To hate or not to hate

2 comments April 15th, 2008

It’s inevitable. Dusty Baker will be booed unmercifully tonight at Wrigley and it’ll continue throughout the entire three-game Cubs-Reds series. But even after falling out of favor with the majority of Cubs fans, I have yet to make up my mind how exactly I feel about Dusty.  

I was at the Cubs’ final game of the 2006 season, poised to boo Dusty out of Wrigley with the rest of the disgruntled Cubs Nation. But, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I almost felt sorry for him. As fans and signs cursed him into the dugout, I stood there perplexed that I was letting the opportunity to tell him off slip away. And in the end, I don’t regret it. He was, and still is, an easy scapegoat for frustrated Cubs fans.

I still go back-and-forth. As much as I hated him for using his son as a media-shield, his infatuation with Neifi Perez, his part in Steve Stone’s departure, I’ve always appreciated how his presence turned the Cubs from the cute little-engine-that-could team to a team of legitimate playoffs expectations. 2003 made every baseball fan ask: Why aren’t the Cubs doing this every season? 

And, now, after writing all of this, I realize where my confusion lies: I hate the fact that I don’t hate Dusty Baker.