By JERRY RILES
The playoff race for the Cubs this season is pretty much done, but another form of race has surfaced putting the Northsiders and their fans in the lead regarding controversy.
Milton Bradley, the right fielder, earlier this week accused the Cubs fans at Wrigley Field of tossing racial slurs toward him. Unfortunately, the $10 million dollar a year ballplayer did not go into detail as to what names the fans hurled at him.
That’s the problem. Bradley has yet to back up the allegations.
Could he be right? Are Cubs fans unruly and down right nasty when either their team is losing or an opposing player is having a good game? One would have to say of course.
Remember just a couple of weeks ago when Johnny Macchione, a modern day bleacher bum, threw his nice ice cold beer on the head of Philadelphia Phillies centerfield Shane Victorino as he was attempting to catch a Jake Fox fly ball in the Cubs 12-5 loss at Wrigley?
Not too good for the National image of Cubs fans.
Now, I understand that the Friendly Confines average attendance during 81 scheduled home games throughout the summer holds steady around the 40,000 mark, and the alcohol sales are astronomical, along with the bar-like atmosphere, but for Bradley to make a statement like this, it needs to definitely be supported.
As a former beer vendor out at the Friendly Confines, I can truly say in 9 summers of working the stands pushing the Budweiser and Old Style product, I was called the “N” word only once (once too many mind you). I was actually shocked when this middle-aged white male sitting six to seven rows up just to the right of the Cubs dugout in the box seats summoned me over just to reject the product I was selling saying, “I’m not buying no beer from some “N”. I was stunned. Not so much because he said it, but because of where we were when he said it. Being an African American, I’ve obviously heard the word before and other racial slurs, but never at Wrigley. Not until this incident occurred.
The ballpark atmosphere for years has been compared to the theme song of the television series “Cheers”. “Where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came”. Fans, players, and workers alike all looked forward to heading to the ballpark. It was just a great place to spend the summer.
Bradley is batting .255 with 35 runs batted in, 11 homers and 79 strikeouts in 106 games during his first season on the Northside. Not good numbers for a player expected to help lead the Cubs to the World Series.
Now don’t get me wrong, you do have a lot of bonehead, drunken goofs sitting out in the bleachers just heckling players all the time just for the fun of it. It does happen. I don’t doubt fans were and are all over the feisty outfielder, but he needs to be more specific.
African Americans cannot start throwing the race card around every time things don’t go their way. Bradley is having a terrible year, as well as the Cubs, and to use race as a distraction is damaging.
I have to give him the benefit of the doubt because there are white fans attending Cubs games sitting in the bleachers yelling and screaming profanity, so why couldn’t someone yell out the “N” word? Just please be more specific Milton. Tell me if the fan called you a “F#@K BLACK “N”! Or maybe they said “YOU STUPID “N” CATCH THE F#@K BALL”. Or perhaps, “IT’S TWO OUTS YOU STUPID “N”! (You can understand where the fan was coming from regarding the last slur. It’s not right, but you can understand Uncle Milty). This would help build your case. But don’t just say this and leave us hanging.
It also doesn’t help when you say things like, you hope the game doesn’t go more than nine innings because you want to go home. That’s not good when you’re raking in $10-mil a year.
The team is nine games in back of the St. Louis Cardinals in the Central and trail the Rockies by 7 ½ games in the wildcard. It’s just too much ground to make up in the final month of the season.
Milton, there’s only one race you need to concern yourself with and that’s the race to the playoffs, but unfortunately for you and Cubs fans that race has pretty much come to an end.
It’s wait till next year….again.
(Jerry Riles is a weekly 5on5 contributor featured every Tuesday in the RedEye) click here
