Hey, DNA'ers! All… two of you? Maybe? When we started this blog in the fall of 2019, we envisioned it as a place where we could write positive, sometimes goofy, sometimes silly things about the Chicago Cubs and baseball in general for people who didn’t want to live and die by every single pitch of the season. We had three ladies on staff, two of which were people of color, even though some guy in the Bleacher Nation comments section accused us of being racist white girls. We also kept our promise to never sell anything or use the site or team as a cash grab, which we’re very proud of.
For several years, we really felt like we delivered what we set out to accomplish. And you, the readers, responded! Our social media grew, we interacted with players from the Cubs (Hi Dadler!!) and other MLB teams, and we had an outlet to unleash our analysis, humor, made-up words, and screaming hot taeks on the world. We even created our own Glossary of Terms to ensure that you know what Bert’d means or how the legend of #HotDaddy got started.
As much fun as we’ve had with the site, the time has come to put the blog portion of Cubs DNA to rest. However, this decision has nothing to do with the Cubs. It’s not because we hate Jed (we don’t) or because we don’t still love the team (we do!), or because we can’t stand looking at Craig Counsell angry squirreling his way around the dugout (that’s just me). It’s more because, well, we have lives. Our jobs have gotten more intense, our kids are growing up and need our time, and we just don’t have the time to devote to the blog that we did five years ago. Life: It Happens. (+Tina: the blog blossomed in the spring of 2020. We had a lot of time to kill back then.)
But before we shut this place down on September 9, we invite you to take a look around one last time. Maybe you missed our very first farticle where Tina admitted to stealing Kris Bryant’s underwear. (+Tina: I did not STEAL his underwear!) Or perhaps you need a refresher on baseball statistics, in which case, Steven totally has you covered. We’ve always given love to MiLB, and Pronk had a whole series about it. Then Brooke wrote about the Eugene Emeralds when they were still in the Cubs organization and their great promotions. Did you read AssMatt’s Very Extreme Sunshine Pumping at the end of last season? (Bert'd: Despite their early season struggles, '24 has been a similar exercise in optimism. Add PCA and BOOOOOOOOOOOOSCH to the list of positives, and I think it's safe to say they're close. -AssMatt) Or when Hurdle… wait. Hurdle never wrote anything. Never mind. (+Tina: Hurdle only complains about P-Wizzy and Drew Smyly.)
And then there’s me. I can honestly say that this blog gave me an opportunity to write things I’m genuinely proud of, like this piece on racially inappropriate mascots. Or this one that statistically showed why Addison Russell was also bad at baseball, on top of being an admitted domestic abuser and terrible human being. Writing that post actually convinced people on social media to stop clamoring for the Cubs to keep him around, which was immensely satisfying. I also got my frustrations out with the Less Terrible series, where I took two awful things about baseball and tried to decide which was less bad, and created the Scott Boras Translator, AKA Bot Boras. Writing for Cubs DNA provided a lot of catharsis over the years, and I’m grateful for every second of it. And yes, I'm also grateful to my fellow DNA'ers for putting up with all of my Joey Votto love over the years. He finally can't hurt the Cubs anymore, and I look forward to his amazing Hall of Fame induction speech in five years.
+Tina: Writing has never come easy for me, but I am really proud of my articles on my friend Sean the Bleacher Bum who coined "There's no fighting in the bleachers!", my baseball cards from the Sansabelt era, and my favorite of all, my Forbidden Love Letter to Hunter Pence which elicited a response - an actual response!- from Hunter himself on Twitter. Suffice to say I was on Cloud 9 for weeks! (He made Tina a video! We screamed SO LOUD that day!--Staci)
While we’re shutting down the blog, you’ll still be able to find us on X(eeter), Facebook, and Instagram. We might even update the latter two once in a while if you’re nice. We’ll still be around with Series Bingo, GIF games, the occasional Pick Two, and our usual oddball sense of humor, plus some live Xeeting from games throughout the season. The Cubs play the A’s in their first home series in Sacramento in 2025, so you can bet I’ll try to be on the scene! You can also access our glossary from our X profile so you'll still know what we're on about.
We also want to thank all of you who have faithfully read this blog. We’re not professional… well, anything having to do with writing, sports, journalism, or baseball, and while we know that absolutely hasn’t stopped most people who have sports websites these days, we also know that you could have spent your time reading anything else. We are grateful for the support! AssMatt here; Staci said it better than I, but my favorite part of this blog (besides the friends we made along the way) is that we were labeled 'Sunshine Pumpers' because we refuse to wallow in the doom. Cheers, fellow Sunshine Pumpers!
How'd this get here?
(STACI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
(It's still his & her fault for the 2021 season)
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