3Dog

Were I a betting man, I'd put the house and the car and the kids on the White Sox this weekend.

Since Cubbies75 usually hangs out in the Game Threads, I would like to post an apology to him/her for the rude comment I made some weeks ago. No other explanation for it other than I was being an arse.

You're a terrible fan if that's the case. And yours, too.

Guess I'll need to start rooting for Jacque's hammy to tear....

It would sure be nice to have Hill and Lilly keep it up the rest of 2007. I've been following them for nearly 30 years and I can't recall a Cubs rotation having two leftys in it...can anyone else?

I watched a bit of the Yankees/A's game on MLB EI last night and they showed the YES feed. I was happily surprised to hear Ken Singleton and John Flaherty calling the game instead of the usual PBP guys - both were very fair, insightful, and intelligent sounding. Sure hope YES makes Singleton and Flaherty the regular guys someday!

Gawd, this team looks like a bunch of amateurs.

I sure hope Uncle Lou decides to air out our vaunted leadoff hitter after the game, like he did to Z and Ohman yesterday.

Who would give slower updates, between Gameday and Santo in a contest?

Someone buy Cedeno some Claritin, he's allergic to walks.

Impatient at-bats are a sure way to get your team going.... :roll:

Copied from the "Baseball Discussions" topic: Why must MLB decide what's good for fans by forcing them to only watch their local teams every Saturday? The notion that it "protects" the local team from losing customers in their territory is a fallacy up there with the Cubs losing an extra home game in the 1984 playoffs. Blackouts have never been proven to maintain the same number of local fans, let alone increase the fan base. And guess what...they never will!!!!

Why must MLB decide what's good for fans by forcing them to only watch their local teams every Saturday? The notion that it "protects" the local team from losing customers in their territory is a fallacy up there with the Cubs losing an extra home game in the 1984 playoffs. Blackouts have never been proven to maintain the same number of local fans, let alone increase the fan base. And guess what...they never will!!!!

I've often asked myself what it would be like to have an entire crowd of sabremetrically-minded fans at a ballgame. Assuming the higher intelligence of an SABR-minded crowd relative to a park full of "average" fans, how different would the typical grandstand expressions of joy/anger be? Would it just consist of polite applause when a player performs to his career high OPS, and then stone silence when a Neifi-type hacked at the first pitch and popped to third? Would it even make sense to cheer on a guy like Jason Marquis if he were to pitch 8 innings of one-run ball, seeing as that would be a one-off anomaly given his lifetime marks? On the other hand, the collective displays of emotion has the potential of being much more creative than the usual cheering and booing. Forty thousand people chanting "GRIT-TY, GRIT-TY" in a singsong manner whenever David Eckstein came up. Someone standing on top of the dugout alonside an effigy of a pitcher with a high WHIP and flogging it (with a whip...get it?). Instead of Ronnie Woo-Woo, a Joe Morgan impersonator would wander the park and send the crowd into laughter reciting Joe's nuggets of old-school "wisdom". I also think that a discerning crowd who understands the meaningful measures of a ballplayer's talent would be a more effective agent for change. It's hard to sell toolsy athletes with poor plate discipline and pitch command to a public that knows better. The masses would stay away, and the rows and rows of empty seats day after day would hit the front office right where it hurts. It's fun to think about, but I highly doubt any of this becomes reality anytime soon. So until then, the next best thing is the NSBB.

Another day closer to Hendry's unemployment?

Only 170 days left in the Tribune Reign of Terror.

...if only Harry were alive to say this name.... :shock: :lol: Colonel Angus?

Can Mark Prior sue Dusty Baker?

The cost of doing business with Barry Praver and his client may have just gotten a little steeper.

In his pre-game and post-game comments, Lou expressed that the Cubs' lineup may not exactly be suited to hitting in cold-weather conditions. I'll leave the "this is/isn't an excuse" debate to others. The point I want to make is that if Lou believes this then he should strongly consider tweaking the order. Until it gets warmer, move the low-OBP guys like Soriano and Jones lower in the order and bat Murton/DeRosa/Theriot atop the lineup.

Same owner - that is, until next year.

I didn't mean to sound like Capt Obvious in my last post. What I was saying is that all those empty seats and the ugly fan behavior from the end of last year could return pretty quickly if the Cubs continue like this for the next 10 days or so.

Cubs better turn things around pronto or they'll lose the fans in a hurry.

Can someone well-versed in the Chicago sports scene speak to Don Levin's positives and negatives? All I know is that he owns the Chicago Wolves minor league hockey team.

You're wrong. 8 pitches. :cry: overall bad game by the cubs on the basepaths. But good start by Marquis. GP better have speaks with the team.