Opening day, some more
Opening day at Wrigley Field - you cannot beat it. I'm not there, I'm sitting at home watching, but the whole city is electric because of it. Plus it's an awesome day. Great lineup too, I really like it:

Hairston
Patterson
Nomar
ARam
DLee
DuBois
Burnitz
Barrett

And Woody pitching. He looked so good in the playoffs back in 2003, he really needs to get his control in order. DuBois should be starting in my opinion, I have said this for a while.

Did I mention how boring/cliche/bad Bob Brenly is? The only way this day could be any better is if Stoney was calling the game. Chip? Kasper would do.

What does it mean?
- I always play the devil's advocate, I hate to agree with someone too much.

- I hate it when people agree with me too much.

- I like to have someone contradict me every now and then.

- I don't like it when someone contradicts me just to contradict me, that means there is no sincerity behind it, no passion. How can we argue if you aren't coming from a passionate place, but from a yearning to argue?

Perhaps it's just that I'm picky and difficult.

Steve Stone and the Cubs
Check out what recently departed Cubs broadcaster had to say about some of the stuff that happened last year:

On Todd Walker, who complained about having Stone and Caray on the team charter: "I've had flu that lasted longer than this guy was with the Cubs, but he was opining in the media. I called his cell phone and said: `Let's talk about this. I think we can work this out.' And I never got a return call.

Ouch...and not to brown nose Steve Stone but he's got a real good point. He's a straight shooter and that's one of the many reasons he was so good. Cubs messed up letting him go.

Bobby Hill
One time top prospect for the Cubs, Bobby Hill, will not start at second base for the Pirates after their starting second baseman, a kid named Castillo, went on the DL yesterday. Instead, they will will go with Rob Mackowiak. Why? Who knows, but it seems like Hill has run out of opportunities to prove himself as an everyday player. Which sucks.

Bulls
Ouch. GOing through a rash of injuries. Hope Curry is OK. Deng is out, that sucks. Hinrich isn't at 100%. Still they lost for the first time in 10 games last night. Not bad.

More Kasper & Brenly
You can’t really blame Len Kasper and Bob Brenly for their lack of experience with all things Cub-related. After all they are new to the job. They just started. But really the Cubs made a huge mistake letting Steve Stone go. Not only did he have that history and intricate knowledge of the team and franchise but he is one of the best announcers in the game. Kasper has potential, that much is obvious. But Brenly is a tired old veteran who does things his way and doesn’t want to try anything else. And “his way” just isn’t conducive to coming in and starting with a new team. It’s just awkward. Brenly, as good as others may say he is (I don’t think he’s all that good myself), just doesn’t bring anything exciting to the table. Kasper, once he has some time on the job, will probably bloom into a very good announcer, but he’ll never be as good as Stone is.

Brenly’s big problem is that he doesn’t seem to be having fun out there. He just glosses over what’s happening, never going into any detail or providing any interesting insight. He falls into cliche way to often. On the plus side, he will go through chunks of game staying completely silent.

Bible Crazy
Get a load of this guy. What about the part about it being harder for a rich man to enter heaven than a camel to go through the head of a needle?

The bird
Derek Lee on the bird that feel by his feet, out of the sky, during yesterday's game:

"I don't know where it came from," Lee said. "It just landed right by my foot. It was just flapping and kicking it's feet. The ball didn't hit it. If the ball hit it, the thing would've exploded."

Exploded? Yup, just ask Randy Johnson

The Ramirez Deal
He signs a 4 year 42 million dollar extension. AFter some of the rumors going around of what he might ask for, this looks like a great deal. The deal that was being compared was Beltre's, which pays him an average of 12.8 million per year for five years. And when you consider that in the past three years Ramirez has better numbers and is going into his prime...well, it's a great deal. Plus he really wants to be here.

Go team.

More opening day
Len Kasper: Potential to be great. Not Steve Stone great, but great. Just needs the experience and time with the team.

Bob Brenly: Awful. Boring. Old hat. Cliche. Does shut up for long periods of time though.

What a mistake the Cubs made letting go of Steve Stone. But since people will watch no matter whatI guess they figured they could deal with it.