Laura

Thanks for the info! :)

I haven't been pondering the HR effect, but I think it will cut down on the wind/breeze in the bleachers for better and for worse. The windscreens had a noticeable impact when they were up.

If anyone has the WBC broadcast information handy, please post it. Thanks!

Schedule Round 2 Pool 1: Anaheim, California Thurs March 16 4:30 pm 6:30pm United States v. Mexico Angel Stadium Semi-Finals San Diego, California Date Local time CST Match-up (Visitor v Home) Stadium Sat. March 18 12:00 pm 3pm Cuba v. Dominican Repub PETCO Park Sat. March 18 7:00 pm 9pm 1 Runner-up v Korea PETCO Park Championship Mon. March 20 6:00 pm 8pm SF 1 Winner v SF 2 Winner PETCO Park

By Date: March 2 vs A's WGN Radio March 4 vs Giants WGN Radio March 5 vs. Giants WGN Radio & WGN-TV March 11 vs. Royals WGN Radio March 12 v. Brewers WGN Radio & Fox SportsNet March 13 vs. Rockies Comcast Sportsnet March 18 vs. White Sox WGN Radio & WGN-TV (White Sox tv broadcast) March 19 vs. Rangers WGN Radio March 25 vs. A's WGN Radio & WGN-TV March 26 vs. Diamondbacks WGN Radio March 27 vs. White Sox WGN Radio & Comcast Sportsnet March 31 vs. Padres WGN-TV April 1 vs Padres WGN Radio & WGN-TV All games have a 2:05 (CT) first pitch. WGN Radio broadcasts include a pre-game show beginning at 1:30 pm CT.

Here's what I've found so far on the Cubs spring training broadcast schedule. Please post if you have any more information! Cubs.com broadcast info WGN Radio - Spring Training Broadcast Schedule Thursday, March 2, vs. Athletics at Mesa Saturday, March 4, vs. Giants at Scottsdale Sunday, March 5, vs. Giants at Mesa Saturday, March 11, vs. Royals at Mesa Sunday, March 12, vs. Brewers at Maryvale Saturday, March 18, vs. White Sox at Tucson Sunday, March 19, vs. Rangers at Mesa Saturday, March 25, vs. Athletics at Mesa Sunday, March 26, vs. Diamondbacks at Mesa Monday, March 27, vs. White Sox at Mesa Saturday, April 1, vs. Padres at Las Vegas All dates have a 1:30 (CT) pregame show, and 2:05 (CT) first pitch. HERE is the daily schedule for MLB Gameday Audio, which carries every home game broadcast that's available. WGN TV - Spring Training Broadcast Schedule (from Len Kasper & Bob Brenly's Baseball Blog) WGN-TV will have four Cubs games from spring training again this year (all start times are Central). March 5 from Mesa vs. San Francisco at 2p March 25 from Mesa vs. Oakland at 2p March 31 from Las Vegas vs. San Diego at 9p April 1 from Las Vegas vs. San Diego at 2p In addition, we will be carrying the Cubs-Sox game from Tucson on March 18 at 2p as a White Sox telecast. Comcast Chicago SportsNet - Cubs Spring Training Broadcast Schedule March 13 vs Colorado 2:05/CSN March 27 vs Chicago White Sox 2:05/CSN According to Cubs.com, FSN will be broadcasting the Sunday, March 12 game. I haven't found any Cubs spring training games on ESPN/2.

Welcome aboard, HHH! Yay! CT!

http://allyourbase.planettribes.gamespy.com/zerowing.gif

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/laserena06/paul.jpg

Go here. http://www.mastersball.com/sickels/company.htm I'm always torn on how much of his info I should share because I really think everyone should buy the book. John is freelancing now that ESPN streamlined their coverage with BA and he does an excellent job. His approach is much different than BA and I think he brings a unique perspective. I'd second Vance on that. Sickels also has a website -- http://www.minorleagueball.com/ -- and does a lot of "prospect retrospectives" where he looks at a player's development or lack thereof as well as how he had graded him as a prospect. I like the discussions.

I have the book waiting for me at home, but I'm on travel right now. :( How does he grade D Veal?

Redemption's a bitch! You're on the list. :D

Three times zero is still zero. We have a deal here! I'm just going to let Vance handle the game thread pimpin' negotiations. :D THANKS, VANCE!

You're on the list! :)

Cubs fans are playing hard to get this season. I was hoping you'd sign up, Tree! BHogg, Game Thread Pimp, has graciously agreed to be the 2006 Opening Day Game Thread starter. :)

You can count two in, depending on scheduling. Weekend would obviously be best and in the second half. May won't work for me (but if it works for everyone else, I'll understand).

It wasn't clearly written. If these were direct quotes, he could have written them as such in the original article. I could "glean" quotes from this thread and say they are expected quotes from any one of you if quetions are asked two days from now. I'm glad you got clarification, Northwoods ... it was needed. That said -- if anyone wants to duke out over "who's the best type of Cubs fan," do it in rants. There are optimistic and pessimistic and all of the above Cubs fans, and just because they don't think exactly like you do doesn't make them any less of a fan.

Welcome to the forums! I've been know to toss out a few Viva Neifis! I think Neifi can be a good role player. My problem is with Dusty. I can and have gone into a bunch of reasons why, but since it's late, I'll just note that I don't think Neifi should be batting 2nd unless he has a remarkable obp spike. Not a knock on neifi, just a knock on how he's been used.

I think Hairston Jr can be a good utility guy rotating through positions as needed. One of my concerns last year with him was that his OBP was inflated by his HBPs, which were a lot higher (especially early on) than they were career-wise -- ie, if being HBP was part of his game, it was a relatively new part of his game. So I resigned myself to cheering for him getting plonked when he played. I think he was relatively lucky in CF in that he made a lot of plays very interesting but didn't really ever get burnt doing so. I'd still play him there in the right matchup. His D at 2B disappointed me early on (cue sarcastic cheering when he made the routine play vs. the Mets). And he did miss a couple of crucial signs (the Cubs were bad, but not even they were that bad). His reverting to diving into 1B only really annoyed me because they immediately made me think of what Chip would say about it and Chip annoyed me. Dusty didn't seem to like him before he missed his signs, so I didn't much stock in those comments. I remained a steadfast Bellhorn fan despite what Dusty had to say about him. Hope Hairston Jr does well. I certainly wouldn't mind that. :)

How so? Hairston made some good catches last season, but they sometimes occured after he fell down or ran in the wrong direction first. :)

Someone missed the sign on the squeeze play in D.C. I like to think of that as the Cubs version of the squeeze. He did say he expected playing time early on -- it can probably be tracked down via google. The Cubs are good at squashing things.

Straight from the horse's mouth. Cubs.com Marlins Zambrano hurts Marlins from both plate, mound By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com Starter Carlos Zambrano drove in two runs on three hits with his bat and held the Marlins to one run on six hits with his pitching arm as the Cubs cruised to a win. Braves Cubs break out the offense By Erik A. Carlson / MLB.com ATLANTA -- The Cubs bats were in good working order Monday night and overcame a shaky start by Shawn Estes to down the NL East leading Braves, 15-6, at Turner Field for their third straight win in front of 39,950 Cub-friendly fans. The first four Cubs runs came from the bat of Sammy Sosa, who has been on fire against the Braves this season going 13-for-21 with four home runs. Sosa hit a 411-foot, three-run homer against right-hander Shane Reynolds in the first inning and drove in another run in the second.

So that's his strategy. :-k

They aren't as dominant as they were last year. Big whoop. Who's slamming them?

This is probably the right thread to mention that HBO Real Sports is currently running a special on forged autographs -- cut and otherwise -- on the sports memorabilia market. It seems that most of the autos mentioned here were obtained in person. You can see a video preview of the show here. Among the autographs they believe were forged is an Upper Deck cut quad autograph card of Babe Ruth / Ty Cobb / Honus Wagner / Walter Johnson that sold for $85,000. Two autograph authentication companies, GAI and PSA, say the Ruth / Johnson sigs are likely fake. Upper Deck as of the filming of the show says they stand by the card, though one wonder whether they stand by it to the tune of $85,000. The show -- which I haven't seen -- apparently also has Dan Marino cruising the net and marveling at the sheer number of his autographed items for sale that he never signed. Who knows? Autograph authentication companies have as many problems as memorabilia companies that try to put out authentic items. The safest thing is to collect what you like, and what you get in person is always the best. :mrgreen: