Tag: fans

The coolest baseball tattoo I’d never have

001-sfw

This tattoo belongs to an employee at my favorite coffee shop.  It’s something else.

I was drawn to it initially when his shirt sleeve was down and all I saw were the baseball cleats and the stirrups.  Knowing that he was a devout Yankees fan, I knew it had to be baseball related and I asked if I could see it.

Wow, imagine my surprise when he pulled up his sleeve and I saw the pretty woman barely dressed in a vintage-style baseball uniform.   I’m not a tattoo person myself but I have to admit this was a conversation-starter.

He says it incorporated two of things he loved most in the world… baseball and women.

Sorry for the censorship box covering the good part.  I didn’t want to offend.  Here is the NSFW version (it is only a tattoo after all).

Milton Bradley: getting bad vibes, great obp

Say what you want about Milton Bradley but it doesn’t look like he’s having a good time in right field.  According to beat writer Carrie Muskat, Bradley’s enduring a fair amount of “hatred” during games courtesy of Cub fans.

Bradley doesn’t hold back:

"All I’m saying is I pray the game is nine innings, so I can go out there the least amount of time possible and go home."

Wow.  Good natured ribbing or fan abuse?  Or just a over-sensitive rightfielder?

Either way, maybe the fans are targeting the wrong guy.  It’s easy to look at Bradley’s season batting average of .259 and think he’s not pulling his weight.  But look at his stats in the last 20 days.  In that period, he’s batting .306 with a nifty .411 OBP (and that’s not including tonight’s game when he hit a homerun). 

Since he’s moved to the second spot, the Cubs have leveraged his on base potential the best that a team in their position can.  MB has had two 4-hit games in that same period. 

So Cub fans, go easy on the guy.  Pick on the beer vendor. 

Beer-tosser sobers up, says he’s “sorry”

Johnny Macchione should have drank that last beer.  That’s ironic, because had he gotten drunker, he wouldn’t be in the mess he is now. 

Macchione sobered up enough Thursday to say he what he did to Phillie outfielder Shane Victorino “was a big mistake” when just two nights ago he saw fit to dump a full cup’s contents of beer on him.  Funny what sobriety and the wrath of millions of baseball fans will do to your perspective.

Johnny M apologized to the Cubs team too.  “Chicago Cubs, I’m sorry I disgraced you”.  Part of me wonders if he’s really enjoying his notoriety.  Check his My Space page, stat!

All the apologies in the world aren’t going to get Macchione out of trouble, though.  He’s being charged with two misdemeanors; battery and illegal conduct within a sports facility. 

Kudos to Victorino who not only CAUGHT the ball amidst the splattered rain of beer, he is also saying the right things now.  He’s not holding it against the fans of Wrigley (Ozzie Guillen, are you paying attention?):

"No, I love playing here.  I love the atmosphere. I love the way they go about the game."

Reading some blog comments and forums, I’m seeing some backlash especially from Cub fans who think that the reaction to what Macchione did is “over-reacting” pointing to incidents in the parks. 

a) something that happened elsewhere, at another time does not make this right

b) the fact that Victorino did not get hurt also does not make it right

c) stop making excuses

I don’t think anyone reading this will take issue with me on this but the basic problem here is respect for the game of baseball.  That problem permeates on all levels, management, players, and fans. 

When you see a fan who thinks it’s okay to dump a beer on a player simply because he is there or because he on the other team or because the players are there for our “entertainment”, that is a prime example when a fan has lost respect for the game of baseball.

Cubs at a low point but hey, the Pirates are comin’ to town

I’ll go on record here.  If, god forbid, the Cubs don’t win the NL Central in 2009, the 2010 review mags and books will point to their series with the Philadelphia Phillies in mid-August and call it one of turning points of the season.  A “lowlight” if you will. 

And there would many reasons to do so.

The Cubs extended their losing streak to five games after getting swept by the Phils.  When they lost 4-3 in a heartbreaking 12-inning affair in which Rich Harden was perfect into the sixth and the Cubs outhit the Phils 10 to 3.  And when they were out-slugged 12-5 on Jeff Samardzija’s first career start. 

And today, when Ryan Dempster saw his August ERA go sky high (Kudos to Jeff Baker, though who went 2 for 2 and has 11 hits in his last 5 games).  Today’s rout of 6-1 puts the Cubs at 4.5 back in the NL Central.

No timing, no patience, no luck, and no clutch.

Oh as if the players weren’t having a tough enough time, who invited this fan into the park??

God, this kind of stuff puts me in a bad mood.  There’s nothing anyone can say  (including “I was drunk”) that excuses this.kind of behavior.  If you can’t treat people with decency, then stay home.  Chicago, the Cubs, and baseball doesn’t need need to make the news for this kind of crap.

But all will be fine again.  Word has it Ted Lilly is ready to come back on Monday after his surgery.  He threw five scoreless innings in Peoria A ball. 

And this weekend, the Pirates are coming to town.  This year, they’ve gone 4-2 against them.  The last three years?  Same ratio… 26-13. 

So say it loud, Cub fans, The Pirates are comin’ to town and all will be fine again! 

Rejoice!

25 things we miss

I enjoyed reading through Sports Illustrated’s list of 25 Things We Miss in Baseball. 

There’s no reason to expect any of the listed 25 will ever come back nor for the most part, should they… we live in a different world (#11- Fans Running Out onto the Field, #9- Wimpy Middle Infielders)

But I get it.  Some of the listed are products of baseball when it was a sport in age of more innocence.  And if wasn’t innocent, we didn’t know it. 

I still would like to hear organ music (#13) at a ballpark and quality mustaches (#7) would certainly bring some character to the game (Rollie Fingers, anyone?)

(link via Circling the Bases)

Singing at sports events

I enjoyed Chicago Tribune’s Steve Johnson’ somewhat tongue-in-cheek piece on those singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at Cub games and what they could do to present a more melodious experience.  Johnson humorously lambasted Denise Richards whose performance left something to be desired:

The syllables — we won’t call them "notes" — lurched out of the stadium, stopping old ladies and scaring small children. An ambulance siren was shocked into silence at hearing a noise more annoying than itself.

A passing legislator vowed to restore full funding to public-school music education.

But after reading the article, I was reminded of a similar subject that troubles me when I attend local sporting events. 

Other fans don’t like it when I sing the words to the Star Spangled Banner before a game. 

Ok, some of my friends who know me well might be a bit surprised but unlike most fans, I DO find it important to sing our national anthem for my personal reasons.

I know I don’t sing well so I don’t sing especially loud.  But judging by the looks of the fans sitting ahead of me at a women’s basketball game earlier this year, you would have thought I was invading their personal space.  Other times, I just get weird looks.

Maybe it’s a Midwestern thing.  Or a small town thing.  Sometimes I get lucky and I’m sitting next to an grizzled old veteran who has no problem belting out the song that represents our country in his raspy voice.  I just try to keep up. 

To me, the Star Spangled Banner should not be a song that is performed for the crowd, it should be sung and the meaning should be savored.

So the next time you attend a ballgame, consider singing the National Anthem and I won’t feel alone.

ESPN’s "No Love Lost" profiles Cub fans from last ten decades

For those Cub fans who enjoy fluff pieces about their team, ESPN has assembled a pretty cool multimedia ensemble called "No Love Lost" which profiles ten Cub fans who were born in each decade since the Cubs last won the World Series. 

It’s rather cool in a bittersweet way for a Cub fan.  Some of those profiled are well-known in their own right such as David Diaz (light welterweight boxer) and Billy Corgan (former Smashing Pumpkins singer) and others are known purely for their love of the Cubs such as Ronnie "Woo Woo" Wickers and 100-year old Richard Savage representing the 1908 season. 

Savage has some pretty humorous quotes, in my opinion:

On Fukudome: "He’s always spinning around with this whirling nonsense. They have a batting coach. Why the hell can’t they teach him to stop that?"

On Soriano: "He’s had some big hits, he’s a pretty good hitter, but he plays the field like a grammar school student."

Funny, I’ve thought the same thing about Fukudome.

Link (thanks, B & T!)

11,211 OR 600 FANS

What a shame! 11,211 was the announced paid attendance yesterday for the ballgame between the Atlanta Braves and the Florida Marlins in Miami, but only 600 fans were in the stands. I do understand the Marlins have recently fallen out of playoff contention, the kids are back in school, and it’s very hot in South Florida. But really, only 600 people were willing to show up to yesterday’s major league game, that’s pitiful, this team is talking about a new stadium, how ridiculous!

The Florida Marlins are a pretty good baseball team, above .500, with All Stars at both shortstop in Hanley Ramirez and at secondbase in Dan Uggla. Ramirez in his third full season has once again reached the 29 homer mark for his 2nd straight year, and has scored more than 100 runs for the third straight time. His doubleplay partner, Dan Uggla, has hit 29 longballs, he hit 31 last year, and 27 as a rookie. Then there’s firstbaseman Mike Jacobs, who has knocked 28 balls over the wall, in his third year as a starter. Also Jorge Cantu has a solid year with the bat over at the hot corner, with 23 taters. Florida also has some pretty good young starting pitchers in Scott Olsen, Ricky Nolasco, & Josh Johnson.

But it doesn’t seem to be about the quality of the ballclub. It seems like a Florida thing. The Marlins have the second lowest paid attendance from 2000-07 at 1.6 million. The only team with worse attendance is in Tampa Bay, the Rays drew 1.1 million over the same time period.