Jeers For Cheers

Cubs fans, you showed your class by applauding Tom Glavine on Sunday night. Now try to show some loyalty.

I understand the applause when Glavine left the game with the lead in the seventh inning en route to his 300th career win. After all, seeing someone’s 300th win is something to tell your grandkids about. I also understand the franchise sending out a message of congratulations on the scoreboard after the game. After all, we’re all professionals here.

But cheering for the visiting team in the bottom of the ninth with the Cubs down by five runs? That’s over the line. Let’s try to remember that the Cubs are in a playoff race and need every win they can get.

Furthermore, let’s try to remember that that visiting team was the New York Mets, from Chicago’s arch-rival city. Many of the current crop of out-of-town sorority-girl Cubs fans wouldn’t know this, but back in the days of the old NL East, the Mets were more reviled even than the Cardinals in Cubs Nation. Cheering for them to win at Wrigley Field is flat-out unacceptable to us lifers.

As an aside, it is pretty amazing how many Cubs fans these days didn't start out that way. I was at the Retro on Roscoe street fest last night, and when Hairbanger's Ball broke into Van Halen's "Jump," I was going to remark about how awesome it is to hear that song whenever the Cubs are doing well. But when I looked around at my group of friends, I realized virtually none of them would have caught the reference.

All of that said, let’s not take anything away from Glavine's accomplishment. After all, he’s only the 23rd player in all of baseball history to hit that mark. And while I don’t want to say “never again,” it will almost certainly be a very long time until anyone else wins 300 games.

Randy Johnson, 43 years old, is 16 wins away but just underwent back surgery and likely won’t ever pitch again. Mike Mussina, at 38 at 246 wins, would need six more this year and 12 for each of the next four years to join the club. If he can keep up the pace of his 17 years in the bigs, that would be an achieveable goal, but then again that’s a very big if. And no one else in the top 150 of active pitchers has any realistic chance of reaching 300 wins.

Still, that doesn't excuse Cubs fans' behavior. The next time someone exhorts you to "show a little class," follow their instructions exactly.