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We recently had the opportunity to review Chicago-based author and Northwestern graduate William Graham’s new book, The Sweetest Swing: Baseball Poems. William was even kind enough to let us share a poem in the book about a first trip to Wrigley that we thought might hit home with a lot of you. It’s reprinted below and you can order a copy of the book for yourself or a loved one here.

First Time at Wrigley Field
Watching games in black and white
For so many years on television,
I was amazed as the vibrant greens
Of the ivy on the brick walls.

The players were so close, I could
Almost hear them breathe and see
The sweat drip from the bills of their
Blue caps on a steamy July afternoon.

I had to imagine Jack Brickhouse calling
The game as I watched the action from
The right-center field bleachers. I missed
His enthusiastic calls of home runs on Waveland.

All of the magical names he had mentioned—
Kessinger, Beckert, Banks, Santo, Williams, Hundley—
Were on the field in front of me. I wasn’t sure
If they were real or as fictional as characters

From a Shakespearean play. I had to provide
My own play-by-play in my head. But too much
Reality can confuse the mind, especially with the
Sun cooking your brains and scorching your skin.

Driving back to my small Iowa town after the game,
I had to keep telling myself that I had been there—
To that mythical place seen only before on a small screen.
If I had died then, I would have been satisfied.

Just so you know, Cubscast isn’t falling off the map or going anywhere this off-season, despite what happened a couple weeks ago in the NLDS. We’re simply taking a short break for a few weeks and preparing for a brand new off-season schedule. Also, do you really want to hear what we think about Shane Victorino vs. Manny Ramirez? We didn’t think so.

Look for a brand new episode of Cubscast as well as a photo caption contest the week of November 3rd. We might have to do a photo caption contest every week of the offseason to get rid of all these Obama/Fukudome shirts.

Also, a big congrats to Sheps who is tying the knot this weekend! He seems willing to go the furthest lengths to make his fiancee prove her love for Derrek Lee is less than her love for him. Congrats to you both…may your marriage be blessed and may your gifts fit into your car.

We’ll be back soon — in the meantime feel free to check out the message board.

Sneetch, Sheps, and I just wanted to say how nice it was to meet and talk to so many awesome Cubs fans this past weekend at the Cubs Convention in Chicago. As we probably mentioned, Cubscast is a completely free podcast on all things Cubs, brought to you several times a week by 3 die-hard fans. Also, we’re part of a network of podcasts on your favorite Chicago sports teams like the NFC Champion Chicago Bears.

If you’d like to give Cubscast a listen, head on over to our Audio Archives and click on an episode. It’s totally free to listen and/or subscribe to the show. If you have iTunes, just click on the link above, then click “Subscribe” in iTunes. Tell your friends!

Stay tuned to this space for an upcoming announcement of all the prize winners from over the weekend at the Cubs Convention later this week, and please be sure to check out our live broadcasts from over the weekend which include exclusive interviews and audio from Eric Patterson and Jim Hendry/Lou Piniella’s Q&A with fans.

Go Cubs (and Bears)!