It's Spring, Must Be Time To Talk About Race & Baseball

I'm sure everyone has heard the accusations that Cubs fans are racist by Milton Bradley, who forevermore will be referred to as He Who Shall Remain Nameless or HWSRN because I'm tired of typing his name. If you don't remember, HWSRN was nice enough to give an interview and talk about his experience in Chicago again. He was asked if race played a role in Chicago:

"I got the same mail LaTroy [Hawkins] probably got; the same mail Jacque [Jones] got," Bradley said. "Every time I got mail, I handed it to the PR guy and said, 'Here it goes.'

"I was getting so much until I didn't even have to open up the letter to know what it was, I could see from the envelope. I could just tell, you get an envelope, no address on it, no postmark, it's just in your mail. How does that get in your cubby hole? I don't know how that happens." Bradley was asked if he thought the mail with no postage mark was sent from inside the organization. "I would hope not, but ... who knows?" he said. "I don't know. I don't even care to know."

One possible theory could be that people in the organization were dumb enough to send HWSRN hate mail from inside the building, therefore the mail wasn't postmarked. Another possible theory is that HWSRN is fucking lying. I have to be honest, I don't care either way.

Bradley, who was traded to the Mariners for Carlos Silva and cash on Dec. 18, was asked if Chicago is a tough place to play for African-Americans.

"Well, I mean unless you go out there and you're Superman -- you're Andre Dawson, you're Ernie Banks, you're in the Hall of Fame -- then it's going to be tough," Bradley said. "People are just the way they are.

"When you get paid a lot of money to play this game, they expect miracles. And when you don't go out there and perform like that, then people don't like it. People don't want to see a guy that's brash and cocky and a little arrogant and kind of does his own thing making a lot of money. They were like, 'He doesn't deserve that.'"

I could argue that when you get paid a lot of money to play this game, the fans don't expect miracles, they only expect you to produce. If you don't produce, then yeah, I can see why people wouldn't want to see you walking around all cocky and arrogant because people don't like cocky and arrogant people who get paid a lot for doing very little. But I won't argue that, I'll let Ryan Dempster do that for me. Dempster used to get booed a lot when he was the Cubs closer. How does he handle it when he gets booed?

"Play as hard as I can," he said. "I think if you give 100 percent and prepare as hard as you can and take pride in what you do, that seems to work no matter where you're playing or who you are. I care a lot about winning and doing things the right way. I don't always do things the right way and I'm not perfect. They're fans, and they pay the ticket to come in and have every right to boo if they feel you're not giving 100 percent or your best effort."

LaTroy Hawkins and Jacque Jones also had a tough time while playing for the Cubs. Is it more difficult for African-American players there?

"I don't know. I'm Caucasian," Dempster said. "[Derrek Lee] seems to really like it there. He's really enjoyed Chicago and loves playing there. Some other guys I've played with have really had a good time playing there. I know Marlon [Byrd] is going to have a blast playing there. I think any time you struggle, it can be tough, no matter what color your skin is."

What does it say about a team when the guy who carries around a rubber chicken is the smart one?