So the Pirates aren’t even in the playoffs, again. I don’t know why I’m not USED to it by now! Well, I gotta root for somebody, and since Sandy’s for the Cubs 'cause she used to live near Chicago, that’s okay by me.
'Least, that’s what I thought before tonight’s game. The Cubs have five former Pirates, did you know that? And of their three runs so far tonight, all of them were made by former Pirates.
Then I see something that just makes me wanna spew. Some Cub fans on the upper deck have a banner—a good quality one, so they must have made it before the game. It’s black on yellow, bright yellow, and it says
“THANK YOU PITTSBURGH
For Lofton * Ramirez * Simon.”
That’s BULLSHIT! That fucking sucks. Just rub our face in it, why don’t you? Fuckin’ owners, man! It wouldn’t have cost so damn much to retain those guys, and if they had, WE might be in the playoffs instead of Chicago!
And here I thought you were going to pit them for booing Gary Sheffield for the grand error of being hit by a pitch and being HURT. And then, after being inspected by the trainer, going to first base.
Because, as every Cubs fan who watched Kerry Wood pitch knows all too well by now, when a batter is hit by a pitched ball (unless in the act of swinging), he gets first base.
I’d personally much rather see Pittsburgh in the playoffs than Chicago … for obvious reasons;)
Oh, wah. The sign’s funny, and hey, it’s nice to say thanks. As a Cubs fan, I’m certainly grateful for them, 'specially since our stupid-ass Sosa has done exactly DICK in the post-season. If the sign had said, “HA HA PITTSBURGH, WE STOLE YOUR PLAYERS AND NOW YOU’RE NOT IN THE PLAYOFFS BUT WE ARE” you might have a case, but jeez. You might need a skin graft if that irks you.
The Sheffield thing, not so funny. It took some major balls to shake it off and get back in the game. I respect the guy. I didn’t notice as much booing as you did, though, punha.
Mr. Rilch wishes to make it known that he was not saying “Fuck you” so much to the fans who made the sign, or to Chicago fans in general, as to the announcers who were continually pointing it out every two minutes.
Also, there are three former Pirates on the Chicago Cubs, not five; I don’t know where I got that from.
The wording of the sign does make it seem like they’re taking a slight dig at the Pittsburgh fans, which isn’t very called for. The last thing Pirates supporters wanted to see was the team’s last real hopes sent packing.
If the bleacher bums wanted to thank someone with a sign, they should’ve had one that said “Thanks Kevin McClatchey! Your inept management and completely hamhanded and shortsighted decision-making put our team in the playoffs! Way to go, dude.”
This is nothing new. Way back in the stone ages of 1984, a Cub fan friend of mine mockingly thanked me for my Indians trading Rick Sutcliffe, who went 16-1 for the Cubs after going 4-5 for Cleveland, for Joe Carter and Mel Hall.
Chandeleur: I don’t know where it was located. And don’t worry about Harry; he can see it from where he is. Were he alive, the stress would probably kill him all over again.
TeaElle: That’s who Mr. Rilch is really mad at: Pittsburgh management, who, as I said above, could have afforded to retain those players if they’d looked at it in terms of possibly making the playoffs!
ParentalAdvisory: And that’s why Jim Leyland left the Pirates. According to him, they “weren’t committed to winning.” And two years later (IIRC, do correct me if I’m wrong) I’m watching him jog around the bases after the Marlins have taken it all!
LordVor, care to give some indication, other than the fact that he outproduced nearly every Cub during the regular season, of WHY Gary Sheffield is an ass?
Season TM G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
1991 Mil 50 175 25 34 12 2 2 22 19 15 5 5 .194 .277 .320 .597
YEAR TEAM POS GP GS INN TC PO A E DP FPCT RF ZR
1990 Mil 3B 125 -- 1069 376 98 253 25 15 .934 2.96 .728
1991 Mil 3B 43 43 369 102 29 65 8 7 .922 2.29 .690
Team asks him to move to 3B to make room for the 1990 Rookie of the Year at shortstop. He responds by whining every chance he gets and makes sure that the team knows that he’s not going to play good defence at 3B. When the team doesn’t get the message next year, his offense tanks. So we trade him to San Diego, and he’s happy to go. And plays third base.
They trade him to the Marlins, and shortly afterwards, Sheffield is quoted in a Florida paper, saying that it was his intention to throw a few to the first base fans on easy grounders to third until he was traded. And MLB never suspended his ass for it.
He also had the audacity to get traded to the marlins before he had his first away game at Milwaukee, denying fans their right to boo the crap out of him. Then he got traded to another league, so the Brewers had to switch to the NL to get their chance to boo him (yes, I’m sure they had other reasons). And THEN the Marlins traded him 2 weeks before their first trip to County Stadium, to a team that wasn’t coming back to Milwaukee that year, so the fans had to wait even longer.
When he finally did make it to County Stadium (as a Dodger, I think), he got booed heartily. And the commentators had the nerve to say “boy, these Milwaukee fans hold a grudge for a while, huh?”
