Cub Fans or not so much?

[Dempsy's Mom]

We just got back from Chicago and I tried to share our experience with Demps and Els.  Looks like they could care less and are just happy to be home .... time for a snooze.

Edited July 11, 2016 by Dempsy's Mom

[Hillscreek]

 I lived in Chicago for ten years way back when. Was then and still am a die hard Cub fan. A lot of people think I'm nuts..........you gotta be dedicated

Elsie and Demps - you may as well take a nap. We are all waiting for their return to glory which will be who knows when!

[Autumn & Lola]

They look very cute in the hats!

[Malcolm's Dad]

Lately not much a fan since the Ricketts family bought the Cubs. They expanded the stadium to half of Sheffield Street. They are also building a hotel across the street from Clark Street. This will eliminate parking next to the stadium. I know they are spending their own money to do this. Consider what they will charge for ticket prices. The public will pay. The Ricketts (a billionaire family) will continue to get wealthy.

They  also had rock concerts at Wrigley Field with acts like Paul McCartney and Pearl Jam. A friend paid $250 per ticket to take his wife and two kids to see Paul McCartney. That was $1000 to see a concert. The concerts lasted well into the night. Wrigley is an open air stadium so the neighborhood for many blocks around can hear the music. If I had to go to sleep so I could go to work the next day I would not be happy.

The Cubs are not a good baseball team. They lose many more games than they win. Somehow they have worked their way into the hearts of Chicagoans. Maybe its because they are a long standing tradition and Wrigley field is a staple in the neighborhood.

Glad to see the Cub hats on Dempsy and Elsie. They look cute in any hat they wear.

Ok I'll get off the soapbox. This is not really Cairn related but the Ricketts aggravate me.

[Dempsy's Mom]

Hit a "hot spot".  Bet you feel better now that you got that off your chest.  Well, you can see how stimulating the hats are to Demps and Elsie.  It is a beautiful stadium - to bad their not keeping it affordable for families.  They did tell us it cost $1000.00 to see a game for a family of 4.  Jim and I are not sports people.  We really could care less, but we went to a seed meeting and this was one of their perks.  It was nice. Glad we went. A lot of people.  Construction all over the place.  Sorry the Ricketts are making it such a racket.  Maybe they will give it up soon.

[Hillscreek]

  Brad fine to delete this if needed BUT Elsie and Demps ARE wearing Cub hats.

Malcom's Dad: I just want to brag that I am so old I remember Mr Cub (Ernie Banks) play his last games there and Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Fergie Jenkins and those folks in the sixties and seventies  -  Wrigley Field at that time a small possibly the smallest park in the league, the ivy on the walls, the folks leaning out of the windows of the apartments across the road. the fairly primitive scoreboard,  and I think no night games - is that right? the ...........OK I know I need to be quiet now.

Do not want to move to the present from my fond memories

[Malcolm's Dad]

This is definitely not Cairn related but I have to respond.

Dempsy's Mom glad you enjoyed your trip to Chicago.

Hillscreek I have fond memories too. As a young child my dad would take me and my brother to White Sox games at Comisky Field and Cubs games at Wrigley Field. It was affordable. People of all kinds and incomes came to see the games. Roaming vendors walked the stands and sold things like hot dogs. Those were the best hot dogs!

It is such a shame that an enjoyable day out for a family has turned into an unaffordable amusement for most families.

Yes there were no night games because of the noise. Only afternoon games so the neighbors could have peace at night.

Sorry this is so off topic for  the Cairn Forum.

[Idaho Cairns]

Afraid not, I grew up in Southern Illinois listening to Harry Caray and Jack Buck the "Voice of the Cardinals" broadcast  Cardinal games on those muggy summer nights over the radio.  The Cubs, from the most hated Chicago, were the mortal enemies--that has carried over all these years.
 

[hheldorfer]

DH is a dyed-in-the-wool Cubs fan, as is everyone in his family.  (Like Idaho, I grew up in Southern Illinois and am a Cardinals fan, born and bred.)  DH enjoyed the pics of Elsie and Demsy in their hats.   Even I had to admit they look adorable. 

I don't know who said it costs $1,000 to go to a Cubs game  (maybe if they were in the World Series and you bought tickets from a reseller).  Ticket prices are high, but not that high.  DH and I have gone to a few games over the years and I don't think any of them cost more than $200 for both of us, including food/beverages.

Have to agree with Malcolm's Dad that the Ricketts family treats Wrigleyville like their own personal playground, however.  The construction around the ballpark is a mess.  Our son and daughter-in-law live only a mile or so from the ballpark and they have to deal with the chaos every day.

 

 

[Islander]

Maybe off topic but I love the baseball talk. Long time Dodgers and Blue Jays fan here.

[_whits_]

I come from a family of Cubs fans from Northern Illinois. I did not inherit the love of the Cubs, but I did inherit the impulse to support teams that can't win. Liverpool Football Club forever. My Genoa-Kingston family wouldn't ever go past Rt 31 in the direction of Chicago (except for one rebel branch who moved to the city) but LOVES the Bulls, Bears, and Cubs. 

Edited July 12, 2016 by _whits_

[Malcolm's Dad]

hheldorfer those prices were from a rock concert by Paul McCartney a few years ago. McCartney charges a lot for his shows. I wouldn't be surprised if the Ricketts raised the prices for Cub games to pay for all the construction going on.

[Dempsy's Mom]

 

[Kathryn]

How out in left field are we, Cairntalk? But since Malcolm's Dad started this, must get my hmmpf in about Minneapolis' almost-finished new Vikings stadium. Large, ugly, and partially publicly funded. Ticket costs are beyond belief. Even a tour of the new stadium, going on right now, costs  $19.

Better to spend money spoiling your cairn and traveling to lovely places like Ireland. Of course we have season tickets to the Minnesota Lynx, the Twin Cities' women's basketball team. The tickets are oh-so-affordable. We are just behind the bench, 7 rows up, and still spend less than $1400 for 2 seats for the season - 17 games!  And the Lynx have won the championship three of the last five years...

When folks ponder what our local losing football and baseball teams need, I suggest they might benefit from a few talented women...

And I have always thought that cairns would make good shortstops...

[kjwarnold]

Grew up in northern IL so of course I remember Cubs games with Ernie Banks and the others.  I remember watching at my grandma and grandpa's house with my grandpa and uncles cheering them on.  We never went to a game, we avoided going into the big city at all costs.  My dad hated the traffic.  

Fast forward to adulthood and I lived in St. Louis, so I grew to cheer for the Cardinals.  Whitey Herzog, Ozzie Smith, Willie McGee and Darrell Porter.  I can still remember the TV commercial that was on all the time.  "Ha (Hi), A'hm Darrel Porter!"  Everybody went around saying that.  Cardinals games were more accessible to me by then, so bleacher seats were a blast.  And the song, "Celebration" was played constantly since it was the theme for them from the 1982 World Series.

Not following any team so much now.  At the lake, the local stations seem to follow the Royals more and the Cubs are the team at the farm.  But this was fun thinking back on old baseball memories!

[Corn Niblet]

Rocky and I are Cardinals fans since we live in Saint Louis. I miss the old stadium. They say there are no bad seats at the new stadium but that is not true. I have sat in many a bad seat.  They have a take your dog to the game, but we have not tried it yet. Not sure Rocky would enjoy sitting in a seat for 3 hours!

[beccadiane374]

Lifelong Cardinals fan here!  

[Malcolm's Dad]

I guess I am dragging this topic out more than necessary. I had to look up Cubs tickets. http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/ticketing/singlegame.jsp?c_id=chc

Click on Buy Tickets. The prices range from $229 to $149.

Another site http://www.stubhub.com/chicago-cubs-tickets/performer/5644/  lists prices from $79 for standing room only to $1000 for Dugout Box 16.

Ok I'm done won't say anymore.

[Autumn & Lola]

Woah! No wonder a lot of families can't afford to go anymore. That is a real shame.

[Idaho Cairns]

7 hours ago, Corn Niblet said:

Rocky and I are Cardinals fans since we live in Saint Louis. I miss the old stadium. They say there are no bad seats at the new stadium but that is not true. I have sat in many a bad seat.  They have a take your dog to the game, but we have not tried it yet. Not sure Rocky would enjoy sitting in a seat for 3 hours!

Oh boy am I going to show my age!  I remember the old Sportsman Park in St. Louis--my Dad took me there in the late 40's--even got to see a Brown's game (they shared the park with the Cardinals--I think they are now the Baltimore team).  I go back to Stan Musial, Red Schoendist, Harvey Haddix, and that bunch!  Still a fan after all these years but, of course, living out here in the West I don't follow the team like I did when I lived back there.  Probably better that way since nostalgia about the past is always sweeter if you don't have to mix it with current reality.  Still, this has been a neat conversation--a bit off topic but still....!

[Hillscreek]

Malcom's Dad you got me going again when I was thinking I was done. Can't imagine paying current prices  even to watch a Cubs game. I looked up the cost for the greatly beloved Bleachers Seats. Here's what I found from a Tribune article.

Of course, much has changed in the bleachers since 1984, and not just the addition of lights. The cost of a bleacher ticket has gone on a meteoric climb — from 75 cents in 1977 to $67 for a marquee game in 2014 — bringing a different vibe to the so-called "cheap seats."

Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti recalled paying 60 cents in the late 1960s, when he began sitting in the bleachers as a teenager. Colletti would take the 8:05 a.m. Milwaukee Road train from his Franklin Park home to Narragansett Street, then take the Narragansett bus to Addison and the Addison bus to Clark.

Yes Idaho, fond memories of the past are best left in their rosy glow.

[Lynn in TN]

The salaries of the players have changed quiet a bit too. Ernie Banks was make $65,000 in 68' compared to Jon Lesters $20,000,000 in 2015. 

In our area it was the Bristol races. An average person can't afford to go to those anymore either. One of the most popular tracks is just a 35 to 40 minute drive for us, but we haven't been in 15 years or more. Just can't afford it. I don't know anyone that can afford to go.

I am no longer a fan of sports. It seems to me it's lost something through the years. 

I would much rather stay home with my family and the dogs and cat. 

 

 

[hheldorfer]

I stand corrected, Malcolm's Dad.  I forgot that the last few times we've gone to a Cubs game it was because someone gave us tickets.  The last game we attended was May 1st of this year.  The temperature barely made it to 40 degrees and the wind was howling at 20-25 mph.  Too chilly for me!  It's probably been 10 years since we actually paid for tickets.  

Sad that the national pastime is now out of reach for many fans.