You're talking about a marketing slogan to get people to come to the games, not a plan to rebuild an entire organization.

The Cubs Are Coming Out of Hiiiiiiibernation also, except they sucked that year.

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You know me like that.

And you just accept that? Why don't you try telling your wife you aren't going to do shit around your house for the next seven years and that she shouldn't have any expectations, but in that eighth year, look out, you're gonna be a dynamo! If you are moved to get up off the couch in the sixth year, you can say, "Look Honey! I'm mowing the lawn two years ahead of schedule! Aren't I the greatest????"

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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 Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

So is next year a rebuilding year?

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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!

Well, this is pointless.

That's certainly the same thing.

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You know me like that.

It would not appear to be and I would not expect it to be.

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You know me like that.

White Sox fans thought the same thing about this year...

I hope it works out better for you.

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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!

They started using that slogan in either 98 or 99

Well, they were still using it in 2000. It wasn't because they thought they were contending.

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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 Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

Yeah, Im not arguing that no one has ever won while trying to "rebuild" just saying it was a couple years into that one when they won the division.

Well, they didn't know they were using the slogan until 2000. Marketing campaigns can only be confirmed in hindsight.

Obviously it isn't exactly the same thing, I just don't understand giving someone credit for telling you they're going to be bad.

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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 Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

What credit is being given? The team was real bad and this is the plan. I can't change it.

I can only watch it and try to understand as the pieces of this plan start to fall into place to see if I believe it will work. But, I understand when this plan started.

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You know me like that.

Credit is being given. THEO. TOLD. YOU. THEY. WERE. GOING. TO. SUCK. As if that somehow makes it acceptable. I can picture Epstein and Hoyer yukking it up at Guthrie's saying; "Now it's not just a horseshit team, it's a Plan! "

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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 Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

Well, it wasn't much of a stretch. They sucked when he got here.

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You know me like that.

#missionaccomplished

From the same guy that said that he would be disappointed with only one World Series victory if they weren't highly competitive after it.

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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!

I don't understand the connection to what I've said above.

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You know me like that.

What credit is being given?

#missionaccomplished

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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!

I am gonna go out on a limb and say this thread was tounge in cheek. Also done to get the Sox fans going.

Oh, you're talking about IMU.

I was talking about myself.

And Robert the Chief.

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You know me like that.

I hope leash reads your second sentence. Maybe he'll start to understand something that he didn't before.

I have to take IMU at his word. I'm sure he'll now say he was just trolling.

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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!

You're letting him win, Rick. He does it because it's so easy.

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I find the discussions enjoyable.

If he thinks that is him winning then I say keep it up.

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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!

That's my point. Calling it a "Plan" and taking credit for the suckage is pure diabolical genius. Why doesn't Hendry get credit for his suckage? Because he didn't have the forethought to call it a plan and talk about Baez incessantly.

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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 Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

The only one winning here is the Chicago Cubs organization. What is being frowned upon in this thread will, in the future, go down as one of the greatest organization turnarounds in the history of organized sports.

From the trade heists the Cubs pulled off against once respected management teams, to the scouting department that is head and shoulders above their peers, to the business savvy of Ricketts as he brought Wrigleyville entrepreneurs and Chicago politicians to their collective knees...the Chicago Cubs have become the pinnacle of a modern professional sports team. Over the next two decades, consistent success will become so routine that the Chicago Cubs will single handedly propel Major League Baseball back into the national spotlight...with Saturday Baseball having 2 network and 2 cable pre-game shows on all at the same time, and newly built stadiums for all 30 teams, in the suburbs, with 70,000 seat capacity and a Cooper's Hawk behind the batter's eye.

Your 2015-2034 World Champion Chicago Cubs

#missionaccomplished.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

You know what they teach you in sales training? Treat every objection, regardless of how ridiculous it may be, as real and legitimate. Go get him, Rick!

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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 Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

I need to be reminded of something. Did Theo really trumpet the plan? I mean other than saying the usual 5 year plan stuff that any GM/Pres hire would say. Or did this stuff of an almighty "The Plan" really grow to stupid levels due to Bernsie here? I never here my relative Cub fans with no board connection refer to "The Plan" like that.

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Elections have consequences.

“We’re trying to be transparent with our fan base - that there are no short cuts. There was a bit of a talent deficit throughout the whole system when we got there. So rather than look for quick fixes in free agency, we’re trying to build a foundation through young players that will get us to a point where we can contend every year.

“It might be tough sledding along the way, but we’re being open about it and I think our fans understand. As patient as they’ve been for 103 or 104 years, I think they appreciate the emphasis on young players and I think they can be patient a bit longer. When we get there, it’s going to be a lot of fun.’’

-Theo, Summer of 2012

This is just one quote, but there are several similar that vocalize the strategy.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Thanks.

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Elections have consequences.

Suburban stadiums! I'm sold. Trust in Theo.

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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!

And yet the owner has been less than transparent:

“I’ll be honest: I think we have a team that can do it next year,” he said earnestly. (Tom Ricketts, 2009)

Of course, that is not what happened, not the next year or the next after that or the next or the next or this dismal season about to mercifully end. Instead the Cubs have lost baseball games at a pace remarkable even for a team notorious for the longevity of its futility. (NY Times article)

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