SB Nation User Blog: TkGoUWGB

A clip of Jim Belushi singing "Sweet Home Chicago" at the Post Season Rally in the Daley Plaza. His...

TkGoUWGB — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 02:42:34 -0000

A clip of Jim Belushi singing "Sweet Home Chicago" at the Post Season Rally in the Daley Plaza. His remake of "Go Cubs Go" sucked, but I thought he made his brother John proud with this. The crowd ate it up too.

2008 Blackhawks Training Camp Festival Tomorrow

TkGoUWGB — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:59:43 -0000

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.

Boston Guide for Marathoner/Chicagoan/Cubs Fan

TkGoUWGB — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:10:54 -0000

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.

Cubs Songs by The Beach Boys request

TkGoUWGB — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 16:48:12 -0000

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?

Ultimate 7th Inning Stretch Contest Experience

TkGoUWGB — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 17:44:41 -0000

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.

Calendar Curse Strikes Again!

TkGoUWGB — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 02:53:46 -0000

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.

Down on the Farm: Opening Day with the Peoria Chiefs

TkGoUWGB — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 16:38:31 -0000

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!

Fan Fest 2007

TkGoUWGB — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 05:10:51 -0000

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.