... So Business Week published a story this week that became a hot topic in our office this morning: "The top 10 ugliest cars ever made."Unfortunately, I only caught the ninth inning of last night's game because I was playing a Cubs game of my own. Too bad, I'd like to think if I had been watching I might have been able to cheer the Brewers on to a win last night ...
I've drawn a lot of questions this week about the series, what I think of it and who I'm rooting for ...
My answer: Any other year I'd be cheering my heart out for the Cubs -- they're playing so well, and I can't help but think this might finally be their year ... but the fact that it's coming at the expense of the Brewers -- who've treated us to such a magical and promising season -- is making it really hard to enjoy. It kind of breaks my heart actually ...
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So call me a fair weather fan all you want, but I have my reasons ...
You see I've been cheering for both these teams about as long as I've known how to throw a baseball. I grew up cheering for those Brewers teams of Molitor and Yount and Gantner (not to mention Greg Brock, B.J. Surhoff, Teddy Higuera, Greg Vaughn, and Dale Sveum) and those Cubs teams of Sandberg, Dawson, Dunston, Grace, Sutcliffe, Luis Salazar and Les Lancaster. The Brewers were the American League team; the Cubs were in the National League ...
Ok, so I lost touch with the Brewers when I moved to Kansas City and the Royals took some of my American League spirit. Yount and Gantner retired, Molitor moved to Toronto, the Brewers changed to those ugly green and navy blue uniforms and I suddenly had no idea who any of the guys were on the field ...
Thanks to Harry Caray and WGN, though, my Cubs love only grew stronger ...
But a few years ago, I returned to Brewers country, where Milwaukee had returned to the National League and joined the Cubs in the NL Central. Slowly I started watching again, but they were years away from contending ...
Now here we are. The last couple seasons, Kates and I have gone to about twice as many Cubs games, and we've gotten to know and enjoy watching this new crop of players -- J.J. Hardy, Prince Fielder, Billy Hall, Rickie Weeks and this year, Ryan Braun ...
Sigh.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Cubs haven't earned any points this year with me for buying their pennant team. And they've been to the postseason four times in the last 25 years ...
The Brewers have grown their own crop of players. They haven't had a winning season since 1992. They haven't even tasted the playoffs since 1982 ...
If the Cubs are the only team standing come October, I'll be rooting my heart out for them again ...
But until then ...
You've GOT to be kidding me ...
Everything was perfect. It was a gorgeous day. A vendor selling Budweiser was walking up and down the aisles advertising it as a "LaRussa Breakfast!" And a couple with a young boy dressed in Cubs gear were holding a sign that read "Draft me in 2025!" ... referring to the boy, of course. Said the boy's mom, "We couldn't hold a My-First-Game sign. We've seen too many of those."
Bears and Kansas University (rock chalk Jayhawk, baby!) great Gayle Sayers threw out the first pitch, and then we were off ...
It was a pitcher's duel. Braden Looper for the Cards, Rich Hill for the Cubs. Hill didn't allow a hit until the third, Looper didn't allow a hit until the fourth. Neither gave up a run until the sixth inning ... In the top of the sixth, Hill struck out David Eckstein and Ryan Ludwick and then gave up a homerun to Albert Pujols. The way the game was going, it could've put the Cubs away ... But! Ryan Theriot singled in the bottom of the sixth and then Jacque Jones stepped to the plate and launched a homerun of his own. I don't need to tell you that the crowd erupted ...
From there, Cubs fans everywhere held their breaths in hopes the Cubs could close out the Cardinals and cool them down. At the same time, I was also starting to watch the clock and check my train schedule to time my departure ... Lucky for me, the Cubs did hold on and retired Jim Edmonds for the last out. Final: 2-1.
Go Cubs Go burst over the loud speakers and the crowd sang it loud as ever. I couldn't keep from smiling ...
* * *
It was 3:50 p.m. I jumped into the aisle and beat it down the third base line toward the exit at Sheffield and Addison, on my way to board the El. I must've made it in record time too because the crowd inside the station wasn't half as thick as I'm used to. I got my pass punched, raced up the escalator and hopped on the waiting train ... So far so good. If I kept my pace, I thought, I could make the 4:33 train at Davis and Kates and I had a chance of making it to Miller Park before the first pitch ...
Then tragedy struck. Ok, it wasn't a tragedy, but it was a setback. I had to wait several minutes for a train at the Linden station, and that was enough to put me at Davis no more than two minutes after the 4:33 had passed through. Doh!
So, I waited. Caught the 4:59 train at Davis. Got back to my car at the Waukegan station at about 6 p.m., and I was pulling back in our driveway and picking up Kates at about 6:30. She had a Subway sandwich and a soda waiting for me, along with my Brewers gear so I could make a quick change in the car. She took the keys so she could drive, and off we went for the nightcap ... Gotta love it!
... We arrived at Miller Park at about 7:30, parked and were walking into the stadium for the bottom of the second inning. And! we got our Harvey Kuehn bobbleheads! (I had conceded to Kates on the ride up that I didn't think we would get the bobbleheads because we were going to be so late ...) After the usher handed the box to me, I turned to Kates coming behind me and held it over my head like a World Series trophy ...
On to our seats. Gorgeous! Box seats. First base side, about midway into the outfield. So close you could see the whiskers on Ken Griffey's chin.
The Brewers playing? Not so gorgeous tonight ... I had been saying throughout today that priority No. 1 was a Cardinals loss -- they came into the day in third place, two and half games behind the Brewers; they must be cooled off and put away for good. But the Cubs came into the day in second place, a half game back, which meant that with a Cubs win, it was paramount the Brewers won too to keep their lead in the NL Central ...
Didn't happen. The Reds were already up 1-0 when we found our seats, and they added another run in the third on an RBI double by Griffey. J.J. Hardy cut the deficit with a solo homerun in the bottom of the third, but Scott Hatteberg hit a homerun of his own in the sixth to put the Reds up 3-1 ...
And, oh, then wheels fell off in the seventh. Quite possibly the most mediocre play I've seen in a major league ball game: Jeff Keppinger singled for the Reds to lead off the inning, then Griffey grounded to Ryan Braun at third base. Off the bat, it looked like an easy double play ball, but Braun threw wide of second base and the ball bounced into right field. Keppinger headed for third and scored. Meanwhile, as Griffey's pulling into second, the Brewers right fielder, Gabe Gross, picks up the ball and flings it over to second base (... Watching Gross throw the ball so awkwardly was kind of like the equivelant of nails scratching a chalkboard, I have no idea what he was thinking ...). Gross's throw sailed wide of second base and rolled over to left field, and Griffey went all the way around to score on a two-error, inside-the-park homerun that looked like a play you'd expect to see in a 6-year-old Little League game ... I've never heard boos so loud, or seen fans so upset at Miller Park. I actually heard a guy behind us moan, "I want to go home and take a bath in my toaster ..." I burst out laughing.
In the eighth, Gross and Hardy, who'd committed an error earlier in the game too, tried to redeem themselves with a solo homerun each. But the Reds tacked on two final runs in the top of the ninth on an Adam Dunn moonshot to the upper deck in right field ... Final score: Reds 8, Brewers 3.
And so ended The Perfect Day.
I plan to sleep in tomorrow morning.
On the field, rows of chairs were being set up behind home plate, and people we assumed were family members and dignitiaries from the 1982 Brewers were starting to filter on the field. There also was a awkward, gray-haired man in a beige suit milling around the area, and it took us awhile, but after watching his mannerisms closely for several minutes, we confirmed it was indeed the commissioner himself, Bud Selig ...
As the ceremony came to a close, each of the players took the positions they played during that 1982 season. And Audrey Kuehn, the widow of the great manager Harvey, threw the ceremonial first pitch to Ted Simmons. Then they came off the field, throwing baseballs into the stands ...
If only the excitement could've lasted beyond the first inning ...
Chris Capuano hit Albert Pujols with a pitch in the first, but the Brewers got out of it without a run. Then in the bottom of the inning, Prince Fielder launched a solo homerun to the deepest part of the park (no doubt about it!) to put the Brew Crew on the board. Ryan Braun followed that with a single and then Geoff Jenkins smacked a homerun to nearly the exact same spot Fielder hit his (no doubt about that one either!).
... So I started watching this Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet ...The result is strangely hypnotic, family-friendly viewing. It is fascinating to... It's kind of like the meerkat version of March of the Penguins. I've always enjoyed watching the little meerkats at zoos ... but who knew they had such dramatic lives ...
watch the behavior of such a socially complicated group of animals up close and
personal in the wild, to be reminded of not just the brutality but the
selflessness that can be found in nature -- when Sophy is left to guard the pups
in an early episode, she is as brave and stalwart as a movie heroine.
