In case you missed it, Milton Bradley shot his mouth off again. This time, it was on ESPN, and he was once again throwing the city of Chicago under the bus. For those that are late to the party, here's the video:
Milton loves to hate Chicago, and has been claiming the entire offseason that his issues in Chicago were unique. How should we, as Chicagoans, respond?
First, let's be very clear: Milton Bradley has more issues than his namesake created board games. Starting 2010, Bradley will be on his eighth team in 10 seasons, and the reason for that doesn't live in Chicago. As you'll see from the photo gallery, unless there are lying cameras all over the United States in the past decade, this train has wrecked before.
And yet the consistency from Bradley isn't even there. He hates Chicago... but he loves to come here?
"When people ask me what city you like to go to as a visitor, Chicago is always No. 1," Bradley told ESPN. "I don't think the entire city of Chicago is racist or anything like that. If you weren't booing me, I'm not talking to you."
Oh... OK... so if we ignore your ridiculous antics and poor performance and still cheer for you even while you're throwing verbal shots at everyone sitting in the stands, we're cool. Is that how it works, Milton?
What's interesting from the ESPN interview is that you'll notice at one point he says Chicago is the only city in which he's received hate mail. But then, in his next breath, he says that he did in fact receive hate mail in LA and in Oakland as well. Hmmm...
The messages from Bradley have been as consistent as his play over the past decade. Whether he's throwing all the equipment onto the field in Los Angeles, blowing out his knee while being restrained by his own coach in San Diego or being chased up the ramp to the press box where he intended to "introduce himself" to another team's radio analyst in Texas, Bradley has been a problem everywhere he's ever played.
Albert Einstein defined insanity as "doing the same over and over again and expecting different results." And yet it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that alienating yourself and being a first-class jerk to the fans and media everywhere you go doesn't win any popularity contests.
What's so sad about Bradley's time in Chicago is that he abused Lou Gehrig's wonderful speech on the final day of his career with the Yankees when he signed.
"I consider myself to be the most blessed on the face of the earth today," Bradley said on the day he was introduced as a Cub.
He even got GM Jim Hendry to buy the dog and pony show that day. How fooled was Hendry? His comments about Bradley back on Jan. 8 of last year might become the engraving on his legacy as the General Manager of these Cubs.
"The opinion that [Bradley] wouldn't be a good teammate or he would be a disruption in the clubhouse couldn't be further from the truth," Hendry said.
Oops.
So now that Bradley's playing in Seattle, perhaps he can do us a favor and remember that Spring Training is supposed to prepare players for the new season, not give them fresh microphones to trash their past.
We don't hate your race, Milton. And we can't help it that you're clinical. We, Chicago fans, hate that your ridiculous selfishness cost our team a chance at doing something special.
Just like you did in Cleveland, LA, Oakland, San Diego and Texas before us...
Filed under: Chicago Cubs
Tags: @Featured, Chicago Cubs, Milton Bradley
