"Everyone who says it’s another
series is lying to you. It’s a huge series. It always is, and I
hope we go to the playoffs and that will be the biggest thing.
Other than that, these two series against the Cubs are huge. Win
or lose, good or bad, they’re always big series. You get up for
them. Both teams come out better because your level of play gets
heightened. It’s like a playoff." –
Paul Konerko
I was recently poking around the WGN Radio website and came
across their pages for Lou Boudreau and Harry Carey. Both pages
offer cool audio samples.
The Boudreau page is particularly nice - it features Lou and
Vince Lloyd in a complete radio broadcast from 1970, split into three
parts. I've only been able to listen to the first couple innings,
and the Cubs fall behind early (start Fergie Jenkins really seems to struggle),
but it's great to hear Vince and Lou again. Here's where you can
listen to the game (as well as the (in)famous clips of Lou and Jack Quinlan
hamming it up with Weiboldt's commercials between innings):
The clips on Harry's page are quite a bit shorter, but they
include Harry's famous blooper about Marla Collins.
Marla Collins, of course, was the Cubs'
ballgirl for several years. She used to sit behind home plate and carry baseballs to the
ump when he needed them.
She'd be dressed in a Cub uniform, and early in the
season, when it was cooler, she'd wear the usual uniform pants.
When things heated up (the summer weather, I mean), she'd change to
rather skimpy shorts (picture provided for Rich).
Well, it was on the day of the uniform switch one
year that Harry proclaimed, "Hey, we see Marla Collins without
shorts for the first time." As you can imagine, hilarity
ensued.
This is a story I'd always heard about, but usually
just assumed it was one of those Harry Carey Tall Tales that probably hadn't
really happened. Well, it appears it did, and you can relive the moment
here:
It looks like our Forum
was successfully upgraded by ProBoards. So far I've noticed a few nice new
features - nothing major, but nice-to-haves. There may be other
functionality that I can activate, but I haven't had time to sign in as the
administrator and poke around the set-up much yet.
Speaking of signing in, the first time you visit the new
version of the Forum, you'll need to re-activate your Member Name. It's
not a big deal, and it will also give you the chance to change/update your
e-mail address. If you've forgotten your password, you can have it
e-mailed to yourself. I had some trouble getting the necessary
confirmation e-mail to show up (I think AOL was filtering it before it got to my
e-mail address. If anyone else has problems, let me know.
Likewise, if you notice anything else strange or funky about
the Forum, shoot me a message and I'll look into it.
Hometown Discount Watch
In 2006, the teams that finished in 5th-12th
place in 2005 will receive a budget of up to .06 to use toward reacquiring
players who had played out their option with the team (B-contract players). The
exact amount each team receives will be based on how far behind the 5th
place team they are at the end of the year, in terms of a percentage of the 5th
place team's point total.
Team
Points
%
of 5th Place
Discount
Budget
Steve's
Stones
68.0
100.00%
.06
DoorMatts
57.5
84.56%
.05
Da
Paul Meisters
57.5
84.56%
.05
Hot
Sludge Sundae
54.0
79.41%
.04
Dem
Rebels
49.0
72.06%
.04
Eric's
Lambchops
47.5
69.85%
.04
Nick's
Picts
39.5
58.09%
.03
Splendid
Splinters
31.5
46.32%
.02
Record Book
Week Ending 5/20: No new
records were set this week.
