Catching Up

A few notes from the weekend...

It's always nice to be home, after travel. I love to travel, see places either I haven't been in a long time (like my reunion), or visit new places, and showing my kids my old school was a real thrill. It blew them away too; I don't think they really had any idea what to expect from a college, and now they have had a little taste of it.

During the reunion I was talking with an old friend who I had met the very first day I was there in 1974; I hadn't been that close to him over the years, but we did always enjoy talking at reunions. His name is Michael Fleischer. As we were talking about politics, someone joked with him, "You're Ari's cousin, right?" His answer: "No, he's my brother." We thought he was pulling our chain, but Michael is indeed GWB's soon-to-be-ex-press secretary Ari Fleischer's brother. Only then did I notice the physical resemblance.

Yesterday started the first of thirteen consecutive Cub games, home & road, that I will attend -- the rest of this homestand, and the Baltimore and Toronto stops on the upcoming road trip. Yes, we're going full steam ahead to Toronto. A friend at the reunion, who lives there, confirmed what our other friends who live there told us: that the SARS scare is all media hype. Sure, we'll wash hands more often, but other than that, I plan to approach it as any other vacation destination. Toronto's a great town and we plan to enjoy it to the fullest.

I hope the Cubs do not sign Matt Williams, who was just designated for assignment by Arizona. Matt appears to be done, and nice guy and friend to Dusty Baker that he is, I don't think he'd help the Cubs. I wish they'd go ahead and pull the trigger on a deal for Marlins 3B Mike Lowell, because the Dodgers and Yankees are hot on his trail too. There's been some talk that the Cubs are also scouting Aaron Boone of the Reds, and that'd be fine with me also. Much as I'm a fan of Mark Bellhorn, he hasn't been hitting, or hasn't been allowed to hit because he's anchored to the bench, so let's make the change.

Finally, sadly, the Butcher of Meigs Field, Richie Daley, was given court go-ahead to finish the demolition of Meigs by a state appellate judge on Friday. I was pleased to see in today's Sun-Times that actor Harrison Ford, an avid pilot, ripped Daley for doing it, especially the way he did it.

And in the end, that's what was the worst thing. Reasonable people can disagree on whether that site should be an airport or a park. I happen to believe an airport is a great asset to the city. But tearing it up in the middle of the night is just cowardly, and that's about the nicest thing I can call Daley.

Ex-Cub Jeremi Gonzalez, once a highly-touted prospect, finally back from arm surgery, starts for the Devil Rays tomorrow against Matt Clement, in the first interleague matchup of 2003.