Ugly, On the Field and On the Stadium

I’m all for the organization taking pride in both its history and its current line up, as well as it’s devoted fans.  However, this is simply a good idea, terribly executed.  Have a look at the new additions to Wrigley for Opening Day.  Happy to say, they won’t be staying: check it out.

Go Cubs Go!

 

$900 million Doesn’t Go Very Far These Days

Tribune Co. and the Ricketts family have allegedly reached an agreement on terms that would allow the Tribune Co. to sell the Cubs, Wrigley Field and a 25% share of ComCast SportsNet Chicago to the Ricketts.  This of course pending approval by MLB and a court of law considering Tribune has filed for Chapter 11.  

$900 million doesn’t go very far these days if all you can get are the Cubs, Wrigley and a share of SportsNet.  I’m kidding of course.  I just can’t imagine having access to that much money.  My girlfriend bought a new car a week ago committing to $20,000 over the next 6 years and she was like, OMG, I can’t believe I just committed to $20,000 over the next 6 years.  

This cat Ricketts just committed to paying around $900 million dollars for an unbelievable prize he won in an auction bid.  This guy makes following a $10 Cubs tee shirt on Ebay seem like a joke.  Remember those old Mastercard commercials that always ended in something being ‘priceless’?  The amount of Cubs lore and history the Ricketts will own, the events that have happened inside the walls of Wrigley are priceless…but apparently the same can’t be said for the actual physical being that the Cubs and Wrigley are.  If you ever catch yourself saying that Wrigley is priceless, stop and rephrase because it definitely has a price….about $900 million.  

This also goes to show though what a business this is to guys like Ricketts.  The total disconnect between owners and fans and the reality in which both live in.  No wonder some of the more expensive seats are empty around baseball.  They are meant to sit people like you and I, only they’re owned by guys like Ricketts.  Ricketts could throw away once worn pants with the amount of money it would cost for you and I to buy a field level CBOE seat for one game.  He and the rest of the baseball owners, I feel, will never get what it takes for baseball fans to attend a game themselves, let alone bring their family.  This is all of course, just a guess.  I don’t know Ricketts personally.  Maybe he’ll be different.  Maybe he’ll get it.  Maybe it won’t all just be about the money.  We’ll see.  What I do know is this.  My girlfriend committed to a $20,000 and is all about watching her pennies and budget in this economy.  You think a guy who just dropped $900 million on a purchase isn’t going to be thinking business first in a ‘how on Earth am I going to be able to make these payments’ kind of way? I’d be surprised if he wasn’t.  New ownership is coming.  A new day is on it’s way.  The future may hold the ultimate prize for the Cubs someday, sure.  But it’s the unknown of what we get with this rich cat Ricketts that worries me more.  $900 million, huh?  Time to go turn my change in at TD Northbank.  I’m thinking of splurging on lunch.

Cubs/Braves tonight from Ricketts Field, er, Wrigley Field.  Let’s keep the W flag flying high!  Go Cubs Go!

Listen tonight as I guest on the United Cardinals Bloggers Radio Hour

I’m going in.

Cardinals/Cubs series this weekend Thursday-Sunday at Wrigley.  The Cubs will have home-field on their side…I won’t be so lucky come this evening.

If you get a chance tonight, listen in to the United Cardinals Bloggers Radio Hour (link here) and hear me guest as we chat about all things baseball, including this weekend’s Cubs/Cards series.  Not so sure that there will be any other Cub fans included as guests so Cubs fans should feel free to call in and back me up!  (Actually, the guys mentioned that they’d keep it civil…but you never know when it comes to this rivalry!  I’m definitely looking forward to it so if you get a chance, dial it up on-line.  Also on tonight as a guest is fellow MLBLogger Redbird Chatter.  Should be a great time and an even better series this weekend!

Had a chance to watch today’s game on-line and man…does it hurt to get beat by Marquis!  Losing at Wrigley is always a horrible feeling…but having a cast-off and lay down the beating?  Not cool.  And Marquis and his stuff?  Please.  That was pathetic.

Opening Day on the other hand was awesome.  Cubs have opened the first week of the season up strong going 5-3, currently in second place behind the Cardinals.  Lilly was amazing through seven delivering the goods no one is to speak of until it’s over (you know what I’m saying) and it’s great to see him come out strong.  Not concerned at all about Zambrano, can’t wait to see him this weekend.  I feel bad for teams who don’t have that ace that makes you believe every five starts you are going to win.  Great fun in having that with Zambrano…wish I could make the Apr 21 game against the Reds to get the Zambrano no-hitter statue.  That thing is pretty cool and a great symbol of an amazing pitching performance.  Love Dempster and expect great things from him this year.  Harden got roughed up today but again, it’s early, not concerned.

Soriano is having one of his best Aprils so far ever, especially in the past few seasons and Fukudome seems to be in his April zone like last year.  With Bradley injured with a bum groin (surprise) it’s going to be important he performs like he’s capable of.  I love the balance in the lineup Bradley brings, but this injury is a great opportunity to see Reed play a whole lot more. Nothing wrong with that.

Hopefully Soto comes around.  Sore shoulders and catchers?  Not a good mix.  If Soto is healthy I don’t foresee a sophomore slump so hopefully his body holds it together.  Same with Ramirez and Gregg actually.  Injuries could be a huge problem for this team this year, something that could ruin plans we’d all love to make come October.  Ramirez’s bat and glove don’t have the back up Gregg does.  Marmol can step up and close I feel without a real problem…backing up Ramirez?  That’s much tougher.  Miles at 2B and Fontenot at 3B isn’t exactly the ideal.

Lee on the other hand.  Aside from today’s solo shot, it’s been a slow start and really the only weak link in the healthy part of the Cubs lineup right now.  I’m kind of hard on Lee because I expect a lot from him.  He needs to step it up and be his a Cardinal killer this weekend.  Any time we get the Cards at Wrigley, we have to take advantage of it.  Playing in St. Louis is never easy…need to get these four games this weekend while we’re inside the Friendly Confines.

We’ll see how friendly the podcast/radio hour confines are this evening.  Can’t wait to talk Cubs baseball with hard-core baseball fans.  Again, call in if you get a chance and say hey.  Come back soon for a new post recapping the experience!

Go Cubs Go!

Signs of Things to Come, But In More Ways Than One?

So yes, obviously, pun intended.  Every year the Cubs gear up an ad campaign to get the fans excited about the team and the upcoming season.  This year, it’s based around the world famous Wrigley Field marquee.  The images below are of the ads and tag lines they’ve come up with this year.  Personally, I only like the winter and heaven’s ballpark ones.  How do you guys feel about them?  Anyone else see them as subtle reminders that new ownership means VERY LIKELYchanges to the stadium’s name and marquee?  That was the first thing I thought of when I saw them.

Love that last one.

Joined a Cubs meet up group today to share the joys and heart aches of 2009 with other Cubs fans in New York City.  I’ll keep you posted on that experience throughout the entire season.  If it’s any where near as much fun as sharing the season with everyone associated with MLBlogs and the loyal readers of Prose and Ivy, I’m sure it will be a blast!  GO CUBS GO!

Made Me Think

This video sparked the stream of conciousness that follows.  Please watch before reading.

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/player.swf?mediaId=3610493

Historically, aside from all the wins and losses and eliminations and playoffs and naming of a World Series champion this year…going forward the record books and baseball landscape are going to look a bit different as they are about to lose two of their East coast mainstays, Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium.  One with simply a new building and one with not only a new building but a new name.  Depending on how things go this weekend, as of end of day Sunday, Shea Stadium will cease to exist as the home of the New York Mets.  As a kid who grew up on the East Coast, this is where I’ve seen most of the baseball games I’ve gone to.  When I went to the game the other night I couldn’t help but feel sad that this place was no longer going to exist.  You could tell fans around the ballpark were already thinking about the fact that Shea would no longer be around too. Hard not to with fans taking pictures for their own favorite memory spots inside and outside of the stadium, as well as the organization’s countdown to the final home game.  

There’s a certain vibe that can be felt in a ballpark. Some don’t exactly share the same amount of history as others do.  Either they haven’t been around as long or haven’t had the same amount of successful, memorable seasons as other teams have had in their ballparks.  Wrigley and Fenway will now be the last two remaining stadiums from the OLD days.  They are classics…historical landmarks in the fabric of the baseball society.  With every new cookie-cutter stadium that is built and named after some stupid cell phone company or bank, the closer we get to losing a large part of what has made baseball what it is today.  The venues that the game has been played in.  Think about it.  Some of you may have moved with your family at some time in your life.  Left the house that you grew up in.  Left the only home you and your family have ever known.  It’s a sad thing to go through.  I know because I’ve fought my family on them doing so for a long time now.  I’m sure eventually it would be best for my parents to move out of the house that is now a little too big for them and its been a little selfish on my part to request that they stay.  People say, “What’s the big deal?  It’s just a house.  You’ll still be family no matter where your parents live and regardless of whether you’ll be able to go back to the only home you’ve ever known or not, it’s about where your family is that makes a house a home, not the actual house itself”.  That may be true, but then why does it matter so much to so many that nothing does change and that you’re able to keep the same house forever?  It’s because that’s where all your history lives and breathes.  And as baseball fans, our fellow fans become our baseball family and our stadiums our baseball family’s home.  

Root for a team long enough and you don’t even need to know the people around you at the ball game.  Just the simple fact that you wear the same team colors and have laughed and cried at the same history of the team together is all that matters.  When it comes to being a baseball fan, that’s what matters.  The memories.  And the memories will always be there.  It just doesn’t feel the same though when you think about the fact that the tangible place in which those memories took place will be gone forever.  And for baseball fans that have had to go through this around the country, it’s a very sad thing.  Shea Stadium, Yankee Stadium and every other ballpark that has been shut down over the years because it was simply to old and out of date to invest in and carry on, had fans that went through the same thing New York Yankees and New York Mets fans are going through now.  The memories live on but the tangible home of those memories soon to be lost forever.  That is a sad thing.  One of the biggest necessary evils of the game I suppose.  Let’s just hope Wrigley Field is never added to the list and that Cubs fans never have to experience this kind of loss.

The Cubs have the best record in the National League, are playing well, have already had a magical regular season and starting next Wednesday, start their postseason quest of becoming World Series Champions for the first time in 100 years.  Given all of that, even I’m surprised I was able to post a blog that feels like a giant downer.  Fact is, some losses hurt more than others…and while any kind of series loss would be painful for Cubs fans, after watching the video included above about the fire sale of memorabilia at Shea, the thought of the loss of Wrigley entered my mind and I couldn’t help but think that in this ‘anything is possible’ world of ours…no matter how much history the stadium has and how much love for the place fans have for it, Wrigley could eventually also go away.  And to not bring a World Series championship to Wrigley before that does happen…well, that just wouldn’t be right.  It’s been nearly 100 years since the last time the Cubs won it all.  With all that Wrigley means to the Cubs and its fans, and how much it is a part of the team and the club’s identity and history, I think its waited long enough to share in a championship season. It’s time Wrigley has a stadium full of Cubs players and Cubs fans cheering inside it after the final out of the World Series is recorded and the Cubs are World Champions once again…before something awful/corporate happens and that experience is no longer a possibility.

Less than a week until the first game of the NLDS at Wrigley.  Sunday night we’ll know who we’re playing.  And it can’t get here soon enough.  GO CUBS GO!!!

‘Z’ Day is Finally Here!

OPENING DAY AT WRIGLEY!  FINALLY!
About two hours from now the Chicago Cubs will start their quest of winning the Major League Baseball championship for 2008.  After following every move the team made all offseason closely and watching every Spring Training game available, I couldn’t be more excited, or more ready.  I think Lou has the team ready to go mentally and physically and I think they’ve made all the right decisions with the roster.  Last year’s battle with the Milwaukee Brewers will probably closely resemble this year’s outcome only I believe the Cubs will win the division by five games over the Brewers this time.  Nothing of course makes this more likely then beating them head to head and today is our first shot at ’em for ’08.

Wrigley is going to be rocking, I just know it.  I can’t wait to hear what people think of the adjustments made to the field and the stadium.  I can’t wait to hear what the players think of it.  I can’t wait to hear the right field bleacher fans’ reaction to Fukudome the first time he takes his place in the outfield wearing number 1, ready to go.  I can’t wait to see if bats that were heating up at the end of Spring continue to do so in the frigid Chicago weather.  I can’t wait to see Zambrano take the mound completely pumped to take the first game in the battle of the Cubs/Brewers and ready to win his first Opening Day.  I can’t wait to see if John Kruk is right about D Lee and that he’s going to be in NL MVP form this year out of the gate and throughout the season.  I can’t wait to see the first ‘W’ flag of the season raised above the scoreboard.  I can’t wait to watch the final out of a game and then see it actually count in the standings.  And I can’t wait to understand how this new blogging format works so I can fully communicate/take advantage of all its functions in enjoying this season with you.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way about an Opening Day before and I’m not sure what exactly is making this one so different.  I’m definitely glad the wait is over though!

Let’s Play Ball…GO CUBS GO!