Twatheads Twittering

[Chuck to Chuck]

I don't hate NYC.  I do hate most of New York's sports teams. I guess that's what I meant.  Although, growing up in Chicago, I always had an affinity for The Yankees.

I mean, NYC isn't St Louis or Dallas, for fuck's sake.

Cool. I love both cities for different reasons, but I've had people try very hard to convince me that Chicago is just straight-up better than NYC (when I'm not even trying to convince them otherwise because, who cares?). Again, probably White Sox fans.

I haven't spent nearly enough time in NYC to form an opinion on it but L.A. can really and truly rot in hell.

LA is no Hartford, but it's a shit city.

[Eli]

I don't hate NYC.  I do hate most of New York's sports teams. I guess that's what I meant.  Although, growing up in Chicago, I always had an affinity for The Yankees.

I mean, NYC isn't St Louis or Dallas, for fuck's sake.

Cool. I love both cities for different reasons, but I've had people try very hard to convince me that Chicago is just straight-up better than NYC (when I'm not even trying to convince them otherwise because, who cares?). Again, probably White Sox fans.

I haven't spent nearly enough time in NYC to form an opinion on it but L.A. can really and truly rot in hell.

I'd love the weather, but I can't imagine the day-to-day nightmare of trying to get around there.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

I think aside from the sports teams, Royko liked to take aim at certain subtextual big-city conceits, which may or may not have reeked of civic inferiority (and of which Chicago is, to a lesser degree, also guilty).  Trend-spotting, style forecasting type stuff.  The whole we're-the-center-of-the-world condescension, and he didn't take kindly to it.  Some of it was shtick, some of it was pandering, but all of it was almost always pretty goddamn funny.

But mostly it was sports-driven I suspect.

[CBStew]

I don't hate NYC.  I do hate most of New York's sports teams. I guess that's what I meant.  Although, growing up in Chicago, I always had an affinity for The Yankees.

I mean, NYC isn't St Louis or Dallas, for fuck's sake.

Cool. I love both cities for different reasons, but I've had people try very hard to convince me that Chicago is just straight-up better than NYC (when I'm not even trying to convince them otherwise because, who cares?). Again, probably White Sox fans.

I haven't spent nearly enough time in NYC to form an opinion on it but L.A. can really and truly rot in hell.

LA is no Hartford, but it's a shit city.

Coming from a Northern Californian the following is probably blasphemy. 
L.A. is not the worst place in California.  Anyone who thinks that it is has never been to Stockton.   Or Bakersfield. 
I would go so far as to say that L.A. has a great deal to offer.  For instance, my two grand daughters live there.  (Ages 10 and 12)  They are two of the most delightful persons that you would ever want to meet. 
It has some nice coffee shops, although my favorite one just closed. 
It is geographically closer to a foreign country than many other cities in the United States. 
Many foreign languages are spoken there. 
It has rained there more recently than it has in Northern California. 
So there.  As you can see there are many wonderful things that one can say about Los Angeles.

[CBStew]

I don't hate NYC.  I do hate most of New York's sports teams. I guess that's what I meant.  Although, growing up in Chicago, I always had an affinity for The Yankees.

I mean, NYC isn't St Louis or Dallas, for fuck's sake.

Cool. I love both cities for different reasons, but I've had people try very hard to convince me that Chicago is just straight-up better than NYC (when I'm not even trying to convince them otherwise because, who cares?). Again, probably White Sox fans.

I haven't spent nearly enough time in NYC to form an opinion on it but L.A. can really and truly rot in hell.

LA is no Hartford, but it's a shit city.

Coming from a Northern Californian the following is probably blasphemy. 
L.A. is not the worst place in California.  Anyone who thinks that it is has never been to Stockton.   Or Bakersfield. 
I would go so far as to say that L.A. has a great deal to offer.  For instance, my two grand daughters live there.  (Ages 10 and 12)  They are two of the most delightful persons that you would ever want to meet. 
It has some nice coffee shops, although my favorite one just closed. 
It is geographically closer to a foreign country than many other cities in the United States. 
Many foreign languages are spoken there. 
It has rained there more recently than it has in Northern California. 
So there.  As you can see there are many wonderful things that one can say about Los Angeles.

...and furthermore, Mrs. Cubbiebluestew was born there!

[Quality Start Machine]

Bakersfield gave us Buck Owens, and is thereby awesome.

[Saul Goodman]

I don't hate NYC.  I do hate most of New York's sports teams. I guess that's what I meant.  Although, growing up in Chicago, I always had an affinity for The Yankees.

I mean, NYC isn't St Louis or Dallas, for fuck's sake.

Cool. I love both cities for different reasons, but I've had people try very hard to convince me that Chicago is just straight-up better than NYC (when I'm not even trying to convince them otherwise because, who cares?). Again, probably White Sox fans.

I haven't spent nearly enough time in NYC to form an opinion on it but L.A. can really and truly rot in hell.

LA is no Hartford, but it's a shit city.

Coming from a Northern Californian the following is probably blasphemy.  
L.A. is not the worst place in California.  Anyone who thinks that it is has never been to Stockton.   Or Bakersfield.  
I would go so far as to say that L.A. has a great deal to offer.  For instance, my two grand daughters live there.  (Ages 10 and 12)  They are two of the most delightful persons that you would ever want to meet.  
It has some nice coffee shops, although my favorite one just closed.  
It is geographically closer to a foreign country than many other cities in the United States.  
Many foreign languages are spoken there.  
It has rained there more recently than it has in Northern California.  
So there.  As you can see there are many wonderful things that one can say about Los Angeles.

Stew, is your El Niño raincoat ready to go?

As for nice things about L.A., I loved Santa Monica and Runyon Canyon is a very nice place to hike.

[Oleg]

I don't hate NYC.  I do hate most of New York's sports teams. I guess that's what I meant.  Although, growing up in Chicago, I always had an affinity for The Yankees.

I mean, NYC isn't St Louis or Dallas, for fuck's sake.

Cool. I love both cities for different reasons, but I've had people try very hard to convince me that Chicago is just straight-up better than NYC (when I'm not even trying to convince them otherwise because, who cares?). Again, probably White Sox fans.

I haven't spent nearly enough time in NYC to form an opinion on it but L.A. can really and truly rot in hell.

LA is no Hartford, but it's a shit city.

Coming from a Northern Californian the following is probably blasphemy.  
L.A. is not the worst place in California.  Anyone who thinks that it is has never been to Stockton.   Or Bakersfield.  
I would go so far as to say that L.A. has a great deal to offer.  For instance, my two grand daughters live there.  (Ages 10 and 12)  They are two of the most delightful persons that you would ever want to meet.  
It has some nice coffee shops, although my favorite one just closed.  
It is geographically closer to a foreign country than many other cities in the United States.  
Many foreign languages are spoken there.  
It has rained there more recently than it has in Northern California.  
So there.  As you can see there are many wonderful things that one can say about Los Angeles.

Stew, is your El Niño raincoat ready to go?

As for nice things about L.A., I loved Santa Monica and Runyon Canyon is a very nice place to hike.

There is some mighty fine places to hike.  I remember hiking somewhere near Malibu that was simply gorgeous.  I even remember a hike near the Hollywood sign that was rather nice.

[Bort]

I don't hate NYC.  I do hate most of New York's sports teams. I guess that's what I meant.  Although, growing up in Chicago, I always had an affinity for The Yankees.

I mean, NYC isn't St Louis or Dallas, for fuck's sake.

Neither do I. Now, a certain subset of New Yorkers...

You mean Jews, don't you?

[Saul Goodman]

I don't hate NYC.  I do hate most of New York's sports teams. I guess that's what I meant.  Although, growing up in Chicago, I always had an affinity for The Yankees.

I mean, NYC isn't St Louis or Dallas, for fuck's sake.

Cool. I love both cities for different reasons, but I've had people try very hard to convince me that Chicago is just straight-up better than NYC (when I'm not even trying to convince them otherwise because, who cares?). Again, probably White Sox fans.

I haven't spent nearly enough time in NYC to form an opinion on it but L.A. can really and truly rot in hell.

LA is no Hartford, but it's a shit city.

Coming from a Northern Californian the following is probably blasphemy.  
L.A. is not the worst place in California.  Anyone who thinks that it is has never been to Stockton.   Or Bakersfield.  
I would go so far as to say that L.A. has a great deal to offer.  For instance, my two grand daughters live there.  (Ages 10 and 12)  They are two of the most delightful persons that you would ever want to meet.  
It has some nice coffee shops, although my favorite one just closed.  
It is geographically closer to a foreign country than many other cities in the United States.  
Many foreign languages are spoken there.  
It has rained there more recently than it has in Northern California.  
So there.  As you can see there are many wonderful things that one can say about Los Angeles.

Stew, is your El Niño raincoat ready to go?

As for nice things about L.A., I loved Santa Monica and Runyon Canyon is a very nice place to hike.

There is some mighty fine places to hike.  I remember hiking somewhere near Malibu that was simply gorgeous.  I even remember a hike near the Hollywood sign that was rather nice.

Do you recall where the one near Malibu was? And the latter might've been Runyon. From certain points you can see downtown L.A. down the hill and the Hollywood sign, if you start by looking at downtown, to your left from certain spots.  

[Canadouche]

I was a big fan in '03--found him shortly after Desipio....lotta people here couldn't tolerate the poor chap one lick, and I guess he freely reciprocated the hate, but I was never put off by any of his wrong takes. He has as much Cub-caused pain as the rest of us so who am I to judge.

Don't you despite Al more than anyone? Isn't Al almost purely defined by his wrong takes and constant moaning about his Cub related pain?

Al wasn't calling people Antonio Alfucksucka in 2003, and that RAGE WRITING helped balm the pain that was that 6-fingered fuck.

Ahh. He's a vulgar Yellon. That makes sense.

I just pretty much tune out anyone the second they say "they won't do X because they're the Cubs!" At that point I just have to write you off. If you're going to be that fatalistic about it don't bother the rest of us. I know we all have scars and doubts but if you're going to go so far as to say this team's focus right now, while 3.5 up for a playoff spot, should be on 2016 because "I've seen better Cubs teams lose in the playoffs", then please go away.

I never liked the guy's posts or his opinions. There were people around here who thought he was awesome and one of those people was Kurt Evans. He wrote one blog post about talking to semi celebrities in the bathroom at the Cubs Convention which was borderline disgusting (I don't throw that word around lightly) and painfully awkward. There was a small group of us who complained about him and wondered if anybody else was going to speak up and give the guy what for. Eventually he disappeared and I never thought about him again. I guess he's on Twitter, so there he stays hopefully.

I've always seen him as somebody who represents a pretty large segment of long-time Cub fans, and it's understandable that he holds his views, even if they're wrong. From my view, it's hard to blame somebody who's pessimistic about the Cubs. Also, having seen a game and spent time with him, he's an incredibly nice guy. I don't agree with his outlook on the Cubs being the Cubs, and therefore hopeless.

[Canadouche]

I was a big fan in '03--found him shortly after Desipio....lotta people here couldn't tolerate the poor chap one lick, and I guess he freely reciprocated the hate, but I was never put off by any of his wrong takes. He has as much Cub-caused pain as the rest of us so who am I to judge.

Don't you despite Al more than anyone? Isn't Al almost purely defined by his wrong takes and constant moaning about his Cub related pain?

Al wasn't calling people Antonio Alfucksucka in 2003, and that RAGE WRITING helped balm the pain that was that 6-fingered fuck.

Ahh. He's a vulgar Yellon. That makes sense.

I just pretty much tune out anyone the second they say "they won't do X because they're the Cubs!" At that point I just have to write you off. If you're going to be that fatalistic about it don't bother the rest of us. I know we all have scars and doubts but if you're going to go so far as to say this team's focus right now, while 3.5 up for a playoff spot, should be on 2016 because "I've seen better Cubs teams lose in the playoffs", then please go away.

I never liked the guy's posts or his opinions. There were people around here who thought he was awesome and one of those people was Kurt Evans. He wrote one blog post about talking to semi celebrities in the bathroom at the Cubs Convention which was borderline disgusting (I don't throw that word around lightly) and painfully awkward. There was a small group of us who complained about him and wondered if anybody else was going to speak up and give the guy what for. Eventually he disappeared and I never thought about him again. I guess he's on Twitter, so there he stays hopefully.

Okay. I feel validated. He's a dope.

I went to a ballgame with him some years ago.  He's a really nice guy.  I haven't paid any attention to his opinions in a while though.  I think one can maintain friendliness with someone despite thinking he's not very smart about the Cubs.

I'm sure that's true, but looking back at some of his posts on desipio and a quick google search of his long since defunct blog has turned up some fairly misogynistic garbage (among other rancid shit) that I find rather unappealing. Either way, whatever he is in real life if his internet opinions of the Cub consist of THEY'LL LOSE BECAUSE GOLLY GOSH THEY'RE THE CUBS, he's better off not sharing them loudly with other people.

He was a good read in 2003-2005, but the Cubs began to have an outsize effect on his life. I think he started the blog almost as therapy, to vent on his frustration with the team. But I don't think it worked. For awhile, he worked in Des Plaines and lived in Coal City so he was putting a couple million miles on his car every week. Does anyone remember the Latroy Hawkins game, in which he caught a line drive in the ninth inning and threw to first in an effort to double off Chase Utley and instead chucked it into the bullpen, allowing the tying and go-ahead runs to score? Sloth literally drove off the road and wrecked his car. He was also fired for blogging, as his musings were hardly safe for work.

He's not a bad guy, and I've met him a couple of times. But he was scarred beyond recognition thanks to 2003-2004-2005.

He and I (and Huey) wrote for GROTA together a few years back.  I lobbied Kurt Evans hard to have Sloth removed from the roster because what he was writing was completely fucking embarrassing, and when he wouldn't do it, I left instead.

Weird, I have no recollection of those Emails. Was that an exchange on Gmail?

[SKO]

I was a big fan in '03--found him shortly after Desipio....lotta people here couldn't tolerate the poor chap one lick, and I guess he freely reciprocated the hate, but I was never put off by any of his wrong takes. He has as much Cub-caused pain as the rest of us so who am I to judge.

Don't you despite Al more than anyone? Isn't Al almost purely defined by his wrong takes and constant moaning about his Cub related pain?

Al wasn't calling people Antonio Alfucksucka in 2003, and that RAGE WRITING helped balm the pain that was that 6-fingered fuck.

Ahh. He's a vulgar Yellon. That makes sense.

I just pretty much tune out anyone the second they say "they won't do X because they're the Cubs!" At that point I just have to write you off. If you're going to be that fatalistic about it don't bother the rest of us. I know we all have scars and doubts but if you're going to go so far as to say this team's focus right now, while 3.5 up for a playoff spot, should be on 2016 because "I've seen better Cubs teams lose in the playoffs", then please go away.

I never liked the guy's posts or his opinions. There were people around here who thought he was awesome and one of those people was Kurt Evans. He wrote one blog post about talking to semi celebrities in the bathroom at the Cubs Convention which was borderline disgusting (I don't throw that word around lightly) and painfully awkward. There was a small group of us who complained about him and wondered if anybody else was going to speak up and give the guy what for. Eventually he disappeared and I never thought about him again. I guess he's on Twitter, so there he stays hopefully.

I've always seen him as somebody who represents a pretty large segment of long-time Cub fans, and it's understandable that he holds his views, even if they're wrong. From my view, it's hard to blame somebody who's pessimistic about the Cubs. Also, having seen a game and spent time with him, he's an incredibly nice guy. I don't agree with his outlook on the Cubs being the Cubs, and therefore hopeless.

I don't really know what's the point of blogging about baseball or trying to talk to people who are having a rational discussion if your only viewpoint is "IT CAN'T HAPPEN BECAUSE CUBS". I get that there are people who hold that opinion and they have years of pain as justification. In the darkest hours I think we've all felt it, but it's unbelievably annoying to bother people having a rational discussion by interjecting your DOOM all the time.

[Canadouche]

I was a big fan in '03--found him shortly after Desipio....lotta people here couldn't tolerate the poor chap one lick, and I guess he freely reciprocated the hate, but I was never put off by any of his wrong takes. He has as much Cub-caused pain as the rest of us so who am I to judge.

Don't you despite Al more than anyone? Isn't Al almost purely defined by his wrong takes and constant moaning about his Cub related pain?

Al wasn't calling people Antonio Alfucksucka in 2003, and that RAGE WRITING helped balm the pain that was that 6-fingered fuck.

Ahh. He's a vulgar Yellon. That makes sense.

I just pretty much tune out anyone the second they say "they won't do X because they're the Cubs!" At that point I just have to write you off. If you're going to be that fatalistic about it don't bother the rest of us. I know we all have scars and doubts but if you're going to go so far as to say this team's focus right now, while 3.5 up for a playoff spot, should be on 2016 because "I've seen better Cubs teams lose in the playoffs", then please go away.

I never liked the guy's posts or his opinions. There were people around here who thought he was awesome and one of those people was Kurt Evans. He wrote one blog post about talking to semi celebrities in the bathroom at the Cubs Convention which was borderline disgusting (I don't throw that word around lightly) and painfully awkward. There was a small group of us who complained about him and wondered if anybody else was going to speak up and give the guy what for. Eventually he disappeared and I never thought about him again. I guess he's on Twitter, so there he stays hopefully.

I've always seen him as somebody who represents a pretty large segment of long-time Cub fans, and it's understandable that he holds his views, even if they're wrong. From my view, it's hard to blame somebody who's pessimistic about the Cubs. Also, having seen a game and spent time with him, he's an incredibly nice guy. I don't agree with his outlook on the Cubs being the Cubs, and therefore hopeless.

I don't really know what's the point of blogging about baseball or trying to talk to people who are having a rational discussion if your only viewpoint is "IT CAN'T HAPPEN BECAUSE CUBS". I get that there are people who hold that opinion and they have years of pain as justification. In the darkest hours I think we've all felt it, but it's unbelievably annoying to bother people having a rational discussion by interjecting your DOOM all the time.

Well, from what others have said, the Cubs failing when they shouldn't has literally hurt him. If being a pessimist is what he needs to be in order to temper his emotional investment -- in order to keep him safer and healthier -- then that might be the point. I totally get why you wouldn't want to read that, but it's not exactly like he's ambushing you with his opinions. You know what you're going to get when you read what he's written. Are you saying he's not allowed to have, or post, those opinions because you don't want to read them?

[SKO]

I was a big fan in '03--found him shortly after Desipio....lotta people here couldn't tolerate the poor chap one lick, and I guess he freely reciprocated the hate, but I was never put off by any of his wrong takes. He has as much Cub-caused pain as the rest of us so who am I to judge.

Don't you despite Al more than anyone? Isn't Al almost purely defined by his wrong takes and constant moaning about his Cub related pain?

Al wasn't calling people Antonio Alfucksucka in 2003, and that RAGE WRITING helped balm the pain that was that 6-fingered fuck.

Ahh. He's a vulgar Yellon. That makes sense.

I just pretty much tune out anyone the second they say "they won't do X because they're the Cubs!" At that point I just have to write you off. If you're going to be that fatalistic about it don't bother the rest of us. I know we all have scars and doubts but if you're going to go so far as to say this team's focus right now, while 3.5 up for a playoff spot, should be on 2016 because "I've seen better Cubs teams lose in the playoffs", then please go away.

I never liked the guy's posts or his opinions. There were people around here who thought he was awesome and one of those people was Kurt Evans. He wrote one blog post about talking to semi celebrities in the bathroom at the Cubs Convention which was borderline disgusting (I don't throw that word around lightly) and painfully awkward. There was a small group of us who complained about him and wondered if anybody else was going to speak up and give the guy what for. Eventually he disappeared and I never thought about him again. I guess he's on Twitter, so there he stays hopefully.

I've always seen him as somebody who represents a pretty large segment of long-time Cub fans, and it's understandable that he holds his views, even if they're wrong. From my view, it's hard to blame somebody who's pessimistic about the Cubs. Also, having seen a game and spent time with him, he's an incredibly nice guy. I don't agree with his outlook on the Cubs being the Cubs, and therefore hopeless.

I don't really know what's the point of blogging about baseball or trying to talk to people who are having a rational discussion if your only viewpoint is "IT CAN'T HAPPEN BECAUSE CUBS". I get that there are people who hold that opinion and they have years of pain as justification. In the darkest hours I think we've all felt it, but it's unbelievably annoying to bother people having a rational discussion by interjecting your DOOM all the time.

Well, from what others have said, the Cubs failing when they shouldn't has literally hurt him. If being a pessimist is what he needs to be in order to temper his emotional investment -- in order to keep him safer and healthier -- then that might be the point. I totally get why you wouldn't want to read that, but it's not exactly like he's ambushing you with his opinions. You know what you're going to get when you read what he's written. Are you saying he's not allowed to have, or post, those opinions because you don't want to read them?

I'm saying don't tweet at people who are discussing the 2015 Cubs that the Cubs should call up Javy and focus solely on 2016 because "if you believe this team has a shot at the world series you're kidding yourself because I've seen it too many times."

He can blog whatever he wants. I'm not reading it, but maybe don't share that kinda "wisdom" with people having rational discussions on twitter. Also while I like to rant on a fringe messageboard when the Cubs suck, if it has that much of an effect on his life he should probably see a therapist. I'm not sure DOOM blogging is really an optimal mental health strategy.