Stay classy, Cubs fans

[Linnwood]

One homer, 15 balls returned: A new trend at Wrigley?

By Paul Sullivan, 11:57 a.m.

 

Everyone was a little surprised at the barrage of baseballs being tossed back onto the field Wednesday night after Adam Dunn's home run onto Sheffield Avenue.

 

"I didn't think that many people hit a home run today," said right-fielder Kosuke Fukudome, who was fortunate not to get beaned by one, as Jacque Jones nearly was by a thrown ball in 2006.

 

Lou Piniella said Thursday that seeing 15 balls fly onto the field after an opponent's home run was something he's never seen before.

 

"It'd stop, and a few more came in," he said. "You know what's amazing is they beat each other up trying to get these balls during batting practice and they scrape their knees and elbows, and I've seen some fistfights out there. And all of a sudden they gave them up rather easily."

 

Piniella was laughing, and noted that some of the fans "may have had a few more cocktails before they come to the ballpark" because it was a night game at Wrigley Field.

 

"Last night, I guess when the first one came down, everybody got into the mood of testing their arm a little bit," he said. "I guarantee, a few of them are getting some massages today. They've got sore shoulders. I don't know what to say. Look, I'd never seen that before, and hopefully we won't see it again."

 

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune....rend-at-wr.html

 

I particularly enjoyed the lighthearted tone of this article. Try to imagine this happening elsewhere and this tone being taken. "Oh, they had a few cocktails, those lovable Cubs fans!"

[SoxFan562004]

Boers and Bernstein played a clip from the Reds announcers, i believe Marty Brennamen and Jeff Brantley, who absolutely laid into the Cubs fans, calling them something like the most obnoxious fans in baseball, etc... it's pretty funny

[witesoxfan]

Boers and Bernstein played a clip from the Reds announcers, i believe Marty Brennamen and Jeff Brantley, who absolutely laid into the Cubs fans, calling them something like the most obnoxious fans in baseball, etc... it's pretty funny

 

I bet Cubs fans aren't clutch either though.

[Nokona]

Boers and Bernstein played a clip from the Reds announcers, i believe Marty Brennamen and Jeff Brantley, who absolutely laid into the Cubs fans, calling them something like the most obnoxious fans in baseball, etc... it's pretty funny

 

The best part was that some caller called in all "They disrespected Chicago! They hit way too close to home! They blamed the Cubs sucking on the fans!" Then Boers and Bernstine were like "...not at all. They just said it was tasteless." So the caller ls liek "Yeah well those hillbillies from Cincinatti are just jealous that WE won the war." B & B started cracking up "Yes, the garbage throwers of Antietam! The projectile vomiting at xxxx! All the urinating at Gettysburg!"

 

It was so off the cuff and perfect

[southsideirish71]

The best part was that some caller called in all "They disrespected Chicago! They hit way too close to home! They blamed the Cubs sucking on the fans!" Then Boers and Bernstine were like "...not at all. They just said it was tasteless." So the caller ls liek "Yeah well those hillbillies from Cincinatti are just jealous that WE won the war." B & B started cracking up "Yes, the garbage throwers of Antietam! The projectile vomiting at xxxx! All the urinating at Gettysburg!"

 

It was so off the cuff and perfect

 

We need to get an mp3 of that exchange on the Reds Announcers. That was classic.

 

"They believe a goat is the reason for their years of being bad, a goat. "

 

LOL

 

[WilliamTell]

Cubs fans and classy don't go together very well.

[Wanne]

Boers and Bernstein played a clip from the Reds announcers, i believe Marty Brennamen and Jeff Brantley, who absolutely laid into the Cubs fans, calling them something like the most obnoxious fans in baseball, etc... it's pretty funny

 

 

Jeff Brantley called somebody obnoxious?!?....that's RICH!!!!!

[southsideirish71]

Jeff Brantley called somebody obnoxious?!?....that's RICH!!!!!

I attached the mp3 of that in the cubs thread.

 

[juddling]

 

 

talk about classy...lol

[joejoesox]

I attached the mp3 of that in the cubs thread.

 

LOL, man that mp3 is priceless.

[Steve9347]

Boers and Bernstein played a clip from the Reds announcers, i believe Marty Brennamen and Jeff Brantley, who absolutely laid into the Cubs fans, calling them something like the most obnoxious fans in baseball, etc... it's pretty funny

And yeah, this is a freaking joke. Cubs fans have become ridiculous. Your team is playing well and lose one game and you endanger your outfielders by throwing tons of baseballs back?

Edited April 18, 2008 by Steve9347

[SoxFan562004]

Thom...

 

And yeah, this is a freaking joke. Cubs fans have become ridiculous. Your team is playing well and lose one game and you endanger your outfielders by throwing tons of baseballs back?

I may be mistaken, but I think that is one of the 2 games they won against the Reds. I think it was on Dunn's HR when Cubs were up 10-1 or something like that

[kjshoe04]

LOL, man that mp3 is priceless.

agreed, listened to it like 25 times last night.

[Linnwood]

I attached the mp3 of that in the cubs thread.

 

 

Oh man, that mp3 is freakin' great.

 

"Oh they never blame themselves."

[daa84]

Thom...

 

And yeah, this is a freaking joke. Cubs fans have become ridiculous. Your team is playing well and lose one game and you endanger your outfielders by throwing tons of baseballs back?

no it was marty, not thom

[Steve9347]

no it was marty, not thom

You are correct.

 

They are playing it on ESPN 1000 right now. It's hilarious.

[Linnwood]

You stay classy, part 2:

 

 

 

A shirt stop is needed

 

Offensive image on hot-selling item doesn't reflect positively on city

 

April 18, 2008

BY GORDON WITTENMYER gwittenmyer@suntimes.com

 

Kosuke Fukudome didn't have to wait long for the ugly American part of his welcome to Wrigleyville.

A Fukudome T-shirt with a racist image is the hottest-selling item at a souvenir stand that sells unlicensed Cubs-related merchandise across Addison Street from the ballpark, according to Mark Kolbusz, who's in his fourth season operating the stand.

 

On the front of the shirt is the traditional Cubs cartoon bear face but with slanted eyes and wearing oversized Harry Caray-style glasses. It's accompanied by the words ''Horry Kow,'' scrawled in cartoonish ''Japanese'' script. Fukudome's name and number are on the back.

 

''That's the No. 1 seller this year, by far,'' said Kolbusz, who estimates one in 10 customers complain about being offended.

 

While Kolbusz was answering questions, two white guys stopped by the stand and pointed at the shirt, with one affecting a 1960s B-movie accent while reading aloud the words on the shirt.

 

His friend responded in a similar offensive accent, ''Oh, you tink dat funny?''

 

They walked away laughing.

 

Nice.

 

Apparently, it's not only the Cubs' World Series form that's stuck in a 100-year time warp.

 

For all the innocently mistranslated signs, bows and zealous cheering from right-field bleacher regulars for the franchise's first Japanese major-leaguer, the mere creation of this shirt -- but especially its popularity -- sends a raw, vulgar message about Fukudome's new hometown.

 

''I don't know what the creator of the shirt meant this to be, but they should make it right,'' Fukudome said through his interpreter after being shown one of the shirts Thursday. ''Maybe the creator created it because he thought it was funny, or maybe he made it to condescend the race. I don't know.''

 

Regardless, it's not funny. The image feeds not only ugly, arrogant and ignorant Japanese stereotypes, but also the stereotype of the obnoxious, profane, drunken, booing, garbage-throwing Cubs fan.

 

How much truth is there in either image? And how funny is either one?

 

Kolbusz said he's ''indifferent'' to the image on the shirt.

 

''I'm making money,'' he said. ''It doesn't offend me. If other people are offended by it, it's just a silly T-shirt. Nobody is trying to offend anybody.''

 

Which is probably true -- and, if so, sadly ignorant.

 

Kolbusz went as far as pointing out that the shirt's creator is ''an Oriental guy'' and also pointed out an Asian woman he sold a shirt to.

 

But the customer in question, Laureen Hom, had no intention of wearing the shirt, she said.

 

''I bought it for my mom, who has a collection of racist images of Asian Americans,'' she said. And, she added, the fact the creator is Asian ''is no excuse.''

 

Both of Hom's parents are Asian-American Studies professors at San Francisco State University, and they're in Chicago this week for the annual conference of the Association for Asian-American Studies. Hom, originally from San Francisco and now living in New York, met them in Chicago and attended the Reds-Cubs game Thursday with her friend Kimberley Ma.

 

''It's always weird buying that stuff,'' said Hom, who was startled to see the bear image on the shirt with the slanted eyes as she walked toward the ballpark. ''And then I got closer and saw the lettering and thought, 'Oh, my God.'''

 

Ma called it ''shocking'' and ''insulting.''

 

Hom compared the shirt to a series of Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirts five years ago that stirred outrage and controversy before quickly being pulled from shelves. One version featured caricature faces with slanted eyes and rice-paddy hats and a slogan that said, ''Wong Brothers Laundry Service -- Two Wongs Can Make It White.''

 

Cubs officials made it clear they have nothing to do with the creation or marketing of the image, which also is being sold on headbands. The team had no official comment.

 

Fukudome did not seem shocked.

 

''I knew I was coming to a different country, so I expected something like this,'' he said. ''Maybe not necessarily racial, but that anybody could take any context of my words and degrade me if they wanted to. But if I make a big deal out of it, it's not going to benefit me, so I'm not going to make a big deal of it.''

 

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cu...gordo18.article

 

[WCSox]

Boers and Bernstein played a clip from the Reds announcers, i believe Marty Brennamen and Jeff Brantley, who absolutely laid into the Cubs fans, calling them something like the most obnoxious fans in baseball, etc... it's pretty funny

 

Heard the clip this morning. They ripped them a new one.

 

I guess stuff like this is bound to happen when your team goes 100 years without winning a championship, the fans don't care anymore, and the people in the stands are way too drunk.

 

[kjshoe04]

Heard the clip this morning. They ripped them a new one.

 

I guess stuff like this is bound to happen when your team goes 100 years without winning a championship, the fans don't care anymore, and the people in the stands are way too drunk.

Every year it seems to me that they get worse and worse, drunker and drunker, they really need to tear down wrigley just so they don't give Chicago a bad name.

[RockRaines]

Every year it seems to me that they get worse and worse, drunker and drunker, they really need to tear down wrigley just so they don't give Chicago a bad name.

Eventually its going to tear down itself. Daley is trying his hardest to make sure they cant improve it.

[Balta1701]

Eventually its going to tear down itself. Daley is trying his hardest to make sure they cant improve it.

If I were a Sox fan trying to sabotage that team, that's exactly how I'd do it.

[DBAHO]

Now Kotex Boy is calling them out;

 

Hey, you. Yes, the dope throwing a baseball on the field at the same time 14 other dopes throw baseballs on the field. You are not the story. You think you're the story, in part because the media have overdosed in romanticizing the fan experience at Wrigley Field. But in truth, you're just an assclown who could hit someone in the head, including a Cubs player.

 

And, you. Yes, the frightening excuse for a human being who sold a crude and racially insensitive t-shirt at a stand across from Wrigley. You are not the story. You think you're the story, because in your pathetic little world, making fun of Kosuke Fukudome with images of a slanted-eyed cub from the official team logo and oversized Harry Caray glasses -- with ``Horry Kow'' spelled out in Japanese -- somehow is good business. But in truth, you and the idiots who bought such garbage need one-way tickets to another planet.

 

And, you. Yeah, the derelict who fell into the left-field basket on Opening Day. You are not the story. You think you're the story, like a lot of people who sit in the bleachers and realize the TV cameras always are on because, you know, only the cool kids sit out there. But in truth, you deserve to be ridiculed by YouTube surfers who note that your shoe remained in the basket after you were pulled out.

The problem with the Friendly Confines is that they've become relentlessly unfriendly and increasingly obnoxious and stupid. Fueled by alcohol, ego, 100 years of institutional futility and a blind belief that an entire universe revolves around their expensive butt space on the north side of Chicago, in the state of Illinois, in what is supposed to be the clear-thinking heartland of America, a lot of Cubs fans seem to think they're bigger than the players, the manager and the games. Wrigley always has been a carnival of kookishness with its share of crazy fan episodes -- the day in 1995 when pitcher Randy Myers wailed on a charging fan, the night in 2000 when several Los Angeles Dodgers climbed into the stands and chased a fan who'd stolen the cap of catcher Chad Krueter or, of late, the night last season when a fan trotted onto the field to chat up Bob Howry after he allowed a three-run homer. Then there was a certain fan who reached for a foul ball and changed the course of baseball history, though I won't name him because a failing Tribune columnist -- lacking creative juices and originality -- will keep counting how many times I mention the fan.

 

But this season, Cubdom has entered the twilight zone. Barely a day passes without a fan making news, and if it's a reflection on society generally wigging out in the 21st century, also understand that Wrigley is supposed to be above such lunacy. It is marketed as a shrine and fan-friendly tourist attraction, yet it's much closer to an raucous beer garden filled with just enough jerks to spoil the reputation of a much larger percentage of good fans. If Sam Zell still wants to sell naming rights, he might try a rehab clinic.

 

Betty Ford Center at Wrigley Field.

 

To me, Cubdom's best tradition is throwing back the ball after the enemy hits a homer. Well, after Cincinnati's Adam Dunn hit one Wednesday night, no fewer than 15 batting-practice balls littered the outfield from all directions. What if one had hit Fukudome, who must wonder what kind of wacky country he's living in? This obviously was a preconceived prank, and I can't blame the venerable Reds broadcaster, Marty Brennaman, for reacting with alarm. Pat Hughes, the Cubs' radio voice, mentioned it in passing. Not Brennaman.

 

``See, this is the kind of thing, quite honestly, that makes you want to see the Chicago Cubs team lose,'' said Brennaman, whose son, Thom, used to work for the Cubs as a radio broadcaster. ``Far and away, the most obnoxious fans in baseball in this league are those who follow this team right here. Throwing 15 or 18 balls onto the field, there's absolutely no excuse for that. And that is so typical of Chicago Cub fans. It's unbelievable.''

 

From there, Brennaman launched a tirade about why he roots against the Cubs, which has become the focus of angry locals who have turned him into a pariah and, amazingly, shifted the focus from unpopular Dusty Baker. Consider the back-and-forth between Brennaman and partner Jeff Brantley:

 

Brennaman: ``All winter, they talked about this team winning the division, and my comment was, they won't because at the end of the day, they are still the Chicago Cubs and they'll figure out a way to screw this whole thing up.''

 

Brantley: ``And then they'll have no one to boo but themselves.''

 

Brennaman: ``Well, they never blame themselves.''

 

Brantley: ``They blame the goat.''

 

Brennaman: ``They blame that old billy goat.''

 

Brantley: ``Anyone who blames a goat for that long a losing, that's silly.''

 

But what shouldn't be lost in the byplay is Brennaman's dead-on criticism of the bad fans. Cubs management, reacting quickly, ejected at least eight of the ball-heaving folks. The front office also is commended for having the horrible t-shirts yanked from the souvenir stand, which should please Fukudome, who had expressed concern about the symbolism. Still, on Friday, as Nate McLouth chased a ball that Fukudome hit for a triple, a drink from the bleachers came close to dousing the Pittsburgh center fielder. Will it ever end? Or is someone else plotting another 15-ball attack?

 

``It’s something I hadn’t seen before," said manager Lou Piniella, who is increasingly blown away by what he sees at Wrigley. ``What’s amazing is, they beat each other up trying to get these balls in batting practice. They scrape their knees and elbows, and I've seen some fistfights out there. And all of a sudden, they give them up rather easily.

 

``Look, I'd never seen that before, and hopefully we won’t see it again."

 

A day later, Piniella was defending the fans in the wake of the Brennaman attack. ``Marty's a Cincinnati guy, obviously, he's rooting for the Reds," he said. ``I don't think our fans are obnoxious. I think they get into the ballgame. They enjoy coming out to a ballgame, and that's why they draw here the way they do. It's a fun environment, and they get into it.''

 

I wish Piniella wouldn't have been so forgiving. He's trying to remain in the fans' good standing, of couse, knowing anything less than his full support might relegate him to Lee Elia status. But when he gives them a pass, he opens the floodgates to who-knows-what?

 

Other than walking the course at Augusta National, fresh in my memory from last week, no sight in sports is more numbing then entering the front gate at Clark and Addison, climbing the steps behind home plate and seeing nothing but green. It's vital that the Cubs preserve Wrigley as a precious slice of Americana and not let madness become the ballpark's foremost identity. I have no problem with booing, drinking a couple of beers and plunging into a rocking time. But lately -- and brace yourselves -- Wrigley has traded places with what suddenly is a kinder, more sedate ballpark.

 

In the name of William Ligue, would you believe U.S. Cellular Field has become saner than Cubdom?

 

Consider it a call for reform.

[YASNY]

Now Kotex Boy is calling them out;

 

Kotex Boy just had to get his backhanded shot at the Sox or their fans in there, though. So typical of moronatti.

[chimpy2121]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky9Kso9q_Ws

[The Critic]

Brennaman's probably half-serious and half-trying to create a rivalry. I think he started off with a valid point and then got carried away and took the point to an exaggerated level.

I think every fanbase of every team in every sport has a percentage of douchebag fans.

Even the Cardinals fans, who Brennaman is apparently in love with, have their own percentage of douchebag fans.

That said, I think anyone who throws anything on a baseball field during a game should at least be ejected from the park, and that includes opposing team's homeruns.

It's by far the dumbest sports "tradition" I can think of.