Whatcha Gonna Do When Milton Bradley Runs Wild on You?

I'm sick of it. I've had enough. I'm mad as Lou, and I'm not gonna take it anymore.

Not at the Cubs. Not at anyone on the Cubs. Right now, my ire, my disappointment, and my criticisms are all aimed squarely at the fans. But surprisingly enough, the best advice I can give them just may be to keep doing exactly what they're doing.

The drop from first place on July 31 to second place (a full 9 games behind the Cardinals) here on August 27 sickens me as much as it does anyone. But the specific symptom irritating me now is that the Cub fans are (aside from Aaron Miles) focusing their slide-induced angst on one player more than any other. Here are his stats in that span of time:

G: 18 / HR: 3 / RBI: 9 / BA: .303 / OBP: .410 / SLG: .500 / OPS: .910

That's who's getting booed. The guy with the .910 OPS is the one getting skewered, roasted, shredded, and slathered in barbecue sauce by Cub fans while August gobbles up the Chicago Cubs. If you're okay with that, it's probably because you know that player is Milton Bradley. You don't care what his stats are, you hate him, and you hate him even more for calling you out on it.

I cannot see the reason behind that. (Actually, I can. Here's a list.) But with the right theatrics, I could be okay with it.

Before I give away anymore about the idea that will save Milton Bradley's career in Chicago, I need to vent my frustration about my fellow fans. Here's some of they hypocrisy flying around the Cubosphere:

Milton goes 4 for 4. Cub fans tell him to shut up and hit.

Milton says he faces hatred on a daily basis. Cub fans converge in a giant flaming ball of hate to tell him he's wrong. And stupid.

Milton says he has a group of people to help him deal with his struggles. Cub fans tell him to deal with it.

Lou says he doesn't understand the logic of booing. Cub fans say they have every right to say whatever they want.

Milton talks twice a month. Cub fans tell him to shut his yapper.

Cub fans call Milton a whiny douche and a petulant ass. Cub fans . . . you've been to Wrigley, right? If that isn't the pot pulling the race card on the kettle, I don't know what is.

[/vent] But look, all of that is okay. It is! The Cubs need Milton Bradley. Not just for his stats. The Cubs need a heel, someone they can boo freely, openly, lustily. They need an Andre the Giant to Jake Fox's Hulk Hogan; a Triple-H to Derrek Lee's The Rock; a (10) Million-Dollar Man to Ryan Dempster's Macho Man Savage.

If Milton can just learn to enjoy the boos, thrive on the hate, and feed off the negative emotions of Cub fans (and that's an all-you-can-eat buffet, brother) he just might hit .400 in 2010. Look at what he's doing in this renaissance of Milton bashing? He's hit home runs in two straight games. He's getting hits from the left side. Add the theatrics of hand gestures to the fans, attention-getting postgame interviews, arguing with the refs, er, umps . . . it's all there!

All we really need is obnoxious entrance music, a personal manager like Bobby the Brain Heenan or Jimmy "Mouth of the South" Hart, and maybe an annoying female sidekick to boot . . . Heidi Montag, maybe? We could turn Milton Bradley into a WWE-size blockbuster!

To make this work, though, I'm gonna need Cub fans to keep bringing the hate. If Milton's slugging percentage rises and falls with the boo-meter, we can't afford to take a day off. If y'all hate him enough, we could be talking World Series faster than you can say "Sports Entertainment."

Now, if I can only bring in John Cena to get the baseball to stop doing that silly "you can't see me" gesture to Fonzy all day long.

UPDATE: Today's 0-5 stinkfest did nothing to validate my support for Milton Bradley. I sit corrected, head in my hands. But this would still be more enjoyable WWE style.