Cubby-Blue

So much fun watching this Bears Defense blossom.

Well, I could get used to this Sunday Night Football thing.
There was alotta talk before the game about how the Bears hadn't faced a really tough offense besides the Pack and Pats.
Kirk Cousins is really good, yada yada.
Didn't take long for the Bears D to calm the masses.
You know how we've been watching the Cubs grow before our eyes?
The Bears are also blossoming, only in a much faster timeline.
Football can be kinda like dog years compared to baseball, and no I'm not talking about 108 years (but the wait for the Bears to be good again does feel like it).
Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth couldn't stop talking about this game being a wake up call to the rest of the league.
Called my dad at the half and the "S" word came up.
Crazy talk.
Isn't it?
Well, if you can't get excited about this team by now, something's wrong.
Depending on injury, this team ought to hang onto 1st place in the Central and then... who knows.

Okay, gotta run.
Love this team.
So much fun.

Go Bears.

PS: The Chicago Tribune printed edition has a still shot of Alex Smith's leg broken in half. It's revolting and in really really bad taste. If it was on the tube, I'd turn my head. But a still shot in the paper? It got me like a slap in the face.

Random Cubs stuff...

Happy Friday.
Look! I painted something besides a Cub.
Weird.
Hey, you hear that flapping in the breeze?
What IS that?
It looks like... why that's Jim Hickey!
"That’s [Hickey] not a subject I’m able to address at this point."
Theo said that over a week ago, so... that's a loong time to be dangling.
Wonder what the real story is with that, and if he's going away then who's going to take over?
Dick Pole (card here) is retired, right?

Well, we'll see who it is, and my guess is it'll be someone already well versed in the Cubs Way.

Javy Baez gets 2nd in the MVP voting, and the Brewers' Christian Yelich is the winner.
The first Brewer MVP since... Ryan Braun.
The MVP is a seriously huge honor, and no we haven't really heard about rampant PED abuse in awhile, but I still think if the MLB would strip Braun of his '11 honor, any player tempted to cheat in order to win said honor might think "yeah.. never mind."
Anyway, pretty sure that both you and I expected the MVP to go this way.
Yelich was a beast and the Brewers were amazing and I can't wait til next year to set the whole deal straight about who's the best in the Central.

And now... the Bears.
Well first, the Packers lost last night and they're now way down at 4 wins, 5 losses and a tie.
3rd place.
The 1st place Bears at 6-3 and yeah, a hair away from being 8-1.
So much fun watching a team that's learning to win, which is the exact opposite of every Bears team since Jay Cutler limped out of a Championship game vs the Pack in '11.
Mitch Trubisky had an astonishing game against the Lions last week, and I think it may have been his national validation.
He looked like an actual pro quarterback, he's a nice guy, he's a leader... all the things you've never heard about a Bear QB (McMahon will always be my fav Bear QB, but that whole team is the NFL's all-time unicorn).
But even more to me is the defense.
Swarming, big (legal) hitting, a legit superstar game changer in Khalil Mack, and even the kid linebacker Roquan Smith is freaking me out with his play.
It's just... I feel unusual all the time now.
But isn't it fantastic to be looking SO forward to Sundays now?
Or, Thursdays...
I can't wait to pull a turkey off the grill right about the time the Bears will have beaten the snot out of the Lions, sit down at the table and say, "Have I ever got something to be thankful for..."

Javy Baez wins Silver Slugger

Who's the only other Cub 2nd baseman to ever win the Silver Slugger?
This guy:


Ryne Sandberg won it 7 times.
Javier Baez just won his first.
That's some lofty company there, Javy.

And if you go back just a couple years and think about that wild swing of his we thought would never get under control.
He's like the perfect example of... well...

Lotta people are freaking out right now.
It's finger pointing time from the public.
Talking about bad contracts, no money for Bryce Harper, that the Cubs are in a terrible place.
And I guess I could get mad at those people, but... why?
Maybe they just jumped on a bandwagon in 2016 or something.
Or maybe winning a World Series made them lose their baseball balance.
Do I think the Cubs could use help with the bats?
Yeah.
I wish there was someone who, if you read a little wrap up about them, it ended with this: "And he doesn't strike out."
And some bullpen stuff that's gonna happen anyway.
But here's what I mean to say: at the beginning of last season, I was not (and I bet you were not) expecting Javier Baez to advance his own batting self so far that he'd become the best hitting second baseman in the country.
Things clicked for him.
And before I go fretting about 2019, I'm just thinking what if that clicking thing happens to some of these other young Cubs.
Hmmmmmm?

Congrats Javy "El Mago" Baez, 2018 Silver Slugger award winner.

Of course Anthony Rizzo wants a pair of gloves - it's almost Winter!

No time to write, but this is awesome news.
Anthony Rizzo wins his 2nd Gold Glove award!
And if all goes right in the world, he'll keep 'em coming.
Now, about Javier Baez... can I speak to whoever judges these things, please?

Go Cubs.

It's November. Cub Fans have to live in their own heads for awhile...

Think. Think. Talk. Think. Dream. Think. Talk. Think. Eat. Think. Sleep.

If you're Brandon Kintzler, you're thinking about inducing ground balls so much, you might start writing it out longhand like a grade school punishment.
Not really sure what happened with Kintzler, but you know.. not unusual to see bullpen guys fluctuate and we'll just have to hope he gets his "ground ball specialist" reputation back as a Cub.

Cole Hamels is still a Cub.
(Duh)
Related to that was Drew Smyly and a player traded to Texas for a player.
Honestly when I tried to keep up with this little trade as it was happening, I just found it confusing.
But the Cubs and Rangers work together on trades often and I imagine Theo said something like, "We're picking up Hamels option for 20 mil, but need to keep an eye on luxury tax and also a little help with Hamels' salary."
Poof. 
Smyly's a Ranger.

Next... dreaming.
Are you dreaming about Bryce Harper and Manny Machado?
Me too, but not like that.
In the whole history of me personally being a Cub Fan, it's easy to come up with a list of Cubs to dislike because they lacked talent. 
(Of course, you forgave them because the Lovable Losers thing.)
But it is not easy to list Cubs I disliked because they were assholes.
Try it.
Milton Bradley's about it, and in hindsight that's probably not fair because... while I can't find anything specifically about it online, you have to think he's got head issues that you or I don't have to deal with.
Owners don't count, or Sam Zell would be there.

Anyway, there was this player, an Atlanta Brave, named Robert Fick.
In game 4 of the 2003 NLDS, Fick bunts and was easily out at first except... as Cub 1st baseman Eric Karros was reaching for the throw, Fick slammed into his extended arm so hard he knocked Karros' glove off and easily could have broken his wrist. 
From an ESPN story back then, Fick said: "It's an elimination game and you've got to do what you've got to do," Fick said in a profanity-laced tirade Saturday. "I'm not saying I did it on purpose. But it's ... baseball."

At the time, I just said it was bush:

But now I'll go ahead and say... that's an asshole.

It was basically the same kind of play that Manny Machado did when he kicked the Brewers' Jesus Aguilar in this last NLCS.
Go to about 1:06 of this video:

"That's just baseball."
And that is an asshole.

I know he's supremely gifted.
But I'm sick of reading about people defending this guy because he's good.



Let him go to the Phillies and good luck to them.
The first time Machado didn't respect 90 would be the worst kind of chop block on Joe Maddon.
Because no matter how he tries to smooth that over, it's one guy getting to play by a different set of rules than the rest of the team.
And then, it all goes to hell.

Ahhh. That felt good to get off my chest.

I'm also not the biggest fan of Harper but feel nowhere near as strongly about him as I do Machado.
At least Harper's not dirty.

Okay, I've written enough today.

Let's see if the Bears can stay in first place and have a nice Sunday.

Automatic DIY 2019 Cubs Opening Day Count Down with Q-tips.

For some reason, I don't like seeing digital readouts of how many days til Opeing Day.
And I'm terrible with calendars.
Some people can say, "Oh that second Monday in December is the 13th."
Not me.
But a steadily disappearing container of Q-tips is a nice, easy old-school countdown.
You could even glue a Cubs logo to the holder to add excitement.
By the way, it's actually 149 days til the opener, so be sure to take a couple Q-tips out before beginning.

Well, that team from Boston is pretty depressing with their 4-1 early WS Championship.
They're loaded.
I mean, it was kinda funny that the guy who rose to the top wasn't a star like Mookie Betts, but rather someone I'd see coming up to bat and think, "Oh it's THAT guy again."
Steve Pearce.
61 hits all season long.
Then 11 in October, with 4 of them being home runs of such importance that he gets elected to the Ben Zobrist club, the World Series EmveepeeZ.
My favorite part of the whole series was when the managers weren't trotting out 98 MPH reliever after 98 MPH reliever.
Because... the Cubs don't have anything close to that and I found it depressing.
Rumor is, teams are gonna start collecting these kinds of relievers, starters will go less long as they bring in the reserves.
It was so compelling and just... nice to watch Rich Hill's 6.1 innings, or David Price's 7 dominant innings.
Like baseball.

Luckily, we have Theo and Jed.
And they'll take stock of what they have, make the right assessments and fix it.
So many questions.
No idea about Addison Russell, but I don't expect him to be around.
Daniel Murphy? 
Sure.
Which Cub that we love will be trade bait?
Happ? Schwarber? Almora?
How do you fix Carl Edwards - that guy has All-Star stuff if he stays healthy and harnesses it.
Will Jose Quintana just make us all angry when/if Eloy Jimenez starts banging the ball out of Comiskey (or whatever it is)?

Well, like I said: we have Theo and Jed.
So have confidence and count your Q-tips.
It's all gonna work out fine.