From the new Cubs' ownership: more of the same

During last weekend's Cubs convention at the Chicago Hilton Towers, new Cubs owner Tom Ricketts put an end to any optimism in my mind that he is serious about winning.

No Friday night games. No video board.

The video board (often referred to by Sony's trade name, JumboTron) is a side issue. It's a nice amenity for fans who want to see replays or see themselves on Kiss Cam. More importantly for the club, it's an opportunity to sell video ads (commercials) during inning breaks. It would be another revenue stream for the Cubs, who sorely need more of them.

Playing Friday night games (which I would be unable to attend) is a competition issue. Every team has 13 Friday home games. Unless one of those is Opening Day, every other club in Major League Baseball plays those games at night. Playing at home at 1:20 Friday afternoon puts the Cubs at a significant competitive disadvantage. Whether they are returning home after a Thursday road game or playing after a rare Thursday night home game, playing a Friday matinée drives players absolutely crazy. They are exhausted, and they could use an extra six hours off. Instead, they're back at the ballpark. Why can't they play on Friday nights?

Parking, say neighborhood whiners. How can parking be an issue on Fridays? Neighborhood residents are entitled to resident parking permits that allow them to park in the night-game zone, a large area surrounding Wrigley Field that extends one-half or one mile beyond the ballpark. For non-residents, it's a 5pm-10pm tow zone on night-game dates. So what's the issue?

The Cubs have an informal agreement (not in writing) with the neighborhood not to schedule Friday or Saturday night games. Saturday nights are less of an issue due to MLB's current contract with Fox Sports. Fox's Saturday afternoon broadcasts force teams to schedule their games according to the network's wishes, meaning start times of 12:05 or 3:15 CDT. But Friday night is a real problem and will continue to hamper the Cubs' championship hopes.

The larger issue, of course, is the number of night games the Cubs can play. All other Major League Baseball clubs play about 55 of their 81 home games at night. By Chicago ordinance, the Cubs are limited to 30 (through 2018). This is a tremendous competitive disadvantage that the previous ownership stupidly agreed to: first in 1988, when the lights were under construction; and then again in 2003, when the Cubs revised and renewed their agreement with the city. Neighborhood stalwarts who have lived there since the 1970's (no night games) insist on enforcing the night game limit, which I like to call the "no-pennant" law. The Cubs have been playing night games for 22 seasons now. An entire generation of Wrigley Field's neighbors have grown accustomed to the night games, and I suspect most would enthusiastically support a full complement of 55 night games, including Friday and Saturday nights.

The Pittsburgh Pirates last won a World Series championship in 1979. The Bucs have now suffered 17 consecutive losing seasons. The Kansas City Royals last won a World Series championship in 1985 and have not been to the playoffs since then. The Royals are perennial bottom-feeders in the American League. The Cubs' owners can afford better records than the Pirates and Royals, but I fear their futility in securing pennants and world championships won't be much different.

The team's new owners, the Ricketts family, is proud of its new Chief Hospitality Officer position. If I were Tom Ricketts, I would quickly install a new Neighborhood Liaison Officer, charged with securing a full night-game schedule from Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) as well as permission for a complete renovation of the main grandstand. Obviously, Mr. Ricketts and I don't see eye-to-eye on the team's priorities. The team should have just one priority: winning a World Series. The previous two ownership groups (Wrigley family, then Tribune Co.) were either indifferent to that goal or financially unable to deliver. The Ricketts can certainly afford to bring a World Series to long-suffering Cubs fans. Whether they care enough is another story.

Michael Savage, surely you can't be serious

Michael Savage is a hard-core conservative talk show host (weekdays 5-8pm CST, WIND-AM 560 in Chicago) who pulls in about eight million listeners a week. I had an opportunity to listen most of the first hour of his Jan. 7 show on my way to Plainfield, Ill. He made two statements of opinion on which I believe him to be absolutely 100 percent wrong. I tried to call in but was unsuccessful in reaching the call screener.

1. In discussing the Dec. 25 attempted bombing of NW Flt 253 AMS-DTW by a Nigerian Al-Queda operative, Savage said Jihadist, Islamofascist Muslim terrorists hate us because of the cultural ills of this country: gambling, prostitution, pornography, etc. Nothing could be further from the truth. Terrorists hate us because of what is great about the U.S. That would include democracy, freedom of speech and freedom of religion. In Muslim countries, not only is the practice of Christianity and Judaism absolutely prohibited, but practicing an unauthorized branch of Islam is illegal as well. The two Muslim sects--Shiite and Sunni--do not get along and often end up attacking each other, sad to say. Muslim terrorists find the fact that the U.S. allows Jews to practice their faith in public and as they please particularly galling and abhorrent.

2. In discussing the cultural ills of this country, Savage maintained that this country is worse than the worst excesses of Ancient Rome. Michael, don't get me started on the Empire. During that time:

--the Romans forced convicted prisoners to fight each other to the death in their world-famous Coliseum. Prisoners also had to fight predatory felines starved in advance of their Coliseum appearances to make them desperately aggressive.
--parties called Bacchanals featured unlimited wine, food and sex (every kind imaginable) and lasted for days.
--a homeowner could murder his family and slaves. This was not illegal.
--the Romans' pagan religion was practiced in the extreme, and not in a good way. A group of young women, the Vestal Virgins, tended to the eternal flame in the Forum. If one violated her vow of chastity, (1) her lover was whipped to death; and (2) she was buried alive.

And you would compare our civilized society to this barbaric culture, Michael? I truly hope not.

Tying up loose ends

1. On Dec. 4, a lyric from the Beatles song "Together" showed up on the Chicago Bulls' video board as "He got jew-jew eyeballs." I sent a note to the Bulls telling them that wasn't what songwriters Paul McCartney or John Lennon meant at all; they were referring to the ju-ju candies. A Bulls staffer called me to apologized and said the error will be corrected if the fan participation contest is repeated.

2. I wondered if Emirates, the airline of the UAE, enforces its country's no-Jews policy by screening for passengers' religious faith when boarding its aircraft in the U.S. I wrote to Emirates and asked if that was part of the pre-boarding process. The airline replied and assured me it was not. So I guess a Jewish Westerner is okay if he is just visiting. However, I would expect an Israeli stamp in one's passport to present delay, if not denial of boarding.

3. I emailed the Skatium, Skokie Park District's ice skating center, and asked if open skating hours could be adjusted to accommodate shomer shabbos residents. The Skatium manager called me and told me part of the agreement struck when the Skatium broke ground in the 70's was that its operation must be revenue-neutral. It is not supported by tax dollars, but by rink rental fees. To that end, the Skatium must maximize its rink revenue, and it does that by scheduling hockey and figure skating when the rink is in high demand. Since I am a tax hawk, I have no problem with that.

Two quick stadium predictions

I. If Cubs' owner Tom Ricketts moves the club's spring training facilities from Mesa, Ariz., to Naples, Fla., I suspect most Cubs fans who make an Arizona visit an annual rite of spring will go to Naples once and never return. They're not interested in the traffic, the overcrowding, or the New Yorkers who take over Florida at that time of year. They'll find out the hard way: a wasted spring vacation. The following year, they'll go back to Arizona and attend White Sox and Dodgers games.

II. Within the next five years, the Minnesota Vikings will successfully force the people of Minnesota to pay for a new retractable-roof stadium; or they will move to Los Angeles. A billionaire in L.A. has an offer on the table: he'll build an $800 million stadium if a team moves. Could be the Vikings. Could be the Jaguars. Could be the Bills. Move fast--beat the others! If the Vikings are stuck and the voters keep saying no, I wonder how much money the team is willing to invest to renovate dilapidated, outdated, decrepit, aging Mall of America Field (f/k/a Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome). The stadium's two other tenants, the Twins and Golden Gophers, moved out. The Gophers played in new TCF Stadium this season, and the Twins will open Target Field in April. They are both outdoor stadia. The Vikings want an indoor-outdoor palace like the ones in Houston, Dallas, Phoenix and Indianapolis. We'll see. Is the Metrodome paid for yet?

How long will Soldier Field last?

I watched the end of the Chicago Bears' thrilling overtime victory over Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings Dec. 28 from the comfort of my bedroom. I'm sure it would have been quite thrilling to have witnessed the game in person, but I really can't see sitting for four hours in a 20-degree night (plus wind chill) to watch a truly terrible football team. A friend and Bears expert told me the Bears still rank in the top ten (of 32 teams) in terms of stadium revenue. How long will that last? It seems to me that Mayor Richard M. Daley cheated the city by caving into the McCaskey family (Bears owners) demands for a renovated Soldier Field in 2001 after having told the McCaskeys "you can go to Alaska" for years. I'm no fan of public funding, but the total cost of the Soldier Field renovation was $632 million. At about the same time, Houston built Reliant Stadium from the ground up for $425 mil, and that stadium has a retractable roof! So Bears fans continue to pay top prices for tickets (no discounts after nearly three decades of consecutive sellouts and a huge waiting list) to freeze outdoors for nearly half the season. Retractable-roof technology has existed at least since 1989, when SkyDome opened in Toronto.

After another World Series was marred by bad weather in 2008, Sports Illustrated sharply criticized Major League Baseball for allowing numerous new ballparks to open without retractable roofs. Subsidies for the additional cost, which SI estimated at $100 mil each, could come from an MLB fund, the magazine said. I can't vouch for the magazine's math, but I agree that with baseball running from April to November (including the full postseason), keeping players and paying customers comfortable makes sense.* That would seem to be even more important for pro football, with much higher prices and much colder temperatures.

Chicago could have built a retractable-roof stadium, which could have attracted an annual college bowl game, Men's and Women's NCAA Final Four basketball tournaments, and one Super Bowl. (The NFL gives cities cold-weather climates one Super Bowl per stadium built. Keep in mind the Super Bowl is for rich men who play golf, which means Miami, Tampa, Phoenix and sometimes New Orleans. St. Louis is still waiting.) We have none of those tourism-generating events because we don't have a facility that can host them. And Bears fans continue to sit in the cold in a stadium quickly headed toward obsolescence.

Thanks again, Your Honor.

*Except in freezing Minneapolis, where the baseball team is moving from an indoor stadium to an outdoor ballpark. Good luck with April and May ticket sales, Twins.

The East Coast Establishment marries in

It started in the White House.

Karenna Gore, oldest daughter of Vice President Al Gore and granddaughter of former Sen. Al Gore Sr., married Andrew Newman ("Drew") Schiff on July 12, 1997. Drew is Jewish. Karenna comes from a wealthy Tennessee family that has been part of the Washington political establishment for decades. The Schiffs have three children.

Ivanka Trump, whose billionaire real estate developer father Donald is one of the wealthiest and most famous men in the world, converted to Judaism and married Jared Kushner Oct. 25, 2009. Kushner works in his family's successful publishing business.

A month ago, former President Bill Clinton's family announced the engagement of their only child, Chelsea, 29, to Marc Mezvinsky. Mezvinsky's parents, Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky and Edward Mezvinsky, are both former U.S. Congressmen. While Chelsea's father soaks up millions in speaking fees, her mother continues to firm up her political resumé as U.S. Secretary of State. Mezvinsky's uncle, Professor Norton Mezvinsky of Central Connecticut State University, is vehemently anti-Israel and possibly antisemitic. Chelsea plans to convert to Judaism. Marc is not Chelsea's first Jewish beau; she had one at Stanford University as well.

Not too long ago, a child of an Establishment family marrying a Jew would have been absolutely unthinkable. Here we have three beautiful, successful young women who have married in to Jewish families or are planning to do so, with the blessing of their world-famous fathers.

These are just three examples. More such unions occur all across America without the tabloid coverage. It's another step of American Jewry becoming further entrenched as part of the American fabric.

Wanted: a Cubs owner who cares

Could the Chicago Cubs buy a decent owner?

The Wrigley family managed to field competitive teams in the 1930’s and 1940’s, winning the National League pennant several times. But the Wrigleys didn’t have the passion or the finances to compete with the big boys in New York or Los Angeles. Gee, they couldn’t even compete with the little boys in St. Louis or Cincinnati. The Cardinals and Reds have won 13 World Series championships between them since the Cubs won a pair in 1907 and 1908. The small-market river towns 275 and 300 miles away? How embarrassing.

It’s probably better that the Tribune Co. didn’t build a new ballpark in the early 1980’s after its 1981 purchase because that ballpark would now be obsolete. Still, failing to insist on a full night-game schedule is costing the Cubs dearly, in my opinion, both at the box office and on the field. The ballpark is worse than ever. (Seriously.) The Cubs were never financially competitive, and the team’s popularity with the fans may have induced laziness on the part of the ownership to be aggressive with front office and on-field talent. Some Cubs teams in the 1990’s and 2000’s were quite awful.

Now we have a new ownership, and after some initial optimism, I fear more of the same. I was excited that the Ricketts family wanted to renovate Wrigley Field extensively in preparation for its centennial year and the 2014 All-Star Game. Then I read the men’s restrooms will continue to be a public health hazard—no renovations are planned. I also read the Ricketts want to play 50 night games a year, up from the current schedule, limited by Chicago law, to 30 night games and none on Friday or Saturday. (Other teams typically play 55 night games at home.) But the Ricketts have not held meetings with Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) or with neighborhood groups to discuss the issue. Despite the standing law (which expires after the 2018 season, I believe), Ald. Tunney could amend the law to allow more night games. He would probably receive City Council approval since Council protocol is to allow aldermen to set policy in their own wards.

The Ricketts’ inaction at baseball’s recent winter meetings in Indianapolis was a serious tactical error. The Cubs missed out on upgrading any number of positions where they are desperately vulnerable. Milton Bradley will probably be playing Monopoly or Uno on the Cubs’ bench this season since the Cubs’ general manager was unable to deal him.

The biggest shock to Cubs fans, especially those who have seen the Cubs play in March, is the Ricketts may move the Cubs’ spring training facility from Mesa, Ariz. to Naples, Fla. Everything I have read about spring training in Florida (the Grapefruit League) is that it is crowded and kitschy with awful traffic. Add the arrogant Yankees and Red Sox fans to the mix, and it makes for misery in Alligator Alley. The Cubs and their fans were right at home in Arizona’s Cactus League, which now includes the White Sox (who moved from Sarasota) and the Dodgers (from Dodgertown/Vero Beach, duh) sharing space in Glendale.

The late Ron Luciano was the American League’s most famous umpire in the 1970’s. He was a fan favorite and wrote a best-selling book, which is a great snapshot of the era: The Umpire Strikes Back. He wrote that every off-season, he would beg his American League bosses to send him to Florida for spring training. Every year, they would send him to Arizona—which was exactly what he wanted. Ha! Very smart man.

As an aside, a Cubs move to Southwest Florida would fundamentally change the relationship Chicagoans have with Arizona. The Grand Canyon State becomes less desirable as a winter destination. The second-home market and spring-break vacations in the Phoenix area would never be the same without the Cubs in town. Unlike replacing Wrigley Field (great idea), leaving Arizona would be a sad end to a great tradition.