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That was my view from today's Cubs-Nats game. I'm good friends with the guy who ended up second to the Lerners in the bidding for the Nats ownership (not a bad guy to know, by the way).  When that sun was out today, dear lord that was hot.  And this is coming from someone who works as a golf caddy every day.

Anyway, I'm not the biggest Nats fan in the world.  I grew up an Orioles fan, and obviously, Cal Ripken was my role model.  I still am a fan of the O's, though it's tough.  Last year I played my senior night baseball game at Nationals Park, and to this day, has been the best night of my life.

That being said, great field, TERRIBLE stadium.  Al is absolutely right when he says it feels like a shopping mall.  Very generic feel to it, and everything is crazy overpriced.  You'd think that after spending so much time at RFK stadium they would at least TRY and get a view of the Capital or the Washington Monument.  Inside, you have  no feeling you're in Washington DC (well, with everything so expensive, I guess you do). I've been going to a couple games there, but only when I get free tickets.  There's no way in hell I'm going to give my own money to this horrendous organization (I won't even buy food unless that's free too).  What makes me even madder are the fans, who are brainwashed into believing that this team has hope this year, when we very well could be looking at the worst team (record-wise) of all time. The whole place to me, with the promotions and everything, feels so cheaply run; almost like the Nationals are trying to push this garbage on their naive fans. 

This organization is already the worst in baseball and in no way is headed in the right direction.  The Cubs swept them in four games relatively easy, and I can say from reading the Washington Post sports section every morning that Chicago isn't the only team to do it.  I'm well aware you need to be bad before you get good (ex. Tampa Bay), but it will take a miracle and a half to fix this sinking ship in our nation's capital.

One final note to Al, I was looking for you in the Diamond Club seats to maybe go an say hi and thank you for all you do, thinking there wouldn't be TOO many Cubs fans there, but I got to my seats in section 129 and gave up right there.  But thanks so much for these game recaps and in-depth pieces--it's really great to read them and know they're from a die-hard Cub fan.

Sorry for ranting, and go Cubs.

-Jason

from an ESPN.com alerts text message:

"ESPN MLB - Cubs reached agreement with OF Milton Bradley on a 3-year contract worth $30 million"

I don't have any other sources yet, but I'm sure they're on the way.

I think this is an OK signing. I don't really know what to think at thus point. I'll wait to see what you all have to say, since I trust you guys' opinions.

UPDATE: found a link: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3811744

via image.bayimg.com

I was over at a friend's house tonight and her dad showed me this baseball with a couple autographs from some Cubs players.  We have no idea who this belongs too.  Sorry the image is pretty bad, I had to take it at VGA quality because i was low on memory.  I think the number is 15 (which, according cubs.com, isn't helpful whatsoever--even the non-roster invitees).

Your help would be greatly appreciated/

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Watching today's WGN broadcast, they played a song (which they later identified as "This Will Be My Year", by Semisonic) that really hit me.  What songs  have "playoff" themed titles?  I would love to make a playlist to put on my iPod, but I just can't think of any more songs!  Any songs other than the cliche (but ALWAYS appropriate) "Go Cubs Go!" would be nice.  I feel like there are a bunch, but I've gone brain dead. Please help me!   Update [2007-9-23 18:14:33 by cubs2234]: What I currently Have: 1. Right Now-Van Halen 2. This Will Be Our Year-Van Halen 3. This Will Be My Year-Semisonic 4. Who Killed Tangerine- Tears for Fears (the song that goes, "It's not over" again and again)

I don't know if there have been other diaries like this, but the comments in the open threads are getting ridiculous. I understand that you're ticked, but making uneducated statements such as "soriano cannot hit," is just dumb (although right now, he's on Pluto, which doesn't even officially exist anymore). These guys have trained harder to do their jobs probably more than anything you have ever done in your life.  They're human beings; they make mistakes. It's baseball; we'd love for the cubbies to go 162-0, but it doesn't happen. So what the offense is in a slump. IT HAPPENS. All you can do is go out and get them tomorrow. It sounds cliche but for this point in time is is completely appropriate. Although you might be oblivious to this, other teams are aloud to win games. In fact, they're going to win games.

Stay positive, go cubs, and thank you.

-Jason

OK, while it's not life-threatening or anything, I bought a new Cubs hat the other day at Wrigley.  My old hat, which I had for two years just looked awful, and i thought it was time for a change.  Like all new hats, the fabric is very stiff and the crown of the hat looks geeky.  I've done the Google searches and I can't find a reliable answer to my question: How do I break in a fitted hat?

Fellow Cubs fans, help me!

This is the hat: http://shop.mlb.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2626701&cp=1452346.1452692