A lot of people, some Cubs fans and even some sports journalists, seem to think that the fan who prevented Alou from catching the foul ball in the 8th was basically to blame for the whole thing. What a load of crap! As if the foul ball guy forced Gonzalez to choke on that routine grounder, or forced Prior to give up several hits in a row, or forced Farnsworth (I think it was him) to give up a bases-loaded double, etc. The foul ball foul-up was obviously a lousy break for the Cubs, but when you give up EIGHT runs in one inning, it's your own damn fault. I think Dusty Baker was fairly up-front about that, and I didn't see any indication that any of the Cubs' players were blaming it all on that one fan, but the other fans and sportswriters who did are being really stupid.

Let me join the ranks of the stupid and say, it's all that damn fan's fault. You could see those poor Cub players thinking "curse! it's the curse!" It was practically inevitable, once the fan ruined everything, that Gonzales would bobble, Prior would throw hangers and Cubbie world would basically collapse. Not just that one game, but Cubbie misfortune for the remainder of this new century rests on the shoulders of that fan.