Thunder Matt: The Force Awakens

In 2006, Jake the Terrible Cubs Fan and a few ragtag college dropouts started this site to pay tribute to one "Thunder" Matt Murton. Sure, he was just a 4th outfielder on a team that was going nowhere, but the only thing that burned brighter than his ginger curls was the passion for which they loved writing about the Cubs. As Murton's legend grew, so did this website, catching the eye of Cubs beat writer and Professional Chemistry Teacher Impersonator Paul Sullivan, who in 2007 named us one of his 5 favorite Cubs blogs.

Mirroring the Cubs' success on the field, we were a heavy hitter in the Cubs world in 2007 and 2008. Yes, there were other Cubs news sources that were "bigger" and "concerned with sticking to facts" out there, but did any of them bring you hard hitting hot takes about how underrated hotel room dresser handles are? Were any other baseball websites inexplicably posting fantasy football rankings? Going in depth about getting kicked in the balls? Up to the minute career status checks on Jeremy Piven (NOTE: That's still accurate 7+ years later)? Nope. And that's what we excelled at - giving you all the nonsense you didn't ask for and never knew you were missing out on.

After Thunder Matt was traded in 2008, we started to fall apart. With multiple bartenders having 2 kids and a demanding job, this place just sort of went to shit. Then came back, had 2-3 identity crises, and died again. For years, I've wondered if we could ever get it back. Maybe all we needed was a sign.

And that sign is here. GUESS WHO IS BACK IN THE FOLD???

After six years away from the MLB, Matt Murton has signed a minor league deal with the Cubs on Wednesday night, according to a report.

(This is where we bust out the champagne, drink too much and have a 2.5 day hangover because we're all in our mid-30's now)

As Murton goes, so goes this site. We're opening the doors to the Saloon again. I feel like it's too cliche to use the old "Don't call it a comeback, we've been here for years" lyric, but in this case it's actually pretty accurate. We never officially closed this place down. We just...stopped showing up. But the return of the Ginger Chosen One is the sign we were waiting for. We're back, like a glorious phoenix, rising from under a pile of Old Style empties. Maybe 'glorious' is too nice a word. We're some kind of phoenix. We're not the shittiest phoenix out there (Phoenix, AZ). We've got a better reputation than University of Phoenix. We're definitely more alive than River Phoenix (although it was touch and go there for a few years).

With the Cubs going into 2016 as the World Series favorites, we feel like the world needs our voice now more than ever. A whooooole lot of words are going to be written about the Cubs this year and when all the hottest takes and think-pieces start to blend together into a gray blob of incoherence, you'll need us to cut through the fog with our completely fabricated stories of Cubs of old and game recaps that were clearly written while watching something else on TV.

(NOTE: There's just as much a chance that this post is never followed up on and nothing actually happens. It's that kind of lackadaisical attitude that gives us our charm.)