not sure how i feel about this
how they put up the hockey rink at wrigley
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Tag Archives: cubs
i dont wanna talk about it
go bears
my first full beer was an old style at wrigley field
i was way too young to be drinking, but back then if your mom gave you $10 you could sit in the bleachers for $3, get a hot dog for $2, get a beer for $3 and still have some money left over to get some peanuts and a score card and a pencil and stuff.
the beer guy looked at me when i asked for a beer. he was carrying two cases through the bleachers. in those days the bleachers were legendary, but that didnt mean that people really sat there much.
i said, one please.
he looked around, looked at the scoreboard, looked at me. figured i was screwed forever
and poured me one.
if im ever in the position to breed or adopt, i wont allow my children to be cub fans.
its too expensive.
update: this photo says it all
Questions from the greatest people in the world:
busblog readers
and answers from the worst man of all, tony pierce
this one goes out to melissa gluck of Curbed LA who i falsely accused of something and i was so wrong and im so sorry and i hope she can find it in her heart to forgive me:
1. World Peace, Legalized Weed, or a live Bukowski reading? Why?
The WordSlinger
If weed was legal there’d be a LOT more peace and it would inspire the next generation of great writers and poets and losers to bang out a few more books. Or it would simply inspire them to bang more.
2. Are you sad that something came up and I couldn’t see you in :LA?
Michael (aka Azreal Darkskies)
To be honest, im usually very nervous about meeting fans of the busblog because im afraid i cannot ever possibly live up to the personae that ive created. so i was probably quite relieved.
3. When will you come to Chicago and sit in the bleachers with me and drink warm Old Style?
Bob
As tempting as you make it sound, you’ll have to wait till next year. I’m trying to save the world over here.
4. this has been bothering me for quite some time. i would like to know why, at the end of the day, when i have consumed nothing more than cereal and coffee, my sink is overflowing with dishes, YET AGAIN. all i ever do is the fucking dishes and here they are again, night after night, CONSTANTLY MOCKING ME FROM MY DISGUSTING SINK.
it never ends. please help.
murl
if you do them it only encourages them. i mock them by eating fast food and cooking using paper bowls and plastic forks. when the sink starts stinking i say oh yeah? and cut a fart and light it.
5. Why do girls seem a little bit accessible everywhere else?
Sycz
Girls hate local boys. proven fact. always be on the road. always be traveling. always be leaving home and make them miss you, and stay away far too long and before you return demand that they welcome you back – properly. and if they agree and then dont fulfill their end of the bargain, stop talking to them forever and share their secrets with the world in upcoming books.
6. why do people forget that i have been blogging longer than you, is it because you are more of a whore opportnist or just a whore? when are you going to grow some hair back? when are you going to stop saying baby? it makes my skin crawl haha.
raymi
1) b/c youre a woman 2. b/c youre canadian 3. b/c i was web-siteing before you were blogging, baby. and ps thats not your skin crawling thats your juices flowing and i appreciate the compliment.
7. Will you come to Vancouver on September 20th for the Matt Good show to hang out with all the cool people and hotties you met in Vegas?
Jennie
that day is my mommys birthday and the things i would do with the hotties i met in vegas i would never do on my mommys birthday
8. Would ya?
Ciavarro
in canada theres very little i wouldnt do cuz it doesnt count up there. except cocaine. i would never do that there.
9. why the fuck not?
timmay!!!!!
ok fine, you talked me into it.
10. How overrated is grad school?
John
if it allows you to become a professor at UC Isla Vista it’s perfectly-rated. if its just a way to avoid the world for a few years as you bang undergrads, repeatedly. wait what were we talking about?
11. When will TSAR rule the world?
Why are chicks so whacked?
Why is Bush still in office?
Who is your favorite candidate?
How is your carpal tunnel?
Do you ever tire of writing?
Chris C
when fear is thru with its turn, if i got cramps and bled once a month id be way worse than any chick i ever met, dumb constitution, ron paul 08, 90% cleared up thank you!, writing is the same as beating off and taking recordbreaking shits and i love all three equally – infact this week i wrote write my 2,000th post on LAist
12. How much better is Canadian weed?
Would you rather stay sober than smoke a shitty bowl?
Michael (aka Azreal Darkskies)
not to burst your bubble but it wasnt better than the weed i normally smoke, but it was way funner to get in vancouver, mostly because it was from the hells angels, and the process was very quick and organized. just like naked girls, if you cant make something good out of a bowl of weed then you probably should go back to defending george bush because youre clearly not playing this game correctly.
when you have a pity party – do you invite god? cuz you kinda know what he’s gonna say.
Adriel
if theres one thing i avoid its negativity. oh and success. however when i have been very sad i have been enlightened while in prayer. its only happened a few times but its amazing. i sorta avoid those moments too cuz theyre super freaky.
what happened to malingering on laist?
Rob F
everyone deserves a summer vacation. especially her.
Jesus comes back and says “Tony? You need to run the L.A. Times’ sports section.” What do you do in the first 100 days?
Matt Welch
the first day id say, but i wanted to run the playboy mansion blog squad.
the second day id say, but id rather work with melissa lalum at the Daily News
the third day id say, wait just because i need to run it doesnt mean i have the gig
the fourth day id say, oh great thanks for giving me the gig, didnt want it
the fifth day id say, how did i end up here on spring street, what happened to free will?
the sixth day id say, its saturday why am i still at work?
the seventh day id rest
the eighth day id fire everyone except helene elliott
the ninth day id rehire the transexual Christine and apologize for firing her
the tenth day id hire Steve Czaban to cover Gaucho Hoops
the eleventh day id hire Scott Ferrell to do the Lunchtime Podcast of Hate
the twelfth day id hire twelve maids a milking
the thirteenth day id write a column about Bud Selig being a racist
the fourteenth day id stop covering the Angels until they cut the shit about being the LA Angels
the fifteenth day id hire Snoop Dogg to do whatever he willzle
there would be a guest sports columnist every day from the world of sport or entertainment. id let kids cover the X Games, like 13 yrs old and under. Sundays would be Ladies Day, all stories written by the fairer sex. sorry HR dept.
there would be so much multimedia live, on-the-spot reporting in the online arm (Jesus would let me run the sports portion of LATimes.com too cuz he Loves me) with videos AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE and not that retardulious LA Times propriety video bullshit that doesnt let you embed and spread the genius thru wacky things like the blogosphere, that it would dominate the world.
i would allow the Laker Girls to write tons. i would demand that Phil Jackson tell us about spirituality and office politics every Saturday during the off season. i would also abuse our local national treasures by picking their brains AT LEAST once a week. those treasures being of course Tommy Lasorda, Vin Scully, Magic Johnson, and Mr. John Wooden. all of whom we’re lucky are still alive so we should celebrate them now and not wait until its too late for long ass bullshit obits and special sections when Jesus offers them new jobs in the sky.
to all my midwest peeps
my family, the cubs, my buddy bob, urban, and all the rest
Happy New Year!
thanks to urban hayseed
yesterday i sat in the bleachers
of wrigley field, the greatest seats at the greatest ball park ever
when the cubs started losing we decided to interview the fans
i could probably post ten good vids, but heres one to get you started
and four more over at LAist to get a nice sample of what went down
the day john lennon died in 1980 i cried.
not because i gave a shit about the pussy ass beatles, but because the cubs had traded away their star, reliever Bruce Sutter.
good ole number 42 had been a Cub since day one in in 1971 and broke in with the big club in 1976. however in ’77 he came into his own with his trademark split fingered fastball, the deadliest sinker ever in the sport and the numbers proved it – 107 1/3 innings, 1.34 ERA, 129 strikeouts, 31 saves, only 69 hits and a measly five homers allowed. and this for a .500 team.
sutter was a cub all star from 77-80, but when the Wrigley-owned Cubs didnt want to pay a relief pitcher $1 million they traded them to the dreaded St. Louis Cardinals for aging 3B Ken Reitz, young buck Leon “Bull” Durham and a player to be named later.
i cried that december day harder than any of the moptoppers because the winds of change were blowing and how did i know that big Lee Smith was working his way into the closer roll?
i liked bruce sutter because he was the everyman. it took him so long to make it up through the minors because his fastball wasnt very fast and his curveball didnt curve. so he tweaked the traditional forkball grip to make the splitter whose secret was right when the forkball was to be released the thumb pushed the ball through to add to the topspin.
the result was a pitch that looked like a weak fastball flying straight and true at the heart of the plate until the very last second when it fell off the table.
since Sutter’s fastball wasnt very fast, you never knew if the ball was going to keep going straight for a strike or die in the dirt.
the only time that i ever remember someone guessing right and beating sutter while he was a cub was Mike Schmidt in 1979 in the 10th inning of the 23-22 game.
once bruce was traded to the cardinals i watched him from afar and cursed the Cubs for not keeping him, but was happy for him when he won a world series ring.
so now the debate is whether Sutter will be inducted as a Cub (where he came up and had better seasons) or as a Cardinal (where he had a few good years but won it all). to me the choice couldnt be easier, he wasnt signed by the cardinals, he didnt learn his bread-and-butter pitch with the Cards, and the cards suck.
so a Cub he will go into the Hall as, im betting.
this was his 13th year of eligibility and the first true reliever to be elected – true meaning he never started a game.
so from all of us at the busblog, congrats Bruce!
and if you go in as a cardinal may you slip in the shower.
i know im faking it pretty good
but my heart is breaking.
my whole life all ive wanted was for the owners of the cubs to spend a little money to get some decent players for my favorite baseball team.
this week they’ve decided to spend $17 million to get rid of the greatest cub ever.
$17 million. thats like 4 presidential inaugural balls.
sammy sosa hit 35 home runs last year in his worst season in over a dozen years. many who want him out say that he had such a miserable season because his body was deteriorating from not doing steroids any more.
(sosa has been subject to accusations for steroid use, but has always tested clean.)
many of the naysayers point to yankee firstbasemen jason giambi who became a burden to new york since he didn’t play last year for the bronx bombers due to his admitted withdrawl from steroid use.
sammy played 75% of the season last year and hit 35 home runs.
jason played 50% of the season last year and hit 12 home runs.
only fools compare giambi to sosa.
the financial benefit for the cubs “unloading” his salary? a mere $1 to $7 mil depending on how you do the math. either way it’s not much when you consider that we’re talking about a guy who hit over 550 homers with the cubs, and can easily change a game in an instant.
but don’t try to make sense of any of this, this is the chicago cubs we’re talking about here.
sosa is being run out of chicago like he caught some sexually transmitted disease while cheating on his wife.
which is interesting because when magic johnson admitted to catching the worst sexually transmitted disease while cheating on his wife, the city of los angeles comforted him with open arms and gave him a tv talk show and the keys to any starbucks, tgifs, and fatburgers that he wanted to buy.
so what does it tell you when sports fans of tinsel town are more generous to their fallen sports heroes than the once-lovable patrons of the friendly confines.
sammy sosa came to the cubs as an excuse-me superstar from the crosstown rival chicago white sox.
although gm larry hines believed in the dominican outfielder so much that this was the second time that he had traded for him, cub fans held little or no hope for the skinny scorpio who spent half of his first season with the cubs on the injured list.
doubt him all you want, the next year, 1993, sosa slammed 33 homers and swiped 36 bases to become the first cub to ever make the 30-30 club.
his reward? he was allowed to be signed by the Boston Red Sox during the strike sea
son of 1994, but it was overruled by the commissioners office because it happened in the forrest as a tree fell and no one heard it.
he re-signed with the cubs after the strike and hit 36 homers and stole 34 bases.
in 96 he hit 40 homers in 124 games and some griped that he was hurt too much.
in 97 played every single game and people griped that he only hit 36 homers. only?
so in 1998 he broke roger maris’s long-standing single year home run record. sammy slammed 66 home runs and drove in a ridiculous 158 rbis. sadly, an admitted steroid abuser, mark mcguire, hit 5 more home runs than our hero and reaped some acclaim.
but the national league named sammy the mvp of the league that season, and the cubs got into the playoffs.
the next year sammy hit 63 homers. the first time anyone has ever had back to back 60+ homer seasons. unfortunately mcguire hit 65 that year and tied him for that record.
in 2000 he hit 50, and in 2001 he became the first and only player to ever hit over 60 home runs in three different seasons, he hit 64, brought home 160 ribbies.
no cub had ever done anything like that before. not just the numbers, but the hope.
in any game that the cubs were behind, if sammy was due up anytime before the cubs had run out of outs, they still had a chance.
by trading sammy sosa to the baltimore orioles for a banjo player and two magic beans, and by giving baltimore millions and millions of dollars, the cubs are acting just like every team we’ve always hated. we’re making it about tiny amounts of money and bullshit soap opera whine fest revolving around who hurt whose feelings and who wants to wah wah wah the loudest.
poor cub fans, sammy disrespected us by not wanting to be at the last game, not wanting to deal with the misery of losing in the first season where the chicago fucking cubs were “supposed” to win the world series ever in their history.
poor cub fans, shocked that the latin superstar might be a little emotional about the meaningless game, and the team that he was the captain of, and how a large part of their failure was due to his low batting average, and declining skills.
poor cubs, forced to make due with 35 homers and the most deadly #6 batter in baseball. forced to consider the “distraction” that sammy sosa would be to the clubhouse this year or spring training vibe next month. how would they ever cope with their newly-dubbed cancer?
watching the cubs drop sosa like a hot potato for the measliest little scraps from the baltimore oriole system because of the possible turmoil that he would allegedly bring to the locker room makes you wonder if the cubs learned one fucking thing from the boston redsox who had a little cancer named nomah in spring training and on the team for most of the season, along with two choirboys named pedro and manny.
the red sox won their first world championship in 86 years with two-and-a-half cancerous distractions.
maybe they bring good luck.
cub fans celebrating the unceremonious dismissal of their greatest baseball player are being looked at by the sports world as completely insane ungrateful pouters who deserve another 98 years of drought.
sammy didn’t make $10 mil a year until his 8th year with the cubs, the tenth year in the majors. his production and contribution has been a bargain to chicago, and he brought pride and a new way to describe baseball on the northside: exciting.
and im sorry but people weren’t paying $20 to sit on a bleacher in left field before sammy sosa came to town.
this is not the way chicago has ever treated one of its great sports heroes.
they treat their gangsters better than this.
hell, they treat jerry springer better than this.
sammy sosa hall of fame superstar plus $17 million for a bagfull of shit and a mistake to be named later.
they’ve done it year after year, but this is incredibly creative, yes, virginia, the cubs have found a new way to lose.
mo + brett lamb + super jux + franklin ave
last year on this date the new york yankees picked up aaron boone
a hot chick at work told me she liked it when i posted deals from years ago. so here you are: 6/15/03
in order to mourn this day which basart reminds us is the anniversary of the day that Tribune Corp. bought the Cubs from the Wrigley family for a paltry $20.5 million back in 1981 (back when $20.5 million was a lot of money), this will be my last post of the day.
but not before we get this in:
fuck you, Tribune Corp.
from your whiny announcers, to weak infielders, to your general ignorance of all things baseball i raise my middle fingers to your ivory towers and i wish monkeypox onto your most private of areas.
you took a national landmark, a local treasure, a sports jewel and you have wiped your dirty ass with it.
yes the cubs are good right now due to some timely hitting and a handful of young pitchers – pitchers that cost you a million or two, tops.
yes you got us the best manager in baseball after the frisco giants showed him to the door. leftovers. good leftovers, but leftovers none the less. still, thank you. you coulda fucked that up. but you didn’t. a gift landed in your lap and you didn’t squash it. nice work.
but you have done very little else for the cubs in the 23 years that you have slumlorded over my favorite team and for that i curse you and the things you hold dear.
i would say more rude things but my mommys on vacation this week and i understand that she might be reading this post especially since she too loves the cubs and wrigley field.
die you motherfuckers, die.
if you want a baseball team to have as a playtoy, go buy the sox. give the Cubs back to the people. the people deserve better.
how can you let a big fat windbag like George Steinbrenner just cherry pick the planet for the latest stars while you sit around counting your gazillions as the Cubs flounder and the little northside kids weep?
why would you want to do that?
alex gonzales and his clutch home runs helped the Cubs start off the season with some great late-inning wins. but in the last month he is barely hitting .214.
want to do something for the city of chicago? trade him for Miguel Tejada. right now. those dumbass A’s will go for it, and guess what, the Yankees have an all-star shortstop And an all-star second baseman, so this will get you half way there. dumbasses.
god i hate you.
while youre at it trade Mark Bellhorn, Kyle Farnsworth, and Juan Cruz for Frank Catalanotto and Kelvim Escobar. the blue jays don’t know what on earth they’re doing and they’ll be shocked that the cubs are giving up two fresh arms for one.
but this is our chance. this is our season. its now or never. especially the way you seem intent on burning out the arms of mark prior and kerry wood.
do this and i wont hate you.
as much.
makeoutcity voted for miss montreal + sutter + gekkeanna + sk smith
there is a god
and hes not a yankee fan.
greg maddux has returned home where he belongs, the friendly confines in which he spent his formulative years. wrigley field, the land of milk and honey, the crossroads of america, the house that gum built.
older and slower, but he’s back. and if you dont care about baseball or dont care about sports, just know that your hero will sleep alone tonight, but with a smile, and a spark of a glimmer of hope returning to his (good) eye.
pudge who, we got maddux.
in 1986 greg maddux was twenty years old, two years since graduating high school, two years since being drafted by the cubs in the second round.
in 1986, pictured, twenty year old greg maddux appeared in six cubs games, lost four and won two.
in 1987 the cubs put him in the rotation. in 30 appearances he won 6 and lost 14.
the 21 year old would never have a losing record again.
over the next 5 years (’88-’92) greg maddux would go 87-57 despite his team being better than .500 only once during that time.
1992 was his last year as a Cub.
the professor won 20 games, lost 11, struck out 199 batters and had an insane 2.18 era despite playing half of his games in the hitter friendly wind-aided wrigley field.
he pitched more innings than anyone in either league that year, 268.
the cubs (78-84) wound up 18 games behind the bonds+van slyke pirates whose ace was doug drabek (15-11, 177 ks)
in 1992 maddux won the cy young and his right to test the free market waters.
the atlanta braves had the second best pitcher in baseball at the time, mr tom glavine who also had 20 wins in 92, and they had the strikeout leader mr john smoltz who whiffed 215 batters.
ted turner, the braves owner, shelled out $4.2 million for mr. maddux and a pitching dynasty was complete.
greg maddux since 1993 has blazed a trail to the hall of fame. racking up 3 more cy young awards, countless golden gloves, and he’s now only a few games away from recording his 300th win.
he was 194-88 with a 2.63 era during his 11-years with the braves. a team that was perrenially in first place during that stint, only dipping as low as second place once since maddux’s arrival.
he has consistantly been one of the top ten highest paid players in the game as well. last year he earned $14.5 milion.
yesterday the cubs signed him to a three year $24 million deal that would take him to his 40th birthday.
while this is far better than nothing, greg maddux is only 10-10 in postseason play. the cubs beat his ass 3-1 in his only appearence in the playoffs last year.
the braves during that amazing run only won the world series.
however, during his entire career, the last time he won less than 15 games was when he was 22 and had that 4-16 season to forget.
last year, for example, the old man of the staff went 16-11 with a bloated 3.96 era, the highest era he’d racked up since he was 22.
what he can bring to the cubs staff, which is instantly the best in the majors, is experience, intelligence, and class.
$8 mil a year is nothing compared to the value he’s going to give Mark Prior (18-6 2.43), Kerry Wood (14-11 3.20), Matt Clement (14-12 4.11); and especially valuable to the 23 yr old Carlos Zambrano who went 13-11 with a 3.11 era last year and fizzled in the playoffs.
if any team was to compete with the yankees other than the angles this year it had to be the cubs and they had to get maddux. and they did.
and this is where you get on your knees and thank the Lord for letting this happen
for perhaps the tribune corp isnt entirely full of shit after all
aarons baseball blog + souptree + science blog + dub symphony