Looking back

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. Manager 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.

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.

*Editor's note: The 2010 World Series did end in five games.

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.