Conor McGregor Stinks Up Wrigley As Cubs Limp To Season's End

CHICAGO — Conor McGregor used a visit to Wrigley Field Tuesday night to prove he is indeed the Baddest Man On The Planet — when it comes to his throwing a baseball and singing.

The Irish MMA fighter's opening act included an unwieldy ceremonial first pitch that hilariously cleared the heads of intended target Patrick Wisdom and mascot Clark the Cub before it veered wildly to the right and ricocheted off the brick backstop harder than a right-handed uppercut. Later, McGregor described the pitch as being strong on venom and power but was "a little off accurate-wise." That's quite the understatement, champ.

McGregor then performed a rendition of “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” that was equally as pathetic as Bears coach Mike Ditka’s seventh inning stretch in 1998, Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne's forgetting of lyrics and Jeff Gordon, who famously referred to the Friendly Confines as "Wrigley Stadium" and was booed unmercifully.

I certainly don't have the guts to offer face-to-face critique to McGregor in fear The Notorious One would tear this mild-mannered reporter apart limb from limb. But, perhaps, the fighter and whiskey pitchman's showcasing of his ability is appropriate given the setting.

If not for social media, McGregor's wild pitch might not have been so embarrassing. Wrigley Field was mostly empty when he ceremonially took the mound before the Cubs’ 84th loss of the season that had a paid attendance of just 25,594 — well short of a sellout.

The crowds at the Friendly Confines have grown sparser throughout the second half of a lost Cubs season that reaches its merciful end next week. Ever since the front office dismantled the team's championship core at the trade deadline, fan interest has waned dramatically. The Cubs have been outdrawn in recent days by Guns N Roses and The Dead & Company, which isn't exactly great news for the Cubs' front office "Let' Not Call It a Rebuild" master plan.

The farther the Cubs move from 2016, the more they have slipped out of the must-see category of baseball viewing. Shipping Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Baez out of town hasn’t helped matters.

But as Cubs fans adjust to a lineup that includes with wunderkinds like Wisdom, Frank Schwindel and Nico Hoerner, the reality remains that the franchise that went 108 years without a World Series championship may just be settling in for another long drought.

Manager David Ross, who guided the Cubs to a National League Central Division title in last year's pandemic-shortened season, is left to manage the best he can. How he is judged by the after the front office's Everything Must Go sale is yet to be determined. But with one year remaining on his contract and with no signs the Cubs plan to reload their roster in the off season, Cubs fans need will need more than an excuse to visit than visits from celebrities like McGregor and Ted Lasso's sidekick, Coach Beard.

A weekend series with the surging rival St. Louis Cardinals may temporarily boost attendance on the North Side at a time the White Sox are preparing for what they hope is a deep playoff run. But after tickets on the secondhand market at Wrigley dropped to as low as $6 after the Cubs’ free fall down the Central Division standings, the North Side baseball cathedral isn’t the destination it once was.

When that will revert to regular sellouts remains anyone's guess. But a good first step might be to put a product on a field that is more digestible than whatever it was that Conor McGregor offered up Tuesday night.