Some of the Cubs new marketing is out and it's quite a change from last year's "YEAR ONE" campaign.

See, last year, the Ricketts message was that this was going to be a fresh start. We're not 101 years from a title. We are actually just starting! Everything is going to be new! Fresh! Hopeful!

It was an incredibly arrogant and condescending campaign. First, it made the season all about the Ricketts. It's THEIR first year, see? And it made light of the fans who have been waiting and waiting (and paying and paying) for parts of two centuries. Yeah, you all have been waiting, but so what? It's all new and exciting now! There's hope! Notice that there no talk of the team or the players last year. At least when the Trib bought the team, they had the class to say that the Cubs were "Coming Out Of Hibernation!" The message: Yeah, the team has sucked, but it's going to be better now. With the Ricketts, we're not better, we're just pushing the reset button. All that other stuff doesn't matter. It's Year One!

Well, Year One led to 5th place. And the hope and change the Ricketts brought with them turned into the exit of the manager. Lou Piniella was replaced by Mike Quade, a guy already here. And the front office management that took a team from 97 wins to 76 wins in two years all remained in place.

So much for change.

Realizing this, the Ricketts now realize that they can't sell hope and change when there is none. Given their statements about growing confidence in Jim Hendry who has twice turned playoff teams into disasters in only two seasons, there's little reason to believe change is coming (and how could there be when Dad Ricketts was told by Kid Tom that the players and management was in place to win).

What's the response?

New marketing. The focus?



Did she really say 100 years? Isn't this Year Two?

Number Two sure sounds right.