It’s an off day for the Cubs into our home opener so I figured we could have some brief light hearted fun going into tomorrow.
As it stands, I’m heading to the game with a standing room only ticket as I discussed on today’s Monday Morning Cubs Show with Mahoney. So let’s start there. We posted a show today:
This is the first off day show we’re doing of the year. The plan is to record every Sunday after the Cubs play and post the show immediately. If that sounds familiar, that was the plan last year too but it we had a difficult time staying on schedule. Some comments on that:
- We’re not doing video any more because it’s too much production work with graphic overlays and chapters and then I have to edit clips and that’s my least favorite part of any job I’ve ever had. Clipping your own show is a horrible use of time and it will derail the show before it even starts. So we’re just doing the audio and uploading it to Spotify and Apple right now until we find some decent help that’s worth having around. For now it’s just an audio show and I don’t want to hear two bad words about it.
- If we only do audio then I’m positive we can post a consistent show on Sunday night into Monday morning and that’s the most important thing for the duration of the season
- I’m soft on interviews right now and would rather just focus on building up the show and rapport with Mahoney so you guys are comfortable with our dynamic
- This is too much sausage making but I’m trying to be transparent
- We’ll post a show in the morning of every off day.
- Upcoming shows:
- Monday April 7
- Thursday April 10
- Monday April 14
- Thursday April 17
The big question today that I enjoyed most was What Time Do You Arrive For A Promotional Item?
I think a lot of that depends on the item.
Bobbleheads are going to draw about 30% of paid attendance. And most of that is going to be on time and ready for the bobblehead.
Conversely magnet schedule draws roughly 2% of paid attendance. That’s about as low risk as it gets when talking about promotional items. As long as you show up with a pulse then you should get the magnet.
But what a bout 10,000 nice flannels?
I think a quality, low-volume item like a flannel requires you to be in the park one hour before 1st pitch. That’s the cutoff for being disappointed if you missed out on a flannel. Anything closer to 1st pitch and you’re simply too close to be angry. You have to give yourself an appropriate buffer and my calculations say that’s 60 minutes before first pitch for 1:20pm starts and 75 minutes for a night game.
Add 10 minutes for Saturdays.
Subtract 10 minutes for Sundays.
I think those are good rules but I’m always looking for feedback. So don’t be bashful if you’re seasoned in Wrigley promotional giveaways. I keep the comment sections open for a reason.
In other news…
I’m starting the day tomorrow in Roscoe Village at a familiar pub and then I’m making my way east to Wrigley over the course of 1-1.5 hours. I should get into the neighborhood around 10am and I’m picking Roscoe Village because it’s my old stomping grounds with good parking.
It’s also about a mile to Wrigley and a very scenic bike ride down Addison provided you don’t get side swiped by a Range Rover.
My goal is to have only 3-4 beers before 1st pitch with at least one full meal and hopefully one full appetizer.
Then I’m going Standing Room Only tomorrow put spending most of my time in the 200-level concourse breathing in the fresh air down the left field line. I think that’s a good homebase when you’re SRO. I prefer it much more to right field because I like spilling out onto clark right away compared to Sheffield. There’s just something about that RF entrance that rubs me the wrong way compared to LF by the fire station. So given a choice, I prefer the left field line but it’s not a dealbreaker.
The big dealbreaker is whether or not the Cubs extend Kyle Tucker and tomorrow represents the first great opportunity to raise hell on Tom Ricketts’ watch. The longer this goes on the more likely King Tuck gets into the $400M+ range and it would just save a lot of time and trouble to pay the guy now.
So if I see Tom Ricketts tomorrow, I promise you guys I’ll tell him politely to his face that the demand and price is only going up. So do everyone’s mental health a favor and just spend the couple hundred million on the baseball player right now.
In other news, some closing thoughts on opening day:
- I’m excited for my first beer at Sluggers. That’s easily the #1 bar in Wrigley and one of the best across Chicago
- I’m debating a burger from Small Cheval. I think it’s disingenuous for opening day when I could hit better local spots. But I also know that I’m hitting Shake Shack after and so I might want to mix it up. This one’s very hard on me because I love Shake Shack.
- Is it weird that one of my favorite things about Wrigley is sitting peacefully in Gallagher Way during the 4th and 5th innings? I think so and I don’t care because it’s simply one of my favorite things. Jumbotron and atmosphere and getting one of those tables for yourself on a nice day? Hell yes. Hell yes. Hell yes.
- I ate too many magic mushrooms at a Wrigley concert a few years back and ended up having a full blown conversation with the Ron Santo statue and it was pretty heavy stuff if we’re being honest
- Absolute must stops for me tomorrow:
- Sluggers
- Stretch
- Yak Zies
- Murphys
- Four Moon (Roscoe Village)
I’ll be around with free samples from Sterk Family Farms so say something if you see something.
Until then everyone have a nice safe night.