What’s back?
This——>
I’ll save everyone my usual Cubs fan blather and just say that I am stoked baseball’s soon to be back in season.
Archive for the ‘Cubs’ Category
If Joe Buck calls this I’m gonna flip my shit.
I doubt this will be on the video montage next to the arch.
Is it possible to top a year like 2008? We’ve encountered everything from scandal to accidental celebrity deaths. History was made in politics with the presidential election as well as in the NFL with the league’s first ever 0-16 team. Although the recession hit hard, the entertainment industry made a few strides with superhero movies like Iron Man and The Dark Knight. Here’s a recap of what 2009 is up against.
Government officials and celebrities showed their true colors throughout the year. The true criminals and scumbags captured the headlines. Before the Rod Blagojevich controversy, there was Eliot Spitzer and his prostitute (she then made a singing debut out of the exposure). Really though, who cares about “Client #9” and Ashley Alexandra Dupré? Apparently Time believes that was the number one scandal of the year and there was no mention of our governor within the top ten.
O.J. Simpson is finally getting the jail sentence many believe he deserved years ago. I guess what happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas.
The good side of politics came with our new president-elect, Barack Obama. It shows that our nation has finally progressed past racial barriers, and it’s about time.
On a sad note, death was prevalent for the famous in ‘08. The most shocking death of the year came early with Heath Ledger. An accidental drug overdose took the life of an actor that redefined the role of the infamous Joker in The Dark Knight.
Here’s a short list of other celebrities no longer with us: Bettie Page, Isaac Hayes, Bernie Mac, Michael Crichton, Charlton Heston, and George Carlin.
History was made within the National Football League. The Patriots were near perfection at the beginning of the year, but the choked in the only game that mattered. At least we can rely on the Detroit Lions to pick us up and set the bar with an NFL record of zero wins and sixteen losses. We may never again see this feat.
Michael Phelps came in a distant second to Detroit with history-making performances. So he won 8 gold medals against the best of the best swimmers in the Olympics. The suit did all of the work anyway. I’m totally kidding, that was the single most impressive athletic accomplishment of the year. The next best athletic achievements came from Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.
The Cubs blew it again…I guess that’s old news though.
Television was entertaining this year. The Office, How I Met Your Mother, and House are still three of the best shows on television. If you haven’t seen Steve Carell’s character Michael Scott on The Office, you’re missing out. Heroes took a fall this past season, but still a decent show if you’re a fan of superpowers and unrealistic twists. No matter how tacky It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (with Danny DeVito) is, I can’t get enough of it. Finally, The Shield ended their reign this past year, and not a minute too soon. I enjoyed the show for a few seasons, but it was time to put that dog to rest.
The most important subject to mention of the entire year is the music. Some bands hit, like TV on the Radio and Coldplay, and one totally missed, Guns n’ Roses. Chinese Democracy started in the mid ‘90’s and should’ve stayed there. Go away Axl, you creepy, creepy looking man…thing. Coldplay is always golden in every aspect of their career. I’m looking to the start of 2009 with Tonight: Franz Ferdinand. A brilliant album I’m still listening to is from The Killers, Day & Age.
There were so many other stories out there, but everything is debatable and some of the stories are too depressing to think about. The one thing that did happen on the LAST day of 2008 was the arrest of Charles Barkley on a DUI suspicion, awesome (apparently a handgun and prostitute are involved, as well). We started 2009 with the Winter Classic between the Red Wings and Blackhawks at Wrigley Field. Nice transition from the old to the New Year. Kudos to you professional sports! Happy New Year, let’s hope for the same excitement this time around.
Dec
8
2008
8
2008
Cubs raise ticket prices, tell fans, “Chill the fuck out! We’ll get it done THIS century.”
posted by Charlie at 2:31 pm.
As a Cubs (and Illini) fan, there is very little that can be done, short of involving hot wax and ball gags, to cause me any pain. We’ve been through it all before. But, in true Cubs fashion, they’ve done and gone and fucked us once again. Cubs chairman Crane Kenney recently announced that the Cubs would be raising ticket prices for the 2009 season.
Now, if that doesn’t seem all that bad, let me put it into perspective for you.
A team that hasn’t won a World Series in one hundred (100) years, a team that hasn’t one a post-season game since 2003, a team that has sold out every single game of the last several (and most) seasons, a team that had 20,000 + fans migrate two hours north for “neutral site” games against the Astros, a team that comes from one of the largest media markets in the country, with arguably the largest nationwide fan base after the Yankees and (recently) the Red Sox–this team–decided they weren’t getting enough from the fans, so fuck it, we’re raising ticket prices.
The Tribune Company, soon to be Cuban Enterprises (please God, do me this one fucking favor), will be doing away with the “Value, Regular” and,” Prime” denominations for tickets, replacing them with “Bronze, Silver, Gold” and, “Platinum.” (Someone should tell Michael Phelps to get off his lazy ass and win 8 “Platinum” medals). In essence, 33% of ticket prices will remain the same, and the good seats for the good games go way up. For example, if me, pops, and bro wanted to go to see the Cubs clinch their third straight division title against the Cards in September (please God, do me this one fucking favor), a few hours of sitting on three feet of beer-soaked, green aluminum bleacher will cost us (and by us, I mean pops) $180.
No sports fan should be so naive as to forget that sports are a business, and in order to keep the doors open and the jerseys on the shelves, teams need money. Cubs fans get it. We’re smart. We’re from the North Side, remember? But don’t toss Kerry Wood into the shark tank of free agency because you can’t afford him, and then ratchet up ticket prices.
Cubs fans will put up with a lot. That much has been proven time and time and time and time and time and time again. But don’t start ripping us off. Cubs fans are as loyal as can possibly be. We expect some of that loyalty to come back to us.
Cynic from birth. A true Cubs fan.
As October approaches, baseball becomes literally the most important thing the world.
IN THE WHOLE WORLD.
Although, apparently, not everyone agrees. Baseball, once America’s most popular sport, our national pastime, has taken a bit of a slide in the ratings department. Even though it’s still part of the big three (football, basketball, and baseball) over the last decade, stickball has slipped a bit to basketball and a lot to football in terms of television ratings and in many cities, attendance.
Lately, however, Major League Baseball headed by Commisioner Bud Selig (who rivals Tom Brady in the looks department) has been mounting a bit of a comeback, attracting more fans and television viewers the world over.
The reason:
Baseball is hip, again. No. Not hip like American Bandstand or Chuck Taylors were in the 60’s, but hip:
Welcome to Brooklyn.
The transition is easy to understand. At what other sporting event can you buy Old Style and PBR tall boys? In what other sport but baseball do players take the field and stand for hours, hands on hips, looking intensely non-chalant? Football is too agressive, and basketball just requires too much damn running. Soccer gives baseball a run for its money, but everyone knows the only good football is in England. Just look at all the ironic facial hair:
Jason Giambi
Reed Johnson
Many baseball managers seem to have hopped on the bandwagon as well with their sleek new specs:
Joe Maddon, Tampa Bay Rays
Jerry Manuel, New York Mets
The beard scruff sporting, girl jeans buying, fixed gear bike riding influence of hipsterdom seems to even have influenced one of the oldest of the old guard, the ex Yankee, now L.A. Dodgers manager, Joe Torre.
Is he wearing a scarf in L.A.?
Though this is not to say that this a bad thing. Does anyone really want to go back to the old days?
The old days.
Just don’t be surprised if Joe Girardi endorses Parliament cigarettes and team color keffiyehs become hot items on Craigslist.
Go Cubs Go
Note: These will not be unbiased posts. Cardinals, Packers, Pistons, and Wolverines be forewarned.
Two things happened this weekend that signal that either A) I am in God’s favor or B) The end times are upon us.
1. The Chicago Cubs won their division in back to back years for the first time in a century.
2. Yankee Stadium is no more. And the Yankees, with almost 100% certainty, will not be playing in the post-season for the first time since 1995.
The New York Yankees, possibly the most identifiable sports team in the entire world, a team responsible for 26 World Series Championships in the time the Chicago Cubs have won a big fat zero (0), are making history for not reaching the playoffs. In the same weekend, the Cubs, by far the biggest losers in the history of sports, just shrugged off a one hundred year drought like it was so much old news.
The mighty have fallen and the pitiful risen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen.
It is too early to tell if this is a sign of a permanent shift in the bed rock of life (and yes, for Cubs fans as well as Yankees fans, OCTOBER IS LIFE) or just an aberration from the norm. Either way, fans of the underdog can relish in the fact that we might be seeing quite a bit more of this:
And hearing a lot less of this :
Whether you love or hate the Yankees (or whether you love or pity the Cubs), the fact remains: Yankee Stadium is dead. And on October 1st, Wrigley Field will be the most alive place on the face of the planet.
Source: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp
http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=nyy
