The Bernstein Brief: Cubs' Joe Maddon Isn't A Fan
By Dan Bernstein--
CBSChicago.com senior columnist
(CBS) It seems as good a time as any to revisit something Cubs manager Joe Maddon told reporters in May 2015 about how he does his job.
"Don't become a fan, just continue to be the manager," he said. "When bad things are happening, you have to fight that tendency to become emotional. I do have a little gig on the top of my card written on a nightly basis that says, 'Do not be a fan.' I tell myself that, so I don't forget certain things."
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That means Maddon didn't spend Tuesday scribbling panicked emergency lineups on that card and won't spend Wednesday lighting votive candles to the baseball gods, arranging his lucky underpants or sending strings of illiterate messages to radio shows. Not his gig.
With the Cubs facing a 2-1 deficit to the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, he went with his regulars in Game 4 and stuck to his process. He showed his team that he was confident in them by writing their names in as he had all season and expecting them to be themselves.
They were in a 10-2 win that's knotted the NLCS at 2-2.
"It becomes stressful when you become a fan," Maddon said then. "If you remain manager, it's not as stressful."