Merry Christmas from Cheryl, Justin, Ryan, and Matt Shaw.
Foster parent. Chicago sports fan. Pro wrestling fan. Baseball PR and Chicago-scene sketch comedy in a previous life.
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Merry Christmas from Cheryl, Justin, Ryan, and Matt Shaw.
Mint-flavored mint vapes make kids think vapes are for them. Blue Rasperry Exteme Minecraft Cotton Candy lets them know that vapes are purely an adult thing.
The only thing that would've made this better is if the catcher tagged the plate, snd then ran off the field while all the runners scored.
So, the Cowboys required a good DT be included in any Parsons' deal, and the Cowboys DC - who was literally in charge of developing MULTIPLE young DTs in Chicago - didnt think the Bears had one.
I don't hate the comparison between players. But it's ignoring Andy Reid's impact.
Probably for the best. Now, they can start focusing on next year instead of hanging on to their slim chances this year.
The 49ers have like no healthy WRs
Imo, Jed's deadline mistake was simply not adjusting to the market. Maybe he tried and couldn't get a deal done (likely), but bullpen arms were available, and he only got one. This team could have used more.
The need for SP was - and remains - an October concern. Swing and miss correlates to October success. The Cubs lack that. You can win without it, but it's more difficult. The need at 3B was very specific to one player.
Lol. The hell is he talking about? My electric bill is $18/month. And that's with a level2 charger for the electric car.
Even assuming the premise that this was actually said ... Any normal, well-adjusted adult would see through this as Putin using flattery to get Trump to give him what he wants. Theres literally no other reason for him to have said this.
This is like your wife giving you a blowjob right before telling you that her parents are moving in.
Would make sense if theyre expecting a new one in a month ... but who knows, maybe RFK will ban it and replace it with raw sewage or some f'd up shit.
Can't answer. But was at Osco yesterday picking up a prescription when a woman came in for a Covid shot and the pharmacist told her the updated vaccine will be available in September. So, at least there will be something.
If Joe Schmo bought the Cubs, he'd have been saddled with the exact same debt plan and a league requirement to carry ~$42 million in operating revenue at all times for the next decade plus. Teams usually carry < $20mil. The average operating revenue for MLB teams in 2020 was NEGATIVE $60 million.
Ffs.Mark Cuban took one look at the terms- a required leverage sale and said Fuck that... He wad hung ho about buying the team and didnt even place a bid in the end.
They're not self-imposed 😂😂😂 They were requirements made by Sam Zell. Any bidder that refused those terms was turned down. If Ricketts didnt buy the team, whoever did would've had the exact same terms.
But other than that, Im just not sure what they missed... There were legitimate financial issues in 2020 with their operating revenue that, per the CBA, forced them to reduce payroll. Shohei? Soto? Tucker is arguably the most valuable player aside from those two to change teams this decade.
In 2019, with Harper, sure. They're got caught in-between on a number of things. Kenny botched the ballpark renovation. The TV deal wasn't looking as lucrative. And Theo couldn't lock up any of the core. Absolutely sucked that they TR didn't say fuck it and get Harper anyway.
Like, Ricketts could try to spend every dime he has. And the Dodgers and Mets would just outbid him for those players. If TR offered Shohei $800mil, the Dodgers would've given him $900mil. Same for Soto and the Mets. You're not going to outspend a team that has two or three times more money.
The Dodgers were gifted billions. The Mets have the richest owner in pro sports. The Yankees are basically just old money and cant stand that two teams caught up to them.
Theyre really just not spending like the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, and Phillies ... And the Phillies, fwiw, wont spend like this next year.
The Dodgers also tried to claim ownership risk as a reason to pay less in revenue sharing (it remains a laughable defense.) The whole thing ended up with lawyers. It was a mess. But still, the end result was the Dodgers saving $3billion from revenue sharing because Selig was a fucking idiot.
When Gugenheim signed the deal that Selig essentially claimed didn't exist, Gugenheim used Selig's testimony so thst they only paid revenue sharing on the $84 million market value. It was about a $3 billion fuckup.
McCourt tried to get the Dodgers out of bankruptcy court on the promise of having multi-billion dollar TV deal ready to be signed. Selig testified that market value for the TV deal was $84 million - which is essentially what forced McCourt to sell.
You could read the court documents on it since it was an illegal sale made possible because Sam didn't want to pay capital gains taxes and his best friend Jerry forced Selig to allow it.
Because having a top-10 payroll during "re-tool" years and a top-5 payroll in competitive years isn't actually bad.
Every team has shell companies. Hell, even Jerry had his own production company that got paid like 10 times over market value to run game day operations 😂 And dont get me started on the Dodgers revenue. TheirnTV deal is straight theft. Thank Selig for the disaster.
The debt was literally the biggest behind the scenes Cubs saga for a decade. And its like people just forgot about it...
Yes, they'll have outsized revenue because they own their TV Network. They'll also have significantly higher operating costs because they own their TV Network.
It was a stupid thing to say. But it was accurate. Their revenue had to match a percentage of their debt. It wasnt close to doing that. That wasnt a small problem.
Tell me about the Cubs debt ratio issues that came from the Ricketts sale. What was it? How did it impact the team? For how long? Why did it happen? Who pushed for it? Who allowed it? Cmon. You wanna praise Sam fucking Zell for approving a contract he wasn't going to pay? My god.
Im fine. I worked in their org. I know how it operated. I actually saw the backstabbing.
He literally got fucked because Sam Zell demanded the team be purchased with an insane debt repayment plan that handcuffed the payroll for 15 years.
Go back and listen to Theo's introductory press conference. Really listen to what he said about just making the playoffs year in and year out ... It doesn't really help your argument. Sure, he dealt for Chapman in 2016. He also supplemented a 97-win team the year prior with Dan Haren.
They literally paid the tax last year ... Theres one team currently willing to pay it every year. And its because Selig fucked up in court and gifted that team $3 billion.
Woof. He said this one time. And he was probably right. They have an oversized investment in the gameday experience - from owning the stadium, the bars, a hotel, and even the network that televises the games. They also still had the debt ratio issue that required revenue be higher than it was...
It's why they're one of three teams to never give out a 9-figure contract. historically refused to give SP's more than 4 years.
For real, they can have identical results (which they haven't since Ricketts has taken over), but the reasons for those results would be night and day different.
What happens when the team isnt doing well? They all go to JR and throw the others under the bus. This has literally been going on since the white flag trade. This is why they don't win. It's the organizational structure. If the Cubs dont win, it's more than likely because Jed is risk averse.
And that's not even the worst part of Reinsdorf. It's his meddling that leads to backstabbing and in-fighting throughout the organization. They might have a POBO. They might have a GM. But both have direct lines of communication to JR. Hell, so does the manager. So does the POPD.
It's why they're one of three teams to never give out a 9-figure deal. It's why they historically refused to give out more than 4 years to a SP. It's why they don't invest in their minor leagues and develop maybe one position player every 10-15 years.
One was a one-off statement following a once-a-generation event that likely did impact the Cubs as much - or more - than any other team given that they have an outsized investment in games actually being played compared to other teams. The other has been a 45-year curse on the south side.
I could write a thesis on the differences... Reinsdorf has admittedly chosen profit margin over on-field success. He has literally said that his primary responsibility is to the shareholders. You might say that Rickett's "biblical losses" is comparable. It isn't.
The Reinsdorf model? Lol. Not even close.
Kross would be fun in AEW as an attraction. But not at the expense of a guy like Fletcher who really speaks to the core foundations of the promotion.
The double jerk off?
Wheel and all!
Lol if you think a Hogan car is gonna do the job.
Yea. Meg lives her bit. 😂
Yea. Certainly more harmless than when she told my dad we were engaged and started calling him daddy.
She blurted out something to the affect of "this girl just broke up with me. Which is crazy cause I didnt even realize we were dating. I dont date girls..."
Im not sure he was there when she did it. She didn't grab a mic or anything. A bunch of us were just at the bar catching up. Meg and I had left the group a few months prior, and we hadn't all been in the same room in what felt like forever.
Yea. I was in multiple improv and sketch groups with Meg when she lived in Chicago. Her not showing depth in Too Much isnt shocking cause that's always been her bit. Hell, I think it was two years into working with her when I finally actually met her 😂
She's surface level in Hacks, too. It's just protected because she isn't a lead. She just gets so committed to a bit that she forgets to be vulnerable. Fwiw, thats just her. Like when she came out at my roommates wedding, we were all waiting for the punchline because she set it up like it was a joke
That's just Meg being Meg. I dont mean it in a bad way. She's very much someone you either love her or you hate her.
Why was there a child at his spa?
I have no memory of the rest of the weekend except that Sandberg asked me for golf passes during the post game. I may have gotten them for him. But I cant remember. I hope I did, though because he was Ryne fucking Sandberg.
I ended up flying back to Atlanta around noon, and landed around 3pm - finishing off Saturday night's game notes just prior to boarding the plane. I then sped my ass back to Birmingham and got back well in time before the 7pm first pitch.
I was dead ass tired at that wedding reception - which was held at Harry Caray's, ironic for two people who asked me to skip out on Sandberg weekend - but I managed to stay out drinking til 2 am before my body was like "the fuck is wrong with you? Go to bed."
I finished around 2 am. A quick 2 hour drive to Atlanta later, I was ready for my 5am flight back to Chicago. My mom picked me up at the airport and we headed straight to the clothing store because I may have forgotten a suit (oops).
I worked the first game of the series on a Thursday night, wrapped up my postgame some time between 11 and midnight, and then I waited for Baseball Advanced Media to update so that I could get started on the statpacks and media notes for Friday night's game.
My cousin had other plans and chose that very weekend to get married. The hell was i supposed to do? I couldn't miss her wedding. But also, it was Ryne fucking Sandberg. So I did what any sane human being would do.
The first thing I did when I became the Barons media relations director in 2009 was to check the schedule and see when the Smokies were coming to town because it meant I'd get to interact with Ryne Sandberg for five days.
NGL. I think about this less than I think about how funny it is to watch a LH play 2B.
Once every player is connected to every team, the trades can begin. And not a moment sooner.
That said, from an outsiders perspective, there has long been some serious questions regarding the Dodgers and Rays rankings. The Dodgers always have a dozen top10 prospects, but w/ exception to Smith (and maybe Busche), none have come close to living up to their rankings.
Times have likely changed, but I'll just say that the information gathering for some of these major publications was pretty spotty back in the day. It was never first-hand scouting. It came from milb coaches, scouts with bias (and reason for lying) and even broadcasters who were just excited to talk
This Cubs team just reminds me of the 2003 Braves. Great hitting. Better than average pitching from unlikely sources. No long winning streaks. Just continually strung together wins and prevented any long losing streaks all year. They also got knocked out in the WC round. So ...
Cubs get Durant Castro Twins get Ballesteros Wicks Who says no?
Its like when crypto crashes. Only less fun to watch.
4. And some might say I'm still bitter 15 years after leaving that org, but real ones will understand - The Orioles are a dog shit organization.
3. The Orioles are a dog shit organization.
2. Theo Epstein made the Cubs not a trash organization.
1. The Orioles are a trash organization.
Just for funsies - as I love the Cubs and absolutely loathe the Orioles entire fucking organization from the top down - here are some key reasons why the Cubs rebuild ended with a World Series while the Orioles rebuild has been an abject failure.
Man, was hoping hed show something ahead of the deadline. Between him and Wicks putting up clunkers, it's gonna be hard to get another team to dream on either as a secondary piece.
My old broadcasting colleague called his 4th MLB All Star Game last night. My old sketch comedy writing partner was on Colbert. And my streak on the LinkedIn game Queens reached 176. Dont ever let other people tell you what you're capable of!
I think his accountability buddy needs to step in and stop this circle jerk.
Stop trying to blame all your problems on that one thing I did. Some of your problems are because of that other thing I did.
Epstein died while Trump was President. The Justice Department declared he died by suicide while Trump was President. The Justice Department declared there was no Epstein list while Trump was President. Why are the Dems so hell-bent on protecting Epstein's clients? -The New York Times.
A couple times.
Happy NBA Draft Day, Bulls fans. Just a reminder that this shot cost us Cooper Flagg. youtu.be/3Tnw3TzTcsg?...
It's a minor thing. But the NBA needs to synch trade eligibility and the draft. There's no reason the 10th pick of the draft needs to take photos wearing a Rockets hat when everyone knows he's going to Phoenix.
I also think this might be why there initial was confusion about which team he cheered for... its possible (likely) that people close to him were asked if he was a Cubs fan, and they said yes. But they never asked about the Sox until his brothers said he was a Sox fan.
I dont think he hates the Cubs. I think he's one of those types who celebrated all things about his hometown as he moved further and further away from it. White Sox were clearly his preferred team. But the Cubs also wear Chicago on their chest.
So much of this isn't accurate.
Why is Dansby catching strays here?
The NBA not playing on Father's Day is 100 times the miss that not painting the court was.
It's what I say when my wife tells me to go on a diet.
11 of the next 14 are the Pirates, Brewers, and Cardinals ... So, they better scorch.
Gotta love June. Sun is shining. Birds are singing. Every team in baseball has double-digit wins.
Cena v R. Truth needs to end with R. Truth announcing the assassination of Bin Laden.
He's got a good arm. Beyond that, he benefits from MLF's scheme, DBs falling down, and DBs dropping balls he throws right at them.
All Cooper Flagg has to do is become a top-3 player, and he can join Luka in LA.
The Bulls have the worst fucking luck of any team in pretty much anything sport.
You may have just closed the door forever on finding a nice Jewish man.
Go Cubs
I dont think it's ever happened before.
Tomorrow ends the first full month of baseball, and the Cubs have yet to give up a single run to a team under .500 ...