I'd rather be sitting in a ballpark.

As compelling as those intercity series may appear, I’d much rather watch games between division rivals, even if I don’t have strong feelings for either team. This past week, the Cubs already split a series with the Pirates to end their losing streak and the Sox took a series from the Twinkies. Those games matter…

Heading into tonight’s game with the Pirates, I realized for the first time in years I wasn’t excited about the game. It seems as if the fans and media are at odds with the Cubs braintrust, if there is one. Everyone who cares has thoughts about how they can shake this 9-game slog. When the…

Even the folks paid to cover the game from a national perspective are necessarily going to miss out on a few surprising stories over the course of a season. Thus, it’s not surprising most fans don’t look beyond the 40-man rosters of their favorite team. And as mad as I am about how poorly the…

By now every baseball fan has heard of PCA’s kerfuffle with the White Sox and some may have even read about his crappy fielding. The fact that the media is still litigating the story and his culpability/stupidity has Joe Maddon rolling over in Coach Ditka’s grave. Before he became a commercial success, the fiery coach…

If you’ve heard it once you’ve heard it a hundred times, fan is short for fanatic. Of course, there are levels of fanaticism and irrationality, and true fans don’t have to justify their emotions. In my case it’s the Cubs, but I know most Chicago sports fans have strong feelings about the Bears, Sox, Bulls…

What in the name of Jose Cruz are the Cubs doing in adding a former Astro to their pitching ranks? Crap, the Cubs have done a nice job of poaching Brewers in Craig Counsell, Hoby Milner and Collin Rea, but why in good conscience choose some lousy Astro pitcher? The most recent acquisition, Phil Maton,…

Yesterday I spent most of the day in Grand Chute (Appleton) Wisconsin and saw the South Bend Cubs rout the hometown T-Rats 24-4. As quickly as the game fell apart for Wisconsin, I’m glad that I spent the day at a ballpark. Heading into the game, the Cubs were closing the gap between the two…

There’s an odd myth that celebrities die in threes and while I don’t consider myself famous, the recent deaths of baseball lifers, Bobby Cox and Bob Skinner have me thinking. More famous Bobs, Crane, Cratchit, and Hope are long gone. HOF manager, Cox passed away last week at the age of 87. Much has been…

The way the Cubs are playing these days, I wonder if they will ever lose at Wrigley again. They have the second-best record in the game (with the Yankees) and have won 8 straight games.

Some baseball fans and those in the media would have you believe that these are MLB’s halcyon days. Nothing is trending downward and attendance figures and the pace of play would indicate that I’m barking at the moon for suggesting we have some very serious problems. Even with the abundance of international stars there is…