A colllege journalist from Purdue University-Calumet is very unnerved by the start of the 2009 Chicago Cubs:

CHICAGO- The North and South sides have ridden an extremely rough ride. Both teams' seasons are hard to explain; equally their beleaguered records are near identical. The Cubs have been slow to repair themselves and one can't help but think of a ship without a captain steaming through a river bumping off of the sides.

Do ships steaming through a river bump off the sides? Seems more likely they would run aground. But anyway:

The Cubs started out unstable; with winning and losing in pattern order. It took five games before their first back-to-back wins against Milwaukee. They then lost back-to-back before they won in the same fashion. Their last game hosting St. Louis was rained out and they went on to face Cincinnati, against whom they were 1-2 for that series. When St. Louis returned the favor of hosting, they again took the same record and lost their first two games. Same story against hosts Arizona, only this time the win was in the middle.

You're a glass-half-empty kind of guy, aren't you? The Cubs have had three three-game winning streaks mixed in there. But things look bad:

"I don't think anybody is in a panic mode," Cubs general manager Jim Hendry told Chicagocubs.com, "but I don't think anybody is feeling good about the way we've played or swung the bat." Hendry maybe speaking truth, but there must be a few people at Wrigley nervous about how bleak the season looks."

The Cubs are 13-11, just a month into the season, on pace to win 88 games - even though Milton Bradley, Aramis Ramirez and Geovany Soto have missed time with injuries.

So buck up at Purdue University-Calumet. There's lots of baseball to be played, and life isn't that bad. Other than the fact you go to Purdue.