It was fun to follow along with the Blackhawks’ win last night, claiming their third Stanley Cup in the last six seasons (making them the Giants of hockey). I’m not a hockey guy by trade, but I was pulling pretty hard for the Hawks last night, at least for the vicarious joy of seeing so many folks I like really happy. Cubs fans don’t get a lot of that, so I’m happy for them when they do – even if it’s not about the Cubs.
Speaking of which, here’s hoping there’s no such thing as a pool of positive joojoo that each city gets at any given time, and the Blackhawks haven’t been using it all up in Chicago for the last six years.
The Hawks-Cubs connection extended all the way to Wrigley Field last night, where the masses gathered to watch the game in the various bars and restaurants in Wrigleyville poured into the streets after the game was over, and yield absolutely crazy shots like these:
If that’s what the place looked like last night when the Hawks won the Stanley Cup some five miles south for the third time in six years, I truly cannot picture what it will be like when the Cubs win the World Series. Is the entire city going to just be a gigantic blue dogpile? A writhing mass of booze-fueled ecstasy and hedonism? Whatever the case, I’ll be there. Hopefully somewhere near the top.
Anthony Rizzo was at the game last night thanks to the Cubs’ postponement (insert David Puddy’s “Gotta support the team!”):
If you missed the news yesterday – how could you!? – Neil Ramirez is headed to AA Tennessee to start a rehab assignment on Wednesday, which is obviously very significant. Ramirez is recovering from shoulder inflammation that has kept him out since April 15, and, if he’s able to return strong and healthy for the second half of the season, the potential impact to the Cubs could be huge. Joe Maddon is excited about the possibility (CSN), and I can’t wait to get some eyes on Ramirez when he makes his first AA appearance. How’s the stuff looking? How’s his velocity? Ramirez was so good last year because his slider was crazy sharp, and his fastball velocity played up to the 96mph range out of the pen.
Reds manager Bryan Price still doesn’t regret the content of his diatribe in April about media reporting information he doesn’t want out in public (USA Today).
Luke talked about the Kyle Schwarber promotion earlier this morning, and here is the news from last night if you missed it.