Post SXSW Blues

Well I finally surfaced back in the normal world after a 5 day music bender for the South by Southwest conference and festival, just in time to find several hundred comment spam here on Agony & Ivy, and nothing but bad news elsewhere in Cubdom as the storyline is injuries yet again.



Conspiracy theories surround Mark Prior once again, or around the organization regarding Prior, except now they seem like more than theories even if they’re not quite facts yet either. Prior is hurt and the “I told you so’s” have the upper hand. As far as I can tell, the only thing keeping everyone’s minds off of Prior was when Todd Walker stuck his foot in his mouth, which led to everyone trying to figure out what he & Baker were saying about each other because we’re all desperate for the drama to end with a productive second baseman in the lineup. There was that and also the WBC, in which the US came up lame, hollowing out our explanations about how it’s not a real champions tournament anyway because now that they lost these sound more like sore-loser excuses than criticisms.

I’ll be honest: I’m glad I wasn’t paying attention to all this stuff because even just skimming the reports has been depressing. Doom and Gloom and Despair do not reenergize one’s disposition. At least not mine.

I wish I could strike an optimistic note in the face of all this... crap. But I can’t. Reason governs passion this evening and reason says that the outlook is not so good. Anything can happen and the Cubs will not be as bad as some might suggest, but without some surprisingly good starting pitching or a real hot start, it might be a lukewarm year yet again. Juan Pierre and the better bullpen can only do so much.

Yep, it is what it is, and we might as well face the truth head on, the truth being that without Prior healthy a lot of things have to go right simultaneously if this season is going to be magical. Of course, the season hasn’t even started yet and there’s no point fretting about outings in March, but it’s disheartening hearing about the pitching struggles. And Prior’s shutdown comes at a point when long-suffering feels like it has never been a better Cub Fan descriptor.

So here’s what I won’t do: I won’t whine or complain. I won’t say that Hendry needs to conjure a trade for another starting pitcher because I have no idea who might be available seeing as most teams are probably in a mode to see what happens before shaking things up. I won’t take a self-righteous tone and say that as Cubs fans we deserve better because I am only an observer, and it is not about me, plus I still am not convinced that there is much the club should have done differently the last two years to improve their percentages for winning going into April.

But, I sure wouldn’t mind hearing some good news for once.

In the meantime, I stopped browsing. It’s not hard for one to get a sense of the mood last week and weekend, and enough is enough. If I’m going to have to be disappointed and depressed, I might as well delay as long as I can.

But who knows? Maybe it will bear out to be much ado about nothing when they win their first two series. In any case, the equinox has come and we’re getting close to the season, and that’s reason for excitement even if the team will be as bad as some people seem to think.

Isn't a season of bad baseball better than no baseball at all? And if things can just take a better turn... well, here's hoping.

* * *In other news, last weekend was the one year anniversary of when I founded Agony & Ivy! I would have forgotten if I hadn’t gotten my quarterly bill for web hosting, but I’m still kind of proud that A & I has done as well as it has in its first year. Thanks again to KJM for giving the site its name one evening, as well as for all the photos and level-headed comments. Thanks also to PMc for contributing some excellent columns and perspective. Finally, thanks once again to everyone who reads and comments and follows along, and we’ll do our best to be worth your time. Onwards and upwards.

Only a couple more weeks until the next chapter starts.