06 to 1945 Chicago went to the World Series 10 times and w

MOSCOW -- Luxury cars, apartments, even a racehorse -- being an Olympic medalist in Russia can come with great material rewards but also controversy.Under President Vladimir Putin, its become a tradition for Russias Olympic heroes to be showered with large cash sums and sometimes unwanted gifts.On Friday, less than 24 hours after dozens of medalists were presented with BMW cars at the Kremlin by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, an advertisement appeared online offering one of them for sale, with photographs showing the car still covered in stickers celebrating Russias medal haul in Rio.The advertisement offering the BMW X6 for 4.67 million rubles ($72,000) was anonymous and quickly withdrawn. It couldnt be independently verified by The Associated Press, though Russian agency R-Sport claimed the seller was a Russian medalist who thought the car was too big and unwieldy.Figure skater Maxim Trankov, who received a Mercedes-Benz SUV for his gold medal in 2014, said few Olympians could afford to own such cars.Has no one thought that these gift cars are not only liable for the tax on luxury items, but also arent cheap to run and earnings cant cover it? he wrote on Twitter. Id sell mine too if it came to it ... Or does everyone think all sports pay as well as soccer, hockey or tennis?Gymnast Seda Tutkhalyan said she wouldnt be able to drive her new BMW because at 17 years of age she was too young to have a license.While online commenters mostly supported an athletes right to sell expensive Olympic gifts, many were critical of the government for a display of conspicuous consumption at the Kremlin at a time when Russias pension and healthcare systems are under financial strain.Its not fully clear how much the prizes have cost the Russian government.State TV channel Rossiya 24 reported that the fleet of BMWs was provided by the Olympians Support Fund, which is backed by a group of Russias richest men, but that the accompanying cash prizes of tens of thousands of dollars per medalist came in part from the federal budget.More awards are on offer from regional governments, many of which made public displays of generosity despite financial troubles of their own.The Caucasus region of North Ossetia last month promised a free apartment for any medalists from the area, though it isnt clear if this has happened yet. In another grand gesture, the head of the restive Dagestan region gave Olympic wrestling champion Abdulrashid Sadulaev 6 million rubles ($93,000) in cash and a racehorse at a lavish welcoming ceremony featured on local TV.Still, all may not be well for Sadulaev, whos nicknamed the Russian Tank for his habit of crushing opponents on the wrestling mat. Hes already facing an allegation from a Moscow radio presenter of reckless driving in his eye-catching BMW. Milwaukee Brewers Pro Shop . R.J. Umberger scored twice to lead the Blue Jackets to a franchise-record for consecutive wins with a 5-3 victory Tuesday night over the Los Angeles Kings. Milwaukee Brewers Store . -- Jimmie Johnson held off a teammate, passed a pair of Hall of Famers, and dominated once more at Dover. https://www.cheapbrewers.com/ . He said Tuesday thats a big reason why he is now the new coach of the Tennessee Titans. Whisenhunt said he hit it off quickly with Ruston Webster when interviewing for the job Friday night. Milwaukee Brewers Gear . Numbers Game looks into the Canadiens securing the services of Thomas Vanek in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick. Fake Brewers Jerseys . LOUIS -- St. This story appears in ESPN The Magazines Nov. 28 Tall Ball Issue. Subscribe today!It has been a few weeks now, and the Chicago Cubs are still World Series champions. And if history is any guide, everything familiar about the identity of the fan base and organization will be erased as the price of that title. The Cubs can no longer mask a century of incompetence with curses, afternoon drinking and low expectations. Theyve always had the resources of a superpower -- and now they have to start acting like one.Having witnessed the same shift in Boston, Theo Epstein knows this better than most. After almost 100 years of failure, the Red Sox still do business now the same as they did before winning the World Series in 2004-last winter, they signed David Price to a seven-year, $217 million free agent contract, just as they signed Manny Ramirez to an eight-year, $160 million contract in December 2000. But the national sympathy for their eternal heartbreak is gone. Even before Game 7, there was nothing cute or disadvantaged about the Cubs either, as evidenced by their enviable ability to sign Jason Heyward to an eight-year, $184 million contract-and bench him during the World Series.The Red Sox marketed and sold themselves as a ragtag band of rebels fighting both the supernatural and the omnipotent Yankees. Fans of the Rays, who happened to be the real underdogs, even coined a term for Bostons sly deception, referring to them as the Just as Evil Empire. Chicago, like Boston 12 years ago, can no longer claim the image of underdog on the field-especially since the Cubs are far from underdogs on the balance sheet, where they rake in profits. An identity change is coming, and they should embrace it.In this money game, with no salary cap and limited revenue-sharing, the Cubs, in the third-biggest market in the country, should have been dominant for decades. Instead, they were baseballs family screwup, partying with the trust fund money, winding up on academic probation. The generations of fans desperate for a winner have certainly suffered since 1946, but ownership certainly did not. The Cubs have been one of the richest teams in baseball. The team sold in 2009 for $845 million and in March was estimated by Forbes to be worth $2.2 billion, fifth best iin MLB.ddddddddddddThe lovable loser narrative was lucrative-it sold lots of tickets, beer and T-shirts and allowed an enormous fan base to feel sorry for itself-but in reality, the Cubs were cursed only in one way: by their own ownership mediocrity.Today, they have the opportunity to be the dominant team in the National League-and probably in baseball-for years to come. In Epstein, they have a president of baseball operations who knows how to build a farm system so well he can take big gambles on free agents, and the Ricketts familys enormous resources can help the team survive even a deal like Heywards. With old money but a new-school attitude, baseball wants its teams built the Epstein way, lest they face oppressive luxury tax penalties.You have to embrace the suck, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told me earlier this year. Look at Theo and the Cubs. They had money, but they built the farm system, lost and lost, and told their fan base the payoff was coming. George Steinbrenners way is gone. You cant do it that way anymore. Thats why we made the Aroldis Chapman deal with them. Embrace the suck. Build the contender.The Cubs can now go back to being the power they once were, for from 1906 to 1945 Chicago went to the World Series 10 times and won it twice. But the opportunity to shed the underdog image will come at an enormous cost: the identity the franchise has cultivated for the past half-century as a great place to start the bachelorette party before the North Side pub crawl kicks into high gear.Perhaps Chicagos transition to superpower wont be as harsh as in Boston, where agony was replaced by pink hats, expensive seats and gentrification (though Wrigleyville already has a leg up on the latter). Maybe the team will maintain its old identity even if it dominates, because so many of its celebrity fans are comedians, and because the beer has always flowed during weekday baseball when everyone else is being killed by office meetings. As expectations undoubtedly rise for the Cubs to stay on top, maybe Chicago will do something truly remarkable: win big while still being best known for having a good time. ' ' '