They say if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying. Just ask Bill Belichick. Or Peter Cook. Well, after 100 years of losing, it looks like the Cubs have decided to try really, really hard - and have been fined $500,000 for it.

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is reporting that the Cubs got the hefty fine after participating in a few underhanded dealings involving the draft, including failing to officially tell the MLB after a signing a player, and for putting players on the field without first obtaining MLB’s approval.

Master criminals, the Cubs are not. (If they were, they would have used bowler hats during their daring escape!) But they still have to pay up. Just think, that chunk of change could have gone into finally getting rid of the horrible urinal troughs at Wrigley!

SI’ Jon Heyman has the details:

Major League Baseball ruled that the Cubs violated a couple of baseball rules, including failing to report a signing to MLB’s New York offices and putting the player on the field before receiving approval for the signing from MLB offices.

The Cubs were said by people familiar with the case to have exacerbated the situation by how they responded to MLB’s concerns. MLB higherups apparently didn’t believe Cubs people were completely forthcoming regarding their actions in the case when questioned about them.

Baseball disallows teams from making pre-draft deals, but it isn’t known whether such an early deal is related to this case. However, the extent of the fine makes it clear how displeased MLB’s powers are about the situation.

So many unanswered questions remain:

If the Curse of the Billy Goat has lasted 62 years, how much longer will the Cubs fans have to wait for a championship after the Curse of the Draft Tampering? Will Steve Bartman help pay the fine with his possible new windfall? Does any of this mean Ronnie Woo-Woo can finally shut up?