bhogg

Old Guy here. . . . .huge Maddon fan, but. . . . . I'd say he was 100 percent what the franchise needed in 2015. Say what you want, but the 100+ year drought weighed on Cub post season teams ---- the fact that most of those playoff teams were greatly flawed only made matters worse. Joe's ability to manage personalities, keep guys lose, etc was great and I think had far more impact on 2016's WS Title than his in game stuff (duh). Maybe that has run it's course --- if so, and he wants to go to Anaheim for a couple years and call it quits (pure speculation) then great. Put a statue of the man outside Wrigley today and thank the man. The great news is that the culture has changed --- we're winners. Theo's tone was clear today. It would not surprise me that, with the change in culture, could mean a change in on-field leadership. Gonna hang up and listen. . . . and crawl back under my rock.

I got mine in November. The price is steep, but there's really no other affordable trophy reproductions out there. The base is cheap plastic with thin cardboard panels glued on. . . . .it will age poorly. But, it's a friggin WS trophy and it's awesome. I have it on a table in my office and it gets lots of comments.

I'm taking the family to Chicago the first week of August. . . .would gladly take Aug 2 vs D'Backs and Aug 4 vs Nationals off anyone's hands. . . . . you'd make my 9 year old daughter really happy (she's never been to Wrigley!).

How much was that? Was thinking of getting a set like that. Was $150 but it's sold out. I think I just got lucky -- looks like the Topps Now line is available 24 hours per product.

I bought the Topps Now team set w/ Autograph. Random autos of Bryant, Rizzo, Baez, Heyward, Almora, maybe one or 2 others inserted into each set. I had Baez in my set. . .. .very cool 15 card set that I'll display for sure.

I remember walking out of wrigley after game 3 of the 2015 NLDS (6 DONGERS!!!!) and we passed 2 drunk (imagine that) cardinal female fans standing beneath the marquee exit giving it the ol' " Cub suck, we'll still beat your ass, blah blah blah blah." Kudos to the Cub fans for not killing speaking to them.

translation: I luv you Bud! I luv you too Sissy! (Urban cowboy reference for all you youngsters)

The best thing I have done has been to (for the most part) avoid any interaction with the asshats known as cardinal fans. The last real situation I found myself in was with a guy here in town. Something was said about the cubs being the best team in baseball (this was in August or early September). He immediately started in on the 11 RINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111 I told him to cool his horsefeathers, this isn't about 11 rings. We're talking this season. If we are talking best organization of all time it's the Yankees, but yea the Cards are better historically than the Cubs. So fíng what? Of course, the mouth breather had to remind me to "talk to me when you have 11 rings." I ended it by telling him that up to that point, the Cubs were the best team in baseball and there's really no argument. As for your 11 Rings, great! Congrats. However, the 2016 Cubs aren't playing against the 67, 82, 06, or 11 Cards -- or any others. So give it up. Go count your damn rings and call me when your team closes that 15 game gap they are facing today. Most of the bullcrap stopped last year when the Cubs steam rolled their ass in the NLDS. Another faction went away when the Cubs were up by a bazillion games in the 2nd half. The rest of them went away when Bryant made the final throw to Rizzo. Done. Finished. Not even a random 11 RINGS comment. And here's the deal. I used to respect the crap out of the Cardinal organization and its fans. But as the cubs slowly began forming a respectable baseball organization, the cardinal fans became more and more insufferable. No doubt there are plenty of great baseball / cardinal fans and IF they can carry on a normal conversation about baseball we can be great friends. . . . . I've just found way too many around here that have their panties in too big of a bunch about the cubs to carry on that conversation. It's sad.

Giants win the mlb award for best team defense. Had no idea such a thing existed, but how about the historical greatness of the cubs' defense?

I picked up the Topps Now World Series set with the autograph. Would be fine with any autograph other than Almora (1/10 chance). Bryant and Rizzo are 1/5. . . . . set normally sells for $50, with the autograph it was $150. Far too much for the chance at an autograph, but screw it -- it's the world series!

and his wife's yammers are trying to fall out of that shirt

Here you go. . . . viewtopic.php?f=26&t=1104&start=1350

Why not just get a Heyward jersey? Well, you know. . . what if he opts out after a couple years? Jon Lester will still be a Cub in 4 or 5 years.

If a cardinal fan can throw a 1967 WS title and 11 rings blah blah blah in my face, I can wear a '16 WS champs shirt for the next bazillion years. Screw the haters. After the game I was up at 2am buying stuff. Ended up with the 3 tickets / coin frame; baseball; 3 t-shirts, hat, and Jon Lester jersey. Was time to replace the cub t-shirt rotation anyway and this post season has certainly done that! I bought everything on fanatics.com -- great for the big and tall (aka FAT) guys like me. Tons of options.

I love you guys!!!! 13 years on this board -- you all are like family!! CUBS WIN CUBS WIN!!!!! Fly the damn W, the Cubs are the Champions!!!!!!!