It’s the Cubs home opener today. I missed the first couple games but I don’t think I missed much. They are 0-2 after all. Good times. Good times.
Anyway, I post this every year. And it makes me cry every time I see it. Every. Stinking. Time. I am such a sucker.
So here it is again You might want to have some tissues handy
I see the baseball season has finally come to an end. Now, people that know me know that I love baseball, and especially the Chicago Cubs. I may love baseball and the Cubs more than just about anything. But this year, I don’t think I saw a single Cubs game after the All-Star Break. And if I am being honest, I don’t think I saw many before the All-Star Break either.
There are many reasons for this of course. I was working full time for the first time in 12 years. WGN seems to be carrying fewer and fewer Cubs games. I didn’t have time to get to Wrigley Field this year.
However, I believe the #1 reason why I washed my hands of the Cubs so early this year is this:
They Sucked.
And I have stood by them through a lot of losing seasons.
We lost 101 games this year. 101. Yeesh that’s a lot of games to lose. You almost have to be trying to lose that many games. Of course that means we won 61 games. But that is not a good average. In fact we only won about 37% of our games. Hideous.
We even had a losing record at home for crying out loud. In the Friendly Confines. With all the Cubs faithful in attendance (although maybe not so much this year). We were 38-43 at home, and an even more dismal 26-38 on the road. Embarrassing.
So, once again Cubs fans wait until next year.
In the meantime I will be rooting for the As this post-season. Just because.
The 2012 Major League Baseball season officially started yesterday, but in my opinion it really started at 1:20 this afternoon when the Cubs took the field at Wrigley for the first time this year.
Anyway, it’s opening day, and you know what that means. It’s time for Eddie Vedder’s awesome song. So here it is.
If you are at all like me you might want some tissues handy. It makes me cry every time…
A couple of days ago I got an email from the Chicago Cubs ticket office. They were happy to inform me that I had moved up on the Season Ticket waiting list. And now I am number 103, 801 in the queue. Wow.
There is nothing encouraging about this. Wrigley Field has a capacity of 41,160 people, assuming they have sold every seat behind a pole, and every last Standing Room Only ticket. And they almost never do sell all that SRO space.
But anyway, if you do the math you will see that 103,801 divided by 41,160 is about 2.5. That means, according to my calculations, the entire stadium would have to turn over two and a half times before I get to the top of the queue. And that is assuming every ticket in the park is a season ticket, which it is not.
So I am not optimistic about my chances. But I will keep my name on the list anyway, just in case. Who knows, maybe someday Princess O and the C-man can use those tickets.
Beautiful Wrigley Field
Well, it is opening day ladies and gentlemen. And yes, I know that technically Other Teams have been playing baseball for a couple of days already, but for me and thousands of misguided Cubs fans everywhere, the season starts today at 1:20pm central time.
The forecast in Chicago calls for rain with a high of 45 degrees. Not the best day for a ballgame, but we will take what we can get. Wear your parka’s everyone. And don’t forget your mittens.
T always teases me about my blind love for the Cubs, and how I am always convinced that this is the year. Well, even I don’t think that this year. The front office has made some spectacularly bone-headed moves. Too many to document here. I will just say I am the most upset about losing Ryne Sandberg. I cannot believe they let him slip away. Now he is managing the Phillies AAA affiliate, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Oh the sickening irony. (And I have GOT to get me a Lehigh Valley IronPigs T-shirt.)
Of course, for me the biggest question today is what to wear. I have an extensive Cubs wardrobe. Four jerseys, a sweatshirt, and six official t-shirts. Eight if you count my I-Cubs T-shirt and my Holy Cow T-shirt from Harry Caray’s (and I do). It’s a hobby. And an addiction. Every year I go to the ballpark and every year I say to myself “you are not buying any more Cubs T-shirts”. And every year I buy one anyway. Sometimes I don’t pay very much attention to myself.
So here we go again. Ryan Dempster is today’s starting pitcher. Not Carlos Zambrano. Hah! Suck it Carlos (sorry Mom). I will be parked in front of the TV at 1:20, and I am sure I will be yelling at the TV by 1:25. It looks like it could be a long season. But let’s leave on an optimistic note. Plus this song always makes me cry. In a good way:
Cubs tickets went on sale today. Normally this means a busy day for me. First I eat a hot dog for breakfast, put on some of my lucky Cubs gear and spend the morning frantically dialing the phone while sitting in the virtual waiting room online. But not this year.
Why not? I will tell you why not. Because I am angry at the Cubs. Yes, I am angry. Would you like to know why?
I am angry because they traded Ryan Theriot.
I am angry because they traded Mark Fontenot.
Of course I am always mad that Zambrano is still on the roster. (Why? Why????)
And, I am especially angry that they did not hire Ryne Sandberg as their manager. Now I think I understand why they passed him over, but it still pisses me off (sorry mom). Not only did we pass him up in Chicago, we didn’t rehire him in Des Moines either. So now he is gone, gone gone. I believe he is managing the Philadelphia AAA club. Oh the sickening irony.
So I will pass on the first day of ticket sales madness this year. The team was so wretched last year I am pretty confident I can get tickets to something this summer. I am really not worried.
I am not in a very Valentine’s Day kind of mood (although I did find this article interesting).
Today I am much more interested in the fact that Pitchers and Catcher report today. Ahhh, you know what that means don’t you? It means winter is almost over and we may in fact live to see another baseball season.
And so my love/hate relationship with the Chicago Cubs is rekindled for another year. I wish I could say this will be the year we go all the way, but I have my doubts. However, the game is beautiful whether you win or lose. It’s just prettier when you win.
”Ninety feet between home plate and first base may be the closest man has ever come to perfection.” ~Red Smith
Go Cubs!
I have started eating The Children’s Halloween candy. It’s been three weeks (ish) I think the statute of limitations has expired. But if they ask, I am going to deny it heartily.
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Knitting popcorn is a real pain in the you-know-what.
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Apparently baseball is going to expand the playoffs to 10 teams. I don’t have a link for that, Tom just told me from the other side of the table. I don’t think this is a particularly good idea. But I suppose it does give the Cubs a better chance of getting in. Unfortunately it also gives them a better opportunity to embarrass themselves.
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Harry Potter tomorrow.
We are leaving for Jamaica the day after tomorrow. Jealous?
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I will be rooting for the Giants in the World Series.
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I still have not watched last week’s episode of Project Runway. That is on my agenda for later this evening.
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I have mad fair isle skills.
I know, I know, it isn’t terribly original. But I couldn’t resist. Today we packed a picnic and piled the Peskies into the car for a trip to the Field of Dreams movie site in Dyersville, Iowa. It is quite a trek, about two and a half hours in the car. But T and I like driving around in the car, and as for the Peskies, well we didn’t ask them.
I’m so glad we took the opportunity to go over there. The whole site is for sale and who knows what will happen to it. Plus it was a beautiful day, and the corn was still standing at the edge of the outfield.
We had lunch, played some catch, ran the bases. And of course we stopped at the souvenir stand.
We got home in time to walk downtown for dinner at a local brew-pub and dessert at a bakery that specializes in cupcakes. Yummy.
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