My first post of 2012, I am writing this post from Astoria, NY, some 850 miles east of my beloved Windy City North Siders. Arbitration, re-tooling, new scouts, whats it all mean? What it means is that the Cubs are trying their best not to inflict as much pain on the fans and themselves this year as they usually do. According to the Mayans this would be the last chance for the Cubs to rectify 100+ years of inadequacy. Will they do it? My magic 8 ball says "highly unlikely." The acquisition of Theo Epstein was huge, but he cant score runs for us. Yoenis Cespedes seems to be the biggest thing since sliced bread to the MLB this year. This 25 year old looks pretty impressive on YouTube, but then so did Susan Boyle, and we all know how that turned out. The truth of the matter is that the Cubs have looked great on paper for years. and for years have underachieved. New management? New scouts? Sure, that might help a little, but what the North-siders need is a fire under them to play baseball day in and day out. Something to believe in, a goal. Are you listening Dale Sveum? The new Cubs skipper has his work cut out for him.

We have always said "wait till next year," and "This is our year," and "it cant get any worse right?" And somehow the Cubs have always found a way to not get worse or better, but move in a lateral direction. A toast! Here's to 2012, to the Cubs! To Chicago!