On the Road with the Chicago Cubs

Good friend, Offering regular, diehard Cubs fan and permanent Phoenix resident GRide is attempting to see the Cubs in every west coast venue to which they travel this year. He is recording the journey with photos and commentary on an MLB blog that you can view here.

Check in there to see pictures and hear stories of ballparks that we Cubs fans don't get to visit very often. It's easy to post comments there too, all you need is an ID from MLB.com. If you bought tickets to any game this year through an official team website, you already have an ID. If you want to get one, you can get one easily (and free, of course) here.

Since the NL West is clearly inferior to the Central, let's hope GRide sees lots of wins out there.

The Cubs ended the Marlins series with a strange and sloppy loss yesterday, but we're looking to rebound this weekend against an up-and-coming Brewers team. I'll be in the bleachers tomorrow to supervise a series-opening win. Hope your week is going swimmingly.

T

Nothin' but Nets

Hello world. Today I am giving a shout-out to a great new charitable venture by Sports Illustrated, a magazine and institution that I grew up with and still read daily. The magazine's Nothing but Net program is encouraging anyone who ever used a net to play a sport to donate to the U.N. Foundation, which will use the proceeds to purchase insecticide-treated nets for African families to fight the spread of malaria.

Rick Reilly wrote an interesting column to solicit donations for the program, which tells of the terrible spread of malaria (it kills 3,000 African children per day) and how preventable the disease can be (these nets can reduce the spread of the disease by 60%, last up to four years, and some can cover a family of four).

These nets cost between $4-$6 to purchase, and about $10 total to buy them and ship them where they need to go. 100% of your donation goes to the purchase of nets, as Ted Turner's original $1 billion donation to the U.N. Foundation covers all overhead costs. As U.N. Foundation Director of Children's Health Andrea Gay said, "every cent will go to nets." That means you will send one net for every $10 you donate. It's a simple, easy solution to an epidemic problem.

Bill and Melinda Gates have already purchased one net for every single bed in the country of Zambia. I hope you will join me and many others in sending some desperately needed, inexpensive nets to a place where they will do a lot more good than you can imagine.

To donate, simply go to the U.N. Foundation's malaria site or call 202-887-9040. Rick Reilly and the folks over at SI are asking for $20 from anyone who ever got a thrill from kicking a ball into a net, protecting a net as a goalie, or draining a long three at the buzzer, but I think any donation is acceptable. Start small if you'd like.

Reilly donated $20,000 because he estimated that he's used the word net 20,000 times in his columns over the years. Since I don't have a similar metric, I'm going to start by donating all of the proceeds from my very successful NCAA tournament pool season this year (which I won by correctly picking who was going to be cutting down nets in the Final Four). I plan to donate more in the near future.

Thanks in advance for your help with the effort. Have a great week. If you're going to see the Cubs tonight or Friday, I'll see you at Wrigley.

T

FF + DC4C = Neato

Last night I saw Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab for Cutie at the Aragon Ballroom. It was fun. I went with a large group of people with varying levels of experience with both bands; the newbies and the old hats both seemed to like the show a great deal. DCFC was definitely worlds better than their last show in Chicago, which pretty much put me to sleep.

Franz Ferdinand was good- they are a little formulaic in their catalog, a problem I also identify with similar bands like the Strokes and the Killers. Obviously, their songs differ a lot, but in their live show the subtle differences often aren't obvious. The star of their show is clearly drummer Paul Thompson, who was given room to extend songs as well as leading several percussion solos/jams. I thought that singer Alexander Kapranos was good and had a lot of personality, but not very precise in his notes and had a bit too much of the dark "indie-whine" found on many Interpol tracks.

Death Cab was great. They came out and started slow with Passenger Seat and Different Names for the Same Thing. Ben Gibbard's voice was very clear in a usually muddy acoustic setting like the Aragon. Then they got things rocking a little more with The New Year, Why'd You Want to Live Here, Photobooth, A Movie Script Ending, and a loud rendition of We Looked Like Giants with Ben Gibbard on the drums. The closer was Sound of Settling. Overall, they mixed the old stuff with the new stuff, playing a couple off of We Have the Facts and at least one off of the Forbidden Love EP (I don't have the full setlist). The encore was predictably slow- I Will Follow You Into the Dark and Transatlanticism. Overall, the energy was much better than last time, and the crowd was really into it. Death Cab has redeemed themselves for me, and have earned at least one more show in Chicago. Franz Ferdinand probably doesn't have quite enough for me to see them by themselves, but were worth getting there early for.

Highlights: We Looked Like Giants, A Movie Script Ending, Transatlanticism

Notable Absences (IMHO): Tiny Vessels, Death of an Interior Decorator, Marching Bands of Manhatten, I was a Kaleidoscope, Blacking Out the Friction.

This weekend is definitely going to be a Fritaturday. I don't know how many more of these I can handle.

Mother Nature is Upset

Multiple tornados and severe thunderstorms hit the hometown of the Offering last night, causing widespread damage and destruction last night. The governer has declared a state of emergency and state and local officials are trying to clean up the mess as quickly as possible. The students at the University of Iowa reacted as expected, by going out in the wreckage and partying.

My home was very lucky- no damage and the power/water/utilities are all going strong. It appears that the worst is over, but more bad weather is expected late Saturday night and early Sunday morning.

This is the worst possible time for my family, as TheSister is scheduled to get married tomorrow in Iowa City, and we have 130 people arriving in Iowa City during the day today for festivities beginning at 6:00. Obviously, this is not the time to think of such things, but it appears that nobody was killed.

Keep the good people of Iowa City in your thoughts this weekend. I'm heading there in about an hour, so I'll post an update after the weekend.

T

Lord Stanley's Pimp Cup

That, my friends, is how Lil' Jon rolls.

R.I.P. Deshaun Holton (aka Proof)

Deshaun Holton, better known as Proof from Eminem's Detroit-based group D12, was shot and killed early Tuesday morning at the CCC Club in Detroit, Michigan. Proof was a founding member of D12 (as well as many other groups with Detroit MCs), Eminem's best friend, and a father of five.

Proof was one of the driving forces behind Detroit becoming a hotbed for hip-hop innovation, as he grew up performing at all manner of venues, welcomed artists of all kinds into his studio, and was on a never-ending quest to find the next big thing. He hosted and participated in countless rap battles, including at the famous Hip-Hop Shop, and was known as one of the most thoughtful and clever improvisational rappers to come out of Detroit.

Proof was always my favorite member of D12, mostly because I liked his low voice and laid back rhyming style. He heavily influenced Eminem's raps, was a frequent consultant for his concerts, and was always the first member of D12 to be picked to go on tour with Eminem. He released one solo album on his label Iron Fist Records, the introspective Searching for Jerry Garcia, and was featured on D12 albums Devil's Night and D12 World.

I'm sure that Proof fans are sad and angry over yet another needless tragedy, especially as D12 was trying to bury feuds with other Detroit rappers. It's an eerie coincidence that Proof was shot and killed in Eminem's recent video, called Like Toy Soldiers, which was about ending this kind of violence. I hope that this will lead to other artists speaking out against violence for the sake of violence, but I'm not terribly optimistic.

Proof was 32 years old.

Clean Sweep (and a Tradition unlike any other)

It was a fantastic weekend. I attended my first Cubs game of the year last night, and got to see Michael Barrett and Jacque Jones (both pictured above) power the Cubs to an 8-4 victory over the Cardinals and wrap up a three-game sweep of our hated division rivals. Jacque Jones got his first hit as a Cub and first hit of the season in the fourth when he blasted a three-run homer to dead center with the Cubs down 2-0, and then Michael Barrett took advantage of a Jason Isringhausen fastball in the 8th inning in grand fashion after the Cards bullpen walked the bases loaded.

It was nice to see Michael Barrett have such a good weekend (he delivered the crucial game-tying homer on Saturday as well), as his home in Atlanta was severely damaged by a tornado. But according to Barrett, it was the best baseball weekend of his life.

The golf season also got underway on Sunday, as I swung the wrenches for the first time in 2006 (1 birdie, five pars, and pretty ugly at times) and Phil Mickleson won the Masters for the second time. It's Phil's second consecutive major victory and third overall, and it looks like he has finally decided to become the dominant force that golf fans have been expecting for over a decade. After winning by 13 strokes last week, Phil showed the world that he is ready to meet the lofty expectations that come with winning three of the last nine majors.

After checking out a brand new bar, getting out the clubs for a new golf season, taking in the Masters, and supervising a crowd of 40,000 during our first sweep of the year, I'd have to say that this past weekend happened exactly how I drew it up. Next weekend looks to be even better as I head back to Iowa for TheSister's wedding, which prominently involves salsa bands, extended family, cocktails, and my monkey suit. Have a good week and if you're in the windy city, get out there and enjoy the sunshine.

T

The Face of Tragedy

Pictured above is the scene of a horrific car accident in Germany (courtesy of Danimal). The depiction of the carnage, and the few survivors scattered among the broken bodies, is a graphic and profound image. I know it's difficult to look at a picture like this, but I hope, as we begin the weekend, that each of us realizes how lucky we are and how fast we can lose everything. I don't usually like to post sentimental thoughts on Fridays, as I don't believe that weekends are the time to dwell on the serious side of life, but this picture really struck a chord with me.

As we count our blessings, let's make sure that we enjoy every day as if it is our last. This weekend, that involves cheering on the Cubs as they open Wrigley Field for 2006 with a three-gamer against the hated Cardinals, trying to get out on the links for the first round of golf of the year, and watching closely to see if anyone can stop Tiger at Augusta.

Have a great weekend everybody. T

The Shame of Being a Dukie

I am a lifelong Duke hater. I hate their smug attitude, I hate the basketball superstars that have played there over the years, I hate the well-known but seldom talked-about racial tension in the town because of Duke's reputation as a southern school for Yankees, I hate the students' sense of entitlement, especially becuase they are usually just the valedictorians of mediocre New Jersey high schools with wealthy parents.

I base this opinion on real life experience: I went to a snotty east coast college too, and I've worked in DC, Boston, and Chicago in a litany of legal and political jobs; I've therefore run into more than my fair share of Duke students and grads. With a couple of notable exceptions, I find that Duke stereotypes are fairly well justified.

Because of my bad attitude about Duke, I usually like it when they get bad press and otherwise look like jerks in front of the rest of the nation. But I am disgusted and appalled by the recent scandal involving the alleged gang rape of two exotic dancers at a Duke lacrosse party, which has led the coach to resign and the rest of the season to be cancelled.

The circumstantial evidence appears to be very strong; medical tests on the alleged victims are consistent with sexual assault and according to documents published by The Smoking Gun, signs of a struggle were found in the bathroom where the alleged assaults occured.

Today, a previously sealed warrant was unsealed and detailed numerous other pieces of evidence on the events at the party, including an email sent by a member of the lacrosse team, Ryan McFadyen, just after the party in question that talked about killing and mutilating strippers in his dorm room the next night.

This is repulsive enough as it is. But what makes it worse is the racial undertones of the entire scandal. The exotic dancers that were allegedly raped and beaten at the party were African-American; all of the lacrosse players are white except one (who has been ruled out of suspicion, as the dancers said that their attackers were white). The alleged victims claim that they were subject to racist abuse, both verbal and physical, throughout the ordeal. The fact that this may have been, at least in part, racially motivated speaks to the amount of blind hate that exists in the prestigious corridors of Durham.


An aside: I don't know if it's a coincidence that the lacrosse team at the snotty east coast college where I attended was comprised of the most chauvinistic, meatheaded, jerks on campus. They always were the most physically confrontational, especially when drunk (they terrorized a good friend of mine after he testified to seeing them mercilessly beat another kid on a Saturday night), aggressive toward women, and in general awful people. I'm not arguing that all lacrosse players are hyper-aggressive rapists, in fact, I know several that are great people, but I do think that lacrosse is a sport that only permeates the higher socioeconomic classes (boarding schools on the east coast in particular) and rewards naked aggression. When you combine a fiercely loyal bunch of kids (such as those on their own at a boarding school), a sense of entitlement that comes from being rich, and a sport that encourages aggression and physicality, I think you get a higher incidence of events like those that allegedly transpired at Duke and the many, many incidents I witnessed at my alma mater. I played rugby and belonged to a social organization that drew from many sports teams, extracurricular organizations, socioeconomic classes, and backgrounds, and nobody that I associated with was a fan of lacrosse players. Maybe I harbor prejudice against these guys because of what I saw in college, but I don't think it's a coincidence that the swim team or the track team wasn't accused of these foul events at Duke.

Let's hope that if a sexual assault, hate crime, or both did indeed occur, those responsible fry for it.

Opening Day 2006: Success

Happy Opening Day everyone. The Cubs start their 2006 campaign today in Cincinnati as Big Z gets the nod against Aaron Harang and the Reds. None of the experts picked the Cubs to do much damage, but we didn't get any props in 2003 either, and we should have been in the World Series that year.

I'm still optimistic. Baseball is probably the most fun season of the year, because of the length, the fact that your team plays almost every day, and it spans the best weather of the year in the midwest. Some people are even saying that 2006 will be the greatest baseball season ever. I'm not making any predictions that are so lofty, but I am very much looking forward to seeing how the NL Central, and the league at large, play out.

For now, go Cubs. Let's make this year a memorable one.



UPDATE: 16 runs on 18 hits and 7 walks for the Cubs today as they defeat the Reds handily, 16-7. The offense was better than we thought, the defense good, the pitching a little inconsistent, but the Cubs got the job done and the season started on the right foot. Day off Tuesday, and then back at it versus the Reds again Wednesday.