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Monday meanderings: The Chicago Cubs are serious about working on fundamentals. The word from spring training in Arizona is the bases will have the inside corners painted blue. That way, runners will be able to aim for the inside part of bag. Because they couldn’t do so if the base was all one color? No word whether the Cubs also will have their fathers pitch to them or whether batters merely will hit off a tee. Also no word whether there will be mercy rules in Cactus League or intrasquad games.
Alyssa Miller is in the 2012 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and has nothing to do with Cubs or Sox attendance. Not a problem from this perspective.
* Speaking of mercy (OK, more like: “Mercy!” — you can hear Hawk Harrelson proclaiming now, can’t you?), the Chicago White Sox in 2011 averaged 6,117 fans at their home spring-training games in Glendale, Ariz, whose population is more than 225,000. For their 2011 home games during the season, the Sox averaged 24,705, 21st among the 30 major league teams. In case you were wondering whether there was any correlation between population and average attendance (which apparently there is not — at least in this case).
* Speaking of attendance numbers, the Cubs in 2011 averaged 37,258 at Wrigley Field to rank No. 9. In case you were wondering whether there was any correlation between performance and attendance (which apparently there is not — at least in this case).
* Of course, the obvious way to increase attendance at U.S. Cellular Field — home of the White Sox — is to have the Cubs play there in 2013 while Wrigley undergoes renovations. The Cubs deny any such move. Quite possibly because the Wrigleyville they would come back to in 2014 might resemble a ghost town with bars and restaurants suffering significant loss of business. Then again, that would be one way to depress real-estate values and allow the Ricketts family to purchase properties at a substantial savings. Not that that thought has crossed anyone’s minds.
OUT AND ABOUT IN CHICAGOLAND:
* Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith and wife Kelly-Rae have announced the first Keith Relief fund-raising event and benefit concert March 14 from 7:30–11:30 p.m. at Joe’s Bar on Weed Street. Scheduled to perform is country music artist Jerrod Niemann. Tickets ($100 for general admission, $250 for VIP) are available at at duncankeith.com. All proceeds will benefit Keith Relief and Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana. The event will feature food, drink and auctions (silent and live).
“My wife and I are excited to make this announcement and are really looking forward to a fun evening that will help a greater cause, the beneficiaries of Keith Relief. We want to work together with the Blackhawks fans to make a difference in the Chicago community,” Keith said.
* The latest installment of the Arlington Heights (Ill.) Memorial Library monthly series combining the worlds of sports, books and more will be Tuesday (Feb. 21) from 7-8:30 p.m. Veteran scribe Jim O’Donnell will run the show with former Chicago Bulls assistant coach Johnny Bach and Cheryl Raye-Stout, sports contributor to WBEZ-FM, also part of the panel. Basketball — pro and college — will be on the menu for the program. Rumor has it that tickets to a Bulls game and to a DePaul men’s game will be given away as part of the evening’s activities. Admission is free. Persons may register for the event here.
* The 24th annual Comcast SportsNet Sports Awards Feb. 13 raised a record $720,000, surpassing the previous high $701,000 in 2011. Attendance at the event was a sold-out crowd of 1,030.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the record-setting amount of money our annual event has raised for the March of Dimes,” Comcast SportsNet Chicago president James J. Corno said. “A gracious thank-you goes out to the leadership and direction of our event chairman Bill Barry, our presenting sponsor Dan Ustian and Navistar, along with the dedicated work of the entire Sports Awards committee, our staff at Comcast SportsNet, and the support of our teams, advertisers, distributors and the Chicago business community. I’m already looking forward to celebrating our silver anniversary next year.”
* Wynning Teams is holding auditions on March 4 from 3-7 p.m. in Chicago for “Intensi-T,” a Las Vegas-based show. Female dancers 21 and older between 5-4 and 5-9 in height who would like to be considered should contact Wynne Lacey by email at wynne@wynningteams.com or phone at (630) 881-3052.
The Arena Football League has announced most of its games will be available online for the 2012 and 2013 season.
Nadia Bedricky at the Arena Football League offices in Chicago.
“We are extremely excited about partnering with Ustream,” AFL commissioner Jerry B. Kurz said of having games available through ArenaFootball.com, Facebook, Ustream.tv, and on Ustream’s individual AFL team pages.
All AFL teams will have their own Ustream channel for live broadcasts and archived games on demand. Ustream will have free-for-view live access to all regular-season games other than “Arena Football Friday” Game of the Week on NFL Network. The AFL’s 25th season begins March 9.
All of this information pales in comparison to even better news: good friend Nadia Bedricky works in the AFL offices in Chicago. For faithful readers of this space (and possibly even for philanderers), you may recall Nadia as a member of another football enterprise, the Chicago Bliss of the Lingerie Football League. Fully clothed in her capacity with the AFL, Nadia recently took time from her work for a brief chat:
Speaking of football, here’s a little April Rose from the Super Bowl scene:
For those of you who are wondering what Katarina Van Derham has been doing since her days as Saint Pauli Girl, here is a video that provides a partial answer:
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