There's a few things I've learned in my first three weeks in Wisconsin:

1. Full-time jobs aren't so bad. I was a bit concerned how well this waking up early every day thing would go, but it's been surprisingly easy so far. I've never had a real full-time job before this (and no, I don't know how that happened), so I'm glad its working out.
2. Not having regular Internet access sucks. A lot.
3. Corollary to #2: did you guys know Matt Lawton's a Cub?
4. As far as the Cubs go, moving to Madison was a bad idea. The day I moved was the first of eight consecutive losses and for a brief moment, I considered returning to Chicago to see if it would make a difference.

Despite what I'd like to believe, my proximity to Wrigley Field makes no difference in the Cubs' performance. If this were the first time the Cubs dropped an inordinate number of games in a row, I'd have been shocked, but as the losing streak dragged on, the optimism I once had waned quickly. The Cubbies have shown some signs of life in the last week, winning 5 of 7 from the 'Stros and Cards, but not only do they have to keep up that pace, the Astros, the entire NL East, and the Brewers have to hit low points all at once.

It's still possible: with the NL West out of the Wild Card picture, two divisions are left to duke it out for the 4th playoff spot. The Phillies, Marlins, Nationals, and Mets will see a lot of each other in the last month or so of the season, and the Cubs will have opportunities to beat Houston and Milwaukee and directly gain ground. I'm not holding my breath, though.

What I have had a lot of time to do is think about how the Cubs ended up where they are. Who's to blame? Dusty? The players? Jim Hendry? A big part of me wants to blame Dusty for the losing streak: managers have been fired for collapses like this before (even this year), and it's an awfully convenient to pin it on Baker.

I'm reluctant to assign all the blame to him, though, because I'm still waiting for a player to stand out as the team leader-type. When your backup, poor-hitting shortstop is the guy that calms the pitcher down and tries to fire up the team, there's bound to be leadership problems.

So Hendry, then, for not assembling a good team? Surely $100 million could buy a better team than this (it certainly can), but the DL has cost more than anyone expected this year and has prevented the front office from getting their money's worth.

Like everything else in life, the situation isn't black and white. I could be swayed any number of ways on who deserves blame more, but I'm not really interested in that line of thought. It's self-defeating, but that's not the real reason I don't care that much. When you don't see any baseball for three weeks, you're glad to get just about anything. Zambrano's 8 1/3 inning, 10 strikeout pitching performance and thunderous line drive homer on Wednesday might not mean anything come October 3, but damn if I didn't cheer as loud as ever as I watched it in the apartment clubhouse.

I might not hold much hope for the Cubs as we come up on September, but that doesn't mean I'll miss a game if can help it or not be excited by the playoffs and the Wild Card race, with or without my team. That reminds me, I left off an item on my Things Learned List:

5. Baseball, however it comes, is still the best sport out there.

(Originally posted at Old Style Cubs. Please read responsibly.)