It's going to happen. There's going to be a hot weekend day, maybe in early August, the Cubs will be losing big in the 8th inning and a long day of drinking will light a fuse.
Some drunken fan in the right-field bleachers, or field box seats in right field, will say something offensive to Milton Bradley. If players such as Jacque Jones and Latroy Hawkins are to be believed, the offensive statement is likely to be racist in nature.
I've attended a ton of games as a fan at Wrigley over the past two seasons, and I don't remember an overtly racist comment being yelled at an African-American player. You hear things between fans, but nothing yelled out. But I'm not naive. I'm sure it happens. I did hear racist comments yelled at Kosuke Fukudome last season.
So what will be Bradley's reaction when he hears the taunts? Will he run into the stands?
I'm sure he'll react in some fashion. Bradley accused former teammate Jeff Kent of being a racist, and that feud led to him being traded from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Bradley also threw a water bottle at the feet of a fan and was suspended five games. Someone had thrown the bottle onto the field.
The Cubs have invested a lot in Bradley. They traded Mark DeRosa, whom I believe was one of the team's MVPs last season, to clear payroll space for him. They need him on the field, not suspended.
That's not to say players shouldn't respond to certain things yelled by fans. But the Cubs and Bradley should be prepared for this to happen, and it might be wise to discuss tolerance. You don't tolerate everything, but the bar is going to have to be raised.
I'm not saying Cubs fans are more offensive than others. Other than the South Side, I haven't been around enough fan bases to make that comparison. Some black players, though, believe some Wrigley fans are rougher.
We'll see. I really don't know how this revamping of a 97-win team is going to turn out. It's risky. But sometimes you have to take a risk.
One thing is for sure, it's going to be interesting.
Stu Courtney is in his seventh year as sports editor of the 
I have sat in the bleachers dozens of times and never heard a racist slur yelled. Just because some black players cry racism doesn't mean it's true. It's called "playing the race card". It's as American as apple pie and chevrolet in today's society.
I'm a Cub fan for 28 years and yes we have gone through some hard times . I love Baseball but this is where I distances my self from DUMB CUB FANS who do not understand baseball and financial things that come with every season ! They talk about Milton Bradley and the risks he has . Yes He does but you have not giving this person a chance to perform yet ! CUB FANS get your head out of your asses and bottles of beer because you guys are a bunch of morons who dont understand baseball and buiseness .!!!!!!!!!!!111
I been to a ton of baseball games, both South and North Side and the fans can get offensive when the game or the season is turning sour. The fact is that its almost impossible to take your kid to the game without hearing someone drop the f-bomb or hear something that is generally considered offensive. I am sure that we all have stories about this.
All Chicago teams have policies that let people know that this behavior isn't tolerated but its not easily enforceable. Its funny because I remember the Cubs having one of the most family or freindly atmospheres in Chicago sports. Well those days are over. Like it or not the fanbase has changed, the lovable losers will get booed and heckled to death.
Maybe not nick... but at least we know how to spell Business!!! Loser
I don't think cub fans care what color a player is when they get on him about poor play. Perhaps some are lazy, and repeat things they hear in the comfort of their segregated neighborhoods, but really, it is not about race, it is about bad baseball. Soriano is a bum, whatever color. And Milton Bradley is a powderkeg, black, white, or otherwise.
The only question is what will snap first: his brittle hamstrings, or his self-control.
A 5 million dollar raise and 3 years of security for a brittle DH who wears out his welcome after a year? Way to fail Hendry. Take down the Jim Hendry Way signs in Park Ridge now!
I do believe that Bradley will get into it with a Cub fan if he does not have a fight with Zambrano first. Let him botch a play with Zambrano on the mound and Z starts his little rant in front of 40,000 people watching.
Let just one ball or object get hurled at him by a drunken idiot. He is not going to turn the other cheek like Jones did and he will go nuts.
The real problem will be when Lou does not bow down to kiss his rear end and the jerk will take that as being "Disrespectful" He has this whole “me against the world” trip going on every where he goes and him playing in a Cubs uniform will do absolutely nothing to change that.
Did it matter with the other teams that he played for?
By the way… he has not been with 6 teams really because he has played for Montreal twice and Cleveland twice.
In 9 seasons he has gone from Montreal to Cleveland to Montreal to Cleveland to L.A. to Oakland to San Diego to Texas and now he comes here.
What does that say about him?
Saying that there are not a lot of racist Cub fans at Wrigley is absurd.
What was the hottest selling t-shirt outside the ball park last year?
Ask Kosuke Fukudome.
How come there aren't any white sox columns or stories in the sports page today, it is all cubs and some bears and bulls and blackhawks. Are the sox still an ongoing concern or have they moved out of town? I doubt the bleachers will dish out anything bradley didn't have to hear when visiting chicago with the rangers. But guess sox fans don't have anything else to do but stir up race baiting, bad crowd behavior, and then smirk about it. Most of the problems in wrigley arise from sox fans who are there enjoying the fun atmosphere and aren't used to having a nice time and minding their manners. Bradley will already be familiar with this sort of thing from sox fans.
There is no doubt a great deal of racial prejudice among Cub fans. However I'm not sure the boos have all that much to do with race. I for one booed Howrie and Willie L. a lot more than Hawkins. Does that make me prejudiced against Caucasians? That would mean I'm prejudiced against myself, which seems at least unlikely. I did wonder about the negativity toward J. Jones because I supported him in this blog time and again when bloggers were calling for his head.
HA HA...
And Jeff, just b/c you haven't heard it doesn't mean it didn't or doesn't happen. Considering the Dusty received hate mail from supposed "Cub" fans I would say that it DID likely happen.
Now go back to listening to more AM talk radio for your daily koolaid supplement...
Milton Bradley never called Jeff Kent a racist, he said Jeff Kent doesn't know how to deal with black people. There is a huge difference.
I love how Tom tried to say that he "Doubts the bleachers will dish out anything Bradley didn't have to hear when visiting Chicago with the Rangers" as if he never played at Wrigley.
So the Cub fans are going to scream the same insults at this guy that he heard as a visiting player?
Nice.
You even tried blame the Cub fans obnoxious behavior on White Sox fans for some weird reason.
The difference is that Cubs did indeed throw something at their own player in Jones and acted like complete jerks while he was here.
They did yell racial slurs at Fukudome while wearing their stupid "Horry Kow" t-shirts.
Fukudome himself told them that it was offensive but they bought them anyway and wore them with pride.
Bradley has been a problem every place he has played and if you believe that him being in Wrigley Field will some how work magic on him then you are living in a fantasy world.
Milton Bradley at $10 million a season? LOL! His best and really only legitimate season was with the concrete infield and prevailing winds out to the right center confines of Texas where he had 68% of his production. It wasn't even an all-star calibre season at that. He was also a DH.
The Cubs have become Yankees Lite. Just keep spending money like it's going out of style and then watch year after year go by without a championship. Oh, by the way, don't let the poor economy cramp your style either!
101 and counting...
Look, everybody panicked when The Bulls signed Rodman saying he was a trouble maker, poison in the locker room, and just a bad seed.Look how that turned out. Everybody loved his hustle and style of play and he contributed to the Bulls' success. I'm prepared to just wait and see how this plays out.
1.magikist
noun. someone who really knows how to rock it out
Dale Levitski
Good Point Marc. I understand the angst and low expectations from Bradley, but give the guy a chance. Hendry did right to change the CHEMISTRY - because it was bad believe it or not. Most folks don't really know that because a post-season lost is just business as usual - as long as the SUMMER is good most Cub fans could really care less.
Dennis Rodman did not play for 8 teams in 9 years, was not injury prone,did everything that was asked of him on the court and knew what it took to win a championship before he came to the Bulls.
Can you say the same about Bradley in any of those areas?
There's a problem with the Dennis Rodman analogy. Dennis was not expected to do anything on offense besides rebound the ball and possibly tip one in.
The Cubs are asking a fragile DH to play one of the more difficult positions in Wrigley.
He has to be a complete player.
But here's to hoping for the best, even if the best is a season-ending injury by May so he doesn't poison the clubhouse (as he's known for, per some rumors). But hopefully the best is an injury-free, Hr-filled, persona-silenced year.
OMG The race card being played shut up no one liked JefF Kent. And Bradly isn't the first black player to say it . Even white players knew that kent was an idiot , That being said I'm a sox fan and ill admit i'm very envious of this signing I cant stand you cub fans even more now lol.. This guy is a pure baseball player, kind of a throwback. Cub fans give him some time and trust me you guys will love him and me Ill begin to detest him as he played on the northside lol.. Good luck to you guys and hope to see a Windy City Series in 09...