Baseball

Pitchers and catchers for my favorite team, the Cubs, report tomorrow. Forget the groundhog; this news is what gives me hope of spring.

It doesn't appear that the Cubs have much of a chance to win their division, with the Cardinals staying solid, the Reds looking to continue their impressive 2010 season and the Brewers going all-in. But the Cubs like being the underdog, so who knows. Anyway, if a fan of any team is well-adjusted to not winning, it's a fan of the Cubs.

Does it always have to be about winning? The Bears had an amazing season for their lack of talent, coming pretty close to going to the Super Bowl. Is their loss to the eventual champion Packers enough to spoil the entire year? For many, yes. For me, no. It should always be about the journey, not the destination. Enjoy the trip.

Anyway, I'm in a bit of a pickle when it comes to following the Cubs. I don't go to many games; for the last decade, I've seen the Cubs in DC more than in Chicago. I usually follow their exploits by reading and occasionally posting on a Cubs message board. A somewhat-obscure board has always been very informative and comprehensive, and I've visited it routinely over the last eight years. However, the personalities on the board have become more and more confrontational and argumentative, and when I was taken to task for not "defending" a simple opinion, I decided to stop visiting.

The problem is that I haven't found another place to get as much information on the team.

I could go back to reading the board without posting, but too many members grate on me. It's not that they don't like me. It's that the environment there has become no nasty that they don't seem to like anyone. Perhaps not even themselves.

So where do I go? bleedcubbieblue.com is getting a good rep. Or maybe I should stop visiting any blogs regarding the Cubs. I might become a better fan by getting unbiased info on the Cubs... if that's even possible. Sports writers in Chicago have become more and more slanted in their reporting, even when not writing an opinion column. Carlos Zambrano can do no right with these guys anymore, never mind his fantastic final two months. He ticked off too many of them in the past and they won't give him a fair shake. Jay Cutler has the same issue. What does it matter if he's a bit aloof and less than gracious to these guys? Why should sports figures have to kiss the asses of the media? It should be the other way around.

Change that. No butts should be kissed at all. Players should play and journalists should cover what happened. End of story.

The best thing would be to go to every game and only get info that way, from what I see on the field. But this won't happen. I do have lots of time on my hands now, but bums can't afford to sit in the Wrigley bleachers anymore.