Oh, man! It's great to be back at the ballpark! I wish you all could be here with us and not doing whatever it is your doing, because I know you'd rather be here in Arizona watching the Cubs than probably anywhere else. Despite two losses and an unsatisfying tie, it's been a wonderful couple of days reconnecting with Al and putting some faces to names of regular BCB posters. My selfies are finally paying off.
Actually, more people have recognized my girlfriend's giant hair which she's been removing from her scalp since we left Chicago. It's a long arduous process that was only finished Friday morning. (see pics)
But the state of the Cubs community is strong and this Spring we have a ton to look forward to. From the signing of Jon Lester to the up and coming future stars, the team looks stronger than it has in many years. This positive vibe is palpable at Cubs Park (I'll never call it Sloan 'cause I'm a purist.)
Besides the photos of the last few days, I have only one anecdote for you. While hanging out pregame enjoying an adult beverage with BCB reader puckov. (I'd say his name, but some folks don't enjoy that, and I forgot to ask if it was OK.) Brian Schlitter and Jason Motte were walking down the gangway towards the field. I called over to them, "Welcome back fellas!" To which Motte replied, "Welcome back to what?" I said, "Welcome back to here, to baseball!" To which Motte replied, "I don't know what you're talking about, I've never been here before."
I get his point. I'm fully aware he was with the Cardinals and this is his first spring with the Cubs. But all I said was something positive and all he did was act like a jerk to me by parsing my statement. Left a bad taste in my mouth anyway. But not as bad of a taste as Schillter's performance Friday. When I get the Cubs scoreboard music job, I was gonna play Motley Crue's "Wild Side" for Motte, but as of now, all I wanna play him is clips from that old applesauce commercial, "I got the Mott's." I won't go that far yet, but Motte, you're on probation. Welcome to the Cubs.
All in all, it's great to be back! If you do happen to come out to Arizona, make sure to say hi. I wish you all could be here.