Good to be back

Hello, everyone. I’ve been in Chicago the past couple of days. Did I miss anything while I was gone?

Of course, when I say I was “in Chicago,” what I really mean is, I was in the northwest suburbs — Elk Grove Village, to be exact. I went up for some work-related training.

But while I was there, you’ll never guess what I did. I went to a Cubs game. Yep, the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Not only that, but the night I was there (Tuesday, 9/1), they won! I think just having a Cardinals fan in the house brought them good luck against another Central Division rival.

I have to admit, I really like Wrigley Field. It’s a neighborhood ballpark. It really is. You go in there, and there’s this feeling like you’re all friends, these are all your neighbors, and you’re just hanging out at the ballgame, like people might hang out at the Chiefs game here in Peoria (except that the tickets are about six times as much at Wrigley). We had great seats, too — right behind home plate, about 20 rows back.

With such a great ballpark that, thankfully, has not been torn down or abandoned yet, it’s really a shame that the Cubs organization can’t seem to field a team that’s a real contender. But on the other hand, if they ever did, then the Cubs might get more popular, and then they’d have to build a bigger, newer, fancier stadium somewhere else in Chicago, and ticket prices would go up, and… well, things just wouldn’t be the same.

Incidentally, all during the game, I kept my eye on the manual scoreboard out in center field. I watched as they updated the score on the St. Louis – Milwaukee game. The Cardinals, of course, won. Again. It’s been three years since the Cards won the World Series. It’s about time for them to bring home the trophy again.