Received the following email today, as I attend a few mets games this season. It is interesting how strongly worded it is, maybe a firesale is happening for shea this offseason?

Dear Mets Fan:

All of us at the Mets are bitterly disappointed in failing to achieve our collective goal of building upon last year's success. We did not meet our organization's expectations -- or yours. Everyone at Shea feels the same range of emotions as you -- our loyal fans -- and we know we have let you down. We wanted to thank you for your record-breaking support of our team this year.

Equally important, Ownership will continue its commitment in providing the resources necessary to field a championship team. Omar will be meeting with Ownership shortly to present his plan on addressing our shortcomings so that we can achieve our goal of winning championships in 2008 and beyond.

You deserve better results.

Many thanks again for your record-breaking support.

This is Hilarious from our friend at Viva El Birds:

http://vivaelbirdos.com/story/2007/6/14/81448/1658

QUOTE

i swear (i am under a juror's oath, after all) the blog played at least an indirect role in dragging me into this mess --- er, i mean qualifying me for this civic duty. during voir dire, i stated that i make my living as a writer; the prosecuting attorney asked me what type of writing i do, and i gave him a quick description of my client base and said, "that's most of it" or something like that. "most of it," he says; "what's the rest of it?" "i also write a blog."

      Q: a blog? [raised eyebrow] about what?
      A: the st louis cardinals baseball team.
      Q: oh. [pause] how do you feel about mark mcgwire being kept out of the hall of fame?
      A: well, i'm not all that interested in the hall. but i do think he cheated with steroids.

i'm not making this up, now; this exchange really took place. (and i'd like to know how the court reporter rendered "mark mcgwire" on that freaky keypad of his.) i think my answer left the prosecutor saying to himself, hell yeah, i'll take this guy on my jury; he's ready to convict the hometown sports hero on nothing more than circumstantial evidence. then the defense attorney gets up there and says:

      Q: mr borowsky, how you can you be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that mcgwire used steroids?
      A: i'm not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt.
      Q: but you said that you think he cheated with steroids.
      A: that's right --- i do think he cheated. but mcgwire's not on trial, so the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard doesn't really apply.
      Q: i see. so if you were judging him in a court of law, you'd apply a more rigorous standard of proof before you'd convict him --- is that correct?
      A: yes sir.

so now this guy wants me too; he's telling himself, borowsky will give a guy his day in court, even a guy who might look kinda guilty. but the defense attorney's not quite finished:

      Q: in the interest of full disclosure, i should tell you that i grew up on chicago's north side. [pause] knowing that, do you think you can give my client a fair trial?

all sorts of possible answers raced through my head: ask me on september 30, i'll let you know then. or: your client, yes. but if it were you on trial, probably not. or: that depends; what position does your client play? any one of those flippant answers might have gotten me off the hook; they don't usually like smartasses on juries, do they? but i didn't have the nerve, so rather than give the defense a reason to boot me off the panel i just mumbled some generic affirmative answer. score that one an error; neither side struck me, and as a result i have to shower and wear shoes for the rest of the week.

justice sucks.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/luke_winn/05/07/cubs/index.html?eref=si_topstories

Nice profile, even though the writer has to smear the rest of the staff to support his thesis with throwaway lines.

I think our starting pitching staff has been doing the job expected of them. With the bats producing, and if the bullpen starts to lock down, we should give the division a run.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/baseball/mlb/04/13/bc.bbo.playersmuggling.ap/index.html?eref=s i_mlb

"Gus Dominguez, 48, was found guilty Thursday of nearly two dozen federal charges, including conspiracy, smuggling, transporting and harboring, court documents showed.

His attorney, J. Stephen Salter, said they would appeal the convictions. Most of the charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years each in prison."

The initial article

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/325552,CST-SPT-cubnt04.article

So I gave blood in Hoboken a few weeks ago, and they were giving out free Nj Nets tickets. Having never been to a game, I was mildly interested, and today my ticks came and it turns out its the bulls game!

sweet! It even has playoff implications! And i'd thought it be the bobcats or something.

So I haven't followed the team real well in about.. eight years? Aside from Ben Wallace, anyone I should root for? I hate Jason Kidd, so those cheers are covered.

And FJM has the Scoop:

http://www.firejoemorgan.com/2007/03/baseball-is-here.html

"From reader Philip:

I caught some of the Mets-Braves game this afternoon which I believe was the ESPN debut of FJM favorite Dusty Baker along with Ric Sutcliffe and Dave Ryan. In the bottom of the first the three were discussing the Mets batting David Wright second in their batting order. Dusty says, "He (Wright) stole 20 bases last year so you don't have to worry about him clogging up the bases at the top of the order." For reference, first game, bottom of the first inning, first "clogging up the bases" quote from Dusty Baker."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/baseball/mlb/03/19/officers.tickets.ap/index.html?eref=si_mlb

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Some St. Louis police officers are being investigated internally over allegations that they used World Series tickets seized from scalpers, a police spokesman confirmed Monday.

I would think if the cubs were in the world series, cubs would be seizing legit tickets to see the games ;)

I have been thinking about why I like this this site so much. Part of it is probably nostalgia, cause I miss chicago and like to hear snippets from the the town now and then.

I also love baseball, and sometimes miss the littles things you can only get from beat reporting and reading local papers. This site provides plenty of juicy gossip and inside dirt, and there are plenty of stats hungry, but friendly and non arrogant numbers crunchers who are willing to break it down because they care.

When I lived in Chicago, I took a a lot of heat because I liked baseball in general, and the cubs in  particular. Yea the stands can be ful of lots of yuppies and other people I have little in common with, but we have the most important thing in common, a love for baseball and a love for the cubs.

In going to games across the country, I have always made friends and had conversations with people that aside from baseball have little or nothing in common with. I see bcb as a microcosm of that. How well would you get along with your seat mates in the ball park if you had to see that every day?

My grandma is almost ninety, and I called her all winter after every trade to talk about the teams chances. To talk to someone who has been seeing games since the 20s to still be this excited about a team, is a pretty cool feeling.

With that in mind, I'd like to hear some other people talk about why they like the cubs, and this site in general.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2794708

Jeromy Burnitz, who hit 315 home runs in a 14-year career with the New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers and five other clubs, has decided to retire, his agent said.

315 hrs? I guess if you can stick around long enough... I think he was just another bad pick for the cubs that year in making a player try to do what they simply were not capable of doing.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/baseball/mlb/specials/spring_training/2007/03/09/cardinals.kin ney.ap/index.html?eref=si_mlb

 St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Josh Kinney needs elbow ligament-replacement surgery and will likely miss the entire season.

Kinney was a top candidate for setup relief pitcher this year. He first tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching forearm one year ago.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/baseball/mlb/specials/spring_training/2007/03/02/bc.bbn.philli es.howard.ap/index.html?eref=si_mlb

 CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) -- Ryan Howard got a raise. He's still one of the biggest bargains in baseball, though.

The Philadelphia Phillies renewed the NL MVP's contract Friday, giving the first baseman a $900,000 salary after the sides failed to agree on a long-term deal.

*

If you though the Zambrano extension would hurt, imagine what the Phillies will have to give to smooth this over?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/03/02/steroid.raid/index.html?eref=si_topstories

SI.com: Did this doctor "treat" any athletes?

Llosa/Wertheim: According to a law enforcement document we've reviewed, in May 2004, a doctor A. Almarashi of Queens prescribed Genotropin (human growth hormone) that was sent from Allied Pharmacy -- the compound pharmacy raided in Mobile, Ala., last fall -- to Rangers infielder Jerry Hairston, Jr.

http://journalism.org/node/928

http://losangeles.bizjournals.com/losangeles/stories/2006/09/18/daily2.html

The Tribune Company has taken one of the more circulated papers in the country and ordered its editorial staff to slash jobs to increase its bottom line.

"The move comes as the Times and Tribune are embroiled in a bitter fued over potential job cuts. Publisher Jeff Johnson and Editor Dean Baquet have openly resisted calls from Tribune to enact another round of job cuts, citing a potential decline in quality for the nation's fourth-largest newspaper."

The editor responded that they would be unable to provide the same quality of news with a reduced staff and suggest that Tribune is merely trying to increase their sagging stock value. The Chandler family, former owners of the paper, are actively campaigning to have the paper put on the market, but The Trib is dead set on stripping the paper of all value and retaining it under their control.

Sound Familar?

Its pretty obvious that the cubs will go nowhere (except via some kind of fluke) without a management that supports the organization at all levels. Think what you will about the decisions that that Baker and Co. have made the last few years, but wonder what kind of pressure and directives they were receiving from the goons upstairs while you conisder their failures. Would any other staff been able to do better?