I just watched 1st and 10 on ESPN and they had a discussion on which contest is better, the Home Run Derby or the Slam Dunk Contest. I assume not everyone saw the conversation, and also I'm sure people have differing points of views. I know this is a baseball site and some opinions will be skewed, but I want to know the different reasons why.

Poll

Which is better?

21%

NBA Slam Dunk Contest

10 votes

78%

MLB Home Run Derby

36 votes

46 votes | Poll has closed

Throws the eepheus? pitch. Does anyone know who this guy is or what the hell this thing is?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zGHvD2kZwgY

Sign him please. PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE

All I know is his name is Kaz Tadano. How much longer does this diary have to be? I just want to show everyone the video.

The Cubs front office are screwing themselves and Zambrano over by not signing an extension. Having already spent over $300 million, adding another 80 to it won't hurt in selling the team. What they are doing is causing Zambrano to pitch under tremendous amount of pressure and having these poor performances. If the pitcher was anyone else, I would agree that the uncertainty of the contract situation isn't going to affect them, but Zambrano being the emotional guy he is, it does and will continue to affect his pitching. It's not like he gets to play everyday. He plays once every 5 days and there is little room for error, especially being labeled the ace of the staff. The front office has to do everyone a favor and sign this guy.

Hopefully I didn't get everyones hopes up that there actually was a new 5th starter, but I was wondering who it could be if not Miller. Me and my friend both agree that Miller will not last long. The obvious, well maybe some might disagree is Guzman at this point. My question is who else could get the job. I think we all have forgotten about Sean Marshall. Is he still hurt? Who else can do it?

According to cubs.com Soriano will play in left field when he returns to the lineup Monday night. The good news is that he feels good and wants to play now. It's probably a good idea to put him in left with the lower amount of work and running required. Im interested to see what the other 2 positions will be and how long it will take Pie to be sent back to AAA. Here is the link to the article.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070421&content_id=1922194&vkey=news_chc&a mp;fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

I have a very big problem with the Cubs tickets this  season. I was just looking over the schedule to see what tickets I want, and I noticed that the majority of the games are "Prime Dates". There are only 7 value dates, 28 regular dates, and a whopping 46 prime dates. Bleachers for value dates are $17 for value dates and $42 for primed dates. This is completely rediculous for a team who had the worst record in the national league. Even the wording makes no sense. "Regular" means the norm, and the norm should definitly be the majority of the games, not prime. Prime dates should only be certain night games. Paying $42 to sit on a bench is rediculous for a day game in August. Obviously this will not stop me from buying tickets, but it is getting rediculous.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061128/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bba_yankees_igawa_3

HERE IS THE ARTICLE. blahfhklfahahha

bla hblhah blah.

I like the bears, and cubs and bulls. filling some space. Im almost there. Probably by now someone has beat me to this.....OMG

How much more do i need, seriousy?

Im sure a lot of you have already seen this clip. But if you haven't, here's some much needed comic relief. It's only 2 minutes long but hilarious. Please watch it. Lets create our own Top Ten, and dont be serious about it. Lets make it funny. We all need it. Anyway, here is the link.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=XwFHxhKOF-U

Im not saying Al was lying or anything that has been  brought up in the past, but I doubt it will happen. From what I remember, it was supposed to be Ramirez + someone for A-Rod. How is this supposed to happen if we all know Ramirez wont pick up his option for next year? Why did we even believe it would ever happen other than before the trade deadline? Goodbye Ramirez, goodbye.

As seen on cubs.com:

The Chicago Cubs today activated pitchers Scott Eyre and Sean Marshall from the 15-day disabled list. In addition, Chicago activated Wade Miller from the 60-day disabled list and recalled catcher Geovany Soto from Triple-A Iowa.

So, the callups have "sort of" started. Seeing Wade Miller pitch is probably the only thing we have left to look forward to. He has a 62-43 carrer record in 139 starts. If he his healthy, like he has shown in AAA, why is he still not signed to an incentive based contract? I just dont want him to go 4-0 in September and then get signed by the Cards or have to pay much more money for him than we have to. I really want to see Wade in the rotation  next year. What does everyone else think?

Aramis Ramirez has turned in a surprising season this year at 3b defensively. Of all the NL 3b who have played more than 100 games, he has the fewest amount of errors (10) with also the highest fielding percentage of .969. He has the batting statistics to certainly win this award. This is very surprising since only a couple years ago he had 35 erros. What do you think?

Poll

Will Aramis Ramirez Win the Gold Glove?

35%

Yes

22 votes

64%

No

40 votes

62 votes | Poll has closed

Found on ESPN rumor central:

Aug 30 - The Dodgers are negotiating with Cubs for left-handed hitter John Mabry, The Los Angeles Times reports. If this is true, then so be it. Not really major news but hopefully its the start of dismantling this team. Be gone Glendon. Hopefully we can get a young prospect in return for him, but who knows. Any ideas on who we might recieve for this "quality" ball player?

I know people will say that doing this wont make a difference, but to me it will. I promise that if Glendon Rusch starts another game for the cubs this year, I will not watch another game this season untill he is no longer on the current roster. It's simply, stupid (for lack of a better word) that this guy is on the team. With Maddux now gone, he is 3rd for the most ER on the team. The second guy on the team is Zambrano. Now lets see here, isnt he supposed to be a CY young candidate??? Well Zambrano has 152 ip, 55 er, 3.26era vs Rusch's 61 ip 51 er, 7.44 era. 152 IP VS 61 IP. Thats rediculous. There is no reason to have this guy on the team. This isnt a bad streak, HES DONE. He brings no value to the team, only makes the organization worse by not evaluating its prospects on the major league level. There is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to let him start over any SP we have in AAA. I honestly want to cry looking at this, especially after trading Maddux. The reason why I wouldnt be able to watch anymore cubs games is knowing that the people running this team are complete morons.

WHEN DOES FOOTBALL SEASON START AGAIN??????

"Now I'm hearing that if they sweep us, I'm fired," Baker said Thursday. "That's [nonsense]. I don't have time for [nonsense]. I'm too old for [nonsense]."

Says Dusty. Now i know its probably not true, but what would you do if that was the case. It's a true win win situation, for me at least. Cubs lose the series, we get a new manager and HOPEFULLY turn this around. Even if not this year, we wont have to deal with Dusty and his toothpick next year. If we win the series, it can certainly maintain a good streak.

Poll

Would You vote for the Cubs or Sox if it meant Dusty's job was on the line?

67%

Cubs

38 votes

32%

Sox

18 votes

56 votes | Poll has closed

I just heard on ESPN news that the cubs are deciding whether to let mark prior pitch in A ball or have another simulated game. Either way he should be back in the rotation by the end of May. This would also mean that Miller isnt that far back and Lee right there in the middle of June? I know this will make me seem like an ignorant optimist, but a rotation of Maddux, Zambrano, Wood, Prior, Miller will be the best in baseball. Plus the lineup back to where it was...remember early in the season where in some games cubs were down 2 in the late innings and noone doubted they would come back. I suspect that one of those 5 named pitchers will be traded hopefully for a good outfielder (although Prior for Tejada seems impossible now). The point of this diary i guess is to say that its not all that bad being only 6 games under .500. The team that we all wanted in March is finally coming around, even though it doest seem like it with this stretch. Now we'll have to see if they can start winning.

All of us here at BCB know that Jacque Jones is horrible against lefties and  got a much bigger contract than he deserved. He is 1-18 against lefties (.056 avg). That is all known. But....his troubles are bigger than we have thought. His problem isnt only hitting, or lack there of, lefties, but playing in day games. In 16 day games, Jones is hitting .196, and only 3 extra base hits. Last year, in 40 day games, he hit .225 with only 12 extra base hits. How do you explain a signing of a player like this when the majority of your games are played during the day?? The signing of Jacque Jones is by far the worst move of this organization this year and in order to even ATTEMPT a run this year, he needs to be gone.

I was just sitting here looking at my fantasy team which has dropped into 2nd to last place. So i figured, like the cubs, they needed a change. So i changed my team name and all of a sudden my team turned it around, especially Jeff Kent, (2hr, 6rbi in 2 days, only 1 hr all season prior to that). What do all of you say that the Cubs change their names??

Poll

What should the new cubs name be?

8%

Scrubs

2 votes

24%

Goats

6 votes

32%

White Sox Suck

8 votes

4%

Poo-jols

1 votes

32%

Other

8 votes

25 votes | Poll has closed

Like we need another one right? Past couple of years the cubs have been criticized for relying on the longball, which is so stupid. So they "revamped" their team with small ball players and hardly hit the HR ball anymore. They are ranked 26th in HR's as a team. Well all these experts got their wish and our offense looks worse than last years. I know our starting rotation is in SHAMBLES, with 10 of our wins being only when the Magical M's pitch. Our offense is an equal problem to our miserable pitching. Last 4 games, we're losing 34-4.

While watching many sporting events (Angels, Steelers, Seahawks) you can always see all of those fans with the towels. Although this may not be a well articulated argument, me and my friend have discussed this at many cub games. Wouldnt it be great for the Cubs to hand out cubby-blue towels to important night games? This would create a tremendous atmosphere for the cubs to play in and hell for the opposing teams, plus it would look amazing. I can just picture it now....