And for good measure, here’s one more: 10
That last number? That’s how many games the Cubs trail St. Louis in the NL Central after their Sunday night win, sans-Bradley. It’s also how much money Bradley is making this season, adding six zeros to the end.
The right fielder was suspended by team management Sunday for the remainder of the 2009 after making some ridiculous comments. Most likely, Wrigley’s right field bleachers have seen the last of Bradley in Cubbie blue. He said Saturday in a newspaper interview, about the Cubs,” You understand why they haven't won in 100 years here." This comes after taking himself out of games, calling Cubs fans racists, constantly yelling at Lou Piniella, alienating teammates, losing track of the number of outs in a game and being ejected after his first-ever at-bat in a Cubs uniform. Oh, and putting up those stats above.
Even though I disagreed with the signing when it happened - scroll down to the bottom of this column for my Cubs thoughts - I tried my best to support Bradley. Didn’t boo him when he stepped to the plate, gave him a chance to prove me wrong, did all the things a loyal fan would do for a new acquisition.
But I quit doing that when Bradley quit playing hard. My theory since day one is that the fans will support you when you are playing well and turn on you when you struggle; it’s just how the human body is programmed. Nobody likes paying $75 for a ticket to a Cubs game to see the high-paid right fielder loaf around and not try to win the game. And since they can’t get their money back, the 41,000 do the next best thing - boo. And then Bradley turns around and insults the fans and organization, the same group of people paying him $30 million over the next three years to play baseball.
I say good riddance Milton Bradley. Take your selfishness, laziness and Neifi Perez-like batting average somewhere else. I’m not blaming all of 2009’s problems on Bradley, because there is plenty of that to go around. But I am saying that it may be 101 years and counting for the Cubs to win the World Series, but I’m positive the team is much closer to the trophy without Bradley than with him.
Football Thought of the Week
It’s tough for me to say the Bears deserved to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. Pittsburgh had more first downs, more total yards, more than twice the rushing yards, won time of possession and had fewer penalties. The Steelers also had a two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback, the most feared defense in the league and an opponent on the ropes in must-win mode.
Yet through all of that, the final score from rain-soaked Soldier Field read Bears 17, Steelers 14. A week after erratic play from Jay Cutler and a bone-headed special teams play cost the Bears a win at Lambeau Field, the QB’s Derrick Rose-like calm under pressure and a gift from the kicking Gods put the Bears into the ‘W’ column for the first time in ’09. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked.
There’s no question that the win came courtesy of Steelers kicker Jeff Reed, who shanked two fourth quarter kicks, putting Robbie Gould in the position of nailing the game-winner for the Bears. But just as he deserved blame last week, much of the credit has to go to Jay Cutler. Taking the Bears down the field twice in the fourth quarter, first on a TD pass to Johnny Knox (a breakout star in the receiving corps) and then on the game-winning drive, Cutler showed poise and confidence rarely seen by a Chicago signal-caller. He still hasn’t had the luxury of a good running attack - Matt Forte has a total of 84 rushing yards on the season - but Cutler seemed to do it all on his own Sunday.
Now 1-1, the Bears have one game left in their three-game gauntlet to open the season, at Seattle next Sunday. Qwest Field has always been one of the toughest places in the league for opponents to play, even when the Seahawks aren’t the greatest of teams. And with Matt Hasslebeck apparently out, they won’t be as tough as originally predicted. It helps that the team already has one win under their belt, and it was thanks to their key off-season acquisition that’s the case.
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