Personal Sacrifice and a Cubs Championship

I originally posted this at BleedCubbieBlue this morning, but got kind of busy, and in spite of my injury, not sure how much typing I will be able to do later today, so I am being lazy and reposting it here.

It's an oft-said thing, to sacrifice something for something else. But what if it were true? This Cub fan takes the events of the last few days and ponders on whether it is worth giving up or hanging on.

I sat in the emergency room Sunday evening, and thought about the events of that day. Technically, I lay in the emergency room, staring at the ceiling above and listening to the conversation between two women in the "room" next to me, separated by only a musty looking curtain that had to be picked up on consignment. It reminded me of something I could see in my grandma's house as a young child. Their conversation about palmetto bugs, spiders, and the heebie-jeebie factor of each one, coupled with the hydrocodone and natural endorphins in my blood, lulled me into a sedate and tranquil rest.
I began thinking about baseball, and ultimately, the Cubs. I wondered what the result of the game was. I wondered about the Brewers, and Braves, and Padres, and every other team and scenario to help us improve a game. Pick up a game here, a half-game there, and the trade deadline. All of these thoughts ended abruptly when a jolt of pain shot down my arm. I opened my eyes to a nurse, pouring cold saline water on my thumb. She had a sweet smile and a soothing voice, but she was bringing the pain.

Prior to this day, I had never cut off a thumb before. In fact, I had never cut off any part of my body, generally because I have a very good relationship with my body. It allows me to put two feet on the floor every day and stand up, walk, eat, drink, and attempt to have sex with my wife fairly regularly. (For the stat heads, I am under the Mendoza line on my "batting average")

But this fateful day, when my left thumb and butcher knife got together for a one-on-one confrontation, the knife was the clear winner, and I sat pondering the pain, the throbbing, the fact that I won't be playing guitar for a while. I won't ever be a professional hitchhiker. I may offend someone with a "thumbs up" gesture. I might never throw a perfectly horizontal Frisbee path again. Hell, I might not ever be able to review a movie accurately.

But it wasn't all that bad. When it's all said and done, I will only be short about a 1/2" or so, and let's face it, according to my wife I am quite used to that, so that's no devastating blow.

And the last two days I have been able to stay home, elevate the hand, and watch Cubs baseball and SportsCenter until I am absolutely convince that Stuart Scott has had a stroke on the left side of his face and no one is man enough to tell him. It's not a lazy eye he has...that damn thing is just sorry.

I digress, however.

As I have reveled in blogging, ESPN, Cubs.com, and of course BleedCubbieBlue, I have found my mind wandering. One of the things I proudly proclaimed to my wife, much to her unbelievably predictable apathy, was the following:

If asked on Sunday if I would cut the end of my thumb off if the Cubs would be guaranteed a World Series victory this year, then the answer would be a resounding YES.

And my wife looked at me like I had just grabbed an 11-year old boy's ass.

Well, maybe I wouldn't want to cut it off again, as that is pretty traumatic, but would I give up the end of my thumb for a WS Championship? Abso-frickin-lutely. Only if Jessica Biel were doing the cutting off. Or that chick from the RGX Body Spray commercials. They are both yummy.

This led to some intrigue by Mrs. Florida Cubbie, who took advantage of my newfound honesty to posit some scenarios of her own, which were going nowhere fast:

Mrs: "Would you divorce me for a championship?"
Me: "No. Hell no. Never."

Mrs: "Would you sacrifice a hand or foot?"
Me: "Possibly. Left foot only. "

Mrs: "For the NL Championship?"
Me: "No way. All or none, baby."

Mrs: "Would you sell our house for a World Championship?"
Me: "Yes, way under market value"

Mrs: "Would you offer to sell me for sex to rich men several times a week?"
Me: Hell yes, if there were a market.

Damn, she threw me a curve ball. Now I have a black eye to go with my shortened thumb.

Either way, she went along with me on several of the questions, and we have agreed that if the Cubs go to the World Series, we will do whatever it takes, including a 2nd mortgage, to get tickets to a game. Wise? No. The right thing to do? Yes.

So, I don't know if this has ever been kicked around here, but it made me wonder...

What would you do for a World Series Championship? If God, Allah, Buddha, Spaghetti Monster, or whatever deity you may or may not believe in offered you the chance to sacrifice something for a Championship for the Cubbies, would you? And what would it be?

Ideally, maybe something bad that has actually happened in your life this year, that you really wish didn't happen (i.e. losing a thumb), but in hindsight maybe you would say, "Hey...I'd take this if I knew we would win it all!"

Yes, I am still bored today, but a big THUMBS UP to all who feel like participating! Even if you aren't a Cub fan, apply this same philosophy to your team.

I am not necessarily proposing anyone cut off a digit. It's painful, although there is a lot to be said for Lortab.

And a lot to not be said. Anyone who can become addicted to this stuff has deeper issues than chemical dependency. Like, addicted to stomach sickness.

I guess what I meant was, if something bad has already happened to you this year, and you had the option of taking it away or going back to before it happened, and fixing it, or just letting it go on as is and guaranteeing the WS championship, would you do it?

Fer instance...losing part of my thumb sucks -- no pun intended. But, as much as I would like to have it back, I am already through the worst part. Would I go back and redo it all? Nah...

Besides, I have already made up some good lies to tell folks as the years go by to make me look really tough.

Top 10 Lies Florida Cubbie will tell about his thumb to appear tougher:


10. Lost it in a bar fight, blindfolded, with a machete-wielding guy who thought I was Brad Pitt.

9. Stopped a bank robber by putting my thumb over the barrel of the gun, a la Bugs Bunny.

8. Got drunk at the Daytona 500, stood trackside during lap 133 and tried to thumb a ride.

7. Climbed out on the wing of an airplane with a stalled engine and spun-started (WTF?!? Is that proper english?) err...spin-started the prop before climbing back inside to land the plane myself, therefore saving an entire family of incredibly rich nymphomaniac blind pantie-models.

6. On a dare, laid my thumb on a train track to see if it would derail the train. It did.

5. Blocked a Chuck Norris kick with it.

4. While waiting for a Jacques Jones relay throw to dribble in to the infield, a starving carnivorous earthworm popped up from the ground and had a quick bite of lunch.

3. Stopped a radioactive nuclear meltdown at a power plant by plugging the hole in the reactor with my thumb -- for 9 days.

2. Mocked Roger Ebert in the presence of his twin brother, Richard, the 6-Time world champion ninja assassin.

1. Tried to retrieve a Hostess Twinkie cake out of Prince Fielder's mouth.

So, I can live with my injury, but it sure would make my year a lot better if we can take it on home and close it out, and revel in the streets of Wrigleyville for weeks in a drunken stupor, until just hearing a Steve Goodman song raises our blood-alcohol level to .28

Ahh...those will be the days.

Rock on, y'all are the best.

Florida Cubbie

Kendall, Trade Deadline Rumors and other goings-on

Well, I never thought I would be saying this, but I was pretty disappointed in the Cubs dropping two in a row to the D-backs. Just a couple months ago I was happy with winning two in a row against anyone. It's amazing what a good run will do for a team and it's fans.

I have to admit I am having mixed feelings on the Jason Kendall acquisition. Now, don't get me wrong, I absolutely have the utmost repsect for Kendall, who is the definition of a grinder. An old-school hard-nosed ballplayer who busts his butt for the team. I will always welcome one of those guys to my team. However, when you look at his offensive numbers, you wonder what we really benefit from picking him up. I'mno idiot, and I know that pitcher rapport is a big deal. Pitchers love having him behind the plate, but is that factor alone worth it? We have some promising young catchers in the organization in Koyie Hill and Geovany Soto, and Hill has been playing good lately, as did Soto in his brief stint. What I find myself wondering is at what point on the scale does pitcher rapport and "grinder status" outweigh young talent and development. Would I take a little more offense and stronger arm to throw out baserunners (Hill and Soto) or pitcher rapport and veteran leadership (Kendall).

As of right now, Kendall is 1-11 since joining the Cubs, and had a couple defensive miscues that allowed a couple runs to score. Hill has gone 3-9 in that same span, and driven in 6 runs.

While Soto's 1-7 in 2 games this year for the Cubs is not impressive, I believe he needs some time in the show to get his feet wet. The young man is tearing it up in AAA, and likely will be the catcher of the future for the Cubs.

Let me reiterate, I am not downing Kendall, I love the guy and I am glad to have him. I believe Hill and Soto are good pieces to the puzzle, and I would rather see those two battle for the position. A little healthy competition goes a long way to solidify positions, as has been apparent with the the recent departure of Cesar Izturis, after having been outplayed and outhustled by Ryan Theriot.

What I wonder, is would we have been better off to look for a piece of the puzzle that would better suit us as a whole? Perhaps some bullpen help? Another outfield option in right field? I get the feeling that we took Kendall just because he was available. Just because he is a good name doesn't necessarily mean we should have taken him.

However, be that as it may, we have him, and I welcome him. I would love nothing more for him to gete back into his NL groove and tote a robust .300-.320 average and be the gritty grinder we all know. I think his bust-ass mentality will rub off and rejuvenate some of the guys on the team. We already have scrappy young guys who are natural-born gamers, and that's what this team will need to make it's run down the stretch. Fontenot and The Riot have been impressive, as has Hill to a lesser degree. Ramirez has been on fire the last month, and the team is playing with a lot of confidence.

I noticed when Ohman (in our house called "Oh, man..." usually) came in to pitch the other night, if it was just a chance to showboat him for a trade. Other bloggers and analysts have theorized on this also, so I can't imagine that this was just a coincidence.

Now, let's check out some trade deadline rumors, and I'll give you my input on them, for what it's worth.

• Sammy Sosa - No. No way. Nyet. Non. Nada chance-o in hell-o does Sammy come back to Chicago. Not for nostalgia, not for help, and damn sure not for outfield. Sammy was a great period of time for Cub fans in Chicago, and that is the way we want it to stay. Good memories. Sammy has made a strong case for Comeback Player of the Year award, but not for Chicago Comeback Player. Good luck, Sammy, I really do wish you all the best, but it won't be back at Wrigley.
• Jose Contreras - Contreras gave up 10 earned runs on 10 hits in only 7.1 innings pitched Friday against the Red Sox. Needless to say, he earned the loss in it. That makes his record 1-8 with a stout 7.56 ERA in his last 10 starts. His velocity is way down this year, and his command is having major issues. I would avoid this guy like herpes.
• Ken Griffey Jr. - Hey, I am not even going to bite my tongue on this...I would love to have Griffey roaming right field at Wrigley. But the only way I see this happening is if Mark Cuban buys the team and spends the money to pay Griffey. I don't see Griffey going anywhere before the trading deadline, but I would expect the Red to try to move Dunn before the deadline to a contending club. I wouldn't even put Griffey on the Cubs radar unless the new owner makes it clear that they want to spend a lot of money. There is a lot of marketability there, and who wouldn't want a Soriano-Pie-Griffey outfield? Or for that matter, this infield...
• Alex Rodriguez - Absolutely not going anywhere until this season is over, and I really don't expect him to go anywhere next. Since we are focusing on the Cubs, let me make this clear. Jim Hendry isn't getting A-Rod unless Cuban buys the team or some other free-spender. But....I do salivate over a Lee-Theriot-Rodriguez-Ramirez infield. Wat the Cubs do in this post-season have a lot to do with what big name free-agents may want to come play on the North side.
• Kenny Lofton - Not likely that Lofton will even be traded prior to the July 31 deadline, but if he does, I would look for the Brewers to make amove for him. They are a young team, and as the season runs out, they are going to need to try to get some veteran leadership on that team to mentor the young players on their roster.
• Zach Greinke - I heard this rumor the other day, and it kind of intrigues me. Greinke is a reliable righty to add to any bullpen. He pitches a lot of fastballs, and has a pretty wicked slider that he likes to throw if he is behind in the count to get back in the count and even it up. He is not overpowering by any means, but he isn't exactly a pushover. He doesn't spend a lot of time on the DL, and at his price, probably around $500K, would be a good arm to add to the pen, which we will need down the stretch. However, with Wood making great progress in rehab, and thinking he could be back with the club in a couple weeks, I would imagine the Cubbies will hold off on this deal.
• Eric Byrnes - I don't think the Cubs would go after Byrnes, at least not if he is looking for a 5-year, 45-million dollar deal. He has decent numbers, hitting over .300 this year with 14 HR. Of course, it would be contingent on him being willing to move to RF, but if we are gonna spend that kind of money, would an owner rather have Griffey out there? No doubt Byrnes is more durable, and the bleacher bums would love his rough and tough blue-collar style out there. However, I don't think Byrnes is even on the Cubs radar, and likely won't go anywhere this season. He will be a big item come winter though.
• Chad Cordero - No. Dempster is still the man in Chicago, and if he isn't, it would likely go to Howry or Marmol, who has been electric lately. I don't see the Cubs anytime soon paying for a closer.
• Brad Lidge - Same as above, except add to it that the Astros have said they aren't moving Lidge.

On tap for this week is the Cubs trying to gain ground on the Brewers, currently 3 games ahead of us in the NL Central. We kick off a series with St. Louis tonight with Zambrano on the mound, as Milwaukee battles the Reds. Let's pull for Griffey to have big nights.

As always, feel free to email me with any questions or comments, or just to get my thoughts on anything. I will have a mailbag soon and post any comments and responses.

So, let's play ball!

Florida Cubbie