Sammys Boombox

When I first saw somebody quote that trade I thought it was a joke. This is crazy. As a quasi-Royals fan I am pretty upset right now. Just killed my Packers buzz.

Ok. Royals are legally insane.

Royals probably end up on the short end of this trade, but if their owner is actually going to be as stingy as he's been acting lately, then they probably need to go for it now when they feel like they're just a starting pitcher away. Of course it all hinges on the young position players making the improvements this year that they are hoping for. For all the years they've put into building a competitor it sucks that they still won't be the favorite going into this season. Of course Myers could be always be a bust... EDIT: But why in the world did they tender Hochevar a $4MM+ contract?

I am so sick of McCarthy trotting Crosby out to kick 50+ yard FG!

Packers clinch division with win tonight and win next week. They would also clinch with win next week and a win against MIN in week 17. With wins this week and week 17 they would clinch the division with either a win against TEN or any other CHI loss. Winning 2 of their 3 remaining division games is the key as it would put them at 5-1 in the division and having beat every divisional opponent at least once. With all that said, I'm not confident in tonight's game against DET...

I just saw a 2013 Cubs calendar. It isn't much better. At least 4 of the guys are not on the team anymore.

I don't mind this as much as I did when I first read it. However, there are a few cons that would need some thinking. Many have already been pointed out. 1. Onside kick recoveries are not dependent upon whether or not a team is primarily a running team or a passing team, or whether or not they win primarily on their defensive play or their offensive play. The new rule would benefit teams that have good passing offenses. Of course it could be argued that teams with good passing defenses would also benefit from this rule. Obviously if you win by pounding the ball and eating clock you're not going to like this rule. 2b. As soon as somebody gets a possession because of a bad PI call I will hate this rule. I would maybe be OK with them adopting a clause that automatic first downs are not possible on the play. i.e. There's a PI 12 yards from the line of scrimmage. They mark off the 12 yards and make it 4th and 3. I would even be OK with them marking off the 12 yards and making it 4th and 10 from that spot. Although that is starting to get complicated and really screwy. Maybe just make every penalty 5 yards on both teams with no automatic first downs and be done with it. In some way I think this needs to be addressed. 2b. Roughing the kicker... 3. Would the clock stop if they convert on 4th and 15 and are tackled in bounds? 4. Can they punt the ball out of bounds without it being a penalty?

Royals had FOUR guys selected in the first round of the AAA portion and five overall. Three of the picks were consecutive...

If James shields is the measuring stick for acquiring Wil Myers then surely we have something that can trounce that The Royals will only trade Myers for somebody they can sell to the fans as a true ace. James Shields is not an ace, but they will say that he is. I don't think the Royals should be making this deal, but I would not be surprised if it happens. They had very good attendance (for the Royals) the first part of last season. If they can contend into August or September and continue to sell the "we just need X to contend in 2014" especially if that X is a full healthy season of Danny Duffy and a RF. Which, I hope fans remember that they had a RF named Myers. However, if I had to be money I would say the deal does not happen. The Royals do not add another good starting pitcher. Their excuse is the asking price for Shields was too much (it is) and they can't afford to pay a FA SP. I think the Dempster 2/$26MM would be good for them, but I don't blame them for not going for 3 years. If Glass wasn't such a cheapskate he'd be bringing in Anibal. The true answer is to open the purse strings in anticipation of the added national TV revenue. I'm not a fan of the Chiefs at all, but I follow the Royals closely since moving here a year ago. The owners in this city absolutely suck.

Jason Grilli supposedly deciding by 10 AM (central??) between Cubs, Blue Jays, Giants, Padres.

Is Barney/Garza too much for Moustakas? Is Butler too much for Olt?

I don't suppose they are interested in aging outfielders... I read something about how they may be willing to move Kinsler to 1B/LF. In that case, maybe Barney and Garza could be used for Olt+something else. With Garza's injury, I'm not sure he gets Olt alone anymore. I wonder what else it would take for teams to agree on a Barney/Garza to KC, Butler to TEX and Olt to CHC. I would think TEX would have to send the Cubs and/or Royals something else, but I really don't know. Royals need a SP and would like a 2B and don't want to give up Myers/Moustakas/Hosmer/Perez.

I'm curious how many people will be getting those calls. Like I said, there weren't very many people there at all. When everybody's numbers get updated I want to see how far everyone has moved.

An idea on others that were available:

No. They didn't say. The first couple of people I asked didn't know so I didn't ask anyone else.

I have a meeting set up for December 8th. Were Bleachers readily available for choosing? i was hoping for combo bleacher package.. I don't think you'll have any difficulty getting the bleacher combo. If that's what you want you don't even have to go to the stadium. At least I didn't last year when I got the bleacher combo. I asked them as many questions as I could think of Saturday and they told me something I wish they had told me last year when I first got my seats. If you renew combo plans you can never increase the number of seats you hold unless you go to a full season plan. Also, they are phasing out combo plans in the "bowl" (i.e. everything but the bleachers). They don't have a timeline on this, but it sounds to me like when the team is competing they will no longer offer the combo plans in the bowl UNLESS you are renewing a combo plan in the bowl. If you guys want to get in on good seats on the combo plan I think you should try everything you can to do so. Here's what I got:

My appointment was at 11:30 this morning. I ended up with 2 combo plan seats in 229 Row 12 right in the middle of the section. NO POLE ISSUES AT ALL! The seats go up in price significantly five rows in front of me. I think I'm close enough that I will only lose the occasional high popup on the infield. I was pretty excited with the choices that were available for being that low in the pecking order. There were very few people looking for seats and it seemed like 25-35 year olds made up most of them. Today was the last day and they had groups every half hour until 3:30. There were still seats available in almost all the terrace reserved IF and OF. They were scattered, but a decent selection. There were very nice seats in the upper deck IF reserved and many available in the UD Box IF and OF. Pickings were very slim/nonexistent in the lower level box seats. Those seats will always be out of my price range though. For me, I got the exact seats I wanted. Extremely happy and surprised. Our seats are between the pitchers mound and 1B and the Cubs dugout is very visible. We passed up seats in row 15 aisle 220. You could still see all the scoreboard pretty well and the pole blocked portions of fair and foul territory in RF. They were pretty awesome, but Wrigley's funnel shape made them very far from the playing surface in comparison to the ones we got.

There's an article about Johnny Evers in this week's SI written by his great nephew.

I wish I was a genius so I could work towards having a position like this at 25 years old.

After 04 I was crushed because I realized a WS without Sosa wouldn't mean as much as a WS with him. Probably just latching onto childhood heroes, but Wood/Sosa/Prior celebrating a WS... Wow. I loved those guys. The Wrigley crowd chanting his name in big ABs are easily some of my fondest baseball memories.

Sammy was still the most exciting player I've ever cheered for and seems like a genuinely good guy. I could care less what sports writers have to say about him.

http://www.csnchicago.com/11/27/12/Cubs-completely-redo-Wrigley-playing-sur/nbcsportscubs.html?blockID=806771&feedID=10336 I can't get that link to work, so I don't know if the article mentions this or not, but my brother's degree is in horticulture and he says the Cardinals have a cooling system in the field to keep that grass at the right temp in the summer. They run chilled water through pipes laid in the ground. This is because that grass is only naturally found at certain altitudes in the Rockies and is easily killed above certain temps.

I'd vote for him...

Uh, what?

Something I think is interesting is the historical trend since 2002 of the ESPN Power Rankings for each team. It's kind of a quick graphic to see how successful teams have been in the last decade discounting the postseason. Probably even more telling if you just look at Weeks 12 and on. It's pretty easy to navigate team-to-team in the upper right-hand corner. Patriots: http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/rankings/trended/_/name/ne/new-england-patriots Browns: http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/rankings/trended/_/name/cle/cleveland-browns