HENDRY, PUJOLS AND MY CUB/CARDINAL RIVALRY
Okay, I know I haven’t said anything lately about Albert Pujols. I’ve tried my best to abstain talking about him. Yet, the events that have occurred this week have forced my hand. Evidently, Jim Hendry and Albert Pujols are good friends. Before the opening game of this week’s series between the Cubs and Cards the two men shared some pleasantries. 
If Jim Hendry’s friendship with the Cardinal slugger enables the Cubs to sign him next off-season I would be surprised. I am not buying into the hype that the relationship these two men have is going to cause Pujols to leave St. Louis and come play for the Cubs.
However, I could be wrong. It may be a hint of what is to come. I seriously doubt it, but I’ve been known to be wrong quite a bit in my life. Just ask my wife, she will tell you!
Believe it or not, I think Pujols should stay in St. Louis and finish his career as a Cardinal. The truly greatest players for me are the ones that play their entire career for one organization. Cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn, Ernie Banks, Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, Robin Yount and Mike Schmidt to name a few, are some of the guys that played for 1 team and are Hall of Famers. I guess this soap opera will continue throughout the season and won’t be decided until November. Until then, baseball fans will have something very interesting to talk about.
On another note, my personal Cub/Cardinal rivalry continues. I took my 3 year old son to pre-k this morning. Both of us had Cub jerseys on. As my son entered his classroom the teacher said good morning. My son was distracted by his friends already in the classroom and did not respond to his teacher. Immediately, a father of one of the other children says, “That’s the manners of a Cub fan for you”…..I do not know this man who thought he was being funny. But it did aggravate me that a grown man would take a cheap shot at a 3 year old kid who was wearing a Cubs jersey. For the record, this man had a Cardinal t-shirt on so I believe he is a Cardinals fan. Anyway, I gave the man my Forrest Gump Alabama stare without saying anything to him. I think he got the point. That’s just another example of a Cub fan living in Cardinal territory. I am certain that Cardinal fans living in Cub territory have experienced similar interactions. Maybe I am too sensitive, but I cannot stand stupid comments like that.
Strictly Cubs Baseball 
You never know how friendship can influence free agency decisions. I gather friendships and camaraderie made Cliff Lee’s decision for him…but then again, Carl Crawford and Torii Hunter are close friends too.
Regarding the Cards fan, the guy probably didn’t mean any harm, but even so children should definitely be left out of rivalry jokes until they are old enough to grasp the concept of sarcasm and formulate a comeback and adults should know this. With my family’s divided fanbase, the kids all learn young…but not by three.
Kristen
This is a very simple game…
Kristen,
You are correct on both accounts! Friendships can definitely influence a decision. Also, I think the guy was trying to be funny, but I don’t know him and it was directed at my son. That is what aggravated me.
Ron
Thanks very much for sharing a lot of this great content! Looking forward to seeintg more posts!Shoutmix
Who knows, maybe it was just an off the cuff remark, but in any case it wasn’t appropriate. If he let your son in on the joke it might have been funny but he didn’t and i assume there wasn’t any wink wink nudge nudge to it. So, he was being a loser.
—Mark Gauthier
http://cubden.mlblogs.com/
@Shoutmix-Thanks for the kind comment.
@Mark-It frustrated me when it happened and I hope the guy was trying to be funny, but I didn’t take it that way. If I knew the guy or if there was a wink wink then I wouldn’t have minded, but there wasn’t. Oh well.
Ron
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