Column: Matthew Boyd’s freakish injury brings back old myths about Cubbie Occurrences
Surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee will put Chicago Cubs starter Matthew Boyd out of action for six weeks, manager Craig Counsell announced Thursday morning at Wrigley Field. It was another blow to the Cubs pitching staff , which already has weathered more than its fair share of adversity over the first six weeks of the season, and another chapter in the annals of freakish Cubs injuries. Boyd suffered the injury while innocently playing with his kids, according to Counsell, though we’ve yet to hear the full story from the veteran left-hander, so it’s too soon to know just how freakish it was.
The Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-3 after the news for their ninth straight win and 15th in a row at Wrigley, leaving them 19-3 in their last 22 games. So it’s an obstacle the team is eminently capable of overcoming. Photos: Chicago Cubs 8, Cincinnati Reds 3 As for the hardship of dealing with an unexplainable injury, Counsell said a meniscus tear can happen to anyone with one bad step and that Boyd was just another example.
“I actually think this is more normal than it sounds,” Counsell said. “It’s part of this thing. When you’re using your body for a living, you’re at risk.
” It’s easy to lump Boyd’s injury onto the long list of Cubbie Occurrences, and many already have in tweets and elsewhere. But that might be a premature diagnosis. As a senior fellow at the Institute of Completely Useless Cubs Information (ICUCI), I’ve chronicled several incidents over the years that originally were labeled a Cubbie Occurrence but turned out to be random clickbait for Cubs fans.
When I asked AI on Thursday to define the term, it called a CO “an unexpected, bizarre and uniquely unfortunate piece of bad luck or an exotic injury happening to the Chicago Cubs baseball team. ” Boyd’s injury is bad luck for sure, but until he explains the circumstances, we can’t say for sure if it’s truly bizarre. For those new to the phenomenon, here are some of the facts and myths of Cubbie Occurrences: Fact: Former manager Lou Piniella coined the term in 2007 as a catch-all phrase for when something goes wrong to the Cubs.
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