It is fitting that, at a time when a moribund franchise is at one of its lowest ebbs, much of the recent attention surrounding the Chicago Cubs has been focused on a Dumpster.
As part of the celebrations of Wrigley Field's 100th anniversary, the Cubs commissioned a 181-kilogram, 25-metre-square cake replica of their heirloom ballpark.
The cake was on display during the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday before being moved to the team’s US$600 (Dh2,200)-per-ticket fund-raiser that evening.
The Cubs, being the Cubs, celebrated in traditional style – by giving up five runs in the ninth inning to lose 7-5 and send 32,323 fans (about 9,000 under capacity) home with a familiar, sinking feeling. The indignities did not end there, though. Photos emerged on Reddit of the cake sitting in an enormous trash bin without even a slice taken out of it. The upper deck had collapsed onto the field and the lights – never the most welcome addition – were knocked off their bases. While much of the creation was inedible, there was still a fair amount of cake in there.
Afterward, the Cubs said they were “disappointed” at how the cake was handled. Given some of the front office’s recent missteps, it is worth asking if they were more disappointed at the cake catastrophe being made public.
If nothing else, the Cubs paying as much as $100,000 for a bauble and throwing it away unused is deeply symbolic. As the losses mount, the Cubs are increasingly a textbook example of not having your cake and not eating it, too.
pfreelend@thenational.ae
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