If Mark Cuban sidles up to fellow Cubs fans at future Wrigley Field games, apparently he’ll have to do so as a ticket buyer.

His bid to buy the team from owner Sam Zell? According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Cuban won’t even make the final cut if commissioner Bud Selig and Major League Baseball owners have their way.

“There’s no way Bud and the owners are going to let that happen,” a baseball source told the Chicago Sun-Times earlier this week. “Zero chance.”

Zell has yet to shorten the field of five potential buyers who submitted bids of about $1 billion to the Tribune Co. for the Cubs and Wrigley Field. The process has begun to drag: The Cubs were on the market at the start of the 2007 baseball season and a source told the Sun-Times that a deal before Opening Day 2009 is unlikely. (ESPN)

 

I hope Sam Zell sells it to Cuban just to say ‘fuck you’ to Bud and the Boys. What are these guys so afraid of?

Has all of the sideshow bullshit before this series ever started against  the Dodgers crippled the Cubs?

Exhibit A: Before a pitch was thrown in the series, the good folks in City Hall decided to ban alcohol sales after the 7th inning in clinching games…

Exhibit B: Before a pitch was thrown in this series, someone thought it would be a great idea to have a priest bless the dugout.

On one hand you are assuming victory, on the other hand you are warding off evil defeating jinxes. In reality it has been a side show the Cubs could have gone without. The real side show should have been before the postseason ever started in the form of Piniella letting his players relax during the Mets series and going balls out against he Brewers. The “in essence” week off before this series has killed any momentum the Cubs had gained all season, and the rust has shown in the first two games.

We are all in…..every fucking chip left has to be in the pot in hopes we can double up and live to play another hand. Thank God Kosuke Fukudome has been eliminated.

Chat here during the game if you will be awake…late start for everyone but me here in California….Ill be here…hope to see you too.

I along with half of Cubs Nation had an uneasy time last night….I went in search of what other Cubs fans were feeling…I got sat down and give a good talking to by Kurt  Evans from Goat Riders of the Apocolypse…Kurt says:

Forgive me if I am going to come off as a little harsh, and if you are disturbed by this post, then I can only ask you to think back about the things you have said about the Cubs in the past couple of hours and compare them in terms of disturbedness – if that’s even a word. (My spell check says it’s not.)

I also want to preference* myself by saying that I am not trying to be a dick.  I promise.

(*Inside joke)

To the lovely, wonderful Cub fans out there who have given up on this season because of one loss, what the hell is the matter with you?  What kind of fans are you?  How disturbed must you be, how damaged must the Cubs have made you for you to cut and run with the team needing two losses before the season is over?

Seriously.  I just saw the same game that you saw.  I felt the same frustration.  I cursed.  I wanted to bury my head in the ground.  I yelled at Dempster for reverting to the pitcher he was Pre ‘08.  I yelled at Soriano for his hack routine.  I yelled at Derrek for grounding into a double play.  I didn’t ridiculously give up on an entire season because of one stinkin’ loss.

I know I can’t expect Cub fans to be like me.  I hate the Pollyannas out there who cling to the bitter end, until the very last out of the final game even if the Cubs are being blown out.  Those people make me want to puke.  But as much as I hate Cub Fan Pollyanna, I can’t stand Cub Fan Nietzsche even more.  Oh yes, the world is a dark, dank place, the Cubs will never win, good things will never happen, please do us a favor and go sodomize yourselves with a splintering broom handle.  If I could quit the Nietzsches out there as readers, I would.  If I could magically ban their computers from reading this blog, I’d do it.

So the Cubs lost tonight.  Yes, it’s devastating.  Yes, any momentum they took with them into the playoffs evaporated tonight.  But it’s not the loss that will kill them in ‘08, it’s the fact that tomorrow night, they will be playing in a ballpark where the fans have sucked out all the oxygen.  Home field advantage doesn’t exist in a place where 25 players compete in front of 40,000 sad participants who are already lamenting a lost season before it even ends.  For Chrissakes, show some heart, it’s the least you’d demand of the players on your favorite team!

I’ve predicted that if the Cubs lost Game One, they could be swept, and the negative fans are the reason why.  I will stand by that prediction.

However, although the Cubs offense faltered, and although the Cubs starting pitcher failed, the biggest culprit from tonight’s loss won’t be out there tomorrow.  Ryan Dempster will be sitting in the dugout, starring vacantly onto the field, wondering what would’ve happened if he hadn’t soft served that pitch.

In the meantime, the fiercest, most competitive Cub in my lifetime will be on the mound.  He’ll be angry.  He’ll be ready.

As for those of you who have deep sixed the season, I only ask that you keep it that way.  Don’t watch the games.  Don’t bother, it’s all over anyway, right?  Don’t read the blogs.  Why would you, we’re hopelessly devoted to the belief that anything can happen in a 5 game series.  You wouldn’t waste your time, right?

Courtesy of Goat Riders of the Apcolypse

The Goat Rider web site is full of scorn for all of us….get behind the fucking team and have a little faith.

Thanks to Kurt and GROTA for the lesson…sorry I didnt contact you for re-print permission…hope the full credit and the links are enough for now….we are 100% behind you.

See you at game time here or the chat….and be sure to check out Goat Riders of the Apocolypse now and later and often.

Ladies and Gentlemen…the moment we have been waiting for since September 20th has now arrived. The National League Division Series between the Cubs and the Dodgers kicks off in about two and a half hours. The tension is so thick you need an axe to split it.

Ryan Dempster gets the deserved nod today against Derek Lowe. I am too nervous to write anything meaningful. I hope to see you guys here at game time.

Cubs @ Brewers

This is quite the exciting game for most of the Northeastern part of the United States…oh yeah and for those folks in Wisconsin too. This game determines a few things.

1. Will the Brewers be the Wild Card?
2. Will the Mets be the Wild Card?
3. Will there be a one game playoff?
4. Will the Cubs host the Dodgers?
5. Will the Cubs host the Mets?

Cubs…they appear to care less. Carlos Zambrano is a scratch and the Cubs will send Angel Guzman to the mound to face CC Sabathia. Accuscore has the game already a given to the Brewers….how in the hell can they be a 77% favorite? Are they basing it all offof CC? Do they take into account this will be his third outing in like 10 days?

The Cubs are sending the top half of the regular lineup to face CC. One cool thing to note is Micha Hoffpauir is starting in place of Kosuke Fukudome in right.

Geovany Soto is out again…which is fine. Let the guy heal as much as possible…ditto for Mark DeRosa.

Game Chat on weekend is sporadic…which is fine…so many sports on the weekend. We will be chatting here on and off throughout the game.

Weekend traffic at the site is not huge…its the weekend. We will be in and out all day.

Ted Lilly faces the iffy Ben Sheets. Don’t know how well Sheets will pitch or rather how long. But the Brewers are already in playoff mode beacause their playoff lives are at stake.

One thing is certain…the visiting Cubs need to get back into playoff mode starting today.

Like we said…in and out all day. Let us know if you stop by.

I wont be here to beging the game…I have a Charity Golf Scramble I am playing  in that doesnt start until 4pm eastern.

Ryan Dempster on the mound for the Cubs tonight takes on Jeff Suppan at Miller Park, where the Cubs are perfect this year. We dont quite know whether to expect the Cubs to continue their dominant ways because we dont know what line up Lou Piniella plans to send out.

One thing is certain…the New York Mets barely slipped our September call ups last night, which bodes well for the Cubs. Also consider that our back are not up against the wall like the Brewers. We are sure to be lose and play pressure free.

We will be watching and rooting for our Cubs, but our eyes are set on the post season. This is the ESPN featured game of the night.

We will check in as the game is on later in the evening…hopefully with the Cubs continuing their dominance of all NL post season contenders.

Back on July 18 we took a look at were things were for the Cubs and made our second half predictions for the rest of the season. At the time we thought the Cubs were a lock to win 100 games. We still have a shot…but we are thinking 98-99 at the moment. So with that said, here was what we predicted and the actual results up through last nights game at New York.

Original Story:

We looked at several percentages, including day games after night games, home / road splits, took into account the trade deadine (July 31) that will severly hamper Cincinatti (Dunn and/ or Griffey gone), Pittsburgh (Xaivier Nady). We also took into account the expansion of rosters on September 1 when Houston and Cincinnati will not be contending, and will be evaluating new talent (read as giving away games). It all makes for pretty dry reading. Just know we took it all into account…and here are the predictions

Philadelphia Phillies
Four Games @ Wrigley
Our Projections 2-2
Total Record v. Phillies After Projections: 2-2

New York Mets
Four Games @ Shea
Our Projections 1-3
Current Cubs Record v. Mets After Projections 2-1

Florida Marlins
Four @ Wrigley 2-2
Three @ Pro Player 2-1
Our Projections 4-3
Total Record v. Marlins After Projections: 4-3

Atlanta Braves
Three @ Turner
Our Projection 2-1
Total Record v. Braves After Projections: 3-0

Washington Nationals
Three  @ Wrigley
Our Projections 3-0
Total Record v. Nationals After Projections: 2-1

St. Louis Cardinals
Six @ Wrigley Current Record v. Cardinals After Projections: 2-1
Three @ Busch
Our Projections 6-3
Total Record v. Cards After Projections: 6-3

Milwaukee Brewers
Three @ Wrigley
Seven @ Miller Current Record v. Brewers After Projections: 4-0
Our Projections 5-5
Total Record v. Brewers After Projections: 6-1

Cincinnati Reds
Three @ Wrigley
Three @ Great American
Our Projections  5-1
Total Record v. Reds After Projections: 3-3

Pittsburgh Pirates
Three @ Wrigley Current Record v. Pirates After Projections: 2-1
Three @ PNC
Our Projections 5-1
Total Record v. Pirates After Projections: 5-1

Houston Astros
Six @ Wrigley…Current Record v. Astros After Projections: 2-1
Six @ Minute Made…Current Record v. Astros After Projections: 1-2
Our Projections 8-4
Total Record v. Astros After Projections: 5-6

Arizona Diamondbacks
Three @ Chase
Our Projections 2-1
Total Record v. Arizona After Projections: 1-2

Totals 43-24

Current Record 57-38 (on July 18)

Final Record 100-62
Current Record 96-61

Cubs Clinch Central on September 22
Cubs Clinched on September 20

All in all…pretty happy with the projections…where did we go wrong? Never saw the sweep coming at the hands of the Astros, and didnt think the Reds could win a series against us. Six game losing streak was offset by sweeps at Atlanta and Milwaukee.

In order to get 100 wins the Cubs need tonights win at NYM and a sweep at Milwaukee because it doesnt look like the third Astros game is going to be needed.

Fun looking back…..but really cant wait for the post season at this point.

Chat here below later tonight.

Analyze ….shamanalyze.

Do we kill the Mets chances tonight? I like the chances with Big Z. It would be nice to see him dominate again. Zambrano goes against Oliver Perez tonight at Shea.

Before, during, or after the game…be sure to read this story.

By the way…we arent mailing it in this week…even though it may seem that way. We are getting stories ready for the postseason. No nail biting and hanging on every pitch helps us do that. Remember once the postseason starts the trolling will be at an all time high because there will be 24 other teams eliminated from the post season. Those 24 other fan bases will be fucking with someone…I am guessing its us. Just remember the safe haven that is 100 Year Itch.

See you during the game…

Sweet relief.

• Division – Clinched….
• Best Record – Clinched.

It was nice to spend a day or two away from the computer knowing that all is aligned in Cubs Nation. I couldnt stay away forever though.

Sean Marshall is taking the bump for the Cubs tonight…nice to have the luxury of looking ahead and getting our rotation set up for the post season isnt it. Marshall faces Johan Santana and the desperate Mets.

This is a game that screams Mets victory. Which is why the Cubs have a great chance to win again. Will the Mets press? Will the Brewers win? Its nice not to care who wins or loses. We will be watching all o’ the races tonight. On behalf of Cubs fans everywhere…Go Twins!

See ya at the first pitch…

Thriller for the Cubs..downer for the Brewers….No one wanted to win as each team kept giving the others chances….Cubs win 7-6 in 12th…more later…just going to go enjoy this fo a few minutes.

Yeah…we lost the game last night 6-2 to the Brewers. But the fun thing about magic numbers is that they cant go up. Magic number remains stuck at 4 while the dividion lead is 8. Another game this afternoon at Wrigley v. the Brew Crew. Dave Bush ging for the Brewers….Rich Harden for the home team.

See you here for the chat in a little while.

….for the Mets, Phillies, Brewers, Astros, and Diamondbacks that is. These are the only teams that have a realistic shot at the post season in the National League.

The Cubs are basically locked, and the Dodgers are 98.5% in…but we all know there is a little baseball to be played.

Basically it is do or die time for the Brewers, Phillies, and Mets. Two spots…three teams. I had the idea for this article all day…but ESPN beat me to it…so fuck it - here is their version instead…I am here to pull for the Cubs and eliminate whoever is in our way. At this point, it is World Series of Poker time in baseball. Get rid of all of the competition and be the last one standing.

On the hill tonight the Brewers have a good shot to beat the Cubs becuse they are sending Ben Sheets out to face Jason “One Big Inning” Marquis. The only problem now for the Brew Crew is that historically, when Marquis has no pressure to win, which is in essence what the entire Cubs staff has for the rest of the season, he has pitched really well.

Add to the equation the Brewersare in disarray and the only guy not affected seems to be Prince Fielder.

At any rate…we all get to share the Cubs tonight on ESPN which means everyone everywhere will be watching…we will be chatting down below….rub two quarters together for a good showing tonight on national tee vee…but keep it in context….we are up 9 in the division and magic number is 4…..end of day worst case scenario is 8 and 4….magic number cant go up….like we said…time is running out.

Back with updates in the morning…going to go celebrat with a little shit talking to my pals!

Cubs win 5-4 at Wrigley.

The Dale Sveum (sp?) Era begins tonight for the Milwaukee Brewers as they travel to Wrigley for a three game set against the Cubs. This three game set is followed by a three game set at Miller Park in about ten days. Needless to say, these six games could determine whether or not the Brewers make it to the post season. Chicago is all but assured of a spot with their magic number at 6.

Should be a fun game to watch with CC Sabathia and Ryan Dempster on the bump for the Brewers and Cubs respectively. The Brewers will be pressing a bit, but also can play with relatively no pressure now that they fired their manager…it all depends on how the players internalize the situation. The Phillies who are tied for the Wild Card lead “tee off” an hour ahead of this game, so the Brewers will have one eye on the scoreboard all night as well. The Cubs could be positioned for a letdown of sorts after a no-no by Carlos Zambrano and a near no-no by Ted Lilly. The Cubs bats however have woken up the last two games.

We will be here to chat the game later today.

Well..it is Monday..getting back into the swing of things.

Ted Lilly on the bump today taking on Brian Mohler. Talk about an unfair advantage…how in the world is the Astros lineup not shifted to get Oswalt in this series? Anyways…we will be here chatting the game. Congrats again to Carlos Zambrano for the no-no.

Magic number is at 7.

The Cubs return to action tonight after hurricane ike displaced thier series wth the Houston Astros to Milwaukee, WI….just 90 miles north of Wrigley Field. Though the Astros will bat as the “home team” the decided advantage lies with the Cubs. The Cubs have won their last five at Miller Park including a four game sweep of the Brewers to close out the month of July. The Astros however are going for their seventh straight aginst the Cubs.

Hurricane Ike may have been a momentum killer for the Astros who were on a tear and won 14 out their last 15 games, while the Cubs had been struggling.  One Cub in particular, Carlos Zambrano had issues as of late including a missed start with shoulder tendenitis. Zambrano has had a 12 day layoff and should be rested and ready to take on Randy Wolf.

The Brewers will find themselves in an unfamiliar position of rooting for the Cubs in their own stadium. What ever you want to call what the Cubs have been doing lately with your choice of one of the “c” words, you have to classify what the Brewers have been doing as “c”  squared. They have let everyone including the Astros back into the Wild Card race in the NL. The Astros sit just two back, whereas they were 11 games back on August 27…just 18 days ago.

The Cubs magic number is down to 10 for the division and 8 for the wild card. As we have said before…Sunday is a tough day for us to chat, but we will try to check in later on the PDA to see if anyone is here. But, between flipping between football, baseball, and NASCAR and juggling family responsibilities (today is my daughter Sarhah’s first birthday…Happy Birthday Sarah!) we are more inclined to say enjoy your weekend…hopefully the game on Monday is actually shown on WGN.

Go Cubs.

In an attempt to calm myself down after my recent tirades, I decided to take a long hard look at what was happening to the Cubs. Part of that involves who we lost to - and why…and the other part involves looking at when the losses occured.

I am not going to bore you with my analyzing what the Cubs did, are doing, or hoping to do other than to lay out the following information. In their last 20 games the Cubs are actually playing .500 baseball….I was shocked too.

Here is the skinny…the last 20 games look like this:

WLWLWWWWWWWLLLLLLWLLW

The part that obviously bothers all of us is the six “Ls” in a row…But what if we were to look at this another way….would you be as upset if the last 20 games looked like this:

LWWLWLLWWLWLLWLWLWLW

I know when I looked at it that way I suddenly began to realize that – it is just baseball. With all of that being said, I would still like to see WW on the board after today…as in two in a row.

I know you guys have probably all seen the ESPN video about Cubs fans by now…but it got me thinking. Since 1908 only 22 teams have won the World Series…is this true? According to Baseball Reference it is…here are the totals from Wikipedia if you don’t want to count it up.

Here is the text of the ESPN video…incase you want to read it for yourself:

The frst thing people want to know is…Why? But you don’t choose who you love.

The Ivy…The Scoreboard…Banks and Santo…Sandberg and Grace…

We never had a chance. We know its been a hundred years since the last World Series Championship. We know that was before the Titanic, Harry Caray, and even Wrigley Field. We share each others pain…WE share that empty feeling in our stomachs.

Be it from a black cat in 69, the ball rolling through Durham’s legs in 84, or in 2003….FIVE OUTs from the World Series. A fan named Bartman, a shortstop named Gonzalez, and a pitcher named Prior.

They call us losers. But we already know that 22 teams have won the World Series since 1908….Including the Yankees, 26 times. Yet we still believe it’s gonna happen…maybe this year, maybe next year, maybe in 50 years….whenever…We’ll wait. We’ll wait for our parents, their parents, and anyone else who has ever cheered for the Cubs…and when our time here runs out…our kids will wait for us. We believe in dreams, we believe in hope, we believe in loyalty….we believe in our Chicago Cubs.

Go Cubs…Go Cubs…Go Cubs…Go Cubs…Go Cubs…Go Cubs…

“We’re playing like we’re waiting to get beat,” manager Lou Piniella said. “You don’t have a big enough lead in September to play ball like that.”

                                       – Lou Piniella

So, we meet here again. Lamenting the slide…the swoon…the choke. What ever you want to call it. We were going to invite some trolls in here to remind us how the Cubs have historically have been Completely Useless By September.

I gotta say…I usually am the last one to crack.  You know you are going to lose a series here or there…you are gonna drop a game. I spend days and nights telling people to calm down. But who is going to tell people to calm down if I can’t do it? Because frankly…I can’t.

I am drinking the troll Kool Aid right now.

Listen…I am not being unrealistic. I am 99% sure we will make the postseason. I am a bit afraid of what will happen once we get there. I say that as I sit here today….being completly honest with everyone. I want my mind to be changed…FAST.

I dont want to be that faithless fuck who gets bullied into believing his team will choke…

Help me the fuck out fellas…just play ball and stop pressing already…the pitching is there – just relax and get some hits!

Lilly faces Looper tonight. This is the extent of the preview….the preview is a fucking plea.

I am asahmed of myself. Tell me how bad of a fan I am by chatting with me below…

I am officially going on record as saying that I am finally worried. I have been denying it since we lost the series to the Astros….largely because, I really wasnt. But now it is different. Eight out of nine is a little too hard to ignore.

I never have rooted for another team to lose before this week…but I am literally doing that as we speak. As I type this I am watching the Milwaukee game on ESPN Gamecast…and I am hoping the Brewers shit the bed. Notice that I didn’t say that i am rooting for the Reds? I am actually hoping for the Brewers to fuck up…What’s wrong with me?

These are the days that I hate being a Cubs fan.

The Cubs lost a 3-0 lead to Albert Pujols. This guy has got to end up being the 2008 MVP…take him away from the Cards and they would be in the cellar.

Irresponsible journalism ahead……Fuck…..Fucking Fuck Fuck Fuck…

Ill be around to chat the fucking game tomorrow.

Fuck.

Dempster v. Lohse

According to Accuscore the Cubs are the Underdog….this may be a good thing. Our best friends througout this little roug patch have been the Milwaukee Brewers. If it wasn’t for their “swoon” we may be looking up at them. So – With that said…can we please….for the love of God….can we get a freaking W tonight….

According to the upcoming schedule, we have our rotation for the series as Dempster, Lilly, and Harden. WE get the Astros next with Marquis, Zambrano, and Dempster again. Hopefully this means we got our staff back in tact for the stretch run.

Lets jut hope the bats come back with the arms as well.

Chatting ya up in a few minutes

Dear Brewers,

We just wanted to write and tell you how much we appreciate your gag job along side our gag job. Your help in keeping us on top of the division is really appreciated. We understand that it has been quite a while since you have been to the postseason and wanted to tell you that your sacrifice is not going unnoticed.

As a reward we will bring a bunch of our fans to our remianing games with you at Miller Park to ensure that you sell out the stadium. This way, all of your fans who can’t make it to the game will be able to watch it on local television with no blackout restrictions.

We look forward to seeing you in the near future…and again…We really appreciate your help in keeping us a top the standings.

Your Friend,
Lou Piniella

If leaving no review or preview of last nights game broke us out of the funk, then we are going to treat it like a pair of socks and wear the dirty pair again for this game.

Nothing more importantthan playoff baseball…we are going to do all we can to help the team win. Good crowd last night…hope to see you guys later come game time.

Time to wake up Cubbies. We have been through this before. The bats were quiet to start the second half of the season….but not this quiet.

In keeping with long standing baseball traditions regarding superstions, we here at 100 Year Itch will also change it up…grow a mustache if you will. No preview…No recap, no mention of the teams…no tags…lets see if it breaks us out of the funk

Live game chat below…

100 Year Itch Welcomes Back the Posts of The Wisdom Cube…Read this Rant and then Join the Game Chat Below

So Zambrano’s not the only Carlos in Chicago on the DL.  Sources say that White Sox MVP Candidate Carlos Quentin will undergo wrist surgery and miss at least 2 weeks, possibly the rest of the year.  You’re thinking, hey, who cares about the White Sox?  Well, if you wanted to know my thoughts on this, I dedicate this little song to the White Sox trolls who love to belittle the Cubs fans.  This one goes out to you guys. . .

NA NA! NA NA NA NA! HEY HEY HEY! GOODBYE!!!!!

I know this is probably bush league, but considering the amount of garbage that White Sox fans spew forth, this is justified.  Don’t dish it out if you can’t take it, right?  Anyways, if you guys need me, I’ll probably be on the ESPN boards.  Wishing the Cubs would leave Funkytown and start hitting the damn ball.  Especially if they are in Cincy, that’s a hitters park.  Bronson Arroyo is due to get lit up at least ONCE this year by our bats, right?  RIGHT?  He’s unbeaten vs. the Cubs this year!  Talk about bizzaro compared to last year when he went 0-3 with a palsy-like ERA of 8.30 I believe!  Then again, maybe the day off and some time away from Wrigley will help the bats grow fonder.  Or maybe I should stop wishfully thinking.  Be like Pacman, Cubbies, MAKE IT RAIN!

Editor’s Note…

Maybe its time we as Cubs fans should get back to being obnoxious. We have done a great job all year being nice to the trolls and the naysayers. We have maintianed our composure, and what do we get for it?? We get fucked with even more. It is September people. The Cubs are up 5 in the division, 9 up in the wild card…we are a virtual lock to make the postseason…the only thing that would prevent it is going without a win the rest of the season.

Fuck the trolls. That is all they are doing is sitting there typing and fucking with us. Responding to their lame shit just keeps them coming back…Guys like ZorChu aka Lian Vue, White Sox fans like Kokkinos, and the others…who the fuck are they, and what do they mean to us? Nothing. These guys live for the drama they create…and thats all these guys are trying to do is keep the drama going.

Lilly goes against Arroyo tonight. Arroyo is due to lose against the Cubs…just like the Cubs are due for a win. Fuck it. I will predict a win. And when it happens, I will say I told you so. I think the Brewers and the Cubs both get their heads out of their asses today. Its going to be good down the stretch.

Timely post Cube…thanks for “smacking me in the mouth to wake me up”

Live Game Chat Below

****END EDITOR RANT****