GhostRunner

I've been a Cubs fan my whole life, and I've never before heard of the Emil Verban Society. I knew there was a cadre of politico-celebrities that claimed to be Cubs fans, but didn't realize they had assumed a name and formed a social organization. It's like the Skull & Bones Illuminati of Cubdom, all secretive and invitation-only. :shock:

Both TitanTV and TV Guide.com show me as having the game on ESPN tonight. Something definitely wrong with ESPN.

I'm in Central IL, Insight Cable, and I know for certain that previous ESPN/WCIU shared games have had the ESPN feed on in my area. For whatever reason, I'm not getting the feed tonight, just ESPN News. Someone screwed something up.

This thread is really making me freak out. I can't read all this without my heart racing and I start getting simultaneously excited and worried and nervous and twitchy and then self-criticizing when I realize that I have no control over anything whatsoever and should just relax a bit and enjoy the ride. Then I start trying to come up with ways to give the Cubs an edge and occasionally wonder weird things like if Soto is capable of carrying the team on his back for a week. Sometimes during close games I do strange, new-agey things like visualizing positive white energy around the players and try to will them to do good things on the field. No, I'm not a whack-job. I just want them to win, dammit!

I've noticed that he tends to disappear late in games if the Cubs are trailing. Not much of a "superfan" if you ask me. And while I enjoy his tantrums targeting the umpire, the guy still comes across as a self-absorbed, crabby-ass grump wearing a fey pink hat. I also hate him because he has season tix behind home plate and I'm totally jealous.

If that happens, I'll buy them both a hat. And anyone else who has posted in this thread. I'm down for a possible free hat. TIA

Legitimate props to you for bringing this topic to light. If the posters here actually worked together on the project, it could get brought up to snuff quickly. Always hate seeing the Cards outshine the Cubs in any arena. :P

You just dont stop do you? His numbers on the season are good, but whatever Im not getting into this argument I don't stop with what? That I didn't buy into the super-hype exepcting him to put up a full season of dominating performances? He is highly ovverrated around here. Why can't I make that claim without being attacked for it? Whatever like I said Im not getting into it, its been beaten to death. However all of his numbers basically state that he is a good to above average starter, and the fact its his first full season thats impressive. Pick your battles, man. Defending Hill in the game thread after this performance isn't advised.

When Brenly goes to the old "comfortable collar" chestnut, you know it's a rough game.

Rothschild with a family issue Thanks, I didn't know that.

Why did Strode talk to Hill? Is Rothschild not at the game? CSN+ joined the game late here, so I missed the beginning . . .

Given history's influence, this whole situation seems appropriate. If the Cubs were to win the World Series, would it seem more Cub-like for them to dominate 100+ games a' la the '27 Yankees, crushing opponents regularly, producing in all facets, juggernautting their way through the riff-raff and afterburning towards an inevitable playoff appearance in which they are unmistakenly the odds-on favorite to take the crown? Or do the Cubs . . . history's Cubs . . . compete ineptly in the midst of a group of sub-par competitors, eking out occasional wins, relying on the misfortunes of others, barely breaking into a winning record, underperforming in most areas yet still getting blown umpire calls, occasional bursts of competence, and blind luck enabling them to sneak by a whisker into the post-season, where they would likely be over-matched by every team yet somehow managing to achieve a victory? The Cubs would probably require a series of crucial opponents' injuries and a faux umpire-payola scandal to win the enchilada, causing Cubs fans simultaneous joy and regret knowing that until the next century they will have to endure jabs of ass-backwarding into a championship and claims of one-in-a-million, guilt-tripped, karmic charity ending their streak of ineptitude, Cards fans wallowing in the notion that their teams always won it the "right way" . . . and it would all seem quite apropos for a franchise so rooted in futility and disappointment. I guess, in other words, this is our year. It feels like it has to be.

Individual thread pages don't take ~30 seconds to load for me on the new version, so I'm convinced. Looks great, too.

With all due love for Cubs-gear wearing brunettes cheering my favorite team onto victory, I must give the nod to the fräulein. She's got an irresistible smile, knows you're looking down her shirt but doesn't mind a wit, and has the clear potential to get beer-goggled up enough to consider me as a mate. Gespräch frech zu mir, FRBG!

Maybe the Cards would send Ankiel to the mound in a spot start? I've been wondering if LaRussa would ever consider using him as a pitcher in an emergency situation, or a late-inning blowout BP saver.

/me is drunk with happiness

Cops. That's what I've got now instead of the game. #$@%! Fox is a pox on all professional sports. Over-produced, hack job sports coverage.

Hmm, I raised similar qualms during the "Best Poster" tournament thing, even making the comparison to the old POTW garbage from Cubs.com and complaining about possible bias based on post counts. The response I received in that thread amounted to an insult and being ignored. Glad to see by this thread that I'm not alone in some of these aspects.

OK, maybe this is a dumb question, and if it is, well then, I'm sure I'll get needled for it. I must be clueless or missing something, but . . . Tim, you mentioned that you're having a tough time paying the server bill for NSBB. You would like more people to sign up for Premium to help pay the server costs for the site. That's 100% understandable. But, why then are you opening two new websites, one for Chicago basketball and one for Chicago football, when you're already having a tough time paying for the cost of this one? I doubt, at least for the time being, that the new sites will draw the same traffic as NSBB, but you're still taking on extra expense for their bandwidth use on top of what you're incurring here, right? The timing of this thread with the announcement of two new sites just seems a bit strange to me. :shrug:

Congrats! You managed to equal the idiocy of the entire Beano article with just one short, immature, poorly thought-out, message-board-upchuck post. Tell Mom; she'll be proud! I wish I could say that I never read posts akin to yours, but alas, they all load and display at once.

Maybe I'm just cynical . . . but I wouldn't discount the Tigers' clubhouse chefs slipping a Dexedrine mickey into Neifi's pregame meal just to rid him of their roster for the rest of the season.

Cubs already sent Cherry back to Triple-A after today's game to make way for Wood . . . not sure about the 40-man. http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070802&content_id=2125494&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

I see the "Injury Delay" on GameDay . . . who got hurt?

I had similar thoughts about the Cardinals after today's game, but I'd give more blame to Milwaukee's bullpen than credit to St. Louis' offense regarding their taking 3 of 4. St. Louis will likely catch fire and go on a tear at some point (Pujols can carry them for a week or two), but I'm not convinced that they can outlast the Cubs or Brewers for two months.

Cramps in his right thigh, according to Cubs.com. He's not expected to miss a start.