It is no secret that I previously wrote an article about the Cardinals and the Cubs rivalry. I have been waiting for a rebuttal to this article for quite some time, but I figured it would come after they won.
The basic point that I got from the article was that Cardinals fans are not the best fans in baseball and Cubs fans are. In the article "A Letter From Cubs Fans" the author states, "You are simply wrong when you state that you have the best fans in baseball. Here's a simple reason why you are wrong. We've stuck by our team since 1908, the last time we won a world series." In 1882, the St. Louis Cardinals were established. We too have stuck by our team for a very long time. We just happened to win more. Also, when you say "we stuck by our team" I'm not sure I can agree with that. There are plenty of people that are genuine Cubs fans that truly have stuck by their team and I congratulate those people. It is truly amazing. However, I believe a good amount of "fans" just hopped on the bandwagon when the time was right. The reason why I say this is because if you look at their ticket prices, they have gone up quite a bit. In 2015 after the Cubs had an amazing season, it was announced that ticket prices would go up by nearly ten percent, in some cases fourteen percent. Ten percent is quite a bit of an increase. The reason why they were able to do this is because more people wanted to go to the games now that the Cubs were good. The higher the demand the more expensive prices are. The demand was finally high. I will say this again; I know there are genuine Cubs fans who went to the games while they were not doing too hot. I know there were die hard fans who were rooting on their Cubs every game of every season. This is not about you. Another important thing to keep in mind about ticket prices is after Game 4 against the Indians in the World Series, the ticket prices of Game 5 went down by 18 percent. Those do not sound like “greatest fans in baseball” numbers to me. I believe that the best fan base in not just baseball, but any sport are the people who love their team regardless of the record, not just when they are doing well.
If this doesn't have you convinced yet, we can look at population, as well. The St. Louis Cardinals have typically had the total attendance of around 3,000,000 per year. It has been pretty consistent throughout the years and always has a great turnout. Chicago, too, has an attendance record of about 3,000,000 per year, sometimes a little less. It goes up and down, but for the most part, it has stayed somewhere around there since 2002. So they're about even right? Well, Chicago also happens to have a population of about 2.7 million while St. Louis has a population of about 300,000. Therefore, Chicago has nine times the number of people that St. Louis has. With that many people, I would think that Wrigley would have no problem filling those empty seats.
Another important thing to think about is although people think Cardinals fans are the self-proclaimed best fans in baseball, they are nowhere near self-proclaimed. There have been many players, Albert Pujols for example, who have left St. Louis and publicly stated that they wanted to go back "home." Many players who have played in St. Louis end up coming back and helping out with this amazing organization in some way, shape or form. Announcers have talked about Cardinal Nation, naming it the best fans in baseball. There is a reason why many players want to come here to play. There is a reason why opposing players say, "I'm sick of all the hype, too, but it really is different here." These are players and announcers saying this. If they are saying it, of course, we are going to be happy about it.
The author of the article then proceeded to name off players from previous Cub's teams to "prove a point." When I ask about the Cubs, I prefer to ask in person because that way google isn't available. However, I know that some Cubs fans know their stuff. These Cubs fans need to teach the other "fans" who their old players were, and some of their new.
Last, but certainly not least, the author of this article said, "Instead of downing every Cubs fan right now for being proud of their team, how about you be a fan of baseball, instead of being a fan of winning." This was one of the main critiques that I got on my original article. People said that Cardinals fans are trashy because they do not want the Cubs to win. The thing about the Cardinals and the Cubs is that this is a rivalry. It isn't a friendship. I am a huge fan of joking around with my Cubs fan friends (obviously). It makes it more fun. It makes in enjoyable to watch. Did I want the Cubs to win? NO! They are our rivals for a reason. Can I tip my hat to them and say it was a great season and they deserved it? Yes, because they did. Another thing to point out is when the Cardinals won in 2006 and in 2011, you didn't hear much from Cubs fans about the game. Why? A lot of them were not watching the game. Whether the Cardinals wanted you to win or not, we were watching baseball when our team was not in the playoffs. I think it is obvious we are fans of baseball. It is also important to note that Cardinals fans are not the only team to make jokes about other teams. Every single fan base has people who talk trash, but it's all in good fun. I actually saw a lot more tweets about the Cardinals the night the Cubs won than I did the Cubs. In case you don't believe me, here are a select few.
Now, I think that these tweets are funny. The reason they are in this article is to prove that there is trash talking from both sides, it's not a one-way street. However, it is important to not take things like this seriously. Just remember, it's all in good fun. If you are a real Cubs fan, this article isn't about you. It's about the people who are pretending to be like you. Congratulations on your win. See you on opening day.
Love,
The Cardinals fan that doesn't know anything because she is a girl
