5412

Hi, Most people buy either two or four seats so I would guess if there were 2600 tickets the most you would move up is 1300 slots. I was #100 going into this season and did not get the call until just a few days before tickets went on sale to the general public. They only had two choices for me on the lower level so I would really be surprised if it dropped that much. You can log on to the Cub website and check your status. regards, 5412

Hi, I started out #700 in 2004 and just got the call this year. I would be surprised if you dropped more than a thousand numbers on the list. regards, 5412

Yeah, I didn't notice any significant movement in my position, either. HI, Don't worry, they do not update the list for several months. Sometime in the fall you will see you have a new number. regards, 5412

Yeah, it the short term though, I'm really not missing out. I'm still able to get decent seats to games when I come to Chicago. It does suck in regards to not having playoff options and such, however. If I didn't think it would be too big of a hassle to unload tickets to all those other games, I would go ahead and get them. But right now, it isn't right for me. Do you stay at the head of the line until you are ready, or is there a penalty for turning down the opportunity? Frankly, I don't know. But, I doubt I could keep turning them down and stay there for as long as I would need to. I haven't contacted the person yet. I've just read the email. This was it. Hi, I got the call this year. Basically it is take it or leave it.......and if you choose the latter you go to the end of the line. r

HI, I'm curious, what section are your tickets?

Congrats! have fun with them. Thank you,

Hi, Thanks for the tip on the email. I started watching the junk mail figuring that is where it would appear. Sure enough, today I got the email and within an hour we had two lower level seats in the grandstand. Not great seats but doable and we can likely move up from this point on. Really appreicated the heads up on the email or I might have tossed it.....

Hi, My number going into this off season is 60 so I would imagine I will get a call. It has taken me since 2003 to work my way down from 700 something. regards, 5412

Why exactly should the LA Dodgers care how Manny did or didn't play in Boston? What would make them want to pee in Manny's Cheerios? Was the lack of motivation in Boston really a money thing? I don't believe that to be true. To me, and I suppose I could be wrong, he went from an organization that seemed more willing to be rid of him and then to an organization who seemed to want him. It's hard to get motivated to go out and play your best everyday when the organization you play for doesn't see the value you bring. And I need to understand how Manny did this to Cleveland, also. In his final season in Cleveland, he posted: .351/.457/.697 For the value he can provide to a team, the teams who can can afford $20m would be stupid to assume that they would automatically get the displaced Boston Manny instead of the inspired LA Manny. Hendry has my blessing to give Manny whatever sum of money he will want to be a Cub in 2009. Good Morning, Obviously you do not listen to the baseball channel on XM radio. Basically Manny is about Manny. He wanted the last two years of his contract voided because they were club options for the paltry sum of $20 million a year. When the red sox told him they did not want to void them he basically quit on them, hid out in the training room, mouthed off to the press, and forced them to dump him. If you will look a the games before he got traded Manny was not in the lineup because his so called injury was not healing. Of course when he got traded to the Dodgers he got well overnight. In addition, because he had to agree to the trade, the club options had to be removed from his contract so he could be a free agent at the end of the season. I have never heard Kennedy?Dibble rip a player like they did Manny while all of this transpired. Here he was in Boston, his team in the middle of a pennant race, and he was all about Manny and the money. They cut to the chase pretty quickly and called it what it really was. A selfish, non-team player who wanted more money and would do anything, including quitting on the team that is currently paying him, quitting on his team mates in a pennant race, to get what he wanted. They also mentioned he did something similar to that when he left Cleveland. Sorry, you can point to his numbers all day long. And I am sure Hank Steinbrenner will be forgiving, but Manny could rot on the vine before I would want him playing for me. I have coached too many years to put up with the kind of garbage Manny gives out, it is not fair to the other players on the team.

Hi, I just added Payne and activated him this week for my fantasy football team. I agree with you on that issue.

Hi, Well Manny Ramirez filed for free agency. He laid down on the job to get out of the final two years of his contract with Boston that paid him $20 million per season. Here is a team fighting for the pennant and a player decides his selfish self-interest is above the needs of the team. To complicate things, I believe his agent is the ever popular Scott Boras.. There are only a few teams that could even afford to pay him $20 million plus, both New York teams, Boston, the Dodgers, Cubs and maybe the Angels. His true market is small and he has already burned his bridges in Boston. What he does not realize is this could be a wonderful case for the owners not to get involved in collusion but just not show any interest in him. My feeling is that it would be hard to prove collusion if each owner or GM of a big market team would respond to a reporter that he is a great player but, "we just do not feel he would fit in" or something like that. Who needs to sign a guy who wants $20 million plus and would demand to be paid if he got hurt or his performance stinks......but if he has a great season will find a way to try to weasel out of the contract to get even more money? He did it with Cleveland and then again in Boston. If it ever came to collusion each and every owner could say flat out signing Manny is not worth the risk, look at what he did to Cleveland and Boston and he would have a tough leg to stand on. I hope the Dodgers tender him an offer like $12 million and that is the only offer he gets.....or no one tenders him a thing.....

Hi, There is an old saying that it is better to trade a guy a year early than a year late. DLee has been a decent 1B with one stellar year which he parlayed into a great contract. He is no longer a good #3 hitter and needs to be moved out of that spot. He is not enough of a bopper to hit cleanup either. While he seems to be a stellar guy, if we have any kind of a shot a Texiera and it would cost us Lee, I would be all for trading him. We also have Hoffpauir waiting in the wings and he has a lot more upside potential at this point than Lee does. One thing I like about Hoffpauir is this. When we had HeSop Choi you could look at his swing and see he had a big hole in it. When you see Hoffpauir hit there is a good solid swing and he makes good contact. Lee would fetch some good players in return. Lee also took less money to stay in Chicago and has a no-trade clause. By the time, a team added sweeteners to convince him to waive it, he would lose his value and net us very little in return. Hi, I am aware that he has a no trade clause. At the same time there was some discussion about him wanting to play on the west coast closer to his family. If anyone can work out something that is fair to all parties it would be Hendry. Personally I would love to see them trade Lee and land Texiera, that would be an upgrade.

Hi, You make a good point about Lovie. I also believe that coaches that are screamers have a much shorter life span before they get tuned out than coaches that are more laid back. Seems that Tom Landry stayed at Dallas for a good long time. Where I think Lovie is challenged is Angelo. They have so darn much money tied up on the defensive side of the ball, with a group of players that are getting older that he is going to be limited in what he can do. Urlacher is now just a good MLB as opposed to an impact player. Briggs is in his prime and they are working in guys like Graham and the other linebacker who's name excapes me for the moment. If you have reasonable turnover each season Lovie should be good. I agree with you about ethics etc. he seems to have set a standard and they all must adhere to it. I do not see any of the current Bears getting Michael Jordan type treatment, that's for sure.

Taken control of a spot that no one else can play well though. I haven't been watching, but is he any good? I still wish Lovie had played Beekman las year when Brown went out. There was absolutely no reason for Beekman not to be starting them so we could figure out if he was any good. On another note, does Lovie bring anything to the table as a head coach except the Cover-Two which I don't even like. I just can't name anything that Lovie does particularly well. Hmmmm, How many Bear coaches in your lifetime have taken a team to the Super Bowl, particularly with a rookie QB? Lovie is doing something right. Hi, Grossman wasn't a rookie in 2006-07. Sincerely, Raisin Thank you raisin, I meant inexperienced.....

Hi, There is an old saying that it is better to trade a guy a year early than a year late. DLee has been a decent 1B with one stellar year which he parlayed into a great contract. He is no longer a good #3 hitter and needs to be moved out of that spot. He is not enough of a bopper to hit cleanup either. While he seems to be a stellar guy, if we have any kind of a shot a Texiera and it would cost us Lee, I would be all for trading him. We also have Hoffpauir waiting in the wings and he has a lot more upside potential at this point than Lee does. One thing I like about Hoffpauir is this. When we had HeSop Choi you could look at his swing and see he had a big hole in it. When you see Hoffpauir hit there is a good solid swing and he makes good contact. Lee would fetch some good players in return.