Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano has been known to speak his mind. His latest rant concerned his team's recent struggles, but the way he delivered the message may have obscured the meaning behind it. He has since apologized although you could argue that everything he said was true.
For ChicagoBears.com's Larry Mayer, Zambrano's diatribe was reminiscent of a brutally honest self-examination offered up by Bears safety Mike Brown in 2005.
A day after losing to the hapless Cleveland Browns, 20-10, Brown spoke frankly about the state of the Bears.
"I don’t know how to put frustration into words," Brown told reporters after the Bears had yielded two touchdown passes in a :38 span late in the game. "We’re just terrible.
"It’s like we suck, man. I don’t know what else to tell you. We can’t find a way to win ballgames. I hate to say it, [but] we always find a way to lose. We’ve got to find a way to win, but we always find a way to lose. Always."
As Mayer notes, the biggest difference between the two commentaries is that Brown didn't name names while Zambrano pointed out that closer Carlos Marmol's pitch selection was suspect.
"We’re not going to do that," Brown said at the time. "You just have to look at what you’re doing. No one is playing a perfect game out there. You just have to look at yourself and what you can improve. You can’t go around pointing fingers. That’s not the type of people we are on this team."
Put differently: Zambrano probably wouldn't have fit in with the '05 Bears, a team that finished 11-5 and won the NFC North before losing to the Panthers in the playoffs.
But, hey, different strokes for different folks. And if the Cubs manage to turn things around and salvage the season, the latest incident involving Zambrano will long be forgotten. (Likely because he will have done something since, but you get the point.)