By Marty Gangler

Cubs fans may be feeling a bit giddy these days, but after a thorough analysis by the research staff here at The Cub Factor, we have determined that there is still plenty to worry about. To wit:
* The Cubs still have too many second basemen.
* Traffic. It keeps getting worse, doesn’t it?
* Taxes. They keep going up, don’t they?
* Alfonso Soriano. He still doesn’t make enough consistent contact as a leadoff man.
* Gas Prices. On top of the taxes, and then you’re just idling in traffic . . .
* Fat. You just keep gaining weight, don’t you? And then you’re just sitting in traffic all that time . . .
* Jim Hendry. This is so no longer his team. But he still has the power to ruin it.

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Posted on July 30, 2007

By Jim Coffman

We won our first-round playoff game a lot of runs to a little on Saturday. Noah’s and my 8-and-under Dodgers were playing a team we had tied during the regular season so the result represented some progress. On the other hand, the head coach of the opposing team had apparently left early for summer vacation. And if the coach was gone that meant one of the best players (the teams I’ve coached have yet to face a squad where the coach’s kid didn’t qualify) was absent as well. I don’t want to go overboard but it was goofy the guy wasn’t there no matter what the excuse. How do you coach one of these teams for almost three months and then when it’s time to sprint to the finish line, you’re nowhere to be found?
Yikes.
In about the fourth inning I heard one of our kids ask what the score was and then repeat it loudly/incredulously/derisively. It was that special mocking tone that some kids this age so endearingly employ altogether too frequently. I promptly called the squad together and told them sternly we wouldn’t be talking about the score any more, that first and foremost we are all about good sportsmanship. And the kids abided by my decree – for about a half inning.

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Posted on July 27, 2007

By Rick Kaempfer and Dave Stern

As you may or may not realize, the Chicago Cubs are the hottest team in baseball. After a slow start, they have surged to within a few games of division leading Milwaukee. Anyone who has lived in Chicago for a long time knows what is going to happen next:
The Cubs are going to win it all this year.
Because it’s been a little while since this last occurred, many of our Chicago readers have been writing us with their questions. We don’t have room to answer all of them here today, but we’ll try to get through them before the parade in November.
“D” writes: “I’m getting a little nervous about all this World Series talk. Are we putting the cart before the horse?”
R&D: That phrase might have meant something the last time the Cubs won the World Series, but don’t forget that cars have been invented since then. Horses and carts are nowhere near as popular as they were the last time the Cubs won it all.
“A” writes: “Is there anything we can learn from the last Cubs World Series champions?”

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Posted on July 26, 2007

By Marty Gangler

I’d like to tell you that this Cub team is going to blow it but I can’t. I’d like to explain how this team is not equipped to play winning baseball in the National League but I can’t. I’d like to , though.
Because even a cynical “fan” can see that this incarnation of the Cubs has transformed from pretender to contender. Sure, it’s not the same as transforming a semi-truck into a robot, but it will still be interesting summer viewing. Lou Pinella has this roster and team under control and the Cubs will overtake the (still in) first place Milwaukee Brewers by the end of August. Yeah, I said it, so what?
Yes, they have some shortcomings, sure, but at this point you have to believe that they’ll try to shore those up before the trading deadline. This roster has been shaken more than a crying baby at Applebees, and it still hasn’t stopped crying. And yes, they’ve actually lost two in a row – which suddenly seems shocking. But this team is like the roast beef sandwich at IHOP: on a roll.
With all of this in mind, we here at The Cub Factor would like to tell the cynical Cub fan to really believe again in this team. And while we’re at it, here are some other things you should start believing in again.

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Posted on July 23, 2007

By Jim Coffman

During one particularly memorable practice at Winnemac Park earlier this season, I stopped just before throwing a pitch as one of the kids yelled “Look at that!” Soon enough another voice shouted “It’s coming in from the outfield!” and I turned in time to see a blur we would later identify as Peter “Hustle” Cottontail racing onto the infield dirt. He had apparently made his way down the right field line after being flushed out of one of the lush gardens that partially ring the little diamonds at the unusual little park where we practice.
The rabbit went through the infield toward the backstop like a base-runner who would not be denied – if that base-runner had for some reason decided to run around the bases the wrong way. It went ahead and passed right between me and the kid who was taking batting practice before reaching a patch of grass beyond the third-base line that was not at that point occupied (Safe!). The kids all seemed to sense that the thing to do at that point was to leave the poor animal alone. After all, there are rules for this sort of situation . . . I vaguely recall something along the lines of . . . Remember kids, if city animals are appropriately afraid of you, you’re not allowed to scream at or chase them, unless of course they are pigeons. If they do not seem afraid, they probably have rabies and if you go near them you’ll probably have to get shots in your stomach.

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Posted on July 20, 2007

By Marty Gangler

Seeing as how the Cubs only had three games this week due to the All-Star break, it’s kind of difficult to come up with a complete Cub Factor – there’s just not that much to factor this week – so I would like to submit to you good readers a Field Trip to Wrigley Field Report. I attended the July 13th game against the Houston Astros, and on the way into the park a guy behind me uttered these words to his buddies: “What you are about to witness, gentlemen, is baseball played the way God intended it to be played.”
This got me thinking. So if there really is a God – and, c’mon, everyone is still kind of guessing about that – He intended baseball to be played at Wrigley Field and in particular against the Houston Astros? I find that a little hard to believe, plus the God part is hard to believe in general but let’s just tackle one issue at a time here. If this is true, and let’s believe in God here for a few minutes just for fun, then I have a couple questions to ask about God. (And just for the sake of this exercise, we’ll say God is a “He.” Just for the sake of the exercise.)
1. God likes old, run-down baseball parks? Wouldn’t God like newer things? I mean, He’s seen it all and I would think that He would like invention and modern amenities.
2. Does God really like paying $5 for an Old Style? That’s not the kind of God I could worship any time soon.
3. God likes bumbling, losing baseball? Doesn’t God like to win?

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Posted on July 16, 2007

By Jim Coffman

The seasons are winding down and a question begs an answer: Will the kids remember much of anything from all of this? I’m hoping my daughter Alana locked a little something positive into that part of her brain last Saturday during her latest T-Ball showdown. Then again, it’s most likely all of this stuff will fade away relatively quickly. As opposed to something really important that is coming up fast – Friday of this week is T-minus-a-month-and-10-days until Alana’s sixth birthday and our official alert status is Orange. My wife has made a reservation for a gymnastics party, a preliminary guest list has been drawn up, and we hope to schedule some time next week to purchase invites. An official menu will follow.

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Posted on July 12, 2007

It is becoming clear to even the most pessimistic of Cub fans that this team is going to be in a dog fight with the Brewers for the rest of the season. Which also means that Cub fans may be in a dog fight with Brewer fans. With this in mind, The Cub Factor would like to help you out in the war against the Brew Crew’s crew and wake up the real rivalry! Who knows, maybe this will spark a new flurry of McDonald’s commercials that show Mark DeRosa lacing Prince Fielder’s strawberry shake with Ex-Lax. The only problem is, we are finding it hard to use typical fandom warfare because most of it just doesn’t work when it comes to our friends from Wisconsin. But let’s give it a shot.
Tell Brewer fans that:
* Their stadium sucks. Except Miller Park is named after beer and the place is really, really nice.
* They just come out to the game to get drunk and don’t really know baseball. Except their fans seem to know baseball and you can get drunk anywhere in Wisconsin, it’s highly encouraged up there, so this just doesn’t fit.
* Their mascot is a crazy homeless man. Except Wisconsin’s generous welfare system gives him a home and a slide.

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Posted on July 9, 2007

By Jim Coffman

At our most recent practice we wrapped things up with a little scrimmage. There were only a half-dozen Dodgers on hand but one coach pitched, the other played some outfield and we put a ballgame together. My eight-year-old son Noah started it off by hitting a hard ground ball into a wide open expanse out in right field. As he raced to third, one of his teammates retrieved the ball and ran all the way through the infield toward the third-base line. Noah rounded third and stood there a few steps beyond the base, oblivious to the fact his teammate, who by now was moving slowly (stealthily even), had the ball hidden in his glove. A couple moments later his teammate stepped right up and tagged him on the chest. In the process his glove caught the bottom of the mask in front of the batting helmet and brought it down so it made contact with Noah’s face. He became upset, saying the mask had “really hurt” his lip. My unsympathetic reaction was that he was more upset about being tagged out. That did not go over well.
At our most recent game, one of my coaching counterparts asked one of his cohorts to switch with him and work on the right side of the diamond during their defensive half of an inning. In the first three T-Ball innings of our league’s hybrid games (the last four frames are coach-pitch), two coaches can stand in the outfield to help their fielders. He thought his son, who would be playing on the right side, might need some assistance and it would be better if it came from someone other than his dad. I knew exactly what he was talking about . . . but it didn’t mean I would employ a similar plan.

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Posted on July 6, 2007

By Marty Gangler

Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: The Cubs are on a roll. They are hot. They are on fire. They are on a roll that got hot and is now on fire. Sure, they are still 6 1/2 back of the (still in) first place Milwaukee Brewers, and they are only now a .500 team, but the Cub Chill Factor qualifies that as “hot” and “on fire.” It means they are “in it.”
So we here at The Cub Factor would like to help some of you out. While it’s well-known that the Cubs have quite a loyal following, it is also well-known that more than a few Cub fans don’t know a damn thing about the actual team, like, for example, the fact that Sammy Sosa no longer plays for it. So as the Cub bandwagon begins to gather momentum this season, here are some things you can say at the water cooler at work or at that 4th of July barbeque to prove you know what you are talking about and have been on board since day one of the season. Let’s call it the Cub Factor Bandwagon Starter Kit.
* You never liked Michael Barrett.
* You never liked Dusty Baker.
* Mike Fontenot and Ryan Theriot played together at LSU – and you’ve been following them ever since.

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Posted on July 2, 2007