Wrigley Field Should Be Torn Down

Last week, my company had a Plant Manager's meeting at our place, and one "activity" I got to be involved with was a Cubs game on Wednesday night. We actually rented two of the "skyboxes" where you have a room, food, and beer, as well as 15 seats per box. What a way to see Wrigley for the first time, right (or maybe you think sitting in the bleachers is the way to go? More on this later)?

All 30 of us took a bus to Chicago from NW Indiana. The bus driver, however, got off Lake Shore Drive WAY before he should have. You can roll off of Lake Shore right on to Addison and go directly to the game. This guy took us basically through the heart of the north side, passing the water tower that is the only remnant left after the Chicago fire.

We passed a place I had a burger at around 1:00 a.m. one night back in 1995. It's close to Barry Avenue, where a few of my friends used to live. This is the cool part of Chicago. Lots of great restaurants and taverns. I wrote about my visits here in my zine, The Sh!tty, back in those days.

We get to Wrigley, and it's the 3rd inning. There's a guy in the street with a glove and a ball he said was Soriano's lead-off homer in the first inning. It would be the only run of the night for either team.

As we wind our way to the boxes, I'm amazed at how old and open looking the ball park is. My first thought is, "This reminds me of John O'Donnell stadium when I was a kid." Since then, JO'D has had a major facelift. And it's a Single-A, minor league ballpark.

It's basically a maze to get to the boxes. You go up some stairs, wind your way backwards, down some stairs, and up some stairs again to get on a catwalk that goes to the doors of the boxes. As you walk along this catwalk, under a roof, you can look down into the seats of the people below you. There is NO WAY these people can watch pop up flies because of the roof and the skyboxes in front of them. Made me want to get my guitar and go out on the catwalk. "Hi there. I wrote a little song I'd like to play for you right now. Goes somethin' like this..." It was just bizarre.

I guess it didn't always used to be this way. They put the skyboxes in to make more money, along with the lights for night games, that started in 1988.

The skyboxes were a bit crowded for 15 people. Once people got a beer and some food, they rambled out into the seats and it eased up a bit. The guy I went to Dark Lord Day with switched one of the TVs to the White Sox game. We ended up watching the end of that one after the Cubs game was done.

One of the guys I was with was asking about the netting above us on the roof. I said, "Don't worry, that netting is there to protect us from large slabs of concrete falling from the roof." Unless I was down on the front row, I couldn't see any pop-ups. The folks in the bleachers looked like they were having fun. They were yelling stuff in unison during the late innings. Sort of reminded me of line dancing for some reason.

I was looking for the pitch count at one time. It finally showed up on one of the 3 electronic score boards. That big green monstrosity in center field needs to be updated. There was no place to see the lineup.

I was asked by one of the Plant Manager's, "Isn't this great? Think of the history here." I just wasn't impressed. Now, Yankee Stadium, with it's 26 World Series championships, that's pretty amazing. How many championships have the Cubs won in Wrigley? None. Yet people still keep coming, and I really don't understand why.

I want to go into a rant about mediocrity and apathy right about here, but I don't believe I will. I understand some of the appeal with Wrigley, but I also think that if Yankee stadium and Lambeau field can undergo successful renovation, then Wrigley can as well, without "losing the charm." People tell me it's a great place to watch a ball game and drink beer on a summer day, well, great. There are probably other outdoor places within Chicago where you can get a beer and it won't set you back $5.75.

Anyway, if anyone wants a seldomly worn, fitted Cubs hat, size 7 and a quarter, I'll give it to you. I'm sticking with the south siders from now on.

Define Your Life in a Song

Yesterday, my wife asked me over coffee if I could choose one song to define my life, what would it be.

This just made me laugh, because at any given moment, I'm hearing music in my head. My niece once said, "You could say the word 'the' and Jesse would come out with some song that referred to it." So for me to sum it all up with one tune would be pretty unlikely.

Then, as I was checking my email, the daily digest of Drive-By Trucker messages was discussing the new Wilco album that is coming out. Some people said that they did not enjoy the latest Wilco studio release, "A Ghost Is Born." While I agree that there are some songs on there that are grating to me, there are some good ones as well. But my favorite, by far, is the 2nd tune on the disc, "Hell is Chrome."

"Hell is Chrome" is probably one of the greatest songs (not just Wilco songs) ever written. Those lyrics are pure poetry. And I usually don't like poetry as lyrics, but in this case, the meaning is perfect to me.

When the devil came
He was not red
He was chrome and he said
Come with me

The first time that song meant something to me, I had just done a job interview in central Illinois and was driving into a Wal Mart parking lot in Mt. Zion, which is a southwestern suburb of Decatur. At the time, I had been living in Arkansas, pretty much dreading the job and the community of Arkadelphia (known to some as Arka-do nothing). It was September 2004, so the weather was starting to get the chill in the air, but you could still make it without a jacket. I was reminded again of why I missed living in the midwest.

I have a better handle on that part of the country now (if you're going to live in Illinois, live closer to Chicago, or if you can help it, north of I-80) and wouldn't really recommend central Illinois to anyone. But after living in the south for 8 years, it was nice to actually feel the fall weather coming.

The air was crisp
Like sunny late winter days
A springtime yawning high in the haze
And I felt like I belonged
Come with me

When I got the job in Shelbyville, I didn't realize how fucked up that place was. I was really going to try to stay at that job for as long as I could. We lived in a small town in the south, and I figured living in a small town in the midwest would be just as good, especially since Mattoon was twice the size of Arkadelphia. But the stress of that job was just draining the life force out of me. Nothing like a call at 3:00 a.m. to let you know that someone went to the hospital. Up and at 'em. Gotta go write the investigation and then deal with the fallout.

Despite that fact, the guy who had the job before me was such a monster that after about 6 months, people felt like they could talk to me, and I felt like I was appreciated.

I was welcomed
With open arms
I received so much help in every way
I felt no fear
I felt no fear

After a year and almost 6 months, I found my current job which is a lot less stressful. It is challenging, but now that I've been here just over a year, I am getting more control over the day-to-day stuff and am making progress. The nice thing is that the song carried over with me. We go to Chicago, and every time I'm downtown among the towers of the city, I feel peaceful, and I'm in awe. The song is overwhelming in my head.

You must go
So I went
Where everything was clean
So precise and towering

I think the city of Chicago is the cleanest big city I've been in. The thing that I think makes me so loyal to it, however, is the fact that I'm from Iowa, the midwest, and it's a sense of pride, I guess. It's sort of cheesey, I know. But I've moved to a lot of different places in my life, and now that I'm back in the midwest, close to Chicago, but without having to deal with the day-to-day traffic, I'm really happy.

The final thing I like about the song is that it involves the devil, which is kind of cool in a Ronnie James Dio sorta way.

Apologies to Jeff Tweedy for restructuring the verse order to make it fit my blog.

Beisbol Been Berry Berry Good to Me

I was never much of a baseball fan. Always looked like a bunch of standing around. My brother-in-law moved to St. Louis and started showing a big interest in the Cardinals about 5 years ago. So I started sort of following the Cardinals, but not really still understanding the sport, and still not really getting into it.

A few years later, in 2003, my Dad moves to Missouri. He has every Cardinal game available to watch on the local FOX Sports affiliate. He has hernia surgery, so he starts watching the Cubs on WGN. Suddenly, he is the biggest Cubs fan. This, of course, is the year when the Cubs piss the final two games of the NL championship series down their collective leg, and the Marlins went on to top the Yankees. Suddenly, my son has a Cubs hat, and I have a fitted Cubs hat that no longer fits him. At this point I'm still leaning towards the Cardinals.

In 2005, the White Sox won the World Series. What is interesting about this is that at the time I was living in central Illinois. I was 2 hours from St. Louis, and 3 hours from Chicago. I would say that in this part of Illinois there are just a few more Cardinals fans than Cub fans, but I never took an official survey. I arrived at this opinion through keen observation of hats, flags from both houses and cars, t-shirts, and some minor sports conversations. I see one White Sox flag hanging from a house, and a Commiskey Park photo in an Occupational Health Doctor's office. Nobody in my immediate area seems to give a shit.

In 2006, I moved to northwest Indiana. The company I work for hands out White Sox tickets every month (they buy 4 season tickets and hand out 2 pair for each game, including a parking pass and a pass to get into the Stadium Club). I began checking out the games on TV. I actually start seeing the strategy of putting in different pitchers and different batters later in the game (instead of saying, "The only time someone comes out of a football game is either when they're hurt or the game is in hand. Why can't pitchers finish an entire game?"). When I went to U.S. Cellular for the first time, I was amazed at how big it felt. It was totally awesome. It was kind of cool out, but it was nice to be able to spend time outdoors and actually enjoy being in Chicago. I was hooked.

I got my first set of tickets for April 27, which is a Friday. I'm so glad baseball season is finally here.