Opening Day Memories 1994

On the eve of my 17th consecutive home opener attended with my dad i thought i'd share with you one of my favorite opening day memories.
Usually opening day for the cubbies means one thing...cold cold cold. April is an unforgiving month in the midwest, especially in the beginning of the month. Typical home openers have temperatures in the low 40s, high 30s with lots of wind. But that means that the openers that have good weather stand out.
Now the 1994 home opener against the Mets on April 4th had great weather, 55 degrees and sunny, but there was something else about that game that stuck out. Affectionately known to Cubs fans as "The Tuffy Rhodes Game" this game featured a new centerfielder for the cubbies, Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes manning the position for the first time in a cubs uniform. What made this home opener special was that Tuffy Rhodes homered in his first 3 at bats, off the formerly great Doc Gooden no less. What people tend to forget is that the cubs ended up losing that game 12-8, but we all remember how Tuffy Rhodes for one day was king of Chicago.
I was 9 at the time, and i was a big fan of opening day because i got to skip half a school day, and this was a serious deal back in 3rd grade. I felt special because i got to miss class to watch my favorite team play.
The memories still make me smile, getting picked up by my dad at school, driving downtown to his hospital, taking the EL near his office to Wrigley, looking at Wrigley as the EL slowly made it's way to the Addison stop, and all the sights and smells surrounding Wrigleyville before gametime. My dad teaching me how to keep score, and cheering with the crowd when Harry Caray sang the seventh inning stretch. The Cubs may have lost on that day in '94, but it was pretty cool seeing a Cub hit 3 home runs.
Hopefully tomorrow's opener results in more good memories, as the Cubs take on the Astros, and Cubs nemesis Woody Williams. Lily hopefully puts up another good start, and maybe Soriano will break out in his home debut, but i'm wishing for a cubs win. let's say Cubs win 4-2 tomorrow and we all go home happy. Lets go Cubs!

Game 5 Recap: Cubs vs Brewers 4/7/07

After Sheets dominant performance on opening day i was worried about today's match up. Fortunately, Big Z was dealing early today, and contributed to the early scoring with a clutch 2 out RBI single. Derosa continued his hot hitting with a triple to start the scoring, and D Lee and Aramis helped pad the total in the 6th inning. Big Z got into trouble a few times today, but a great stop by Lee at first for the unconventional 3-6 double play helped Z to his first victory in 2007. We're 3-2 now, and hopefully Wade Miller builds on the successes of the starting staff from the last 4 games. The hitting has improved since the first game of the season, and we're hitting against good pitchers, Dave Bush and Ben Sheets are no slouches. I like how Pinella works the lineup day in a day out, tweaking it based on the matchups. Hopefully the defense in the outfield doesn't disintegrate, but i'm pleasantly surprised with the team's play in the first 5 games.




I'm excited about going to my 17 consecutive opening day game at Wrigley with my dad, it's been a pretty special tradition for me. Tomorrow i'll share one of my favorite opening day memories, and preview the home opener against the astros. But for now i'm going to enjoy easter with the extended family and hopefully watch the cubs sweep the brew crew on the road.

A change to the blog

I figured i need to change this blog up a bit, no more sad sappy college stuff. I'm giving you straight Cubs info with some reactions to my favorite TV shows. I know you'll all enjoy the switch, because my life is boring. So over the next few days, changes will be made, new posts will be put up, and will i find true happiness? Stay tuned...

One more semester to go...

As i sit here typing this, i'm embarking upon my last semester at ND as an undergrad. It's a weird moment to reflect on, because earlier today i was cleaning up my room back home in oak park when i noticed my acceptance letter among the items i was looking through. That letter made me realize how far i've come since that moment in april when i excitedly tore upon the "big" envelope sent from ND, and the resulting state of happiness and relief after reading the good news. I remember that i had all these different ideas of how college was going to unfold, and all the great things i was going to do. Looking back at my 3 1/2 years i have no real regrets on how it all broke down, the only one being i wish i would have committed to a school publication, but even that's not that big of a deal now that i think about it. The best thing about ND is the relationships i forged between classmates, roomates, dormmates, and professors. The ND community is truly a family in every sense of the word. I don't think i would have had such an enriching experience if i had gone to my other choice, Northwestern, but that's not so much a knock on the wildcats as it is a ringing endorsement for ND. Yes parietals were lame, yes the campus life is similar to a summer camp with the same-sex dorms, and yes the ND administration imposed some pretty harsh rules on the students without consulting us, but these roadblocks were not that big of a deal when it really came down to it.

The best thing i've discovered at college the past 3 1/2 years is that you don't necessarily go to college to learn (you obviously do) but you start discovering who you really are. Most of us in college were cut off from our high school safety nets of family and friends, and being out on your own was a jarring experience. It's almost like starting your life over again at 18. And despite all i've learned these 3 1/2 years, i'm only starting to scratch the surface of who i really am.

I'm getting sappy, but i really don't care at this point, i've loved virtually every minute of my college experience, and i'm glad of the friendships i've made. I only hope that the last 6 months will be a wonderful bookend to an excellent part of my life, i think that it will. It's going to be hard going to the real world, where real responsibilities and pressures reign supreme, but if i've found out anything about myself this year it's that i'm ready for anything.

Cubs 2006 season in review(and hopes for 2007)

Cubs record in 2006- 66-96

What went right in 2006:

1. The emergence of Matt Murton: it took awhile but matt murton "for certain" finally showed that he could major league pitching. He isn't a great defender by any stretch of the imagination, but he showed that he has the plate discipline and bat control of a good hitter, and deserves to start in the cubs outfield in 2007.

2. Rich Hill's second go-around: Finally! A cubs farmhand that showed that he was equal to his hype. Hill really struggled his first call up this season, culminating in the A.J./Barrett punch fest, but his second time around the big club, finally showed that he could locate his 92mph fastball and use his devastor of a curve to wipe hitters out. Besides Zambrano, Hill was the only consistent pitcher for the cubs down the stretch, and he should be a solid starter for years to come.

3. Bob Howry and Scott Eyre: These two showed they were worth the money, as they were both solid relievers all season. After the implosion of ryan dempster, howry might be in line to replace him as the closer next season, depending on how the new manager sees it.

4. Ryan Theriot: I know it was only a short time of exposure for Theriot, but i really liked what i saw out of him. He's got a chance to be a solid top of the order hitter, and he provided solid defense at 2B. In my mind he should be give all the opportunity to start at 2B next season, and given the space to develop.

5.Carlos Zambrano: he's a stud, a workhorse, he managed to have one of his best seasons despite walking everyone and their sister, if he can cut the walk total down, we are talking about a potential 20 game winner here(he won 16 games with this team for Christ sakes!)



What went wrong in 2006:

1. Aramis Ramirez and Juan Pierre's first halfs: both of these guys are to blame for the tailspin the team took after D Lee went down with his wrist injury. They didn't step up when the team needed them to, and only started to heat up after the season was lost for good.

2. Every starter on the team except for Zambrano and Hill: Marshall, Mateo, Marmol, Ryu, Guzman all started, and they all stunk for the most part. They had no idea how to control the strike zone, and showed few adjustments on the mound. There's talent here, but these guys need to figure out how to command the strike zone before they can be relied upon.

3. Ryan Dempster: He stunk, he's not that good, and it might get worse. It's true that he didn't get much consistent work, but c'mon he was real real bad.

4. Ronny Cedeno: wow, do not let this man back on the roster next season, he stinks at defense, and he has worse plate discipline than corey patterson. Get rid of this no talent ass clown.

5. The Cubs Defense in general: just plain bad, the outfielders all have below-average arms, cedeno was a disaster at short, barrett still doesn't know how to call a good game, and a lack of fundamental baseball killed the cubs in many close games this season.

6 Injuries: i hate using this excuse, but D Lee's injury really killed the cubs. The cubs were already short a bat before D Lee's injury, and his loss put that much pressure on A-Ram, and he couldn't come through. Prior and Wood should never be relied upon again, and i'm still wondering what the hell is wrong with Prior. If it's physical, get it fixed, but methinks prior is a sissy who can't tell the difference between pain and injury. He needs to start getting on the ball and step up. Hopefully Lee will come back strong next season and provide a solid bat in the middle, but wrist injuries are notoriously difficult to come back from.

7. The Farm System: despite the injuries, the cubs should have been able to fill the injury spots with promising young talent from the minors, instead they put out retreads like phil nevin, and john mabry...yikes. Something in the organization needs to be done to fix our lack of positional talent, or we'll always have our bench filled with past-their-prime blowhards like phil nevin, john mabry, and awful young players like fast freddy bynum.

8. The Fans: i know i'm going to get grief for this, but the fans sucked this year. I attended the game this year where fans at Wrigley did the WAVE! The fucking wave is not allowed at wrigley, i couldn't believe it when i saw it. It speaks to the fact that many fans probably sold their tickets off, and the resulting attendees were newbies who think the wave is cool. The fans need to step up as well as the team and show that we're loyal to the team, and not sell our tickets to these wannabees.


Things to do, to improve for 2007

1. Lockup Zambrano Longterm

2. Lockup Aramis

3. Say goodbye to Pierre

4. Sign Carlos Lee or Alfonso Soriano and platoon Murton and Jones in right.

5. Go after 2 veteren pitchers(one of them preferably being jason schmidt)

6. Give Ryan Theriot the 2B job

7. Make Zambo the number 1, a veteren acquisition the no. 2, and Rich Hill the no. 3. The last two spots in the rotation are up for grabs between all the rookies and Prior.

8. Make Kerry Wood an incentive laden deal, based on games finished/appeared, or games saved. Give him all the opportunity to become the lights out reliever we saw a glimpse of at the end of 2005.

9. Dump Dempter from the closer role, or at least make him earn it this off-season.

With these nine steps, the cubs should definately compete in the awful NL Central. It's not that hard to field a competitive team in the NL, and the cubs don' have to go overboard to do it. The Cubs should field a mix of young talent(theriot, murton, hill, pie) with solid veterens, that play hard and the right way. Hopefully Hendry will hire Girardi within the next 2 weeks, and the pieces will start coming together. I have high hopes for this Cubs offseason, and look forward to seeing what Hendry does, now that he's under the gun.

Lost Season 3 Premiere

OH DOCTOR....that's pretty much all i have to say about that....

the others were living in a suburbian like community straight out of an M. Night movie... that's just crazy...not much else was revealed except that Henry Gale's name is really "ben." well that's just splendid, the new hottie was a good character, jack was fucked with, kate was handcuffed, and sawyer, well he is dumber than a polar bear evidently. Good start to the season, looking forward to the next 5 episodes(since lost is dividing the season up into a 6 episode arc to start the season and then 17 more starting in january) and i can't get enough others action


Cubs 2006 Season in Review coming friday

until then, peace out

The times, they are changing

My first post in a while, but what else is new. The house is going great, we've had a few parties so far, finally utilized our kick ass backyard for a few bonfires, and haven't had any problems with the police or neighbors so far. Classes have been for the most part decent, with a few exceptions, but i'm excited for the rest of the year. I joined a tutoring program at ND called Teamwork, and i'm now tutoring a 8 year old named Marco. It feels good doing service again, and i love the look on Marco's face when he reads a passage in a book successfully.

In sports news, the ND football team has started the season off 4-1, and while they haven't played as well as i thought they would, they are playing hard. The Cubs are cleaning house after another dismal season, with president Andy Macphail and Dusty Baker both out the door. There are so many problems with the cubs( another post for another time) that the rise back to respectability will take some time. Da Bears look real real real good after their sunday night demolition of the NFC champs, and the Gunslinger, or "Sexy Rexy" for you females out there, is getting better every game.
Things are starting to round into place, i hope to have a job in chicago(whatever field that wants me) lined up by the spring, and you better believe i'll use any connection possible to get my foot in the door, i'm not above grovelling.

Lost is premiering this week, and like most of you out there, i'm really looking forward to it. Season 2 was a disapointment for some people, but not me. Henry Gale was the saving grace of Season 2, and Season 3 looks to be more focused on the "others" and Gale himself. The season ended on such a great note in may, that it's hard not to be pumped for a action-packed season.


Cubs 2006 wrapup to come before the weekend

End of Summer Angry Post

Yes its been almost three months since my last post, but i don't give a shit. This summer except for my family and uncle's generosity has been an unmitigated disaster. I thought that this summer would be different, that things would change now that all my friends were turning 21. I have never been more wrong.
Things first went bad when i lost out on an internship downtown with the Newberry Library, which sucked because i had to wait the last two weeks in May for an answer. Then i learned Ascension couldn't hire me for the summer due to budget concerns, which screwed me out of a good paying stable job. So at last resort i turned to my uncle and his newly acquired pier company. My uncle was generous enough to set me up with a place to live during the week and employed me for most of the summer.

I cannot stress how much my summer was saved by this.

I learned the hard way that working for your friends is never good idea, when i worked briefly for my friend Alex. I thought i had found a great summer work situation but it didn't work out that way. At the darkest moment in the summer, in mid july, i was able to rely on my family and they came through for me. My uncle's business picked up again and i was able to work steadily for the last 6 weeks of the summer, but i learned a valuable lesson about true friendship and loyalty.

I'm angry i didn't post enough this summer, although for a good part of it i was unable to reach a computer. I guarantee i'll post more now, i've got so much to say its insane. I don't care if my diction is flawed or my grammer is spotty, i just want to put words out there and get shit off my chest.

I'm looking forward to senior year, i'll be leaving for ND in a week, and hopefully i can get this bad taste of summer out of my mouth.

Getting back at you fools tomorrow