That there Reds rally monkey was a gift to the Little Girl from friends in Cincinnati. She was determined to take the monkey with her to daycare yesterday, but I was concerned that folks would get the wrong idea if they saw her with a Reds monkey. This here is a Chicago Cubs household. So, as she left the house, I reminded her of her loyalty, asking her favorite baseball team.
“Cuuuuz.”
That’s her saying Cubs. I’ve taught her well. When I got to daycare that afternoon to pick her up, I was informed that my daughter – 18 months – had told everyone that the monkey’s name was “Cuuuuz,” which they correctly understood to be “Cubs.” I’m not sure I’ve ever been, or ever will be, more proud.
(And, appropriately, with a rally monkey named “Cubs,” the Reds lost for the third game in a row, and now go home. The Little Girl was literally clutching “Cubs” as Scott Rolen struck out to end the game. I think the Reds need a better rally monkey.)
Tom Ricketts wrote a letter to season ticket holders, which is a nice gesture, but there isn’t a whole lot of meat in it. Just some basic rah-rah stuff, which is, of course, just fine. One point worth quoting: “Our number one goal is to reward loyal generations of Cubs fans with a World Series and we’re reinvesting every dollar spent by our fans into the franchise to achieve that goal.” Ricketts has said this before, but I think it’s worth highlighting each time. (Though, the former professional quote-parser in me wants to say that, technically, Ricketts didn’t promise to reinvest every dollar that comes in the door, as he’s said previously. This time, technically, he said they’ll be reinvesting every dollar “spent by our fans.” So, technically, advertising revenue and television contract money wouldn’t quite qualify under that standard. Technically. (I don’t actually think he meant to build himself that out.))
I was on the Midway Madness podcast yesterday to talk about the Cubs’ 2012 season, upcoming offseason, and 2013 season. Paul Sullivan was also on the ‘cast, but I got top billing. What up. No big deal. (Yeah, I think that was just a coincidence. But I’ll still claim it. Like a boss.)
Various Cubs officials and Kerry Wood were on hand yesterday for the ground breaking of the very cool, but awkwardly-named, Kerry Wood Cubs Field at Lane Tech. The $5 million field is coming courtesy of the Cubs, Chicago Cubs Charities, the city of Chicago, and the Wood Family Foundation, and will provide an excellent public facility for area high schools.
Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here.
Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.
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NEWSLETTER
That there Reds rally monkey was a gift to the Little Girl from friends in Cincinnati. She was determined to take the monkey with her to daycare yesterday, but I was concerned that folks would get the wrong idea if they saw her with a Reds monkey. This here is a Chicago Cubs household. So, as she left the house, I reminded her of her loyalty, asking her favorite baseball team.
