I don't mind a sign per say,just that thing looks goofy! BigFan had it right a while back when he said the Cubs should have some kind of retro sign there like an old fashioned beer sign or whatever. Ricketts must know he is talking to country bumpkins when he is saying that two mil the sign generates can help the Cubs sign talent. This guy & his family are worth billions! He probably wipes his ass with 2 mil.

_________________
favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Yeah Joe, the neighborhood was there long before the Cubs were. There was a Seminary where the ballpark is now. My Great-Grandfather bought a 2 flat on Clark St. across the street from Nuts on Clark (used to be a dry cleaners there) and the family saw all the changes take place in the neighborhood. You could have bought one of the buildings on Waveland with the rooftop stadium seting back in the 70's for about 35 grand. Bob-nice reference to the 70's-indeed the Latin Kings and Latin eagles were very much an issue back then. It was a real different environment. But then in the 80's things changed and it became much more appealing and the neighborhood had a lot of Bars and Resturants move in. Many buildings were rehabbed and the rooftops were developed too. But all those businesses are dependent to a large degree upon the Cubs. If the ballpark was gone, so would a lot of the businesses. The millions (when you add them up-some spent over a half million on a single roof) that were spent on developing those rooftops, would be wasted and those businesses gone immediately. The Cubs do have a special ballpark, in terms of the historical aspects of Wrigley Field. But if a park like Miller park, were built in the burbs, I think they would draw very well. the location would be key, but I think they would do very well. If you look at attendence figures for teams that build new parks, they ALWAYS have an increase in the first year after the new park is opened. As long as the new park (and the team, to some degree) was great, the fans would keep coming. Plus, having a jumbotron where fans could actually see a replay and a retractable roof for inclement weather, are things that might grow on fans.
For a long time, I used to feel as though my family had the right to bitch about things like the garbage fans leave on lawns etc...because our family was there BEFORE Wrigley was. But thats not realistic. Each generation has the option of re-locating and the ballpark is something you either learn to live with and enjoy or you move. But the people who have moved there SINCE the park was built-which represent the vast majority, have ZERO room to bitch and many can thank the team for the financial help that team affords the neighborhood. Without that ballpark, the Kings and Eagles might still be roaming the neighborhood and the property values would be nowhere near what they are.

_________________
Go Cubs!!!!

What Chicago team brings the most money to the city and state?

What Chicago team has never taken a penny from the city and state?

What Chicago team gets the most bullcrap from the city and state?

The answer to all 3 is the Cubs.

The cubs have never asked the city or state for money and they bring the most money in.

By the way the Reinsdorfs aren't the only current owner with a title. While it was when dinosaurs roamed the earth the current Bears owners were there in 1986.

My favorite story about the Wrigleyville Whiners was back a few years ago they were talking about it on the radio and this woman called and went on and on about how she had been on vacation for a week and came back and her lawn and such were trashed. Blamed it all on the Cubs and Cub fans.

Problem? The Cubs had been out of town for about 11 days.

I'm not always happy with the Sox either. I think getting Juan Pierre was ridiculous. I don't like Guillen's game management. I could go on. But I think most of the hatred toward Reinsdorf is informed by anti-Semitism. And I think if he were a WASP who looked like Chuck Percy he'd be the toast of the town. The thing is, when Sox fans like you- or pretend Sox fans like North and Bernstein- constantly bash the Sox it adds to the canard that Chicago was, is, and always will, be a "Cub town". Because people like cubbiegirlshamus aren't ever going to bash the loveable losers. And so it isn't balanced and it isn't objective. Like right now both she and you are suggesting that the Sox take tax dollars and the Cubs give them. That isn't true in any way, shape, or form. The Cubs have received tons of tax breaks and favorable legislation. And before it's all over, they'll have their fuckin' Toyota sign. Maybe you should try to put that same sign on top of your house. See if you can get permission.



And my point is that Ricketts is a neighborhood dork. He's just the biggest one.



I agree to some degree. But I don't expect them to win a World Series every year. I just want a good team. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that we have one this season.



But I think that "HOOTERVILLE attitude" beats the cynicism of a Yankees fan. I'd hate to feel that I wasted my summer if the Sox didn't win the whole thing. That Bernstein type of thinking is ridiculous. He doesn't have the best wife so his marriage must be a loser. He doesn't have the best job, so he's a loser. And the Sox didn't win. Why doesn't he just commit suicide?



Winning and losing isn't something that's easy to control. I have my complaints about the Sox, but they aren't usually related to the team they put of the field. They have more to do with forcing me to a particular game for a rainout and refusing a cash refund. Asking for playoff ticket money just because they can when they really have no chance and then holding it. And stuff like that.



What are you, Bob, some fuckin' teenybopper? You want to do Jaeger Bombs at The Full Shilling? I'll buy. Jesus Christ! Maybe you are a fuckin' Cub fan. I've been in every bar in Bridgeport and I've never been treated the way you describe. Of course, I'm not black either. But I have fun every time I go to a Sox game. If I didn't I wouldn't go to 30-40 a year.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

Ricketts needs to do this because I don't think the Cubs can win unless they increase their payroll to, let's say, the highest in the NL. What? They already have the highest payroll in the NL and roll that shit team out everyday? Fuck that, they need less money, maybe they won't spend it like idiots then.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/2221646,CST-NWS-wrigley01.article\



Who you crappin. Thursday afternoons. 5:00



Who gives a flying FUCK if the rooftop patrons can see??? It's the Cubs park. It's the Cubs product. Whether or not people who are poaching that product can still do so should NEVER enter into a decision either on the team or City level!

I like ASFB. His thoughts on Cub issues are usually better than most Cubs fans. I agree with your post sir

_________________
"You can kill the revolutionary, but you can't kill the revolution."

They're not "poaching". They're paying a premium to the Cubs for their sightlines. Or aren't you aware of that?

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

Ricketts best source for generating revenue is to get rid of Hendry, which will save the Cubs more money than the Toyota sign would bring in.

_________________
CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

Well, I think you're wrong, and I object to you implying that my dislike of Jerry Reinsdorf's business practices is mere Jew-hating. How can it come down to that when Cubs fans spent years yearning for Mark Cuban to buy their team?

People hate Reinsdorf not for what he is but for what he did: he shook down the government for a free stadium, helped cause the baseball strike, and broke up our Bulls. These are the big three; there are smaller offenses scattered along the way as well (Sportsvision, collusion, running the Bulls as the White Sox' bank, the Phoenix Coyotes thing). When it comes to sports team ownership, he's been a bad actor, plain and simple. Yes, the team he owns won a World Series. So did Jeffrey Loria's, and nobody's absolving him of all the awful things he's done to baseball.

_________________

Maybe somehow I can get a permit for one of my projects out of this?

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

I am aware of that. And they are poaching or stealing or whatever term you want to use for it. Without the Cubs, what product do they have? What money would they make?

Joe Orr....I'll take you up on the drink offer at Shinnicks after a Sox game....That place has always been great...and no, I'm not a teeny bopper, but there is one hell of a view from Bernie's when Ricketts Field empties after a ballgame in July......Women, women and more women....like SPMack says...I am a dirty old man!!!

Reinsdorf's religious beliefs have jack shit to do with people getting pissed at this half assed baseball operation and his clueless Bulls operation since Jordan left.

Another thing...on this message board, 99% of the Cub Fans are interested in BASEBALL......they want the Cubs to win....

I think Wrigley Field has been one big urinal from foul pole to foul pole for years....,so when Jimmy Pasta whines about some sign desecrating some sacred place, I have to emphasize the damned BUSINESS aspect of MLB......Maybe Jimmy made out with some skank under the bleachers 40 years ago after they shared a joint....I don't understand the love affair with the bricks and ivy.

The overwhelming majority of Cub Fans here on this board are not the stereotype 'Bleacher Dude' we love to ridicule.....Other than Jimmy tearing up over his beloved pisser and Cubbiegirlshamus posting during a Toxic Shock Syndrome attack, the Sox-Cubs bullshit is civil and funny.

_________________
There goes one over the fence..Tru Link Fence..Beauty, Privacy Security....Call Tru Link.
Murph's Union 76 Truck Stop....A great Thanksgiving Tradition!!!!

WOO LIFE!!!!

I certainly wasn't speaking specifically about anyone. But I'll stand by my belief that if Jerry weren't Jewish he would be viewed differently. Jerry Krause too, for that matter.

As far as him "breaking up the Bulls" goes, that's a bunch of horseshit. Phil and Michael broke up the Bulls and I'm not sure they had much more in them anyway.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

You got it!



Here, we agree 100%. To me a ballpark is just where your team plays. If the Sox played in Armour Square Park, that's where I'd be watching baseball. And I would hope that if the Cubs played their games at Horner Park- or in a domed stadium in Arlington Heights, they'd still have that big fan base. Sadly, I don't believe that's the case.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

Bullshit. Rickets owns the Cubs & Wrigley Field, & as a landmark, he cant do whatever the fuck he wants to Wrigley field...& thank God. Those assholes that own the rooftops pay big money to the Cubs each year as part of their revenue sharing deal with the team. As far as the Cubs leaving Wrigley Field & building a stadium in the suburbs, that should not & will never happen. Reinsdorf should have done that, but thats another story for another time.
Maybe you want to see Wrigley Field with corporate signage all over the fucking place, but I don't, & most Cubs fans dont either. All I want this dickhead to do is improve the product on the field, not the field itself. So far his priorities are out of whack.

_________________
CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

Joe, you will quickly learn that McNown is the appliance bulb in the high pressure sodium box.

_________________
We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.- Eric Hoffer

The fact taht he wants to put the signage up proves that he is trying to drum up revenue and clean up the liquidy shitstorm that the MIGHTY TRIBUNE COMPANY left the team in. What kills me is people calling and emailing shows and bitching about the team on the field and that the Shingles didn't do anything to improve said product on the field.

HE COULDN'T. The Trib approved shitty contracts like the DH in left field and the head case that is now the 8th inning guy. Should Hendry go? Yes, he has proven his incompetence. It does not make good business sense for a new owner to eat extremely large contracts like Soriano and Zambrano because the previous regime made them. Even trying to get 50 cents on the dollar for those guys is a horrible business move for the new ownership. The only way to improve this team is to sell additional add revenue inside the stadium. As a Sox fan, I applaud the move.

If everyone who is so stuck on the Relic staying the way it is, enjoy another losing season. By the way, MY favorite team sucks too, so there, I said it before I got ripped for it.

_________________

Moving a guy for .50 cents on the dollar is stupid?

So next year you coould have Tyler Colvin is LF for $400,000 and pay 1/2 of Soriano's salary elsewhere, costing you $9.4 M and thats not better than paying Soriano $18 M?

Yes, I do think Ricketts should have spent a little more money this year. Specifically on some bullpen help, that could have direclty resulted in some wins. Fact is after the first 14 games of the year the Cubs had a lead in every game.

The payroll issue is going to go away next year as it will actually start declining next year and in 2012 takes a huge decline when Z, Aramis, Fuku, Demp, Silva all those deals are up. Over $60 million comes due!!

My only issue with Ricketts is this year and his desire to win this year. I don' think he gave a shit. I think he accpeted that he bought a team that needed to let the cards play out and he just didnt care. He wants to win with the team and organization that he builds.

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

And you will quickly learn that anybody who disagrees with Mr. Reason is going to be attacked.

So why don't you give your thoughts on the thread instead of just firing a shot at me there Reason?

He didn't buy the Yankees...he bought the fucking CUBS!!!!

_________________
There goes one over the fence..Tru Link Fence..Beauty, Privacy Security....Call Tru Link.
Murph's Union 76 Truck Stop....A great Thanksgiving Tradition!!!!

WOO LIFE!!!!

GET REAL....He's supposed to eat bad contracts and go out and double the current payroll????
He buys the team and he's supposed to win the fucking World Series his first year for a segment of Cub fans that seems ENTITLED to THEIR BALLPARK AND THEIR TEAM?????

WAKE UP...IT IS HIS TEAM AND HIS BALLPARK....HE'S IN BUSINESS....HE WANTS REVENUE STREAMS....THESE PEOPLE BUY THESE FRANCHISES TO MAXIMIZE THEIR RESALE VALUE.....

If you don't like what he does, DON'T GO......Get this through your head....YOU ARE NOT A SPONSOR.....YOU DON'T HAVE A SUITE ON A SEASON BASIS....You don't have season tickets.....
You DON'T fucking matter.....Deal with it...It is the REAL WORLD...not your high school team.

_________________
There goes one over the fence..Tru Link Fence..Beauty, Privacy Security....Call Tru Link.
Murph's Union 76 Truck Stop....A great Thanksgiving Tradition!!!!

WOO LIFE!!!!

But everyone is stuck on the Relic staying the same way. That Relic is the Cubs. We can all sit around and say that the Cubs are more popular than the Sox and Chicago is a "Cub town" and on and on. But it really isn't true. Wrigley Field is more popular than wherever the Sox play. If you really think the Cubs would draw the way they do at a domed stadium in Schaumburg, you're fucking crazy.

You might believe that if the Cubs had more skyboxes they could make more money and be the Yankees. But if they were allowed to just plant an extra level of nboxes on top of that park, it would make what they did at Soldier Field seem normal. And it would ruin the park. I'm not a Cub fan. I don't care. In fact, I'll think it's funny when Wrigley isn't Wrigley anymore. The question is, when does that happen? Part of "the Wrigley experience" is all those morons paying $300 to sit 600 feet away on the rooftops. Go ahead block the view. Hell, put a dome on the motherfucker if you can. And then we'll see how popluar the Cubs really are.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

I long for the days when the Cub were not popular. I could buy a bleacher seat for 5 bucks the day of the game.
This franchise is a victim of success base solely on the atmosphere and not the product on the field. They have spent the last decade spending lots of money unwisely in an effort to appease the 15 motherfucking percent the show up to day baseball.
It's akin to someone winning the lottery. They didn't earn the money, so they don't know how to keep it.
The Cub earned none of their recent popularity by building a great baseball organization. I don't give a fuck if they are paid to paint the place pink as long as they use the money wisely and build an organization from the bottom up.
I hold out hope that Shingles is laying the foundation.

_________________
We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.- Eric Hoffer

I put some thought into the shot I took at you.

_________________
We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.- Eric Hoffer

You really have no clue do you? The Sox won the World Series 5 years ago and about a year after it happened this city stopped giving a shit and just went back to rooting for the Cubs. Blindness can be tolerated but only to a certain level. If you put the Sox in Wrigley there fans still wouldnt go. Your ballpark offers better parking(cheaper and closer) better food, better seating, and a better overall experience. To say that people just go for the ballpark is a weak ass excuse why you'r team can't draw for shit.

_________________

That's all anyone can do.
People HAVE to give the guy the benefit of the doubt.
Crazed Scorehead expects him to come in and fire the whole operation without having any replacements in mind...typical Hooterville idiocy.
Hendry probably will get fired....YOU DON'T DO IT IN APRIL.

_________________
There goes one over the fence..Tru Link Fence..Beauty, Privacy Security....Call Tru Link.
Murph's Union 76 Truck Stop....A great Thanksgiving Tradition!!!!

WOO LIFE!!!!

Except Ricketts' own survey shows 37% of people attending games at Jimmy Pasta Shrine are from OUT OF STATE.
Tourist Season begins in June.
The White Sox problem is they allegedly are selling "Baseball" to "Purists".
They are under .500 since 2007, so "PURISTS" aren't fooled by the shit product they patch together every Winter because they have NO FARM SYSTEM.

_________________
There goes one over the fence..Tru Link Fence..Beauty, Privacy Security....Call Tru Link.
Murph's Union 76 Truck Stop....A great Thanksgiving Tradition!!!!

WOO LIFE!!!!