Seriously, Cubs’ Ricketts Has to Be Kidding

February 20, 2014 @ admin → No Comments

Thursday thoughts (or as close as we come to them around here) while wondering whether the Chicago Cubs are going to build a comedy club in Wrigleyville and have chairman Tom Ricketts as the headliner. He met the media Wednesday in Mesa, Ariz., and offered up statements that seem laughable, if not downright delusional.

To see more Natasha Barnard and other SI swimsuit models, there is video below. You were expecting to see a photo of Tom Ricketts? Wait till next year.

* Chairman Tom: “I think we have a team right now that can make the playoffs.” Inquiring minds want to know which of the organization’s minor-league teams he must have been talking about.

* Chairman Tom, part 2: “We have a good, young nucleus of guys who, if they get back on their career trajectory as we anticipate they will, and we have a great new manager and a lot of positive energy coming through, anything can happen.” Which presumably his way of urging fans to buy tickets now (because that’s the only way the team should be able to draw 3 million fans to Wrigley Field). Gee, you’d think at some point he would have whipped out a “We’re due” (for a World Series crown). Maybe even his advisors advised against uttering something like that.

* Chairman Tom, part 3: “We got depth in our system.” Well, you can’t get much deeper than last place in your division, can you?

* Speaking of Chicago baseball, the White Sox are scheduled to have their first full practice of spring training on Thursday. Full of what would seem a good question. Oh, optimism. Got it.

* The Chicago Bulls defeated the host Toronto Raptors 94-92 Wednesday with a big assist from center Joakim Noah, who had career-high 13 assists. That’s the most assists by a center since Vlade Divac in 1996. You remember 1996, don’t you? That’s when the Bulls were winning NBA championships. You remember what a Bulls championship was like, no?

* Speaking of assists, Jimmy Butler blocked a Raptors field-goal attempt with two seconds left to provide the defensive play of the night.

* Still speaking of the Bulls, former Raptors guard D.J. Augustin 19 points — 13 in the fourth quarter. Makes one wonder why Toronto let him go. Also makes Bulls fans thankful the Raptors did.

* With the U.S. men’s hockey team set to face an Olympic hockey foe that speaks same language? What fun is that for xenophobes? Oh, wait, The other team speaks Canadian.

* Speaking of a U.S.-Canada hockey game, the women are meeting for a gold medal. Wondering whether NBC gives that game anything close to the prime-time coverage it will to the men’s pairing that isn’t for the gold medal. Do you believe in miracles? Not when it comes to coverage of women’s team sports.

* If it’s Thursday (and the odds seem pretty good they are, considering yesterday was Wednesday — provided that today is February 20, 2014, or a subsequent Thursday), then it is time for another edition of “Sports & Torts” with co-hosts David Spada and Elliott Harris at noon Central time on Talkzone.com. The highly acclaimed interview show (well, it is held in such high regard in the Spada and Harris households, as well as reportedly elsewhere) has Bob “Slick” Leonard (who will be inducted to the basketball hall of fame this summer) and Pro Football Hall of Fame offensive tackle Ron Mix in the mix as guests for this week’s program. The show also will be available later in the day Thursday at the Talkzone.com site.

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Here is where to go for a daily dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks to the estimable efforts of the editorial and video departments at ElliottHarris.com):