My whole adult life, I've had a shoulder bag for work stuff.
I have this big calcium bump on my shoulder from an old busted collarbone, and that bump works as a natural "hook" to keep shoulder bags from slipping off my shoulder.
It works great, except as time has gone by, my back started to bark at me once in awhile. I figure it's because I'm carrying stuff off center, right?
So I got a backpack (Patagonia - you guys know I'm a big fan of their stuff).
Hadn't had one since a month-long stint in the boy scouts, before you were born.
If you don't have one, get one - you'll find that they're life-changing.
Like, before the backpack, NO WAY was I walking the mile or so to the Jeff Park train station because that's just too damn far with a cumbersome shoulder bag (laptop, art crap - my bag is heavy).
But I get the backpack, and suddenly I've taken the train more this summer than I had the last 10 years.
It's my new toy of the summer, not kidding.
So it's about my 12th time doing the backpack/train thing, and now I'm walking down Lake street into the gorgeous morning sun towards Michigan, little bluebirds are tweeting around me as I whistle along, when suddenly I see my reflection in a window and...I am horrified.
For some reason my shirt has ridden all the way up my back under my backpack, exposing miles of embarrassing backfat - stuff I created with Budweiser and pancakes over the course of many, many years.
So if you happened to be walking behind me, this is what you'd see:
Totally apologize if you were walking back there.
No idea what causes this - it's got something to do with friction between backpack and my back and the repetition of walking.
Whatever man, there's no getting around it.
So now I walk about half a block, reach back and pull my shirt back into it's proper place.
It's like I'm learning how to walk again.
Which is what I wish Cub batters would do.
I was thinking about Carlos Pena the other day.
Did you know he's 3rd in the NL in walks with 87?
Did you also know that the Cubs are tied with the Houston Astros for last place in team walks with 361?
Without Pena, the Cubs would have, uhh, lets see.. bring over the one, 11-7=4, 15-8=7.. they'd have only 274 walks?
Carlos Pena, he's a home run hitter, right?
Cecil Fielder is too - he's ahead of Pena in walks and I'd expect Fielder to be way up there because pitchers pitch around the guy, right?
Sure they throw around Pena, but not like Prince.
Pena - I'm trying to think of the last time I saw a Cub with so much patience at the plate.
He works it like nobody else, and REALLY like nobody else on the Cubs.
So, just saying - if I'm one of the Cub kids, I'd be paying close attention to Pena's approach.
He's from a different culture, you kids, and there's something to be learned there.
