With tomorrow being the deadline I am assuming most STH have made up their mind. I gave them the 10% yesterday. I know I am an addict , but I just can't afford the therapy costs to get over it, the tickets are actually cheaper. I would like to hear from any current STH that did not renew ( and those who did can feel free to chime in as well).

There was a famous theory which I believe was first posited by Mike Royko that no team with 3 or more ex Cubs ever won a World Series and the team with most ex Cubs always lost to a team with fewer. it worked well until 2001 when when the Diamondbacks won the World Series with 3 ex Cubs. Never the less the curse seems to work more often than not ( another major exception where the 2009 Phillies) , this year it might appear the Rays and Brewers with 3 ex Cubs each are DOOMED particularly when there are few ex Cubs on other teams. As near as I can tell, the Yankees, Rangers, Phillies & Tigers have none ( I am only counting players who played at least one MLB game with the Cubs), The Cards & D'Backs have  have one

D'backs - Hank White

Cards- Riot

Brewers-McGehee, Hawkins, Hairston

Rays- Fuld, Farnsworth Cruz

I just hope the Curse works on Milwaukee , but not The Rays

East Coast earthquake. My building shook and I actually thought it was something to do with construction. My first earthquake. Sounds like it was worse in DC / VA. A lot of people ran into streets. Hopefully no aftershocks.

I am sure many of you have read that the wonderful actor Peter Falk died today after a long illness. There is a priceless story in his obituary that is my baseball themed laugh of the week ( this does not count watching Sori run). Falk lost an eye to cancer when he was 3 and thus wore a glass eye, but he did not let this slow down his interest in athletics and he played baseball among other sports in high school.

 "In one story he liked to tell, after being called out at third base during a baseball game, he removed his eye and handed it to the umpire.

“You’ll do better with this,” he said.        

Dempster & Pena need to on the DL. I don't know what is the matter with either of them, but they cannot be allowed to "play through it". Also Russell should never get another start. This means you need two starting pitchers and one position player added now (you can send Berg back). The absurdly limited options for starting pitchers have been pointed out, but you have to do SOMETHING. Ortiz should be brought up TODAY and not start in Iowa and either bring up Jackson or get Millwood. I would prefer Millwwod to bringing up Jackson so early but whatever keeps Russell & Demp from starting has to be done. For replacing Pena you basically go to Baker with perhaps a start or two from Colvin. The question is to bring up another first baseman or something else. You can bring up LaHair which is OK for filler, you can bring up Ridling who is about the hottest hitter in the minors but not sure you want him rotting on the bench. You  could also bring up B-Jacks but you have the same issue as Ridling with him rotting on the bench. The one thing you cannot do is keep letting Pena & Russell start. 

Sorry no details yet. It the across the front headline of the New York Times. I ALMOST feel sorry for Dodger fans but this is on Bud & MLB for allowing McCourt and his leveraged money to buy the Dodgers in the first place. Word word word word FULD word word word ett

ESPN has a daily poll for the best play, Fuld's amazing catch ( which I have now seen a few times) is easily ESPN's the play of the day, not just on Baseball Tonight but on all Web Gems, now ESPN Baseball Tonight has a running poll for best play of the year. Currently it is Cleveland's Triple Play, but if  enough people vote for Fuld's catch it knocks it out. I honestly believe it is the better play as the Triple Play is more of a play of opportunity which is started by a very good catch, but nearly as good as Fuld's

Go to the link and scroll down to bottom right corner to vote,

Vote for Fuld

The situation here is less dramatic version of the one in Chicago. Sales are way down and people can not sell any extras they have. I had an extra lawn ticket for the Sox game yesterday which had been "sold out" for two months. I was at the game the day before and it was still a sell out with no tickets available. When the box office opened  there were a LOT tickets available ESPECIALLY lawn tickets so hardly VIP returns. Apparently they just printed a bunch more and while the lawn was full it was really crowded as in the past. Basically a lot of no shows. Where it gets interesting is when ordinary fans who had extras tried to sell them. Most people know that like Wrigley you are not allowed to sell in front of the park, but not everyone does and of course there are no signs. The scalpers and others must sell just off the property where you can catch people walking to the park. I was out for over an hour before the game, not a single person myself included was able to sell a ticket even at well below face.
Now back to the park. The police were just awful. I saw them go up to two people who clearly had no idea it was against the rules. Holding your tickets up and saying does anyone need an extra is kind of a sign you don't know. They did NOT go over and tell them it was against the rules and they had to off the property to sell them. They told them they broke the law, asked for an I.D , took down the info and wrote them a summons. Now they did not enforce the fine of some $400 dollars, but they told them to immediately leave the property and they would be arrested for trespass  if they returned. Keep in mind these were fans going to the game who had extras. I talked to a young man who was practically in tears. He had come from CA to meet a friend who was die hard fan. He had wanted to see the Cubs/White Sox for YEARS. Some of us told him to just go in on the other side and no one would see him but he was terrified, He did not care about losing the money on the tickets, but now he could not go to the game.
I think this is outrageous behavior and it does nothing to stop the professional scalpers (who did no business anyway). Way to go Cubs. Abuse fans whose only crime was having an extra ticket and not realizing they were not supposed to compete with the box office. I can't believe they could not issue a warning first and if it is that important than post some damn signs.  I am guessing that guy won't be a Cub fan for long.

As of  Feb 1 Time Warner in now carrying WGN on channel 162 so if you are serviced by Time Warner you  can watch the first Spring Training broadcast tomorrow. I know they service most of Manhattan. Not sure about Comcast which has some of the surrounding parts of NYC.