cl smooth

that was painless.

the female color commentator for yankees radio is god awful. AWFUL.

lovie got a two-year extension from the bears: http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=7608

a few months back, i ventured into a seahawks bar in manhattan to watch the bears/seahawks game. now my friend who is a seahawks fan is coming to brooklyn to the bears bar i frequent. should be a blast! can't beat $4 bottles of goose island! GO BEARS!

yankee fan at my job is now stating they have the "best bullpen in baseball."

i know that everyone has a laugh over the "slider low and away" line, but it seems to me that the negative comments from most people who are anti-steve stone came after he left the cubs booth and not while he was in it. is the hatred (perhaps a strong word) for stone due to the events in 2004 and how he's talked about the cubs since then or were there incidents before then that made people not like him?

it's easier for me to remember specific games in '03 than '08 because i went to 8 or 9 games in '03 (including game 2 of the nlcs) and only 1-2 games in '08. the '03 team was easy to root for since the cubs hadn't assembled a team closely resembling a playoff-caliber club in quite a few years (excluding '01, which hit a wall in mid-late august), so it was a nice surprise to be in the thick of things in september. games that stood out in my mind were: * the 16-inning 1-0 game vs. the astros in late may. i remember going to the mall and waiting outside to use a KIOSK (!!!) to purchase tickets earlier in march. i had two friends with me and they were on their cell phones trying to get through to an operator to purchase tickets. one of them got through and i got 4 tickets to a late may game figuring the weather would be warm...WRONG! 40-45 degrees, overcast, 30-40 mph winds blowing IN...awful! sosa struck out 5 times, was booed from here to madison, alou throwing out lance berkman at home during the 8th or 9th inning to keep the game going and sosa eventually hit the game-winning single for the cubs to win it in the 16th. came home with a crazy throat cold, but it was worth it. * the 5-game series against the cardinals in early september. i believe troy o'leary had the best comment where he said something along the lines of "if you weren't a fan of baseball before this series, you are now." cardinals come into wrigley thinking they are the better team, cubs take 4 out of 5 and st. louis leaves knowing they aren't. so many classic moments from these games...sosa hitting a game-winning home run against jeff fassero, alou going bananas over the foul-line "hit," larussa and baker yelling at each other from the dugouts...i've yet to watch a cubs series after 2003 that had that much excitement. * game 2 of the nlcs. a day before my 21st birthday...a great present! little did i know that the cubs would not win another home game that series. :'( i still have the clincher against the pirates on tape (and eventually dubbed down to a .dv file) along with santo's jersey retirement.

there was an article with selig on thursday stating that there is no interest in shortening the season: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5821797

the drink? probably. wonder how many articles and mets messageboard threads are going to be about wally backman not getting the job (i kid, i kid).

haha, i thought it fit the mess that is/was the ryno/cubs managerial search. What 'mess?' Nobody guaranteed Sandberg a job. Disappointment on the part of Ryno -- that's fair. I'd be disappointed too. But this idea that there's some kind of fiasco, or mess, or catastrophe, is way overboard. They groomed him, but in the end decided to go in another direction. That's it. The Cubs aren't the first, nor will they be the last, to do this. with all signs pointing towards sandberg getting the job after lou's contract was up (rising through the minor league managerial system rather quickly, promoting the iowa cubs' AAA game at wrigley with sandberg as manager to draw fans, etc.) and then not give it to him, one has to question if hiring him at all 4 years ago was the wisest move. i'm not defending sandberg's actions or comments by any means (which i clarified 2 responses ago), but this has turned into somewhat of a public relations mess for the cubs...you have to be kidding yourself if you don't believe that. again, i'm happy that he's not the manager, but i believe it's fair to question the cubs' ability to think a few moves ahead if something like this were to happen and how the fans/media would view this. their choice to hire quade over sandberg will be brought up at the cubs convention, spring training, during their first loss in a close game, long losing streak, etc. i just don't see this topic going away anytime soon...that's what i'm trying to get at.

haha, i thought it fit the mess that is/was the ryno/cubs managerial search.

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=5813606 this issue isn't going to go away anytime soon... granted, ryno keeps talking about it when asked and won't stop beating the dead horse, but how much are the cubs to blame for this? hire one of the most popular players in your franchise's history (who also happens to be a hall of famer) to manage your minor league teams, putting him on the fast track yearly at the different minor league levels, essentially grooming him for the big-league managerial poisition later on down the line. once there's a managerial position available, you don't pick him and he gets butt-hurt. whether or not his managerial style fits you personally as a fan isn't the issue, but dangling the carrot out for him to become manager after lou left and then not give it to him was a mess waiting to happen. i as well as others am happy that quade received the job over sandberg, but this seems like a bukkake of dumb all over the place.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5808540

is atdhe's website working for anyone?

any chance ryno moves up to bench coach? i'm guessing they will lay out quade's coaches during the press conference, as well?

I understand that NYC is a destination for Americans all over the country because of how dynamic it is, but I wouldn't have thought there would be enough Seattle transplants to make it possible to have a Seatte-centric bar. i thought the same thing! i asked my friend how crowded it gets and he said seahawks fans roll in about 75-100 deep on gameday.

i was asked to go to a seahawks bar in the upper east side to watch today's game. i found a bears/cubs bar in brooklyn a few weeks back and have been going there for just about every game (can't beat the free chicago hot dogs during halftime), but i'll make due with a couple seahawks fans and free pizza at their bar during halftime.

happened to tony gwynn in 1996. http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL/1996-batting-leaders.shtml i'll always remember the sportscenter episode where olbermann said "gwynn goes for the record books...and a calculator!," due to the explanation on how he won the batting title.

i figure he'll play a season or two more, collect his 3,000 hits and call it a career.

i found a great bears/cubs bar in brooklyn last sunday...the girls inside weren't too bad looking, either...made a good distraction to the bufoonery that was in prime display on the field.

this is coming from the guy who has ichiro's name tattoo'd on his ass and joked about his wife divorcing him on national radio while the divorce proceedings were still going on. he's easy to laugh at and hard to take seriously.

you need 500-506 ab to qualify for the batting title at the end of the season, correct?

I don't think that would ever happen. I think Sandberg will leave the Cubs if he doesn't get the job, especially if the new manager is young. Sandberg sounds like he will take any path to a major league managerial position he can. If no one offers one this offseason and he feels that being a bench coach will get him faster to that goal, then he would take the job. He sounds to me like its manager or bust this season. He talked about being a AAA manager being higher up than a MLB bench coach. He's getting himself thrown out of games left and right and generally trying not to be the quiet nice guy he was as a player. I get the feeling he'd spurn the Cubs if they offered a bench coach spot but accept one elsewhere just to show he's serious. outside of the cubs and braves, who else will have a manager's seat open? how many of the interim managers right now will or will not be back with their respective teams?

how would people feel about girardi to the cubs as coach and sandberg being his bench coach? btw, good to see bob dernier become 1st base coach the other day. he's a friend of my brother and he has had always good things to say about dernier.

this is a great question. for those who have season tickets, what types of packages are available? if i were offered a season ticket package, i'm sure i could get a group of friends together to help pay for them.