Section 435 An Atlanta Braves blog. From the upper deck at Turner Field.

A Cubs Fan Raped Your Mother

Of all the fans in baseball, the Cubs have the absolute worst. You may accuse me of being a sore loser after an ugly doubleheader today, but the truth is, I have been professing this since the 2003 division series. Sure, fans in New York and Philly get a bad rap, but people from New York hate everyone and everything so you can’t take it personally and the fans in Philadelphia tend to direct their bile towards their own teams rather than their opponents.

Cubs fans, on the other hand, are just nasty people. The way they go about cheering for their team is tasteless. It’s as much about goading the other team as it is about supporting their own team.

And in Atlanta tonight, they decided that they owned the place as much as they own Wrigley field, chanting “Let’s go Cubbies,” something about “I fucked your mom,” and unfurling big blue W banners when the game was over. Folks, coming into our home and cheering for your team is just fine. As a city with a short sports history, booming only recently due to suburban diaspora, we’re used to that. But when you do, remember that you are guests in our home.

(The Cardinals, with their notoriously loyal fans, just recently came through town during another series in which visiting fans rivaled the home fans. And yet, we got none of this from them. They were positive supporters of their teams. Good sports both when they won and lost.)

Part of the reason, I think, that Braves fans get a bad rap for being fair weather fans is that is we’re just not like these people.

What was truly abhorrent though, was when the Cubs fans decided that the tribute they played to Skip Caray before the game was really a Cubs tribute to Harry Caray and blew up every time Skip’s dad appeared in photos on the screen. That was our moment, our solemn farewell.

Cubs fans, you are an embarrasment to yourselves and to baseball. I for one will be cheering loudly when the Phillies once again crush your dreams this October.

Rich Harden Pitches 5 Crappy 2-Hit Innings

On to the game… I don’t know how a guy can pitch a game in which he walks approximately 432 batters and gets pulled after 5 innings because he’s already thrown over 90 pitches and yet give up 0 runs and only two hits. But Rich Harden pulled it off tonight. Good job.

Jorge Campillo, on the other hand, must have walked under a ladder on the way to the game. The Cubs managed to put 4 on the board in the first inning without getting a single hard hit ball. They were helped on the way by a terrible throw home from Casey Kotchman that cost us a run and out. Campillo would allow one more in 5 total innings of work, though it was one of those “he pitched better than his line” games.

The first run would be all they needed, but they collected 3 more in the 9th when Mike Gonzales decided that if walking pretty much every batter you face is good enough for Rich Harden then it’s damn well good enough for Mike Gonzales.

The public masturbation from the Cubs fans in attendance became unbearable after that.

Breaking News: Kotchman Unimpressive So Far

I want to catch Kotchmania, I really do. I’m trying. I wish it was the most virulent disease to hit Atlanta since the Teixeira Fever epidemic of August ‘07. Yet, Kotchman has been unimpressive so far. We all knew going into this relationship that he didn’t swing quite a weighty bat as his predecessor, but we heard that he was still solid and a clutch performer for the Angels this year. We also heard that his defense was at least as good as Teixeira’s, in not better. (Though, anyone who said better obviously wasn’t watching Tex this year.)

So far, though, Kotchmania has barely rivaled Thormania. (And Thorman’s a freaking Olympian right now. Like in Beijing. For real.) As a Brave, he slipped under .200 tonight and has only 3 extra base hits and 5 RBIs in 14 games. Tonight, he grounded softly to first twice with 2 out and runners in scoring position. His defense hasn’t been spectacular either. Maybe some of that can be attributed to adjusting to a new park, new league, and new team. If that’s the case, let’s hope he gets pretty well adjusted before next season.

Ugh. Yesterday was pretty bad. I don’t know if you saw the telecast, but there was this girl who was screaming whenever the Cubs were at the plate. Every. Damn. At bat. You’d think her parents would be considerate enough to break out the chloroform? But nope.

Of course, there’s also that whole Bartman incident.

My friend,
I couldn’t agree with you more. I’m saving my rant for another day about this very topic. Surprisingly as a Braves fan, in Braves gear, at Wrigley, I didn’t get a LOT of agony when I visited. Some… but not much.

Still…
the fact remains, the chanting throughout the game is a disrespect and an outrage to me. You are VISITING a place where season ticket holders like myself like to come and watch their team and enjoy the game. How would they feel if people treated the sacred “Friendly Confines” this way? Turner is like a home to me. And a guy who shows up 30 times+/- a year to watch the team I grew up with has to endure everything from all that you mentioned above to “Laaaary” chants… in my stadium!

I’ve said enough and I’m still angered by the experience I had at the park tonight.

All I’m saying is, I’m buying Bartman a ticket to every playoff game the Cubs are in.

Oh, and Shaun, again a very well put post. Thanks for being a true fan. I’ll try not to get too bent out of shape by these Cubs jerks but I haven’t even told you all the stories of their rudeness I’ve experienced since 2003.

~JB@TheLaunchingPad

We deal with visiting fans screaming and chanting every time the Cardinals come to town. It’s part of the rivalry. Sorry if can’t handle visiting fans cheering their team on.

Like your team and it’s bush league antics, you need to grow up.

I have absolutely no problem with fans of the other team coming to town and cheering on their team. If you had actually read the piece (or if you could actually read) you would have gotten that. You would have also grasped that this is not a Cardinals blog.

I have problems with the way Cubs fans specifically go about that, in ways that are as tacky and pin-headed as your comment. It’s about having respect and Cubs fans don’t have any.