Columnist Says Chicago Cubs Have New Curse: Using Transit

Theo Epstein recently took over as president of the Chicago Cubs and said, to no one in particular, "Hey! We spent $125 million last year and lost 91 games and finished 25 games out of first place! I bet we could've spent a lot less than that and still done just as badly!" So he's trimming the major league payroll until the team has a reasonable shot at the playoffs & making reasonable cuts to other expenses.

But anytime new management takes over a team, it is mandatory for a local sports columnist to anonymously quote loyalists from the previous regime bashing this new guy who thinks he's some hot shot while remaining oblivious to the fact that these are the very same employees whose wisdom guided the team to its 91 loss season.

Today's case in point comes from the Chicago Sun-Times' Gordon Wittenmyer:

For instance, a big-market team that just committed $3.5 million a year to a newly created position of president of baseball operations, that created several other high-level front-office jobs and that’s assured of trimming tens of millions of dollars from its big-league payroll this season is pulling a Marge Schott on its scouting staff this week to save relative pennies.

Borrowing a page from the notoriously cheap former Cincinnati Reds owner, the Cubs assigned their scouts two-to-a-room hotel accommodations this week and advised using the L instead of cabs, including to and from airports with their luggage, sources said.

OH THE HUMANITY. Being asked to ride the L train, which goes directly to O'Hare & Midway for 1/10th the cost of a taxi or van ... and with their rolly bags? I'm surprised these people who get paid to fly around the country & watch baseball don't just up & quit.

Or maybe they should keep their traps shut & develop a little flinty Chicago toughness.

Via Buster Olney

The Green Miles vs. Virginia ABC

Every time I go to a Virginia ABC store to buy liquor, they insist on giving me a plastic bag. It's against Virginia law, they tell me, to have a bottle of alcohol in public that's not covered.

This offends me not just as an environmentalist, but as a non-Puritan. So I end up doing an odd little dance with the cashier every time I go.

"My car is parked right there," I say, turning and pointing to my car visible through the glass door not 30 feet from the cash register. "I'll take my chances on not getting arrested on the five feet of sidewalk between the door and my car."

"But I have to put it in a bag," the clerk insists with a yes-it's-stupid-but-I'll-get-in-trouble-if-I-don't look.

So I get a look of flinty Chicago toughness in my eye and tell the cashier, "Then you tell them coppers there ain't a jail been built yet that can hold The Green Miles." And we both laugh as I pull the bottle out of the plastic bag and carry it out to my car.

Photo via Yelp's Avenger R.