The Chicago Cubs will be having their home opener at Wrigley Field on Monday afternoon, or at least they're hoping to. You see, the weather in Chicago right now includes a lot of rain in the area all day, so there's a pretty good chance that the game may be rained out. If this does happen, you can be sure that there will be some Cubs fans making the joke, or being serious, that this is the latest omen of the curse against the team.
Of course, Opening Day rainouts can only happen to the Cubs because they're cursed. (It's not like Opening Day for the White Sox was snowed out or anything.) This sounds incredibly stupid, I know, but there are Cubs fans who would actually believe it to be true. They believe in Billy Goat curses and Steve Bartman, and now these same fans (morons?) also apparently believe that hanging dead goats from Harry Caray statues will bring a World Series to Chicago.
One of the better ideas to come out of the NHL in recent years has been the NHL Winter Classic. Held first in Buffalo on New Year's Day in 2008, the annual outdoor game is not only into a ratings winner for NBC Sports on a day traditionally dominated by college football, it's also a big time event that's rapidly surpassed the league's All-Star Game in importance on the NHL calender.
And now, it's coming to Boston. At least that's what the Boston Herald is reporting this morning. That shot you see to the right is an artist's conception of what Fenway will be looking like come next New Year's Day when the reigning Eastern Conference Champions will get to host the 2010 NHL Winter Classic.
I went to the 2009 edition in Chicago, and trust me on this: Outside of the Stanley Cup Finals, there's no other hockey event you'd rather be at.
After gazing around the new cathedral that is Yankee Stadium, part deux, Cubs' ace Carlos Zambrano couldn't help but offer up his opinion that he wishes "Chicago'd build a new stadium for the Cubs." As a lifetime die-hard Cubs fan, I can tell you the immediate reaction is to scream "NOOOOOOOOOO" at the top of your lungs if someone suggests the Cubs will ever play home games outside of Wrigley Field. That's our home. We love that place.
Really, though, we should look at it from a different point of view. The facilities for the players don't match up to any other park, and the place has become a wreck in several different areas over the years.
With the 2009 NHL Winter Classic only a day away, Wednesday was a busy day at Wrigley Field. Both the Blackhawks and the Red Wings took to the ice for pre-game practices, with the players looking a little more like wide-eyed kids than hardened professionals -- if only for a few hours. Bottom line: both teams are incredibly jazzed to be here to be a part of something hockey fans are going to remember for years to come.
But as crazy busy as the day was -- check out the NHL FanHouse Twitter Feed to see what I mean -- my favorite part of the day came when the when the press was packing up and the sun had long since gone down.
It was a little after 5:00 p.m. when I decided to wander back onto the field under the lights for a few more minutes to take one last look before heading back to my hotel. I unpacked the camera and took a few shots, all the while remembering that for a good portion of my life Wrigley Field had no lights. It was hard not to wonder what the place would look like with a packed house under the lights with a hockey game going on.
Heck, if the NFL can play at night in December and January, why not the NHL? I'm sure there are a thousand different reasons, but one can dream.
On New Year's Day there is going to be a pretty special event taking place at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Chicago Blackhawks will be taking on the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL's Winter Classic on a rink placed in the infield. I'll be there myself freezing my fingers off, which no doubt will make a lot of you readers happy. Of course, the only thing that would probably be cooler for Cubs fans or hockey fans than seeing a game outdoors at Wrigley Field would be skating on the field themselves.
Well, if you live near Wrigley Field and you have an extra $10 laying around, you're going to get the chance to do it.
The skate will take place from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Jan. 4, just before the temporary rink is to be dismantled. Cubs neighbors will be given a chance to skate in one-hour shifts for $10 apiece, with proceeds benefiting Cubs Care.
Considering that most Cubs fans will never get a chance to actually be on the field at Wrigley, this would probably be the best shot anybody has ever had. Not to mention the priceless memories of yelling "Hey look at me! I'm Mark DeRosa playing right field!" as you fall down and go sliding into the boards.
When you first view the title of this piece in the Sun Times ("No Beer in Wrigleyville"), you can be misled. On the surface, you hear that Chicago is taking steps to try and protect against unruly behavior in Wrigleyville, which is good. That place can be a madhouse when the games don't even matter ... just picture, with the playoff season upon us, what could happen should the Cubs progress into uncharted (for the past 99 years, at least) territory.
The measure does, however, sound a bit like grandstanding. The beer-outage would only occur after the seventh inning stretch of possible "clinching" games. So the maximum is three, and it may not even happen at all. Also, sales can resume the second the game is complete ... so we're only talking about a window of 2 1/2 innings. Is that really enough to ensure that the entire area doesn't implode should the unthinkable World Championship occur in Wrigley Field?
The executive director of the Emergency Management office in Chicago, Ray Orozco, explains:
When the Cubs were forced to play two "road" games against the Houston Astros this week at Miller Park, they saw a side of the place they haven't seen before when in town to play against the Milwaukee Brewers. Instead of using the visitor's clubhouse, the Cubs were given access to the Brewers clubhouse, and they loved what they saw.
The loved it so much, in fact, that they're getting downright blasphemous. Yep, that's right, ever since they had to return from the spacious clubhouse of Miller Park to the closet they dress in at Wrigley Field, Cubs players are starting to think it'd be nice to have a place like that of their own.
"You never want to see a landmark taken down, a place with so much history," [Jason] Marquis said. "The fans love it. That being said, the game is changing, stadiums are getting updated. There are better facilities, not only for the players, but for the fans-better food concessions, comfortable seats, better views. ...
"If I had a personal choice, I think they should knock Wrigley down and build a replica in the exact same spot to give it that same feel. The same colored seats, same ivy, same wall, and throw up a Jumbotron, but have it look like a replica of the scoreboard that's up there now, try to give it the same feel, in the same spot. I wouldn't be opposed to that."
That sounds great, Jason, but where do you suggest that the team plays while they're doing this? Marquis isn't the only Cub who wouldn't mind new digs, as both Carlos Zambrano and Jim Edmonds said they wouldn't have any problems with playing in a new ballpark either.
Part of me feels sorry for Molly Dapier, after all, all she was trying to do was shoot her piece for Mouthpiece Sports when some dumbass Cubs fan in blue body paint decided to dump a cooler of water over her for no reason. On the other hand, though, she was at a Cubs game. Idiotic behavior from the drunken fans in attendance is an inherent trait of the ballpark.
It's a tradition as old as the ivy on the outfield walls.
That being said, the kid who did this is a total idiot. Why did he dump the water on Dapier? To look cool? Somebody should let him know that it's really hard to look cool when you have no shirt on, a concave chest (had the water been poured on him, a puddle would have formed), and you're covered in body paint.
Also, anyone think he would have done this if Dapier had been a man? Odds are he wouldn't have because I know if it had been me he dumped the water on, I would have beaten him half to death right there on the spot. I'm surprised Molly didn't.
Today at Wrigely Field, the NHL and Chicago Blackhawks held a press conference to pump up the upcoming Winter Classic. Smack in the middle of July, it made all kinds of sense (not really). Anyway, we got a glimpse at what the NHL was planning for January. In the picture above, you can see a mock up of the rink that the NHL set up at Wrigley today. As you can probably tell, the sight lines are going to be weird. It might be something akin to watching football in a baseball stadium whose seats don't fold out nicely -- think Shea Stadium.
My point -- there's a lot of open space on the field out there. Hopefully that gets filled in with seats (How cool would that be??) because otherwise people with "front row" seats are going to be sorely dissapointed. Seats on the rooftops though, should still be freaking awesome. Just make sure you're not sitting behind home plate. You might not see a lot.
After the jump, a couple more shots from today's presser.
I tell you, the Cubs are just hot right now. They've got the best record in the National League, and they've just added Rich Harden to what is already a pretty good starting rotation. Things are going so well this season that some folks have dared utter their thoughts that the team's 100-year championship drought just might come to an end this season.
This optimism isn't just relegated to us mortal folk, either, as even the Big Man Upstairs is apparently getting pretty psyched up for the Cubbies. Wouldn't it be awesome to watch a Cubs game with God and listen to him complain about Alfonso Soriano in the lead-off spot? Well, in order for you to do something like that, you would have to die first.
And boy do I have the place for you Cubs fans to be buried after you leave to go watch the game with the G-Man.
The Chicago Cubs will be having their home opener at Wrigley Field on Monday afternoon, or at least they're hoping to. You see, the weather in Chicago right now includes a lot of rain in the area all day, so there's a pretty good chance that the game may be rained out. If this does happen, you can be sure that there will be some Cubs fans making the joke, or being serious, that this is the latest omen of the curse against the team.
One of the better ideas to come out of the NHL in recent years has been the NHL Winter Classic. Held first in Buffalo on New Year's Day in 2008, the annual outdoor game is not only into a ratings winner for NBC Sports on a day traditionally dominated by college football, it's also a big time event that's rapidly surpassed the league's All-Star Game in importance on the NHL calender.
After gazing around the new cathedral that is Yankee Stadium, part deux, Cubs' ace 
On New Year's Day there is going to be a pretty special event taking place at 
When you first view the title of 
When the Cubs were forced to play two "road" games against the Houston Astros this week at Miller Park, they saw a side of the place they haven't seen before when in town to play against the Milwaukee Brewers. Instead of using the visitor's clubhouse, the Cubs were given access to the Brewers clubhouse, and they loved what they saw.
