Sunday night's Nick Digilio Show covered the topic of movies and records that make you feel old when you realize they came out 30 years ago, and it sparked a memory for me.
Friday was the 30th anniversary of my first Cubs game, a 14-6 loss to the San Francisco Giants. The first Cub runner I saw score was Steve Macko, driven in on one of four hits by Bill Buckner after the Giants had opened up a 9-0 lead. My neighbor Chris had had his glove signed by Macko in blue Sharpie, and Chris was instrumental to my becoming a baseball fan and memorabilia collector, so I guess that's appropriate.
Macko played just four more games, succumbing to cancer the following year at age 27. Preston Gomez was fired either that day or the off-day that followed and spent the rest of his long career as a coach. Buckner won the batting title that year, was traded in 1984 and made one of baseball history's most famous miscues in 1986.
All in all, thirty years down the road it's still a fair representation of my life as a Cub fan.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Byrd a shooting Star
What an All-Star Game for Marlon Byrd. Came in late, fought off a walk and scored an insurance run on the game-winning hit, then as a center fielder playing right, made a rally-killing assist with the game on the line in the ninth. Brian McCann should drop some of his MVP bonus on a nice steak dinner for Marlon next time the Braves are in town.
Of course this means the NL finally has home-field advantage in the World Series. If fate has a sense of humor, it will end in five.
Of course this means the NL finally has home-field advantage in the World Series. If fate has a sense of humor, it will end in five.
Friday, July 09, 2010
The Carlos Zambrano situation
I've had a couple of requests to comment on the Carlos Zambrano situation, and I've gone back and forth on whether to write about it.
Once a player progresses from ejection to league suspension to team suspension and beyond dealing with the same problem over the course of several years, at some point it crosses the line from being a baseball issue to being a real-life issue. You can only rant and rave so many times before realizing it isn't going away on its own.
If a problem isn't physical, I think it stops being any of our business as fans. All we really need to know is that a problem exists, it has nothing to do with his ability to throw a baseball 90+ miles an hour, it's being addressed, and that the team hasn't set a timetable for his return.
Anger is a very real issue, and a lot of people struggle throughout their lives to control it. It could cost Joe Sixpack his job, or his family, or his health, or land him in jail. The people who love him suffer too. So unless you're part of the solution, if someone tries to get help to make a fundamental change in their life, step off and let them. It shouldn't matter if it's an athlete, an entertainer or some guy from your neighborhood. Wish them well, hope for the best and leave it at that.
Good luck, Big Z.
Once a player progresses from ejection to league suspension to team suspension and beyond dealing with the same problem over the course of several years, at some point it crosses the line from being a baseball issue to being a real-life issue. You can only rant and rave so many times before realizing it isn't going away on its own.
If a problem isn't physical, I think it stops being any of our business as fans. All we really need to know is that a problem exists, it has nothing to do with his ability to throw a baseball 90+ miles an hour, it's being addressed, and that the team hasn't set a timetable for his return.
Anger is a very real issue, and a lot of people struggle throughout their lives to control it. It could cost Joe Sixpack his job, or his family, or his health, or land him in jail. The people who love him suffer too. So unless you're part of the solution, if someone tries to get help to make a fundamental change in their life, step off and let them. It shouldn't matter if it's an athlete, an entertainer or some guy from your neighborhood. Wish them well, hope for the best and leave it at that.
Good luck, Big Z.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Take me out... of the broadcast
Usually WGN radio carries all of the Cubs' seventh-inning singers even if the TV side doesn't. Tonight was an exception.
They skipped out on baseball's favorite public-domain song because the singers were from their opposition down the dial, Mike and Mike from ESPN radio.
They skipped out on baseball's favorite public-domain song because the singers were from their opposition down the dial, Mike and Mike from ESPN radio.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Rules rant: Interleague play
I don't generally post my meta-thoughts about baseball, but one of my hobbies within the game is waxing theoretical on changes I'd make if I was in charge of things. One of those coincides with this week's action, and since there hasn't much to talk about lately here on the West Side, I have some thoughts on improving interleague play on the eve of Part II of the Crosstown Classic. Like I've said before, I get some wacky ideas but some of them have merit. Determine for yourself which this is...
Fairness in scheduling should be a top priority, and if interleague play is to be a permanent fixture, MLB needs to straighten up the mess it's created. The 2003 Astros faced Boston and New York back-to-back on the road, went 1-5 in those games and finished one back. The 2003 Cubs missed the Red Sox, faced the Yankees at home and beat them two out of three, and won the division. Go Cubs and all, but that's not fair. And neither had six games to beat up on the Royals like the Cardinals do every year.
I'm against it on principle, but if it's to be done, here's how:
Since it's all about boosting revenue, don't schedule all the interleague games to compete with one another, schedule them all season long. Would I watch the Royals and Nats without Strasburg on the mound if there were 13 other interleague games going on? Doubtful. But if it was the only one that night, I might tune in. With 30 teams, there are enough interleague matchups to play one or more every day throughout a six-month season, and revenue for those games would be up almost across the board over the way it's done now.
The Dodgers and Angels just played a mid-week series, an opportunity wasted. City series should include either a Fox Saturday game or an ESPN Sunday night game, if not both. Same for series pitting former World Series opponents against one another. Haul out the veterans on Saturday afternoon for a national audience, put up some bunting, maybe wear vintage-style uniforms and make a big deal out of it since you won't host them again for another six years. Play off the history and bring a little excitement to the table when Pittsburgh-Baltimore rolls around and they're a combined 50 games out of first.
Season-long interleague play could also correct MLB’s inability to divide 30 by 6. An odd number of interleague games every day provides an even schedule for the rest of six five-team divisions. That, in turn, would straighten out the mess of scheduling interleague games with uneven divisions. The Cubs still haven't played in Fenway Park since 1918 when it touted as one of the arguments for interleague play 14 years ago.
With 18 games per team – a three-game series against each team in one division plus three against a particular rival to even out the home/road balance - that's 270 games overall to fit into roughly 180 days. Each team would be left with 8 games per team outside their division and 16 per division rival.
Or they could totally level the playing field by eliminating the rivalry games and boosting the schedule to 30 interleague games. With a stronger divisional schedule of 18 games against each opponent, teams would simply play three at home and three on the road against everyone in three other divisions, one of which is in the other league. In a three-year cycle, that's 2x3^1 (6), 2x3^2 (18) and 2x3^3 (54) games for the Cubs against each AL, NL East/West and NL Central team respectively. It may not have as much revenue potential without as many local matchups, but it's fair and the math is great. There happen to also be 2x3^1 outs in an inning, 2x3^2 innings pitched and 2x3^3 outs per nine innings between 2x3^0 (2) teams. Poetic, almost, the way baseball revolves around powers of three. Ancient mathematicians would approve.
So who changes leagues? Part of me wants to send the Brewers back because their move to the NL was a little shady, but I think it would make more sense to bump the Rockies to the AL West and send the Astros back to the NL West. Denver is the fairest travel option for a division with teams in Seattle, Dallas, LA and the Bay Area, and the NL West would line up similarly - three teams on the coast, one in Texas and one in between.
NL Central - Cubs, Brewers, Cardinals, Pirates, Reds
NL West - Astros, D-Backs, Dodgers, Giants, Padres
AL West - A's, Angels, Mariners, Rangers, Rockies
They can fix it or scrap it entirely, but the status quo just ain't right.
Just a couple of wacky ideas. More of these to come if the Cubs' season doesn't pick up...
Fairness in scheduling should be a top priority, and if interleague play is to be a permanent fixture, MLB needs to straighten up the mess it's created. The 2003 Astros faced Boston and New York back-to-back on the road, went 1-5 in those games and finished one back. The 2003 Cubs missed the Red Sox, faced the Yankees at home and beat them two out of three, and won the division. Go Cubs and all, but that's not fair. And neither had six games to beat up on the Royals like the Cardinals do every year.
I'm against it on principle, but if it's to be done, here's how:
Since it's all about boosting revenue, don't schedule all the interleague games to compete with one another, schedule them all season long. Would I watch the Royals and Nats without Strasburg on the mound if there were 13 other interleague games going on? Doubtful. But if it was the only one that night, I might tune in. With 30 teams, there are enough interleague matchups to play one or more every day throughout a six-month season, and revenue for those games would be up almost across the board over the way it's done now.
The Dodgers and Angels just played a mid-week series, an opportunity wasted. City series should include either a Fox Saturday game or an ESPN Sunday night game, if not both. Same for series pitting former World Series opponents against one another. Haul out the veterans on Saturday afternoon for a national audience, put up some bunting, maybe wear vintage-style uniforms and make a big deal out of it since you won't host them again for another six years. Play off the history and bring a little excitement to the table when Pittsburgh-Baltimore rolls around and they're a combined 50 games out of first.
Season-long interleague play could also correct MLB’s inability to divide 30 by 6. An odd number of interleague games every day provides an even schedule for the rest of six five-team divisions. That, in turn, would straighten out the mess of scheduling interleague games with uneven divisions. The Cubs still haven't played in Fenway Park since 1918 when it touted as one of the arguments for interleague play 14 years ago.
With 18 games per team – a three-game series against each team in one division plus three against a particular rival to even out the home/road balance - that's 270 games overall to fit into roughly 180 days. Each team would be left with 8 games per team outside their division and 16 per division rival.
Or they could totally level the playing field by eliminating the rivalry games and boosting the schedule to 30 interleague games. With a stronger divisional schedule of 18 games against each opponent, teams would simply play three at home and three on the road against everyone in three other divisions, one of which is in the other league. In a three-year cycle, that's 2x3^1 (6), 2x3^2 (18) and 2x3^3 (54) games for the Cubs against each AL, NL East/West and NL Central team respectively. It may not have as much revenue potential without as many local matchups, but it's fair and the math is great. There happen to also be 2x3^1 outs in an inning, 2x3^2 innings pitched and 2x3^3 outs per nine innings between 2x3^0 (2) teams. Poetic, almost, the way baseball revolves around powers of three. Ancient mathematicians would approve.
So who changes leagues? Part of me wants to send the Brewers back because their move to the NL was a little shady, but I think it would make more sense to bump the Rockies to the AL West and send the Astros back to the NL West. Denver is the fairest travel option for a division with teams in Seattle, Dallas, LA and the Bay Area, and the NL West would line up similarly - three teams on the coast, one in Texas and one in between.
NL Central - Cubs, Brewers, Cardinals, Pirates, Reds
NL West - Astros, D-Backs, Dodgers, Giants, Padres
AL West - A's, Angels, Mariners, Rangers, Rockies
They can fix it or scrap it entirely, but the status quo just ain't right.
Just a couple of wacky ideas. More of these to come if the Cubs' season doesn't pick up...
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