I was reading this morning about all the weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth by Cub fans over the return of Dusty Baker to Wrigley Field.  It appears that Baker will be booed during batting practice, booed anytime his toothpick sticks out of the dugout or when he comes on the field to change pitchers.

I can remember when Johnny B. was hired to pilot the Cubs and Cub fans were beating their chests.  In 2003, the Cubs made it to the playoffs, only to lose in seven games to the Florida Marlins.  It was in 2004, when the Cubs were the pre-season favorite to win it all and won nothing that the tracks began to get a little slick.  By 2006, the Sox had won a world championship and Baker was on his way to a short lived career at ESPN.

The Cub fans just won't stop blaming Baker for the Cubs problems.  Yet, if you listen to the players, Baker, and his successor Lou Piniella face similar issues.  The only difference is Cub fans still have confidence in Lou where they lost confidence in Dusty.

Cub fans, an angry and frustrated lot, are apt to blame the team's inability to win a championship on anything that goes against them: goats, Bartman, day baseball, Dusty Baker, Leon Durham, etc. 

Sox fans, who have seen their team hoist a trophy in their lifetimes are a more forgiving lot.  Otherwise we would have:

• Continued to despise Tony LaRussa for leaving Britt Burns in the game in the tenth inning of the 1983 ALCS. A clearly gassed Burns surrendered a home run to Tito Landrum who broke up a scoreless game.
• Hang Jerry Dybzynski in effigy for his base running boner in that game which may have cost the Sox the run they could have needed to win the game and tie the series at 2 all.
• Hate frank Thomas for being ineffective in the playoffs.
• Hate Hawk Harrelson for trading Bobby Bonillia for Jose DeLeon when the Hawk was Sox GM.
• Hate Jeff Torborg for jumping ship to the Mets.
• Blame the 1993 ALCS loss on Gene Lamont
• Remember the 1997 White Flag trade with anger
  
• Hate Terry Bevington for being Terry Bevington
• Hate Jerry Reinsdorf for just about everything that has come out his mouth over the last 27 years.
  
• Dislike the late Ivan Calderon for being a fat, useless tub of goo.
• Blame the Sox 2000 ALDS loss on Jerry Manuel and hating Manuel for not being able to get back to the playoffs (similar to Baker.)

We're over this, aren't we Sox fans?  Of course we are.  Because we have the one thing the Cub fans want most.