Final Thoughts on Chicago Sports

Cubs-Pirates: Take a Vacation from your Problems

WGN is both a blessing and a curse.  On vacation in the rural outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia, we've thankfully got WGN on the local cable system.  Because of this blessing, I was able to watch the last two Cubs games.  Check that.  Because of this curse, I was able to watch the last two Cubs games.  Had I not been able to watch the games, I would have simply read a recap and thought, "oh well, just another pair of losses in a 162 game season."  Because I saw the carnage, though, I'm far more angry.  We're talking, "someone-switched-Chris-Farley's-coffee-with-Columbian-Decaf-Crystals" angry. 

First, Saturday.  I like Kerry Wood.  A lot.  But he has GOT to stop hitting batters.  He doesn't give up many hits.  He doesn't walk many people.  He appears to have ice in his veins.  He doesn't look rattled.  But he still hits batters like he did when he was a starter.  Back then, it was kind of cute.  Someone gets a cheap hit that knocks in a run?  Plunk the next guy square in the back.  A bit of a stress relief.  Comical and predictable for Cubs fans.  But in the ninth inning of a one-run game, it's not so cute.  When a team is playing for one run in a do-or-die situation, you can't put the leadoff man on base.  He WILL score.  This is the third time already this year that he's hit the leadoff man and thus blown the save.  It's getting to be, in the immortal words of John Wayne, ri-goddamn-diculous.

Then on Sunday, Soriano and his adventures in the outfield.  Never mind that Luis Oh-for-three-vas' first home run should have been ruled a ground-rule double; Soriano should have caught it!  Sure, the fonz later hit a two-run homer, which was nice.  But there's no question that the first "home run" by Rivas should have been caught.  Then in the ninth, Soriano had his Brant Brown moment.  Marmol got a guy to pop up with two outs in the ninth, sealing the win.  Game over, 3-3 road trip, no harm, no foul.  Instead, here's-sun-in-your-eye, ball squirts out of glove.  Tie ballgame, go to extras, lose.  I heard Ron Santo screaming NO!!!!!! in my head.  Now its a 2-4 road trip.  Horrible, just horrible. 

Brenly was deservedly ripping him.  "Soriano is not a good fielder.  Plus arm, but everything else is weak."  You can live with it when he has those blistering hot streaks, but on the whole, he's incredibly frustrating to watch.  No sense complaining about it too much, though, as there's really nothing the Cubs can do about it with his massive contract and all.  Just have to cross our fingers and hope for the best over he next 6.5 years.

Oh well.  Big series with the Dodgers starts today.  Luckily, today's game is on WGN again so, joy-of-joys, I get to watch again.  It's almost like I never left home.

Till next time....

Checking in on the Bulls and the Number One Pick

I haven't written about the Bulls lately because a) the Cubs have been playing well, b) there's been lots of Bears news, and c) the Bulls disgusted me this season.  Awful.  Just awful.  But that's in the past.  Lots has been going on lately and its time to check in.

Mike D'Antoni didn't want to wait around for the Bulls to make an offer so he signed a deal with the Knicks.  I like D'Antoni, and I thought he was a decent option for coaching the team.  But he's no savior, and I'm not a huge fan of castoffs anyways.  If he's so great, why did Phoenix let him go?  I'm no fan of Avery Johnson either.  He led his team to the Finals (but lost to heavy underdog Miami) then suffered back-to-back first round collapses.  No thanks.  The Bulls can collapse in the first round on their own, thank you very much.  At this point, it looks like the Bulls are going to go young and grab an eager young assistant off somebody's bench.  Might work, might not.  It's certainly the most frugal option, and with Skiles already on the books for $5 million this year, you know that's how the Bulls are going to do it. 

Even bigger news this week, of course, is the Bulls nabbing the top pick in the upcoming draft lottery.  The 1.7% chance reminded me of Pippen's 1.8 second pout in the '94 playoffs.  In both cases, the Bulls won anyways.  

There's no LeBrons in this draft, but there are two really good players at the top.  Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley.  (With all the lottery picks the Bulls have had in the last 10 years, why do they always fair better in lesser years?)  Both players have pros and cons, and those are well documented elsewhere.  I'm going to attempt to figure out who's better for the Bulls.

With Larry Hughes and Kirk Hinrich having massive contracts, it would appear that the Bulls are more or less stuck with them.  Hughes for sure.  I still like Hinrich, but he really hasn't progressed since his rookie year.  He's a good but not great player.  He'll never make an all-star team.  As for trade value, they might be able to get something for Hinrich, but really it would just be a swap of expensive mediocrity at that point.  Ben Gordon's got some value, too, in sign-and-trade, though those deals don't net much for the senders beyond a courtesy.  Oh, and Duhon's a goner.

As for the front court, the Bulls have Deng, Thomas, Noah, Nocioni, Gray and Gooden.  All have their strengths (and at least some value), but none is a star.  Really, when you look at the Bulls roster, they have a bunch of decent players.  No massive holes, which makes this decision tough.  Paxson really has to prune his roster or the Bulls won't go anywhere. 

So if they go with Rose (yay! another short guard), they absolutely have to trade Gordon and/or Hinrich.  I'd honestly be happy with Rose and Sefolosha starting, or at the very least Rose and Hughes with Sefolosha and a no-name (or possibly 6th man Gordon) off the bench.  Then go with Noah, Thomas/Gooden and Deng at forward.  Package Nocioni with Hinrich.

If they go with Beasley (yay! another head case forward!), they absolutely have to trade Thomas or Noah (or both.)  I like Noah.  He's the only one that showed any heart on the team this year.  So dump Thomas' overrated, worthless ass (with Hinrich and Nocioni).  Package 'em up and drop them in the mail with no return address. 

Either option sounds good.  I guess it depends on what the team can get for Hinrich, Thomas, and the rest.  It also severely depends on who's coaching this team.  If it was D'Antoni, I'd go with Rose in a heartbeat.  But we need to see who's hired and what style they prefer to play before we can really identify which player will help the team most in the draft.  Paxson likes defense, and he likes little guards, so my guess is Rose is coming to Chicago.  And that'd be fine.

Cubs Cruising = Eight is Great

The Cubs just wrapped up a 10-game homestand where they went 8-2, with the only two losses being nailbiters that they easily could have won.  To say they're playing good ball would be an understatement.  They're playing great ball, but I must also point out that they're taking advantage of a favorable schedule. 

There's nothing to apologize for in beating Pittsburgh.  The Cubs simply have to beat who they are scheduled to play.  But this month featured 17 home games, and its these extended stretches at home where you really need to put the foot on the gas.  The Cubs have, and its a good thing, too, because the rest of the schedule is a bit of a head scratcher.  Both June and July are largely on the road, and September is an absolute killer.  But if they can somehow build a big lead in April-May, and then really get on a nice run in August, maybe September won't matter.  At least thats what this Cubs fan is hoping for.

Oh, and the player of the week?  How about Alfonso Frickin' Soriano.  Holy scorched earth, is he hot.  My wife told me to mention on my blog that he's sending a big "F-U" to all the Cubs fans that said he was overpaid (myself included.)  No argument there.  He is just so fun to watch when he's hot.  He literally can carry the team by himself.  More notes:

• Props to Ryan Dempster, too.  He's continuing to prove me wrong, and with every start he appears more and more legit. 
• Michael Wuertz has really been good lately.  Long, productive outings.  He should step into the Howry role, which thus far has been largely bunk.
• Ryan Theriot has been playing way over his head.  .410 OBP?  Ridiculous.  I hope he doesn't crash too hard when he comes back down to earth.
• I'm starting to get a man-crush on Geovany Soto.  He absolutely crushes the ball, has a gun for an arm, and plays great defense.  He's everything you could want in a catcher.  And he's young.  The only thing I'm concerned with is his playing time.  It seems he plays 9 games out of 10.  Should maybe cut that back to 6 of 7.  Don't want to wear him out too soon, as its a long season. 
• D-Lee has been ice cold after a blistering April.  He's the bizarro Soriano.  I'm not worried, because they've still been winning.  Ramirez hasn't done a whole lot either.  Can you imagine how they'd be doing if those guys were hitting?
• For the first time this season, Big Z became the big head case yesterday.  Busting the bat over his knee, walking the world.  Bad times.  I hope it was just a one game blip, because they can't afford a three or four week stretch of Bad Z.  Not with the next two months predominately on the road. 

And that's about it.  I can't really complain about anything, as its tough to complain when your team has the second best record in baseball.  Just gotta keep going so there's no surprises in September.  Till next time...

Guest Writer: Cubs sign Edmonds instead of dog sh-t

Cubs sign the corpse of Jim Edmonds

Ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I thought it sounded kinda funny.  Jim Edmonds, 37, was great four years ago.  He was useful three years ago.  Since then?  Useless.  But this isn't a terrible move for the Cubs because it's extremely low risk.  He sucks?  He wastes fifty at-bats, he's cut after three weeks and the Cubs are out about 1/12th of the major league minimum.  (about $20 grand)  He's good?  Bully for Jim Hendry for plucking him off the scrap heap.  It's not inconceivable that he'll be re-invigorated playing in front of the Wrigley faithful.  It's happened before.  (See Gary Gaetti)

The real concern is that he's cock-blocking Felix Pie.  Pie does mostly look lost at the plate, and the only way his stroke can be found is by playing every day.  The Cubs, having the best offense in the majors, can afford to bat him 8th and work out his troubles.  He's the best defensive outfielder on the club, so he's certainly no liability there.  And he's still got a lot of upside still at the plate (certainly more than Reed Johnson & Jim Edmonds).  The Cubs are better off in the long term by having Pie be successful at the major-league level now, but I understand where Lou's coming from after watching some of Pie's wretched at-bats over the last 10 months.  Lou wants to win now.  He doesn't care about two years from now (when Edmonds is long retired and Johnson will be riding the pine on a different team.)  Maybe Pie can get his head screwed on straight in AAA (like Rich Hill) and he'll come back with a vengeance. 

This is a move that probably won't work but it doesn't cost much to try.  If Edmonds has even a 20% chance of reverting to 2005 form, he's worth a look. 

Bears show where their priorities are and sign Gould

I guess extending Tommie Harris and Devin Hester on top of placating Brian Urlacher weren't the top goals of the Bears this offseason, as they signed kicker Robbie Gould to a five-year, 15 million dollar deal today.  His field goal percentage is awfully good, but that's a lot of money for a guy who can't make a kick over 50 yards.  This deal makes him the highest paid kicker in the NFL.  He's pretty good, but is he that good?  I don't think so.  Oh well.  It's not a bad deal for the Bears so much as it seems awfully secondary to what should be their priority:  sign Tommie Harris. 

In other news, the Bears cut Adam Archuleta last week.  No shocker there, as he was basically useless last season.  As a former All-Pro safety, the one thing I noticed about him in training camp last season was how damn little he was.  He seriously was the Rudy of the secondary.  After being in the league for five years, though, he lost a step and that single step apparently was the difference between being an All-Pro and, well, Rudy.  Rudy got burned a lot, and he stole $8 million dollars from the Bears.  Hopefully with Payne healthy and the addition of Steltz, McGowan and the Bears won't miss the little engine that couldn't.

Finally, with each passing day it seems that Cedric Benson was a victim of "aggressive policing" down in Texas last week.  Guilty or innocent, it appears the Bears are not going to take any action against Cedric for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  If they end up cutting him, it will because he stunk on the field, not because he stunk of alcohol and mace as the Cops dragged him across the dock.  And I agree.  As much as I'd like to write off the Benson era and put him in the dustbin of Enis-tory, I want to give him one last chance to earn his keep.  He was solid, if injured, during his first two seasons, and I firmly believe the crappy O-line was his major problem last season.  That said, crappy line or not, he needs to produce more than 3.4 yards per carry.  This year its 4.0 or waivers.

Cubs-Diamondbacks: Revenge is Sweep

Pretty predictable headline, eh?  The Cubs didn't quite get revenge on the Diamondbacks for last fall's playoff debacle by sweeping Arizona at Wrigley this weekend, but nevertheless it feels pretty good to sweep the team with the best record in the NL.  The bats are heating up again and all that's left to be concerned with is the pitching.  Well, and Felix Pie. 

The Cubs don't need Pie to be productive in order to win the division, but it sure would help.  They only have four real outfielders right now, unless you count Ward (and I don't) and supersub DeRosa.  The club could really use a lefthander to spell Reed Johnson in Center and its just a shame that Pie can't hold his own with the bat. He just looks lost up there, for the most part.  Did you see his splits when there are two strikes on him (which is just about always)?  He's hitting something like .048.  Horrible.  Oh well, maybe it'll click for him next season like it has for ONEDEC this year.  (ONEDEC being Ronny Cedeno, who really seems to have turned things around.  Tip of the cap: BCB)

As for the pitching, it looked awfully good this weekend.  Dempster cruised through five before stumbling a bit in the 6th.  Lilly is totally back on track and I might go as far as saying he's a "quality #3 in the NL" again.  And Gallagher didn't embarrass himself today before running out of gas in the 5th.  He probably didn't do enough to earn another immediate shot in the rotation, but he should definitely be considered after Marquis takes his last gasps.  Other than Chad Fox, the bullpen was damn near flawless.  My only complaint is when Marmol trotted in to pitch the 9th on Saturday.  Dude can't pitch every day, and 5-run leads are made for guys like Wuertz and Howry.  Oh well.  He was flawless (all three days) and he didn't throw too many pitches so I'm not exactly going to lose any sleep.

I also should add that Wood has looked really good in his last few outings.  I don't want to jinx anything, actually, I'll just leave it at that.

Big four-game series against San Diego.  I didn't mind Z getting bumped today because the Arizona series was already won and I figured Gallagher had as good a chance as Arizona's scrub at winning today, so you might as well not risk the elements and all the potential stop/starts and save him for the Padres.  I was hoping that Piniella would then use the opportunity to skip Marquis again, but it looks like he's still on the docket for Tuesday (against Shawn Freaking Estes of all people!)  Might actually win that one.  With Peavy vs. Lieber on Wednesday, I'll settle for 3 of 4 versus the Pods. 

Go Cubs!

Stuff I Like: Podcasts

I love my iPod.  I held out for the longest time in getting one.  I used to be an "early adopter" with new technology, but that sort of fell by the wayside as I moved into my late 20s.  This also coincides with the time that iPods started taking off.  When they came out, I thought they were kind of cool but greatly overpriced.  "Look!", I used to say.  "You can get this cheap-ass CD player that also plays MP3s on a CD-R for a quarter of the cost!"  Plus, the iPod was a Mac product and I was staunchly a Windows person.  And then there's the whole DRM thing.  I should be able to do what I want with my music, dammitt! 

Anyways, I bought my wife a Shuffle about two Christmas's ago (even though I tried to convince her that the cheap-ass Sanyo was just as good).  I then played around with it for a while and instantly changed my tune.  I still thought that much of their appeal was a result of clever marketing, but there's no doubt that a slick interface and the easy integration with iTunes was top notch.  So I took the plunge and put one on my wishlist.  By the time my next birthday rolled around, I was the proud owner of a 80GB Video iPod.  And it's awesome.

No, it doesn't have the slick interface of the iPhone (which was released around the same time), but the storage on that thing is a stellar.  I have every CD I own on there, full seasons of TV shows, dozens of podcasts, and its not even half-full.  I can't imagine getting rid of it now, as its become a part of my daily routine. 

And what is my daily routine, exactly?  Podcasts.  I can't get enough of them.  I used to stream them sometimes from various web sites, but I didn't start subscribing to feeds until I got the device.  Now I'm obsessed with them and there's some that I never miss.  So with that mind, here are some of my favorites:

Sports - Surprise, surprise,  I listen to sports podcasts.  ESPN, the sports monopoly, has got dozens of podcasts, and I'm a daily listener of several.  My favorites are two of the local ones on ESPN AM 1000, Mac, Jurko & Harry and Waddle & Silvy, but I also regularly listen to Mike & Mike, PTI, and Football Today with Jeremy Green.  I also frequent some of the Steve Stone podcasts on The Score.  Even though I don't particularly care much for Mike North, Stone's analysis and smarmy wit gets me every time.

Music - I listen to iTunes New Music Tuesday and Rolling Stone New Music Report (video).  I like finding new music; it helps me pretend that I'm still young.  The music in these two podcasts isn't really cutting edge indie, but they both present a nice summary (with samples) of the big new releases in record stores each week.  (Proof that I'm old - I just said "record store", even though I probably haven't set foot in one in three years.)   I also catch some music on NPR every now and then.

News - I always thought that The New Yorker was a little too high society for me, but after I started dipping my toe in the pool with some Malcolm Gladwell books, I started checking out the magazine online.  Good stuff.  Good weekly commentary podcast.  The commentary topics are wide ranging, but lately they've been mostly related to the upcoming election and the candidates' misfires.(though admittedly mostly for music.)  Slate and This American Life cross my path sometimes, too.

Entertainment - I like The BS Report with Bill Simmons, which is technically sports but more often its not.  Always entertaining, though.  I never thought his material would translate, and I'm happy to say I was wrong.  I also listen to some LOST podcasts (on the TV show) that let me know what I missed in last week's episode, and The Onion and bestofyoutube (video).  Perfect to kill time on the train.

There's not enough time in the day to listen to all of these podcasts, but I'm going to go down trying.  Till next time...

Cubs scuffling, but I'm not worried

The Cubs just lost 2 of 3 to the Cardinals, 7 of their last 10 overall, and now sit 1.5 games out of first in the NL Central.  A few of those losses were excruciating, see Thursday and Friday, but really stretches like this hit every good team.  With 162 games, its bound to happen.  And there is some good news to note.  The Cubs still have not lost three games in a row all season.  Say what you will, but avoiding those 5, 6 game losing streaks is what sets the contenders apart from the pretenders. 

Even after the recent slippage, the Cubs record stands at 18-13, a .581 winning percentage that (should they maintain it) will easily win the NL Central this year.  And with a three-game trip to Cincy on the docket, imagining the next winning streak isn't hard.  So I'm not worried.  In fact, I'm still pretty confident that this team should cruise to the playoffs.  Why?  Because the pitching has, for the most part, fallen way short of expectations.  If the pitchers rebound at all, and the batters continue to keep the offense in the top 5, the postseason is a given.  In fact, let's break down the players into three categories - who's doing better than expected, who's doing what we expected, and who's doing worse than we expected.  Think of this list as a ranking of 1-25 with the guys at the top exceeding expectations the most while the guys at the bottom living up to expectations the least.

Exceeding Expectations
Ryan Dempster
Ronny Cedeno
Kosuke Fukudome
Ryan Theriot
Mike Fontenot
Geovanny Soto

Meeting Expectations
Derrek Lee
Carlos Zambrano
Carlos Marmol
Aramis Ramirez
Mark DeRosa
Reed Johnson
Jon Lieber
Sean Marshall
Henry Blanco
Jason Marquis - yes, I expected that he'd mostly suck.

Falling Short of Expectations
Ted Lilly - starting to turn it around
Felix Pie
Kevin Hart
Mike Weurtz
Kerry Wood
Daryle Ward
Bob Howry
Alfonso Soriano
Rich Hill

Now, I fully expect some of these guys to be shifted around to different lists as the season wears on.  I don't expect Cedeno to end up hitting .391 or Dempster to go 24-0, for example, and I don't expect Soriano to hit .169 for much longer either.   But when you look at how the players break down, there haven't really been a lot of breakouts.  Other than the aforementioned Cedeno (a part-time player) and Dempster, none of the other guys I listed have been that much better than we expected.  But you look down at that last list, and there's a number of guys who have really fallen apart.  Soriano, Hill and Howry head that list.  I fully expect all three of those guys to rebound fast and be back to normal by June 1st.  It will be harder for Hill to rebound, being in the minors and all, but hopefully he can get his mechanics straight as he simply looked awful the other night.  As did Soriano. 

As Bob Brenly noted during the broadcast, again and again, Soriano just didn't look right out there and he should have taken a quick rehab assignment.  Mis-judging fly balls, swinging at everything.  Friday night was absolutely brutal, until the homer of course. 

But back to my main point, if I even have one that is.  The Cubs, despite poor play from all those guys I listed, are sitting pretty.  And there hasn't really been a whole lot of breakouts either (like the Cardinals have had) which would suggest an upcoming fall.  If they can get the last two spots in the rotation going, along with the bullpen and Soriano, this team will waltz into the playoffs.  And with Lieber being promoted to the rotation and Gallagher & Marshall licking their chops to replace Marquis, I'm not worried about the rotation at all.  And I'm certainly not worried about Howry and Soriano.  Wood, on the other hand...

Are Cubs fans all douchebags?

Today, Ryan Braun of the Brewers became the second guy within a month to rip Chicago Cubs fans.  Two weeks ago, Marty Brennaman called us the "most obnoxious fans in baseball" when fifteen baseballs were thrown onto the field after a meaningless Adam Dunn home run.  Personally, I found that incident rather amusing, provided it was a one time thing.  Eighth inning of a Cubs blowout, a meaningless solo shot, time to throw it back.  Instead, this one time, a whole bunch of balls came back.  It reminded me of some low-grade SNL humor.  Or an Austin Powers type of joke.  Don't get me wrong, I don't think they should do this every time.  In fact, I never want to see it again.  It's not really safe, and there'd be a 10-minute delay every time an opponent hit a home run.  But that one time, in that situation, I thought it was kind of funny.

Anyways, Ryan Braun piled on today.  After Kerry Wood blew another save to the Brewers, Braun was quoted as saying how sweet it was to come back and beat the team in front of these fans, talking all about how rowdy they are and stuff.  These aren't the first two guys to suggest that Cubs fans are obnoxious either.  Which leads me to the title question of this post.  Are Cubs fans all douchebags?

Well, obviously, the answer is no.  We're not all douchebags. I guess I should be asking, "are the majority of Cubs fans d-bags?"  That answer is more tricky.

There's no doubt that when you go to Wrigley Field, you're going to run into a fair amount of idiots.  That is, as I like to say, FACT.  But really, I think its just a numbers game.  The Cubs have something like eight million fans across the United States.  (source: my ass)  While I made that number up, it certainly seems within reason, doesn't it?  The Cubs easily are in the top three for road attendance every single season.  Only the Red Sox and Yankees are in the same league, so to speak.  And then Wrigley sells out something like 95% of all games.  Even weekday day games in April sell out.  Fox prepares for their highest ratings ever on the rare occasions that the Cubs make the postseason.  Popular team. 

So lets say 10% of all people are d-bags (or idiots - I'm kind of sick of writing the "D" word at this point.)  Ten percent of eight million is a lot of idiots.  The Reds have, say, two million fans.  So the chances of you running into an idiot Cubs fan as opposed to, say, an idiot Reds, is dramatically higher.  There's just so many more of us out there.

But what about the fact that there are only 40,000 people in the stadium at any given time?  It sure seems like a lot more than 10% of the patrons in Wrigley would be excellent candidates for hotchickswithdouchebags.com.  So that would make the concentration of d-bags higher, right?  Cubs fans are d-bags!

Wrong.  I have a theory for that.  Cubs tickets are like, impossible to get.  Not impossible, but difficult to be sure.  Expensive, too.  If you want to go to a Cubs game, you basically have to log on to cubs.com on a cold February day and sit in a virtual waiting room for nine hours in the hopes of scoring tickets to one game.  After the first weekend of sales, every single weekend, night game, and mildly interesting matchup is sold out.  Who has time to spend all day in the VWR?  Who has the sort of disposable income to go to a dozen Cubs games a year?  Not the 32-year-old with a mortgage and two kids.  It's the 24-year-old, fresh out of school, that's who.  I know, I was that 24-year-old at one time with disposable income.  I went to a dozen games a year in those days.  Not anymore.  Too much money.  Now I go to 3 or 4, tops.  So part of the reason that you see a higher percentage of d-bags at Cubs games is a simple "age" issue.  The same drunk frat boy that just got out of college will eventually grow out of his wildness and stop being a d-bag when he's in his 30s. (I hope, or we're all screwed.)  But by that time, he'll be heading to the ballpark less.

Further, Perry brought up the fact that you don't see families at Wrigley any more, while you still see a lot at the Cell.  Also, true.  That's mostly because of the reasons I listed above.  Expensive tickets, hard to get.  The family patriarch that's a casual baseball fan might want to take his family to a baseball game, and he doesn't really care which team he sees.  Does he go to whitesox.com the day before and grab four upper deck seats for $15 each or stubhub and get four seats in the family section at Wrigley for $100 a pop.  Not a tough choice, but if he wants to see the Cubs that's pretty much his only choice.  So there's more families on the south side.  That 24-year-old, flush with loose cash, has all the tickets.  (On top of that, who wants to explain to their 4-year-old boy what a "troth" is?  Not me.)

Another reason, the national landmark/national fans bit.  Thanks to WGN going national in the 80s, there's a lot of younger Cubs fans across the country.  They're particularly prevalent in a place like Iowa, where they don't have a major league baseball team (and the Cubs minor league team to boot).  So they constantly have these bus tours going to and from the park.  So you sit on a bus with 80 guys, letting loose, drinking, get to the park for your one trip a year, and you absolutely tear it up.  You're not driving anywhere, you don't care.  You don't have the luxury of "acting like you've been there before", and you're not going to be there again for a while.  So you tear it up, and thus, act like a bit of an idiot.  Its OK.  I understand.  But it does bring the overall image down a bit.

And of course, as stated above, Cubs fans travel well.  The same "this trip is rare and I'm going to tear it up" rule applies. 

So that's it in a nutshell.  The Cubs fans at the "world's largest beer garden" tend to be a little more douche-riffic than other ballparks but it's really just a numbers game and not an accurate representation of the fanbase in general.  It just seems that way.  Most of the Cubs fans I know are respectful, hard-working, excitable die-hards who want nothing more than to see the Cubs win a World Series.  Screw the goat, forget Bartman, just freaking win.  But you can't deny how we must appear to outsiders.  Reputations are tough to beat.