June 22, 2011|Steve Rosenbloom | The RosenBlog
I read where Alfonso Soriano said Chicago fans are the worst when it comes to booing slumping players. He would know. He has stunk for long periods. He has heard it from Cubs fans for playing left field like it’s Whack-A-Mole. Come to think of it, he has also heard it from fans for playoff at-bats that also resemble Whack-A-Mole.
And so, Soriano said he had sympathy for Adam Dunn, who has stunk since he became a White Sox and has heard the same kind of boos for the same kind of failures and strikeouts.
Kind of sounds like a support group. Professional Disasters Anonymous. “Hi, my name is Alfonso Soriano, and I’m a disaster.’’
Moving right along, in the course of explaining how he knows quality booing, Soriano noted that he played in New York, and Chicago is worse.
Yes. Well. Let’s add some texture to Soriano’s expertise.
First, Mr. I Played In New York has never played on a World Series champion. The Yankees won before Soriano got there and won after he left. Not with him. That’s important. In the meantime, Soriano’s Cubs teams have yet to win a playoff game. One stinkin’ playoff game. Heck, Soriano’s Cubs teams have barely won a measly inning.
Second, Soriano never played in New York after the Cubs gave him the dumbest contract in baseball history. The Yankees team that shipped him out of town had bigger stars earning bigger money. I’m confident that Soriano would’ve been booed in New York as deservedly as he has in Chicago if he stunk there for $136 million. See Jason Giambi for details.
Tangent: That Soriano contract continues to look worse --- a clear 11 on the Stupid-O-Meter --- and yet the Cubs general manager who negotiated that deal seems to grow more secure in the eyes of the Fanboy Owner. I can’t even begin to connect the dots to that one. My default setting for that stuff is you can’t argue with a crazy person.
Back to Soriano and Dunn. Here’s the deal: It’s not that Chicago fans are worse. It’s that they have had the misfortune of watching two of the most expensive failures in baseball history. I mean, we’re talking about almost $200 million of combined free-agent misery that not only has never been part of a World Series winner, but in Dunn’s case has never had the chance to strike out in so much as one postseason game.
We can only hope that both local baseball teams finally have learned not to shop at the Washington Nationals store again.