All posts tagged Chicago Cubs

Cubs Icon Ron Santo Passes Away

By | December 3, 2010 | Baseball, Breaking News, Legends, R.I.P. | 7 Comments

It is a sad day in Chicago today. Our beloved Ron Santo died Thursday night in Arizona from complications of bladder cancer.

Santo is an icon in Chicago for all Cubs fans. His love of the Cubs was what made his radio broadcasts of Cubs games epic. Whether he was talking about washing his toupee in the dishwasher, or lambasting players or coaches for bad plays on the field, Ron Santo was always entertaining. He lived and breathed the Chicago Cubs.

“He absolutely loved the Cubs,” said Santo’s broadcast partner, Pat Hughes. “The Cubs have lost their biggest fan.”

Santo had a plethora of health issues, including diabetes, which took both his legs. But he never complained. Calling Cubs games on the radio was his passion and you could hear it over the radio.

“He considered going to games therapeutic,” Hughes said. “He enjoyed himself in the booth right to the end.”

Santo was the Cubs third baseman from 1960-73 and was a five-time Gold Glove winner. He passed away before seeing his dream of being elected into the Hall of Fame come true. He’s been on the ballot 19 times and came close to getting elected by the Veteran’s Committee in 2007, failing by just nine votes.

I, for one, will miss this man immensely. Cubs games won’t be the same. I will miss hearing his voice on the radio feeling the same emotions that I feel while listening to games.

Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts summed it up best – “Ronnie will forever be the heart and soul of Cubs fans.”

Rest in peace Ronnie.

[source] [photos]

Weekly Roundup: The Primarily Pittsburgh Edition

By | September 25, 2010 | Baseball, College Football, Football, Golf, Hockey, Unsportmanlike Conduct | Comments Off

In this inaugural edition of the Draft Day Suit weekly roundup of news you may have missed, I’m sticking close to home. There’s a lot going on in Pittsburgh right now. Sue me. And then tell me what’s going on in your fair city so I’ll have more to write about next week.

1. The Pittsburgh Penguins opened the pre-season on Wednesday by crushing the Red Wings 5-1 in the first game held at the new Consol Energy Center. Then everyone held their breath when Sidney Crosby sat out the third period with a sore hip flexor, thought to be a minor issue. The Penguins and Capitals also announced they would be participating in an HBO reality series called 24/7 Penguins/Capitals:  Road to the Winter Classic. [Note to self: Call Comcast and see about re-instating HBO. I want to see exactly how Malkin goes from cool to dork in a matter of days and the good folks at HBO are just the ones to show me.]

2. The Pirates swept the Diamondbacks and took two from the Cardinals for their first 5 game win streak in over 13 months. If they sweep the Astros they will finish the season above .500 at home. Heh. Like that’s gonna happen. You know it’s bad when I get retweeted by ThePirateParrot.

3. The New York Times reported a long lost reel of tape containing the greatest home run in Pirates history, Bill Mazeroski’s 9th inning home run in game 7 of the 1960 World Series to beat the New York Yankees, was found in Bing Crosby’s wine cellar, where conditions preserved the only known recording of the series in pristine condition. Crosby was a former owner of the Pirates. The game will be televised by MLB Network in December. My family will be watching.

4. Have you noticed baseball games get longer in September. Why? 40-man rosters mean more available pitchers and that means more pitching changes. It’s merciless. Let it be done already. Now that the Red Sox are out of the playoff picture, NFL and NCAA football and pre-season hockey are a lot more interesting. Not that I’m biased or anything. Spring training gets underway in just five short months!

5. One last baseball note. The Chicago Cubs’ rookie Tyler Colvin had his chest punctured when a teammate’s bat splintered. He spent three days in the hospital with a chest tube to prevent a lung collapse. Owie. This rekindled the controversy over ash vs maple bats. The bat that impaled Colvin was maple, which is prone to splintering. Let’s be careful out there.

6. Moving on to football, I agree with Killer Nuts Tailgating. This was the hit of the week.

7. In the NFL, Jets’ running back Braylon Edwards was arrested for DUI. Yawn. Ordinarily not something I would notice, but this year Edwards rides the pine on my fantasy team in the Draft Day Suit league. The league where I beat the league-leader in week 2 and still dropped from second to third place. Dammit. But back to Edwards. The Jets are handing down a stiff punishment. Edwards doesn’t get to start on Sunday. Boo hoo. Edwards, Cromartie, Holmes…who’s next for the Jets? Quick! Call the Bengals.

8. In some good-guy NFL news, Steelers’ safety Troy Polamalu launched his website this week, Troy43.com. It’s a site nearly as beautiful as he is. Excuse me while I go look at the pictures and wipe the drool from my chin.

9. Wife-carrying, which is totally a sport, was in the news this week. A couple in Maine is training for the North American championship, where couples will vie for a title, as well as five times the winning wife’s weight in cash and her weight in beer. That’s not even the strangest part. If this team wins they are going to auction off the beer.

10. And finally, on the eve of the Ryder Cup, Jim Furyk is still trying to live down last month’s cell phone alarm malfunction that cost him a chance to contend for the Barclays championship. Let’s hope he brings an adapter that lets him plug in at Celtic Manor in Wales. The one that failed him in New Jersey isn’t going to work there either.

Blackhawks and Stanley Cup Roll in Chicago Pride

By | June 27, 2010 | Hockey | Comments Off

For one day, and for a very good reason, I say “Go Hawks!”

The Stanley Cup and recently traded Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brent Sopel and his wife appeared in today’s Chicago Pride Parade on the Chicago Gay Hockey Association’s float.  The Association asked, and the NHL said yes, simple as that. CGHA president Andrew Sobotka told the Chicago Sun-Times:

We are thrilled and honored for them to consider and accept our request. It’s just the news we wanted to hear. For the Blackhawks to do this is amazing. It is wonderful to know everyone is helping to make 2010 a year to break down barriers.

Brent Sopel and the Stanley Cup ride in today's Chicago Pride parade.

Brent Sopel and the Stanley Cup ride in today's Chicago Pride parade.

The Cup’s travels in its 100-day off-season are always interesting — it was used in 1996 to baptize Colorado Avalanche defenseman Sylvain Lefebvre’s daughter –  so its trip back from the NHL draft in L.A. yesterday was business as usual. Sopel was traded last week to the Atlanta Thrashers, but he and his wife Kelly rode anyway to  honor Brendan Burke, 21, son of U.S. Olympic hockey coach and Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Brian Burke. Brendan, a hockey team manager at Miami University in Ohio who came out while in college, died in a February car crash. Sopel played for the Canucks when Brian Burke was the general manager.

…With Brendan coming out and then being killed four months later, that was the first thing that popped in my head. I knew Brian personally for years, and I met Brendan a couple of times… any young kid that dies like that is tragic. Nobody should have to bury their children.

It’s tough to deal with stereotypes, Sopel said, and he hopes one days “things will be clear and wide open for everybody.”

Agreed.

Now, I am not foolish enough to believe — as a diehard hockey fan — that hockey equals love and equality, or that all (or maybe even most, who knows) ice hockey players or fans are open and accepting of anyone regardless of sexual orientation.  A parade is a parade. One player’s participation, same thing.  But I do believe in progress when I see it and I am proud — as a diehard hockey fan — that the Blackhawks and by association the NHL showed up to Pride. I’m pleased that the Blackhawks took a hard-fought win that was so supported by Chicago fans to a place where it is sometimes dicey for sports teams to go. And I think it’s cool that there is a Chicago Gay Hockey Association at all, because if people need a place to feel more accepted and safe when they play or enjoy hockey, so be it.

And I just, in general, dig hockey fans. There’s my bias, right there. And to be fair to baseball, the Cubs had a float too, featuring Hall of Famer Ernie Banks and the “Go Cubs Go” theme song, so “Go Cubs” for a day, also.

I’m not saying it’s okay that it’s sometimes dicey for sports teams to go anywhere, either, but the last time I wore rose-colored glasses was sometime back in the last millennium. I understand reality. The Blackhawks were photographed celebrating the Cup win in front of a whiteboard that said Flyer Chris Pronger “is gay,” after all, shortly after the Tribune put him in a skirt and called him Chrissy. (Which really means they were calling him a woman, to be clear, which makes it offensive as well as ill-advised and no I am not sharing either picture here. The link is your friend.)

I know that there are no openly gay players in the NHL, or the NFL or the NBA, for that matter.

Are there gay players in the NHL? Probably. Definitely? I don’t know. I don’t care. And I say that with love for my team (hello, Washington Capitals, I’m kind of proud I got this far along in a post without mentioning you,) other players who impress me and a sport that makes me crazy and that I love all the same. And I can honestly say that I don’t care very much about their personal lives as long as they’re not doing anything really off the wall, in which case I’ll pay attention because, well, what would I write about?

But if a hockey player did come out? I’d so support him for saying out loud who he was and how he lives his life. Why not? And beyond that, I would wish on him no kind of discrimination or fallout from his choice to speak up. I would know he would get it, from some places and people, but I would not wish it for him and I would be sad if he did.

And if he were a Washington Capital and helped to win us a Stanley Cup? I would care even less about his personal life, just saying, but I’d be, somehow, prouder of my team.  It’s a little complicated that way, I guess, but just as today I say “hell yeah” to the Cubs and the Blackhawks, to Brent Sopel and Ernie Banks, to the National Hockey League and to Major League Baseball, I’d say it to him too.

Source

Photo available under Creative Commons from Flickr user Jasmined.

Year 1 for the Cubs

By | March 9, 2010 | Baseball | 4 Comments

It is March, which means as a baseball fan, it is time for spring training and getting ready for the upcoming season. As a Chicago Cubs fan, it also means optimism and thoughts of a World Series because one game has yet to be played, which means we’re still in the hunt!

This year the Cubs are under new ownership. They are no longer owned by the Tribune Company and are now owned by the Ricketts family. And to commemorate that, they have started a marketing campaign across the City called “Year 1”.

The idea of the campaign is to let us fans know that the new ownership is focused on winning and bringing the World Series (and championship) to Wrigley Field. That, from this point forward, it is a new era.

ondeckWell, as a Cubs fan, and a marketing person, I think that it is all well and good. It is a catchy campaign. But this is the CUBS we are talking about. The lovable losers. It has been over 100 years since they have won a championship. New marketing campaigns aren’t going to win us any games.

The Cubs don’t really need to woo fans. We have Wrigley Field. The games sell out every day in the summer, regardless of how the team is doing. People go for the atmosphere. Our season ticket waiting list is like 40,000 people deep. I know. I’m like number 28,837 on the list, and I signed up over three years ago. They have continually raised ticket prices every year and yet, it doesn’t matter. They are never hurting for revenue. We are a sports town with a drinking problem!

My question is, though, what happens next year? Or what happens in Year 17? Are we going to keep this up until we win a championship? How silly are you going to look when you don’t win the World Series this year? And what about the last 100-plus years the team has been in existence? Those years, which included some great teams and Hall of Famers, mean nothing? Isn’t that a knock to the storied history of this franchise? Aren’t you basically saying that everything that happened before this year is crap?

[Source]

[Photo]

The Best Rivalry

By | July 10, 2009 | Baseball, Talking Trash | 3 Comments

Spare me your Yankees vs. Red Sox.

Give me a break about the Giants and Dodgers.

And don’t even approach me about inter-city rivalries.

The best rivalry in baseball is, forever has been, and will forever be, Cardinals vs. Cubs.

Separated by less than 300 miles of Interstate 55, the two Midwestern cities host teams which have met over two thousand times since their first matchup WAY back in 1885. Yes, the Cubs may own a 1,146 to 1,078 record against the Cardinals, however the Redbirds have won eight more World Series championships than the Cubs have or every will for that matter.cardscubsfirstplace

It’s true that in recent years the Cubs have tried, and failed, to shed the “Lovable Loser” moniker that’s followed them for so many years.

Last year they compiled an impressive 97-64 before being swept in three games by the LA Dodgers.

The year before that the Cubs were swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks… again , a sweeping that I thoroughly enjoyed.

On the other hand is my team the Cardinals… aka the 2006 World Series Champion Cardinals who are looking to come back from a painful season in which they finished 11 ½ games behind their archrival despite winning 86 games.

So as a lifelong Cardinals fan, I’m also a lifelong Cubs hater.

This weekend, the two teams square off for a 4-game series that sees the Cardinals in First place, 2 games ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers and 3 ½ games ahead of the Cubs.

Sure, I’ll root for the Cubs if they’re playing the Yankees or Red Sox, but otherwise I want the Cubs to lose. Badly. So badly in fact that I want their ancestors to feel the sting of losing.

In short, I hate the Cubs… I really do.

But lately, something has been happening… and it’s damndest thing is.

It’s getting hard, at times, to hate the Cubs.

What’s worse is that a majority of Cubs fans are ok people… not like Yankees/Red Sox where every other fan is a jackass begging for a smack upside the head or Giants/Dodgers where people actually, you know, get physically assaulted.

Now don’t let this fool you, I still hate the Cubs with the passion of a billion burning suns.

I hate when the Cardinals lose to the Cubs.

I hate seeing so much blue at home Cardinals games when the teams meet.

If I, or anyone in my immediate family for that matter, had been alive the last time the Cubs won the World Series (waaaaaaaayyy back in 1908), I would have hated that.

If they ever, in my lifetime, win a World Series I would hate that (though that doesn’t really seem like an issue with each passing year, does it?).

I loved when the Cardinals traded for Mark DeRosa weeks ago, a move that was bemoaned not only by Cubs fans, but by Cubs players as well.

So yes, I <b>do</b> hate the Cubs… but not *as much* as the Yankees, Red Sox and, more recently, the Brewers (<i>a hatred exacerbated by their ridiculous attempts to look like ‘everyday’ people  by un-tucking their jerseys after each game</i>)

But as I said, at times it’s hard to hate the Cubs. They have a rich, if fruitless, history, a great ballpark (save for the chances of being hit by falling concrete), and an excellent fan base (save for the few schmucks that you’ll find at <i>any</i> baseball game).

Every Cardinal/Cub game I’ve ever been to has seen the fans sitting side by side, laughing, ribbing each other and buying each other beers.

Could you see that happening in New York or Boston?

So embrace the best rivalry in baseball this weekend as two games, Saturday’s afternoon tilt on Fox and Sunday’s night cap on ESPN. Not only will you see the best rivalry in sports, but you’ll also see the best player in baseball play for one of the best managers in baseball in one of the best stadiums in baseball.

It’s not a game, it’s history.

Blog Widget by LinkWithin