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Here is what gets me with your apathy: if they signed good players to three year deals in year one, no prospect would be blocked and they would be relieved of any of them that were bad...and you could get some pretty good players on three year deals.

The only thing that would have suffered is draft position, but that still would have allowed you to have Baez, Soler and a host of other good players.

So, you have accepted this losing in the hopes of good times ahead. However you could have had winning now AND good times in the future.

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

Spark: I won't be happy until you're miserable!

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