cubs

What is a 100 year bicycle? Well, it’s one that only gets you where you really want to go about once every hundred years or so, and surely a Cubbies bicycle would qualify 😉 The picture below seems an even more apt metaphor for their perennial exercise in futility.

Ah, for shame! It is unkind to kick a team when it is down, though when else would one kick the Cubbies 🙂 And perhaps it is foolishness to be so mean and tempt the wrath of the baseball gods when one’s own team, the St. Louis Cardinals, are up in the wild card chase by a mere 3 games. All kidding aside, though, this is one sweet looking bike. So cool. Such sharp colors, a cool custom fork, and I do love that walking cubbie bear logo.

Recently, I had the privilege of sitting in the 8th row at Busch Stadium along the 1st base line to watch the Cardinals play the Cubs in what proved to be a pivotal game. The two teams had split the previous two games and St. Louis was closing in on Milwaukee and had the chance to grab the wild card. The previously golden Cubs had been slipping of late and it looked as if the June Swoon might have simply waited till September. But it was not to be for the Cardinals. In the bottom of the 9th, with two men on, the Cubs got Albert Pujols to pop-up to end the game. The Cardinals went on to lose seven in a row; the Cubs righted their ship and went on to win the division.

Which brings about this revisiting of pictures from my Chicago trip several weeks ago. Though there is enmity between the Cubs and Cardinals which can be nasty at times, generally it is a fairly good natured rivalry, as photo number one below illustrates (even if it does make my blog temporarily R-rated, or I suppose that would be PG-13 as that designation allows one F-bomb per movie). And, in the spirit of the good natured side of the rivalry, I think I am going to cheer for the Cubs in the post-season. It would be poetic justice for them to win the World Series exactly 100 years after they won their last one. I mean how often does one get to participate in or see the close of any epoch that lasts 100 years.

So, here are some photos of the the Friendly Confines; its fans and surrounds; the irrepressible Haray Caray immortalized in a statue in front of a clever Coca-Cola banner; and a fan with the jersey of Zambrano (who pitched a no-hitter earlier this month) looking hopefully off into the distance. Go, Cubbies!