Video Week: Bullpen Hijinks

Welcome to the first ever Sean's Ramblings Video Week. While I generally only post videos on Fridays, I wanted an excuse to share multiple videos that deserve separate blog posts. Hence, video week!

Last week, there was a rain delay during the Chicago Cubs-Arizona Diamondbacks game at Wrigley Field. Apparently, there are cameras in each bullpen so the opposing teams can see what the other team is doing. That led to this "competition" to make the other team laugh.



This certainly made me and The Moose laugh!

Random Ramblings

1. It's never good when you get call from my son's elementary school. Earlier this week, I received this message regarding my five year old, The Moose.

This is [school nurse] at the [elementary school] health room and I just wanted to let you know that [The Moose] was here in the health room. He was accidentally hit on his right eye by another student's bottom at recess. He could see without difficulty. There was no redness and he did stay here with me for 20 minutes with ice next to his eye just for comfort. He wasn't upset or anything like that, and I did not see any adverse symptoms, so he did go back to class and just wanted to let you.

I'm not sure why the nurse needed to include that he was hit "by another student's bottom." I think accidentally by another student is sufficient. Adding the bottom part, while funny after hearing that he was fine, seems a bit humiliating.

2. I had big plans for this weekend between coaching my son's soccer game, attending a neighborhood Halloween party, and of course, going to Wegmans. All of these plans are cancelled. Instead I'm going to wait at home for Miley Cyrus to visit and encourage me to vote. When she comes to my door, I plan on playing a Britney or Jay-Z song so that she put her hands up, nods her head like yeah, and moves her hips like yeah.

3. On Thursday, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump appeared at the Al Smith charity dinner hosted by the Catholic Archdiocese of New York. Just out of curiosity, when do you think the two of them will be at the same place at the same time again? My guess is that it will be at least two years if ever.

4. With apologies to fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the entire country should be rooting for the Chicago Cubs to make the World Series. Instead of non-stop election coverage, every news outlet will cover the Cubs making their fist World Series appearance since 1945 and trying to win for the first time since 1908. Now, I'm completely fine with them losing, especially since Cleveland hasn't won a World Series since 1948, but a long series will be a fantastic distraction from the election.

5. Please like Sean's Ramblings on Facebook. I'm going to apply for media credentials for the Oscars (more on this later), and I probably need more Facebook likes for them to consider my application seriously. I think 50,000 likes should do it!

6. Finally, let's end this week with a video. This is Heathens by Twenty One Pilots from the movie Suicide Squad which I think was a big deal for about a week before leaving theaters pretty quickly. In my opinion, this song has a legitimate chance of getting an Oscar nomination. If that happens, maybe I can ask them questions from the red carpet!

The Jake Arrieta Tweet

On Sunday, Chicago Cubs pitcher and possible 2015 National League Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta replied to a Tweet by a parody account.

Naturally, Cubs and Pirates fans went crazy. Cubs fans supported their ace as Pirates fans treated Arrieta as a villain. As a Pirates fan, time to pile on!

Jake - You've had an amazing season. You may even win on Wednesday night. However, do you really need to trash talk? Let's look a little closer.

If you're so good, why are you only making $3,630,000? That may seem like a lot of money (because it is), but that's significantly less than these other Cubs pitchers: Trevor Cahill, Jason Hammel, Dan Haren, Tommy Hunger, Jon Lester, Fernando Rodney, Tsuyoshi Wada and Travis Wood.

Before joining the Cubs in July 2013, you were 20-25 with a 5.46 ERA. That's not good. Any chance you might revert back to your Baltimore Orioles form on Wednesday? (Probably not.)

Let's take a look at your post-season record. Oh, you've never been in the postseason. So all of a sudden you're going to become Madison Bumgarner? First playoff game in your career, and it will be at a rocking PNC Park. You might be a little nervous or over-excited.

Most importantly, look at your jersey. You are on the Chicago Cubs. Are you aware of the team's history? The team's last World Series Championship was in 1908. 1908! Maybe hold off on the trash talk a bit until you do something.

Again, maybe you'll win on Wednesday. The Cubs are favored due to Arrieta's dominance this year. However, act like you've been there before. Act is the key word though since you haven't actually been there before.

Let's Go Bucs!

Revisiting My 1997 Road Trip: Chicago (Part I)

I mentioned last week that to celebrate the 15-year anniversary of my 1997 cross-country road trip, I wanted to share stories from the journal I kept during the trip. After a lengthy search, I found the journal! As a surprise to probably no one that reads this blog, my journal entries appear to be much longer than needed (you know, like most of my blog posts). Therefore, instead of sharing entire journal entries, I’m going to use some excerpts and provide a few comments from today. I’m also not including specific names except when I do!

6/17/97 (Journal entry date)

After an exciting time packing and loading the car, my brother and I left Pittsburgh in route to Chicago. We drove through miles of Ohio and Indiana farmland and arrived at Northwestern after 9 hours.

Besides that and some dinner at the St. Louis Bread Company, I was so tired that I was asleep by 11.

Sean's Note: 15 years later, I regularly fall asleep before 11 even on weekends. I also fall asleep on the couch watching TV at least 2-3 times per week.

6/18/97

Following the party, a group of seven crammed into a car and headed down to the Northwestern Senior Week site. However, when we drove by the place, it was packed and there was a long line outside. Therefore, we went down to Wrigleyville. After finding two bars almost completely empty (what did we expect with the Cubs not playing at home and it being a Monday night). (Sean’s note: This is not a sentence!) Finally, we went to a bar and Laurie was able my brother in.

I have no idea who Laurie is. It has to be a friend of a friend.

She told the drunk bouncer Billy that my brother was the designated driver. Drunk Billy started praising my brother for being such a great guy to take responsibility of the group. My brother was encouraged to have free pop and coffee and anything else non-alcoholic. Billy told my brother that it was very admirable to be the DD, but if he drank anything, he would literally kick him out the door. My brother complied. My highlight of the evening was seeing the outside of Wrigley Field and getting a cup from the bar (although the cup says The Cubby Bear, which is another bar down the street).

My brother was 19 during the trip. As someone who rarely goes to bars anymore, I mention this since Billy the Bouncer let him into the bar despite being underage. Would this happen at most bars? Does the fact that he served as the designated driver make a difference?


6/20/97 (Writing about Tuesday, June 17)

My brother, my friend and I got lunch at a really good Chicago pizza place. Their deep dish pizza is incredible and very filing. Somehow my brother and I were able to finish our portions.

I added this just to prove that I ate Chicago pizza during the trip.

The only unfortunate part of the conversation with [a different friend] was that we left for the Cubs-White Sox game later than we wanted. We left Northwestern at around 5:15 and didn’t park the car until almost 8. The traffic was ridiculous and circling Comiskey Park was also dreadful. Finally, we paid $15 (about the same as the tickets) to park in a big driveway a few blocks from the stadium.

1997 was the first year of interleague baseball, and this was the second game of the Cubs-White Sox series. This was obviously a huge deal in Chicago. Regardless of the importance of the game, I hate being late to a sporting event, especially at a stadium I never visited previously. I really enjoy checking out stadiums and arenas and seeing what makes them unique from other ballparks. Finally, since we had limited funds for the road trip, spending $15 for parking didn’t make me happy. This was by far the most I had ever paid to park, and I still pay less than $15 when I attend Pirates games in Pittsburgh.

When we finally got to our upper-level 2rd base seats, it was the top of the 4th inning. The Sox were already up 2-0 and the fans were really into the game. The great thing about this game was that Cubs and Sox fans were in the same section, cheering for their teams, but most importantly, having a great time. A huge peanut fight broke out in front of us (I guess this was a food fight?) and two guys were battling with inflatable Cubs and Sox bats. A few sections over, a Cubs fan with red and blue body paint and a Go Cubs sign was parading up and down the aisle mooning and the Sox fans and having a great time. He was quickly ejected. The Sox ended up winning 5-3 but all the fans (at least that we were with) really enjoyed the game.

Even 15 years later, I’m amazed by how well the fans behaved. There were probably equal numbers of Cubs and Sox fans and there is (and was) a rivalry between the two franchises and fan bases. I think the uniqueness of the teams facing each other made it a game people wanted to see. Of course, at that point, both teams also went 80+ years without a World Series title.

Just for fun, I found the box score from the game. I have no recollection of Doug Drabek pitching for the White Sox that day or one of my favorite Pirates, Dave Clark, serving as the Designated Hitter for the Cubs.

More from Chicago and St. Louis during my next update of the 1997 Road Trip.

Chicago Notes

Why do people, more specifically, women, dress up to go shopping? I would think that you would want to dress comfortably and wear clothes that are easy to take on and off in case you would like to try on new clothes at the stores. Is this a Pretty Woman thing (meaning that a "nice" store wouldn’t want your business if you’re not dressed well)?

I saw a billboard for Chicago’s True Oldies radio station 94.7, which simply stated Monkees, Stones, Aretha. Now I like the Monkees (I’m sure that you are shocked by this statement based on my recent Neil Diamond posts), but they really don’t belong in the same class as The Rolling Stones or Aretha Franklin. The Oldies station may want to include The Beatles on its next billboards.

I ate dinner at an Italian restaurant in my fancy Chicago hotel and noticed something odd. There was a living fly stuck inside the parmesan cheese container on my table. I pointed it out to my waiter who looked confused when I asked him to remove the cheese. When I showed him the fly, he just said oh, and quickly took it away. There was no more discussion about the fly or the cheese. I should also mention that this dinner took place before the sprinkler issue.

Finally, I spent four days in Chicago and never make it to a Cubs game. Couldn’t the team schedule one game a series at night?

It's nice to be home!