Cubs prove again why they fail in 'postseason'
BY MARK POTASH | Commentary Nov 22, 2010
Even though the baseball team hasn't played in seven weeks, it's been a rough postseason for the Cubs.
There have been more painful moments than glorious ones at Wrigley Field in October and November over the last 45 years. And not just the baseball games that should have played but weren't.
The Bears were 5-15 in their last three years at Wrigley, and two of the victories were more devastating than any of the losses - Gale Sayers' knee injury in a 27-19 win over the 49ers in 1968 and the 38-7 victory over the Steelers in 1969 that cost the 1-13 Bears the chance to draft Terry Bradshaw with the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft.
But 2010 has been a particularly difficult postseason for the Cubs and for Wrigley Field - Mikel Leshoure, Ron Zook and Illinois should consider themselves fortunate to have touched it and not turned to dust. Other than that, the litany of happenings at Wrigley Field since the baseball season ended has been frought with bad timing:
1. Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts' request for public money to finance a rehab of Wrigley Field wiped out whatever was left of the romantic notion that a Cub fan owns the Cubs.
Even worse, it branded Ricketts as not just another owner, but another out-of-touch owner. Public money for a ballpark rehab in the worst economy since the Great Depression- Either Ricketts doesn't read the papers or even worse, he reads them and still doesn't realize the current economy is hurting Chicagoans a lot more than Ameritrade.
Ricketts deserves public money for a Wrigley Field rehabilitation just as the McCaskeys and Jerry Reinsdorf and the Wirtzes received public money to finance their stadium projects. But not now. Not after a disappointing season in which the Cubs won 75 games with the third-largest payroll in baseball ($146 million).
Which brings up another point - Ricketts needs to start showing more concern for the money going out before he politics for revenue coming in. It's unbecoming to use a heavy-handed approach with Cubs fans and Wrigleyville residents for a Toyota sign that brings in $2 million a year - and then retain the general manager who spent $280 million for teams that won 158 and lost 165 the past two seasons.
That doesn't mean Jim Hendry should be fired. But if you're going to endorse him after the past two seasons of cost-inefficiency, don't lean on us for cash to remain competitive. If you can't get to the playoffs with $140 million payroll, you're in the wrong business.
2. The hiring of Mike Quade was a feel-good story - it's not often a totally unheralded local guy gets rewarded for years of grunt work a a minor-league manager with a high-profile big-league managerial job. But even that was overshadowed by Ryne Sandberg's pique at not getting the job.
Another case of bad timing. Sandberg, who reinvented himself and spent four seasons managing in the minor leagues, was qualified for the job. But Quade was more qualified - more experience as a manager and more time with the current club. And the Cubs need a low-profile manager more than a high-profile manager right now - expectations and attention on this team are high enough. Quade's 24-13 record since succeeding Lou Piniella might be misleading, but that's far from his only qualification.
Can't blame Sandberg for getting away, though. He would have been in a tough spot at Iowa in 2011. And if Quade fails, Sandberg will still be a candidate for the Cubs job, if he doesn't have a big-league managerial position already.
3. The Northwestern-Illinois football game went on without a hitch Saturday and by most accounts was not hampered by the rules changes necessitated by the configuration of the gridiron at Wrigley Field. But the Big Ten stepping in at the last minute to balk on playing full-court'' embarrassed Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips and itself.
Nobody realized how close the end zones were to the walls at Wrigley Field until the day before the game- Or was Northwestern unaware of the NCAA rule that there needs to be six feet of boundary behind the end zone and sidelines- Did the Big Ten approve it in advance or not- Either way, it was an embarrassing lapse in communication and judgment by people who should know better.
But it's a sign of the times. The Bears played at Wrigley Field for 50 years from 1921-70, with a configuration as tight if not tighter than the one for the Northwestern-Illinois game. And players hit the wall and fell into the dugout. And the game went on.
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