By Marty Gangler
Over the course of any person’s particular fandom there comes a point where you say to yourself, why am I fan of this team? Sometimes this correlates with your favorite team trading away a great player, falling on hard times for a stretch, or possibly not winning a world championship in 100 years. This week I asked myself why I am a Cub Fan.
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Why, you ask? The Cubs are off to a nice start so far and there is room for optimism, so why would someone take a hard long look at why they are a Cub Fan this week?
Well, this week my wife and I had a son, our first. For the record she had the kid and I just tried to make things go as smoothly as possible. But a weird thing happened as we went to the hospital Wednesday morning to begin the delivery proceedings (she was being induced). I said to my wife, Jenny, “Zambrano is pitching today. Wouldn’t it be cool if he threw a no-hitter?”
Yup, I’m that guy. But you know what she said in response? She said, “Yeah, that would be cool.”
But Zambrano didn’t pitch a no hitter and the labor ran into Thursday anyway. So Mitchell Casey Gangler was born on the day Ted Lilly had a 6-hitter, with three walks, in six innings. It was still a good week for the Cubs and a good day for Mitch (who is doing great.) But am I insane for thinking about Carlos Zambrano on the possible day of my son’s birth?
The short answer is Yes, and the long answer is probably also Yes. But I am a Cub fan and so is my dad, and so was his dad. And for that matter, so is my wife and so is her dad. And I have a feeling Mitch is going to be one too. That is just the way things go. As Terrance Mann said in Field of Dreams, “The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.”
So far Mitch has looked like a shortstop and a centerfielder to various family members. I’m waiting for someone to call him a short relief left-handed specialist, but hey he’s only three days old.
Oh, and also for the record. We almost named him something else until a few weeks ago when former Cub closer Mitch Williams was in the news for causing a disturbance at his daughter’s softball game. So then we thought about Mitch as a name and it stuck.
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Week in Review: The Cubs went 5-1 for the week taking, two of three from the Reds and sweeping the Pirates. Alfonso Soriano’s injury really played havoc on this team.
Week in Preview: The Cubs have two two-game series’ this week with the Mets at home and the Rockies in Colorado. Then a three-game series in Washington against the Generals, er, the Nationals. This train should keep a rollin’.
The Second Basemen Report: This is the kind of week the Cub Factor Second Basemen Report lives for. Four different second basemen this week (DeRosa, Cedeno, Fontenot, Patterson) as mad scientist Uncle Lou makes lemons out of chicken salad, or something. Just like Jim Hendry drew it up.
In former Cubs second basemen news, Mike Tyson last played second base for the Cubs in 1981. Not the boxer. I don’t remember him, but he is missed.
Zam Bomb: Big Z is having too much fun with his little friend Mike Fontenot to be angry.
Lost in Translation: Mitchell-san is Japanese for Wild Thing.
Sweet and Sour Lou: 78% sweet, 22% sour. Lou is up 3 points on the Sweet-O-Meter due to winning and Soriano going down. And just like your real crazy drunk uncle, Lou isn’t going to be outwardly happy that your hot-shot cousin got suspended from the basketball team, he’s just glad he can coach now without having to cater to the prima donna.
Beachwood Sabermetrics: A complex algorithm performed by the Cub Factor staff using all historical data made available by Major League Baseball has determined that the season is never “early” when you are winning.
The Cub Factor: Catch up with them all.
Center Stage: Reed Johnson got five starts, Felix Pie just one. Johnson is a gamer. Pie is, um, not quite ready to come out of the oven.
Over/Under: The amount the Cubs have missed Alfonso Soriano: +/- not much.
With Apologies To Nena: 99 Years of Cub Losses (99 Jahre von Bengeln Verlusten).
Mount Lou: Lou goes back to green as lineup freedom has alleviated pressure from his inner core. Expect anger to begin boiling again as soon as Soriano comes back.
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Marty – and Mitchell – eagerly await your comments!
Posted on April 21, 2008