If you spend any amount of time reading the message boards and comments sections of various Cardinal-related websites, you hear a lot of grumbling. Constant complaints. Ever-present worries and concerns. Some of these folks wouldn’t be happy with the team if they won a World Championship every year and the beer was ice cold and completely free.

Sure, it’s easy to panic from time to time. When you see the Cardinals allow the greatest ballplayer in a generation walk away, your heart skips a couple of breathless beats. You start breaking into a cold sweat when you see John Mozeliak spend $32 million dollars on three players whose average age is ∞ and they average 3.5 months on the disabled list annually. We can’t help it sometimes – we’re human baseball fans, after all.

Still, much depends on our perspective. We can look at developments with a sense of optimism, or we can officially announce that the sky is falling every time Chris Carpenter has a kink in his neck. Here’s a little look at the difference between the perspectives of Cardinal Nation: