It seems the quickest path from anonymity to the zenith of the sports world these days - besides rape, murder, steroids or any other dastardly deed - is to be a professional athlete and make a prediction. Or more precisely, “guarantee” an outcome.
And if pushing past NFL draft news, March Madness and bloated salaries seems too wearisom of a route, then you’re just not Carlos Zambrano.
Because Big Z, the Chicago Cubs baseball pitching ace, managed to set some fans seething and sports talk reeling when he uttered this little phrase, “”I believe this year that I will win the Cy Young and will enjoy that,” he said. “And besides that, we will win the World Series — I guarantee that.”
Yes, those two sentences were able to catapault Zambrano to the top of the sports talk heap - earning a teaser on ESPN radio and making a local sports talk host and Cubs fan make a prediction of his own. In short, Local Host whined, Big Z’s bold words guaranteed nothing more than continued futility and most likely Zambrano’s “arm would fall off now.”
Por Favorrrrrrr!
Or, in other words, are you out of your bleepin’ mind?
It seems to me for the past 99 years being seen and not heard has been the Chicago Cubs’ code. And having been around for a reasonable portion of those 99 years, outside of a few flirtations with success, futility has been the word most attached to the Cubs’ franchise.
Silence may be golden, but a healthy confidence emboldens.
For too many years I’ve watched the players’ body language predict the team’s fate. For too many years I’ve heard sheepishness from coaches and players mouths when asked about “this year’s” chances.
What Zambrano said was refreshing at the least. Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella said he wanted to introduce “Cubby swagger” this season. He asked for it, and he got it - at least from Zambrano - and at least for now.
And is Big Z’s “guarantee” that far-fetched? He’s undoubtedly one of baseball’s upper echelon pitchers. Statistics bear that out.
As for the World Series, why not the Chicago Cubs?
With the additional pitching depth and a couple of big bats in the lineup the Cubs stand as good a chance as anyone.
I guarantee it.
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