Chicago Cubs fans are singing the same old song.

"Wait 'til next year," I've been told by more than one since the team was eliminated from playoff contention early last week.

For the 101st straight season, the town on the north side of Chicago will go without a World Series championship. The Chicago Tribune had a great graphic ready to go the day after the Cubs' season was officially put on ice. It was the number "101" written out with the winners of each of the World Series since the Cubs' last triumph in 1908.

It's been 36,880 days since the team wrapped up that '08 series in five games over Detroit in front of just over 6,000 fans in Detroit.

If the Cubs keep this up, none of the folks who we see on TV as being the "World's Oldest Person" will have been alive when the team last won.

And there's really no reason why the Cubs shouldn't win. The team has a fat payroll funded by a fanatical fan base. During the first half of Wednesday's doubleheader against Pittsburgh, the Cubs went over the 3 million mark in attendance for the sixth straight season.

There has to be a fall guy somewhere for the futility, right?

It's not going to be manager Lou Piniella. He's already said he's going to come back to finish out the final year of his contract in 2010. Piniella shouldn't be untouchable. He's gotten a lot of mileage out of his lone World Series championship in 1990 when his Cincinnati Reds shocked the Oakland A's.

He's had other winning teams, including an insane 116-46 record with Seattle in 2001, but hasn't been back to the World Series since his lone title. Heck, he hasn't even won a playoff game with the Cubs.

With Piniella out of the equation, general manager Jim Hendry should fall on the sword. If for no other reason, Hendry should hit the bricks for bringing the clubhouse cancer known as Milton Bradley into the locker room.

Signing Bradley to a three-year, $30 million in January had major fail written all over it. Why Hendry thought Bradley was going to play nice -- and produce -- is beyond me. He helped ruin the Cubs' 2009 season with antics and his poor play. He hit just .257 with 12 homers and 40 RBI -- all of which are close to career lows.

Hendry has done some good things as the team's GM. His shipping of Hee Soep Choi to Florida in exchange for Derrek Lee in the wake of the club's the bitter NLCS loss to the eventual World Champion Marlins was a stroke of pure genius. He also shored up third base for decades midway through 2003 when he hood winked the Pirates into giving up Aramis Ramirez for practically nothing.

Remember when the team made a big splash by spending more than $300 million in contracts prior to 2007? It led to back-to-back division titles for the first time in team history. Ultimately, there was just more frustration for the team and its fan base after the team failed to win a playoff game either season.

Now the team is stuck trying to figure out how to get rid of Bradley and his big contract. There's the matter of a deteriorating Alfonso Soriano, who fell off this season and still has five years left on the eight-year, $136 million deal he signed with the team.

If they can somehow unload Bradley, the Cubs still have more than $100 million in salary wrapped up in nine players next season.

It will be up to new owner Tom Ricketts to decide whether or not Hendry will complete his contract, which runs through 2012.

If past results are indicative of future performance, Cubs fans shouldn't get too excited until Hendry's gone.

-- dobrien@whig.com/221-3365