goodkat's post got me thinking.

How the hell were Tom and the rest of the clan unanimously approved to purchase the Cub? I know some of the Ricketts' political views more than likely align with the rest of the good ole boy network, (aside from Laura) but the event above might have caused some unwanted PR issues no? Most owners seem to be low key when it comes to politics.

And where is Tom in all of this? Does he just keep to himself and that's why the Family was approved? A pro Republican crew in Chicago seems like an uphill battle from the get go, so how did all this go down? Where and what were Reinsdorf's opinions on the matter? What is the relationship like with Rahm? Is the league happy with their decision to let Tom & Co. into the club?

BigFan, your thoughts?

These guys and Elmhurst Steve are the face of Cubbie Nation!

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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!

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I'm sure the most notorious anti-union hardliner in sports has no problem with Scott Walker fanboys.

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I have no doubt about that, but I can't imagine he thought Tom was going to bring in Theo & Co. That couldn't have sat well with him.

I think Reinsdorf thought they would be cash-strapped and incompetent. I'm still not sure they're competent. But yeah, if Weird Jerry knew they'd hire TheoAndJed, maybe they would have wound up in the dustbin with Mark Cuban.

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Yawn

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Kenny Williams fell for the banana in the tailpipe

the league cares if you can pay the Bills.....and I think you saw Jerrys last power battle over the commish, which he lost.

The old boy network is crumbling fast...The new Steinbrenners, MAgic & Co, Ricketts, Milwaukee have a different view. This is CONTENT...CONTENT...Maximize revenues, wahtver it takes.

Thats what matters.

Tom's relationship with Rahm is great, have no idea about the rest of the family...and dont think Tom cares that much either. he cares the minimum needed to in order to keep the family funding in place.

Pro Republican crew at this point means nothing. They dont need anything anymore...and to be honest....they asked for very little to start. Every politician, Dem or Rep will be jumping on this bandwagon, looking for tickets and takiing pics...so, you tell me when that happens if it matters.

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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.’”

He's the 2nd most competent owner in Chicago sports behind a Wirtz. So sad

bigfan,

Did Reinsdorf see the Theo hire coming and what are his thoughts on it?

His thoughts should be "goddammit we really REALLY screwed the pooch in not winning another World Series while the Cubs were busy losing 90+ games for 5 years."

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Didn't happen.

Fine. "Busy losing a lot of games for 5 years." My point still stands about the Sox fucking things up and not winning themselves while the Cubs were pretty bad for an extended stretch.

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Jerry saw a bunch of mistakes coming and thats why the Ricketts family was given the chance to buy the Cubs.

Off hand, 3 more competent buyers, not even including Cuban, at the time. But the chance to give the team to a guy who had ZERO professional sports experience and was a trust fund kid, was all that he needed to see that the Ricketts were his reccomended group. Seeing he is the chairman for new ownership and relocations, his choice carried weight.

Fact is, Ricketts was a mess the first 2 years, but the guy has done a great job of figuring it out and EVERYTHING is falling into place.

Jerry isnt used to getting schooled. He usually does the teaching, but Theo/Ricketts have spun Jerry around for a ride.

You could write a book of Jerrys attempts to bring the Cub thing to the ground or just reel it back in, Frank even pointed it out. He should have worried about his own house, instead of worrying about the Cubs. From trying to sell the park to the State, to trying to find the worst owner, to draft cap, international draft cap, then trading draft cap money.

Reinsdorf really has screwed up the last 5+ years....AGAIN...and he is now really going to pay for it again. As this Cub thing gets bigger and bigger.

I say AGAIN as this kind of reminds me of Sportsvision v WGN on Cable.....The Sox go to a pay per view local station that limits the viewing audience down to less than 100,000 and the Cubs are available for free on every Cable setup in every house for every kid to watch when they got home from school. Its a perfect storm, once which he acknowledges as the BIGGEST MISTAKE MADE.

The Sox are in some serious trouble right now. They are never going to be able to come close to the Cubs popularity over the next coming years, they need to hope they can tread water and get a lucky year out of all this. They need it.

At the same time, thats been the problem, hoping to catch lightning in the bottle.

I have clearly stated the first and most important thing that needs to be done there....Kenny Williams FIRED. Not Kicked upstairs, but his negative stank removed from the entire organization...then they can start building something, but he is the Gloom that keeps that place down.

Sure, tons of stuff to do after that (Media, Bullshit coaches, Bacon on a stick) but you need to cut the head of the snake off first.

Good luck.

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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.’”

Agree they need to get rid of Kenny yesterday, but I'd say that Boyer and the broadcasters have to get the fuck out too. Everyone who's responsible for the organization's weird "take us as we are, or don't, we don't care either way" attitude has to be replaced with people who are enthusiastic about bringing people to the park. I'm not talking some sort of Guy Smiley shill approach, it doesn't have to be that, just get the insularity out of the office.

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