Some stories never die, ever. In good times and bad, economy up or economy down, they are stand-alones that never change. But first, the tipoff quote:
"Obviously, there are some things that need to change. It's not so much moving a piece here and there will make a huge difference. I'm talking more about our culture, our way of being, [our] way of thinking, our energy.
"We have [talent]. There's no doubt about it. It's the other stuff. The intangibles need to change and I think as we go along they are. ... I'm saying let's endure through this. This is only going to make us stronger [and] soon enough we're going to reap the benefits."
The owner: Carlos Pena. His employer: the Chicago Cubs. He has been a Cub for seven months and he's playing the culture card.
Pena said this after the Cubs beat the Cardinals on Sunday, and after the Cubs passed relatively untouched through the trade deadline. Yes, they dealt away Kosuke Fukudome, but for a team sitting safely in 15th place in the National League, one deal doesn't exactly make the blood boil.
Besides, there's only so much blood available in Chicago since Olin Kreutz was canned by the Bears.
But that's not what we're on about this day. It's about Pena deciding that the Cubs have a culture issue, as though it were some incurable form of ricketts. And we're not even picking on Pena, who is a fairly astute observer of the human condition.
This is about the reintroduction of the alibi that allows the Cubs to explain away bad ideas, bad decisions and bad performances. "It's the culture" is an excuse, always has been, and always will be.
It's an excuse that fits the fan base, and because the fan base goes for it, the team goes for it, and because the team goes for it, the record reflects it.
In short, the Cubs may not be comfortable losing, but it doesn't exactly wound them the same way -- not if the culture argument continues to resonate so easily.
Pena is not a fall-on-the-grenade-to-save-the-platoon type, public-speaking wise. He knows he's not having the kind of year that allows him to excoriate his organization, and even if he was, he wouldn't be the first to be shot down for saying so.
But the truth is this: As long as the Cubs can use the culture excuse, they will. It's part of the general rule that players will seek the most convenient reason not to succeed. They're not trying to fail, but the failing comes easier if it's a team-wide condition.
You know, like "My owner's a moron," or "My general manager's a moron," or, conversely, "My coach is a moron."
And truthfully, the Cubs/culture argument simply wears us out. It has long been an uber-fetish in Chicago, something that doesn't have the same effect it once did. In the good old days, the Cubs were their own punch line, and even stories like Steve Bartman still energize the base from time to time.
But truthfully, most folks of the current generation regard it as a bore. They are less moved by lore and more interested in what helps their Fantasy team, or enhances their status as frontrunners. Reasons for not being good just don't hold the same resonance when baseball is more romantic and less mathematic.
But it's the culture. It's the my-dog-ate-my-homework-textbook-and-laptop of sports. Carlos Pena needed only two-thirds of one season to see the culture, and the circle remains unbroken. Sigh.
bamainatlantaYou wake him up, you keep him up