A Good Year for the Outlaw

I don’t pay much attention to baseball anymore, outside of checking the standings here and there. But what with Sosa’s name back in the news (one of the guys who made me feel the way I know feel about baseball), and the latest folly at Wrigley Dump this evening, I gotta comment.

I understand 40,000 people filed into Wrigley Landfill this evening, despite rain, fog, and chill, to prepare for the so-called Crosstown Classic with the White Sox. But wait, apparently the forecast and weather outlook for the evening made it pretty much a given as early as 3pm that there would be no game tonight. Too much rain, low ceiling fog, it would have been a bad idea to try and play tonight with an afternoon game (still stupid…playing midweek afternoon games that aren’t getaway days, but that’s Cubs baseball for you).

But instead of calling the game early and saving the folks interested enough to buy tickets a trip down to Wrigley Sewage Treatment Plant, the Cub brass decided to wait until the park was full, the radio and TV networks had spent the money to get on the air and get ready to do a game, and then they call the thing.

Why wait so long? Simple. Greed. Pure and simple greed. Because despite the fact each of those 40,000 folks gets a rain check, the Cubs also got something like this tonight between the time the gates opened and the park was later emptied:

35,000 beers at about 6 bucks
16,000 dogs at about 5 bucks
25,000 sodas at about 5 bucks
an assortment of other items sold – souvenirs, pretzels, brats, and whatever else they sell at an inflated price at Wrigley RatInfested Shithouse.

In other words, the Cubs took in about a million bucks…and didn’t spend nearly that much on materials and help…to have those duped people sit there for two hours and then not see a game.

Greed. It’s the baseball way. Stay Classy, Cubs.