Last week was the day to buy individual game Cubs tickets. Yeah, we probably have to try harder to get the tickets than any other team that didn’t end up in the playoffs, but it means we get to start getting psyched for the upcoming season in February!
Personally, I’m feeling pretty good about it. We’ve got good seats, no obstructed views, and are going to all the games we most wanted to. Plus, I’m usually a bit of a jerk and in like July I realize I forget to get tickets for several people who I know are interested in going sometime. This year that problem got solved. Now the only people who don’t get to go are people who never mentioned anything to me about it, which is all on them!
Baseball: bringing people together and making me look like less of a tool. Since 2010!
It’s fantasy baseball season!
I tried doing two leagues once. Couldn’t do it. One league ended up suffering, and you never want to be the person who pays no attention to the league so others can’t get trades done.
I’m in the seventh year of a keeper league. This year I have two first round draft picks in addition to retaining Ichiro, A-Rod, Chutley (that nickname will catch on eventually) D-Lee and the God of Complete Games, Mr. Roy Halladay. Yes, we count complete games. I’m feeling good about this season.
As a Cubs fan, all I really have to get excited about is my fantasy team. We sure as hell aren’t winning the Central this year.
Alternate 5th panel:
The infield shows up at the border between Scotland & England. When questioned about their presence, 1st base answers, “We’re here for the invasion”; third baseman answers, “Vacation, vacation, he always gets those messed up”; middle infield answers, “We’re here to… turn two?”
Pitchers and catchers have reported! I’ll be heading to Spring Training at the end of March! And I’ve got my regular season Cubs tickets as well, and given how many random taxes and fees I paid on top, I now think I have a stake in Ticketmaster.
Also, Cyanide and Happiness has a baseball joke up today. It’s good to know that it’s at least on other comic people’s minds.
Let’s face it, whether as a fan, a fantasy team owner, or whatever, you’ll forgive a player for a lot of things if he brings runs home. Even if he’s a one-trick pony you have to admit that it’s a pretty good trick!
I enjoy the winter olympics. I couldn’t watch any of these sports on a regular basis (except ice hockey) but for a couple of weeks every four years I find it very enjoyable. This weekend I found myself glued to the Nordic final which is a combination of jumping and cross country skiing. Not to be confused with the combination of shooting and cross country skiing which I believe is called the Sarah Palin Weekend event. Or maybe the biathalon.
But the ice hockey tournament set up is just plain dumb. It’s hard to get excitied about the opening rounds when everyone goes into the tournament. They’re just playing for seeding for three games! Who came up with that?
Oh, the NHL had a hand in it? (Note: This isn’t a joke. They actually did)
Ah. Mystery solved.
Little experiment here.
I wouldn’t expect this to be a common thing in future comics, but slowly descending monkey was too much fun to pass up.
I’m in Vegas. The other two Dugs authors are not.
Huh. Sucks to be them then, doesn’t it?
Worst joke yet?!
I didn’t pick Arizona at random. Turns out they had the second worst fielding percentage in the majors last season. The worst? Yeah, you guessed it. But I can’t make fun of the Nationals every week, can I?
Well, I can, but I’m trying not to.
I did not pay very much attention to baseball back in 1998, but even I knew about the home run chase. Most see it as having “saved baseball.” What, I wonder, does it mean now that we know the whole thing was a complete sham perpetrated by a bunch of cheaters and their enablers? Was it worth it for having given the game a new lease on life and a chance to fix these sorts of problems? Or is it just inevitable that a major sport like this has to eventually come to the point where the pressure to perform is so great that the players will one day do whatever it takes to win, whether acceptable or not?
For something that apparently needed congressional hearings a few years ago (although I have to be honest in that I suspect that bit of theater had far more to do about distracting from other affairs), it’s amazing to me that McGwire can be on a coaching staff, that A-Rod can get some media attention followed by a good season, and that Manny Ramirez can sit out 50 games. I know which of the three of them ought to be pretty pissed at the other two! It’s funny that aside from being wrong it’s so inconsistent and so seldom questioned.
For what it’s worth, I think cheaters should be tossed out, barred from the hall of fame, and their records removed from official statistics. End of story. But I’m not enough of a long-time fan to have enough emotional investment in the game or particular players to think that it’s okay to just look the other way when people break the rules – rules they were fully aware of when they signed on. See, I grew into baseball later on, but I think that’s enabled me to see that it’s time baseball did a little growing up. Cheating simply shouldn’t be tolerated, and just because it’s been happening for so long is no excuse to let it continue.
