Cubs Convention Part 7

Now, I like to go to the seminars, even though some people think it's a waste of time because you don't meet the players. And you know what? Sometimes you do meet the players! So anyway, Erin and Angela and I went to a couple seminars. The first one was a Sports Central Live broadcast featuring Starlin Castro, Tony Campana, and Shawn Camp.

Basically, when Tony Campana is somewhere, we are also there. Except now that he is a Diamondback.....

I like his shirt and I want to get it.

Afterwards, Tony Campana signed, as usual, and guess who got an autograph?

Erin did, of course. Always.

The next conference included Brett Jackson, Anthony Rizzo, and Edwin Jackson.

Now, I would like to take some credit here, because I have been an Edwin Jackson fan for a LOOOOONG time. I have proof:

This is back in 2010 at Frank Thomas's jersey retirement. First time I met him. I was smitten.

So I went to Sox Fest in 2011, and I saw him there. And it was glorious.

Then at my first Cubs game of the 2012 season when the Nationals came to town, I met him again.

But that wasn't enough, so I went to Milwaukee to see him again when the Nationals played there.

So afterwards, as much as I love Brett and Anthony, really I just wanted to meet Edwin and welcome him to our beautiful town, and Edwin signed FOREVER! But he just kept moving away from me....

He finally stopped signing because he was hungry, so I walked away, dejected, to pout in the hallway. I was with Angela, Erin, and Erin's mom Jamie, pouting on a couch. Erin was actually waiting by a doorway because she was sure Anthony Rizzo was going to come out, when all of a sudden she yelled, "Edwin Jackson!"

Edwin was walking down the hallway, so we dropped everything and my spirit soared, because there he was!

Well, Edwin was very taken with Erin. He just loved her! His agent gave his number to Jamie and said that Edwin wanted to give her tickets to any game she wanted to go to. What did I tell you about Erin? People LOVE her!!!!!!! 

And lo and behold, he has given her tickets to Opening Day. Don't tell me athletes are selfish jerks. Edwin Jackson is just one example of an amazing person.

And then Ronnie Woo Hoo played the piano for us, and life was good.

 But just wait until part 8.....

Cubs Convention Part 6

The thing about Cubs Convention is that so far, I had spent a lot of time with people I loved, but I still hadn't seen enough of the people I loved most. Cue Michael Bowden and Steve Clevenger.

Well, here's Michael Bowden. Angela calls him the Angel in the Bullpen, and he really is. He is a good person. Seriously, if he has ever told a lie in his life, I will give you a million dollars. That is how sure I am of his integrity. Oh, and I forgot to tell you he is also a fantastic pitcher. When he came up to the bigs toward the end of the season, he was fantastic.

And here's Steve.

Can I just say one more time how excited I always am when I see Steve Clevenger? Seriously, he is my favorite times a million. And I can't say enough good about him.

Look, you also get the zoomed in version!

And here's Josh Vitters. Usually when I see him, I remind him that me and Angela (but really, just Angela) bought him Sprinkles cupcakes for his birthday.

Here's Keith Moreland, former Cubs player and current Cubs radio broadcaster. Since I spend most of my free time in my car driving, he is the way I usually "see" the game when I am not at the game.

Oh, I think you want to see the zoom.

Brooks Raley....I think when he is up in Chicago on the regs, he and I will become fast friends. He just seems like a nice kid.

Now, here's Chris Rusin. I am still trying to figure him out. For some reason, I am like speechlessly intimidated by him. I don't know why. I am pretty sure he's not mean, and I am pretty sure he's one of those funny people with a dry sense of humor. But he really intimidates me. He's having a really good spring, so it looks like he's going to start the season in Chicago. Maybe my intimidation will wear off. I don't know.

I don't know why the person felt he had to take this picture from space.

Here's Cubs great Milt Pappas. Milt stayed longer than he was scheduled for to sign extra autographs. What a nice guy!

The best part of the evening is yet to be blogged. Stay tuned! That's mainly for Fitzy.

Cubs Convention Part 5

I apologize for the delay in posting this. Mainly that apology is to Erin, or Fitzy, as I call her. She is the girl on the left in the photo with Angela and me.

If I tried to tell you the wonder that is Fitzy, my words could not do her justice. Angela and I first met her last year, she was standing there with a huge sign for Tony Campana and wearing a Campana jersey. Everything looked too big for her, but everything IS too big for tiny Fitzy, and that adorable aspect is part of her charm.  You can read about our meeting here: Game # 31, Cubs v. Astros....

You meet this girl, and you just LOVE her, her zest for life, her zest for baseball players, her contagious enthusiasm and spirit. You meet her, and you instantly love her and want her to be in your life forever. And it's not just weirdo baseball fans like Angela and me, and you will see that in this blog.

Anyway, after that day, Erin was a very present part in our lives through the magical wonderland of social media. We saw her again near the end of the season, and now she was back for Cubs Convention. We were all at the Kids Only Press Conference, where kids can come ask the players questions. The players were:

Anthony Rizzo 

David DeJesus

Darwin Barney

Brooks Raley

And Chris Rusin

The questions were hysterical: Do you like beer? (David DeJesus: I like ROOT beer.)

You really saw the personalities come out. David DeJesus and Anthony Rizzo especially thought on their feet to some of these silly questions.

Here's Fitzy asking her question.

The players love her

Sorry, Erin. I know you are waiting for more. Be patient....

Goodbye, Tony Campana

I have purposely waited a few days to write out my feelings about the most recent Cubs' loss. I didn't want to be overly emotional. Someone told me once that part of the curse of being a Cubs fan is that you get attached to mediocre players. Maybe that's true, and maybe I am overreacting to the loss of the popular outfielder.

Except I am not overreacting. Here is my argument for why Tony Campana should've stayed with the Cubs.

First, I'll start with the obvious: speed. Tony is, without a doubt, the fastest man in baseball. He is most likely one of the fastest men alive. But fast guys are a dime a dozen--what makes Tony's speed special? I would argue that, in addition to his speed, it's his base-running prowess. Tony's smart. He knows when to run and when not to, when to try for two bases when a normal human might only get one. He's going to keep the pitcher's eye on him instead of on the batter. You have to pitch differently when Tony's on base. He's aggressive, especially in clutch situations. Check out the stats and you'll see what I mean. At one point in the season, Tony led the league in stolen bases, and he did that being a non-starter who spent a chunk of the season in AAA Iowa. In 2012, he was caught stealing only three times.

But let's get away from the obvious. This kid finds a way to get on base. Whether it's a walk, running out what would normally be just a sacrifice bunt, or running out a dropped third strike, or running out an infield hit, he's a fighter. Maybe it's the cancer-survivor in him, or maybe it's just the athlete in him. Doesn't matter why, only that he's going to get on base. His OBP was .309 in 2012, and I imagine it would've been higher given more opportunity.

And let's talk about Tony the Personality. Don't tell me clubhouse morale will not change without him around. I've seen him joking around on the field and in the dugout. He's a little jumping-bean of energy and he pumps the guys up. If you don't believe me, ask the players. He's consistently named as favorite teammate. And what about the fans? There is not a more fan-friendly player than Tony. Game after game, during B.P., after the games, whenever there's an opportunity, he's signing and posing for pictures and laughing. I would argue that fans come to the game to see him. I know that's true because I have talked to the fans. In a season where the Cubs will probably not be contenders, how will you bring in the fans? With players like Tony. If you were at the Cubs Convention, you would see that it's true, that he is absolutely beloved.

Maybe Tony wouldn't be a starter ever on any team. But when you want good men on the bench, which every MLB team needs, you need someone like Tony to fill that spot.

Tony has been good to me for the past two years. I will miss him and his soon-to-be wife Whitney on a personal level, and of course I am biased because I love their personalities. But I truly believe we are losing so much by losing Tony, and I think we'll see that soon enough.

Cubs Convention Part 4

This is a super short entry, because I got to the Convo late. Very late. Transportation issues.

Here's the great Billy Williams!

And here is my first glimpse of one of my favorites, the great Michael Bowden. I got to meet him and Travis Wood.

 Daniel bought Steve Clevenger's cleats. I was super jealous.

More to come!

Thoughts, feelings, and other girly emotions

Long ago, I determined that I would save this blog for baseball thoughts only. I didn't want to be one of those people who put all her emotions and innermost feelings out for the world to see. But due to recent circumstances in my life, I have begun to rethink things, and I want to put it out here for all of the world to see.

I'm 35 years old. I don't think that's old, but maybe it is. I have begun to notice the birthdays on baseball rosters and there are usually only a handful of players older than me. Maybe not even a handful on some teams. So that means that everyone on their team has achieved his goal at an age much younger than mine.

I have three bachelor's degrees: Bible, English with a writing emphasis, and Psychology. I got a great education in those three areas, as well as in speech, which I more than minored in. But none of those degrees will get me a job in that field.

I'm in graduate school, and in May I will have a master's degree in counseling and hopefully be a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor. I will be competing against thousands of other people with that same license for mainly government jobs, jobs that are becoming fewer with America's failing economy.

I taught for eleven years and work as a paraprofessional in a school now. I don't think I will ever teach again. I'm not qualified and I was only okay at it. I think I had moments where I inspired students, but I mainly just inspired them to love baseball, and that was not part of the curriculum. I don't think I instilled a love of reading or writing or speaking or acting in my students, although I think I helped cultivate the interests of kids who already did those things. Maybe I helped them get better at those things, but I think mainly I wasted a lot of time.

So I thought about passion. I am probably one of the most passionate people anyone will ever meet. And I thought about talent. I have some of that. And it made me wonder if there were ways to combine my passions and talents into something I could do for a living.

What am I most passionate about? Jesus. That was not a swear. I am literally the most passionate about Jesus. But I don't ever want to make a career of that. I want that to be my life, not my job.

Secondly, I am most passionate about baseball. Third, people. Fourth, movies. Fifth, writing. Sixth, acting.

You are probably thinking, Write a baseball movie about cool people that you can act in! But I am not talented in that area of writing. I get bored of my own fiction, so I assume others will be bored with it, too.

No, I need to work in an area where I am consumed with baseball, because the bottom line is, it consumes me anyway. It makes me happy. It makes everything bad go away. My friend Mark said to me last night, "I have always had baseball. When I am at any game, everything seems right in the world. It's the one thing I never get sick of."

I am not passionate about counseling. I am passionate about people, and I think I have good insight into the goings on of a person, but that's only because I am a really good listener. And I came to the conclusion that, tens of thousands of dollars later, and so many sleepless nights cramming for exams and writing papers later, I don't want to be a counselor for the rest of my life. I think it will depress me.

So I'm wondering, what do I do with my life? Do I try to become an usher at a Cubs game? Do I do the job I'm trained in, or at least look for a job I'm trained in? How can I work in baseball for a living?

Someone tell me.