I know Vine-Line has been panned on this site sometimes and I'm in the minority when it comes to non-SH subscribers. However, there are some redeeming features to the magazine and has well-written articles that might get missed among the pile of local papers and the blogosphere. I was a little shocked to see they shrunk the magazine again. The magazine has shaved off 1.5 inches x 1 inch off the margins. This makes the current Vine-Line fit comfortably inside the 2nd incarnation of Vine-Line. At first glance, it doesn't seem like readers will lose much content. The text appears to be smaller, which I'm guessing will make it a difficult read for older readers. The layout appears to be sleeker and the features they have added over the years are still there. The best comparison I can think of to this situation was a couple years ago when the Tribune shrunk their paper down in order to save on paper and money. I wasn't a subscriber back when Vine-Line was first published. It would be interesting to see if anyone can take a picture comparing all 3 at the same time. Anybody else have thoughts on this? Between getting the MLB app for my phone and getting Vine-Line today, I am ready for the season to start. 

Earlier in the year, I came to this board looking for suggestions on what to do when I was in Cleveland for the Packers/Browns match-up in October. This forum is probably the easiest way for me to say thank you for a great experience. Trust me, I'm not talking about the game. If I was, this would have been posted when I got back from Cleveland. I just wanted to say all of your suggestions were great. We got to the Cleveland area around 1 pm ET on Saturday and left maybe an hour after the game, so we couldn't experience everything you guys suggested. The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton was excellent and my friend's brother was great at showing us the good parts of Cleveland. The main downtown area looks great and if it used to look run-down than your city did a great job making it look good again. GREAT call on GLBC as I took home two growlers though we couldn't find a seat in the place to eat. I will admit though, you guys had me worried about the treatment we were going to get from the fans. Even before the game though, your fans were respectful, knowledgeable, and overall good people. Cleveland Browns Stadium is a beautiful place to watch a game and hopefully you guys will have a great team in the future to complement it. We also appreciated the tailgating advice too as we were happy to keep the tailgating tradition alive as well. I was happy to see the Browns won on Thursday and hopefully the Packers can finish the job in a couple weeks.

Once again, thank you all for your help before the season and at the game. It was definitely an enjoyable trip before the final whistle blew. Good luck in the future and hopefully I'll be seeing meaningful football by Lake Erie at this time next season.

According to the Press Gazette, the Packers have made the necessary moves to trim their roster down to 53. For those of those who don't want to click on the link, here's the list by position:

• Quarterback: Brian Brohm
• Running Back: Tyrell Sutton, Kregg Lumpkin
• Wide Receiver: Jake Allen, Ruvell Martin, Kole Heckendorf
• OL: Andrew Hartline, Jamon Meredith, Dane Randolph
• DL: Alfred Malone, Dean Muhtadi, Ronald Talley, Anthony Toribio
• Linebackers: Danny Lansanah, Cyril Obiozor
• Cornerback: Joe Porter
• Safety: Anthony Smith

They also put Justin Harrell, Pat Lee, Evan Moore, and Charlie Peprah were place on IR. I have some thoughts on these moves, set up by players like Desmond Bishop being rewarded for good preseason play and the hard-to-believe concept of carrying 3 fullbacks. Instead of forcing you to read those comments right of the bat, I'll just quote Coffee Talk with Linda Richman and just say: "I'm a little faklempt, ttalk amongst yourselves...."

It should not be a shock to any of the fans on this board that the Packers fan base is one of the better traveling fan bases. In many of these cities, you don't even need to locate a cheesehead or two to realize how many Packers fans are there. The last two years, my friends and I have roadtripped it to games just to tour what the rest of the NFL has to offer. 2 years ago we went to Minnesota, where the entire upper deck was practically Packers fans thanks to an article in the Press-Gazette about two weeks before the game. If you remember, that was when we still all liked Favre and he threw #421 to Greg Jennings. Last year, we headed to Motown to see them open up the Lions home slate. Both games we ran into numerous Packers fans and the usual 15% of home fans that feel its up to them personally to bust out their best one-liners. This year, we're heading to Cleveland. Sure, the drive might be the worst of the three, but can't argue with $40 seats. I'll also be going to the Bears/Packers game at the Mistake on the Lake for the first time since i was 10 or so and had it rain peanuts on me from some of the "cooler" Bears fans. SInce this is blog that reaches the ends of the Earth, I'm curious if anyone else is planning any roadtrips to see the Packers this season. If nothing else, we can use this to possibly see if other Acme Readers are going to the same games as others.

I'm sitting at work eating my Easter snack cakes and reading the papers and web sites when I stumble upon onto the Eastern Sports Propaganda Network (ESPN) for this little nugget. Maybe you've seen it, but the Packers had a workout for former Duke PG Greg Paulus. ESPN must've went crazy that it hasn't mentioned Duke anything in a couple weeks, but yes, this is the same Greg Paulus that was benched during the Duke basketball season for a freshman and was hailed as being a great mentor for the younger Dukies. Apparently, it's also the same Greg Paulus who started at quarterback in the U.S. Army All-American game, turned down scholarship offers from Notre Dame and the U (Miami), and was a Gatorade Player of the Year.

Sounds impressive from that aspect, but my guess is that Coach K discouraged his point guard from tossing around the pigskin during his time at Duke. However, maybe Paulus picked up a football and started fooling around to try and capture his glory days. After all, the article states he was the only one of his siblings to go the D1 basketball route, with his other siblings playing D1 football.

 Personally speaking, our backups played football throughout their college years and don't exactly leave much to smile about. I can't even imagine Paulus being able to shake off enough rust in terms of footwork, hitting patterns, and so on and so forth to make a serious attempt of being drafted. After all, he's been tossing bounce and chest passes for four years and apparently wasn't good enough to do that for big minutes his senior year. Maybe he'll get invited to a camp, probably Carolina where there would be a little intrigue because of the Duke connection. I'm a little shocked we wasted the money to travel to Durham for the tryout, but who knows. There's a reason why I'm in a cube eating Easter snack cakes instead of scouting NFL talent.

In related news, ESPN has not reported whether or not Dick Vitale creamed his shorts over the possibility of being able to talk Duke basketball during NFL programming.

I'd be the first to admit I wasn't born into hockey. Finances prevented me from playing hockey and a lack of interest within the family halted my own interest in hockey. A couple scouts nights at Wolves games and a couple Friday nights at the Resch Center in Green Bay so we could kill an evening and eat a lot of hot dogs started my interest in hockey. The hook: a 4-2 Wisconsin Badgers victory over Ohio State in the Frozen Tundra Hockey Classic. There's nothing like watching hockey with 40.000+ hockey fans at Lambeau Field. It was because of this game that I started following junior, college, and pro hockey. Hell I even interned for the Green Bay Gamblers for two years. If I wasn't hurting for money, I probably would have scalped for the Winter Classic this year since as a Hawks and Cubs fan, that would have been a slice of heaven on earth.

Anyways, enough of the jibber jabber. I was driving up to Green Bay this weekend when the Bulls game cut out and I switched to the Badgers hockey game. It was then that I found out that Wisconsin will host another outdoor game, this time at Camp Randall Stadium. 

If you want to save yourself some more reading, here are the highlights:

• Game is set for February 6th, 2010. Tickets are on sale for students ($10) in April and the general public ($25) in May.
• It's a doubleheader. Since Wisconsin has a prominent men's team and women's team, both wil be featured. The women will play against Bemidji State before the men take on Michigan.
• If the game sells out, it would set a world record for an outdoor hockey game at 80,321.
• In case it was skipped over in the first bullet point, this is very reasonably priced.

I know this isn't the Blackhawks and I don't even know what kind of college following this site has. I'll admit I haven't been able to follow college hockey that much since I graduated from college. If you couldn't go to the Winter Classic this year but still wanted to experience hockey in an outdoor environment, this might be your chance.

Hey everybody-

I apologize for breaking an agreement on the disclaimer when I first signed up for the blog. I'm a Packers fan and a NFC guy for the most part, so I don't have a whole lot to say about the Browns except for sweet colors (my high school in Arlington Heights also boasts the brown and orange color scheme) and the NFL will be a better NFL when some of the "old-school" teams such as the Browns return to the top like they were in the 60s. I was at the last Packers/Browns game at Lambeau when your tight end made the Packers look silly. S-I-L-L-Y. If I remember right, Braylon also made a habit of burning our secondary. Yikes.

The main reason why I'm posting is I'm trying to get some tips and pointers for a possible trip to CBS this season. My friends and I have made it tradition to go to a Packers away game the last few years. After last year's trip to Detroit, we have officially tapped out of the NFC North. This year, we're looking to branch out. We're all fresh out of college, so road trips to Arizona and Tampa Bay, though nice, is outside of our means. After two years of going to domes, I'd like to reserve the Rams for a dark year and when I have no self-respect. That leaves us with two: CBS and Heinz Field. I have always respected the Browns franchise, though not a direct fan. I probably would have joined all of you in some quality Art Modell bashing if a forum existed back then. Anyways, all I ask of you is maybe give me the downlow on what it's like to go a game at your stadium. Rest assured: I keep my mouth shut when I'm a visiting fan and cheer for my team only, so it's not like you're aiding a jerk here. Some of the bigger things I'm wondering about (given its a Saturday/Sunday trip):

• If I can't get tickets online via Ticketmaster, how is the secondary market.
• Parking/Tailgating
• Things to do when its not gametime
• Any good microbreweries in the area. And not Buzz Beer. I'm sure Drew Carey is to you guys like Jim Belushi is to us.
• Do's and Don'ts of CBS (outside of the obvious one: DON'T piss off the Pound)

Thanks everyone. Hopefully I'll be in Cleveland sooner than later, as in this season. Good luck this offseason. We both need it.

I haven't seen anything on here about it, but just a reminder that tomorrow is the training camp festival. All the information you need is right here for the event. Just in case you just want a Cliff Notes version, some of the events they are having are

• 5K Run/Skate
• 3 on 3 Street hockey tourney
• Open practice
• Live Music
• and more

No I don't work for the Hawks (though I did apply for a job and an internship as I'm unemployed and that's what I went to school for), but I've gone to similar events for the Packers and it's sounds like its going to be a unique event. I'm not as die hard as some of the other readers are on here I'm guessing as I'm trying to get into the NHL more and more. My guess is that all Hawks fans will have a fun time with. It's 5 bucks for the day. Can't beat it.

Hey everybody-

Just wondering if the local Bostonians on this site can help me out. I'll be in town in a couple weeks running the Boston Marathon. It will be my first time in Boston and we obviously have one thing right: Red Sox tickets the Sunday before the marathon versus the the Rangers. I figure I need to soak some good karma you guys have for when I get to Wrigley later this summer. Just looking for some other ideas for things to do, places to visit, which Cheers to drop money at, etc.

Thanks everyone and hopefully I run into rather its on the route or at the park.

I'll be the first to say that this probably can be considered a stupid diary or a needy diary. I heard it on the radio and I thought I was hearing things, but behold the power of the Beach Boys. Apparently they did more for America then making appearance on Full House. They did two Cubs-related songs: "Here Comes the Cubs" (to the tune of "Barbara Ann" I believe) and "Cubs, Cubs, Cubs" (to the tune of Fun, Fun, Fun). Now being the 20-something college student living in Green Bay for the year and the Best Buy across town, I do what we have done since CDs were declared dead medium by various inquiring minds: went to iTunes. iTunes has everything it seems like...except for these two lovable hits. They even have a ton of Beach Boys, but none of them related to the Cubs.

So I ask the BCB Nation: Does anybody have these tunes?

Not going to lie to anybody, but I'm not a huge fan of American Idol. Sure, if the contestants cover an artist I like, I'll watch hoping that they do the music justice and that the artist will then do a song. I was also a fan of Jack Black singing "Kiss from a Rose" from the "most sensitive Batmans of them all." However, these anti-American Idol notions meant nothing to me as I strolled into Wrigley today for what could be dubbed as "Cubs Idol."

Overall it was a good experience and you could tell they must've had this idea on the backburner for awhile because it was well organized. You were given a packet that was to be given to the judges before you sang. Perfect opportunity to bribe them, but not only was it illegal, all I had was 7 bucks, a Chicago Card, and a 7/11 coupon. They divided up the contestants into what appeared to be around 25 groups. Promptly at 10 o clocks, ushers took the 200 some contestants to different parts of the stadium to sing. I was put into a suite, but there were also judges in the gift shop and I'm sure other places as well.

The judges were overall very nice. I think I lucked out got three extremely nice ladies who were obviously still fresh on the idea of hearing a ton of people sing the same song. They asked you of your paragraph you wrote beforehand and then asked you why you should sing the 7th inning stretch. I'll save you from b.s. on how I know Im not the oldest, youngest, cutest, etc. that would probably enter the contest and my antidote on how important the Cubs and my family are to me and stuff like that.

I sang, even though you couldn't move the microphone like one would plan to during the actual stretch. The judges seemed impressed, but that's what they're being paid to do. I got the arbitrary "stong voice" comment and mandatory "good luck" comment. They took a picture of me on my camera phone in front of the backdrop, and that was that. I was in and out in 45 minutes. If I wasn't going to Green Bay this weekend, I probably would have felt bad taking off of work for 45 minutes, but good lord willing, the 70 bucks I missed out on today will come back in a better form come September 22.

DISCLAIMER: I have shown glimpses of idiocies, misspellings, and overanalysis of many things in my life. This is defintely one of those times.

I'll start by saying that when it comes to sports, I'm very superstitious. During a winning streak junior year football at Hersey, I wore the same Metallica shirt every game until we lost in the second round of the playoff. I will wear the same stuff to Cubs game if they won the last time they came. That also includes what I talk about in the car, the songs I listen to on my iPod, and when/how I fall asleep in the car on the way down.

My superstitions have crossed the boundaries to the necessity of life: the calendar. Now if you went to the Cubs Convention that past few years or I guess if you're a season ticket holder, you get a calendar. The last couple of seasons, I've noticed that whomever is the player for the month, they WILL get hurt. It usually works at about 75-80% clip since if have a picture of Ernie Banks in there, I don't know if he's had a cold that month or whatever. I can back this up with past years, but let's look at this year thus far:

January- Lou Pinella: Nothing that I can think of, he probably got sick from shaking so many of our hands.

February- Kerry Wood: Fell out of a hot tub

March- Ryan Dempster: Can't remember for sure, but didn't he have some arm troubles in the early going this spring. Not as extreme as the calendar curse usually is, but you get my drift.

April- Alfonso Soriano: Hamstring tonight, out day to day

May- Rich Hill: Oh God please don't...

So I challenge you, BCBers. Look through your old Convention calendars and your injury reports over the past years and painfully recoginize the existence of the calendar curse, or if choose: the most painfully ironic set of circumstances in recent history.

I'm not going to bore anybody with an exact play by play of the game because quite frankly, that's what there's this article from the Appleton Post-Crescent or you watched/listened to the game streaming on the Internet to find out that the Chiefs topped the T-Rats 9-5. I'm also not a beat writer, so instead, I'll just give you some interpretations I had from the night itself.

Pre-Game: I've never been to Opening Day at Wrigley Field before because I never had the parents who would take my brother and I out, but I have a feeling it was something like it was at TWC Field at Fox Cities Stadium. My friend (Brewers Fan) and I tailgated until about 15 minutes before the game, during which Ryne Sandberg was living it up in his first game as a manager. According to people around me, he signed autographs for about 30 minutes while his hands were still warm and the excitement was flowing. There were a decent amount of Cubs fans there, but understandably showed up to see Ryno and not neccessarily the Chiefs. There were maybe 20 people that were actively cheering for the Chiefs. The loudest cheers for the Chiefs were for Ryno, who was pretty bundled up figuring the conditions and after the anthem trotted out to 3rd base, where he will coach from too this season.

Game:
Like I said, if you want a very detailed account of the game, just click on the link, but you can get the basic jist here. I wished I could have taken score, but I didn't see scoresheets in the program or at the table and oh yeah, it was really bleepin cold. The T-Rats had 7 errors in the game, including 2 in the first inning. As we know from the Cubs, that's not a good sign, especially since the starting pitcher for the T-Rats walked 4. It wasn't till later that any pitchers on either team had a firm grasp on the strike zone. I know we as Cubs fans wanted to see Pawelek open, but this Billy Muldowney wasn't too bad. Heater was clocked at high 80s and had a filthy change-up. I'm not a real baseball guru, so I'm guessing that's all he has because he was getting hit pretty hard after that. Marco Carillo came in and looked pretty good, especially with a couple of the breaking pitches I was able to pick up on. Jeremy Papelbon came in the 9th and looked real good. I liked him the most probably because of the fact that he made quick work of the T-Rats so we could go and get warm. Offensively, we ripped a couple singles and doubles, nothing worth writing home about. Matt Camp, Yusuf Carter and Dylan Johnston all had good nights with not only timely hitting but good hustle on the base paths. Sandberg did do a good job of putting pressure on the T-Rats infielders by making sure his players legging out infield hits, which caused most of the errors. Defensively, they weren't as bad as the T-Rats, but still need some work, of course with how cold it was I don't blame anybody entirely for throwing some balls in the dirt and such.

Post-Game: I think maybe 500 at most lasted the entire game, which by this time it was a 3.5 hour game and about 18 degrees. We stayed because it was a dollar beer night and quite frankly I had the keys and my team was winning (if the Chiefs were getting blown out, maybe we would have left before our feet got numb). A couple autograph hunters waited for Ryno to leave the locker room, but at that point I think even Ryno wanted the day to be over, which is saying a lot.

If you live in this area (Green Bay/Fox Cities), you will have to wait till Saturday to see Ryne Sandberg and his Peoria Chiefs, because tonight's game was cancelled by weather. I would shamelessly promote the other thing you can do tonight, but I'm afraid of the backlash of promoting hockey on a baseball site. Until later, go Chiefs and a heartier Go Cubbies!

Last weekend was the third annual Packers Fan Fest as we all know. For my diary's sake, it was my first fan fest. I'm not really sure how I got in this year. The first year I help bring down the phone company's lines and last year maybe my credit card was too close to expiring. Anyways, with this being my first Packers Fan Fest I really didn't know what to expect. Being a Cubs fan also, I have done their Cubs Convention numerous times, so I had an idea of what this could have been: Long lines for autographs, interesting presentations, but overall just one big glass of Packers Kool-Aid. While it had some differences, it also had some similiarities. as well.

AUTOGRAPHS
The 4 ticket idea was cool, though when I realized that one of my tickets was for Jon Ryan, I wasn't too happy. I had to trade my Antonio Freeman and just give away my Jason Spitz (I know, both heartbreaking) because I had to work the Gamblers games that weekend (intern). It wasn't until Saturday that I took a liking to it. First off, I was never in line for a player for more than a half hour, and second, I was still able to get a couple of other decent autographs. That's way better than the Cubs, where you wait in line forever and more or less will miss your intended target and have to settle for some deadbeat from the 87 Cubs or something.

INTERESTING PRESENTATIONS
I think baseball fan fests still might take the cake on this one. I liked the Offensive and Defensive talks, but then I again I played football for 3 years in high school (ok, maybe just stood on the sideline). I'm guessing many that were sitting there were just confused. I also like a panel instead of the single guests and wished some of the players and speakers talked for a little more. The 620 guys were great leading the discussions.

PACKERS KOOL-AID
Get use to that term from me. Kool-Aid in this sense means "overwhelming and blind support." This includes all the SUper Bowl or Bust and the rah rah stuff. I think the energy was a lot lower than I expected. Then again, I'm sure most of us who wander around Green Bay long enough run into these guys enough. I had seen Herron, Rayner, and Barnett at the UWGB/UWM game the week before, Ted Thompson at Best Buy, and so on and so forth. I think everybody was also more down to earth. We know we didn't make the playoffs last year, and we have to first make the playoffs before we do anything else. It was good seeing the Packers of Yesteryear and This Year line up in front of the stage.

OVERALL IMPRESSION
It was a blast. I defintely doubted the Atrium could hold an event like that and I was wrong. I guess I didn't realize how big it was until you have virtually full access to all 4 floors. $79 was a little steep, but I had fun nonetheless. I'd recommend it to anybody. The locker room tour made me drool a little bit (it was my personal favorite part of the Fan Fest), so if you haven't done that, it's worth the money then. Maybe next year I won't have to split time between Fan Fest and Gamblers games. The event was success for 2 reasons: 1) Probably raised a lot of money for a good cause and 2)I can't wait for mini-camp.