Cubs Fans Just Don't Get It

The Chicago Cubs are considering moving their spring training facilities to Florida after 57 years in Arizona.

Some idiots folks are up in arms over the idea of moving to the Sunshine State.  So much so they are forgetting about the real news of the offseason, Jim Hendry's ineptitude in regard to moving a big contract.

Al Yellon of Bleed Cubbie Blue wastes 1,374 words to make a point that truly has no point.  It reminds me of how fickle the Cubs fan base truly is.  They whine and pine for a World Series title, yet, when it comes to possibly upgrading en route to taking the proper steps toward a World Series, they hark back on the olden days when the Cubs still weren't winning championships.

Yellon claims moving the Cubs out of Arizona would be "a colossal mistake."

Oh, Mr. Yellon, hyperbole gets the best of you once again.  Colossal mistakes include trading Mark DeRosa Lou Brock for Ernie Broglio, giving Jason Marquis and Milton Bradley guaranteed three-year contracts when no one else was offering anything more than a one-year deal, leaving Todd Hundley to fend for himself on dollar beer night, fielding a middle infield that can't ride the roller coasters at Six Flags Great America, asking Alfonso Soriano to lead-off and play center field and trusting Kevin Gregg, LaTroy Hawkins or Mel Rojas with a ninth inning lead.

Unless, of course, you're trying to tell me moving a franchise into facilities that are worthy of being used by a team in the nation's third largest market would be "a colossal mistake."  Then if that's the case, fine.  The Cubs were the last of the original teams to implement a minor league system, so it's not as if staying with the times has hurt the franchise any.  Nope, not at all.

Considering the team plays 81 of its games in Wrigley Field, the National League's oldest ballpark, why would it want to play in an out-dated facility in Arizona?  It's time for the Cubs to get with the times and put some money not just into better players, but into better facilities for said players.  And that includes, but is not limited to, a top-notch training complex

If the bottom line is winning baseball games and championships, what does it matter where the team trains?  If moving the team's training center to Cedar Falls, Iowa, meant the Cubs were going to win 95 games a year and make countless World Series appearances in the process, I'd be all for it.  Want to change the name of the ballpark on Clark & Addison to TD Ameritrade Presents Wrigley Field?  You've got my blessing if it means playoff wins, rings and parades with multiple championship trophies around town.

And yet, Yellon and others fear leaving Arizona is an insult because it ignores the team's long-standing tradition.

Ah, yes.  Nothing says rich baseball tradition like having 21 seasons in which the team finished with a .500 winning percentage or better in the 64 years since last appearing in a World Series.