Tomorrow at 10AM Pacific, I’ll be glued to the set, watching the Blackhawks battle the hated Red Wings. I’m pretty excited to watch this game though I did try everything possible to get back to Chicago for it. By not going though, I’m able to watch with the kids and that’ll be much, much better.
I’ve been slacking quite a bit on this blog especially in terms of talking about the Cubs but honestly I was holding my breath for today, waiting for the playoffs to start. Of course, now my anxiety is going to be even worse since the Cubs should be considered favorites to win the NL pennant. They have the best team in the National League and a really good pitching staff with arguably four closer-type arms starting with Dempster, Zambrano, Harden and Lilly.
This really could be the year but it won’t be easy.
Bill Plaschke thinks it will be a Dodgers-Angels World Series and dismisses the opening round series with:
The Dodgers open against a Chicago Cubs team that hasn’t won a World Series in 100 years and will mess it up again. You know it, I know it, and, most important, they know it.
It’s always funny how non-Chicago writers can talk up the futility of the Cubs because of their history yet doesn’t mention the Dodgers haven’t won a playoff game since the 90′s. For more Chicago-friendly coverage, you should check out the Trib.
But enough about that, today is the start of hopefully an amazing October. I have my Cubs shirt on, walking around Downtown LA and have already received a few Go Dodgers! in response.
Let’s play ball!
Here’s a few things I’ve come across the last few days which are pretty nifty…
The Huffington Post Chicago site has launched and so far I’m impressed. Looks like a nice collection of opening day stories talking about the greatness of Chicago.
I found a few I liked, The Newspaper is Dead, Long Live the Newspaper, Blackhawk Down: Chicago’s Forgotten Franchise and Chicago Tribune’s Social Media Evolution.
One interesting thing is the right rail being mainly links to the local bloggers. I think that’s an incredible way of generating goodwill and probably bringing people back again and again. The key is distribution and aggregation. It’s something I try to preach here though it doesn’t always seem like people are listening.