Posts tagged ‘WGN’

All the hoopla of the sale of the Cubs reached a nexus on today’s episode of Cubscast, when we reported the news that bids by both John Canning and Don Levin were not accepted by the team. What we didn’t know at the time we recorded the episode was that Mark Cuban reportedly bid $1.3 billion, which seems to be far and away the highest bid on the club. It stinks that my hometown favorite Don Levin is seemingly out of contention, but I have to believe that after looking over all the Cubs’ assets and liabilities, $1.3 billion wasn’t even close to the actual current value of the Cubs team, Wrigley Field, and a quarter of Comcast Sportsnet Chicago.

This shouldn’t shock us…we already knew that Mark Cuban really, really wants to own the Cubs. It’s the number on the napkin that he slid over the table that is shocking. This amount is over twice the dollar amount that the Red Sox were purchased for just a few years ago — which I love because there is no way that Red Sox fans (those World Series winning jerks) (kidding) can comprehend why the Chicago Cubs would be worth twice as much as their team. Imagining their confusion is entertaining — those fans are absolutely right to scratch their heads and quizzically ask the rhetorical question — Nomah? Then again, the World’s Greatest Network wasn’t originated in Boston. Thankfully.

Mark Cuban isn’t operating in Nomah dollars (circa 2005) or 2008 dollars, because as I mentioned the Cubs aren’t worth this much now. Cubs fans are worth this much now, though, which is something I think Cuban understands better than most. Come November after a World Series appearance, fans are going to raise the team worth significantly, but what I like about his bid is that it’s clearly a commitment to see the investment through. And this is an investment in Cubs fans as much as the team or a stadium with a manual scoreboard.

The history shows that in 20 years whatever amount the Cubs are purchased at is going to look like a bargain. That is due to constant increases in the number of Cubs fans that spend money. Because the team piped all those day games through WGN to kids (including Cuban) all over the country in the ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s, the goose is going to keep laying the golden egg for another few years or so. As each wave of these fans reaches adulthood, it’s bringing countless millions more in revenue to the Cubs. I’ll be interested to see what happens after the Superstation Generation no longer is growing because of the rise of the very station that Cuban is bidding on.

If he does end of winning this auction for the Cubs, Mark should consider selling his stake in Comcast Sportsnet Chicago and trying to get 100 games a year back on WGN. I guess that’s more of a 2028 concept, though.

Perhaps it was the most fitting way for a nearly 70-year tradition to end, or perhaps even God (like Lou Piniella) couldn’t stomach an exhibition game in the middle of the season, but just a few minutes ago the Hall of Fame Game at Doubleday Field was rained out. Five minutes later, though, God was removed from the equation when WGN TV returned to its program currently in progress…Maury.

Now there’s some TV you can’t ignore. Anyway, in today’s episode (mp3) we discussed some recent controversy that was stirred up by the creator of SavetheFameGame.com, Kristian Connolly, who recently called out the Cubs and specifically Lou Piniella for some of the Cubs manager’s comments on the tough travel situation the Cubs are in.

“The Hall of Fame Game is about something much bigger than the 2008 Chicago Cubs, and I hope that they understand and respect that on Monday. It is also disappointing to learn that the Cubs are intentionally making the trip to Cooperstown as logistically difficult as they possible could on themselves, and I hope that that they don’t expect sympathy from baseball fans because of their poor planning.” — Connolly

I love that this person goes out of their way to insult the Cubs’ travel plans. Were the NY Mets and their fans sending letters to the commissioner of baseball when the Cubs took an Amtrak train from Washington DC to New York two seasons ago? They could have flown, Kristian. They could have flown but they made plans that were more convenient for a major league baseball team. Big deal. I hope the next time you ask someone to pick you up from the airport (which I assume happens a lot), they arrive with a tray of pickles. Even if you like pickles that would be disconcerting.

In any case, I hope that Kristian directs some ire towards WGN. I’m not even sure if baseball fans nationwide are getting an afternoon of 14-year olds being accused of the same nasty stuff that is airing on WGN here in Chicago…but either way…couldn’t they have planned to show the Cubs Forever special again instead of this garbage? Show some respect.

First off, a big thanks to Alex Goldfayn for interviewing Cubscast host Andrew Figgins (“Lou”) on the excellent Technology Tailor show on WGN Radio this past Saturday evening. Alex is a longtime friend of the show and we very much appreciate his support and generosity! If you’d like to hear the interview, it is available here.

Also as mentioned in today’s episode, we are asking everyone that has a couple minutes to write a review of our show in iTunes. Whether it’s positive or negative, and whether you’ve been listening for years or to your first episode today, we would very much appreciate your feedback in iTunes. Our goal is to have 100 reviews by the end of June, and as of today there are just 29, so we need your help!

To write a review of the show you can visit the Cubscast page in iTunes and click on “Write a Review” or you can follow this direct link to begin writing a review of Cubscast.

Thanks for supporting the show and Go Cubs!

If you’re attempting to watch today’s game on WGN, as I am, you’ve no doubt stared at the graphic on the right for more than a few minutes. Apparently the away game HD feed is having some early season jitters, which of course happened to manifest itself during the Cubs 6-run 3rd inning, the best inning offensively all season so far.

We mentioned in today’s episode (mp3) that Carlos Zambrano’s scoreless innings streak went by the wayside yesterday during an inning in which Bud Light’s Real Men of Genius did their thing, which was more than annoying.

Boy that ivy is green.

UPDATE: The video feed is back up, just in time to bring us Pittsburgh’s bases-loaded 0 outs rally. …