I seached and didn't find any post's on this topic, so i'm sorry if this has already been covered. this link from the daily herald http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=239084  north and jigs are back starting in january on comcast sports net 6-9am.

i love this, i thought they were a great team at the score, north on his own could really go nuts and lose all control of himself, with jigs there to give him the old 'take it easy' should make for some very interesting and entertaining sports in the morning.

another long season is ahead for our bulls. i watched the game online and boy was it terrible. tyrus thomas hasn't changed a bit, still terrible. noah, see tyrus thomas. gray, still way too slow for the nba game.

but the one thing that stood out was beasley for the heat. that kid can flat out score, i wish the bulls would have taken him instead of rose. the bulls are a donut team that has nothing inside.

except for a few drives by rose, this bulls game was horrible.

i know it's only a summer league game, but still, you have 3 potential starters on the floor with rose, thomas, and noah, and they were soundly pounded.

for those who might care...the actor was found dead in nyc this afternoon. he was best known for his role in the movie brokeback mountain, and his current role as the joker in this summers new batman the dark knight movie. a shame that another young star is gone far too soon. from the preview clips of the dark knight, he did a fantastic job at being the joker. other films include the patriot with mel gibson and a knights tale, plus many others.

UPDATE [2008-1-22 17:33:22 by Al]: Changed this to note that it's off-topic -- I don't want a slew of this sort of diary here. Thanks.

i have been thinking about michael barrett's terrible defensive play this year, and although he has never been a great defensive catcher, no one could have imagined he would be this bad.
one has to wonder what is different about this year compaired to his previous years in the league.
FEAR!
michael might not even know he's doing it but i think he's subconciously afraid of the ball. look how terrible he is at blocking balls in the dirt. he hesitates before throwing his body into a blocking possition, and he would rather swipe at the ball with his mit.
i really believe he is gun shy after getting his sack smashed last year. a part of me doesnt blame him, nothing i can think of could hurt worse than a crushing blow to your sack.
so what do you think folks, have i solved the michael barrett riddle? only time may tell.

well i cant say it feels good to be back weather wise from 10 days of in the ninety's, but it is nice to be home.
i was able to see 5 games while on vacation and make it to fitch park for an afternoon.
first i would like to say Les Walrond has very nice parents, sorry for them that their son cant pitch in the major leagues.
while talking to mr. walrond, he said that if les cant make the team (and i hope he doesnt) he is more than likely heading for japan.
i wish him luck over there.

who is the real angel guzman? this guy at times this spring looked good, and then you flip the coin and the white sox light him up. i wish he could get it together because miller just doesnt look like the miller of old, and i for one like to see a pitcher that can throw the ball by someone every now and then.

sean marshall, i'm sure none of you remember when i posted a diary from the cubs caravan in merrillville, but one thing i remember is sean being honest with me when i asked him how the arm was doing, when he told me he was working on trying to get the strenth back i thought, wow this is a guy that isnt trying to hide the fact that he has a problem (take a hint from him mark prior and tell the truth sometime) i hope he can get well and make it back.

ryne sandberg! what a nice guy, after workouts at fitch park he always made time to sign for fans and to talk for awhile. i wish more player could take a page from him for awhile.

fergie!!! it was worth the 10 bucks donated for charity to have him sign my program and to talk to him for a bit, i felt sorry for ron laflore sitting next to him, no one was wanting anything to do with him and he was a good player for a time.

matt murton!! if lou doesnt bat him 2nd, he's a dumb as toothpick, this guy can flat out play the game. he's the most patient hitter on the club. the shot he hit in tucson landed about 20 feet to the right of me and about 15 behind me just in front of the scoreboard, it bounced under the bottom of it and then went on to bounce across the street. a massive shot.

cliff ole' floyd. very nice bat, but i think i saw a few of the zombies from night of the living dead move better than he does in the field.

aramis.. drives me nuts! so much talent, so much agravation. he was on first, d-lee on second, i had my wife watch the difference between them on what they did on base. on every pitch d-lee would take an agressive lead off of second in case of a hit, aram (lazy ass) even though he had the first baseman not within 20 feet of the bag, would take a one step lead with the pitch. wouldn't you know it, the ball is hit to center for a base hit, d-lee was off like a rocket and scores on a bang bang play at the plate, aramass saunters into 2nd and watches the play at the plate.
this guy is never going to change. and yes i know he's the best third baseman we have had in like forever, but what gets me is that he could be something SPECIAL! oh well, such is life.

surprise of the spring, rocky cherry. this guy might just make the club. no fear out of this kid.

the shark from ND! no fear from this kid also. could be up for good by next year if they needed him the pen. i think he pitched very well out of the pen this spring.

for those who fly, skyvalue out of the gary airport was fantastic, we had our bags checked and was waiting to get on the plane in 15 mins. it landed at the williams gateway airport in mesa, and all i can say is WOW! no hassle's or crowds like midway or ohare, and for $79 with no parking fees you cant beat it! i rented a chryler 300 at the williams airport from enterprise for $39 a day. no more showing up 2 or 3 hours in advance for your flight. you are the only flight going out of gary so they treat you like a king.

as usual it was very nice. it was moved this year from the Raddison to the Avalon Manor, which was a few blocks east of I-65. it seemed to me that it was slightly smaller than the last few years, i believe someone mentioned that 700ish tickets were sold. this might have been caused by the new sponsor, the Gary Railcats. you had to buy your tickets through them, in the previous years, it was sponsored by the girls and boys clubs of northwest indiana.
details of the night.

1. i was ready to smack tommy williams, the former score and espn radio host is the public address announcer for the railcats now, and he was the m c for the evening. his non stop man love for the white sox was really getting on my nerves. every time he said something about the cubs, he had to follow it with a comparison to the white sox. very irritating.
   
2. when you entered, you were given a name of the person you could get an autograph for, this was done with a random draw, i was able to get the following autographs and to speak with them.

lou, he shook my hand and signed a baseball for me, i thanked him, and welcomed him to chicago. he seemed to love the whole night. he signed hundreds of items for fans and was glad to have his picture taken with anyone who wanted to.
his line was the longest of all, so either people were given more of his name or they just didnt want autographs from the other people.
when the autograph session was over, tommy william kept telling people not to ask for any more autographs, but lou basically ignored him and kept signing from the podium for another 15 to 20 min.
donnie veal, my first impression was...this guy is BIG! broad shoulders and tall. the second thing that impressed me was how well spoken he was, he was very comfortable talking to fans, and seemed to enjoy the experiance very much. he was a little shy on the mic though.
Sean Marshall, i was one of the last people in line for his autograph, so i had time to ask him how he was feeling going into spring training. he said he was anxious to try out the arm, he believed it was back to full strength, but was waiting to see what happend when facing real batters. i came away from the conversation thinking he doesnt have confidence in the arm yet.
Mark DeRosa, this guy was loving it! all smiles, and handshakes. he seemed very excited to be a cub.

question and answer session.
as you would expect, lou got 90% of the questions aimed at him.
he started with a statement that prior, wood and miller are all looking good, this got a great responce from the crowd with plenty of growls and a few boo's, i think this let him know right away how the rest of the night was going to go.

his first question of the night from a fan was, what are you going to do about center field? his responce to this was.. boy you people get right to it dont you! then he laughed and basically he said the job was pie's to lose. they are going to give him every chance to win the job. he also said that if he doesnt work out, hendry will have to get a veteran center fielder to hold the job until he's ready. he didn't seem to like the jones idea in center very much.
one thing i noticed was how well lou and brenly were getting along, it seemed like they were good friends, they sit next to each other and were talking most of the night. on several questions, lou asked brenly opinion on matters, in the previous years, i never saw dusty talking to brenly at all. this could be helpful as the season rolls along, if they are truly friends, brenly might spot some things from up top and pass them on to lou.
a fan asked lou about future prospects that might make the team, his reponse was that he's not waiting for prospects, that he's wanting to win now, and this team except for center field is ready to go.
Matt Murton was a crowd favorite, you can tell that most of the fans are rooting for this kid to do well, two amusing things from the crowd. a young lady asked for a hug, he said ok and she rushed up to the stage and got one, there were several good natured remarks from the guys on the podium about the advantages of being a big leaguer. later a young guy asked murton if he could play left field for his softball team on an off day when he was at home, this got a big laugh from the crowd, and lou said he might just let him do it!
Mark DeRosa, he was asked what made him want to be a cub, he said he remembered how exciting it was in 2003 when he was a member of the braves, he said it was a huge difference playing before fans that were actually into the game, compaired to the atlanta fans, he said from that moment on, we would jump at a chance to be a cub.

and the evening ended with HARRY CARREY'S arrival, courtesy of Dempster. he brought the house down with his impression of harry, and we all left on a good note.
well thats if for me, i cant wait for march 9th, i'm off to mesa for 10 days of my slice of heaven.
by the way if your flying out there, you cant beat the deals that skyvalue is giving out of the gary-chicago airport. my family of 3 is flying round trip for $500 with free parking. and since there is only one airline flying, no waiting at the gate, you show up and board your flight. just take the skyway and get off right at the airport.

My first question to Lou will be about the center field situation, feel free to give me some other questions to ask him.
I've had great luck getting autographs and pictures with players and managers there.
I've been the 1st person at the mic for the question and answer session for the last 3 years.

I'm so glad that i dont have to start with another negative question to Dusty, like i did for the last 2 years haha.

i have 4 extra tickets for the merrillville indiana caravan tomarrow night. the cost is $20 each. doors open at 5:30 and price includes all the hot dogs, chips and pop that you would like.

Tour one will feature Cubs manager Lou Piniella, Mark DeRosa, Sean Marshall, Matt Murton, Donnie Veal,Michael Wuertz,and Ryan Dempster.
the caravan is at the Avalon Manor on US 30, just east of I-65. if your interested, email me at mike7965@yahoo.com. GO CUBS!