Even Massive Thunderclouds That Can't Pitch Have a Silver Lining

The Cubs gave up 7 runs to the Marlins tonight, of all teams. You may have already noticed this. Apparently the pitching staff knows something we don't and has decided that we don't need to win any more of our games this season to make the playoffs. One of these expanded roster call-ups better be clairvoyant, because if we keep drowning and the Brewers don't lose at least 3 more games my single playoff ticket is useless. And you don't want to see me angry. Actually, that would probably be slightly funny. What you don't want to see me is crying in the corner because I didn't get to go to the playoffs. That would be both sad and depressing.

Anyways, the Brewers miraculously lost to the Cardinals tonight. Pitching staff, get back on your horse. I want this thing wrapped up by Friday. That would make a pretty spectacular birthday present.

Can You Feel It?

Ahhhh, late September. It begins to get cooler, my birthday is coming up, and the smell of playoffs is in the air. Wait a second, did I say playoffs?

That's right everybody, the playoffs are rapidly approaching and with a 2.5 game lead this late in the season I am no longer afraid of jinxing the team. We will make the playoffs, and guess who's gonna be there. That's right, ME.

This is the part where I should try to drive up traffic by offering someone a ticket to go with me so everyone would compete for it, but there's a slight problem with that. First of all, it's 60 bucks a ticket and I don't know if I love you all that much. Secondly, I only got one ticket. I woke up at 8:30, got about 50 tabs open in Firefox, and by the time I got through all that was left was single seats for the first home game. I could have waited for standing room, but I just wanted to make sure I got into the game. So that's that. I'm going to the game alone, and I don't care. These opportunities only come by once every 5 years or so.

Looking at Craigslist I could probably get 300 bucks for my ticket, but what kind of fan would I be if I did that? If you think that's bad, you should see what people are charging on StubHub for the World Series. Anyone got $2,400 lying around?

I guess I can only pray that I get the opportunity to drain my bank account to see a Cubs World Series game. But let's take one step at a time here. Go Cubs.



EDIT: Looks like the gap will be 3.5 after today. Remind me to thank the next Braves fan I meet.

We May Have a Real Shot at This

Sorry that the updates here have been few and far between as of late, it's been busy for me the past couple of weeks but I hope to get back into the swing of things as this division race really heats up. In case you want to know what's been going on during the last two weeks, the Cubs have been up by a game and a half practically the entire time.

Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to go to a free Cubs game. If you haven't done this before, I highly recommend it. A friend of a friend had a ticket that he couldn't use, so he gave it to my friend who couldn't use it, and my friend gave it to me. It was the best seats and I didn't have anyone else I knew going, but none of that matters when you can be at a Cubs game for less than 20 bucks and watch them inch their way towards a division title. The rundown of what I spent for the game:

• Ticket for Aisle 224, Row 19, Seat 10: Free
• Upgrading to Row 13, Seat 1: Free
• Gas for the 75 mile round trip to where I parked: $9
• Parking: Free
  
• Riding the L to the stadium and back: $4
• Refilling my bottle of water at the drinking fountain by the bathrooms: Free
• Slice of pizza from Bacci's Pizzeria after the game: $4.39
• Total: $17.39

I'd say paying that much is well worth seeing a thrilling Cubs win.

By the way, I highly recommend Bacci's Pizza. You get a slice of thin crust pizza the size of Montana and a pop for $4.39 after tax, and it's about 20 feet from the L stop. As you're leaving the stadium, you will see a cute college girl in a tank top trying to get you to go to a bar that has $3 jello shots. Right next to that bar is Bacci's. It's on the left, you can't miss it. Tell them I sent you.

All that being said though, I wish I had gone to today's game instead. I thought we didn't have a chance of winning, I was actually dozing off when Lee came through with the big homer. Not a great time to fall asleep. I just hope the team can get some kind of momentum going, because I'm not really comfortable with a 1.5 game lead on the Brewers. Let's get it to a 4 or a 5 game lead and maybe I'll be able to breathe again.