The Critic

From the artist's sketch it looks like an open-air stadium, no roof. I hope the Twins like spending every April on the road. Maybe they can get that killer West Coast road trip to start their season off on the wrong foot? That'd be nice.....

Dusty the Pitcher Killer strikes again! I wonder if this pattern of injured Cub pitchers would scare free-agent pitchers away from them? Athletes are generally fairly superstitious, so I think this could have some effect.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Apr 25, 2005 -> 01:10 PM) Yeah, I seem to remember that. Not as bad as the Faster Pussycat situation at the Metro for the Wake Me... tour. That one was crazy. It took two of my friends to pull this girl off me that night, and these were BIG guys. If that was you Steff, I might have to become a Cubs fan to be sure to never run into you again! Oh, Crit, and I didn't say anything to you because you were creeping me out with your constant drooling and "Marry Me Johnny" sign. Hey, I worked REAL HARD on that sign.....it didn't work, though (sigh)....good thing, though, as it turns out - he has REALLY fallen apart!!!

QUOTE(JimH @ Apr 25, 2005 -> 12:55 PM) Who is the gal in your avatar? She looks familiar. YEAH, JESTER - WHERE DID YOU GET THAT PICTURE OF MY WIFE, YOU JERK????? edited to say HEY!!!! WHATTYA MEAN, "SHE LOOKS FAMILIAR".....JERK NUMBER TWO??????

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Apr 25, 2005 -> 12:44 PM) Hey, which PiL tour was it you saw there? I saw them once at the Riv. I think it was the Happy tour. Probably around '89 or so. I was right up front at that one, being mauled by some crazy girl. I think that was the one! You should have SAID SOMETHING! A LOT of girls were being crushed up front that night - we were counting, and we saw 15 girls get plucked out of the crush at the stagefront and hauled off for treatment/rehydration/backstage passes/sexual favors. I spent most of that show trying to keep my friend from getting crushed.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Apr 25, 2005 -> 12:47 PM) There might be non-sticker areas, but the Cubs game is at 7:05 that night, and I am sure there will be more people there than at Butch, so I am expecting parking to be a REAL joy that night. Seminary used to be the main road to park on way back in the day. Now I think that is the only one to park on (last time I checked), and those spots fill up pretty dang fast, especially with that team of goons playing that night. UGH. 7:05 start = forget about going down there that night. Bad scheduling for Butch. If the Cubs would have played a day game, maybe some drunken frat boys stop in at Metro to try to pick up 16-year-old girls...

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Apr 25, 2005 -> 12:42 PM) Bad title for a thread, IMO. Agreed. Maybe "Jermaine Dyed" would be better, so people would know right off that it's a play on words. ...although "Dyed" could just mean he got his hair colored....

My thoughts: First and foremost, the Sox didn't make the schedule. You play who they put in front of you. The Sox had more than their share of trouble with Detroit when the Tigers were MUCH worse than they are right now, so success against bad teams is NOT a given for the Sox. A good start can snowball as much as a bad start can. The team gets accustomed to winning, believes it CAN win and it rolls on from there. Then you win a few games against teams you're not "supposed to beat" and the confidence builds. It's happened before. This start is a nice message to send to those 3 teams who many "experts" predicted to finish ahead of the Sox. Konerko's average is low, Rowand and Dye haven't hit at all yet, and Uribe's still down. There's plenty to be optimistic about if that's the direction you want to go, just as the pessimism can be justified if that's where you're looking. We shall see in time. It'll be a good test to see how they handle Oakland. Of course, there is fuel for the pessimists there, too, but given how much trouble the Sox have had out West, I'll be VERY pleased if the Sox take 2 of 3.

QUOTE(Steff @ Apr 25, 2005 -> 12:23 PM) We always park on that stretch of road by a school (I think the street name is Seminary?) There's 40 or so spots that you don't need a permit for. Or we use a friends permit, or a parking pass. I hate parking over there. It used to be SO much easier and nicer ( as far as availability of parking spaces and no fear of ticketing/towing ), before the Cubs became everyone's darling. Back in the early 80's, it was easy and dangerous to park around Wrigley Field. Now it's difficult and dangerous...

QUOTE(JimH @ Apr 25, 2005 -> 11:38 AM) The original Billy Goat Tavern was located on West Madison St., across the street from the Chicago Stadium and about 1/2 block west. It sat exactly where the United Center is now. It moved to the N. Michigan location in 1963. My dad went there a lot in the 50's and early 60's, he said it was a Blackhawk fan hangout and actually leaned more to the White Sox. Sam Siannis, the original owner, wanted to bring the goat in for some pregame festivity at the '45 WS and thought he had something arranged with the media/PR people. He got turned away, got pissed off, and hence the "curse". Which, by the way, he supposedly "reversed" in whatever year it was ... '89 or '98 or something. Oh, they run a goat through there every few years to try to erase the "curse". I guess now they're going to have to feed some baseball spaghetti to a goat now or some s***....

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Apr 25, 2005 -> 12:15 PM) Since we're talking about venues in the area. I like Metro, the Vic and the Riviera, in that order. I HATE the Aragon, Kid G, maybe you can tell me why the sound is so awful there. It's just one big, flat echo. It's too bad, beacuse a lot of bands I like play there, but I refuse to go there. All the oudoor venues suck too. Tinley and Alpine have average sound and horrible sight lines. psst, two secret places Bottom Longue and Empty Bottle:headbang Bottom Lounge is getting a TON of the cooler shows lately! I like Double Door better than Empty Bottle, but EB is okay too.

QUOTE(TheDybber @ Apr 25, 2005 -> 11:03 AM) The Vic is also my second favorite, behind the Riviera. I don't know why, but the Riv is such a cool place to see a show. Metro is really close too. I saw Cake and Massive Attack at the Vic and they were the best sounding shows I'd seen to that point. Foo Fighters at the Riv is the best. The Riviera is a cool venue, too! Best show I saw there? Damn, that's a tough call. My top three would be: Replacements - very drunk, very cool, tons of fun! Public Image Ltd. - I was able to get about 20 feet away from John Lydon, who was one of my earliest rock idols. Dinosaur Jr. - The LOUDEST drums I've ever heard! We were halfway up the balcony and the snare drum sounded like an M-80! BANG! BANG! BANG! Plus, I love J Mascis' squealing guitar solos - I'm happy they're reforming, but bummed that the only place so far to see them is Lollapalooza, which I won't be attending. I like club shows, I hate festivals.

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Apr 25, 2005 -> 10:45 AM) I always loved the Vic. I haven't been to a Vic concert since a New Year's Eve Todd Rundgren show more tthan 10 years ago. I liked Metro and park West also, but for the sheer grandeure (sp??), the Chicago Theater was an amazing place to see music and Uptown not too far behind. Aragon Ballroom was a nice small venue as well, if I'm remembering right. Damn, there are/were som great places to catch shows in Chicago. All I've ever seen at the Chicago Theatre are comedy shows. Sam Kinison, Chris Rock, Margaret Cho - all at the Chicago. Good times!! The sound is s*** at the Aragon. All the time, for every show. That place has horrible acoustics, the high end just gets swallowed up by the bass and drums. Muddy as hell. And it's not that small, capacity is around 4,000 or so, I believe. As awful as I think the Aragon is, I have a weird fondness for the place, since I've seen some GREAT metal shows at that hole! For a time in the 80's, almost EVERY metal show worth seeing took place at the Aragon.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Apr 25, 2005 -> 11:20 AM) Welp...this answers my Butch Walker debate. Heck, the Cubs being in town that night did that for me. Ahhh, your hatred of Chicago decided that a long time ago.... There are a few places to park around Wrigley that you don't need a neighborhood sticker, and there's a garage I like to use that's not TOO far. I have to catch the Clark St. bus from the garage, but I have a monthly pass so I don't mind.

They should be so fast getting accidents off the expressways. No money in that, I guess....

QUOTE(Steff @ Apr 25, 2005 -> 09:04 AM) He could have easily sold out a bigger place IMO. There were a ton of people trying to by tickets from those in line. We got approached at least 15 times with offers of $100 a ticket (face was $35). I went to the Metro looooooong ago. I liked it there also. We stopped in a bar on the way out to use the bathroom and ended up staying till midnite.. oye ve.. those Cub fans are weird o's.. totally wasted and laughing about having to work the next morning.. I wonder how they keep their jobs. I was wondering why he didn't play the Rosemont Theatre. His matchbox20 popularity made me assume that he'd go for a RT/Riviera/Aragon type of venue, but maybe he wanted to keep it smaller, since he gets the arena experience with matchbox. Personally, I'd have taken the hundy and gone home.... And yeah, tell me about it re: Cubbie fans. On Sundays I work a night shift and usually leave work between 2 and 2:30 am. I like to take the long way home ( to remind myself why I used to like driving ) and I pass a few Near North side bars on the way. Still VERY full at 2:30am on a Monday morning! Not much productivity happening at those jobs today....

Cashman admitted in print that he goofed on re-signing Jon Lieber. He tried to go cheap, didn't want to pay him 8 mil. Phillies get him for 7 mil per, and he's 4-0 so far, anchoring the Phils' staff. Good for them! They throw money at every player on the market and then they try to cheap out on a guy like Lieber? Stupid....

QUOTE(Carlo Paz @ Apr 25, 2005 -> 05:52 AM) Fifth inning. Time to swing! Now THAT is a quality outfit!!! AWESOME chain and pendant!

QUOTE(retro1983hat @ Apr 25, 2005 -> 08:27 AM) "Uh, oh, ahhhh, uh, but, eeeaaaahhhh, oh, um, um, yeah, Paaaaaaat, uah, well, ohhhhh, you see, um, oh, weeeelllll, wahhhhhh, booooohoooo, ohhh, ummmm, ackk, weeee." That was just Santo describing a routine groundball to short. You forgot "we have an email", "This Old Cub is available now on DVD", and either "ohhh, I don't like that" (if the Cub grounded out) or "yeah, attaboy" (if the opponent grounded out)

Glad you had a good time, Steff! Yeah, The Vic is probably my second-favorite venue in town, behind only the Metro. The Vic is definitely the best place to see a "mid-level" performer ( too popular for clubs, but can't yet fill a large venue ), and as you said, the sound there is always VERY good. The Park West is a very nice place too, but that's even smaller than Metro IIRC. Haven't been to the Park West in a long time.

Maybe DJ has it in his contract that he gets to do play-by-play and Hawk can't stand to listen.....

QUOTE(YASNY @ Apr 23, 2005 -> 09:30 PM) After reading the Sox gamethread tonight, the Cubs let that Sisco kid (pun intended) go as Rule V draftee. Ya think they may be regretting that move? It is interesting that some of the guys they're letting go ( Sisco, Willis ) are having some success while the guys they hold close to their hearts ( Guzman, Brownlie ) haven't sniffed the majors yet. Although to be fair, I think the same could probably be said of many teams.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Apr 24, 2005 -> 05:17 AM) Can I just ask, looking at the team now with their record and everything, are you glad Maggilo Ordonez isn't back with this team, if he had not gotten injured? If he did resign with the team, would have been interesting to see what would have happened with him and Ozzie down the line. They still wouldn't have met the salary demands, because they wanted to go in a different direction. Regardless of where things go from here for the Sox, they made the right decision as it turns out. And funny or not, it's still too bad neither side could go out with class.

Update: Their website was back up last night, so it must've been an update/repair issue. Oh well....no drama.....

QUOTE(qwerty @ Apr 24, 2005 -> 01:58 AM) Secksy? HAWT!!