What's the matter with Chicago
Yes, that is a paraphrase of the book “What’s the matter with Kansas?” I haven’t read the book, but I wanted to show I’m not all about sports, despite this being a sports post.
One of my coworkers has a Volkswagan Jetta. It’s been trouble for her from the beginning. While there never seems to be anything seriously wrong with it, there’s always something wrong with her car to the point she’s ready to take a baseball bat to it and unleash some pent up frustration on her car.
One day the air conditioner may not work. Other times, something else isn’t working. Again, it’s never something so big that you can justify getting rid of it, but there’s always something going wrong.
Her car reminds me of the Cubs this season. They never seem to do one big thing to lose games (and they’ve lost 14 of their last 16 games as of today), but a series of little things contribute to this impressive display of ineptitude. They’ve been shut out five times in the past 15 games. Not good times.
In fact, things were so bad that last week, and ESPN.com columnist said that the Cubs were playing so poorly that they couldn’t even make good outs anymore.
It’s really frustrating watching a team make mistake after mistake of easily correctable things. Hit the cutoff man. Bunt the runner to third base. Don’t throw a fastball right down broadway to the other team’s best hitter.
I have no problem with physical errors. Those can be corrected. But we’re talking about mental errors that high school teams don’t make.
And I hear all the time that teams aren’t as bad as they seem when things are going poorly (just as they aren’t as good as they seem when things are going well,) but it’s just painful to watch the Cubs right now. (Even more so than usual.)
One of the ESPN writers was asked to talk Cubs fans off the ledge and the best answer Buster Olney could come up with is that the sun will come up tomorrow. It’s not time to throw in the towel quite yet, but the Cubs corner man has it in his hand just in case things get out of hand.
I guess the good news is the Cubs are off today, so we’re not going to lose.
F
antasy Update: Shania Twain hasn’t decided to take me up on my offer . . . I got nothing here, enjoy the Shania Twain photo while I describe the luck of the Fighting Squirrels. We had another mixed week, going 15-1 in one league to take over first place by half a game while going 3-11-1 in my other league to fall to third place. (Despite going 3-11-1, I would have defeated most other teams had I gone against them head-to-head, so I was encouraged, despite the loss. Over the course of the season, the statistics should catch up with chance and I’ll be ok.
Weekend Update: Friday night after work, Yes Dear and I went to a cookout with some friends. Saturday we went to Savannah to meet Yes Dear’s parents for lunch (an early Mother’s Day celebration) followed by furniture shopping. Yes, that makes two weekends in a row that I’ve gone furniture shopping (and two Mondays in a row that I’ve written about it. It’s amazing I still have readers with such riveting prose.) Fortunately, we found something we liked, so the next time I go furniture shopping, you’ll have long since stopped reading this. That night we went to dinner with my mom for Mother’s Day (we’re don’t need Hallmark to tell us when to celebrate.)
House update: Still scheduled for closing at the end of the month. My boss agreed to let me off early so I could actually go and sign the papers. Hopefully it’ll be done in time.
Minion update: A coworker’s daughter has agreed to be my minion. She’s eight, nine, or 10 years old (they keep aging, so I can’t keep track.) Anyway, while I was out of the office this weekend, she apparently drew up a contract for me to sign. Among the provisions of the contract are: (My responsibilities) – “I will take care of her/him,” and “I will do my best to be as evil as possible.” (Her responsibilities) – “I promise to be a good minion,” and “I will do my best to please my master.” (Apparently her mother’s ok with her daughter being a minion.)
On Deck: If I could have dinner with four people, who would they be?
Vote for the Nexus of the Universe. It's not a shrimp, but it likes to eat them.
One of my coworkers has a Volkswagan Jetta. It’s been trouble for her from the beginning. While there never seems to be anything seriously wrong with it, there’s always something wrong with her car to the point she’s ready to take a baseball bat to it and unleash some pent up frustration on her car.
One day the air conditioner may not work. Other times, something else isn’t working. Again, it’s never something so big that you can justify getting rid of it, but there’s always something going wrong.
Her car reminds me of the Cubs this season. They never seem to do one big thing to lose games (and they’ve lost 14 of their last 16 games as of today), but a series of little things contribute to this impressive display of ineptitude. They’ve been shut out five times in the past 15 games. Not good times.
In fact, things were so bad that last week, and ESPN.com columnist said that the Cubs were playing so poorly that they couldn’t even make good outs anymore.
It’s really frustrating watching a team make mistake after mistake of easily correctable things. Hit the cutoff man. Bunt the runner to third base. Don’t throw a fastball right down broadway to the other team’s best hitter.
I have no problem with physical errors. Those can be corrected. But we’re talking about mental errors that high school teams don’t make.
And I hear all the time that teams aren’t as bad as they seem when things are going poorly (just as they aren’t as good as they seem when things are going well,) but it’s just painful to watch the Cubs right now. (Even more so than usual.)
One of the ESPN writers was asked to talk Cubs fans off the ledge and the best answer Buster Olney could come up with is that the sun will come up tomorrow. It’s not time to throw in the towel quite yet, but the Cubs corner man has it in his hand just in case things get out of hand.
I guess the good news is the Cubs are off today, so we’re not going to lose.
F
antasy Update: Shania Twain hasn’t decided to take me up on my offer . . . I got nothing here, enjoy the Shania Twain photo while I describe the luck of the Fighting Squirrels. We had another mixed week, going 15-1 in one league to take over first place by half a game while going 3-11-1 in my other league to fall to third place. (Despite going 3-11-1, I would have defeated most other teams had I gone against them head-to-head, so I was encouraged, despite the loss. Over the course of the season, the statistics should catch up with chance and I’ll be ok.Weekend Update: Friday night after work, Yes Dear and I went to a cookout with some friends. Saturday we went to Savannah to meet Yes Dear’s parents for lunch (an early Mother’s Day celebration) followed by furniture shopping. Yes, that makes two weekends in a row that I’ve gone furniture shopping (and two Mondays in a row that I’ve written about it. It’s amazing I still have readers with such riveting prose.) Fortunately, we found something we liked, so the next time I go furniture shopping, you’ll have long since stopped reading this. That night we went to dinner with my mom for Mother’s Day (we’re don’t need Hallmark to tell us when to celebrate.)
House update: Still scheduled for closing at the end of the month. My boss agreed to let me off early so I could actually go and sign the papers. Hopefully it’ll be done in time.
Minion update: A coworker’s daughter has agreed to be my minion. She’s eight, nine, or 10 years old (they keep aging, so I can’t keep track.) Anyway, while I was out of the office this weekend, she apparently drew up a contract for me to sign. Among the provisions of the contract are: (My responsibilities) – “I will take care of her/him,” and “I will do my best to be as evil as possible.” (Her responsibilities) – “I promise to be a good minion,” and “I will do my best to please my master.” (Apparently her mother’s ok with her daughter being a minion.)
On Deck: If I could have dinner with four people, who would they be?
Vote for the Nexus of the Universe. It's not a shrimp, but it likes to eat them.
posted by Luke at 7:01 PM
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