By Marty Gangler

If you read last week’s Cub Factor, you know my wife and I had a baby boy last week. Well, little Mitchell is home now and mom and dad aren’t getting a whole lot of sleep. Okay, the Cub Factor is getting pretty personal now, but I promise I won’t talk about my son every week. But I will again this week. I mean, give me a break. Anyone who’s had a child knows that the first few weeks are just plain nuts. And honestly, lack of sleep over a sustained period is a form of torture. Which was kind of like watching the Cubs lose their weekend series to the Washington Nationals. Just torture. Losing to the Nationals is like waking up every 45 minutes for 10 hours straight and then getting punched in the lower back. It’s super annoying and you are so sleep-deprived delirious that when you hear the wailing from the other room you wake up so fast you say things like, “Take a strike Felix!” and the game’s been over for hours.

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Posted on April 29, 2008

By Ricky O’Donnell

Through his first 24 games as a member of the White Sox, Orlando Cabrera has fit in perfectly in Chicago. Acquired for his gold-glove defense at shortstop and to bring speed and intelligence to the top of a powerful order, Cabrera has been as good as advertised so far. He’s struggled a tad at the plate, but boasts an OBP .100 points higher than his batting average, and his defense has been as stellar as ever.
Cabrera has also fit seamlessly into Ozzie Guillen’s heavily Latino clubhouse. But just this week, we found out that Cabrera also has a lot in common with some of Chicago’s other top athletes. Ladies and gentlemen, Orlando Cabrera likes to party.

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Posted on April 28, 2008

By Eric Pytel

Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoff kicks off tonight and there’s a little bit of everything mixed into the matchups. This time of year is usually all about grit and perseverance. Teams in short supply of both usually have difficulty surviving in the playoffs, but this is also the time of year when the best talent can shine on the biggest stage, and unknowns can go from anonymity to playoff stardom.
Let’s briefly recap the first round:
* Detroit changed goalies midway through the series and survived against the Nashville Predators in six games.
* San Jose fought off a serious challenge from the Calgary Flames, aided by the Game 7 heroics of ex-Blackhawk star Jeremy Roenick and his 4-point performance.
* Colorado won three games in overtime to advance past Minnesota in a series that went six games.
* Dallas is riding a high after knocking off the defending champion Ducks in six games.
* Montreal sent Boston packing after a 5-0 Game 7 trouncing of the Bruins.
* Pittsburgh made quick work and looked very impressive in a sweep of the Ottawa Senators.
* Philadelphia and Washington played a wonderfully entertaining series that saw Philadelphia win in overtime in Game 7 on the road.
* The New York Rangers defeated the rival New Jersey Devils in five games, including three on the road.
With only 8 teams remaining, each team probably feels it has a good shot at the Cup and the margin for error becomes a little bit narrower this time around. Let’s take a look.

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Posted on April 24, 2008

Today marks the one year anniversary of Bears fans collectively saying “We’ve one good offensive player away from the championship.” The Bears drafted such a player in the first round, and quickly received a beating from the NFL.
Perhaps the Bears need to change draft strategy. Perhaps the key is to draft from a different talent pool. Here are my recommendations:
Round One: Draft one of Todd Stroger’s many public relations representatives to help the Bears Front Office sell Bear fans on the idea that they are one player away from a championship.

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Posted on April 24, 2008

By The Beachwood Zogby Affairs Desk

“Chicago officials released results of a new poll by Zogby International indicating that 84% of those surveyed support the Chicago bid, up from 76% a year ago. Just 6% of residents surveyed in the metropolitan area oppose, and another 6% ‘strongly’ oppose.”
Working around the clock, Beachwood Labs has divined the poll’s methodology and questions:
* If you were given the choice between sex with the mayor and supporting the Chicago Olympics, would you support the Olympics?
* Are you under the age of 13? If so, stay on the line. If not, you are not eligible for this poll.
* Would you support the Chicago Olympics if it meant no more cougars would be killed?

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Posted on April 22, 2008

By Marty Gangler

Over the course of any person’s particular fandom there comes a point where you say to yourself, why am I fan of this team? Sometimes this correlates with your favorite team trading away a great player, falling on hard times for a stretch, or possibly not winning a world championship in 100 years. This week I asked myself why I am a Cub Fan.

More Beachwood Baseball: The White Sox Report

Why, you ask? The Cubs are off to a nice start so far and there is room for optimism, so why would someone take a hard long look at why they are a Cub Fan this week?
Well, this week my wife and I had a son, our first. For the record she had the kid and I just tried to make things go as smoothly as possible. But a weird thing happened as we went to the hospital Wednesday morning to begin the delivery proceedings (she was being induced). I said to my wife, Jenny, “Zambrano is pitching today. Wouldn’t it be cool if he threw a no-hitter?”

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Posted on April 21, 2008

By Ricky O’Donnell

This portion of the festivities was dangerously close to being dedicated to the maturation and subsequent greatness of the young John Danks. But if there’s one thing Chicago baseball fans should know, it’s never go too crazy drawing conclusions from small sample sizes early in the season. Call it the Tuffy Rhodes rule.
Still, Danks has been lights-out so far, picking up two wins this week and pitching more like Mark Buehrle than Mark Buehrle has thus far in 2008. Success in baseball, however, often comes as easily as it goes, especially for 23-year old pitchers. To be a sure thing, it takes consistency. As of now, it’s too early to say Danks has found it.

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Posted on April 21, 2008

By Jim Coffman

No matter what obstacles you may be facing on this frightfully frigid April Monday morning in Chicago, no matter what difficulties stand in your way, take heart from one fact in particular: At least you aren’t a Tigers fan (and if you are, well, what the heck are you doing in here anyway? Go read Detroit sports stuff. I’m sure somewhere there’s a breakdown of how Rasheed Wallace really, really, really will control himself this time around – he promises – and lead the Pistons back to the NBA Finals).

Beachwood Baseball: The White Sox Report The Cub Factor

But back to the Tigers, I mean, are you kidding me? They got beat 18-0 by the White Sox on Saturday and Sunday. They gave up two grand slams in one game to wrap up another disastrous series. Their payroll is the second- or third-highest in the majors, they are 2-10, and they could be out of it by the end of April at this rate.

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Posted on April 14, 2008

By Ricky O’Donnell

Few Sox players over the years have drawn more admiration from broadcaster Hawk Harrelson than Joe Crede. “Mike Schmidt, Brooks Robinson, those guys are great,” Hawk (probably) once said. “But I’ll tell you what, gimme Joe Crede at third base any day of the week”.
Remember, Harrelson is also the guy who, as Sox general manager, traded Sammy Sosa to the Cubs for George Bell [It was Ron Schueler, not Harrelson. Sorry.]. But Harrelson isn’t the only one who appreciates Crede work at third base. He’s also one of the Sox’s true fan favorites. Crede’s play in October 2005 might have something to do with that.

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Posted on April 14, 2008

By Marty Gangler

Another week in the books and more proof that the Cubs manufacture runs like, well, like a thing that doesn’t manufacture things very good. Sure they got a few wins, but it took them forever. Three extra-inning victories this week prove little to show this team is ready to contend for the World Series. But a few things have happened so far this season that are really surprising. Like being able to count on Ryan Dempster. Yeah, Dempster has been lights out through two outings. But should we count on that continuing for the rest of the season? I don’t really think so. With this in mind, we here at the Cub Factor would like to list a few other things that you shouldn’t count on either.
* The war in Iraq ever ending.
* Kerry Wood’s right arm. Or left toe. Whatever.
* Todd Stroger growing a brain.
* Aramis Ramirez running the bases as hard as he swings the bat.
* K-Fed, Madonna or Heather Mills saving Britney Spears.
* The (non-)situational hitting of Alfonso Soriano.
* Pete Wentz unpressing his hair.
* Felix Pie being at least the next Corey Patterson.

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Posted on April 14, 2008