who come out of the woodwork like rats to kick a guy when hes down.

instead of focusing on one team who came back in an improbable way to win two games on the road against the two best pitchers in baseball and praising them for never giving up, they attack me and my team every way they can.

what sort of ass does that sort of thing?

what sort of heartless creep says to himself, i know his team hasnt won in almost a hundred years, that team is five wins away from ultimate victory and instead of saying “sorry bro” im going to write him emails or leave dumbass comments on his blog and talk shit and try to rub it in.

as if morons could make it worse.

morons, you cant make it any worse.

you can fill up my comments all you want with your dreck and hate and jealousy and ignorance, that wont make me feel anything but better, cuz i know no matter what sort of fucked up thing the cubs have going for them, they wont ever be as ridiculous as you.

then the jackholes come in here trying to pound on me for asking for help to get world series tickets.

even without their reactionary criticisms, let me tell you something, it is hard to ask for money. its hard because most of us not only have hang ups about money, but we definitely have hang ups about asking for things.

a man is supposed to be perfect. a man is supposed to be able to have everything and be able to do anything. when a man asks for something, especially something that he is supposed to magically have at all times, like thousands of dollars at his disposal, he sets himself up to be ridiculed. so then what happens is he doesnt ask, or doesnt ask enough, or doesnt ask the right people, or doesnt ask the right way, and then he doesnt get it.

ask and you shall receive, buddies.

dont be afraid.

last week welch linked a blogger who wanted his readers to chip in and get him a laptop so he could continue blogging for them. within a day or so not only did he raise almost enough cash, but someone flat-out bought the thing off his wishlist in one fell swoop.

thats a beautiful story. and whats best about it is it’s true. people spend their money on a variety of things and for them to have the opportunity to give back to someone who gives to them every day is a natural and win-win exchange for everyone.

whats also natural is for idiots to quickly become jealous and try to ruin the good thing thats going on.

the web and the internet and especially blogging are poised to change a lot of things, especially how people give money directly to those who produce information and entertainment. there will be trailblazers, there will be naysayers, and there will be investors.

if you get all freaked out and jealous and flustered by new ideas and new ways of doing things, especially things where everyone wins, then the busblog is the wrong blog for your naysaying ass to find itself, cuz new shit happens here almost every line.

this entire blog, friends, is an experiment within an experiment. some take a long time to figure out, some take minutes. some involve taboo subjects like dating 18 year old college girls, or asking for money for bleacher seats at the world series. some involve taboo subjects like supporting the left wing ideals of american politics. some involve writing in such a way that english teachers everywhere would have heartattacks.

not every experiment is going to work out the way that i expect it and thats why i love science and why i love life. because theyre both filled with surprises. some are happy surprises, some are sad ones that make you want to just pull the sheet over your head and take another damn personal day.

if theres anything that you can take from the busblog, take this: follow your heart, come from a good place, trust the world, be fearless with your opinoins, and write more than usual.

last night i got to hear one of my favorite rock stars lead the fans of my favorite team in the singing of take me out to the ballgame during the seventh game of the national league playoffs, when mr. billy corgan of the smashing pumpkins sang last night with that pisces iscariot lilt of sadness that he has become known for.

if you remember, during game one, jimmy buffett sang during the seventh inning stretch and fox didnt show it.

i bitched on here and i dont even like jimmy buffett the way my buddy the video guy likes him, but i argued that it is a tradition at wrigley, and it is a tribute to their last great broadcaster, mr harry caray.

and im not saying that because i blogged it, it created change in how a gi-normous multibillion dollar tv network chose to present their baseball playoff coverage.

but im not saying that it didnt cause change either.

if even i was just one voice in a chorus of people singing bullshit, now you might know how important that one voice is.

you are valuable, cubfans.

your opinions matter.

start a blog. write in it.

tell people about yourself and the things you like and the things you dont like.

there will be assholes

but there will also be angels.

tonight the boston red sox play their arch rivals the new york yankees in the seventh and deciding game of the american league playoffs.

pedro vs the rocket in the house that ruth built.

classic east coast bench clearing brawling and beanball baseball in rocktober.

the red sox havent won a world series since 1918 and the yankees bitchslap the integrity of the game with how they assemble their team each year while giving the middle finger to sportsmanship.

if pedro hits every yankee in the head and punches zim in the gut he wont really be doing the Lords work, but he will be doing mine.

lets go sox.

i heart kate + ken layne is coming to LA this weekend to give us rock + the knowledge problem

ive typed those words a million times in this blog and a lot of you just saw it on tv.

i just saw it on tv.

if life was fair i wouldnt have so many friends. i wouldnt be so damn good looking. i wouldnt have all these cars and homes and bling.

i wouldnt have all of you reading exactly what i would be writing in my diary if i still kept one.

if life was fair lots of you wouldnta sent me money so that if the cubs made it past tonight i would be sitting in a bleacher seat next to one of the coolest girls in america.

thank you, by the way, to everyone who sent me money. it should have all been returned to you. if anyone didnt get a refund, please let me know.

if life was fair i would be living an average life. with average ups and downs. with average expectations and average failures.

but life isnt fair and i end up getting way more than i deserve which is why i try to share as much of it as i can with you.

still that doesnt mean that i wasnt close to tears when the cubs game ended tonight.

but fortunately i was distracted by a phone call from the xbi telling me that in the morning i was probably going to get written up and definitely some of my responsibilities would be stripped from me.

if life was fair i would be making more money there, but things even out, its cool.

for months ive been asking not to have to patrol west of the 405, that making me cover the wesssside spreads me too thin and i will miss shit that happens in hollywood, downtown, and south central.

well today on my day off something gnarly happened in west la, something i should have predicted, but because my plate was full and has been full for six months sometimes mistakes happen.

whats interesting is tommorow i will be stripped of what i was asked to be taken away from me a half year ago.

i will be yelled at about something that ive been yelling about.

whatever.

theres always the next hearbreak.

coyote has been taking some amazing pictures + trevor + jaime

to stop from thinking about it. saw kill bill. now i have a headache. rented a car and they had to drive me to my house to get an electricity bill so that they knew i was legit.

just because i have an electricity bill doesnt make me legit, i told him.

he said he knew who i was but the boss needed an electricity bill since i didnt have a credit card, only a bank check card.

i said you can drive me to my house but all this hassle… i want a break on the car rental.

they gave me a little break.

good car. it will get me to work and back while the mta gets over their strike.

went to kfc, got home, saw the red sox win. chatted with karisa who was stoked, chatted with kristin who just flowed the busblog and told me that sometimes her mom reads this

hi madpony mom

i think both of your daughters are great but im deeply in lust with kristin

lust in a nice way

a sweet way.

i hope my foul language at times and my stories dont offend you, im just trying to give the kids what they want.

and after seeing kill bill, i dont know why people get mad at me for talking about some of the violent moments that happen in the xbi.

while kristin and i were chatting kerry wood gave up three runs in the first inning and i said a swear word and told her i was going to have to lie down and watch the game.

she said why

i said cuz i might cry.

she said oh baby.

then i realized i didnt have my lucky shirt on or my lucky hat.

so i put those on, and the cubs scored a run, and then kerry wood got up and hit a homer.

now we’re all tied up at three all.

i think we’re going to go to the world series, mrs pony.

and i think boston is gonna come with us.

which means me and karisa will be going to chicago.

lets hope.

better yet, lets pray.

<3 madpony <3

to big time games.

either you have to know someone or be rich or be someone or be evil or be connected or steal or be on the take or have blown someone or something to sit front row during a bigtime playoff game like that and looking at my buddy there i can think of a few things he musthave done from that list to be in the position that he was last night when fate rang and he answered, “yell-low.”

its pretty easy to be a cub fan in the front row of a baseball game.

you sit there.

you cheer when the cubs do anything, and boo at the other team, and try to make the umpire cry, and drink your beer, and eat your food, and if someone passes something dont bogart and pass it along.

tip the guys who bring you your shit

and dont reach over the railing.

the umpire said that moises reached into the stands.

ump was wrong. everyone was wrong. the fans arms are going out. moises’s glove was going up.

not only will the guy have a beautiful life in florida, where he should move back to, but im glad he didnt even get the ball.

pray for kerry wood.

pray for sammy sosa.

pray for moises and randall and kenny lofton.

its ok to pray for baseball players.

and please pray for joe borowski.

im off to get more rum.

your pal,

tony

crewed up everything, but i also had nothing going right at my place.

i had people over and all our phones were ringing.

everyone i know was calling and we were watching the thing on tivo and people were saying all the wrong things.

just dont say anything.

dont call.

this dude has to call me tonight and thats gonna suck cuz i would really like to unplug the phone but when youre xbi your phone can never be unplugged.

we save the world.

it sucks.

being home in the day is weird. ive been listening to the sports talk radio shows this morning while generally freaking out. talked to work about four times.

im nervous about tonights game and i just want to go somewhere and watch a movie for a couple of hours but thats right theres a transit strike going on. i cant go to manns chinese and see kill bill.

it is screening in walking distance, but not till two. which means i will miss the red sox game.

but maybe that will give them luck.

i hope the red sox know they can beat the yankees. they can.

and i hope sammy sosa knows that it would be ok for him to hit a few moonshots tonight.

i got a beautiful email from an elementary school teacher who said she flowed me ten bucks and told her fellow teacher to donate too, and does it get any better than that?

well, yes, yes it does.

kerry wood could shut out the damn fish and sammy could hit like four grand slams.

the rum, by the way, woke me up this morning tapping at my shoulder, unscrewing its own cap and motioning that it would like to dive down my throat.

i was in no condition to argue with anybody at that hour.

aaron + abigail + megan all flowed bringing the total to $392 which is good because the ebay dude auctioning the tickets relisted his auction late yesterday and it looks like it will indeed cost two grand to sit in the bleachers.

much love to doug and jack for their extra special efforts.

i dont want to go to work. for a variety of reasons. plus the damn busses and subways are on strike. plus the most important game the cubs have had in at least 20 years, if not over 50 years is going to be on tv today and im not guaranteed that i will make it back home in time to see it.

and what if the mailman bumps my satellite dish? and what if my tivo fucks up. and what if the electricity goes out in the middle of the day and deprograms everything.

i have personal days at the xbi that they give us. if this isnt personal, i dont know what is.

problem is i will get hell for it when i go back to work on thursday. and i will have to hear it from a number of people and why cant i get someone to invent a home tshirt making machine because if there was one i would make a shirt that said

seventh game of the national league playoffs, bitches.

and on the back it would say

one game away from the world series.

i know im not the best writer, america. but i am a great fan. im a fan of so many things and most of them take place during a baseball game.

strategy like crazy, drama, psychology, good vs evil, youth vs experience, intimidation, the poetry of emotional communication, history, power, precision, guts, fear, teamwork, preparation, finesse, and the relationship between fans and their heroes.

the relationship between a manager and his piss poor bullpen and his ace who has probably thrown too many pitches.

how on earth can i be fucking around at the job, a place that i showed up early so i could leave early, but am instead stuck doing overtime cuz of some selfish asshole who wants to play chicken with me with the fucking print button, when mark prior climbs the dark mound of wrigley on a chilly autumn night needing the support of everyone but especially me, the worlds dumbest cubfan.

if i wasnt a Christian minister i would call in sick today, but im not sick. im no liar. i have been given personal days, this is a personal day.

the cubs. the team of my life. the staple of my tshirt collection. the reason i have directv and tivo. will be playing game seven in the playoffs, winner goes to the world series, in wrigley field, the place my ashes will be sprinkled.

unlike the fiction of this blog, my job doesnt involve saving lives, really.

i can take a damn day off.

in america.

during a transit and grocery strike.

if the son of a nazi can run and win the office of governor of california, tony can take a day off to see his cubs get into the damn world series.

despite his unquenchable work ethic.

and if youre ever curious if youre losing your mind, think about if youre speaking about yourself in the third person.

jason + jesus rob + wandering steve + basart + sarah all pitched in for the bleacher seats bringing the tally to $252.

thank you so much you very kind people.

all my life it’s been like this.

walked down the hall in school back in the day. cubs hat on or cubs shirt on. i owned a variety of cubs shirts since my lovely mother would pick out only the finest at kmart or zayre.

walk down the hall and all the kids would pass by and theyd say it

cubs suck

tall kid popping his bubble gum

cubs suck

little kid with freckles and a fucked up hairdo

cubs blow

teacher looking over his glasses

tony, the cubs suck.

and back then the cubs did suck.

those people were just training me to remember that there is no wait till next year for some teams. only thing next year is bringing is a different heartbreak so may as well remind you right now the fat guy with a trapper keeper said in so many words when he too passed by and coughed

cubs suck

but even then i didnt listen to no one but acdc so fuck them i thought and went to french class and thought about video games, as they were new.

i told my work today that i needed tuesday through friday of next week off to go to chicago and pay thousands of dollars for two tickets to the fourth game of the world series at wrigley field on my birthday and my boss mumbled something about world series i dont care cubs world what and i didnt say nothing i just went about my business cuz if i have to be fired then fire my ass, but all of you saw the chicago cubs today and if you think theyre going to make it this far again any time soon, as in, in my lifetime, then you just havent been paying attention.

outside of prior and wood and sammy nobody is going to remember any of these dudes ever again. as great as kenny lofton was for the tribe back in the day, speedy black leadoff hitting centerfielders are a dime a dozen. the cubs are a better than average baseball team, solely because of their home run hitting champ, their two incredible starters, and their manager who has to be given the benefit of the doubt for keeping tonights starter in the game for so long, because before dusty, cubs hadnt been this deep into the playoffs since the last time i cried over them.

hot chick was over watching the game with basart, tsar, and i, and afterwards everyone said they were sorry and i told them that it was i who was sorry because i was going to have to kick them out so i could write something.

and the hot chick was sorta upset because she was feeling sick and she thought i was going to go to her wilshire blvd condo on the wesssside after the game and i told her that things had changed, that if she hadnt noticed some ass hole wearing a cubs hat and a marlins jersey had stuck his big fat hand over the railing and prevented moises alou from catching what would have been the second out of the inning, and instead the inning turned into an 8 run disaster.

and while the christmas lights twinkled in my bedroom she stood there, hot, too stunned to sniffle, and obviously unaware of who she’d been making out with all these weeks, i was a man who was about to put his head in a pillow and cry over a baseball game

and then write about it on his fucking blog.

she said but why do you have to spend all night writing about it and i said do you think the tribune is going to write about it properly or the times or the st petersberg whatever or the santa barbara news press those people arent going to…

and she took her cute little things and she collected the keys to her two seater and walked one of the finest asses you’ll ever see out of the door

which might not have been so bad if there wasnt a bus strike and she being my ride to work in the morning.

and in a perfect world, this would have been my work for the day.

writing.

or i’d have a job where i could talk to somebody reasonable who would say take the day off tony pierce, tomorrow the cubs have to get into the world series

which, tonight should have shown you, isnt all that easy.

and today just like when they won

im somber, unsurprised, and stunned

gorilla mask + welch + howard owens

get me and krazy karisa to wrigley to sit in the bleachers and drink old style and eat vienna pure beef dogs and throw peanut shells at the white sox fans.

and its easy. either you can flow, you can pray, you can link one of the posts today on your blog, you can make a button that you can send me that i can then distribute through the web, you can get your uncle to just mail me his bleacher seats, you can call your friend of your friend, you can just sit there and enjoy the show.

mr. frankenstein the redsox fan flowed which brings our tally to $116, which is mighty good.

keep in mind boston fans, if your team makes it, our girl karisa comes with. karisa is the cute one in the picture without the receding froline. and she really loves the redsox.

maybe enough to grant a photo essay or three in return for some healthy donations to the bleacher seat fund.

on the way to work today, cuban girl and i saw twin women. maybe they were 50. if not they were in their mid to late 40s. totally wearing the same sweater, same pants, same purse, same hairdo. walking across the street together at the same time in the morning.

funniest thing happened when one pointed west down sunset blvd and the other pointed south down poinsettia. it was a moment that would have been great to capture on film, i mean on my digital camera, but no. i suck.

the cuban girl has a convertible but she never puts the top down. it’s very curious.

so karisa says that if the flow continues to come then i have her permission to use her in a photo essay.

shes very shy so this is actually quite a concession. she really wants to go to the world series with me. it looks like her red sox are trying to make it a little too dramatic however. they just had the bases loaded with their bro Manny up and he grounded out to third. but now they just cut a guy down trying to steal.

really quite exciting, if you let it excite you.

do you like baseball, america?

i guess someone does if the bleacher seat auction on ebay is over two grand.

so not like im giving up or anything, but what happens if the web flows me a grand and the auction is two grand. do i really refund all your money, or do i put out an s-o-s to my pallies in the xbi? does that count, or is this an experiment to see if the web can really come through. an exercise to see if a blogger can really get what he wants, for his birthday?

questions questions.

anyhow this afternoons dude of the day has to be Jack Bog who posted something super awesome about this push for the bleacher seats.

Jack, you rule! thank you!!!

You rule too Allison: we’ve broken the all-important $125 mark!

brian is a libra + alecia has pictures + dc has ham

subways too. so the cute cuban girl spent the night with me and woke up early to take my blogging ass to work.

people were still waiting at the busstops playing with their change. not a lot of people. just enough.

we passed by striking grocery store workers and we honked. i raised my fist and yelled out “union forever!” and they said whooooo right back at me. its foggy in LA. its cold in the day. its warm in the afternoon. its crazy here. the cubs are going to the world series tonight.

and youre sending me there.

solomon dropped off my upgraded computer. its fast as hell. its clean. its like how i feel after a nice shower and a hot tub dip and a roll in the hay and some rum and a nice light eyed girl in clean sheets and whats that smell oh its brownies. you made brownies? yep. that oven works? sure.

went to bed early. went to sleep late. i had a mixed cd that after each song she’d whisper, i have to steal this cd. i consider that a compliment.

im so excited nervous excited nervous excited freaked out nervous happy about mark prior taking on the fish at wrigley tonight that i barely ate anything last night. just some soup. just some soda. just a scoop of icing. then bed.

then prayers. dear Lord please let the cubs win tonight. please let them. please let mark prior be mark prior for just a few more games. three games max. let sammy connect and be patient. let randall simon only swing at strikes. let aramis ramirez catch the ground balls and throw them accurately to first. let the marlins run themselves out of contention. let our bullpen skate by. let the fans of chicago, the cubs fans, the forgotten people, the worthy tribe, let them celebrate tonight on the corner of clark and addison and on waveland and on sheffield. let the people spill out of the cubby bear and down the street past the billy goat. let murphys bleachers rock when they raise that white w flag. let the fire trucks ring their bells and the children dance into the night.

dear Lord let the cubs get into the world series tonight.

amen.

i love you.

i called my mom and my sister and pretty much every old girlfriend i had except a few. i took a shower, i flipped around tivo. i talked to the gas company. i talked to my true loves answering machines. i talked to karisa who is stoked who wants to go with me to wrigley and we talked about whether we could be friends if the red sox and the cubs were facing off against each other and we realized that we didnt know if we could be friends.

one of us would be so sad. one of us would say how could we make it this far just to have our heart broke. one of us would fly back to hollywood with a tshirt that said league champs that is the saddest shirt cuz it means you lost the world series. one of us would have to pose in a bikini on the cover of maxim. one of us would have to wait until next year, which meant never.

if the red sox made it to the world series and lost to the cubs and if i was a red sox fan i would cry.

if the red sox beat the cubs in the world series and the cubs didnt have a bench clearing brawl that included doing to pedro what zim wanted to do but was short of breath i would cry. me and the cuban babe reviewed that game, that yankee game of sunday, and pedro was throwing a good three feet inside. it was sad.

do you know i love you? i do. if you dont donate i’ll still love you. dont feel guilty. this isnt about that. this is about asking and shall receiving. this is about an experiment in blogging. this is about a study in paypaling. this is about a pair of tickets that are now over two grand and i have raised sixty six bucks. oh wait, two people have flowed twenty bucks each! thank you tom and david!

thank yooooooooooooooou!

melting dolls + the blog of the century of the week + mr. cynical

everything is upside down right now. arnold is my governor. rush is a drug addict. karl malone is a laker. the grocery store is on strike, the bus is on strike, you can say fuck on tv now.

im not saying i deserve to see the cubs in the world series, or that this cub team is one of the finest ever, or that there arent more important things to be rallying around than getting my ass back where it belongs in the bleachers of wrigley field. but im going. i called my mom today and told her. i called my sister and told her. i told my boss and my bosses boss and pretty much everyone i talked to. i told karisa that if the red sox make it then i’ll take her, and thats when my sister called up and said that she has enough air miles to send me and karisa out there and back for free.

im going to the world series and so are the cubs.

on my damn birthday.

and of course i know that asking for money is a dirty thing and uncomfortable and weird and you know what, not for me. and it isnt any of those things when i give it either. i would definitely flow my favorite bloggers twenty bones for their birthday especially if it would help them get bleacher seats to their favorite team in the fall classic. why not? if i really liked him id even think about forty. wtf afterall.

right now the tickets are going for over $1,500. i think it’s worth it. if i was truly 110 years old, this would be maybe the fourth world series i would have ever seen at wrigley. but im not 110 and the cubs arent really all that great, other than a few guys, so this might not happen again. which makes me think that two grand for those tickets might be worth it. a hundred people flowing twenty bucks? that could be done.

great part is, it has to happen in two and a half days.

people talk to me about the web and blogging and i tell them that magic can happen on the web in a way it cant anywhere else. and i mean in lots of ways.

before blogging the cubs totally sucked. now look at them.

thank you, internet.

and thank you instahangover + xtracyx + katie hall + joh3n, and jack! we are now at $66. excellent start!

you people sent me to aruba a little more than a year ago, and ive been thanking you for that for a long time. in a year i dont think youd say that ive slacked off. im going to this damn game. im going to take pictures and have stories for you, and i will blog from my mommas house and show you pictures of my niece, my sister, all her damn animals, the fans of chicago, the married with children fountain, the tribune building, the sears tower, the united center, the new soldier field, the town that i grew up in, and so much more. and maybe even your girl k*. so flow till it hurts and tell all your friends.

and pray that my work doesnt fire me. cuz im going. if i have to drink beers across the street at the cubby bear, im going. but id rather be in the bleachers. and id rather be there cuz of you.

go red sox.

go cubs.

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