Seems like forever since the Cubs have played, doesn't it? And we have to wait till tomorrow for them to resume after the All-Star break.
This break, for decades three days long, has almost become (and likely will, in another year or two) four by default. Only six games (one NL, five AL) will be played today; thus fans of eighteen teams, including the Cubs, must wait till Friday to continue the season.
So to while away this sunny, bright day in Chicago, or wherever you are, a few notes:
- I contributed a mid-season Cubs review to a site called sportprojections.com; click here for my reviews and team grades.
- There's a new potential bidder for the Cubs -- the Ricketts family, which founded Ameritrade: (Also see John in DC's diary on this topic for more discussion; he went to business school with Pete Ricketts.)
The Ricketts group is being led by Thomas Ricketts, the 41-year-old founder and chief executive of Chicago-based Incapital Holdings LLC, an investment banking firm.
He is the son of J. Joe Ricketts, an Omaha billionaire who founded Ameritrade and built it into one of the biggest Internet-based discount brokerages. His older brother is Pete Ricketts, who last year lost a bid to unseat Democratic incumbent Ben Nelson in the Nebraska race for the U.S. Senate.
- Finally, two years ago, during a similar nothing-happening time at the All-Star break, I wrote a post titled Why Are We Here? In it, I examined some of the reasons why we become fans of sports teams, no matter whether they are college, or professional, or what sport it is. And there were several hundred comments left by people who posted the story of why they became fans of the Cubs. Today, I am re-opening that thread for your comments, for anyone new to the site (the last comment left there was in January 2007). Enjoy.