The Cubs and Craig Counsell didn’t do anything wrong. Neither are angels, but neither is the devil incarnate. The Cubs recently fired their manager, the once-beloved David Ross, so they could replace him with Counsell, who had been fiercely loved by Brewers fans until he signed with the Cubs. Now many of those same fans hate Counsell with a passion usually reserved for a road-rage incident.
Big-time baseball is a blood sport dressed up in nice uniforms. Players are traded or waived without a second thought. Managers get fired all the time. The heartlessness of the Cubs’ removal of Ross might have seemed like next-level cruelty, but there’s not much difference between a lot of cruelty and a whole lot of cruelty. There’s just cruelty. If you know that and expect it in sports – and you should – nothing surprises you deep down.
