Just North of Wrigley Field

posted by James - 12:37 PM

Yeah, it's that time again. The time where I sign up for a fantasy league last second, and ask the faithful readers of this blog to join in.

This time it's basketball. Do I really give a darn about the NBA? Not really. That's Skippy's territory.

But I'm reeling from my recent, dare I say "curse-like", ineptitude in running my fantasy baseball and football teams (into the ground).

So, I'm starting fantasy basketball again in hopes I can catch the lightning which led me to win all THREE leagues I joined last year.

Here's the info you're looking for:

Yahoo Fantasy NBA

league id: 125545
password: balls

The draft is set for 10:00 PM CDT, Wed Oct. 20.

Get in while still have some pipin' fresh butt kickin's to dish out.

In other, unreated news:

1. GO BEARS!!! Quinn blows! Bring on Krenzel. Please come back Rex. Jones studly.


2. Hey Yankees! Who's whose Daddy now???


3. Bush still sucks.
   
   The Lovely Wife just got her official voter registration card in the mail too.
   
   The Lovely Wife says: "Bush is goin' down!"

posted by James - 10:12 PM

During a week of watching the Cardinals, Astros and Yankees win (Kurt Angle says: "Respect the three Is. Ick. Ick. and ICK!"), something good actually happened...

I got my official voter registration card! Whoo-hoo!

Watch out Instapundit cause in my book this entitles me to warp fragile little minds as it pertains to the 34% of us who might actually go out and cast our ballots in November.

So here goes:

The current president sucks!

John Kerry doesn't suck as much!

Empowered and envigorated by such insightful political rhetoric, go out and vote!



* This message paid for by Bloggers for a Bush-less America

posted by James - 4:42 PM

This is what James would look like if he did it.

posted by James - 2:49 PM

(This is the Wife posting, not James)
Ok, up until now I have been a dutiful little wife and read these guys' rantings, because somewhere in the abyss of sports related spew (which I skim) there is some pretty funny stuff.

Today though, James did a very bad thing. Under the influence of too much work and his beloved team losing repeatedly, he said he’d shave his head if they made the playoffs.

Skippy and I haven’t just seen it, we did the deed last time, but I didn’t really care then because I didn’t have to look at him every day (like I do now).

Here’s the thing... I don’t want him to shave his head.

So, do I not cheer for the Cubbies?

Do I hope the Cubs win and the other teams screw it up for them?

Do I hope the pleas of a wife and reminders that Chicago winters are cold might get him to change his mind?

Sigh...

posted by James - 1:04 AM

I’m so depressed. Well, I’m more tired than depressed, but I feel the depression so much more.

Then I got this e-mail from the Cubs...

Tickets for 2004 National League Division Series games at Wrigley Field will go on sale on
Monday, October 4th at 9:00 a.m. CT.

Tickets can be purchased online at cubs.com.

Each customer will be allowed to purchase one (1) order of up to four (4) tickets.

Tickets can be purchased by telephone through Tickets.com beginning at 9:00 a.m. CDT.

The Tickets.com phone number for Illinois callers is 800-The-Cubs (800-843-2827).

The phone number for out-of-state callers is 866-652-2827.

Based on today's National League Standings, if the Cubs win the Wild Card, Game 3 of the best-of-five Division Series would be played at Wrigley Field on Saturday, October 9th and Game 4 (if necessary) would be played at Wrigley on Sunday, October 10th.

However, the ultimate schedule, including game times, will be determined at a later date.

If only wishing made it so. If only...

SCREW THAT RIGHT INTO THE GROUND!!!

The Cubs aren’t doing it on the field, so I’m going to show some balls for them right here on this blog.

Here’s some recent pictures of me to set the mood for what I’m about to say.

Here’s me doing my best Eugene impression.


Here’s me fresh off of work tonight, with my hair pulled back in a ponytail.


Here’s the top of my dome, covered by what nature hasn’t taken already.


Here’s a side profile.


And here’s the aforementioned ponytail.


And if the Cubbies can manage to make it into the playoffs, I’m gonna cut that sumbitch off!

...And I ain’t gonna stop there....

If the Cubs can somehow manage to make it to the playoffs, I’m going to shave my head completely bald!!!

This is the portion of the program where my wife and Skippy turn the channel and say “Been there. Done that.” This is true. But that was at least five years ago, and Jay Buhner had already done most of the work for them.

This time, I don’t think it will come back.

But it would be a price worth paying to give the fates the motivation they need to intervene and give us another month of baseball.

We’ve fought too hard (at least most of us have). We’ve earned the right to see this come to fruition.

So come on Cubbies... I wanna feel the wind blowing (out to left) through my stubble.

Make it happen. I still believe.

posted by James - 1:33 AM

I came into this season eyes wide open about Dusty Baker. I've never trusted his ability to lead a team to the pinnacle of baseball success; not from what I saw in San Francisco, and certainly not from what I saw last year.

No mistake about it, his mishandling of the pitching staff (i.e needlessly piling on pitch counts for Prior, Wood and Zambrano, first-guessable calls and non-calls to the bullpen, etc.) cost the Cubs a trip to the World Series.

I am taking this opportunity to make this unretractable statement:

If the Cubs do not make the playoffs, Dusty Baker should be shown the door, given CTA fare ($2.00 including the transfer from the Red Line to the Orange Line) and booked a plane flight to whatever team wants to hire him... you're-not-welcome-here-anymore style.

This year's team (injuries and all) wasn't a "thick of things" kind of team. This team was a World Series winner with even a mediocre field manager.

Dusty's only good trait is the unconfirmed assumption that players want to play for him, which might mean the retainment of Nomar, Ramirez, Prior, und so weiter.

Then again... that didn't help him win in SF and it hasn't helped him win diddly here.

I see a trend developing with Dusty Baker-led teams.

2002: WS losers
2003: NLCS losers
2004: (potentially) wildcard losers
2005: just plain losers???

I don't want to find that out next year when the Cubs are still going to have a quality, young team with some money to burn, but they're going to need a manager who won't piss that away like Dusty has the last two years.

They need a manager with proven winning experience (Jim Leyland anybody?), Dusty's got three days to prove he's that guy.