Cubs Are Handling This 'Beer Snake' Situation All Wrong

The "beer snake" at Cubs games, simply a growing stack of cups passed from one fan to another at Wrigley Field, has been a point of contention this year. Security has confiscated beer snakes numerous times over. Barstool Sports, supporters of the snake, made shirts featuring the stack of cups with the phrase "come and take it," in response.

But the Cubs taken it to a whole different level by targeting Barstool. Their choice to cut ties with the sports media outlet for "promoting antagonistic behavior which puts our staff and ballpark at risk," proves they're handling the entire situation in the wrong way.

For starters, they're just giving Barstool free publicity. If they really wanted this whole thing to die down, they'd let security do its job by confiscating the stacks of cups once they appear. There's no need to target them. All that does is give them a soap box to cry bloody murder from.

It's pointless, poses no risk to the fans, and it's a waste of time and resources that could be put to better use in addressing the firestorm that surrounds Addison Russell, who finished serving a 40-game suspension for domestic violence earlier this year and was still given the chance to play.

It's frivolous! Attacking Barstool for fans stacking cups while conveniently ignoring the fact that they're literally employing an abuser comes off as tone deaf.

And why is this such a big deal in particular when public relations pertaining to internal affairs have been nothing short of catastrophically bad for the Cubs this year? Where was this type of heavy-handed, no-nonsense response when owner Joe Ricketts' racist emails came to light or when a fan flashed a white supremacist hand sign on television?

It's a questionable approach to something that didn't even need to be approached to begin with. There was no need to make this an issue, but now it's ballooned into an absolute nightmare that only makes the Cubs look completely out of touch with reality.

The Cubs need to settle down and re-evaluate their approach to not only this, but PR as a whole.