Blog Posts For Tag: Cubs

This is how serious the rest of the globe takes the World Cup. After the Nigerian “Super Eagles” failed to win a single match in round robin competition for the third straight World Cup competition, President Goodluck Jonathan banned the national team from playing for the next two seasons.

To dissolve or not to dissolve, that is the question. Commission Bud Selig has been presented with a few ideas to improve the game as MLB tries to offer something new to divert our attention from the steroid saga that simply will not die. The latest ideas include realigning the leagues to do away with the divisions.

The National League, also known as Quadruple A baseball, looks like they will have few surprises as the final 50 or so games dwindle down in this awful August heat. Most of the divisions look pretty set no matter what the standings say about a team nipping at their heals. The only real question is who will win the Wild Card spot?

If you have doubts over my brazen predictions lets go through the three divisions first and clear the air.

Woe is the Greeks. They have a mythology seemingly based on the gods’ series of one night stands (all those father-less children destined to perish in misguided quests just to get their father’s attention), they have had their greatest ruler defiled by Oliver Stone in the movie Alexander (a movie with Angelina Jolie and Rosario Dawson clad in revealing robes, yet the most intimate moments are between Colin Farrell and Jared Leto), they have endured an unwarranted attempt to turn My Big Fat Greek Wedding (which resurrected Joey Fatone’s career) into a television series, My Big Fat Greek Life, (and Fatone’s career began its downward spiral once again), and, frankly, have been nothing but bad for the beautiful game of baseball.

One of the most exciting things about the beginning of the baseball season is the first few weeks. I think they are kind of like he first few rounds of the NCAA Tournament. You get some real surprises at first before reality sets in and brings those hopeful teams and players crashing down to Earth. Here are some of my favorite trends that will come burning through the stratosphere over the next couple of weeks.

After a few months of wondering what was going to happen in this new season of MLB, opening day finally commenced yesterday. Of course this was simply game one for many teams (apart from the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves who officially opened the season on Sunday night) in a long schedule that will give the winners 161 more chances to end their perfect season and losers 161 more games to find redemption. Still, to say that a few things did not surprise me would be a liar.

Normally I would be appalled by the rampant East Coast bias that has an undeniable imprint on ESPN and many other major publications and media outlets. However, with three number teams in March Madness, the return of the NFC East to the forefront of competitive football ball this last fall, and after a  quick look at the divisions throughout Major League Baseball I simply cannot blame the networks. Even though the MLB season has yet to begin I can already rank the divisions pretty confidently and found that the East is king this year.

If the Los Angeles Dodgers thought the pressure was on when they spent all winter trying to deal with Greed Master General Scott Boras, then they need only wait until the season begins to find a whole new boulder thrust upon them smashing a few vital organs.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, between suicidal thoughts, once said that intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. According to this definition, Chicago Cubs fans must be geniuses.

First the pitchers and catchers reported. Then the rest of the position players came to camp. Now, on this fine Wednesday, the first exciting, but meaningless games begin.

New York Yankees fans will get the chance to heckle A-Rod in the Grapefruit opener, Chicago Cubs fans will reset the doomsday clock, and everyone else will practice making pitchers cry on the mound. Tomorrow morning baseball “enthusiasts” will read there first box scores since October 28, 2008, back when Bush was president and Philadelphia was rewarded with a team that did not let them down.

The Chicago spring tease is on and the snow that was frozen into impenetrable blocks of polar ice blocks is finally begin to melt and all I can think about is baseball, baseball, and baseball. I feel like ignoring the return of the steroid scandal (I thought that tumor was benign) and daydreaming about the bleacher seats and the box scores.

Pitchers and catchers have about a week to report for spring training. This means that the season will soon be starting. That also means that anybody waiting to make predictions until the free agent pool whittled down is really out of time. I am sure a few more of these guys will be signed before the season starts (I am assuming Manny Ramirez will end up accepting a short-term deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers) and I am sure after the first round of pennant crippling injuries a few more will find a home, but it has come time to bit the bullet and make a few regular season predictions.

Last season the Tampa Bay Rays came out of nowhere with god-like pitching, a little bit of power, and a whole lotta speed to shock every Yankees fan and die hard Red Sox faithful and win the American League East. They had the right elements and they came together at the right time. The club ultimately lost the World Series but still managed to shock the baseball-verse.

New Years Day kicked off 2009 with a familiar tradition, a Big Ten team showing up a lame duck to the Rose Bowl. This time it was Penn State lost badly to USC by a score of 38-24. The halftime score was 31-7, so the final score really did Penn State more justice than they really deserve. The chatter was that this was the game that would decide whether the Big Ten was a major joke or a major conference. At 1-5 so far, with one game left the Big Ten is officially an invalid of a conference.

Yesterday, after being named the city of the year by GQ Chicago was dealt several blows that might demand the national magazine rescind its proclamation. The editors chose the city because it had been the political home to the president elect and has experienced a comeback as the backdrop for major movies, but Monday a trifecta of blows quickly kicked out the pedestal and let the city wallow in the muddy waters at the bottom of the giant hole where the Chicago Spire, an architectural abomination that brought the city’s skyline back to the national conscious, was supposed to stand.

Major League Baseball has two leagues and those two leagues have two different teams that first come to mind. The American League, the dominant league so far this century, has long identified with the New York Yankees. But, as the times have changed, so has the Yankees fate.