Here's why I don't like the Chicago Cubs

Now, I must admit before I begin my awesome diatribe that I have nothing against the Cubs. In fact, I think that seeing a Cubs game is one of the best baseball experiences that you can have today.

Wrigley field is a great place, although it will probably be changed to a more lucrative name when it is sold to a new prospective buyer. I wonder how many people realize that the name "Wrigley" itself, although steeped in history and value, is itself a corporation. Wrigley must have sold plenty of gum to purchase a baseball team, even one hundred odd years ago.

I think that my main beef with the Cubs is their fans. If you have ever lived in Lakeview, which is the official name of the neighborhood where Wrigley is located, you realize the impact of the Cubs franchise on the surroundings. It's both a boon and a curse. It's a wonderful thing to have commercial dollars brought in by the fans, and you can really see the way the businesses spring up almost overnight. Many of the ticket companies did not exist ten years ago. The businesses have a huge sense of pride in the Cubs; I think it goes beyond a mere Hobbesian lowest-denominator lifestyle, it pervades into the culture.

However, if you have ever tried to park your car in Lakeview during a Cubs game, you're in for one hell of a shock; from my experiences, I would rather be punched in the face than have to park a car in Wrigleyville during a Cubs game.

Second to parking, there is an underbelly of drunken behavior that you have to expect when you attend a Cubs game. It gets ugly, although probably not as ugly as some other teams, and certainly less ugly than soccer matches in foreign countries. However, you can almost expect to see beer being thrown in the stands during a bad game. Now, I'm all for rowdy support for your team, it's just tiring.

Being a Cubs fan means being used to losing. It's like a bad relationship - you keep coming back to that person despite the fact that they're a loser. I've dated some loser girls in the past, and they made me feel like a Cubs fan. I don't think that they mean to lose, either. The players are loved immensely by the fans.

However, there has always been a lack of pitching strength for the Cubs. They need to have a great pitching line-up. In the years when they went further in the playoffs, the Cubs always had a great pitching staff. In the meantime, they have Zambrano, Wood, and a lot of potential in Dempster, but they still seem like they're lacking real strength.

For the lineup, the Cubs just acquired Kosuke Fukudome, so the hitting is definitely improved. Derrek Lee has so far generated solid numbers, despite it being early in the season. And Soriano has managed to steal a base.

So, even though the lineup is solid, I don't know how well they'll do this year. It's hard to predict baseball, it's always random. However, the Cubs curse may strike again.

How can people really like a team that has an ostensible "curse"? There's no reason for this curse, since other teams have been able to get around their respective supernatural hurdles.

When a newly created team, such as the Arizona Diamondbacks, is able to win the World Series within a few years of joining the league, how can we say that the Cubs are cursed?

The real reason the curse exists, in my humble opinion, is that people like hanging onto their superstitions.

So that's why I hate the Cubs, and although it's not a fully explained opinion, it's an entitled opinion; I lived in Wrigleyville.