Andy

I got a framed poster of the outside Wrigley celebration and a Tervis cup from my mom, a Christmas tree ornament from the in-laws, and my brother got me the Tribune book and the 8 disc Blu-ray set. I also gave my son a 12 month size championship t-shirt to wear during next season.

That article totally convinced me to feel bad for the twentysomething with enough money to both live in San Diego and buy Cubs season tickets.

No kidding. If anything he handled that particular thing pretty well - disagreeing with his usage (which most of us did) but never complaining. Even better would've been not doing so now, but better now that he's gone than during the Series.

Then get behind the wheel andy wants me dead? STL was one of the 3 bolded. Actually, I thought it was the only one bolded. I was way too fired up to make an STL drunk driving joke.

Nope. double nope make it a triple Then get behind the wheel

The very fact that this dude is talking about 2009-14 in terms of 'lost money' is game, set and match. You didn't lose money those years. You purchased Chicago Cubs tickets. You're pissed that you didn't get to then profit off them. Done.

That story is fantastic. Apparently he was a coach on the previous staff and was passed over when Grobe was replaced by Clawson as HC, so decided to try to ruin Clawson? Ridiculous.

I wouldn't be shocked if he went top 5, but I don't see him going 1.1. I don't even know if he'll be the first QB Cleveland has more than one first-rounder - the mock I saw had him going there at 10.

Insert 'this isn't relevant to the bowl games' joke here, but DeShone Kizer going pro. If he goes to Cleveland I'm burning everything to the ground.

Edmonds tore horsefeathers up for us and was in full eff-you mode against STL at that point (even though he obviously got over it), so I won't concede he was a twerp as a Cub. Lackey definitely is/was, though, and Miles can DIAF

It almost certainly won't hit me how much I'm going to miss Dex until Zobrist or whoever it ends up being steps in for the first AB of the 2017 season.

There might well not be a playoff if Rodriguez takes the job. It was possibly heading that way anyway but the rematch title game unquestionably accelerated things.

Yes and yes

Is the NLDS clincher on there? The ad I saw for the 8-disc set just mentioned the WS games plus the pennant clincher.

post those digits https://help-mlb.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/733

I was able to dig up a phone number for them and they said they'd ship out another one and to just return the original one if it arrived. We'll see what happens I suppose.

Is there an effective way to harass the MLB Shop people about something not arriving? The last thing to ship (a 12M size t-shirt for my son, who thankfully can't fit in it yet anyway) is stuck in FedEx hell somewhere. The tracking info I got is apparently wrong because it's not where the tracker says it is. When I e-mailed to ask for some help, including specifically mentioning the tracking info is wrong, they just replied saying here is your tracking number, it's on the way.

Gildan New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque, NM – 12/17, 2 pm (ESPN) UTSA vs New Mexico Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl in Las Vegas, NV – 12/17, 3:30 pm (ABC) San Diego State vs Houston Raycom Media Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, AL – 12/17, 5:30 pm (ESPN) Appalachian State vs Toledo AutoNation Cure Bowl in Orlando, FL – 12/17, 5:30 pm (CBSSN) Arkansas State vs UCF R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl in New Orleans, LA – 12/17, 9 pm (ESPN) UL Lafayette vs Southern Miss Miami Beach Bowl in Miami, FL – 12/19, 2:30 pm (ESPN) Tulsa vs Central Michigan Boca Raton Bowl in Boca Raton, FL – 12/20, 7 pm (ESPN) Memphis vs Western Kentucky San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego, CA – 12/21, 9 pm (ESPN) BYU vs Wyoming Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise, ID – 12/22, 7 pm (ESPN) Idaho vs Colorado State Popeye’s Bahamas Bowl in Nassau, BS – 12/23, 1 pm (ESPN) Eastern Michigan vs Old Dominion Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, TX – 12/23, 4:30 pm (ESPN) (25) Navy vs Louisiana Tech Dollar General Bowl in Mobile, AL – 12/23, 8 pm (ESPN) Ohio vs Troy Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu, HI – 12/24, 8 pm (ESPN) Hawaii vs Middle Tennessee St. Petersburg Bowl in St. Petersburg, FL – 12/26, 11 am (ESPN) Mississippi State vs Miami (OH) Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit, MI – 12/26, 2:30 pm (ESPN) Boston College vs Maryland Camping World Independence Bowl in Shreveport, LA – 12/26, 5 pm (ESPN2) Vanderbilt vs NC State Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl in Dallas, TX – 12/27, 12 pm (ESPN) Army vs North Texas Military Bowl in Annapolis, MD – 12/27, 3:30 pm (ESPN) (24) Temple vs Wake Forest National Funding Holiday Bowl in San Diego, CA – 12/27, 7 pm (ESPN) Minnesota vs Washington State Motel 6 Cactus Bowl in Tempe, AZ – 12/27, 10:15 pm (ESPN) Baylor vs Boise State New Era Pinstripe Bowl in New York, NY – 12/28, 2 pm (ESPN) Northwestern vs (23) Pittsburgh Russell Athletic Bowl in Orlando, FL – 12/28, 5:30 pm (ESPN) (16) West Virginia vs Miami Foster Farms Bowl in Santa Clara, CA – 12/28, 8:30 pm (FOX) Indiana vs (19) Utah AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl in Houston, TX – 12/28, 9 pm (ESPN) Texas A&M vs Kansas State Birmingham Bowl in Birmingham, AL – 12/29, 2 pm (ESPN) South Florida vs South Carolina Belk Bowl in Charlotte, NC – 12/29, 5:30 pm (ESPN) (22) Virginia Tech vs Arkansas Valero Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, TX – 12/29, 9 pm (ESPN) (12) Oklahoma State vs (10) Colorado AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, TN – 12/30, 12 pm (ESPN) TCU vs Georgia Hyundai Sun Bowl in El Paso, TX – 12/30, 2 pm (CBS) North Carolina vs (18) Stanford Franklin American Mortgage Company Music City Bowl in Nashville, TN – 12/30, 3:30 pm (ESPN) Nebraska vs (21) Tennessee Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl in Tucson, AZ – 12/30, 5:30 pm (CampusInsiders.com) Air Force vs South Alabama Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl in Orlando, FL – 12/31, 11 am (ABC) (13) Louisville vs (20) LSU TaxSlayer Bowl in Jacksonville, FL – 12/31, 11 am (ESPN) Kentucky vs Georgia Tech Outback Bowl in Tampa, FL – 1/2, 1 pm (ABC) Iowa vs (17) Florida “New Year’s 6” Games: Capital One Orange Bowl in Miami, FL – 12/30, 8 pm (ESPN) (11) Florida State vs (6) Michigan Goodyear Cotton Bowl in Arlington, TX – 1/2, 1 pm (ESPN) (15) Western Michigan vs (8) Wisconsin Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA – 1/2, 4:30 pm (ESPN) (5) Penn State vs (9) USC Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, LA – 1/2, 8:30 pm (ESPN) (14) Auburn vs (7) Oklahoma Playoff: Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Semifinal in Atlanta, GA – 12/31, 3 pm (ESPN) (4) Washington vs (1) Alabama PlayStation Fiesta Bowl Semifinal in Glendale, AZ – 12/31, 7 pm (ESPN) (3) Ohio State vs (2) Clemson College Football Championship Game in Tampa, FL – 1/9, 8:30 pm (ESPN) Semifinal Winners

Aren't you gonna get USC in the Rose Bowl? That's a pretty marquee game It is, but I think there's something to the idea of the two remaining champs playing each other. USC is a good game, but they have 3 losses and didn't even play in their title game There's a decent argument to be made that USC is the best team not in the playoff the way they have played the last 8 games. "They didn't play in their title game" is a line I would love to see vaporized.

Not sure if this is what you're referring to, but I believe there was a moment after the NLDS series win where you could see Heyward embracing Baez in the locker room and telling him something. No, there was definitely a Lester/Baez moment during an on-field postgame interview. I think it was the NLCS, may have been the World Series.

No 20-Cub All-Star Game fellas

Conference title game upsets and (more to the point) the Group of 5 auto-bid are why you will never get the best 8. I probably did a poor job of phrasing it, but Power 5 champions without conference title games would always be in the top 8 because there would be no title game upsets to knock things off kilter.

No I think that changed but I could be wrong. They were talking about how if Michigan was selected for the Rose Bowl and Colorado was the Pac 12 champ but didn't make the playoff, they might switch out Colorado so there wouldn't be a rematch. Either way, if for some reason the Rose Bowl selected Michigan over Penn State, PSU would almost certainly be selected for the Orange Bowl and play Florida State or Louisville instead of playing Washington, Colorado or USC. I'm hearing speculation that PSU would play W. Michigan in a bowl (puke) That must only be if PSU loses. Even if UMF is right and the Rose could pick Michigan over a B1G champ Penn State, the Nittany Lions would be locked into the Orange as the highest-ranked SEC/B1G team available.

We have this argument every year. You could sell me on 8 if there were 2 conditions: 1) Straight 1-8. No guaranteed conference champs. Any Power 5 champ is going to be in the Top 8 anyway, especially because my 2nd condition is: 2) Get rid of conference title games (and divisions while we're at it). 15 games is already too many for as-yet-unpaid college kids. 16 is patently ridiculous. And in an 8-team playoff, all they'd serve to do is potentially put a mediocre division champ in the playoff, unlikely as it is. The thing is, they're never going to 8 without automatic bids for the P5 and a Group of 5 auto-bid, and they're probably never dumping conference title games, so you're never getting the best 8.

Isn't the B1G champion locked into the Rose if they don't make the playoff? I know normally those slots go to 'highest ranked team outside the playoff', but I think that's under the assumption that the champ is in the playoff.