Cubby-Blue

Happy Pitchers and Catchers Report Day, Cub Fans!

Okay so I combined it with that other silly "holiday", Valentine's Day, but today is sooo much more special.

Even walking through this hideous melting snow-mess that is our city, I'm grinning ear to ear and tappin' my feet because right now, down in sunny Arizona (I believe the high is gonna be 81 degrees), Kerry Wood, Ryan Dempster, Geo Soto, Matt Garza, Carlos Zambrano, Randy Wells, Casey Coleman, Carlos Marmol, Carlos Silva, kids, veterans, pitchers, catchers, some position guys...they're all tossing a hardball around.
And that makes us happy. 

It's Happy Pitchers and Catchers Report Day, 2011. 

Hey Frosty The Snowman, you look a little soggy!
Hey Mr. Snow Shovel, shovel this!
Hey Tom Skilling - I don't care what your forecast is, bro - Old Man Winter can kiss my blizzard.

So begins our journey into the 109th Chicago Cubs season (actually the 135th for the organization, if you go back to the White Stockings, Colts, and Orphans).

There is nothing like the beginning of a new baseball season, and while there's lots of stuff that will happen between now and Opening Day, let us all take a moment today and give thanks to the Baseball Gods for another Spring about to spring.

Go Chicago Cubs!

ps: Throughout this season, we'll all be thinking about Ron. There will be black armbands on uniforms and I'm sure many dedications to come, not to mention his obvious absence which is going to spur all kinds of grieving all over again.
So lets just work thru it together and try to keep it celebratory.

Even through all his hardships, that old Cub managed to have alot of fun.

Chicago Cubs: Things that cancel each other out.

Whenever I eat a bag of chips, I get that guilt feeling that comes from years of being told that stuff my mom used to put in my lunch bag is really bad for me.

So I eat an apple, and the whole deal evens out.

It's like no harm no foul, or something.

Okay, maybe not totally, but you know what I'm saying.

Take a look at these Cubs and apply the same thinking. 

Alfonso Soriano has committed some of the worst errors in left field that I've ever seen committed in the Bigs.
On the other hand, he's made some spectacular throws from that corner.

Carlos Marmol has come into some tight games and proceeded to hit batters, walk batters, have batters stand with their bats on their shoulders til Carlos can get one over.
Gives me the worst kind of heart attacks - the bottom of the 9th is no time for this stuff.
On the other hand, 138 strikeouts last year.
One hundred and thirty eight.
Best in the majors by 26.
Honestly, Marmol's one of those players who has become so breathtaking to watch, if something bad happens it's totally no big deal.
He'll be reaching some kind of God-like status if he keeps up the good part. 

You could invest in this new "6-Pack" ticket idea at Wrigley, and I guess the Saturday Yankee game would cancel out the Diamondbacks at 1:20 on a Tuesday. 
Oh but wait, you gotta buy Padres, Marlins, and Nats too. Plus the Astros. I guess this one's just a kinda-cancellation.

There's Starlin Castro with the million errors, but on the other hand the range, the athleticism, the effort, the youth...

The loss of D Lee and his gold glove at first, but also the new (though not as often) gold glove from Carlos Pena.

Koyie Hill with no ability to hit the ball whatsoever, but then the... oh wait. 
He really can't do anything. 

I guess some things just can't cancel out.

 

 

Fernando Perez: Well, he's funny.

The other day I put up a post about the evil of big contracts, and in the comments, CubsStats put a link to a you tube movie in there that is very worth viewing (below).
It's new Cub Fernando Perez showing us all just what it's like living the tough life on the low end of the MLB payscale.
He came over in the Garza deal.

I sent it around work, and got more than a few responses like this, "He's right now my new favorite Cub. Can he hit?"

Well, not really.

But he's super fast - stole 43 bases in triple A a couple years back, so he's kinda this year's Joey Gathright.

Only way funnier.

I'm sure this has been sent around alot, but if you haven't seen it here's his vid.

 

Go Fernando!

 

Winter's winning, so think about baseball. Or scream. Up to you.

Can this Winter be any longer or more painful?
This usually doesn't happen to me, but I am getting my ASS kicked.
By weather.
How many days do I have to shovel freaking snow in a row?
How many days do I have to "TAKE YOUR BOOTS OFF BY THE FRONT DOOR OR YOU CAN MOP!"
On Super Sunday I had to go to work, my car dies in the intersection of Clark and Grand.
It's NEVER died before.
Here's what I did - I got out of the car and opened the hood.
You know what's under there?
Me neither.
It's a metal and plastic mystery sculpture.
But I thought, what if somebody's watching?
So I wiggled a hose for awhile, then slammed the hood.
Then a horn honked, and right behind me was a City tow truck.
He tells me towing is free during the blizzard, and do I want him to tow me to the pound, which is right near my building, only down to the bottom layer of Wacker Drive.
This is where you can see that Chicago is built on dirt, and where buildings meet earth.
It's never good to even think about how buildings with 100 floors actually stay standing. 
He drops my car and gives me a ride up to the city's surface, I walk into my building and call my insurance company, and those guys contact another towing company who can tow me to where I'll get the car fixed.

Truck'll be there in 2 hours, and I have to be by the car when it comes.

So I get nothing done for an hour and a half, then I go down to... here (I took this from inside my car while I was waiting):

After awhile, the tow truck comes, the driver goes, "Go sit in the cab of the truck and I'll hook it up."

So I'm sitting there, I pull out a pad and try to come up with some ideas, when suddenly out of the corner of my eye a car drives by and it's... my car.

It stops, the tow truck driver gets out and looks at me.
I climb out of his truck.
"So, what's wrong with this thing?" he asks.
"It wouldn't start."
He sits back down, turns the key off, then starts it up again, and looks at me.
Even when circumstances conspire against you, it's never smart to try to make an excuse for being an idiot, because then you just look more like an idiot.
Luckily he was a nice guy and says, "Happens all the time. Cold weather and machines don't go well together."
So I have a tiny thread of integrity left, right?
But in my head I'm thinking, should I just take it from him now or... what if it dies again?
He's a professional, and he's reading my mind so he says, "You could drive it home, or I can still tow it to your auto repair place. It's up to you, Nancy."

Actually, the "Nancy" was just implied. 

So I drove in silence all the way home, shoveled the new snow in front of my garage, pulled the car in and screamed. 
"HURRY UP BASEBALL!!!"

Well, actually what I screamed was a long run-on sentence too filthy to print, but there was something about baseball in there.
Felt a little better.

Hey, I saw the Dodgers signed Aaron Miles, so we don't have THAT to worry about, Cub Fans.

Roethlisberger vs Cutler: lets compare knees

After watching the Superbowl and seeing Ben Roethlisberger's knee move around sideways, as a Bears Fan one can't help but be reminded of Jay Cutler' knee in the NFC Championship game and think: "Hmmm..."

But if I'm me, I can't help but think: "Hmmm...what a bunch of crap."

You can play hurt and lose, or you can let the B-Team guy play and lose.

The Packers were the best team this year.

End of story.