Chicago Cub fans never cease to amuse me.  This year is no exception. 

Back in May with the Cubs stuck in low gear, there were reports all over the internet that manager Lou Piniella was about to walk out on the team.  Cub fans were all over the skipper, wondering why the Cubs were spending $4 million a year to employ a guy who couldn't even decide on a set lineup.  Then came the fight.  And the tirade.  And the trade.  And suddenly, the moribund Cubs went 16-5 and got to within 4½ games of the central division leading Milwaukee Brewers.  And Piniella suddenly became a cult hero.

I agree with Steve Stone (please note the date and time because it is rare when that happens) that Piniella is one of the top five managers in the game today.  You can't hold the Tampa Bay experience against him just like you can't hold the Cardinals against Joe Torre or the Rockies against Jim Leyland.  Sweet Uncle Lou did not suddenly go stupid and the guy in the Cubs dugout is the same guy who was there on opening day in Cincinnati.

Cub fans have long had passionate love-hate relationship with their managers which turn quickly.  Don Zimmer was worshiped in 1989, by 1991 he was gone replaced by Jim Essian.  Jim Riggleman led the Cubs to the playoffs in 1998 and was gone by the end of the next year.  Dusty Baker was the toast of Chicago in 2003 when he lead the Cubs to within a few outs of the world series.  Yet any Cub fan would have driven Dusty to the airport by the end of last season.  So now Lou Piniella is the man, Sweet Uncle Lou, the new savior, the flavor of the year in a world where the flavor changes as often as Baskin Robbins.

I, for one, will be interested to see where Piniella will take the Cubs.  Every coach, every manager, wants to be the guy to fix the team that people can't be fixed. That's how guys like Phil Jackson, Mike Ditka and Ozzie Guillen became legends, leading the team to victory in the big game and bringing home the hardware.  The 88 years of suffering by Sox fans is nothing in comparison for the 99 years suffered by Cub fans who look at 2005 as the most depressing year of their lives.  So now, with  Piniella in place, we'll see if he can get this edition over the hump, into the playoffs and to the world series for the first time since the waining days of World War II.

Good luck, Lou.  Odds are, you'll need it.

Lightning Round

• Enough about last night's disaster in Cleveland.  Read my thoughts at Bugs & Cranks.
• It's sort of ironic that Cub fans boo alleged steroid user Barry Bonds when they used to cheer alleged steroid user and convicted bat corker Sammy Sosa.  Hypocritical, don't you think?
• I'm really amazed that despite being in the hunt in the AL, the Indians only drew 21,000 Monday and 23,000 last night.  Didn't they set the league record for consecutive sellouts a few years ago?  What happened?
  
• Ben Sheets is out four weeks with a bad finger on his pitching hand.  The Brewers haven't seemed to notice yet.
• Michael Vick has been indicted on federal charges in the dog fighting investigation.  Butkus D. Dogg asks if he is convicted, can he be executed?  No, but he certainly can be suspended by the NFL.
• Hey, look!  Dante Culpepper is available.  Don't all jump on him at once.  And why is it I keep thinking "Dallas Cowboys"?
• Arkansas has asked a judge to stop the stupidity in the lawsuit against the school President and Coach Houston Nutt over pussy boy Mitch Mustain.
  
• I knew Tom Fitzgerald for a couple of years when he was the first captain of the Nashville Predators.  Tommy was a good guy and I'm happy to see him land a big gig with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
• If you are going to a San Fransisco 49ers game this season, prepare to be boarded.
• Terry LaBonte comes out of retirement to drive for Michael Waltrip in Indy.
• Memo to divorced Dads: If you want to keep your visitation rights, don't take your ten year-old to Pamplona to run with the Bulls. 
  
• A new poll says the top two republican candidates are Rudy and Fred.  Mitt Romney is so stunned, he puts on too much foundation.
• Wow, the 80's!
• A judge will not reconsider throwing the $54 million pants suit out of court.  Finally, a judge that makes sense!
• The RIAA spends thousands of dollars to collect a three hundred dollar settlement.  This is what you really want, Don Henley?
• It took rescue workers twelve hours to save a 500 pound Minnesota man from the St. Croix river where he was rafting.  No word yet as to whether he was on a raft or he WAS the raft.