rynefan

With my lousy luck, I was shocked to get what I actually wanted. I got 4 tickets to the first playoff game at Wrigley, Oct. 12, Section 104. NOW, they just have to win that WC game!!

I was picked for tix, but I don't know what to go for. No one will go for the WC tix, I'd assume. I'm thinking four for Monday, but maybe 2 and 2 is better, Mon and Tues. Ugh.

I would think off season it would be cheaper. I just stayed at the Hotel Sax, essentially connected to the House of Blues in Chicago, for $130 a night. Plus, Hotel Sax has a good location for the touristy stuff.... cabbing it or walking.

I get thoughts like that a lot. Like when the bullpen is self-destructing (most days), I think of all the guys sweating it out in the minors that never make it. I mean, these are the ones that made it?

Man. 2015? 2016? That's a lot of games. Question is, just how bad are they going to be during the time it takes to get there.?

Samardzija was hilarious. At one of the Friday night sessions they got to talking about Facebook and Twitter. One of the WGN people asked him if he had ever gotten into a social media situation (tying it back to the current Facebook situation going on with Notre Dame). He said he'd had enough trouble with regular girlfriends. He also said he doesn't have a Facebook or Twitter and probably never will until he gets older and more responsible. The whole room was cracking up. He was also the only one I saw come out with a beer in hand.... seems like a cool, laid-back guy...

Those are the things your kid(s) will remember. The one thing I remember most from the only time I went to the Cubs Convention as a kid was riding in the elevator with Doug Dascenzo. I can still picture him standing there, toothpick in mouth, and it didn't matter to me one bit that he was an awful player. No doubt. I remember when I was in college going down to St. Louis for a weekend series. We were staying at the players' hotel. My mom was a HUGE Vance Law fan. We ended up in the elevator alone with him. My mom was speechless, about to faint. Something we still talk about all these years later.

Had a great time at the convention. Always interesting to see how things play out. Rizzo and Barney were scheduled to sign at 9 on Sunday with Castro in there at 10. First guy in line supposedly got there to sit outside the ballroom door at 2 a.m. Not a chance I would ever do that. So many either ditched early or blew off sessions, especially Sunday. Feldman missed almost all his sessions, Edwin Jackson missed his Sunday session, Matthews missed his photo time slot, but Jody Davis filled in, which made my son's day. Campana filled in for the TBA time slot in the photo line Sunday, and that made my kids' day. Soriano cracked me up. He walked into his Saturday signing session with a dark brown hoodie pulled way up over his head. He sat at the table by himself looking at one of the pocket Cubs' schedules for about 3 minutes. He did shake my son's hand and pose for a nice photo. I love the random sightings.... Len Kaspar waiting for a cab right in front of us Saturday night, Deshaies wandering around outside the ballroom, etc. My daughter was on Cloud 9 riding up in the elevator (alone) with Vitters, Stewart and Beeler. And yes.. all those mentioned above got the most attention, but Samardzija was a huge draw, too. Some also waited hours for Garza to sign.... definitely not me.... I know there's a lot of BS at these events, but honestly I had a really good time, and the kids had so much fun they started talking about next year. Got me psyched for the season. Hope springs eternal I guess!

Definitely. In fact, we were waiting for him at the 3 p.m. signing, got our vouchers and then my daughter went to look for him walking up to the signing stage. She came back and that was the FIRST thing she said. I agreed. Kind of surprised me.

Yep, and my three Castro bobbleheads are nodding in agreement!

I hope Len and Bob are back next year. Sure, there could be better options out there, but with all the disappointments and question marks with the team, it's nice to have something decent to steer the TV broadcast ship.

LOL, guess you heard from Len and Bob that he hasn't ever played first in pro ball. What a crazy move.

Wouldn't have guessed that outfield for the Cubs 2 months ago.

He can look so bad. Terrible at bat in the 8th inning of the Sunday Phils game.... ugly strikeout.

But really, who wouldn't want to face the Cubs when they need to pick their numbers up?