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John Grabow Gets 2-Year-Deal To Stay In Cubs Bullpen

2009-11-20T15:59:38Z

CHICAGO — Pitcher John Grabow became the first of the 171 free agents to reach agreement on a new deal, getting a $7.5 million, two-year contract Friday from the Chicago Cubs.

The 31-year-old left-hander combined to go 3-0 with a 3.36 ERA last season in a career-high 75 relief appearances with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cubs.

Eric Klinenberg: A Cubs Boy, in the Shadow of the Yankees

2009-11-12T21:17:12Z

Originally posted at NYMag.com

I grew up on the North Side of Chicago during the seventies and eighties and was raised to love the woeful Cubs. Spare me your pity. Sure, my team never came close to a pennant. (They still haven't.) But we adapted. My grandmother, for instance, had cheered the team for 60 years and never celebrated a World Series title. Finally, she discovered it was better to read the standings upside down.

There were benefits to being a Cubs fan. I got to spend my summer days at Wrigley Field, where $2.00 bought a children's general-admission ticket and a seat just off the first-base line. In those days, the ballpark was usually deserted. My friends and I would show up for batting practice to chase autographs and foul balls. We joined the official fan clubs, and I got to meet my heroes: Bobby Murcer, Bill Buckner, Bruce Sutter, and Dave Kingman. Their flaws never bothered me. Sure, every year I dreamed of a championship, and every year these dreams were dashed. But my team had perfected the art of failure, and I never expected anything more.

Now I live in New York City, and I have a 3-year-old son. Of course, I wanted him to fall for Chicago's lovable losers. A hometown team would be better, I knew. But I grew up in the shadow of the Miracle Mets of 1969, and I still resent them. The Yankees? God forbid. With 26 titles and the culture of entitlement that comes with them, the franchise offends those of us raised in Wrigleyville. So really, what choice did I have?

Also, I admit, I believed that my son might be the one we'd been waiting for, the guy who would turn the Cubs' luck around. And then something incredible happened. In 2007, his first full season, the Cubs made the playoffs. My grandmother bought him a cap and T-shirt. I persuaded my wife to let him stay up late to watch the games on TV. I'll confess that it hurt when the Diamondbacks swept us 3-0 in the first round. But we were off to a promising start.

The next year was better. The Cubs were sensational all season. They cruised into the playoffs with the best record in the National League and had home-field advantage against the Dodgers. Once again, I outfitted my boy in Cubs regalia and got him permission to stay up late to watch the games. I taught him to say Soriano, Lee, and, yes, Fukudome, to sing "root, root, root for the Cubbies" during the seventh-inning stretch.

But it didn't matter. The Cubs lost the first game of the NLDS badly, the second game worse. Then they went to Los Angeles and were swept again. I couldn't help asking: What was I doing to my child?

This year I vowed to do things differently. No, I didn't renounce the Cubs. But I didn't replace his Cubs cap when he lost it, either. In June I did the unthinkable: I bought him a Yankees hat, classic black, then another, in red. I got us tickets to see the Red Sox at the new ballpark. Gave him a baseball signed by all the Yankees and a plastic batting helmet filled with ice cream. We started reading the sports page together, cheering each time the Yankees triumphed. "I love the Yankees because they're the winners," he announced one day. And though I smiled, I also felt my heart sink.

Last week, the Yankees won their 27th World Series. Yes, those of us from Chicago are counting, too. My son was jubilant. He learned to say Matsui, made the Yankees symbol with Play-Doh, and asked if we could go to the parade.

Part of me wonders if I did the right thing. My son is now a Yankees fan, as is his birthright, and so he carries a burden. He may never be content in a second city. He may expect, even demand, a championship each year. He may not develop the character that comes from enduring disappointment, nor have faith that fidelity and suffering will be rewarded someday.

Then again, he has already experienced a World Series title, something neither my grandmother (now 91) nor I have done. I suppose I'm a bit envious, but mostly I'm enjoying his -- okay, our, November happiness.

Maybe next year I'll get my own Yankees cap. Then again, next year may belong to the Cubs.

Robert E. Murphy: At Season's End, Withering Thoughts on November Baseball, Interleague Play and the Designated Hitter

2009-11-05T20:10:24Z

The temperature in New York is 48 degrees as I begin to write this, three hours before the start of the sixth game of the World Series at Yankee Stadium, and the second game of scheduled November evening baseball -- not accidental November baseball, as we experienced after the September 11th attacks delayed the 2001 season.

I am looking forward to this crucial game between two excellent ballclubs, the Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies, whose well-contested series has, in New York, followed a dramatic playoff between the Yanks and an also distinguished squad of Los Angeles Angels. Baseball is still a great game despite what the men who manage and play it have done over the past few decades to diminish it.

I have written here about the corrupting effects of steroid-use and exorbitant salaries and ticket-prices on the elegant sport that is our national game -- and the spectacle of frigid, and possibly damp, November action, following intraleague series that were stretched out to comply with TV scheduling, can be added to the ways that filthy lucre compromises baseball. In my last blog I saluted the old Yankee shortstop Tony Kubek, who walked away from a broadcasting career when he could no longer tolerate the way that money was dominating the sport. Today I raise my glass to Angel Manager Mike Scioscia, who, without fear of whom he might be disturbing, described a scheduled three-day break between the first and second round of league playoffs as "ridiculous."

"Can I say it any clearer than that?", he asked with admirable frankness. "We should have never had a day off last Wednesday. We should never have three days off after the season. You shouldn't even have two days off after the season. It just takes an advantage away for a deep team, which everybody feels very strongly is an asset. It takes that advantage away and I think that's something that Major League Baseball hopefully will consider looking at."

Good luck on that, Mike, for fairness is no longer an abiding principle in baseball. If the game were fair, smaller-market teams from Seattle to Pittsburgh would not be, in effect, serving as feeder squads for the rich organizations. The initial starting pitchers in this year's World Series, Cliff Lee and C.C. Sabathia, would still be toiling for the Cleveland Indians, as they were just over a year ago. And the Pirates of Pittsburgh, a storied franchise in one of this country's most attractive cities, would not just have set a professional-sports record by toting up their 17th consecutive losing season. Moreover, if the people who run the game were sincerely concerned about insuring pennant-races that were fairly contested in each division, they would not have opted for the cheap thrill of interleague play that requires those teams to play uneven schedules, matching them during parts of a season against teams of differing quality in the other league. So the LA Dodgers, for example, might face three games against a tough Angel outfit while the San Francisco Giants take on a weak group of Oakland A's.

This is a particularly sore point for fans of the New York Mets, of which I'm one, because the glossy media and financial attraction of intracity play in baseball-mad New York dictates that they must play six games each year against the Yankees, who are always very good and sometimes great. Meanwhile the Mets' division rivals, such as the Phillies, might have three games scheduled against the Kansas City Royals and three against the Indians. Insignificant? Please note that in both 2007 and 2008 the Mets lost the division championship to Philadelphia on the last day of the season. (Yes, in 2009, it was insignificant.) And it is very likely that interleague-scheduling inequities have influenced the out come of other pennant-races.

One more thing about interleague play: I concede the appeal of games between two teams in the same city and (sometimes) in the same state. But where is the added value of the Florida Marlins playing the Minnesota Twins, or the Arizona Diamondbacks versus the Toronto Blue Jays? In my view, the inclusion of such games on a team's schedule is more likely to have the negative effect of eroding rivalries within a league, as well as fans' familiarity with the players in that league. Again I speak from my own rooting-perch. The arrival of the Dodgers and Giants in New York to engage the Mets has always, because of the New York history of those teams, been a significant event. The fans also look forward to seeing the Chicago Cubs. But each of those teams now plays three games a year here, and in the last two seasons the Cubbies made their only visit in late September. I don't think I'm the only Met fan who admits that he is not nearly as well-acquainted as he once was with the rosters of these teams.

Baseball's original surrender to the lure of the cheap thrill was the American League's adoption the designated-hitter rule in the 1970s. I happened to be living in Boston when the designated hitter arrived in that traditional baseball city, and I remember a Globe columnist - I believe Ray Fitzgerald -- gloomily remarking that the change had rendered the arriving baseball season as the least welcome of his life. I have since prayed, and have been almost astonished to have my prayers answered, that the National League has never fallen to the same temptation. And I say so even though it is now the day after Yankee DH Hideki Matsui has brought the national championship back to New York by driving in six runs against the Phillies. Bully for him; he seems an admirable fellow. Yet, though I understand quite well the claims in favor of the designated-hitter rule, they do not balance its violation of the organic unity that is essential to genuine baseball. The most interesting late innings of any post-season game that I saw this year occurred in Game 3 of the Yankees-Angels series, when New York Manager Joe Girardi gambled to bring in his nonpareil relief-pitcher Mariano Rivera in an uncustomary non-closing situation, then switched his DH, Jerry Hairston, Jr., to left field to replace Johnny Damon. This meant that Girardi had forfeited his designated hitter option, and that Rivera took a place in the batting order - forcing Girardi decide, as all National League managers must, whether to let Rivera bat for himself in order to stay in the game. He put up a pinch-hitter, and the Yanks lost. But the fans of both teams were treated to a rare glimpse of traditional strategic baseball.

I applauded not only the development of a pitcher's coming to bat, but also the manager's willingness to employ that pitcher in a way not dictated by current managerial policy. The general rigidity and predictability of that policy is another dimension of the modern game to which I object. But I see that once again I have not left room enough to work through my full list of complaints. Once again, then - to be continued.

Bruce Tenenbaum: Yanks Spending Money -- The American Way

2009-11-05T14:29:43Z

I was born a few blocks from Yankee Stadium. The first baseball game I ever saw was in The House That Ruth Built and another great Yankee hero, Mickey Mantle won it with a 9th inning home run. I became an instant New York Yankees fan.

Later in my childhood, I also became hooked on The Pittsburgh Pirates. Since the two teams never played each other, there was no conflict. Although, as a lone Pirates fan, surrounded by Yankee and Mets fans, my Pirates fever grew faster than my Yankee fever. If the Pirates did play the Yankees in the World Series, I would have rooted for The Pirates. But that did not occur.

Then something happened. Free agency took hold in baseball. NFL teams share broadcasting revenues with each other. Surprisingly, the tea baggers have yet to protest this little bit of socialism found in the heart of American life. The NFL is run by commies! But MLB is run the good old fashioned American way, the guy with the deepest pockets gets the best toys.

What this means is that a city like Green Bay can compete in football but a city like Pittsburgh has no business having a major league baseball team. They just don't have enough revenue to pay the top players. To be sure, on a rare occasion, a team from a smaller city can rise up and surprise everyone, but this is rare indeed. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, once regulars on the playoff scene, are all but extinct. The sport's other two smallest cities, Kansas City and Milwaukee have one postseason appearance between them in the last two decades. And, even if a small city team does make it to the top, they will never be able to stay there, as their newly discovered talent gets stripped away.

Fourteen years ago, I saw the light. The Pirates were up for sale and there was the possibility of them moving to a larger city, one that might possibly give them a chance. But they insisted on staying in Pittsburgh. That decision turned me on them. I felt they were turning their back on reality and, in essence, throwing in the towel. They had to know that by staying in Pittsburgh, they were going to remain uncompetitive. Or they were just plain stupid, and neither thought is a happy one. If they were going to turn their back on me, I happily turned my back on them. And, it turned out, to be a good decision. Forget about getting to the World Series, the Pirates have set a sports record with 17 consecutive years of losing more games than they've won.

Now, a fan can put up with a lot. Look at Cubs fans. They haven't won the World Series in 102 years! New York Ranger fans went half a century without a championship. Boston Red Sox fans went 86 years without one. I, myself, am a Miami Dolphins fan. They haven't won the Super Bowl for 35 years. But I stick with them. The point is, these teams try to win every year. And by at least trying, they earn the loyalty of their fans. The Pirates don't even try. The other teams are victims of poor management decisions, poor execution or bad luck. But they are not guilty of giving up. Every year the Pirates hold a fire sale and trade away their best players. The list of players they traded away or lost to free agency, over the years, could make up an all-star team. They are a team undeserving of its fans. Who wants to put their heart and soul into a team that has no heart and soul?

The Yankees, on the other hand, pay up for the best players money can buy. If they produce a Derek Jeter, they keep him. They go shopping every year and try and add the best talent to give them a shot at winning. This is not new. Back in 1919, they bought the best player in the history of baseball, Babe Ruth, for a whole lot of cash, too.

What is new is that people complain about it. People are up in arms. It's unfair! It's un-American. Quite the contrary. Business is the business of America. And the guys with the deepest pockets are best positioned to build their business. Read the sports pages today and you'll find a whole lot of jealous Yankee haters moaning and whining about the Yankees' payroll. Is Apple to be blamed for out-spending smaller computer companies and developing the iPhone? Fox spent $200 million dollars to make the film Titanic. Did people complain that that was unfair to smaller film companies?

Now, there are those of you who will say sports are different. Unlike other businesses, there should be an equal playing field. But that would ignore the reality that sports is still a business, with real economic considerations. MLB could easily have come up with a system like the NFL. But they didn't. To increase competition, a few years back, they put in a weak step sister version of revenue sharing. Teams that have huge payrolls, like The Yankees, pay into a fund and that money is supposed to go to the smaller city teams. But there's still no incentive for smaller town teams to actually use the extra money they get to compete. They can just pocket the cash and not give it to their players. Which is what they do. Unlike the NFL, there is no parity.

The Yankees are not to be chastised for building the "best team money can buy." They are to be praised for it. Here we have a family that is willing to part with its cash to give its fans the best show possible. They break no rules. They play within the rules. And they win by doing it. They are not the only teams playing this way. The Red Sox won a World Series by buying Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez. Do you think the Phillies will still be at the top in a few years if they don't pay Chase Utley and Ryan Howard?

I am thankful I grew up in the Bronx. I am thankful that borough is home to the greatest franchise in the history of sports. And I am mostly thankful that their ownership is willing to pay whatever it takes to make sure they have the best players. It doesn't guarantee that they'll win it all, but it guarantees they'll be in the mix. You can argue that Major League Baseball should change their structure. But until they do, you can't blame the Yankees for giving their fans the best show money can buy.

Jaroslaw Czapla, Cubs Fan, Pleads Guilty To Beating Sox Fan At Kid's Birthday Party

2009-11-02T22:57:41Z

A Huntley man is facing up to three years in prison after admitting guilt Monday to his role in a brawl at a child's birthday party that cost one man an eye.

Laura Ricketts Is First Openly Gay MLB Owner

2009-11-02T10:51:21Z

The Chicago Cubs have reached a baseball milestone and it has nothing to do with their century-plus World Series drought.

With the team's purchase by the Ricketts Family, the Cubs are the first Major League Baseball team to have an openly gay owner.

Among the new owners is Laura Ricketts, an out lesbian who is also on the board of the gay rights organization Lambda Legal, the Windy City Times reports.

Ricketts, who is a member of the Cubs board of directors, came out to her family in her 30's.

"I think for a long time I wasn't really out to myself growing up in Omaha, Neb., to a Catholic conservative family," Ricketts said. "It took me a while to come out to myself and not long after that I came out to them. I think that it really couldn't of been a better experience. They were all immediately supportive. ... I have been really really fortunate in that regard."

The Ricketts family bought the Cubs and Wrigley Field from the Tribune Co. for $845 million in a deal that was finalized Oct. 27.

The league owners unanimously approved the Cubs sale to the Ricketts family.

Cubs Fans Abusing Parking Permits: Clerk

2009-10-30T09:10:40Z

City Clerk Miguel del Valle wants aldermen to review permit parking in Chicago, saying Thursday that the ever-expanding patchwork of residential zones has become frustratingly complicated and difficult to administer.

Ex-Cub Kerry Wood Says Black Players Got Hate Mail

2009-10-26T16:55:13Z

Cleveland Indians closer and ex-Cubs ace Kerry Wood didn't dismiss the notion that Cubs outfielder Milton Bradley and other African-American players may have experienced racial insensitivity during their time in Chicago.

Cubs Eyeing Spring Training Move From Arizona To Florida

2009-10-26T10:21:41Z

A Naples, Fla. Group aiming to lure the Cubs from their spring training site in Mesa, Ariz. has met twice with incoming owner Tom Ricketts and club chairman Crane Kenney.

Rudy Jaramillo Set To Become New Cubs Hitting Coach

2009-10-21T10:04:10Z

CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs hired Rudy Jaramillo as their hitting coach on Wednesday, hoping he can resurrect an offense that struggled during a disappointing 2009 season.

Jaramillo, who spent 15 years as the hitting coach of the Texas Rangers, replaced Von Joshua. Joshua was removed after the season and offered a job in Triple-A, where he'd worked previously.

Ted Goeglein: Home Field Disadvantage

2009-10-20T10:35:09Z

Last week I watched the New York Yankees demonstrate to the Minnesota Twins what it means to play the Bombers in the Bronx in October. It was like watching baseball-playing-human-things battle a platoon of automaton-cyborgs in pinstriped skin suits. From the first inning of the first game, the accuracy and power of the Yankees was fully on display; they came out swinging with both fists, popped the clutch over and over again, and ended the sweep gracefully, like gents with five o'clock shadows.

As much as it was about talent, it was about location.

Location, location, location, as in the new Yankee Stadium, blazing with light, thrumming with noise, vibrating with sacred traditions and great expectations. It was new looming granite and crisp clipped grass, 26 flapping championship banners high above Monument Park and Jeter hitting the first post-season homer in the new stadium. After awhile, anyone, much less a Twin, would grow lightheaded at the spectacle.

Indulge me now, while I draw a comparison.

I attended half-a-dozen Cubs home games this season, spanning shivering-April to blah-October. While the party atmosphere inside Wrigley Field was in full force each time, the later in the season it grew, the more it felt like the scene in Titanic with the quartet playing on deck as the ship listed horizontally. It was as if fans resigned themselves to the impending tragedy, so hey, fuck it, let's have another beer! At the last game on Oct. 4, I looked from the field, where the Cubs were mummy-walking through the game, to the celebration in the stands around me, and wondered: does a ball club's home field really offer it an advantage?

Regarding the Yankees, the answer is such a yes that 'yes' isn't affirmative enough to stress the yes-ness of it.

In the case of Wrigley Field, the reply is an adamant nope.

It was the Tribune Company in the 1980s that fostered the 'Lovable Losers' label, exploiting the middling performance of the middling teams they assembled, knowing that the underdog phenomenon made for good TV. Place one or two marquee players on the roster just to keep it interesting, get drunken Uncle Harry to slobber his way through the game while his foil, the Edith Bunker-ish Steve Stone sat primly alongside, lips pursed, and you had drama and comedy rolled into one. And then, to top it off, set it inside the 'Friendly Confines,' thus making the ballpark a gentle supporting character in that little baseball carnival. Shoot it with the multi-camera precision of a Scorsese -- first a shot of the electric green outfield, then cut to Ryno's rippling jaw as he takes a practice cut, then a shot of jiggling boobs and icy beers in the sunny bleachers, the steel train rumbling past, Lake Michigan sparkling in the background -- and soon enough Wrigley looked like baseball heaven. Who gave a shit what was happening on the field?!

Meanwhile, the Cubs kept losing.

Meanwhile, Wrigley kept crumbling.

Meanwhile, any semblance of home field advantage -- the visceral, in-the-air hope that one's team will win, which infiltrates an entire ballpark and humbles a visiting squad -- was replaced by the certainty that, at the very least, a party would break out.

Between 1903 and 1912, the Cubs won four pennants and two World Series titles in a five-year period. Those were not 'Lovable Losers' but bad-ass winners, and their home stadium was a place to fear. Now, in 2009, the old pile of bricks stinks of inebriated resignation at housing squad after squad that has done nothing consistently for a century but lose. It's haunted with disappointment and lousy with woulda-coulda-shoulda. That, and pieces of it are falling off. Whether or not the Ricketts family has a grand plan to win the World Series makes no difference to me; at this point, I'm less concerned with a championship than contracting dysentery in the men's room. A hundred years later, Cubs fans should not have to endure Cell Block E-type piss-troughs where adult men urinate shoulder-to-shoulder like beer-fed heifers (I usually wait for a stall, and what a treat that is, like being enclosed in my own pee-filled phone booth) or deadly falling masonry, or seats so cramped that by the end of the third inning you've made so much contact with your neighbor's arms and legs that you're lucky they don't burst into flames. With its 45-degree angle cement walkways to the moon, it feels like an old parking garage on the inside, and, neon finery at each gate notwithstanding, it looks like a Soviet-era tallow factory on the outside. Poor Ernie Banks was known for a single quotation and they left an apostrophe out of it on his (incredibly dull) statue. And speaking of statues, is it just me or does Harry Caray's Addison Street monument looks like he's being dragged into the fires of hell by little demon fans with needle teeth?

While I'm convinced that the phenomena of Cubs fandom inside the old stadium -- a butt in every seat in the worst of seasons, a chorus of voices ululating support -- have helped the team win hundreds of games, I also believe the old ballpark is in dire need of a spiritual and physical exorcism.

It's time for Wrigley Field to be gutted of the past and rebuilt for the future.

I'm not suggesting a tear-down and replacement like U.S. Cellular Field, that lethal combo of 1990s shopping mall and correction facility, or even a faux-retro something-or-other like Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field).

I mean a first-rate redesign and restoration -- Wrigley Field 2.0 -- a respectful and innovative update that retains the best (the field, ivy and bricks, scoreboard and neon, and location,) jettisons the rest (see 'men's rooms') and utilizes a unique Chicago resource to do it: the world's finest architects. It would be a real feather in the cap of an architectural firm to bring that little jewel box of a stadium into the 21st Century, and just think of the PR. Of course I understand how expensive it would be to do correctly. If the Ricketts family is light on cash after their recent $900 million outlay, I suggest they take a look at player salaries and consider a fire sale. For example, that $33 million Milton Bradley is being paid, but not earning, could buy a pretty nice privy or two. Maybe the right redesign could even inspire the owners and players to be relentless and hard-driving in their commitment to winning a World Series. In other words, to behave like the team's greatest asset, its fans.

Wrigley Field is not the house Ruth or Mantle or Jeter built.

It's the house that Cubs loyal built, brick by championship-free brick.

A hundred years later, it, and we, deserve better.

Cubs Sale To Ricketts Family OK'ed By Bankruptcy Judge

2009-10-13T16:44:24Z

WILMINGTON, Del. — The sale of the Chicago Cubs moved closer Tuesday as a bankruptcy court judge said the team can go to the family of billionaire Joe Ricketts in a $845 million deal.

The judge had already cleared Tribune Co. to sell the team and Wrigley Field. But he gave his approval again Tuesday because the Cubs filed separately for Chapter 11 protection on Monday.

Cubs Bankruptcy: Chicago Cubs File Chapter 11 To Ease Sale

2009-10-12T13:13:53Z

NEW YORK — The Chicago Cubs filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, a step that will allow their owner to sell the baseball team in an $845 million deal. The filing in Wilmington, Del., was anticipated and is expected to lead to a brief stay in Chapter 11 for the Cubs. A hearing was scheduled for Tuesday in front of the judge who has been handling the bankruptcy of the Cubs' owner, Tribune Co.

The Cubs' filing is part of the Tribune Co.'s plans to sell the team, Wrigley Field and related properties to the family of billionaire Joe Ricketts, the founder of Omaha, Neb.-based TD Ameritrade.

Len Berman: Top 5 Sports Stories

2009-10-07T13:53:43Z

Happy Wednesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for October 7, 2009 from
www.LenBermanSports.com.

1. Quick Hits

The Minnesota Twins win a dramatic one-game playoff against the
Detroit Tigers, 6-5 in 12 innings, to win the AL Central. The Twins
with a $65 million payroll will now face the Yankees. ($201 million.)

Today's Playoff schedule:

Colorado @ Philadelphia 2:37pm ET TBS
Minnesota @ Yankees 6:07pm ET TBS
St. Louis @ Dodgers 9:37pm ET TBS

Baseball owners approved the sale of the Chicago Cubs to the family
of Joe Ricketts.

If you have a friend in Detroit, give him/her a "hug." If the
economy and the Lions aren't bad enough, the Tigers became the first
team in history to blow a 3 game lead with 4 games to play.

2. The Second Season

So here we go. The baseball playoffs begin today with 3 games. And
Top 5 readers are already bitching. The first round is best of 5 and
Pat R. hates it. He wants a best of 7.

No question the first round is a crap-shoot, remember the midges
attacking Joba Chamberlain in Cleveland?

And Jay S. like many older readers, fondly remembers afternoon World
Series games. He says baseball has lost today's kids because of the
late postseason games.

If it's any consolation, World Series games will start earlier this
year, just before 8pm Eastern time. That means kids will get to watch
a whole extra inning before beddy bye.

3. Thanks Boss

A feel a twinge of sadness, again, about George Steinbrenner. Did you
see the picture of him at the Yankee game Sunday in St. Pete? He
didn't look great. And then he "issues" a press release to basically
say what he always says. That the Yankees have the greatest fans in
the world, and they deserve another world championship. Did he really
write that release? Or did Rubenstein just recycle it from just about
any year? I truly miss the old bombastic George. He was irritating as
hell, but he brought a sense of urgency and energy that is clearly
lacking these days.

4. Improve the Rush-ing Game

Talk about a layup. Rush Limbaugh wants to be part of a group buying
the St. Louis Rams. He wants to institute his radical right wing
offense.

5. Possible/Not Possible

Let's play a new game, possible/not possible. The Baltimore Ravens
coach says Patriots quarterback Tom Brady gets preferential treatment
from the refs. Possible/not possible?

The Pakistani national cricket team deliberately lost matches so that
India wouldn't advance in a tournament. Possible/not possible?

A-Rod will finally wake up and have a decent October with the
Yankees. Possible/not possible?

I'll vote "probable" to all 3. Your turn.

Happy Birthday: Former Knick and Celtic Willie Naulls. 75.
Bonus Birthday: American Idol's Simon Cowell. 50.

Today in Sports: Barry Bonds hits his record 73rd homer. 2001*
Bonus Event: Robert Mitera records the longest hole in one in Omaha.
447 yards. 1965.

Cubs Sale To Ricketts Family Unanimously Approved By MLB Owners

2009-10-06T17:27:50Z

CHICAGO (AP)--Major League baseball owners have unanimously approved the sale of the Chicago Cubs from Tribune Co. to the Ricketts family.

Cubs Demote Hitting Coach Von Joshua

2009-10-04T20:21:13Z

CHICAGO — The disappointed Chicago Cubs wasted little time making a change, dropping hitting coach Von Joshua after Sunday's season finale while offering him a similar spot at Triple-A.

Joshua had been promoted from Triple-A Iowa on June 14 when Gerald Perry was fired as hitting coach after 2 1/2 seasons.

Chicago Cubs Sale Approved By Bankruptcy Judge

2009-09-24T11:43:51Z

WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal bankruptcy judge cleared the way Thursday for the Tribune Co. to sell the Chicago Cubs and the storied Wrigley Field to the family of billionaire and longtime fan Joe Ricketts.

Judge Kevin J. Carey authorized Tribune to sell the family a 95 percent stake in the team, the stadium and related sports properties for $845 million.

Milton Bradley Apologizes After Suspension

2009-09-23T18:50:08Z

MILWAUKEE — Suspended Cubs outfielder Milton Bradley apologized Wednesday for behavior that led to general manager Jim Hendry's decision to banish him for the rest of the season.

"I chose Chicago as a free agent because I wanted to be part of finally bringing a championship to the Cubs' fans. I expected to have a great season and I am deeply disappointed by my performance and the team's struggles," said Bradley, who signed a $30 million, three-year contract in the offseason.

Milton Bradley's Mom: He Would Play For Cubs Again

2009-09-23T17:57:09Z

The mother of banished Chicago Cubs outfielder Milton Bradley said her son would consider returning to the team if it will have him back.

Len Berman: Top 5 Sports Stories

2009-09-21T13:12:42Z

Happy Monday everyone, here's my Top 5 for September 21, 2009 from
www.LenBermanSports.com.

1. Quick Hits

A regular season NFL record crowd of 105,121 watches the christening
of the new Cowboys $1.15 billion palace. The Giants beat the Cowboys
33-31 on a last second field goal. No punts hit the $40-million dollar
video screens.

New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees has now thrown 9 touchdowns in 2
games after winning in Philly 48-22. The Saints have racked up 93
points in their two wins.

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me?
Try telling that to the Cubs volatile outfielder Milton Bradley. He
said the Cubs were not a "positive environment" and got suspended for
the rest of the season.

In Boxing, Floyd Mayweather returned after a 21 month layoff and
beat Juan Manuel Marquez in a unanimous decision. Mayweather is now
40-0.

Former tennis star Martina Hingis was the first celebrity bounced
out of the BBC TV show Strictly Come Dancing.

2. J-E-T-S

Go ahead Jets fans, say it out loud. "The first place and undefeated
New York Jets." OK, its only week two. But new coach Rex Ryan proclaimed
he wasn't coming here to kiss Patriots coach Bill Belichick's ring. He
lets his players trash talk. He calls his season ticket holders with a
taped message to make noise at the game. And then the Jets go out and
do something they've never done before, beat Tom Brady in the
Meadowlands. For the first time, in a long time, it's not the "same
old Jets." Cool.

3. Monday Musings

The "even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and again" award to the
Oakland Raiders after somehow winning in Kansas City 13-10 despite
being outgained 409 yards to 166.

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Do some athletes take stupid pills? Delonte West of the Cleveland
Cavaliers got arrested for speeding on a motorcycle with three loaded
guns. Maybe he got confused when a coach told him to always be on the
lookout for a three point shot opportunity.

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Syracuse won and USC lost in college football. See, you can mention
Syracuse and USC football in the same breath.

4. Survey Says

The Associated Press reported last week that commercials in baseball
games are similar to football. Lots of sex, alcohol and junk food.
Beer commercials and ads for erectile dysfunction show up in virtually
every commercial break. Aren't kids watching these games? The
advertisers and the networks respond that the audience is
overwhelmingly adult. A bill was even introduced in Congress last May
to limit the e.d. ads to late night. They say it won't pass anytime
soon. (I could say that's because the lawmakers are too busy with sex,
alcohol and junk food, but that would be a cheap shot.)

5. What's in a Name?

There have been some interesting occupational names in the sports
world. Jockey Willie Shoemaker and any number of Bakers, Cooks and
Millers come to mind. But a young goaltender in the San Jose Sharks
organization has them beat. He is Tyson Sexsmith. I'm guessing he's
great at it ... goaltending that is.

Happy Birthday: Pistons "bad boy" Rick Mahorn. 51.
Bonus Birthday: Mr. Caddyshack. Bill Murray. 59.

Today in Sports: The debut of ABC's Monday Night Football. Cleveland
beat the Jets 31-21. 1970.
Bonus Event: "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus." was printed for
the first time in the New York Sun. 1897.

Milton Bradley Suspended For Year: Cubs End Outfielder's Season After Interview

2009-09-20T18:37:05Z

ST. LOUIS — Milton Bradley's season is finished. Perhaps his days with the Chicago Cubs are, too.

The Cubs suspended their volatile outfielder for the rest of the season Sunday, one day after he criticized the team in a newspaper interview.

Cubs Sale Gets Government Go-Ahead

2009-09-08T12:07:05Z

U.S. antitrust officials approved Tribune Co.'s sale of the Chicago Cubs baseball team to the Ricketts family, which founded TD Ameritrade Holding Co.

Judge Approves Expedited Legal Process For Cubs Sale

2009-08-31T17:11:49Z

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Monday approved Tribune Co.'s request for quick court action on the company's planned sale of the Chicago Cubs.

The family of billionaire Joe Ricketts, founder of TD Ameritrade, has agreed to buy a 95 percent stake in the team and its Wrigley Field home for $845 million, but the deal must be approved by the bankruptcy court, as well as Major League Baseball.

Cubs Keep Harden, Heilman

2009-08-31T13:21:49Z

The waiver period for trades before the Sept. 1 roster deadline will come and go without the Chicago Cubs having made a deal, according to Major League Baseball sources.

Mari Gallagher: Wild Thing: You Make Animal Control's Phone Ring

2009-08-28T10:49:00Z

Recently, a three-foot-long alligator originating from Florida or Louisiana was pulled from the Chicago River. The reptile was described as "not aggressive, but dangerous" and "probably somebody's pet." Someone's pet at one point, until it escaped or was no longer wanted. One news release stated, "One chomp of its 80 teeth could cause a human to bleed to death in minutes."

Also recently, an official at Chicago-based Safran Metals found an intruder in the company delivery truck. "Here's this little guy as cute as can be," said VP Allan Baron, after catching sight of the fifteen-pound raccoon. He called the Humane Society. "They told me they were going to euthanize him, and I said, 'Forget about it.' "

Fascination with wild animals coupled with "country meets city" means that we have many predicaments on our hands. In my own Chicago neighborhood, it's common to see bunnies hopping down the sidewalk at any given hour. A family of possums lived under our porch until we found someone to relocate them, but for no small fee. Ouch! That bites! Still, like Baron, we didn't want to see them destroyed. We live only a mile west of Wrigley Field, not adjacent to an expansive park or forest preserve. Go there, or to the trails at the Peterson and Pulaski Nature Center, and the deer will come close enough to sniff your pockets, if you dare to carry something good.

Just the other night, as we played a game of scrabble on the back porch and listened to the Cubs lose, our tall, thick, leafy vines began to shake and rumble upward, until a furry creature with big dark warrior circles around his eyes emerged at the top and jumped onto our garage roof. There he was. Majestic. Muscular. Unafraid. Standing up tall.

My eyes were wide and hopeful. He's adorable! Can we keep him, I asked my husband? Without waiting for a response, I turned back to the raccoon. He must have understood because he came barreling back down along the garage in our direction, a little smile on his face, quite eager to join the family. No, go away, my husband yelled as he waved his arms. Throw something at him, he told me.

Contrary to popular belief, animals understand quite a lot; they are not stupid. And they have feelings, too. At my husband's less-than-friendly reception, Mr. Raccoon turned slowly away, head hung low.

Animals actually have quite a vocabulary and speak a variety of languages, including but not limited to body language, Pig Latin, and English. Dogs especially. They know what's going on.

Take our dog, Savannah. When the Cubs were losing, but had three runners on base, which would more than tie the score, one of our best hitters struck out, retiring the side, another lost opportunity. Savannah simply shook her head and let out a long, hard sigh. She turned her back to the radio and went to sleep in disgust. But ask if she wants to be a Sox fan instead and she'll give you that little twisted grimace, meaning, "Yeah, right."

The point is that animals are very intelligent but, like humans, they get swept away from time to time by emotions and ignore logic. The wild ones with big teeth make homes in the city when they should stay in the country. Raccoons intrude on games of scrabble and get their feelings hurt. Field mice pry their way through very small holes into houses full of blood-thirsty cats. And our furry friends learn from us human companions to believe in the unbelievable. Again, take our dog.

On the one hand, she's no fool, yet on the other, at the start of each season, she proclaims passionately, "this is the year we will win the championship!" as she parades up and down in her finest paraphernalia with great pride and anticipation. Only to be disappointed, again and again.

Our dog, Savannah, at the start of the Cubs season, enthusiastically donning her Cubby clothes.

Savannah, toward the end of the Cubs season, donning her long face and summer haircut, hat and scarf tossed aside. "Damn goat," she mutters.

Unfortunately, my husband only encourages this behavior. "Aw, don't be sad, honey" he tells her in a low voice, stroking her fur. "Well get 'em next year."

Anthropomorphizing aside, animals often feel the same way we do. Pleasure, pain, hunger, contentment, fear, pride - even happiness - are real to the entire animal kingdom. Some of the choices we make for animals, however, make me think we often forget this.

While on a research assignment for the Fed in the Everglades, I had some downtime and took a turn down a bumpy road toward a handwritten sign announcing "Exotic Wildlife Preserve. Open to Public." Exotic and wild is like country and western: wow! What's not to like? For $10, and after signing a waiver against claims of injury, I could view caged tigers, monkeys, an elephant - and more. I was nipped on the finger by a very large, unidentifiable bird, at least unidentifiable to me. Beautiful, yes. Tame, no. For an additional $10, I fed the baby bears. Grizzly Adams was one of my favorite TV shows growing up so I figured, why not? Cuddly. Lovable. Cute. So sweet, you could bounce them on your knees. The love ended once the food was gone. Very sharp, those baby bear claws!

On the bumpy road back, I felt conflicted about giving money to a place that cages animals that would probably be better off left in the wild, undisturbed. The owners of the preserve said these animals were all once pets that later became abandoned and unwanted and that if they did not provide a home for them, well, who would?

But in most cases, it's cruel to confine an animal in an unsuitable environment.

And it's especially cruel when, after being pumped with hormones and #2 corn, the environment is torturously cramped, and the final stage of confinement is being wrapped in plastic and thrown into a grocery cart.

Last week, Time magazine ran a story entitled "Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food" which began like this: "Somewhere in Iowa, a pig is being raised in a confined pen, packed in so tightly with other swine that their curly tails have been chopped off so they won't bite one another. "

Fast, cheap and easy is not a porn film; it's the new American diet.

In this century we're quite expert at producing great quantifies of food, faster and faster, cheaper and cheaper, more efficiently, and more artificially. Problem is, most of this so-called food isn't very good for us. In fact, it makes us fat and sick. We are not just talking about animal cruelty; the choices we make for animals are not always good for us, either.

I am not a vegetarian.

But science and current food production practices are turning me in the direction of less-and-better-meat - maybe no meat - although I admit that some of my leanings are not science-based.

As part of a speaking engagement, I attended an expo that included an animal rights booth, which offered free coloring books geared toward children. I opened the book to the first page. It said in gentle cursive: "The animals are our friends."

Waiting to be colored were a cow, a pig, a goat, a bunny, a mamma deer and her doe and several other animals. All had a twinkle of hope and innocence, but, at the same time, looked sad and leery. I felt confused.

I hesitated, then turned the page again. It said: "WE DON'T EAT OUR FRIENDS."

We've introduced a number of themes here: wild animals in the city, the perils of cheap meat, the emotional life of pets, animal cruelty, how to make children cry and turn them into vegetarians, and how the Cubs will never win a championship but we keep rooting for them anyway like we did the other night when they lost to the Nationals in an embarrassing 15 to 6.

Did we tie all our themes together neatly into one big knot? Not sure.

My friend Marcia said that reading this latest commentary of mine was like drinking Vino Verde instead of a hearty red: kind of light and wandering, drifting off without the usual serious undertones or clear focus but sure to get some comments because everyone at least has opinions about animals if not about all the other topics, with a heavy emphasis on all the other topics, as in too many.

With that, a few final comments to wrap-up.

First, it's the end of summer, and Vino Verde is quite refreshing.

Second, just for the record, I don't think it's wrong to eat meat, but anything with a face or a mamma should be treated humanely and with respect. We can be more conscious about our choices, and try to make better ones, if not for the sake of animals then for public health.

Third, with respect to squirrels in the attic, raccoons in delivery trucks, possums under the porch, bunnies in the garden, rats in the alley, foxes in the chicken coop - yes, whether we live in the county or the city, we need animal control. But since we are all part of the animal kingdom, whenever possible, let's first just try to get along.

And finally, with respect to red wine, relax: winter is coming.