Cross-Town Cup Sponsored by Nobody Cares

Earlier this week, management from the Chicago Cubs and White Sox got together with some chief marketing executives to make a ground-breaking decision.

The teams, both currently under .500 for the season and continuing skids into mediocrity, will now play each other for a completely irrelevant title that is the Crosstown Cup sponsored by BP.  In case you live under a rock BP, or British Petroleum plc, is the possessor of an oil well that as I type this is spilling thousands of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Imaginary British Petroleum exeuctive: "oh hey guys, hey.  I know our errors are currently hindering the daily lives of people in the gulf states and causing major environmental trauma that hasn't be seen since the Exxon Valdez but we sure know how to sponsor irrelevant competitions in the Midwest."  My God!

According to ChicagoBreakingNews.com, "the three-foot tall Cup supposedly is in production, but will be ready before the Cubs and Sox meet for the first time June 11-13 at Wrigley Field."  Oh goody.  This rivalry doesn't impact me (I mean I could care less, I'm just a Chicago transplant) but for the love of marketing!  How do companies keep scoring deals to sponsor something that never existed in the first place?  Especially while little oil-covered duckies in the Gulf are being sudsed up with Dawn.

Just when I thought this scenario would damper my day I saw this adorable video.  Even though I find twins slightly creepy (think "The Shining") this made me go, "awwwww."  At least there are two people who can get it right, the Sox fan is slightly violent and the Cubs fan is the first to open her mouth and be obnoxious.  Perfect!

Happy Friday.

Life Tilt.

My dear boyfriend recently received an e-mail that, after ten years of waiting, notified him that he was in a position to purchase season tickets for the underachieving Chicago Cubs organization.  I have consoled this individual multiple times in the last few years as Chi-town's lovable losers crushed his dreams.  His response back to the ticket office is below.  Please note that, typically, his grammar is awful and his misspellings are blatant and numerous.  Somehow through his fury he was able to conjure the letter below.

Enjoy.

Hello MELISSA,

WOW!  This may be the best day in my life...NOT.  I wipe my $^& with $4058.88 and I WILL NEVER EVER BUY A TICKET FROM THE CUBS EVER AGAIN.  They break my heart every year and run their team and organization like a pile of #&@*.  I wish I could cuss at you but I am a striving real estate mogul and that could hurt my rep.  Let Mr. Ricketts know I am coming after his greedy $*# and if we don’t win a world series under his ownership his #*$ is on the line.  Yeah its fun drinking with friends and heckling SORRYANOS sorry LAZY @#! out there but that has nothing to do with this.  The CUBS are the worst sports organization ever...if you do not agree please let me know when the last time they won the entire freckin thing and provide a valid argument.

I do however love the Cubs and will live and die with them my entire life because just like Herpes it comes back at least once a year and freckin stings you (I wouldn’t really know but I took health class) and you can’t get it out of your system no matter what.  This blows man.

In conclusion the CUBS can suck it if they think I am giving them money.  I will however most likely attend 20-30 games this year, pay $10 for a ticket off some homeless bum that lives at the FRECKIN FRIENDLY CONFINES (friendly for all other teams) and drinks lots of beer just so the Cubs can overpay for players who blow nut sack.  Please forward this to Mr. Ricketts as I am sure you will.  If he wants to have lunch I will buy him a $5 foot long on Addison have him call my assistant at 866-436-5713 (CALL NOW).  I charge $450 an hour for my time but I will give him a discount of 10% because I am a nice dude.  He would be lucky to do business with me.  If Mr. Rickets is interested in self storage facilities let me know cause I got a couple I could sell to him.  I heard he over pays for underperforming businesses and makes terrible investments.

For the record I am a die-hard Cubs fan and will love them forever.  Just wanted to pass along my deepest thoughts. 

P.S.  I am looking forward to hearing from Mr. Ricketts

The ticket office's simple response is below

 Dear Mr. Cavell,

I am sorry to hear that you are no longer interested in season tickets.  Per your request email, I will remove you from the waiting list.  Thank you for your time.

 Sincerely,

 Melissa Trinidad

A Lengthy Post about Baseball, Steroids and Childhood

Today is one of those rare days at work that I have time to myself, most of which I use to read.  CNN, Gawker, blogs, whatever.  Unfortunately, this means I will be slammed on Monday as our processes are delayed but no matter.  Happy Friday.

First, I give props to my brother.  An aspiring journalist at SIU, Ryan is on the campus desk after a stint as sports editor.  He was the first one that got me thinking about my own personal experience about the McGwire issue, not so much my reaction.  We have similar views of the topic as we obviously grew up together talking about it.  At only two years apart, we were siblings and playmates and amused ourselves with endless games of catch (until one would likely get pissed at the other and stomp into the house over a bad throw).  So here is Ryan's take, where I quote the stages of "McGwire grief" later on.  Finally: The McGwire Saga.  I admire his writing, not only because it's my sisterly duty but because of his ability to form ideas in the written word.

Another read for today was my friend Steph's baseball blog, Baseball Between the Lines, as I have mentioned before in a post.  The girl breathes baseball and shares that passion online.  I read her most recent post on Mark McGwire's steroid "admittance."  She's a Cubs and Red Sox Fan (I can forgive her for one of them) and I'm a Cardinals fan so we obviously have different experiences concerning the extent of the issue.  So I started to comment on her blog post then realized it was getting pretty lengthy and, honestly, I wanted to make it my own post.  So here we are, the unabridged version.

"I went through the stages of "McGwire grief" during the congressional hearing years ago.  Only years before, I remember watching Big Mac slam number 62 and run around the bases missing first like a excited t-ball player.  I laughed and cried and updated by AOL webpage (seriously).  I viewed numerous clips of him and Sammy Sosa's hug and watched ESPN on repeat.  For God's sake, him and Sosa were said to have saved baseball! 


His image crumbled years later as I watched him cry before Congress and seemingly forget that he ever donned a St. Louis Cardinals uniform.  A uniform I thought I would never turn my back on, number 25.  I mean, my birthday was the 25th of June, total destiny!  On that day, he sat only seats over from Sosa, the pair that brought my family and the nation back to baseball after the '94 strike.  The home run race that, for the first time in baseball history, finally thrust the Cardinals and Cubs rivalry of the Midwest into the spotlight.  East Coast?  West Coast?  Nah.  The real show was somewhere on Interstate 55 with special appearances all over the country. 


Between Sammy's sudden inability to speak English and Big Mac's mutters of "I'm not here to talk about the past" some of my earliest memories of baseball cracked like a bat making contact with a 97-mph fastball.


It's sad what baseball became and, thankfully, will never become again.


For McGwire, I don't think it's so much as asking for forgiveness as rather just coming clean (pun noted).  It's easy to pin point one player, in the media spotlight for a hot second, per usual.  Unfortunately, the names on the leaked steroids list kept the ESPN ticker busy and David Stern's office even busier.

'The bigger they come, the harder they fall.'

I agree that none of these men should be in the Hall of Fame, no matter the sure potential we never saw.  The potential that was there without the steroids.  For this player in particular, I will breathe a sigh of relief.  The devil on my shoulder already told me the obvious, that the idealist image of baseball in my childhood was destroyed."

Slacking! More baseball.

Oh no, slacking! I went to Florida April 4th - 12th with Casey and the family and have been really busy ever since trying to get my life back in order. PLUS, one of my best friends since childhood got married this past weekend so life has been fun. I'll post some pics up here I'm sure. Mostly I just wanted to share this link that Casey sent me today and is even now appearing in my friend Steph's "Between the Lines" baseball blog. Check out her blog here! She updates it almost daily and gives a very journalistic, fresh and unbiased account of baseball for what it really is. Refreshing! So you know, check it out.

This story goes along the one I wrote last month about my Cardinals and the Cubbies rivalry. I love it, it makes me smile and gives me goosebumps. Unfortunately I had to work last week for Thursday and Friday's games (make up those vacation days!) and then the game Sunday was rained out :( But fortunately, rescheduled for a day/night double header on July 12th which is the day before the All-Star break. AMAZING!

Read this article, do it now!

Here is an excerpt from the introduction. "Take the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals. All that stands between these two adversaries -- who will renew their rivalry April 24 at Busch Stadium -- is a mere 297 miles of rich, Midwestern soil. With each team intent on owning that land, this rivalry is really a turf war."

Driving directions, according to Google maps, are actually 302 miles from stadium to stadium. 1020 W. Addison Chicago, IL 63102 & 700 Clark St. St. Louis, MO 63102.
Yes Cubs fans - we too have a Clark street.

For fun I am breaking this down. My childhood home is 203 miles, 3 hours and 28 minutes, south on Interstate 55 from Wrigley Field. Exit 100, fyi. From there, continue one hour, 45 minutes and 103 miles farther South to Memorial Drive. in St. Louis. From there...

Welcome home, Cardinals fans!

Cards and Cubs, the I-55 Series

"The Red Sox and Yankees is a tabloid-filled soap opera about money and ego and sound bites. But the Cubs and Cardinals are about... geography and territorial rights." - Buzz Bissinger, Three Nights in August

To start, I am from Springfield, Illinois and extremely proud of it. Land of Lincoln. The kick off point of Barack Obama's presidential campaign Booyah. I find it impossible to believe that anyone outside of this area can appreciate this post for all its worth. This is about the I-55 series or, if you're still reveling in the pre-Eisenhower era, Route 66. However, keep reading because I do not have many followers.

Two words and two worlds: Cardinals, Cubs. Central Illinois is the Berlin Wall of baseball rivalries. I chose West Germany.

Sure, Chicago will blabber on about Sox and Cubs, Southside Northside, whatever I get it and I don't really care. Your fate was primarily decided on your neighborhood, central Illinois isn't like that. We are conservative and liberal, Christian and Lutheran, right-brain and left-brain. Gray area. Boggles your mind. Above all - there is a choice and it is guaranteed you will choose against someone you love very dearly.

Beginning at childhood your world is turned upside down and the manipulation begins by adults pursuing you to sway towards the bright light.

Concerned adult: "Who do you like better, the Cardinals or the Cubs?"
Ignorant child: "I like both?"
Now exasperated adult: "YOU CAN'T LIKE BOTH."

I chose Cardinals. Well Dad chose Cardinals and what four-year-old chooses against Dad? Especially when this Dad had a mustache. I absolutely watched the Cubs' afternoon games with my Grandma and swayed to Harry Caray's drunken rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Some of the best memories of my life. For me though, trips to St. Louis took a day and we frequented the Arch City often. Score one for the Cards. The tradition of losing by an unsaid team probably helped solidify this lasting allegiance. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in '96. Enough said.

This excerpt is from George Will at a commencement address at Washington University in St. Louis - down the street from my own alma mater at SLU. If you don't know who George Will is, and I will carefully let it slide if you don't, he is a Pulitzer prize winning journalist with a history at both the Washington Post and Newsweek. He was also referenced in "The Jimmy" episode of Seinfeld but that's either here, nor there.

"I grew up in Champaign, Illinois, midway between Chicago and St. Louis. At an age too tender for life-shaping decisions, I made one. While all my friends were becoming Cardinals fans, I became a Cub fan. My friends, happily rooting for Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst, and other great Redbirds, grew up cheerfully convinced that the world is a benign place, so of course, they became liberals. Rooting for the Cubs in the late 1940s and early 1950s, I became gloomy, pessimistic, morose, dyspeptic and conservative. It helped out of course that the Cubs last won the World Series in 1908, which is two years before Mark Twain and Tolstoy died. But that means, class of 1998, that the Cubs are in the 89th year of their rebuilding effort, and remember, any team can have a bad moment."

Amen sir.