The Cubbies...

It is no secret that I am a Cubs fan. Yes, one of those fans that thinks every year that this will be the year. Every year I get so excited for opening day. Every year I love heading to Wrigley to catch a few games. Every year I love trying to catch the Cubs on the road at a ballpark I've never been too. Every year I wear my Cubs jersey with pride.

But this year has been horrid! Seriously, what is going on??!?!?

I was not happy when Andres Blanco was traded about a month ago. I still haven't figured out that trade. He was freaking awesome on defense and decent on offense. That is more than I can say for a lot of the current players. He did a lot of good things for the team last year, so why trade him? (Other than for cash consideration, although with Wrigley having the highest ticket prices and capacity crowds at almost every game, you would think they would be doing okay on cash flow...)

And talk about the players. I mean, our infield is pretty set, but we have some really new outfielders and a couple of new pitchers. I need to read up on them...

I was not happy with Zambrano moving to the pen. What?!?! I about fell out of my chair when I heard that. Again, what?!?! I had to double-check at least five websites to make sure I was reading it correctly. My gut is saying that this is not going to be a good thing. Going from pitching on Opening Day to the pen in less than three weeks has got to kill any confidence he has left. At the same time, I am hoping maybe he gets a good kick in the butt and takes his pitching up a notch. Either way, I miss him on the mound as a starter. He is, admittedly, my favorite player. His is the jersey I wear proudly. People often ask my why I like him. I think it is because he is a lot like me. I am definitely passionate about my work (for better or worse) and he is the same way. You have to love that about him even on a bad day. I am anxious to see how this all works out...

Then, the record. What is going on this month? The Cubs always do horrible in April. Every year I repeat to Todd and our Cubbie friends that the Cubs will suck in April, play only decent in May, and when it warms up in June and July, they start to play like a real team. Seriously, this is the trend...every year. I think people think I am crazy, but it always happens. Maybe it is because of all the Latin players on the team. They are not used to the cold. I should do some statistics on this to prove my point some day...

My biggest frustration is Marmol. I have been saying since last year that he should not be the closer. Yes, when he is on, he is on fire. No questions asked. But, when he is off, he is way off. In my opinion, the Cubs need a consistent closer. Marmol does not fit that role. He does much better as middle relief. I think he doesn't feel as much pressure and performs better. Whatever the case, we definitely need someone else to close...

Alas, no matter my disgusts, I am still working planning my first trip to Wrigley at some point this spring. I mean, it is baseball, my favorite sport. And it is Wrigley, my favorite field. And, well, the Cubbies will always have my heart - win or lose, for better or worse, and in sickness or health (hopefully health as there was way too much DL action last year). *Sigh*

Baseball Contracts

I was listening to the Cubs game on the radio the other night and heard a question someone emailed in to Ron and Pat. The question was directed to Ron and went something along the lines of questioning if the players in past years (specifically the 1960's and early 1970's when Ron played) where better conditioned than current day players as they spent less time on the disabled list and played in more games. Ron's response was interesting. He said that the baseball contracts back then were one year deals. So, even if you were injured you had to be out there playing day after day so no one could come up and take you job. In today's world of guaranteed and multi-year contracts, it is not as big of a deal. Players can go on and off the DL as needed without worrying about their playing status the rest of the season and next year.

It was a really good question. I find sports contracts like this interesting. It's almost like we baby the players of today. They get more conditioning, better medical care, and yet they play less often then players in the past who probably didn't even get free aspirin. Whatever happened to no pain, no gain or there's no crying in baseball. I understand if you can't play due to a broken foot (Johnson - foul ball off foot), but some other injuries like a left calf strain (Blanco - not considered a serious injury) put someone on the DL for 15 days. That's like me calling in sick for soreness in my left hand - can't type work related emails for the next 15 days. Don't I wish. I understand the need to be cautious, but it sometimes seems to go too far. We need more players that keep playing through the pain and manage their injuries and pain (Lee - bulging disk in neck). Just sayin'!

The Cell = The Worst

US Cellular Field is the worst baseball stadium I have ever been to. Period. Each year we try to see a new stadium or two. We have seen most of the ones in the Midwest and a few East Coast stadiums, too. Out of all he ones I have been to, The Cell is the worst by far. I am glad we went to check it off our list and to never go back!

We decided to catch the Cubs at the White Sox, so at least we could see a game we would like. That was probably a bad idea in hindsight, but who knew at the time! Not me! I don't know the Southside very well, but there is nothing there. We tried to park, but had to use White Sox parking. They had us going around in cirlces through neighborhoods to a community college parking lot. We had no clue where we were, so had to follow the crowd to the stadium. Since there is nothing there, people just tailgaited at their cars. I seriously felt like I was at a football game and not a baseball game.

We finlly got to the stadium about an hour or so before game time hoping to get tickets. There were none because the police don't allow scalping around the stadium. Interesting since the same Chicago police department allows it on the Northside. We searched high and low, even coming up with a plan to catch one of the museums to make our trip worthwhile. We finally found someone who sold us the worst seats ever in the upper deck. But, at least he admitted before we bought them they would be crappy. Kudos for the honestly, but these seats were horrible. Upper deck near the top and also near the tunnel to the concessions. So, we never really saw the game since we were so high off the field and had a stream of people walking in front of us. I got hit in the head with peanut shells, had beer spilled all around me, and saw the police escort many people out for fighting in the stands. Literally throwing punches fighting. Oh, I felt bad for the guy next to us who brought his kid. Not only could they not see the game, but the people behind us were using inappropriate language the whole game. He finally left about half-way through. I probably would have, too. Actually, we did leave a few innings early. The Cubs played horrible the entire game and lost.

The thing I hate most about the stadium is all the advertising. Every place they could put a sign, sponsor, or flashing light, they did. You would never see this at Wrigley. You just watch and enjoy the game, not all the crazy advertising. Also, they played music all the time. Before every batter, between innings, during pitching changes. People we up doing the YMCA and dancing to other songs. Horrible. It is a baseball game, not a drunken party people!

I can promise, I will never be back to US Cellular Field again.

I'll take the ivy at Wrigley anyday for a REAL baseball game!

To Chicago via Iowa

This past weekend we went to Chicago for the day via a trip to Iowa. We left Friday night right after work to start the 6 hour drive. It was pretty uneventful until the last 45 miles. We drove through some serious thunderstorms. Not only was the rain so heavy it was hard to see, every lightening strike would illuminate the clouds. I looked like a tornado might drop down at any time, but we kept driving (of course) and finally got there around 11:30pm.

I was up around 6:15am the next morning to run the Bix 7. The Bix is 7-mile race in the Quad Cities during an annual jazz festival honoring musician Bix Beiderbecke. It is a fun race and I have done it for four years now, but I forgot how hilly the course was! Just over 15,000 people ran the race this year and while the weather was slightly cooler than normal this year, the course was still tough! But, I finished (after getting a cramp with only 0.25 miles left - ugh!) in 1:02:57. My time was a little slower than I hoped, but compared to my race times over the last several years, this time was great. After that, we spent the day by the pool and ate smoked ribs for dinner.

Sunday morning we were up early again to head into Chicago. Todd has been wanting to take his niece and nephews into Chicago, so we decided on a game at Wrigley! Todd had on some old sandals as we left and forgot his shoes to walk around in. So, we stopped to get shoes in Wrigleyville at 10:00am on Sunday morning. After that we parked and got tickets for the game. It was very important to get the tickets as we knew it would be hard to get 5 together and also because our nephew Max was concerned about going to the game without tickets. We promised him we had been many times and gotten tickets outside of the stadium, but we definitely needed tickets in hand to make everyone happy! We grabbed lunch, bought Sharpe #1 for possible autographs, lost Sharpe #1, and made it to our seats. Thankfully the Cubs won, so the kids got to sing the Go, Cubs, Go! song. I think they enjoyed the game and we definitely kept the cotton candy guy busy. After the game, we saw the bucket drummers, bought Sharpe #2, got Ben some Cubs baseball cards, and waited for Cubs players to get some autographs.

We waited near where the players park their cars. It is kind of crappy because they all leave and never sign anything. They should at least sign for a few kids. It only costs them a few minutes of time to gain fans for a lifetime. We waited and watched Lee, Dempster, Fontenot, Soriano, and other players leave. Rich Harden, the winning pitcher came out and was talking to others inside the gated parking lot. Finally, after about 10 minutes, he came over and started signing autographs for people. It was awesome of him and all the kids were excited. We were trying to get in for our autographs. Todd held Ben on his shoulders so he could reach over the top of other people to hand in his Harden baseball card for a signature. Max climbed up the side of the fence and hung over the game program open to the page on Harden. Both got signatures (of course, we didn't need the Sharpes #1 and #2 as he used the same pen for everyone).

After that, we headed downtown for a quick tour of tall buildings, a stop an Millennium Park, and some Chicago-style pizza. We didn't get home until late, but had a lot of fun! Next time we'll hit a few other attractions. I think all the kids are ready for the aquarium.

There's always next year!

My mantra again this season is that there is always next year. The Cubs blew it again in the post season and my two theories of why the Cubs always fail held true:

1. The Cubs are a fair weather team - they don't play well in the cold. This is why they are no good in April or October.
2. The Cubs are no good under pressure. Zambrano (my favorite player, whose jersey I own) threw a no-hitter against Huston on a random night at a game played on neutral turf in Milwaukee, but he got lit-up in his post season start.

I was really, really hoping for something better. Can you imagine the storyline of the Cubs going to the World Series after a 100 year drought?!? I think even the in sports media is upset. They are still talking about the Cubs collapse on ESPN today!

But, I probably even more sad that the general 2008 baseball season is over me. No more planning evenings and weekends around the start of a Cubs game or eating out a Yogi's or Scotty's to catch the games on the stations we don't get at home. I also have no quick distraction from work to check on day game scores. And, I am bummed one of the guys at work I always give a hard time is from the LA area and a huge Dodgers fan. I heard it from him this week!

So, here's to next year. Maybe we can have a dream season in my lifetime. If not, I'll still pull out my Cubs jersey for Opening Day each year.