Renovating Wrigley

I am a diehard White Sox fan.  And as such I don’t really have a dog in this race.  Sure I watch a dozen or so Cubs games a year, but 6 of them are when they play my beloved White Sox and the rest happen inadvertently when I go to the bar.  The Cubs could play in Schaumburg IL or Sydney Australia and it would affect me about the same.

Me not caring about the Cubs

 So now Tom Ricketts wants government money to rehab Wrigley?  This shouldn’t surprise anyone.  It’s now standard practice for teams to bend the tax payers over a barrel and threaten to move unless they get a rehab.  As Ricketts himself pointed out the Bears and the Sox both got theirs, so why not the Cubs?  Well unfortunately for him he’s missing the first half or that statement: they threatened to move.  The Bears talked about going to Hoffman Estates and Gary IN among other places.  The Sox WERE going to St. Petersburg.  And as many have already pointed out the Cubs couldn’t move across the street if they wanted to.  They’re tied to that neighborhood.  It’s a landmark remember?  Tourists aren’t going to go to Schaumburg, and there’s no bars worth a damn that far west (unless you count Medieval Times, which I do.)

Cool guys drinking some cool beers

 That’s not to say that threats to move are a good thing.  As a fan it makes you feel like a chump.  Being a fan is a reciprocal relationship.  I get drunk, cheer and spend money on my team and all I expect them to do is act like they give a shit that we’re out in the stands.  In the late 80s the votes were in and counted and the Sox were going to Florida.  My whole family would’ve become Brewers fans.  Seriously, fucking Brewers fans.  Do you have any idea how much that would’ve sucked?  It all shaked out okay in the end, but I take it kind of personally.  I’d still be pissed but Reinsdorf brought 7 Championships to this town (8 if you count that he’s a part owner of the Blackhawks.)

“I think it's a crime for our elected officials to borrow money today, to spend money today and push the repayment of that loan out into the future on people…”  Good point.  I couldn’t have said it better myself.  We’re in the worst recession of my lifetime and Illinois is bankrupt.  Joe Ricketts, the head of the Ricketts clan is the genius behind the Ricketts’ fortune and the genius behind the quotation.  I don’t beguile the family too much for their hypocrisy, after all this is America.  We want to have our cake and eat it too.  I’ve said lots of things about free speech in my life, but I think most people need to shut the fuck up. 

Can't have it and eat it too, the cake is a lie

  What I do take issue with is the smugness of this prick.  The Cubs sucked last year.  Wire to wire they were a shitty team, from crazy Carlos Zambrano’s opening day meltdown to the “who gives a shit” period at the end of the year, they sucked.  And all through this Ricketts said he wasn’t talking to the media or spending money.  Now that this guy wants my money he’s on Chicago Tonight and anywhere else he can get a little face time. 

But the real fuck you is his bullshit plan to raise money.  It basically breaks down like this:  The Cubs will borrow money from the state and then they’ll pay the state back with the taxes they were already going to pay.  Don’t suck my finger and call it a dick.  I’m a few credits shy of my econ degree, but there’s a little thing called opportunity cost.  That means if I spend all my money on beer I won’t have money to by food.  Big deal right? Ramen is cheap.  But on a state level if we take the money we’re going to use to pay teachers and use it to add a shopping mall to a ballpark we can’t just get drunk and halfass our way through econ.

All this is after they raise ticket prices. Say what you want about Reisndorf, but I’d rather fall ass first into a dildo factory than have Tom Ricketts as my team’s owner. If I was a Cub fan I’d be pissed, I guess I am anyway.  It won’t affect me that much; I just don’t like all the bullshit.  At least he said he’ll use union labor.