The answer's not clear yet, is it?
Sure, by Monday, both the Cubs and the Sox may be out of the playoffs. October may have come and gone without a single postseason victory between either North or South Side ballclub. It's unacceptable.
But then again, football rules in this town. If the Bears pull another 2007 - in other words, they don't make a postseason appearance like their baseball counterparts - then perhaps all is most lost in that regard.
That's the question posed by Newsday's excellent baseball writer Ken Davidoff in this Sunday column. It's probably not a focus this morning in Wrigleyville, waking up after a champagne-soaked celebration, but it's an interesting hypothetical while you're waiting for October. Davidoff seeks out one expert opinion:
"If one is thinking of the sale of the Cubs, there are one of two ways in which this could be seen," said Andrew Zimbalist, a sports economist at Smith College. "One would involve evaluating the portfolios of the major bidders at this point. Certainly the Ricketts family, which seems to be the front-runner by a good margin at this point, their fortune is in private equity investments. One would think that they have been hit significantly by this, and that might influence their wherewithal.
"But also the baseball model, and the model of all sports since about 1990, has been to cater to the more rapidly growing income groups. The corporate executives, the top people in the financial sector, to make money off corporate suites and club suites. These are the population sectors that are getting hit hard right now. It seems to me logical that the sports model is going to be taking a little bit of a hit. I do think that team revenue growth, 11 percent a year, that's not going to continue. It's even more likely you'll see diminution of revenue in the next year or two."
A reader passed along a note to The Heat Index letting us know that a Naperville resident sang the national anthem before the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Aug. 8. Here is the clip of 16-year-old Lindsey Heckes belting out the star spangled banner. Although, this article says her name is Lindsay Heckes and her parents live in Lakeville. Either way, she can sing.
UPDATE: I'm told that Lindsey is the correct spelling and that she is a junior at Naperville North.
Cubs general manager Jim Hendry considered himself a purist, but came around on the idea of instant replay, reasoning: "(Once) the umpires felt it was appropriate, how can you go against that?"
Umpire supervisor Larry Young outlined the procedure at Wrigley Field on Thursday before it went into effect. Young emphasized that replay is limited to home run calls, and said he doesn't expect it to widen in scope.
The crew chief is ultimately responsible for making the call, and once he decides to look at the video on a monitor, he'll receive feeds from an MLB office in New York. Officials are aiming for reviews that last for about two minutes and 30 seconds. Cubs manager Lou Piniella won't be throwing any challenge flags onto the field.
"Ready or not," Piniella said before Thursday's game. "Listen, (I) think it's a good idea. Look, we have all the confidence in the world in the umpires. They do their jobs (very) professionally and very accurately. But there's an instance where they both can get a play (correct).
"Am I ready for replay? Yes."
Are you ready for instant replay? Has baseball lost part of its identity here? Will this be a small, measured step, or the first move toward replay of balls and strikes, calls at first base and catches in left field?
Cubs manager Lou Piniella was in a good mood after Thursday night's 6-4 win, walking into the interview room, past the microphone and straight toward the Japanese reporters who cover Kosuke Fukudome.
He smiled broadly and thanked them for the sake they gave him for his 65th birthday, and said they'll all have some tomorrow. That's how Lou rolls.
Lou Piniella, who turns 65 on Thursday, doesn't come across as particularly slick when he talks about the "Cubbies." Sometimes he'll mangle words, or mispronounce a name, or drift during his pregame media briefings. At those moments, you might forget just how competitive Piniella is, or how calculating the manager can be.
Right now is a good time to be young, rich and part of the Cubs. In this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, Luke Winn has a detailed article on Jeff Samardzija and how he wound up on the North Side instead of the NFL.
Within that piece, comparisons are made between Lou Piniella's bullpen and the one he managed in Cincinnati - The Nasty Boys. For some historical perspective on Piniella and his legendary temper, check out veteran baseball writer Hal McCoy's excellent blog:
(Rob) Dibble was his closer and there was a situation for him to close. Dibble didn't close and when I asked Dibble why he said, "Go ask the manager."
So I did. And Lou said, "He told me before the game his arm was a bit sore and he wasn't available."
So I returned to Dibble and told him what Piniella said and Dibble screamed, "The manager is a liar."
So I trudged back into Lou's office and said, "Your closer just called you a liar."
Piniella flattened me against his office door and he sprinted to the clubhouse, jumped on Dibble and the fight was on.
Right around the time sirens were blaring across Chicago on Monday night, warning of a potential tornado, television cameras caught Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder shoving pitcher Manny Parra in a dugout altercation in Cincinnati.
That incident blew up a year and two days after manager Ned Yost became entangled in another dugout incident with former Brewers Johnny Estrada and infielder Tony Graffanino.
If team chemistry means anything, Cubs fans should be encouraged by the reaction from Scott Eyre on Tuesday, when the struggling reliever (2-0, 7.15 ERA) was designated for assignment to make room for All-Star closer Kerry Wood on the 25-man roster.
"I enjoyed my time here in Chicago," Eyre said. "I wish it would've turned out different. But I tell you what - the hardest part is saying goodbye to teammates. It's a great bunch of guys, great place to play. And it's unbelievable fans - last night's game is a testament to what they're all about here.
"You can't really go and complain and say, 'Hey, I want to pitch' cause everyone's doing so well. ...Trust me, I'm cheering for everyone to do well, even now and I'll continue to do that the rest of the summer."
Eyre was forced to stand on the side of the stage in the interview room, so the Cubs logo on a microphone or backdrop wouldn't make the television shot, which seemed petty, especially since this guy was on the verge of tears.
"I have no ill feelings," Eyre said, "and I mean that truly."
Ryne Sandberg was a 21-year-old September call-up with the Philadelphia Phillies when he traveled to Chicago in 1981 for his first game at Wrigley Field.
"Once I stepped foot (on) the field," the Peoria Chiefs manager recalled Tuesday, "I was in awe of the whole situation."
The Brewers and Cubs took over the National League Central's high-rent district this week with their acquisitions of CC Sabathia and Rich Harden.
Jerry Hairston Jr. will enter free agency at season's end, but he appreciates the young nucleus his Reds possess. And he respects Cincinnati president of baseball operations/general manager Walt Jocketty, the architect who helped build St. Louis into a World Series champion in 2006.
"We understand where Milwaukee's at and where Chicago's at," Hairston said. "And hey, you know, I don't worry about what Milwaukee's doin'. I don't worry about what Chicago's doin'. I worry about what the Reds are doin', you know, and I like where we're at."
The Naperville North graduate had to leave about 19 tickets at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night, and received a day off Wednesday. After batting .261 with a .336 on-base percentage in 114 games for the Cubs in 2005, he was traded to Texas in May 2006.
Hairston remains close with Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee, and has been reunited in Cincinnati with former Cubs manager Dusty Baker.
"It's unfortunate, Dusty really got a bad rap here. It's just one of those things where...it's amazing," Hairston said. "Dusty didn't have that payroll over there - let's get that straight. They're extremely talented over there (and) they kind of stacked that team, you know, Dusty didn't have that over there. The team they did have, everybody was always injured.
"It just didn't work out."
The Brewers are betting big on CC Sabathia, and the 290-pound pitcher's impact will be felt on the North Side of Chicago, where the Cubs suddenly find themselves in the National League's most compelling division. Of all the potential ramifications to this trade, here's one that rippled to Aurora and Waubonsie Valley. Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald reports:
In the past few days, according to a source with knowledge of the talks between the Indians and Red Sox, Cleveland did not come down from its request of one package headlined by right-hander Michael Bowden, the other featuring the Sox' best position-player prospects, including Lars Anderson, Jed Lowrie and Josh Reddick.
