The New Milton Bradley Is Cool, Calm And Collected

Milton Bradley says he's ready for any abuse that Cubs fans can dish out. That's because he's a new man; all that childish stuff is in the distant past. Ha ha, but anyway ...

Bradley, who only last season tried to rush the press box to fight an announcer whom he thought had insulted him, says that Wrigley Field's notorious boo-birds will not get to him this season, even if those taunts become racial, as they sometimes do. And by the way, what's up with that, Cubs' fans?

"I can be like that guy that you watch all the time for whatever reason,'' Bradley said, referring to his track record of angry outbursts and run-ins. ''But I really think I've outgrown it, a lot of the stuff that I did when I was younger.''

Bradley, who wasted no time pulling himself from the lineup in his first game as a Cub, is expected to make his Wrigley Field debut this weekend against the Cardinals, having recovered from a groin injury. He is 1-for-17 as a Cub so far. What's not to love?

''I've heard about that,'' Bradley said of Cubs fans' reputation for racial taunting. ''But, I mean, what can you do? You just hope that ushers, security do their job and kick those people out of the stadium. Because there's no place for that anywhere. 'People are going to do what they're going to do, and you really can't control that. But whatever reaction I get, it's not going to change anything I do."

Sounds reasonable. I see no possible way anything can go wrong.

Crowd Burst [Chicago Sun-Times]