Page created 5 Sep 2002 by pedro , last modified 5 Sep 2002 by pedro
URL: http://www.mlb.com/
It's baseball.
Love it.
Hate it.
Love-hate it.
The fans for the Duluth-Superior Dukes were quite possibly the greatest, most energetic fans in the Northern League Central -- they were also the smallest group of fans in the entire Northern League. And now, after ten years and four owners, the Duluth-Superior Dukes are no more.Shame on you, Duluth! Get a life, Superior! And make that life Baseball!
Duluth News-Tribune Article about the loss of the Dukes, ptui!
i know that you loved that team. but it kinda makes your hat even cooler. like having a tshirt of an indie band that broke up vs. having a tshirt of nsync.
Coming soon to a city near me.... Triple-A. (Yes, the name is from the Simpsons.) I really excited. I like baseball. I once heard some commentator quote somebody as saying- "Baseball is what we aspire to be, football is what we are" or something of that sort. Thought it was nice, though maybe not true. I am also a fan of baseball movies...
Ok, I know I'm a die-hard, blind-love kind of fan, but I'm really bitter that the Dukes are moving into a stadium/shopping center. Talk about selling out. I loved that team. Summers will no longer be the same.
Another real AAA team. For those of you who ever watched M*A*S*H*, I actually saw the Toledo Mudhens play this summer.
I've heard of ballparks, but this is ridiculous!Yeah... man. No more Dukes.
That sucks.
I don't even know what to say.
I guess I really need a Schaumburg Flyers hat now, or something. It's just not the same though. That town is loaded and they have a fancy ballpark and the people watch baseball like it's golf or something. What am I supposed to do?
Twins win Game 1. 2-1
i have to admit that i know no one on the team anymore but, damn that would kick so much ass if the twins went all the ways. GO TWINS!!!
go cubs. rah rah rah and all that jazz...
i wish i could get into baseball.
Go Toledo Mudhens...they moved their stadium into downtown, in a real seedy portion, with all the porn stores and strip clubs, trying to clean up the area... Now prostitution in the area is way up, and baseball game attendance is way down...
Toledo = the mold by which all cities should be built.
Okay, to continue my tangent of crummy cities, I'm in sort of a bad neighborhood right now, at the library, and there are hookers out, 11 in the morning, plain as day...ick ick ick...
bleah.
Wilfareline = Cprl. Klinger?
I'm really looking forwards to this baseball season. There's something about this time of winter that makes the words "spring training" seem like some divine ray of hope. Maybe it's the fact that when spring training is over, it will actually be spring in the midwest. Anywho, this season holds some promise for a fan like me. See, I'm a Cleveland Indians fan, and for the first two decades of my life the Indians couldn't win for squat. They had the longest streak of futility in baseball, including some of the all-time bad seasons. Every year I honestly believed that the Tribe had put all the pieces together and that this year (i.e.whatever year it happened to be) would be the one. Eventually, in the mid 90's, that sort of happened. The Tribe had a great streak of division titles and two appearences in the World Series (both of them heart breaking- especially 97). Anywho, they're back to re-building. The team will suck this year, and suck badly. The good part is- we've got all these great young guys on the team- some of the best prospects in baseball. Some experts say the Indians have the best farm system in the sport. It feels like we're a suck team on the verge of greatness again. It should be fun. My only job now is to clean up the back yard enough so I can relax in April and May in a lawn chair with a beer or a glass of lemonade and listen to some games on the radio.
I'd love to join you.
Sorry Homer, but they are indeed out of Springfield.
today is opening day. These are the 5 things I predict will happen this year:1.) Grand Moff Selig will deliver a speech where his suspenders snap off with a "boing" and his pants falls down.
2.) I will drink Old Style at Wrigley and enjoy it.
3.) The Kansas City Royals will be replaced with an all Japanese roster in mid-May.
4.) The Yokohama Baystars will be replaced with an all Kansas City roster in mid-may.
5.) Cracker Jack prizes will continue their downward spiral.
The fascinating thing about baseball is that teams can have momentum, or not have momentum. And depending on the momentum, good players can hit poorly and average players can hit like Ted Williams.Examples are the White Sox opener and the Cubs opener. The Cubs, whose offense is traditionally powered by Sosa and pretty much only Sosa gathered momentum early, and all of the sudden the average player is a superstar. Like Matt Gudzielwhatever, and Corey Patterson (a .250 hitter), who had 2 homers and 7 RBIs.
But the White Sox, who've assembled a huge offensive force, managed only 3 total hits against KC, who last year were a sub-500 team.
Opening day is traditionally not a great gauge of the rest of the season (the Angels, who won only 6 of their first 20 last year). But I just hate it when the Cubs win and the Sox lose!
I have an extra ticket for Friday's home opener at COMISKEY if anyone wants to go.
I would totally be there, but I'm going to be up in Wisco putting in a LAN at my hometown church.
I just LOVE it when the sox lose and the cubs win, it's great to see them get the shaft for selling out to the USCellular man! Hah! Sell your soul to the devil and your bound to get burned! I'll take good ol wrigley any day. Besides Wrigley was built by good hard working Swedes, and I support that too. I don't support the Tribune company, but that's my only drawback right now. If only Wrigley had never sold them, but if wishes were horses... Actually the game I'm most looking forward to this summer is the Kane County Cougars game I'm going to with work, good times, and it doesn't hurt I don't have to pay for the game or the beer. But in the end we all know that neither the Sox or the Cubs are going to do crap this year, because there's always next year...
I know, the name totally sucks. and the kicker is that the funds from the deal are supposed to go towards "stadium improvements". The stadium is only 10 friggin years old.my problem with wrigley is that every time i go i end up sitting behind a huge iron post, and in front of some dude who's so drunk i'm constantly worried he's going to throw up down my neck. whereas at Comiskey you get a whole section to yourself. that could actually be a main reason i'm a sox fan - i like to see baseball, and value my personal space. i even grew up a cubs fan.
It's easy to get caught up in Cubs v. Sox. I prefer the Sox and want them to beat the Cubs because if they don't, I have to pay for a trip to NYC for me and my girlfriend. The bet is, which team has the better record. I got a nice dinner at Arun last year, and the best part was when the check came and I didn't have to pay!
but whatever, i enjoy the game no matter where it's played.
Baseball is just a great game to watch and that's what matters, but I hate comiskey because I've only sat in the upper deck and it's like hitchcock's vertigo for 3 hours, not fun. The fans at Wrigley aren't the best because most are there to be seen and drink too much, but I feel it's a more intimate setting in which to watch a game, you feel closer to the action. Ever been to a Kane County Cougars game though? They're pretty entertaining. How was Arun's? I've heard the food is amazing, but alas have never had the cash to shell out for it.
And you're ALL INVITED! GO NORTHERN LEAGUE! DOWN WITH THE T-BONES!Ok, that's not very nice. But I'm bitter.
I hate the T-bones, too...for some reason. We ought to see if we can get a Nerth Pork neighborhood minor league baseball team in the Northern League. We'll insist that "yes, we have a stadium built" and "yes, it holds 15,000 people". When the commissioner of the league asks to see the stadium we'll just say "it's being fitted for a JumboTron". Of course, the team will have to consist of Diner people and we can only play road games.Go Tribe/Cubs/not-T-Bones!
Arun was incredible. i couldn't afford to make a habit of going there, but every chicagoan who likes thai should make it at least once per lifetime.regarding '97 tribe...i still believe mesa was paid off to throw in the dirt. omar vizquel does too.
Jose Mesa is one of my sworn enemies. I don't have very many, John Elway, Jose Mesa, John Rocker, Eminem, the WWE, reality television, and just two hundred or so private citizens.Anywho, I fell silent after that single went up the middle in the bottom of the 9th in that 7th game. Silent for about a week. Well, a few hours. anywho, once again my devotion to Cleveland sports left me utterly broken hearted. Omar is right. I hope Omar and Jose get to face each other on more time. I hope Jose throws at Omar, and I hope Omar charges the mound with his bat and beats Jose stupid(er).
Anywho, the Tribe in '05 baby.
John Elway is a god among men and there is no denying it.
I was at the second game ever played at u.s. cellular field, and that was my favorite ball game ever because it was the only that i left without my shoes reeking of spilled beer. That includes all the cubs games that i've been too, and all the sox games that i'd been to at the old field. So there. now you know where my priorities lie. Beer.
And I have to agree with Lukas, John Elway is a sports god. And I prefer to come home smelling like beer from a baseball game, lets you know who really won, you.
Back in '84...My dad taped the division clinching game and all of the postgame festivities. I used to watch that tape all the time when i was little. One day, I was watching it in the early afternoon, standing by the rewind button to replay Sutcliffe getting the final out, when i accidently pressed record. We still have the tape, though i havent seen it in years, but during Sutcliffe's stretch on the final pitch, the tape cuts to about 3 seconds of Fat Albert, and then back again to the game with everybody jumping up and down, charging the mound. Now the tape has two glorious retro flashbacks instead of one.
I was still logged into anonymous poster. ahem.
is a jerk. One time I was at the circus and he was in the row in front of us, and a nastier person you have never seen, just with the way he treated everyone around us. I think another time my mom ran into him and asked for his autograph (she had a crush on him and always referred to him as a "hunk"--yargh), and he was really rude to her. Plus, he looks like a horse. Coming from Denver, I hate the sort of demi-god status he has been elevated to. John Elway vehicle dealerships, John Elway night at bars, I'm surprised they haven't named one of the Rockies frickin' Elway Mountain. He's just another guy, and a hoss (or should I say "horse"--HAAA!) one at that. Not saying anything about his professional talent, which I wouldn't know about.
John Elway is a horseface weiner. I mean, look at the way he tormented my childhood/adolescence! I wish Bernie Kosar came to this diner. He'd agree with me.To return to the topic of baseball, I love listening to baseball at work. It makes afternoons...what's the opposite of boring? Exciting? No, not that far from boring. Less boring. Yeah, less boring.
I wish I had a dawg and a beer. -and one of those frozen lemonade cups.
Comisky Park apparently bears the curse of the guys-who-are-incapable-of-making-wise-decisions. What the heck was that about last night? Four people ran onto the field last night, one of them attacking the first base Ump. -you'll be glad to know that it looks like the Ump got the best of the fight-Remember last year when Cleatus and son rushed the Royals first base coach at Comisky and started punching and kicking him? What is this crap?!!
People rail on Wrigley fans for being drunks. fine., but it's attendees at Sox games that get drunk and violent towards people on the field. You know what I say, it takes a real man to hit a guy when his back is turned and he's doing his job.
well, a few of us are going to the game tonight and have really great seats. so, i for one am really stoked! is anyone going to watch the game tonight? if so, could someone tape the game for me?
We might actually be on THE TEEVEE!
YAAAA!
one week to go and the subs are still in it. By all rights they should have swept the pirates (arrr) and been sitting in first place today. Not that anyone in the NL has a chance of getting by the braves...but stillgo cubs!
I can't wait to see if we make the playoffs, and hey we're closing in on the wild card too, bonus! I just found out that I have tickets to the last game at Wrigley on the 28, and boy am I excited! The first game I get to this year is also the last game of the season, and it's a game that might actually mean something!
i am not a sports fan by any definition, however i was bored yesterday and watched most of the cubs game on tv.
pedro, the cubs weer acutally in cincy last night but apparently there were way more cubs fans than reds fans. And the reds are a rag tag bunch of strokes but zambrano collapsed and the cubs couldn't rally in the last three innings. they play a 2:20 game against the pirates at wrigley field. The last three games are really do-or-die for the cubs because florida pretty much has the wild card locked up. so it comes down to three home games against pittsburgh with the astros having three games at home against the brewers. things could get crazy in wrigleyville this weekend.
especially with a day/night doubleheader on Saturday. The second day/night doubleheader in a week against the Triple-A Pittsburgh Pirates, who apparently found the obscure baseball tradition that states "rookies who get a shot should make the best of it." (See OF Jason Bay, 8 RBI in 1 game last Pirate doubleheader. Jason, meet Mr. Prior. He has a mean curve and a hideous fastball he'd like you to not see . . .)It's nail-biting time! But it's weird to still be in it on the last days of the season. I haven't had this feeling since 1989 and even then the Cubs clinched the NL East with like four games to go . . .
RED SOX
TWINS
CUBS?
all in the playoffs? man. what a sept we've had.
double header tomarrow. houston lost today. so, if the cubs can win both tomarrow we will be in good shape. but, if not and we tie with houston this weekend we have a wild card tie breaker monday day! oh, the drama. it's killing me. i'm working sunday and monday. i can't wait to celebrate or have to deal with all the anger fans if they lose.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1624378.My favorite Cub, ever, retires.
I will assemble my crack SF A team of Chicago veterans and Marines to ensure a spectacular rescue of dogmanphil from being trapped in Goose Island Wrigleyville, and return him to Jen safely intact . . .In other news, CUBS WIN!!! CUBS WIN!!! CUBS WIN!!!
Bring on the Braves, ya tomahawk-choppin', Jane Fonda-likin', Coke-drinkin' weenies!
i f'n hatre the braves! almost as much as the yankees. it's funny. i'm not a huge baseball fan but, i love the twins, red sox, and the cubs, and really really hate the yankees and the braves, other than that i don't really care about baseball. so, to have the cubs play the braves and the twins play the yankees, i'm goin' crazy.
all your baseball planets have really lined up! Actually, I think that demographic is fairly true for a lot of people in chicago, since there are so many minnesotans here, the twins have a certain amount of popularity in the city. And of course there are the CUBS (cubs win!) -- and that means that we hate the yankees, and the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so we share a special bond with the red sox. I'm not sure how to tie in the braves. One of my favorite baseball hats ever was a braves hat, but I lost it.
is a World Series BREWERS team! Hah!
however watching Santo get his number retired was fricken awesome! It couldn't happen to a better guy. I was very glad to be there, but watching the 4th string players in a slow game with the Pirates was not too exciting, I'm kind of sorry they had already clinched before I got to a game, oh well, I'm still hoping for playoff tickets from the friends that took us yesterday, probably won't happen, but it would kick booty.
How much fun is a playoff anything in Chicago? (unless it involves the White Sox) What is great here is that the Cubs, the city's most beloved, yet most under-performing child is really in a great place. I just like saying things to neighbors and gas station attendants like "go cubbies" and "see the game?". It's fun.
It's one each for the series.
the cubs play a 3pm game in wrigley on sat.
So, did anyone notice how far out of the strike zone the pitch was that DeRosa drove for the game winning double last night? It was a fine pitch, but an excellent hit. The Cubs, with the exceptions of Simon and Lofton, are not good bad ball hitters. It would be nice to cheat a couple of good hits out of a game, especially with two outs. Oh well. Back to Chicago.
Does that mean 10:00 and $5 still stands?
story
The best way to get Simon out is to actually throw him meat pitches, but he hits enough of those to make calling pitch selection at his at-bats a nightmare. I'd hate to be the catcher and the pitcher,knowing that all the angles get taken away . . .
i haven't been following especially closely, so i don't know whether the twins still have any chance of going to the world series. but anyway, i was pondering the possibility earlier today of cubs vs. twins. assuming that he would somehow reconstitute himself from the pieces, i think it would be amusing to see phil explode.
the article on the bookmakers 'sweating' the Cubs' imminent victory is pretty funny for the following reasons:1) we all know that they haven't won in forever. it's kind of an old joke. which means...
2) with odds of 40-1 and even 50-1 against the Cubs over the years, the bookmakers have made a killing taking people's bets on the Cubbies.
3) so we're supposed to feel sorry for the bookmakers? this 'fluke' of a season is somehow putting them back?
4) the way the people are quoted in the article makes it sound like the House is going to be losing a bundle if the Cubs take it all the way. this is totally inaccurate. they make plenty of money on all the other bets against the Cubs to profit after paying out if Our Boys do take the title. not only that, they have the power to change the odds to their favor. and they employ people to do exactly that - figure out how the odds will be in their favor. if they somehow thought that long odds on the Cubs was a good idea because they haven't won, then somebody isn't doing their job in the statistics and probability department, and should be fired.
anyway, it's a funny article.
CUBS WIN!!!Cubs lead Atlanta 2 games to 1.
The Cubs lost today. Game 5 is tomorrow in Atlanta. Nothing like keeping us all on the edge of our seat.
:<
CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!
They have been saying the first postseason series win since 1908 -- but the Cubs were in the World Series in 1945 -- the difference is that the postseason series' as we know them (NLDS, etc.) did not begin until 1969 -- so when they made it to the WS in 1945 it didn't have a series before it.
...but it's too bad that Harry Caray isn't here to see this.
...same goes for jack brickhouse
Fick Fined For Tomahawk Chop!
he was way out of line.i hate fick.
the cubs certainly deserve to celebrate for winning a post-season series. but i still remember the last two times they've been to the divisional series. in 1984 they went down to the padres in 5 games and in 1989 they went down to the giants in 5 games. should they win the division and make it to the world series, maybe then i'll really celebrate and make myself an "I Believe!" sign and come to chicago for the craziness. Anyway, it all starts tomorrow with a game at wrigley with zambrano at the mound.
There's no denying how exciting last night was -- but there should be a measure of reticence regarding what's going on. I have really high hopes -- but let's get to the world series before we go completely ape. I'm actually thinking more and more about trying to go watch at least one of the games down in Wrigleyville just to see the insanity.And get your radio warmed up because there's still an important game going on today!
stats from baseballreference.com:
What technicality do they have to say that '89 or '84 weren't "post-season series?" Because there was only an NLCS in '84 and '89 and they lost, because there was no NLDS? (But the NLCS started in '69 which is why the '45 world series doesn't count?)Either way, it seems a bit only "technically true" that they've been total losers since 1908. STILL -- let's kick some booty!
It is true that they haven't won a "series" but they have won games in those series. It's kind of a silly stat since the wild card was added only in '95 (creating the divisional series) and the leagues were split in '69 (creating the championship series). I guess they needed some sort of stat to show the cubs futility in the post-season. Between '08 and '45 they were in the World Series 7 times. Since then they've been in the playoffs three times (four including this year). '84, '89, and '98 as a wildcard (losing to the braves in three). They should have gone to the playoffs in '69 but they faltered in september and were eclipsed by the mets who went on to win the world series.
when you think about the "loveable losers" of baseball you think about the cubs and the red sox. Here are some stats:The last world series win for the Red Sox was in 1918 over the Cubs. The last for the White Sox was 1917 and the Indians and the Phillies won it in 1948 and 1980 respectively.
- Chicago Cubs (1903 - 2002) - 2 World Championships, 10 Pennants, and 13 Playoff Appearances
- Chicago Orphans (1898 - 1902); Chicago Colts (1890 - 1897); Chicago White Stockings (1876 - 1889) - 6 Pennants and 2 Playoff Appearances
- Boston Red Sox (1907 - 2002) - 4 World Championships, 8 Pennants, and 13 Playoff Appearances
- Boston Americans (1901, 1903 - 1906) - 1 World Championship, 2 Pennants, and 1 Playoff Appearance
- Chicago White Sox (1901 - 2002) - 2 World Championships, 5 Pennants, and 7 Playoff Appearances
- Cleveland Indians (1915 - 2002) - 2 World Championships, 5 Pennants, and 9 Playoff Appearances
- Philadelphia Phillies (1890 - 1942,1945 - 2002) - 1 World Championship, 5 Pennants, and 9 Playoff Appearances
Also did you know that prior to moving to Atlanta, the braves were a boston team and were known for a time as the Boston Beaneaters?
they did start in 1995, but they also played them for a single year in 1981 because of a 2 month strike.
That they were the Milwaukee Braves for a while in between? (When a little guy named Hank Aaron played for them.)
I had no idea how sucky the White Sox' long-term stats were.
they haven't been so good. for fun, i dumped the win-loss stats since 1901 into a spreadsheet for the cubs, sox, bosox, and the yankees. Here is what I learned:record:
cubs - 7958-7822 (.50431)
sox - 7942-7802 (.50445)
bosox - 8070-7696 (.51219)
yanks - 8895-6840 (.5653)averages (wins-losses, divisonal finish):
cubs - 78.02-76.69, 4.38
sox - 77.86-76.49, 4.11
bosox - 79.12-75.35, 4.12
yanks - 87.21-67.06, 2.86But if I looks at the same numbers from 1946 onward, the picture changes a little.
record:
cubs - 4162-4800(.46441)
sox - 4542-4426(.50647)
bosox - 4747-4230(.52880)
yanks - 5099-3865(.56883)
averages:
cubs - 73.02-84.21, 5.20
sox - 79.68-77.65, 3.66
bosox - 83.28-74.21, 3.63
yanks - 89.46-67.81, 2.58
Statistical analysis justifying the whingeing of Cubs fans! Excellent! This is why we pay you the big bucks, Lukas!
red sox curse
red sox vs. yankee's wed. night. oh my dewar lord what am i going to do!?!
This is incredibly exciting... Cubs at home for game one tomorrow! I may be watching some of it at Victoria's tomorrow... anyone else have plans?
I don't think anything explains the feelings of a Sox fan more than this column.
" Fast-forward to the eighth: After Grady pinch-runs for Ortiz, the unhittable Chad Bradford manages to get out of the inning, meaning Grady has managed to eliminate our first, third and fifth batters from the game ... a game destined for extra innings, no less. Just an unbelievable run for Grady this week. He did everything but order the tiger to attack Roy."
i think that at some point i will be hitting Victoria's before the TFT show. i probably won't get there until like 4:30 though.perhaps i'll see you there.
The cubs were 4-0 over the marlins and now the marlins are 5-4 over the cubs!!!
9-8 to the Marlins.
that it wasn't exciting. ooh sosa's homerun was awesome. but tomorrow things have to change.
Mark Prior. 'Nuff said.
jordan tells me that when sammy hit the home run last night he could hear the cheers from home. it's a little over a mile from here to wrigley field.
the local fox station is showing the sox-yanks. GARGARGAR
I don't know if your modem will do it, but you can listen to the broadcast online.
jesus, it's 9-0 cubs now. i'm going down to waveland.
12-3 over the marlins!
Sox over the Yankees 5-2!
about the inevitable sox v. cubs world series
wgn doesn't offer cubs game online because of mlb gameday audio, which you must pay for. for $10 I could get all the playoff games on wgn via the mlb website. All of the playoff games are on local espn radio AM stations so I just cranked up (literally) the radio/flashlight/siren (it's the only portable AM radio I have) and listened to the game.
Haha, the only AM radio I have (not counting the big one with four wheels and a luggage rack) is my clock radio.
Sosa's homerun yesterday was 498 ft. with no wind! Damn he cranked that thing. And where the hell did Gonzalez come from? I mean he's been consistant all year long, but not this crazy homerun hitter that he has suddenly become, God bless him!
go cubs!
But don't you think that's a personal question Lukas?
If you look at OUR Gonzalez's season splits, he hits homers in streaks. Unfortunately, those are almost always followed by a streak in which he couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat.I always have Wood. Picked him every year he's pitched for fantasy league.
CUBS WIN!!!!
WHAT A GAME!
5-4 Cubs in the 11th.Wood did ok, but had to sit down after a while. Joe Baworowsky with the pitching save, Remlinger closing out, and the game ends on an error, Ramirez bobbled, Castillo tried to book it towards third, and they pinched him between 2nd and 3rd. Man!
pedro vs. clemens
yesterday's tension and proximity was nowhere to be seen tonight. i think they clinched their win in the first inning.
the red sox yankee's game was crazy! red sox lossed. garrr.
but, the cubs won!!!ya!
5 more wins to go!!!
What exactly do you mean by proximity? I'm not quite getting your definition . . .In other news,
According to news reports, Ron Santo failed a stress test on Friday. . . .
To quote the apparently immortal C. Montgomery Burns, "Well, duh!"
The Cubs are 3 games to 1 up in the NLCS, and doctors are giving Santo a stress test? On a day when the game went extra innings? Are these Army doctors? What kind of HMO is Santo on?
Let the man watch the game, monitor his vitals, have the crash cart ready, BUT DON'T EXPECT HIM NOT TO BE UNDER ENORMOUS STRESS! He's sick, he's already overcome more than any human being in one lifetime, he's a hero to thousands of diabetic kids and adults all over this country . . .
I can't talk about this right now. I have to go take some very smart doctors out behind the woodshed, and pound into them an object lesson about intangibles like faith and love and heart.
This concludes tonight's rant. Eamus catuli. Go Cubs.
Go Cubs!(Oh yeah, and God bless Ron Santo!)
The cubs lost a tough game 4-0 today. As much as I hate to say it, Beckett did an awesome job. I don't even feel like the cubs were hitting that poorly -- not that they were doing great -- but Beckett just sat'em all down.And like I said, now we get to see the cubs win Here.
Panda.Monium.
being a glass-half-empty type of cubs fan, i'm slowly starting to believe. The last time the cubs had three chances to clinch the NLCS they lost three straight to the padres. The GM of the padres in '84 was jack mckeon. granted, they were three games in san diego and not two at home with prior and wood. And with those factors in mind, I think the cubs can win the pennant.
Is a little scary, to be sure, and it makes me quake in my boots to imagine seeing them get this close and lose. Especially after seeing them whoop so much booty on the Marlins in some of these games. Last night's loss might have been a shut-out, but it certainly wasn't a blowout.That said,
I really, honestly believe the Cubs are gonna go to the series, and I think that have a good chance to beat the Yanks. And I am totally thrilled about that.
I love it when the Cubs are beating a team by a bunch, and they have no points, the way Pat Hughes announces it with feeling, yet without being a total jerk:
<phughes> Cubs, Seven. Marlins.... nothing.
who else is ready to send al leiter to the plate against an angry pedro martinez? my wife, who is not really a crazy sports fanatic, has been yelling at the TV for leiter to shut up. It's kind of fun to see karna get all juiced up for the cubs.
At first she was like "what did this guy get a lesson in pitching right beofre the game and fee like showing off?" Than I told her he is an active pitcher and she said "well ok then he knows what he's talking about, but he's still annoying." I must say though that for this series, being a pitchers duel back and forth, it's been interesting to see into the mind of the pitchers through another pitcher, but I won't miss him when he's gone. I think the Marlins would need divine intervention to be Prior and Wood at Wrigley, and I think it's good that it came back here so that they don't have 5 days of rest, only 3 before beating the Yanks in the World Series.
Turn on WGN and listen to Pat and Steve... I don't find them annoying at all.
I actually conisdered calling some chicago folk on the cellular and having them place the phone by the radio broadcasting wgn...
you mean the red sox in the world series, it's an easy mistake i'm sure you didn't mean it. it's just almost as crazy as saying the cubs in the world series. you just used to saying yankee and worls series together.
RED SOZ WIN! The series is TIED, 2-2!!!w00t!
Santo hopes to broadcast
I said Yanks because they were up a game, and now I will say Sox until the story changes. I am not a fan of either, sorry.
The BOSOX have to win the next 2 to play the CUbs in the WOrld Series...
SOSA STEALS HOME PLATE!CUBS 2 MARLINS.... NOTHING!
that was so depressing.
The Marlins scored 8 runs in one inning to beat the cubs 8-3.IT'S GOT TO BE TOMORROW, CUBBIES! GET YOUR GAME ON! I STILL BELIEVE!
i mean i'm glad that the home team is winning and all, but i'm not much of a sports fan in general. i think the whole guy-grabbing-the-foul-ball thing is kinda funny. if i was there i'd probably spill a beer on him, but... it made me laugh.
he did what any fan in the stands would have done. the poor guy was scared for his life. what was even worse was the error by gonzales. That play had a far great impact on the score than fans reaching for a ball.1969 in fast forward?
1984 all over again?
The last time the cubs played a game 7, it was in 1945, at home, against the Tigers. They lost 9-3.
It's okay though, according to Back to the Future II, the Cubs will sweep Miami in 2015.
I am really scared for tonights game. Luckily I have class tonight and it will force me to not watch until 9 p.m. because I don't think I could handle watching the whole game.
WEDNESDAY, OCT 15, 2003 last updated at 7:26 a.m.HENCEFORTH, "THE SNATCH"
Just how are we supposed to get any work done today, swarmed as we are by the twin albatrosses of last night's mythical Cubs' loss and tonight's potentially spectacularly disastrous game seven?
That Marlins' 8th inning reeked of history, of pitiful stories we will tell our children's children in 2045 during the centennial commemoration of the Cubs' last World Series appearance.
...in aught three, we were cruising along, five outs away from the World Series, when a fan snatched a pop-up from Moises Alou. After that, of course, the floodgates opened and the team's spirit was crushed....
The announcers and even some of the players who were saying "don't blame the fan" for Tuesday's defeat were guessing, at best.
You never know, of course, but the way I see it, if Alou catches that pop up, then we have two outs and Alex Gonzalez doesn't rush trying to get a double play on the ground ball two batters later, fields it cleanly, and and we're out of the inning still leading 3-1.
(Speaking of which, if there's one person in all of Cubdom who's secretly grateful to the foul-snatching fan, it's gotta be Gonzalez, whose horrifying bobble is now just a footnote and not a new chapter in team history.)
And when they excuse the fan by saying, as pitcher Mark Prior did after the game, that "99 percent of the people" would have done the same thing, reaching out for a foul ball that close to the field of play, they're simply wrong.
Most fans, good fans, smart fans know to lean out of the way--scurry if possible -- when a guy from their team is running toward the seats with a bead on a foul fly.
And here's the doubly mortifying allegation from an S-T story this morning:
"In the section where the ball fell....Pat Looney, 34, of the Northwest Side said... the (grabby fan) already had a ball from earlier in the game when Alou tossed one into the stands."
If the Cubs lose game seven tonight, their fans will never forget and never forgive.
It sounds ridiculous and petty, but it's probably true that this young man will almost certainly have to leave town and start again elsewhere if he wants some semblance of a normal life.
If the Cubs win, he'll be OK, a footnote himself, just that knucklehead who kept us all on edge for an extra 24 hours.
Not for his sake but for the sake of everyone who'll otherwise spend the rest of their lives including him in their mutterings about goats, black cats and Leon Durham, I hope it all turns into a jolly anecdote:
...we thought the players would crumble under the demoralizing weight of it all, but, by golly, the next night....
Copyright © 2003, Chicago Tribune
it was crazy last night! i'm scared for that guys life. i really hope that the cubs win tonight, party so that guy (how ever dumb) doesn't have to move out of the state.
GO CUBS!YOU GOT IT!
GO CUBS!
Someone was saying today that the rumor is that the Cubs may not be able to afford to keep Lofton on the roster... has anyone else heard about this>
link
Just go to CNN's site and see for yourself.
but that's also because Corey Patterson will be back, and the Cubs want to develop him into a master center fielder. Also, I am thinking Randall Simon will be gone too, because they have Karros and Hee Sop Choi that they want to develop. A tricky call because Simon has been great for the Cubs, we'll see what Baker and what's-his-name decide to do.
ken-knee lofton is my favorite.
sox win 9 to 6. alcs goes to game seven.
BOSTON comes back to WIN 9-6 over the yanks!LET'S GO CUBS!
the marlins are going to the world series.there's always next year.
that really sucks.go redsox.
I bawled like a little kid in 1989, but really, I'm a little saddened, but reality here is that this was a wondrous season, when they weren't expected to do much more than win the NL Central and opinion of learned experts was very divided over that. What it does do is set up next year (and this is not your typical "wait till next year.") Hopefully Kerry, Mark, Matt, and Carlos keep ice on their arms until February, and next year looks fine.Lofton might stick around, just to teach Patterson the way it's done, and to play for Dusty--don't count the Dusty factor out-- but he's still got a lot of juice left, as this season proves. Simon might stay too--he's under contract--and he seems to adjust to being a bench kinda guy pretty well.
What does inspire great emotion in me is the media, specifically the worthless Chicago Sun-Times, publishing the name, home address, age, and work place of that fan. That is reckless, irresponsible, unethical, and a violation of privacy done without his consent. If I were him, I'd be screening lawyers now and out for blood.
I can't believe that this is the paper with the legacy of the Chicago Daily News, and Mike Royko, who no doubt is grinning and hoisting a Bud with Harry and Jack right now at the memorable moments this season has provided us fans. Mike would have something sharp to say too, about the media vilifying this fan.
Where are the eight or more other people who reached for that ball? All mysteriously silent, I see. "Wasn't me." "I didn't do it." He said he didn't see Alou, and he apologized for his inadvertence. Fine, leave him be in peace. By publishing his identity, the Sun-Times created a visible threat to this man's livelihood and to his life. That I cannot condone.
I don't buy the Sun-Times because it gives ad space to pornography advertisements, and now I'm adding a second reason; because it's claim to journalistic ethics is now a bunch of sophist lies.
Went out of their way tonight to publish his "apology" multiple times, as well as show all the many other fans who were grabbing for the ball too. I thought it was pretty classy how they handled it, and I'm sorry to hear that the Sun-Times couldn't be as upstanding.
the cubs losed.
Melancholy and Infinite Sadness....But, in the end, the demons that have reigned here for almost a century remain firmly in possession of the most beautiful ballpark on earth, like a glorious mausoleum atop generations of buried dreams. Perhaps two moments on this evening, both involving Wood, captured the potential for elation and the reality of ultimate Cub dejection.
In the second inning, Wood hit a two-run homer to tie the score, 3-3. Fans always cheer and clap, sometimes they scream. But when Wood connected, everywhere you looked, people jumped, danced, waved their arms and seemed to hover in midair with elation, like Snoopy on a joy jag in "Peanuts."
Four innings later, Wood shuffled off the mound after being tattooed for four singles, a double, a triple, a home run, four walks and seven earned runs. He kicked at the grass like a dispirited little boy, lost in despondent thoughts as he approached the dugout. All the dejection of 95 years of Cubness were written in his demeanor, though he has worn the luckless uniform for only six seasons.
....
"well, they had a good season and we're still young so they've got to win some point during our lifetime."
The Marlins played good ball. It's not like we were annihilated. We competed pitch for pitch, hit for hit. In the end, they just were playing better ball consistently and throughout the order.
ON MEDIA Should blame bring name? Ed ShermanOctober 16, 2003
The tale of the unfortunate fan in the Game 6 foul-ball controversy provided a case study in media ethics Wednesday.
News organizations wrestled over the news value of disclosing the fan's name and hometown. Would revealing his identity put him in danger considering the volatility of the situation?
The fan tempered some of the debate when he issued a public statement expressing his remorse late Wednesday afternoon. Even then, some media outlets still didn't immediately use his name.
The notable exception in the name game was the Sun-Times. Late Wednesday morning, the Sun-Times posted a story on its Web site revealing the fan's name, where he lived and worked, and where he grew up. Editor Michael Cooke had "no comment" for the Tribune, but he did explain his decision to Editor & Publisher.
"It is the biggest news story in town and this is Chicago," Cooke said. "We talked about it for a little while and came down on the side of publishing it. It was not 100 to 0, but the decision was made and on we go."
Even with the Sun-Times' disclosure, the majority of other news organizations still opted to do their reports without revealing the man's name and place of residence.
"If you were anywhere near the ballpark Tuesday, you know what kind of anger existed there," WMAQ-Ch. 5 general manager Larry Wert said. "We don't want to facilitate a fan misdirecting his anger at this individual."
Tom Peterson, news director for WGN-AM 720, also advocated caution.
"I don't want to be the guy to put his name out there," Peterson said.
Rich Gordon, a professor at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, said he had no problem with media outlets trying to get interviews with the fan to hear his perspective. He questioned using his name, however, "just for the sake of using his name."
"Given the risk, I'd need to have a compelling reason to name him," Gordon said. "I haven't come up with one."
Win or lose: It wasn't all-or-nothing just for the Cubs on Wednesday. Fox Sports had it all on the line too.
All is having the Cubs in the World Series. Nothing is having Florida.
Little wonder why Fox Sports executives were sweating almost as much as the fan who touched the foul ball Wednesday. While they liked having a Game 7, they would have felt more secure if they knew the Cubs would win.
The Cubs in the World Series would be the jackpot for Fox. A Cubs-Boston matchup would be a double jackpot.
The heartbreak series, with all its story lines, would be a sure thing. It would be just the remedy for baseball and Fox after last year's World Series did the lowest rating ever.
Anaheim's victory over San Francisco averaged only an 11.7 rating; 1 rating point is worth 1.084 million homes. The Cubs did better Wednesday, pulling a 12.6 rating. It was the highest ever for a league championship series game on Fox.
Game 7 figured to be even higher. That had Fox executives fantasizing about the Cubs playing Game 1 of the World Series on Saturday.
Florida as the National League champion is like getting coal in your Christmas stocking. Outside of Miami, nobody is buzzing about the Marlins. A New York-Florida series would be a dud, especially if the Yankees dominated.
Locally, executives at WFLD-Ch. 32 also were pacing. They wanted the postseason windfall to continue.
Wednesday night's game did an astounding 44.6 rating in Chicago, with 59 percent of televisions tuned to the broadcast; a local rating is more than 33,000 homes.
The rating peaked at 54 at 9:15 p.m., just as the ill-fated eighth inning began. By 9:45 p.m., and eight runs later, the rating dropped to 46.6. Apparently, some fans couldn't stand to watch anymore.
Update: Ron Santo received some good news Wednesday. A diagnostic angiogram revealed that a procedure won't be required on his heart. The Cubs broadcaster is set to undergo surgery to have tumors removed from his bladder Oct. 28.
The positive test lifted Santo's spirits after Tuesday night. After the heartbreaking defeat, he walked out to his back yard.
"I went into a state of depression," Santo said on WGN-AM 720's pregame show. "I thought about jumping into the pool so I could stay there."
Copyright © 2003, The Chicago Tribune
i know people work hardin baseball, and i know there is a lot of legend and legacy and all, but...i can't help thinking to myself 'its just a game'.
it is.but that doesn't mean it isn't important to a lot of people. however, it shouldn't be important enough to put a fan in danger because he mistakenly interfered with a play.
maybe this is just why i'm not much of a sports fan.
sox and yankees are in the 11th inning!
what a bummer. sorry phil.
it just ended a really hellish day. i'm way too tired to get worked up about it. but, damn it if i don't hate those f'n yankees! GO MARLINS! thats weird to say.
Yeah exactly Phil.GO... MARLINS?
npr - all things considered: cubs feel jinxed againI think this is the story I heard on the drive home
he described this as how his inner child felt about the yankees.
..I'm sort of glad it's over and I don't have to care anymore....except to see the (to quote phil, who expressed my own sentiment) f'n yankees LOSE!!! I can't handle one more night of staying up way past my bedtime to endure the rollercoaster rides that end with such heartbreaking results or wearing hope.
Seriously, I hope that Pudge and Cabrera and the rest of those guys kick the Yankee's butts.Interesting article about Sosa... Sosa better not go to the Yankees... can you imagine that? I mean, on the one hand, I could see why he would consider it, especially for the Championship value of it, but boy, would he be branded a traitor right quick.
I 've never put a lot of faith in Sosa. His hits are sporadic and he is far to easy to strike out (as he swings at nearly everything).
I can see the headlines now.
I think that Sosa is overrated. And statistically, he may swing at a lot of bad pitches.But just as statistically, he is still a heavy home-run hitter, and an adequate fielder. More than that though, he's a Cubs and a Chicago institution, and I think the team would really suffer a blow to lose his person, especially without someone ready-made to take his place. Especially having been this close to the series -- it would be one thing if they were in a slump.
So, my brother-in-law and I think Fox should air a series between the Red Sox and the Cubs instead of the the Yankees and the Marlins. I mean, who wants to watch the Yankees/Marlins series anyway?
good call.
Good idea!
Oh yeah... is there a championship going on or somethign?
Planning for next year...
sweet!
the cubs now have the best pitching staff in baseball!!
oh, and by the way i still hate the yankees!!!!!!!
hurry baseball season, please do hurry.
work is so slow now. i can't wait for april!!
cubbies pitching staff!
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/cs-040222bartmanball.storyGoing, going, almost gone
By Melissa Isaacson Tribune staff reporter
February 22, 2004, 9:50 PM CST
In the final months leading up to its execution, the condemned has been talked about ceaselessly, gawked at shamelessly, photographed excessively and guarded in a manner befitting royalty.
The last days of a young but illustrious life will be spent mostly in seclusion, though the final 24 hours will include a whirlwind tour of the city, a national television appearance, an overnight stay in the sumptuous suite of a luxury hotel and, yes, a final meal of steak and lobster.
The end will come in spectacular, undoubtedly pyrotechnic fashion at precisely 7:31 p.m. Thursday, before a local throng and a global gallery, many of whom will celebrate what they believe in all their hearts to be the death of a curse and the exorcism of demons that have haunted this city for decades.
If nothing else, it will be a catharsis after a long, bitter winter.
And short of that? Well, it will be a great party, as well as a formidable fundraising effort for juvenile diabetes.
"I don't believe in black magic, but I think if you give a true fan something to grab on to, he will grab on to it," said Michael Lantieri, the Oscar-winning special-effects expert entrusted to obliterate one of the most famous baseballs in history in front of Harry Caray's restaurant on Thursday night.
The otherwise undistinguished little ball has traveled a long way since Oct. 14, when it left the fingers of Cubs pitcher Mark Prior, sliced off the bat of Florida's Luis Castillo, sailed down Wrigley Field's left-field line and grazed the outstretched hands of one Steve Bartman, deflecting it from the grasp of Cubs left fielder Moises Alou in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series.
Five outs separated the Cubs, winning 3-0 at the time, from their first World Series appearance in 58 years. But they lost that game 8-3 and lost the series a night later.
The destruction of the ball, says Grant DePorter, was something he felt he had to do for Cubs fans everywhere.
"Our mission first was to control its destiny," said DePorter, a friend of Harry Caray's and managing partner of the late broadcaster's area restaurants, who purchased the ball for the princely sum of $113,824.16 on Dec. 19. "We had to get in on behalf of Cubs fans, make sure it didn't end up in a museum someplace."
Or worse.
"A guy called me and kept on calling," DePorter said. "He wasn't from Chicago, and he offered me $86,000. He said he was going to let the ball tour America and make me a full partner. He kept on saying I would make money beyond my wildest dreams, but all I could think about was this guy showing up with the ball right before the World Series and psyching the team out. I wasn't going to let him do that."
With equal parts mirth and utter seriousness, DePorter has gone about first buying, then insuring (with a $1 million policy), then protecting a 5-ounce bundle of cowhide and twine, while also sharing it with fans who have had the opportunity to view it in a display case just inside the front door of the restaurant.
It shares a compartment with Caray's famous black-framed, Coke-bottle glasses, and it has inspired a variety of reactions since taking up temporary residence in mid-December.
Often tentative, at times emotional, always curious, fans alternately have shrieked, hooted, shaken their heads and taken photographs of the infamous ball.
"This ball has taken on a whole life of its own," said Harry Caray's hostess Gayle Barton. "Of all the celebrities who have come through this door, and there have been many, this ball is the biggest celebrity yet. People have come from all over the country, and I have not heard anything negative. They just want to have their picture taken, ask questions.
"It's marvelous. It's been a lot of fun. I hate to see it go."
For security reasons, DePorter has not publicized when the ball is to be displayed and frequently has it locked in a bank vault.
"It's kind of like a President Bush appearance," he said. "You don't want to broadcast plans."
Thirteen surveillance cameras are trained on the ball inside the reinforced, tempered-glass case, with two alarms tied directly to the police station. At its peak exposure, when the ball is traveling to Wrigley Field on Wednesday, a day before its destruction, 11 armed guards will accompany it, DePorter said.
But as much as anything, the event, undertaken with the blessings of Major League Baseball and the Cubs organization and dubbed "Destroy the Ball--Find the Cure" because they hope to raise more than $1 million for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, is envisioned as an opportunity to turn a negative into a positive.
While the ball's seller, known only as "Jim the attorney," presumably has profited, Bartman has received death threats and has been vilified by Cubs fans everywhere, from the countless mocking and even hateful Internet postings to the turtleneck Halloween costumes ridiculing him two weeks after the game.
Through his attorney, Bartman, a 26-year-old suburban youth-league baseball coach, has indicated he has no plans to attend Thursday's event. But DePorter has been bound and determined to make it a day of clearing Bartman's name and responsibility for the Cubs' loss.
"I believe all of Chicago now supports this guy," he said. "We haven't called it the 'Bartman ball' in a long time, and I look at this as a pro-Bartman rally.
"Nobody knows what this guy went through. A lot of fans were reaching for that ball. No one blames him. From the beginning, I was very concerned about the guy."
Fans who viewed the ball seemed to agree.
"If he would have gone on shows and capitalized and perpetuated the thing, it would be one thing," said Deborah White, 29, of Glencoe. "We looked a little rough around the edges as a city [for blaming him]."
In addition to inspiring songs, movie scripts, more than 25,000 e-mails and donations--one man dropped off a $25,000 contribution to JDRF, asking that it be kept anonymous--literally thousands of suggestions have surfaced for destroying the ball.
One fan suggested using Caray's glasses to ignite the fire that will melt the ball, collect the ashes and have Bartman fly over Yankee Stadium and scatter the ashes, thus transferring the curse to the Yankees.
Several proposed involving NASA and depositing the ball into eternal orbit, with one e-mailer adding, "I actually know a guy in the program who can get it done."
Another fan suggested "slicing the ball into thin pieces, cover with milk, sugar and flour, bake at 350 degrees for a half-hour, then feed it to a billy goat. When it passes through the goat, the curse will be gone forever."
One fan wanted it unraveled a little at a time at a Cubs game. Several wanted it pickled in Budweiser. Others suggested it be dropped off the Sears Tower, devoured by animals at Lincoln Park Zoo or knocked into Lake Michigan by Ron Santo, whose own battle with diabetes inspired the charitable involvement.
In a symbolic gesture, a 53-year-old Cubs fan who lives on a remote island in Alaska plans to take the Ernie Banks autographed bat his father gave him and whack a baseball onto the Mendenhall Glacier on Thursday, where he predicts it "will settle in a crevasse, be crushed, pulverized and ground up slowly into powder, then fall into the lake and be carried out for burial at sea."
Meanwhile, in a secured room in Hollywood, Lantieri has been feverishly and secretively devising the method of execution. The Evanston-born, Los Angeles-bred Cubs fans won an Academy Award for his work on "Jurassic Park" and has coordinated special effects for such films as "Minority Report," "The Hulk" and "Back to the Future," so he knows his business.
Lantieri has been in consultation with DePorter and Rawlings, which supplied the exact makeup of the ball to aid the process. Lantieri acknowledges that his volunteer role has been challenging. No doubt a bit intimidating as well, as the event will be televised live by MSNBC in all 50 states and Canada. And Beth Goldberg Heller, director of special events for Harry Caray's Restaurant Group, says it probably will be picked up live by CNN and ESPN.
Thursday morning's "Today Show," anchored by Katie Couric, Lester Holt and Al Roker, also will be broadcast from NBC's Studio 5 in Chicago.
"We've talked about ideas for almost six weeks, taking Cubs fans' suggestions and mixing them together, taking what Rawlings has told me and experimenting with eight to a dozen balls a day," Lantieri said.
"Very quickly I realized that they build baseballs to absorb shock, so it became very difficult. We'd like to make an event out of it, but when it comes down to it, science is involved. We think we've finally got something."
Lantieri said a build-up of about 20 seconds will precede the destruction and that Caray's glasses probably will be involved in the initial stage.
"Two things that were most important to me," he said, "was that we have Cubs fans' input and that the ball could never be reconstructed in any way or for any reason."
Lantieri acknowledged this has become bigger than he had imagined.
"It's a great thing to be around," he said. "It's not about a hex or a curse but about revving up the team, about camaraderie and spirit. Cubs fans deserve this. They deserve to have some big fun."
And so, in this case, does the condemned, visited Friday by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who has not indicated plans to stay the execution.
In its last 24 hours, the ball's schedule calls for a trip--by armored car, of course--to Wrigley Field "just to say goodbye," DePorter said. Then it's on to the Amalfi Hotel Chicago, where a fluffed pillow, luxury suite and even a masseuse will await.
A server from Harry Caray's will present the last meal of steak, lobster and a Budweiser, all of which will be on roped-off display to the public--"kind of like Lincoln's Bedroom," DePorter said.
The end will be bittersweet, an inanimate object having taken on a personality of its own.
"But it's also time for all of us to move on," DePorter said. "Cubs tickets go on sale the next day. It's time to turn a bad symbol into something good."
Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune
so, jen and i both stood in line (differant times) for around an hour weds and thursday to get a cubs wristband. this morning at 6 am they gave out the number that would randomly be #1 and well jen and i were only 6000 away from that number. SUCK!!!!! now it's 7am and i can't fall back to sleep and it's not looking good for getting tickets other that scalpers/brokers this year. damn.
I have scored tickets for 2 games, Thursday May 20 against the Giants, and August 14 against the L.A. Pigs (sorry there's a hatred in my family for the Dodgers) and now I shall try for more, the Virtual Waiting Room Awaits!
i was at work all day today. i'm just now trying online!!!!
SO, I GOT THREE GAMES SO, FAR! not bad for getting a late start.
i wasted my opportunity to see them at interleague play in Baltimore last year. Now the closest the cubs play to DC is philly, so maybe a pilgramage to the friendly confines is in order.
Pittsburgh really isn't that far, and PNC Park, in my opinion, is the best park opened in the last 15 years.Pirates tickets are more than the Cubs but worth it . .
Damn, those must be pricey, I was a little shocked to pay $26 for Terrace Reserve seats, damn Prime seating dates. Although I did get tickets for the cheap game on May 20 against the Giants, woo hoo Uper Deck Box on the first base side of home plate, 3rd row, those are gonna rock!I think Upper Deck box are my favorite seats, you can see everything perfectly. I suppose I should do some work now...
there are no home games left with 2 seats together. I was thinking maybe there would be a weekday game or two left, but not with the season they had last year, at least I've got 2 games, and plenty of friends with season tickets, oh yeah baby!
Isaak, that is. PNC is pricey--some of the highest in the majors. That's because the city is still technically paying for three staduims (imploded Three Rivers, may the Toilet Bowl rest in peace, and the new Heinz Field, and PNC Park).I still think it's worth it to sit there, watch the city skyline above the rivers, and watch some good baseball. Of course this depends on who's playing the Pirates . . .
Now that would totally mar the entire sport, it seems like a majority of the big hitters for the past few years have all had some type of enhancing drug scandal, what has baseball come down to?
Money? HR Chase=Attendance=Ticket Sales=Money=Contract Raises=HR's
Patterson is back in the game (homering his first ST at bat).Sosa is looking for a comeback after the corked bat incident and lost numbers do to his hurt toe.
We got a new lefty from Atlanta, and he lead the International League in Strike Outs last year.
Prior is scaring me a little with the swollen achilles, bu tI think he will rebound.
Meanwhile Wood is looking great, and has a homer for the spring, I love a pitching staff that can hit too.
There's so much more to talk about, so I don't want to ruin it all at once, but the season is approaching and I am more excited than ever for a baseball season. I haven't been this excited for a Cubs season since I was 10.
My family and I are traveling to the UP this year for family togetherness time at Covenant Point (including the MN branch of the fam), and so quite logically we're going through Chicago.... So, I'm standing in my parent's kitchen and my mom says, "there's a Cubs home game on July 22nd, wouldn't it be nice to go." (I had just mentioned how excited I was about the pitching staff so it wasn't completely out of nowhere.) I started laughing and told her that there tickets wouldn't be available, but she's convinced that she can still find four tickets together for a decent price. I love my mom!
for the white sox!!!
Is your mother willing to shell out somewhere around $1K to a ticket broker?Even all the Cubs series tickets in Milwaukee are sold out. I've had better luck getting tickets to Cubs games...in Pittsburgh.
Good luck, Ma Chris***son!
home opener today, i'm gonna get my botty kicked today.
that if you check for some games now on the internet you can find pairs of seats here and there because all of the tickets are getting processed and with credit cards getting denied and such there are more tickets available, if only I had more money...
Today's Chicago Tribune, for the latest on tickets.
I saw an ad for this in the back of Harper's and thought of the NPRBL crew. Elysian Fields Quarterly - The Baseball Review. It's a literary baseball magazine (who knew) and here's the blurb from their website:
Welcome to EFQ, the literary baseball journal that is short on hype and long on content. Intelligent, quirky, iconoclastic, funny, and opinionated . that's us! If you love baseball and its timeless beauty, you'll love EFQ. Every issue features 96 pages of great writing on baseball from rookies and established veterans. Anything having to do with baseball is fair game. Best of all, our print doesn't come off in your hands! When you're done with an issue, it goes on your bookshelf, not in the trash.It don't know if it's any good, but I thought some of you (gunch) would enjoy it.
I'll give it a look before I raid Dahlin's players' biography library.
what a great series agains the reds! i wen to two out of the four games! they were great and won the two i was at. go cubbies!!!
the red sox won three out of the four games against the yankees this weekend!!!
Now I love the Cubs more than any other franchise in the MLB, and I love the moves they did for the team within the past three years.... but all I see is a great shot at the wildcard spot. They have been playing great, but so has everyone else in the NL central. It'll be great to watch Lee's bat get into gear (earlier today was a great pressure example) and Alou and Ramirez are having MVP outings, but the central division is insane this year. I just don't know........ Hey, what about Florida getting shanked by Atlanta after thier scoreless run with Montreal? I love it.
sweep!!!!
look for us on wgn today. pedro, freakinfreak, jen and i will be sitting somewhere behind home plate. andronicus is going to be there, as well as loser.
The title says it all.
Johnny Damon
I love Johnny Damon.
hit the plays of the games on the right side for baseball highlights. check out the red sox, cubs, and twins wins!!!!!!!
i'm in section 131 row 15!
But we got the tickets for Friday. Mark Prior!!!
i want to go sooo bad. i can't wait for pior to school the pirats after last weekend in pitt. hey you should come into goose i'll be working before the game!
have to meet some friends for the ole give them their tickets dance first. One of these days I'll get back to the Goose...I was at Pittsburgh last Sunday for the final game. Lots of bad blood between the Cubs and the Bucs, 'tho the Cubs have a point. The Pirates don't make much of an effort to avoid being hit...
todays game was one of the best i've seen this year next to the one greg and ben and i were at against the reds. wow, i still can't believe it! what a game!!!!!!!
they lost. boo!
but, i meet ryan sandburg today. yaaa!
but I skipped work and went to the game yesterday, and the tenth inning walk-off homer by Sosa that went like 410 feet onto Waveland Ave. was AMAZING!
where were you sitting?
down the third base line right behind the bullpen 9 rows up field box, they were nice seats, and we bought them day of for $40 each, which is $4 under ticket window face.
what section. thats where i was sitting!!!!!
Overheard yesterday on WGN-TV's telecast of the disspointing cubs brewer's game after returning from a commercial (paraphrased):<<Swedish Covenant Hospital logo appears on the screen>>
Steve Stone: Well, tomorrow at Wrigley its Swedish Covent Hospital day. Come to Wrigley and recieve great prizes from Swedish Covenant!
Chip Carey: <<not sounding genuine>> Well, won't that be fun...
Steve Stone: As many of you know, Swedish Covenant.. a great Hospital, with great suprises for cubs fans.
Chip Carey: <<borderline sarcastic>> oh yes... GREAT hospital.. great suprises.
Steve Stone: Not that you'd want suprizes if you had to go there...
Cchip Carey: <<100% GENUINE>> you can say that again.
dude I totally didn't see that you posted again in this entree, I wasn't ignoring you. We wre like section 205 or something, it was pretty far down the line, but the view was nice.
I had them playing the spoiler for the Cardinals in September. Now with Spivey, the sparkplug, out for the year with shoulder surgery...My Fantasy Team, Bob Hope's Arm Candy, has lost two good 2nd Basemen. First Todd Walker dumbasses his way into a Platooning Situation with Grudzelalphabet and now Spiver has season ending surgery.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
btr
Dave
i'm not sure what harder to believe. nomar is a cub or that he doesn't play for bostonanymore
I see the Cards snagged Larry Walker. Arguably Canada's best ever baseball player, Larry fine tuned his swing by clubbing beavers and baby seals in British Columbia during the offseason.Going down the list of great Canadian baseball players is like running the list of NBA stars that don't smoke weed...daily.
btr
Dave
i am sooo tired of sosa it's not even funny. this season he has gone from bad to worse fast. he's stricking out, missing catches.
Last 7 Days
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG
6_23_3_4_1__0__2__5___0__0__2__7_.174_.269_.478
the best thing he's done this year is sneezing and pulling a muscle in his back. ya right he's not on the roids. i've sneezed a few times but, never injured myself from it. i thinking of dropping a big can of peper in the dugout maybe sammy will be out for the rest of the season! i want todd hollandsworth back!
sammy went 0 for 4 with two more stike outs!!!!!!
i ment strike outs, i'm not sure what a stick out is but, i'm sure sammy's good at those too!