at the Cardinals' Winter Warm-Up over the weekend, McGwire was welcomed with what The Sporting News described as "a long, thunderous standing ovation."

This shouldn't be surprising to anybody who paid attention to the San Francisco Giants fans over the past 8 or 10 years.  They loved Barry Bonds.  It should become less obvious once you remember Brian Roberts and how much the Orioles cheered him after his semi-admission.  The Yankees cheered A-Rod and Pettitte.

What did the Cubs do?  They cheered an opposing player every time he was visible.  Yes, the Cubs fans gave Mark DeRosa something like 94 standing ovations last year.  What did the Cardinals fans do when a borderline Hall of Famer showed up in St. Louis wearing a Cubs uniform?  They gave him a loud standing ovation, which was followed in his next plate appearance by some cheers and some boos.  By the 3rd time up, Cardinals fans were booing Jim Edmonds.  It wasn't because they didn't like him.  They did, and they showed their class by giving him an excellent standing ovation his first time up in St. Louis as a Cub.  What did Cubs fans do?  They booed Glendon Rusch and Jason Marquis on Opening Day at Wrigley in 2009 when they were each members of the Rockies.  Let me remind you that Jason Marquis had just been a part of the first Cubs teams to win back to back divisions in a hundred years.  Glendon Rusch missed a year or two of baseball because he had a blood clot in his arm.  In case you don't know, blood clots are serious and can be life threatening.

While every other fan base likes that player despised by all other fan bases, Cubs fans give in and despise the player too.  Look no further than Carlos Zambrano.  There aren't many fans that like Carlos Zambrano.  Unfortunately, there aren't even many Cubs fans who like the guy either.  Does anybody think he'd get a standing ovation if he were on another team this year and came to Wrigley like God did in 2009?  Of course not. You know what?  If Zambrano was traded to the Cardinals today, Cardinals fans would become far bigger Zambrano fans than Cubs fans ever were.

We already know what Cubs fans would do if Sammy Sosa showed up at a Cubs Convention.  There would undoubtedly be a large round of boos and I'm pretty sure some of those in attendance would throw knives at him.  Unlike every other fan base, the Cubs fans are incapable of appreciating good players.  Instead, they like the Ryan Theriot's and Mark DeRosa's.  Sure, they get it right from time to time.  Ernie Banks is loved, but 95% of the Cubs fans who adore him never even saw the guy play (same for Billy Williams and Ron Santo).  It's OK to love Cubs you don't remember, but you cannot appreciate ones you do.

I don't know what it is about Cubs fans, but they are a weird bunch of people.  If Sammy Sosa spent the majority of his career with the Cardinals, he'd already be getting standing ovations by the Cardinals fans.  Actually, I'll put money on the Cardinals fans giving Sosa a standing ovation before the fucking Cubs fans do.