...to Be a Cub

... Waveland Avenue. 'the Friendly Confines', ivy on outfield walls, 'Hey, hey..!! ', 'It might be, it could be...', 1969, 1984... Many words, phrases, and years evoke only one place and one team for a baseball fan ...Wrigley Field and the Chicago Cubs.

When you add the names ...Brickhouse, Williams, Santo, Sandberg, Caray, Smith, Durham, Sutcliffe, Dawson, Maddux, Wood, Zambrano ...when you add the remembrances of these individuals, and many more, sharing their experiences as a Chicago Cub ...there is no doubt What It Means to Be a Cub will be a paean to the life of a Cubs player and others closely associated with the team.

Photo credit: flickr user wfbakker2 via Wikimedia Commons

Read more about What It Means to Be a Cub on Epinions dot com.



...tom...
.

One of Iowa's finest...

...
One of Iowa's finest goes home...

" 'He was the best pitcher I ever faced,' Ted Williams once told me. 'He was the hardest thrower I ever faced, and he had the best curveball. I hit him pretty good, but he was great.' "

--Tim Kurkjian at sports.espn.go

Photo credit: clevelandseniors.com

This is too soon following the recent loss of Ron Santo. Another legend of the game gone from our lives and from baseball.


Rest easy Mr. Feller, rest easy my friend.



...tom...
.

A sad day in Wrigleyville...

...

Photo credit: flickr user wfbakker2 via Wikimedia Commons

Rest easy Mr. Santo, rest easy my friend.



...tom...

Dad Hits a Home Run...

...
Any baseball fan knows catching that ephemeral foul ball is the crowning moment of any baseball game. Well, other than that bottom of the ninth game-winning comeback. It is rather silly to attach so much value to a simple foul ball; but it does make you a part of the onfield struggle if only for that brief moment.


Now imagine catching that elusive foul ball, highfiving with the fans around you, handing the ball to your daughter as a special souvenir . . .and seeing her toss it back toward the field. Arrgggghhhhhhhh..!!





Just that scenario played out for a dad at a Philadelphia Phillies game overnight. But instead of being upset about it or standing dumbfounded with the realization of what his young 3-y/o daughter had just done . . .instead he reacts immediately to her questioning look -- 'What did I do wrong..?!?' -- as the fans around her gasped. Dad immediately envelopes her in the biggest and bestest daddy-hug ever. Letting her know that nothing was wrong and he loved her soooo much.


That my friends is what sports and baseball and family and dads and daughters are all about. It dont get better than that.


See the video here, on a local Phillie-area newscast clip. (And do note the video has already been ripped down from youtube.com "due to a copyright claim by [ the cold-hearted thugs of ] MLB Advanced Media." Sorry, a little editorializing there...)


Very nicely done Dad.



...tom...
.

I remember like...

...
I remember like it was yesterday...

American League Rookie of the Year in 1970.

Seven-time All-Star.

Runaway AL MVP in 1976.


I hated the NY Yankees ...still do. But I admired the talent, play, and heart of one Thurman Munson.


Thirty years ago today he died when his private jet crashed as he was making a series of practice landings.

Image source: wallyg at flickr.com

Image source: NY Daily News

Rest in peace, Thurman. You are gone but definitely not forgotten.


...tom...

Short ESPN video remembering Thurman.

.

SI covers me in memories...

...
We all have memories that take us back to a place or a time as if it were playing out in front of our eyes.

A song can dredge up a memory of that high school love that got away.

A smell can bring back the memory of Gramma's pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving or the smell of that once-special girl's hair.

The sight of the sun sinking into the sea can bring back the memory of that weekend at the beach.

First SI issue, August 16, 1954

For many sports fans memories are full of sports moments: football games, baseball games, college basketball. Sometimes those moments were shared by thousands in the stands, or perhaps just a few buddies in a living room or den, or even an afternoon watching by yourself.

For all the major sporting events over the last 50 years-plus the writers and photographers of Sports Illustrated, SI, have been there documenting the sights, sounds, and action.



Sports Illustrated Covers

You can jog many of your own sports memories by checking out the SI covers page at the SI website.


At that page there are various options to choose. You can choose to look at the 'Editor's Picks' or 'Most Popular' or 'the Latest' to start. There are also covers from various times in the past ( 5 Years Ago, 10 Years Ago, etc. ) down the page.

I know there used to be page where thumbnails of multiple pages were available for browsing. But dang if I could find it now.

Every issue's cover is still available by simply picking a cover and flipping either forward or back in time using the Next or Previous buttons. Indeed once you notice the numbers changing in the page URL you can jump forward or backward by changing the URLs.

Once at a particular cover page you can choose to read the articles in that issue or browse the actual issue itself in a separate reader window, if it is available. The old ads are fascinating..!




Sweet, sweet swimsuit issues, covers, and pics..!!

Every cover published is available. Including all the swimsuit covers...

The first one, published in 1964, was originally just a one-shot deal. But the popularity of it led to a repeat the next year ... and the rest is history as they say.

Of course, you can browse to the next few issues and read the 'swimsuit response letters' that have become such an SI legend after each issue. ...lol... indeed.

First swimsuit issue, January 20, 1964

The Bottom Line

The archives at SI dot com are a real treasure for any sports fan. Treat yourself to a few minutes of browsing through your own sports memories.


...tom...
.

See anybody you know..??

...
OK, this is pretty cool. I know, I know ...I am easily impressed by modern technology.

But if you are still at the level of enjoying snapshots and pictures from your vacation last year out west, some of which you actually managed to get posted on a free web picture site . . .well, you might be impressed with this bit of pixel prestidigitation also.

Say, isn't that Billy Crystal right there..?!?

July 4th, Yankee Stadium . . .but where did the shortstop and 3rd baseman go..??


...tom...
.