My Food Chain Gang

I am still a Cubs fan; I will admit it.  Even after the 2003 Steve Bartman episode, after the 100+ (now it’s officially time to add the + to 100) year World Series drought, and the disasterous playoffs of the 2007 and now 2008 seasons.

I just cannot believe the season is over.  The season started off so promising this year, and picked up momentum all summer, only to leave us bewildered and disgusted in October once again.  So what happened that made them look so terrible during all the playoff games?!?

You know what?  I don’t even want to talk about it.  At least I don’t have to worry about missing the World Series while I’m in Florida!  Frickin’ Cubs.  Maybe next year…  UGH!

As you’ve probably heard by now, the Chicago Cubs have clinched their division.  They WILL be going to the playoffs in 2008!!!!  YAY!  It’s been a great year; even though with my busy schedule I only got to see less than 10 games.  But that’s ok - I always said I won’t plan my life around baseball.  Tempting, but I won’t do it, at least not until my kids are grown and I have nothing better to do.  A prime example of this is the fact that we’ve planned a trip to Florida during the playoffs and world series.  If the Cubs make it to the world series, I won’t get to see that either.  Luckily, we’ll be home in time for game 4 of the world series, so I’ll at least be able to see one game, possibly more if they need to play them.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.  First the Cubs have to make it to the world series.  Given the way the team has played all year, I think there’s a pretty good chance, but all we can do is wait and see.  For now, it’s comforting to know that they’ve already clinched their playoff spot and I got to watch that happen!  GO CUBBIES!!!!!

Recently there was an article on cubs.com about how it’s been 20 years since Wrigley Field started night games for the Chicago Cubs, i.e. got lights in their stadium.  That made me feel kind of old because I remember that event, and it was 20 years ago: 8-8-88.  Sigh.  Since when can I remember 20 years ago?  But anyway, I remember an elderly gentleman (turns out he was 91 in 1988 and actually remembered the Cubs winning the World Series in 1908 - a stark reminder that there is NO ONE left today who can say the same…) flipped the switch to turn on Wrigley Field’s lights for the first time ever.  Funnily enough, it was a bit too early in the evening, and many fans and spectators said they couldn’t see a difference in the lighting on the field.  But it was symbolic, and Wrigley Field finally had its lights, even if it was the last major league ball park to get them.  And the event was proven even more symbolic than functional that night when the game was postponed because of rain.  So the first FULL baseball game at Wrigley under the new lights was actually 8/9/88.

Apparently the lights were snuck into the field in the middle of the night, under cover, literally.  They were hoisted into place quickly by helicopters, for fear that protestors would shoot them in order to try to preserve the neighborhood’s charm and innocence.  But the plan was not foiled, and 20 years later, we still get to enjoy night games at Wrigley.  GO CUBBIES!!!

Recently Skip Caray passed away, a son of famed Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray.  Skip was actually famous for his work announcing the Atlanta Braves rather than the Cubs, but his death in the news made me think of his father and everything he brought to Cubs games.

Since I didn’t watch many Braves games, I wasn’t really familiar with Skip’s work, so I looked him up on wikipedia.com and found the following:

Skip Caray’s broadcasts were characterized by his witty and sarcastic sense of humor, a personality trait that endeared him to most fans, but alienated him from others.  For example, during a particularly long losing streak in the 1980s, Skip declared at the start of a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates “And, like lambs to the slaughter, the Braves take the field”.  More recently, in a game against the Florida Marlins, the Braves had loaded the bases, to which Caray quipped, “The bases are loaded, just like (Marlins manager) Jack McKeon probably wishes he was.” During the 2004 season, Caray frequently made fun of Braves relief pitcher, Jung Bong, declaring every time the opposing team got a hit against him, “that’s another hit off of Bong”. In 2008, a player popped a fly ball so high that Skip said “That would’ve been a home run in a phone booth.”

Sounds like a funny guy, and I’m sure he’ll be missed by legions of fans, much like his late father, Harry Caray, the voice of the Chicago Cubs.

With NINE STRAIGHT WINS, the Chicago Cubs are the HOTTEST team in baseball right now!  I am ecstatic about this and just had to make a remark or two.  So I’m sorry to my friends who follow MLB, choosing instead to support franchises other than the Cubs - I don’t know how your teams are doing, and I don’t mean to rub it in about how incredibly awesome the Cubs are this year, but these days, “How about those Cubs?” is not just a conversation starter, it’s a question being asked by baseball fanatics, Cubs fans, Chicagoans, and probably anyone who has ever heard of the Cubs, their ’loveable losers’ nickname, and their awesome 2008 baseball skills.  Gone are the days it seems when the Cubs were the laughing stock of baseball; the “maybe next year” mantra and when an 8-0 deficit in a game meant certain disaster for my favorite team.  The other day, they were able to turn an 8-0 losing game into a 10-9 WIN over the Rockies!  Honestly, the Cubs have never been known for great comebacks in a game, and this was no fluke - that game was followed by 2 more games where the Cubs came from behind to save the game and declare wins for themselves.  Then again, rallies are nothing new to Cubs’ manager, Lou Piniella - no manager in history has managed more eight-run comebacks.

So could 2008 be the year for the Cubs?  Could 100, a whole century, be the magic number of years us Cubs fans have had to wait for another World Series win?  That remains to be seen, of course, it is only June, but keep this in mind: according to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last time the Cubs had the best record in baseball entering June was 1908, the year they last won the World Series.  Coincidence or fate?  We will find out come October - I know I will be glued to the Cubs website until then!

How about those Cubs?!?

Well, the Cubs lost their second series to the Brewers this season, but equally upsetting is what happened today during the 7th inning stretch.  Taking place at Wrigley Field, today’s game was the “rubber game” of the series.  Someone decided Bob Ueker, aka ‘the voice of the Brewers’ would be a good guest to come and lead the crowd in ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’.  Nevermind for a minute the events that took place during the song today; this decision doesn’t seem very wise to me from the get-go.  Bob Uecker was born and raised in Milwaukee.  He grew up watching the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers, and the first team he signed with in the major leagues was the Milwaukee Braves.  He’s been doing the play-by-play announcements for the Brewers on the radio since 1971, and still holds the job.  Why then, did someone deem it a good decision to have him come to Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, to lead the crowd during the 7th inning stretch?  If we pretend the Chicago White Sox don’t exist :)  - the Cubs have their biggest rivalry with their neighbors to the north, the Milwaukee Brewers.  So why invite someone who has obviously been a lifelong Milwaukee fan to do the 7th inning stretch during a Cubs / Brewers game on Cubs turf?  I just don’t get it…

Here is a play by play of today’s incident.  Bob Ueker comes out to sing the 7th inning stretch.  Nothing seemed amiss, until the part in the song that goes, “root, root, root, for the Brewers”.  He actually said ‘root for the Brewers’ at Wrigley Field.  He was immediately BOOED LOUDLY by the crowd, of course, so then he sings, “you do the same for the Cubs” to the tune of the song, but by this point, the organist just gives up because now he’s out of tune and has lost the organist in the song.  In order to get back on track, he then proceeds to skip ahead, or maybe it’s because he realized it would be an even worse decision to say something like “if they don’t win it’s a shame” about the Brewers in Wrigley Field.  Either way, he skips ahead to “for it’s ONE, TWO, THREE (organist comes back into the song, hardly missing a beat except for the made-up lyrics) strikes you’re out at the old ball game!”  I had kids to tend to, so I didn’t see the entire fallout from the fiasco, but I did get back to the tv just in time to hear Ueker say, “I’m rooting for the Brewers, what do they want me to do, root for the Cubs?”  YES!  Of course the Cubs fans want you to root for the Cubs, especially at Wrigley Field!  And if you can’t do that, pretend!  And if you can’t pretend, then stay in Milwaukee!

Well, forget Bob Ueker and whoever invited him to Wrigley today - that person was probably fired before the beginning of the 8th inning anyway.  The Cubs are off to a great start this year, and I can only hope I get less busy so I can see more games because they are playing some great baseball, and it’s fun to watch!  I can only hope they beat the pants off the Cardinals who are in first place in the Cubs division by only a half game…  That series begins tomorrow and I will be watching - in between kid duties, of course!  GO CUBS!

Originally this post was called “CUBS WIN!!!”  And I followed it up with: gee, I sure hope I’m not jinxing anything by posting this.  And as I was typing that, the dang Brewers scored 3 runs!  Now that I’ve changed the title of the post, the awful half-inning ended and the Cubs are now up with a chance to save the game and have one man on base.  Unfortunately for me, I will have to miss the finale and seeing if the Cubs pull it off because I can’t suspend my entire life for baseball, as much as I’d like to.  I already rearranged my schedule around this game today, and wouldn’t you know it, there were not one, but TWO rain delays, which is why the Cubs are still playing and why I have to miss the end of the game because my poor family has gone without dinner long enough!  So, hope for me and for the Cubs that they pull this off - I must say it’s starting to look good with 2 men on now and NO OUTS - this game has reached a fever pitch as their pitcher is starting to choke and walk Cubs out the wazoo….  OH MY GOSH - FUKUDOME JUST HIT A 3-RUN HOMER TO TIE THE GAME!!!  My daughter can stand in the rain waiting for me to pick her up, can’t she?  It’s opening day!  Is there an emoticon for fingers crossed?!?!?

How ’bout them Cubs?  Ok, it’s only been one game of spring training, but they are undefeated!  Whoo-hoo!  I am so ready for baseball season; especially with all this snow - had ANOTHER snow day today, by the way.  Which means we have 2 make-up days now in the summer, and counting, probably since I’m sure with the way the snow has been falling out of the sky that it’s not done yet…  but that’s ok, because come June, when the kids have their extra days of school, I will be at home, sitting on my very pregnant behind, watching the Chicago Cubs WIN some baseball!  GO CUBBIES!