Archive for the ‘Episode Notes’ Category

We just wanted to thank everyone who participated in Tuesday’s #Dawson4TheHall campaign. I’ve been on the road this week and hadn’t had a chance to share the results and I know some of our listeners have e-mailed us and inquired.

The raw stats are in the graphic above for those curious “numbers people” out there, but there’s somewhere else that I’d rather take the discussion if you’re game. We received this e-mail from Jason, a listener from Lafayette, IN:

Jason’s halfway right. No Hall of Fame voter is going to see a Twitter campaign and immediately decide to change a “no” for Andre Dawson to a “yes.” That would be silly, and I think I did a poor job of explaining my perspective on this before we started the campaign. I liken #Dawson4TheHall to a highway billboard that thousands of people glance at as they pass it going 70 mph. No matter what each person personally thinks of The Hawk, if anything, now they’ve seen and processed that someone cared enough to put the billboard up.

This kind of subtle marketing is just about impossible to measure, but the biggest companies in the world use it constantly. I call it “tiny positive moment” marketing. Keep an eye out when you watch a movie over Christmas break. Every company that has a product appearing on screen paid for the privilege of you seeing their product for a split second. If the camera moves and then focuses on their logo, you’ll know they paid even more. And that concludes the lesson for today, and I’m sorry I assigned homework.

My hope is that a few ballot holders drove by and glanced up on Tuesday. We’ll probably never know, but either way we had a lot of fun painting the billboard with everybody.

Thanks again,

Lou

Next Episode Note: Sheps and I will return with a brand new Winter Meetings recap episode this Friday afternoon. Hopefully we’ll have a certain outfielder trade to discuss!

NOTE: We’re organizing #Dawson4TheHall Day on Twitter, which will be Tuesday, December 8th. Please tell all the Cubs fans that you know, we’ll need everybody involved. The Hall of Fame needs to see our support. Help make #Dawson4TheHall a trending topic that day. More details to come.

As mentioned in today’s episode (download – mp3), the voting body of sportswriters will commence voting over the next month and an official results announcement from the Hall of Fame will be made on Wednesday January 6, 2010. Last year my favorite all-time Cub, Andre Dawson, received 67% of the vote, and it’s ludicrous that he wasn’t elected in any of his first 8 years on the ballot. Cubs fans including myself obviously want to see The Hawk elected, and there’s a couple things we can do.

There’s an online petition going that was just started recently. It’s a little pathetic right now (only about 100 signatures), so please show your support!

Also we love it when Cubs fans are so passionate about something that they create a website. Enter Charley, the guy behind Hawk4TheHall. Be sure to check out this great site for some awesome posts regarding Dawson’s career and Hall of Fame credentials. We just found it this morning and it’s been bookmarked.

Check back soon for more details on the Twitter blitz on December 8th.

Several listeners have sent us Cubs songs that they’ve heard (or sang) over the last few months and it took us awhile to edit everything together, but today we’re proud to release a special music episode (download – mp3) today on Thanksgiving. If you enjoy lame parody and auto-tuning, this is a gold mine for you. If not, you still might enjoy it so please take a listen. Sheps screams “Word to your mother!” and that’s definitely worth the price of admission. Yeah, it’s free.

The songs included are:

1. World Series Champions – Kevin Henrickson
2. Milton Bradley and Jim Hendry at Dinner – Lou
3. I Guess That’s Why I Bleed Cubbie Blue – Danny Rockett
4. Ricketts Man – Lou
5. Get On the Big Blue Train – Ted Norstrom

In case it was hard to understand, here are the lyrics for Ricketts Man:

I blocked the view last night – that’s right
1060. Addison.
But Horseshoe rollin high as a kite by then
I hate that roof so much it causes strife
It’s phony, Cubs ad space
In such a timeless fight

And I think it’s gonna be a long long time
Till Cub fans know it ain’t about the sign
I’m not the man they rent the roof off home
Oh no no no I’m a Ricketts man
Ricketts man says Binionaires will never own

Boxcars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids
Those books, are old as Zell
And there’s no pun there to save them if you did
Child homelessness I don’t understand
It’s just my job five days a week
To be a Ricketts man—, Ricketts man

And I think it’s gonna be a long long time…

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Lou

Just wanted to post a quick note — due to some scheduling issues we are going to record Wednesday’s episode later tonight for release on Thursday. It should be a good one what with the Cubs working their way back into the Wild Card, pretty much against all odds (and reason). Still trying to keep my hopes down, if that makes any sense.

Be sure to enter this week’s photo caption contest. We’ve only received a handful of entries so far.

Speaking of entries, check out this awesome email last night from C Lake Dave. I was saving it for the Mail Sack, but instead, here it is:

I’m LOVING the Cub’s little streak recently; it could be a little more fun this weekend if they can finish off the sweep….GO GIANTS!!!

C.Lake Dave

I love the term BIG MO. Hopefully the Cubs will continue their winning ways tonight vs. the big-jersied Brew Crew. Have a good one and Go Cubs!

We can’t wait for 6 PM tonight as Big Z will be taking the mound for his 5th consecutive Opening Day start, this time vs. Roy Oswalt and the ‘Stros. Carlos looked great throughout spring training, so I’m excited to see him carry it over to this new season. If he gets through 5 innings, I won’t be throwing the blue road alternate jersey beer cozy I received as a Christmas gift across the room. But we’ll see.

It took an all-nighter last night to get everything in order, but today we announced our long-awaited technological innovation on episode #499. Is it what you expected? It’s the brand new 140 Characters from Home Plate feature on our site (link at the top right of every page). We envision this as something awesome that fans can use to get and provide real-time feedback while watching the game. Since it uses Twitter, it’s easy for fans at the game, fans watching the game on TV, and fans listening at work to use. I like the way that Sheps described it in today’s episode; it’s similar to a “game thread,” but easier to use and more interactive. Big thanks to longtime listener neverbesocial for helping to plant this idea in my head awhile back.

To start interacting, just add the phrase #cubs to any Twitter message (“tweet”) and it’ll show up on the 140 Characters from Home Plate page.

Create a twitter account and try it out before or during tonight’s game!

Show schedule-wise, there will be a new episode of Cubscast on Tuesday morning that breaks down the Opener, so stay tuned for that. It will be our 500th episode and we’ll have a special guest along with the second part (download part I – mp3) of an interview we recently recorded with Len Kasper, the Cubs Play-By-Play Broadcaster. Len was extremely generous to come on the show right before the start of the season, and he had a lot of insightful and funny things to say, so check those out.

Lastly, thanks to Brad Spirrison for the nice mention of the new Twitter feature and Len Kasper interview in today’s Sun-Times.

Have a happy and safe Opening Day, and Go Cubs!

Sheps and I are happy to announce today that one of the special guests for our 500th episode will be Len Kasper, the excellent Cubs play-by-play broadcaster. We thought for roughly 5 seconds about who we’d most like to interview for this landmark episode and Len was the first person that both Sheps and I thought of.

We interviewed Len in the aftermath of the 2006 Cubs season, and it is one of my favorite episodes we’ve ever done. If there’s anything we’ve discovered from recording 497 episodes of Cubscast, it’s that there are few things more fun than discussing the highs and lows of the Cubs with people that care about the team. Both Len and his broadcast partner Bob Brenly have a genuine love for baseball and the Cubs, and it shows in the quality of their coverage each and every day.

So anyway, we’ve been compiling some questions for Len but we need your help! Please e-mail your questions to hosts@cubscast.com or add a comment to this post. The last time we interviewed Len he made it clear that no topic was off-limits, so if there’s something you’ve been eager to ask this is a great opportunity.

Our 500th episode will be available for download on Opening Day, April 6th! Tune in and tell your friends as we’ll also be previewing the upcoming season with a certain former co-host, as well as announcing a “technological breakthrough” that tech savvy Cubs fans are going to love.

As mentioned in today’s episode (mp3), we recently received an e-mail from a listener that likes a music clip we often use of a song called “Waiting For a Miracle.” The song is performed by Mark Erelli and was written by Bruce Cockburn.

An excerpt:

You stand up proud
You pretend you’re strong
In the hope that you can be
Like the ones who’ve cried
Like the ones who’ve died
Trying to set the angel in us free
And they’re waiting for a
And they’re waiting for a
And they’re waiting for a miracle…

So how come the future takes such a long, long time
When you’re waiting for a..
When you’re waiting for a..
When you’re waiting for a miracle

We get an e-mail or two every week asking about this song…something about it seems to connect in a big way with Cubs fans. We’re glad to offer our listeners a link to download the full song. Enjoy!

Download Full Song – MP3