That Unique Feeling

As I’ve returned home and caught up on everything that’s been happening in the Cubs’ world, it occurs to me that maybe it’s for the best that the Northsiders will not make the playoffs this year. One reason it might be for the best is the injuries. If the Cubs had Houston’s record but were still as tattered -- with Walker, Ramirez, Hairston, Cedeno, and Barrett all dealing with injury fallout -- there is no doubt that they would be undermanned in a series. Last night, even, Maddux gutted it through 9 innings to hope for a win to keep the chance at 15 wins alive, but the offense just wasn’t there. The lineup the Cubs can offer is not a playoff caliber lineup. Maybe other people have been saying this and if so I’m sorry for repeating the obvious, but I’m just getting to it. (continue...)

Chicago, Illinois (South Side)

This is the final leg of our trip, after which I will stay in the greater Chicago area for a wedding before flying back home. I spent last evening doing laundry at my parents’ house and telling my mother some travel stories. And reading, but not writing. I do my best to stay focused, and I know from experience that even when you don’t have it sometimes you can sit down and start to write anyway, and then your writing voice wakes up to surprise you, but I felt more like lying on my parents’ couch after they went to sleep even though I knew full well the implication that I would end up 4 days late in my posting as a result. I guess I’m a little bit road-weary. (continue...)

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Driving away from New York City, there is a tension knotted between your shoulders that unwinds, and you don’t even realize it was there until it’s leaving. There is a slight chill in the air, the first hint that this is actually the end of the summer in what has been a very warm September. There are a few leaves changing colors (red and yellow) near the tops of the Allegheny Mountains, which are covered thickly with trees, but farther down everything is still green. (continue...)

New York, New York (2)

Part 2

“When did you start to hate the Yankees?” I ask.

“Didn’t take long,” my father answers. “Probably shortly after I became a fan and they won all the time. Every World Series, I rooted for whoever played them. After World War II and until ’64 the Yankees just ruled, and that’s a long time.” (continue...)

New York, New York

Part 1

Well now: New York City. Or Manhattan, I should say, to be more precise. My goodness. (continue...)

Baltimore, Maryland

Part 1 (Friday)

It’s my birthday today, which is not a big deal to me, but as such I am going to ask you to forgive my self-indulgence for a minute as I stroll down memory lane. I couldn’t fall asleep last night, so I was trying to work backwards to see if I could come up with my earliest memory. Three of them tied. (continue...)

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I think that Philadelphia is the largest city in the country that isn’t thought of like the others, which is to say that it’s not cosmopolitan or the hub of anything contemporarily cultural. There’s obviously as much History there as one could hope for, but past that its reputation is mostly absent. For a very long time though, it was one of the 3 major cities in the country, along with New York and Boston. It was so important that for a long time it also had two baseball teams: the Phillies and the Athletics. This is a sign of national prominence, you could say, since now that the Angels are officially the Los Angeles Angels the big three cities have a pair of teams, one in each league. (continue...)

Cleveland, Ohio

The last time I drove away from Michigan, I was en route to Austin, TX via Memphis, TN and I was feeling on top of the world. I had quit my job in Chicagoland and driven to Michigan for my dad’s retirement celebration. It was early June, and the entire world seemed to have opened itself. So, perhaps you can excuse the brief passage I wrote cryptically in my notebook: (continue...)

The Beginning Of Ten Nights In September

I never like it when football season starts. The rest of the country can seemingly turn its attention on a dime, and I can't. It's not that I don't enjoy football, because I do, but I've never been able to turn off baseball. Maybe some people revel in the beginning of Fall because they are able to invest time in both sports, but I'm not one of them. As a result, by the time the baseball season ends, I feel like I'm behind.

This September is especially different, however, as tomorrow my father and I begin a road trip that will cover ten nights, nine games and seven baseball stadiums. (Unless it rains.) Depending on which hotels have internet access, I'll be posting something a few times a week -- something with a literary bent from each city, I hope. (continue...)

The Chicago Cubs Historical All-Barfight Team

Let's say that we can remove all boundaries of space and time in order to compile a 16-man baseball team entirely from players who were at one time Chicago Cubs. Then let's say that this group of players is hanging out in a tavern when the Big Roy's Auto Body softball team walks in to celebrate their big win. Big Roy's is a team of proud men, burly and gruff, most of whom believe that major league athletes are overpaid, overprimped and coddled pansies who happened to catch a lucky break.

Over the course of drinking a few pitchers of beer (each), the discussion turns towards the Cubs, and predictably Big Roy's star slugging first baseman concludes that, "Those guys ain't all that tough." This pronouncement is just loud enough for shortstop Ivan DeJesus to overhear as he's walking back from the jukebox. (His selections? 'Get Down On It' by Kool & The Gang, 'In the Air Tonight' by Phil Collins, and 'Under Pressure' by Queen & David Bowie, all circa 1981.)

One thing leads to another as one thing always does, and soon there are shotglasses flying across the room, stools swung high in the air, and we have ourselves an old-fashioned barfight. Given this scenario, who would you pick for the Cubs' team? (continue...)

On Nomar Garciaparra

One of my friends thought that I had already written this column back in April. That was after Ramirez went down the day I posted a column suggesting we might excuse him for taking it easy in some situations, only to watch him pull a quad running to first. He thought that maybe I had jinxed both guys, but actually it was just Ramirez (if you believe in that sort of thing). Now, we’ll see if I also jinx Nomar when he gets his own column.

Then again, given Nomar’s recent track record, maybe this is like arguing that the sun is due to take a day off tomorrow, and then saying in the morning I jinxed the sunrise. (Consider that the double-reverse anti-jinx, since I do believe in that sort of thing.) Anyway, I’m running out of guys to talk about, and who wants to read 1,500 words on Michael Wuertz, or other Cubs relievers? Most of us would settle for three: Less walks, please. (continue...)

No Matter What?

As the Cubs’ season winds down without need for analysis, and the games themselves are playing rather predictably, my attention is turning to one of the esoteric questions facing baseball fans. I think the Cubs deserve as much or more admiration than most baseball teams, but they’re far from perfect on many levels. So: will I remain a Cubs fan, no matter what? (continue...)

Best Of Game Notes Vol. 11

Well, we've given up by now, but that's no reason we can't get some humor from the last two weeks. Here are the best of Game Notes, in just such an attempt. (continue...)

Turn The Page

August is finally over, and this year the dog days lived up to their reputation for the northsiders. The Cubs began the month at 53-52, poised perhaps to begin a run. Does it feel like only a month ago? Instead, after winning the first of a series in Philadelphia, they dropped 8 abysmal games in a row and fell to 6 games under .500, which is about where they’ve hovered ever since. No, August 2005 was not a good month for the Cubs or their fans, and it felt a lot longer than 31 days if the measure is how distant the beginning of the month seems now. (continue...)

The View From Wrigleyville
End Of Nothing
Bittersweet would be too positive a word to describe the end of the Cubs' 05 home season. I wasn't there for the official finale but watched with one eye and ear to the fitting ending -- bases loaded in the ninth and nothing to show for it. Jose Macias, a Dusty Baker favorite, made the last out; Corey Patterson, Wrigley wipping boy, struck out to help snuff the rally. The next noises emanating from Clark and Addison will be construction on the expanded bleachers. (continue...) September Song
As the Cubs wrapped up yet another disheartening loss to their divisional nemesis Cincy last nite, the stands at Wrigley Field had emptied to about 10 percent of capacity. The Cubs' efforts to squeeze in more and more night games when school resumes has boosted attendance, but why stick around when it's past 10 p.m. on a weekday, your team is going nowhere and the bullpen has blown another lead? This is called playing out the string, the Cubs' all-too-familiar September song. (continue...)

The Eye Of The Beerholder
09.13.05 Fall Ball
Cubs versus Reds at Wrigley Field
Section 102 Row 5 Seat 114 (continue...)

Westside Wavelength