Ramblin' Man

So many thoughts, so little time to write:

The story is that the Tribune was able to scam Anheuser-Busch into purchasing naming rights for the Wrigley Field bleachers. Now, A-B won’t have their name above the bleacher entrance as the “Bud Light Bleachers,” only additional signage inside the park and possibly something written on the tickets.

Some fans are upset.

This fan is upset, but not for the reasons other fans are. Clearly this deal was in the works for quite a while. Let’s guess that the Cubs will get an extra $1 million per year from A-B. Think about the cash from the new bleacher seats, the contract dollars freed from Sosa and Burnitz, and now this which means even more money coming in. All that and no Furcal and Millwood?

That’s what to be angry about. Andy Dolan got this exactly right when he wrote:

If I owned the Cubs, the first thing I’d do is call up Wrigley and tell them that the cost of keeping their half-assed chewing gum’s name on the park is $20 Milhouse Van Houtens for ten years. If they as much as blink you’ll all be lined up for tickets in ivy-covered Bob Rohrman Auto Mallpark. Tradition, my ass.

I’ve said that for years. Why should Wrigley get the name for free after 25 years?

ESPN’s Mike & Mike debated steroids this week. Greenberg seems to think that fans really care about getting steroids out of the game. He’s right. They want the game clean. And as soon as the game is clean, the same fans will whine that the games are boring.

There’s a reason the owners didn’t care about steroid abuse: Juiced players put butts in the seats. Fans want the steroids gone like they want airbrushing eliminated from Playboy. We say we want it all natural until we see the unblemished goods. Then, we stop buying the product.

Dusty trotted out nearly the perfect lineup today:

Juan Pierre – CF
Todd Walker – 2B
Derrek Lee – 1B
Aramis Ramirez – 3B
Jacque Jones – RF
Michael Barrett – C
Matt Murton – LF
Ronny Cedeno – SS
Greg Maddux – P

Well, that’s nearly perfect with this lot of players. Murton should be 5th, but probably hasn’t earned that yet. Jones batting in that slot has disaster written all over it. But, at least there’s no Neifi and no Cedeno batting second. That’ll have to do for this team. Too bad the rotation is in shambles and won’t be deshamblized until at least May first.