The Cubs have been sucking the fans of Chicago dry, and it's about time they finally started sinking some money into the team in an effort to win something. Seriously, 100 years without a championship? That's inexcusable for a team in a small market, let alone in one of the biggest cities in the US. A quaint stadium and neighborhood is enough to make their "fans" comfortable with losing? Some teams take crap for spending too much money, but the Cubs roll in cash and develop a history of not putting in back in the team. I was reminded watching yesterdays opener from Wrigley how the people who have the buildings outside the stadium have to give the club 17 percent of everything they take in from their properties. And whether or not Mariotti is a dick really has nothing to do with whether the premise of the story is true. I don't really think he's the only ego-maniac writer who doesn't see eye to eye with a franchise in the city they write for.
If Mariotti being a dick has nothing to do with the premise, why link to his rantings rather than those of apparently countless others who characterize the White Sox, falsely, as the "second-class citizen" of Chicago? BNLfanmatt cited a survey that had the two teams even, and that's nearly correct; as of last summer's report the Sox had edged ahead of the Cubs in terms of overall fan popularity, behind only the Bears. That's sure to flip again this summer, as 90 losses tend to be a buzzkill, but nonethless it's remarkable that, at present, a yearly, blind, cross-sports, "scientific" survey posits that the White Sox are more popular than the Cubbies, the team in town that's an interest of the entity that controls the balance of sports media (owns WGN-TV and radio, Tribune, CLTV, partial owners of Comcast). If you think that's just windmill tilting, explain how it is that in 2005 and 2006, the season the White Sox won the first World Series in Chicago in 88 years and the season they won 90 games as reigning champions, the Tribune published 1,400 more stories mentioning the Cubs than the White Sox? Point to WGN's nationwide broadcasts, day baseball, Harry Caray, or the (laughable) soul of the ballpark all you want, but the media shapes opinions and designates exposure, for good and bad. It doesn't mean the ballpark isn't nice, the neighborhood isn't lively, or the team isn't good, but the Cubbies' popularity directly correlates to Tribune ownership. The spike in attendance and perception started once the area's (and one of the country's) most powerful media entity took over. Period.
