I've been a Cubs fan since I was a teenager in the 1960s growing up watching the team on WGN here in Michigan. I lived and died with them since then and I always had this 'little boy' fantasy about owning Cubs season tickets.

But life has a way of going on around us and dreams like these often evaporate into 'bucket list' wishes amid the reality of jobs and kids.

Baseball holds on to your heart though.

When I got married, my bride became a Cubs fan in self defense. The 1984 team hooked her just as the 1969 team had hooked me. Over the years, we attended Cubs games when we could, usually a game or two a year as time allowed. Mrs. Zeke saw the Cubs LOSE the first thirteen games she attended in person- including game 6 of the NLCS in 2003. But she never wavered in her love - of the team (and me, mostly).

We added our name to the season ticket wait list after 2003, knowing we were years away from seat 'contention' and looking ahead to some day - after we both had retired - when the Cubs would tell us that our 'number' had come up.

Well, Mrs. Zeke and I got the letter today offering us Cubs season tickets. Blink once. Blink twice. WHAT?

Nearly thirty years of marriage; two kids in college; two full-time jobs (and my summer job working for our local minor league baseball team) and still years away from retirement - and the opportunity comes.

After peeling my wife off the ceiling of the kitchen when she read the letter from the Cubs, we looked at each other and said "Now what do we do?"

I'm not sure yet, but if you've ever seen the movie "Fever Pitch", the scene of Jimmy Fallon running out into the snow-covered street to greet the FexEx man holding his box of Red Sox season tickets keeps coming to my mind - especially the part where he tears open the package and sniffs the pages of tickets.

The images are hard to shake.

Just replace 'Red Sox' with Cubs.

Anyone interested in going in on a pair with us?

Al has already done a couple of very nice recaps from the Paul McCartney concert at Wrigley Field on July 21. 2011.

The scene around Wrigleyville was quite something. I can say with a degree of confidence that the large crowd was the most upbeat I've seen at the ballpark in quite some time. Perhaps knowing they were going to have a good time and not worrying about whether a certain baseball team was going to win or not had something to do with it. A good night was guaranteed. 

I've posted some photos below from that night for those interested. 

P.S. Thanks to BCBer eths for the headline idea. 

Sir Paul McCartney performed for over two and a half hours at a packed Comerica Park in Detroit Sunday night (7/24). The 94-degree, humid weather was threatening for a portion of the evening as thunder, lighting and rain moved through southeast Michigan prior to and during the early part of the show. Aside from some brief showers though, the ballpark was spared from the worst of it.  

McCartney hit the stage about 8:30pm and played a rich range of Beatles, solo, Wings and Fireman songs- over 30 in all. Crowd favorites were mixed with some older material he said he hadn't played live in quite some time. Paul & the band toured the Motown Museum earlier in the day and were inspired to play the Marvin Gaye song "Hitch Hike" as a tribute to some of the influential music from their youth. 

It was quite a visual show utilizing numerous HD cameras to feed the huge 4 video screens that sat on either side of the stage. Seeing this show took one of the items off my 'bucket list': seeing the last surviving members of the Fab Four perform live. (I've already seen Ringo & his All Stars).

With a little persuasion, I'd love to come to one or both shows at Wrigley this weekend. 

Be advised: everything is very expensive. Aside from the tickets themselves, parking ran $15-45. Beers were $9 per. T-shirts started at $40. A program is $30. Keychains $15. Hats $30.  

SPOILER ALERT: after the jump, I'll post cell phone pictures and the set list. If you want to be surprised at the Wrigley Field shows this weekend, then you may want to navigate away...

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Some of you here may know I work seasonally for our local minor league baseball team as the official scorer. A neat job, really.

This year our parent club, the Toronto Blue Jays hired a new manager for the Lugnuts: Mike Redmond. Mike spent 13 years in the majors with Florida, Minnesota and Cleveland. He retired from the Indians last year and this is his first season as a minor league manager.

Mike is a very positive, likeable guy and has already guided the Lugnuts into the Midwest League playoffs by virtue of a second-place finish in the MWL’s first half (many minor league seasons are split into two halves with the top finishers in each half making the post season).

He and I have a good working relationship and in fact, the team record is 15-7 when I do the scoring (I share the weekly duties with another scorer). So Mike likes seeing me come through the door. (Superstition in baseball? Nonsense.)

I say all this because I intended at some point this season to playfully mention to Mike that without even knowing me, he broke my heart eight years ago. That ‘some point’ happened last night.

Mike was a member of the 2003 Florida Marlins. We all know what happened that year between the Cubs and the Marlins in the NLCS. Rather than rehash the negative, I was interested in getting his perspective of what it was like in the Marlin’s locker room after game 6 (a game that I attended with my family).

“The Bartman game? You were there?” he asked. I nodded. Mike said before that fateful eighth inning, “We (the Marlins) were dead.” Then everything began to happen and they watched it unfold in the dugout just as we Cub fans did in the stands and on TV.

He then mentioned game 2 (won by the Cubs 12-3) and that the Marlins players needed a police escort to get out of their locker room at Wrigley and onto the team bus. “It was crazy. Madness. The fans were everywhere and some were rocking our bus back and forth.”

“It was just our year. We (the Marlins) were loaded (with talent). We got a lot of breaks all year long and we capitalized on them.”

When you look back at the Marlins roster from 2003, it WAS loaded with talent. As Casey Stengel used to say: “You can look it up.” I have to admit, as a Cubs’ fan, I didn’t give the Marlins the respect they deserved. In hindsight, very dumb 

So I asked again about the Marlins locker room after their stunning comeback in game 6. Mike said: “It was crazy. We knew- KNEW that we were going to win the series. The guys were sky high. We couldn’t wait to get back for game 7. There were over a dozen players in the lobby of the team hotel the next morning at 8am chomping at the bit to get to the ballpark (for the night game).”

And as we know, the Marlins eventually won it all that year: 2003 World Series Champions.

He said he and Kerry Wood were teammates last season at Cleveland and they talked about that fateful night. Kerry told him that he went into the Cubs locker room in the 7th inning and found that plastic sheeting was already going up over the lockers in anticipation of a Cubs’ win. Kerry ordered the plastic removed.

Too late for the karma of baseball, apparently.   

Mike also said that Jim Hendry signed him to his first professional contract and that he has great respect for him. He hopes the Cubs can win it all someday for Jim, the team and the fans.

I replied that I hoped I live long enough to see it happen.

I think we ALL do.

As Al pointed out in his game recap for July 1st, the weather at the ballpark today was, in a word bizarre. In a season of historically BAD conditions, the forecasters called for temperatures in the mid 90s with a heat index well over 100 degrees.

Fans came to the first game of the Crosstown Showdown II dressed in shorts and tees and lathered with sunscreen. 

What we actually got for the first two hours of the game was something quite different. It was cloudy and cold with steady, cold winds from the southeast off the lake. Wind gusts blew debris around the field and stands. Hats and caps flew in the air.

Fans streamed below the stands to the gift shops searching for long sleeve shirts, sweatshirts, jackets- anything to cut the cold and wind. I took a number of photos. As you'll see, the clouds over the ballpark looked more like something designed by Industrial Light and Magic. And this was a DAY game.

Frightening.

Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker came up together to the Detroit Tigers in late 1977. Both started in the majors modestly and built a lasting impression on the game. 

The double play combo played together for 19 seasons. Both players spent their entire careers with Detroit, a feat almost unheard of today.

Trammell hit .285 with 185 home runs and 2,365 hits and was the MVP of the 1984 World Series.

Lou Whitaker batted .276, hit 244 career homeruns and amassed 2,369 hits.

They were so good together that some, including Cal Ripken, Jr. have said that “Sweet Lou” and “Tram” deserve to be in the Hall Fame as a tandem.

So my question is this: Can Starlin Castro and Darwin Barney be the Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker of their generation?

To the delight of college basketball fans everywhere, the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament field has been announced.

There are a lot of Big Ten fans here on BCB and seven BT teams are included in this year's field. 

So here's your chance. Which BT team will go farthest in "The Dance?"

Do you go with the easy pick of OSU? Or do you take a chance on a dark horse like PSU? Or do you go with a tournament-tested team like MSU? 

Your call. 

As some of you may know from my occasional posts, I began a seasonal job this year working for our local minor league baseball team. I thought I’d share some of my observations. It’s been a very fun year and I’m sad that our season is ending.

Last winter, I began to think about what I wanted to do when I retire. One of the fun things Mrs. Zeke and I have joked together about has been our desire to move to Chicago and spend a year working as ushers at Wrigley Field. Well, the more I thought about it, the more I thought about working in some capacity in baseball.

Seasonal jobs are posted each Spring by Minor League teams. They need help in many phases of hosting seventy or more baseball games. Often, available jobs range from concessions to food prep to hospitality to in-game production and between innings entertainment.

I’ve spent most of my working life in television, so I applied for one of the available jobs in the press box. The operations crew there is responsible for everything you see and hear at the ballpark (that doesn’t involve the actual playing of the game). 

Public address announcer, ballpark music, informational player videos, statistical displays, balls/strikes/outs, between inning games and fan contests; all of these areas (and more) fall within the scope of the press box marketing and production team.  This group has a handful of full-time staff and student interns and the balance of the crew positions are filled with paid seasonal help. 

I was fortunate enough to be offered a production position and was also asked if I was interested in being the team’s official scorer. This position is responsible for keeping a scorecard of the game, ruling on certain in-game situations like hits vs. errors, stolen bases, etc., contacting the MLB stat service every half inning to report each player’s at bat and then taking the completed nightly box scores down to each of the coaching staffs after the conclusion of the game (and answering any scoring questions they may have or defending a scoring decision you made).

Let’s see: the offer on the table was to watch professional baseball games from arguably one of the best seats in the ballpark, score the games and get paid for it. Oh, and free food to boot. 

“Don’t throw me in that briar patch!”

I accepted the scorer’s job. I also have filled in on the production crew this season when they were shorthanded.

What I found this year is that despite spending over fifty years of my life watching baseball, you still see and hear things you’ve never experienced nearly every game. I also realized how LITTLE I really knew in terms of scoring. 

I’ve seen fantastic offensive and defensive prowess: monstrous home runs, timely hitting, lights-out pitching, stolen bases, great catches and great throws. Players and fans have celebrated blowouts and walk off victories.

There have also been strikeouts, errors, poor base running, boneheaded mental lapses, one-run defeats, blowout losses and gut wrenching collapses.

Umpires have missed calls (though more often than not, they got them right).  Players and coaches have been ejected. Even people in the press box are subject to ejection- though it didn’t happen this season.

Overall, everyone was very patient with me as I learned the job. My thanks to the ballpark management, team managers, coaches and players for their understanding.  

Here are some of the more unusual things I saw on the field this season:

A baserunner score from second base on a sacrifice fly.

A defensive team completes a double play and runs into the dugout- only to be called back on the field after the umpires confer and charge a baserunner with (un)intentionally getting in a rundown to prevent the double play. 

A team leading by five runs in the ninth inning only to give up seven runs and lose.

A team leading by four runs in the bottom of the ninth with two outs- then walk the bases full and give up a grand slam to be tied and force the game into extra innings. (The home team eventually won).

A runner from first attempting to steal second and being caught stealing by the catcher- tagged out BY the catcher - unassisted.

A batter being retired at first base, put out 4-1. 

A five-foot double.

And one of my favorite moments of the season: a batter fouling off 12 straight pitches with a full count and eventually getting a walk. The batter, catcher, umpire and even the pitcher were all laughing at the situation as foul ball after foul ball ticked into the screen or the stands. That’s a seventeen pitch at-bat folks; impressive in any league.

Lastly, you haven’t lived until you’ve taken a post-game box score down into the locker room for the manager and coaches of the teams and inadvertently walked in on a coach (the father of a very prominent former major leaguer) au natural and applying deodorant. Whoops!

Avert your eyes!

Anyway, this whole season has been a very enjoyable time and overall was an opportunity I’ll remember the rest of my life.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to do it again next season. 

The first thing I saw this morning AFTER checking Monday night's Cubs score (and having a "WTF?" moment) was the BCB poll on the upper left of the homepage asking me "How are you feeling about the Cubs?" 

Seriously? Please retire this thing. 

Cubs lost 18-1 to the Brewers. This just days after giving up a MBL record 11 straight hits in Colorado. Alan Trammell, I love you man, but this mess just sunk whatever onion-skin thin chance you had of managing the Cubs in 2011. Did it remind you of 2003 with the Tigers? It should have. 

The Cubs are in free fall for the balance of this season. My reaction to the poll question was: "Why aren't there negative number options?"

I feel like I felt in the 1970s, except I don't have the distraction of college life to take my mind off of this wretchedness.

Good god, the human defense will be 'meh' and to avoid watching and listening for the foreseeable future.

Well, until tonight's game.

The BCB poll only asks numeric values. I'm asking for you to put it into words.

How are you feeling about the Cubs?

Well, here we are at the All Star Break. There's not much point in rehashing the first 89 games of this 'disappointing' 2010 Chicago Cubs season. That's been done 'ad nauseum' on this site already. And Al & others will likely post midterm report card grades soon.

So I propose breaking out the old "Magic 8 Ball", dusting it off and giving a serious look ahead to the remaining 73 games and predicting what YOU think will happen on and off the field. 

So, do you see 'more of the same'? Some pleasant second half surprises? A managerial change? Veteran player rebounds? A player fire sale? Players being released or DFA-ed? Wholesale call-ups?  Lots of empty seats at Wrigley? WF Ambassador layoffs?    

It's your call.  

In the end MONEY will be the determining fact for Cubs change. When fans start staying away and game/concession/merchandising revenues decline precipitously, THEN change will occur. This is going to take a long time. Whether we want to admit it to ourselves, the Cubs have already entered the rebuilding phase. The PLAYERS have certainly entered it.

So what phase of "Cubs Grief" are YOU in?  

1-Denial-

Not accepting or even acknowledging the loss. "This can't be happening to the Cubs". Meh."They’ll win today. Things will be better".

2-Anger-

"Why does this s**t ALWAYS happen to the Cubs?" feelings of wanting to fight back or get even. "Where’s Rothschild? Next time up Carlos should just DRILL Pierzynski in the ribs."

3-Bargaining-

Bargaining often takes place before the loss. Attempting to make deals with others to stop or change the loss. Begging, wishing, praying for them to win. "This team has too much talent! If Hendry would just fire Lou, things would get better."

4-Depression-

Overwhelming feelings of hopelessness, frustration, bitterness, self pity, mourning yet ANOTHER Cubs’ loss as well as the hopes, dreams and plans for the future. Feeling lack of control, feeling numb. "Hendry HAS to go. He built this mess. Where the hell is Ricketts?"

5-Acceptance-

There is a difference between resignation and acceptance. You have to accept the loss, not just try to bear it quietly. "F**k this s**t. G*dd**n Cubs! When does the Bears/Bulls/Blackhawks/Illini/NW/ND (insert favorite OTHER team or sport here) season start?"

June 9, 2010

Plaintiff: Theodore Roosevelt Lilly
Defendant: The Chicago Cubs

The plaintiff alleges prejudice and bias with regards to a lack of offensive run support during the 2010 major league baseball season when the plaintiff pitched for the defendant.

Exhibit A: MLB documentation of only 14 runs scored by the defendant in 9 games started and ultimately lost by the plaintiff.

Jury decision: In favor of the plaintiff

Award: Free agency for the plaintiff at the conclusion of the 2010 season with the option of a trade from the defendant to a contending team prior to July 31, 2010. Further, the defendant is remanded to the second division for the duration of the 2010 baseball season.

Bailiff is instructed to escort the defendant from this court to said second division no later than June 30, 2010.

All court costs will be paid by the defendant.

Case closed.

Court adjourned.

Has the Cubs poor play this season finally worn you down? 

Here's a suggestion: watch minor league play at minor league prices. Go see a game. It beats what the Cubs are offering.    

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