Today is Thursday June 12th and that means the US Open is officially underway. So good luck to all participants and hopefully you got a chance to read the US Open preview that’s been at the top of the page for the past couple days.
On that note, I’ve been absent due to some bad crab cakes that have rendered me borderline unmovable and inoperable. I’ll never get the fluids back that have been lost but I will recover, homemade remoulade be damned.
In that spirit, I’ve got a couple good things to talk about today that should be of some interest:
- Jonathan Lucroy apparently wants to hit me groundballs because he’s a fucking moron alongside so many other people on the internet. Matt Shaw is the gift that keeps giving and I will milk that cow until the well runs good and dry. That is a promise and no amount of brazen morons will get me to come down on it.
- Ben Brown kinda sucks, no? We’ve talked a lot about him this year on the Monday Morning Cubs Show and it’s trending back towards him being a shitty major league starting pitcher. He could have a future in the bullpen but I think that’s a decision he has to make.
- I also want to talk about Ben Brown’s media sessions and how much they make me puke. Maybe it’s a two part blog. Part 1 could be the serious stuff, like his inability to throw a 3rd pitch and abject failure to locate a fastball with conviction. Then Part 2 can be about his cake eating media sessions after giving up 6 earned in a rubber a match. There’s plenty of material for both.
- My friend passed away last week. The funeral was Tuesday. He was a diehard Sox fan and one of the coolest guys I ever met in my life. He was friends with everyone and had more soul than everyone reading this and everyone you know. For a naturally gifted person, he certainly loved an underdog and more importantly, rallying around underdogs with others. There’s nobody else in my life that I can compare him to and I’m lucky to have been a friend.
- I should retell this story in longer detail. But one of my favorites from back home and I wasn’t there personally. But his brother was one of my close running mates in high school, Andy and one night Andy is hanging out in a parking lot. I think booze was involved. Again I wasn’t there. But it’s been retold plenty. Andy is in a parking lot drinking beers when the cops show up. Something like that. There’s a group of teenagers drinking in a public setting. Cops show up and Andy gets busted. Some other people get away. Someone calls Andy’s older brother Marko. That’s my friend who just passed away. Andy’s older brother who just moved back home from California. Or maybe he was home visiting. But he was definitely home and someone called him and said Andy’s in deep shit. He’s about to get arrested. Now important to note this was in Blue Island, which is a neighboring suburb of Chicago. And in Blue Island, they will arrest you for stuff like teenagers drinking in a parking lot. In Chicago, you’d get a ride home and maybe a warning or stern look. In Blue Island you spend the night in the slammer. So Marko comes hauling up to the scene of the crime after getting the phone call. He explains to the Cops That’s my little brother, I’ll take him home. No Can Do they tell Marko. He got busted for drinking. He can’t go home. So Marko says “You don’t understand. That’s my little brother. He’s coming home with me.” And the cops said He’s going to jail tonight and there’s nothing you can do about it. So Marko said “Alright well I guess I’m coming with him.” And then he lightly shoved the cop. And then that cop put him in handcuffs and into the back of a paddywagon where Andy was already waiting. WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE Andy asked. And Marko told him. It’s easier for me to explain to Mom and Dad that we both got arrested. Or something like that because, again, I wasn’t there. But that’s basically what happened to the best that I can remember and that’s an awesome older brother moment. They got out just fine and life moved on but talk about being there for the people you love. Even if admittedly a stupid move, he was always loyal and his friends will miss him tremendously.
- Those crab cakes are still putting a beating on me if we’re being honest
- I am very mad at Cubs fans that are mad at a 4-5 road trip that included starts against Mackenzie Gore, Tarik Skubal and Zach Wheeler
- People are so stupid. Like it’s almost impossible for me to explain from my perspective but it’s never been more true and obvious than me blatantly criticizing Matt Shaw. I can’t wait for him to make another nice play.
Big 4 game series starting tonight against the Pirates.
Everyone have a nice Thursday.