Cubby-Blue

Larry Rothschild to the Yankees? What was he thinking?

His official stance is he wants to be closer to his family in Florida.

I think you and I know better.

Good luck with the Yankees, Larry.

Replays show Derek Jeter was hit with a 3 year contract!

I don't really know all the details, but it sounds like the Yankees want to offer Derrek Jeter a 3 year contract, while Derek wants 5 to 6 years.

I'm pretty sure we saw this exact Jeter play earlier this year when he sneakily faked getting hit in the elbow by a Chad Qualls pitch.

Jeter faked it so well that he was awarded first base AND Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon was ejected for arguing the call.

But that was on the diamond. I don't think it'll work for him so well in the Office of Yankee Contract Negotiations. 

He's 36 year old, past his prime, and coming off a terrible year, so I'd say if he doesn't shut up and instead take whatever they're offering he's a dolt.
Furthermore, if this goes on for too long he'll risk his popularity with us regular slobs. And that's a big deal because it's us regular slobs who sort of "vote" on who gets the big endorsement deals. Right? Hugely talented people who are also assholes don't usually get to advertise soft drinks because soft drinks don't like to be associated with assholes.

Not that Derek Jeter is an asshole.

I hope he's just fakin'.

Okay, what's next?

The Bears beat up a team that started a bad 3rd string QB behind a 3rd string center.
Still, it's an impressive 7-3 record that our favorite Chicago football team has, and I will continue to hold my tongue about Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith.
Beating teams you ought to is what good teams do, after all.

Go Bears.

 

A purple Wrigley sign for Northwestern? What color is next?

There are a billion throwaway, stupid, time-wasting stories about "baseball" in the off-season, and certainly this is one.

But isn't this one weird?

They're painting the iconic Wrigley Field sign purple to promote a Northwestern college football game.

Well, is it all in good fun?
Absolutely.

Is it working as a promotion?
Hell, I'm writing about it. Certainly once the game is televised Wrigley Field will be prominently displayed on Sports Center, maybe as a lead-in to a story about how the Cubs First Family is trying to finance the Wrigley Wrenovation (so if you're Tom Ricketts, you're right now trying desperately to convert that story from it's current gobbley-gook into language that's easy to understand and clearly beneficial to the Cubs, Chicago, MLB, and the country).

PInk is used to great benefit, importantly helping make us all aware of breast cancer.

You can buy any color Cub hat you want, we spent all summer with a giant noodle, a whole river is dyed green to celebrate St. Patrick's Day here, I guess this purple sign is to be expected. Even normal.

I'm sure Northwestern fans are excited, even proud.

But as a Cub Fan, I kinda feel like I got mustard all over my "Left Field Sucks" t-shirt.

 

 

Have the real Chicago Bears stepped forward?

Well, now look what happened.

I thought the Bears were going to get creamed by Minnesota.
I thought there would be more Cutler sacks in this game than any all season.
And I thought Brett Favre was going to have a field day, as they say. 
So much so, that I thought the headline for today's post would be: "Brett Favre sends lewd photo to Lovie Smith!"

 And I even did this illustration before the game:

 

Well happily, the joke is on me.

My brother came to town, hadn't seen him in months, he got tix online so we went.

Poor guy had been away from Chicago for so long that he begged me to take him to the Billygoat before the game, where he breakfasted on a doubluhchesss and an Old Style.

It's seriously hard to beat Soldier Field when the Bears so thoroughly thrash a team as well-liked and popular around Chicago as the Minnesota Vikings.

God, was that fun.

It appeared (I haven't looked at any stats or anything) as though the Bears beat them in every facet of the game, that Brett Favre just looked b e a t, that Devin Hester returning all kicks is (shocking!) brilliant, that the line did well, that Cutler has balls, and the D is semi-suffocating.

What you see on TV when the Bears score is... a commercial.

If you're at Soldier Field, what you see is... AWESOME old footage of Butkus and Ditka and Sayers, etc. on the big screen behind the printed lyrics to "Bear Down Chicago Bears" as everyone sings along. 
Not alot of songs I sing out loud, but man that's too much fun.

Just a great day, and for awhile I shall refrain from my usual Lovie and Jerry bashing.

Go Bears.

 

 

Alfonso Soriano's contract.

I've got sketchbooks all over the freaking place.
I just found this one on a shelf.

This little sketch, as you can see, is from December 2nd, 2006.
(I probably outlined it and used it in an earlier post sometime, without the "He ought to just give a million to Ernie Banks" part.)
The page before it has this:
"...a news guy said that tomorrow the Cubs will sign Alfonso Soriano. Well, it happened. 
Line-up: Soriano, D. Lee, Aramis, the new guy, Izturis, Murton, Barrett, Jones and some kind of trade for Julio Lugo and/or Cliff Floyd.
Remember in 2003, we were gonna win with pitching.
Now we're getting some bombers in here."

It was dated November 21st, 2006. 
I was SO EXCITED!
Alfonso Soriano was part of it, but the real excitement was simply this: the Cubs were spending money like the Yankees.
Didn't you feel different?
Like you never had to take the bus again?
Like the maitre d would know your name and sit you at the table with Mr. Gates and Oprah? 

Anyway, I get the whole guaranteed contract in baseball, I get how the owners screwed the players for so long, I get why there's a union, I get all that.

But sometime soon, somebody's gonna have some kind of epiphany and figure out a better way to do baseball business, because this one's busted. 
You know, a new clause, a different angle, a ray of light, something. 

Ahh, who am I kidding?
There's a sucker born every minute, as they say, and they have titles like "General Manager" and "Fan".

On that positive note, I know the Holidays are coming up.
There's a new link in the column on the right that says, "Cubby Blue Stuff".
I can't put stuff on there that's blatantly copyrighted, but there are some gifts that might be good for a stocking stuffer or whatever.
Click underneath where it says, "Click here if you wanna get some Cubby Blue stuff."