25 Random Things: FOTG Edition

After experiencing intense jealousy (and cold) after passing on last year’s spring training trip, I will be joining the FOTG guys in Arizona later this month. That means that I will be contributing in some way to the blogging experience. Since I’m new to the blog—and in the spirit of Facebook’s 5th Anniversary today—I thought I’d offer up 25 random things about me so the three readers of this blog know a bit about where I’m coming from.

By now you know the drill, once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, blah, blah, blah. At the end, choose 10 people to be tagged.

1. I will never be a true Cubs fan due to some deeply held family beliefs that the Cubs screwed over my grandfather’s cousin back in the 1950’s.

2. That being said, I love watching baseball played the right way, and in 2003 when I lived in California, I watch every Cubs game broadcast on WGN, Fox, or ESPN and had tickets lined up had a World Series come to Wrigley.

3. I am fairly certain that I'm the only Rockies fan not living in Colorado. I came out of the closet as a Rockies fan during a string of losing games in 2007. Within a month of me starting to wear my Rockies hat around, they went on a tear and made it to the World Series.

4. I became a Rockies fan because I always have multiple Rockies on my fantasy baseball team. This is because one of my fantasy strategies is that Rockies will hit home runs and I’ll win the HR and RBI categories. Sadly, in nine seasons this strategy has only brought home one fantasy league title for my Chebanse Charred Cheetahs.

5. Speaking of fantasy baseball, in the keeper league I am in with Jdot and Martin, we can keep 25 players from year to year. This year I kept a guy who retired a week after I designated him as a keeper. He was the only closer I kept. Sweet action.

6. I don’t think there’s a funnier, mismatched name in sports today than Joba Chamberlain. All-time, though, former NY Giants kicker Bjorn Nittmo takes the title.

7. I write music reviews for the company that used to own the Cubs. Based on how little they pay freelancers, I’m shocked that they’re going under.


8. I am a fan of Jeff Samardzija. I think baseball was the right choice for him, and I think he’ll develop into a stellar pitcher. What I don’t think was the right choice for him was redoing the Bo Jackson shoulder-pads-and-baseball-bat picture.

9. Despite my love for Notre Dame, the Cubs’ signing of Aaron Heilman is extremely perplexing.


10. W.P. Kinsella’s Shoeless Joe is a better book than his The Iowa Baseball Confederacy.

11. Given the option to root for a large- or small-market club, all things being equal, I’m going to pick the small-market ball team. Well, except the Reds and Cardinals.

12. I’ve always wondered how good I could have been in baseball had I not given it up at age 15. At the least, I would be better in softball.

13. I went to high school with a lefty who threw 90+ mph and pitched a no-hitter in his minor league debut. The fact that he never made the majors makes me appreciate how difficult it is to get to the bigs.

14. For me baseball is still—and always will be—America’s game. The only example I need in order to illustrate this is that during the weekend after September 11, 2001 all sporting events were cancelled. Even still, patrons at Hi-Tops in Wrigleyville were glued to old games being replayed on ESPN Classic and those people cheered like they were watching live footage. They needed baseball to help heal the country and ease their fears.

15. At the same time, I find it utterly hysterical anytime I see a special about the 2001 World Series that fails to mention that the Yankees lost the series. My wife and I just saw one on MLB network a few weeks ago that ended with the Yankees dramatic win in Game 5.

16. I will never turn the channel if a radio station is playing John Foggerty’s “Centerfield.”

17. I am looking forward to going to Arizona almost as much for the In-n-Out Burger as I am for the camaraderie, baseball, and weather.


18. Despite my excitement about #17, I think Five Guys makes a much better burger.

19. Terrance Mann’s speech at the end of “Field of Dreams” transformed a great movie into other-worldly. I am glad that TBS never shows a marathon of Field of Dreams like they do with A Christmas Story. I would not be able to do anything else that day.

20. My uncle shares his name with one of the Cubs broadcasters.

21. Let this be a lesson to anyone who throws his/her bat after taking a swing: I was once hit in the mouth by a baseball bat and needed stitches.

22. In Babe Ruth baseball (13- through 15-year-olds), I played a mean Center Field and 1B, but that didn’t stop me from throwing a no-hitter. My team lost that game 6-1 because of how many walks I issued, batters I hit, and wild pitches I threw, but those are just details and no one can ever take away the no-no I threw.

23. I have a 16-month-old, and if we ask him to pick out a bib before a meal, he’ll dig through the drawer until he finds the Cubs one.

24. Ed Winceniak was mainly used as a defensive replacement at 2B, 3B, or SS for the Cubs when he played for the team in the 1950's. He batted .240 in 50 at-bats with 5 runs scored and 8 RBIs in 1957. For his two-year, 67-at-bat career with the Cubs, he hit one home run. It was a walk-off homer at Wrigley in his last at-bat in the big leagues. The bat he hit that home run with sits in my living room and is one of my most prized possessions—a gift given to me by my grandfather a few years before he died.

25. When my son gets older and breaks Ed Winceniak’s bat playing ball in the backyard, I will forgive him, because hey, he would just be playing America’s game.

Tagged in this entry: Jdot, Martin, the Casino Arizona dealer who doubles my money between 9:00 p.m. and 12:30 a.m., the Casino Arizona dealer who sends me to an ATM at 12:45 a.m., In-and-Out Burger, Len Kasper, Karen, Brent, the guy who jumped all over Jdot in the comments section after he poked the slightest fun at Jeff Samardzija, My former employer who laid me off four years ago and then set me up with Cubs tickets to any day-games I wanted that season

Lou Gave Me the Green Light.

When we started this little blog way back in April, we thought we would have all kinds of material for the season because, well, the Cubs usually end up screwing the pooch at some point. Fortunately for the team and unfortunately for the FOTG team, they have yet to even get to first base with the pooch, let alone screw it. As a fan, I am glad. As a blogger, that leaves up poop creek lacking any sort of device used to propel a boat through the water. So, I am forced to do what so many bloggers before me have done...steal a premise for a post. So with apologies to Martin, who stole this idea for HJE, who probably stole it from Len and Bob (I kid), here goes...

Mark DeRosa: Blogger, ND Groupie

I recently came across DeRo's blog for MLB "The Pulse." and in it he interviews my "moral dilemma*" Jeff Samardzija. I found the whole thing odd and a tad alarming, so I thought I'd add my own two cents to this piece of blogging history in the making.

MARK DEROSA: I'm going to interview Jeff Samardzija, who to me is by far the coolest guy on this team. What he's been able to accomplish in his career, none of these guys can hold a candle to it. To play in front of 110,000 in Ann Arbor, to play a game against USC -- I don't think Ted Lilly has ever done that.

OK. Coolest guy? Try again. He's went to Notre Dame, so that immediately negates any "coolness" factor. In my mind, coolness is Blanco's tats or Woody's secret miracle blister cure or your rugged good...un, never mind. Also, nice work throwing Ted Lilly under the bus for no reason. That's just mean-spirited.

JEFF SAMARDZIJA: He only likes me because my bobble head has given him a couple bombs, including a grand slam.

Wait, hold the phone. Samardzija has a bobble head doll already and my buddy Puma hasn't mentioned it yet? Seems unlikely. This is the same guy who carried on a two day conversation with me about how fast Samardzija throws, during which I never uttered a single word. I think he would have brought up the Samardzija bobble head doll at some point.

DEROSA: I'm going to say there's not a quarterback-wide receiver connection who can come close to what we're throwing out there.

Fine, I'm gonna say I agree because I don't feel like doing any research today.

OK, was it an easy decision to sign with baseball or did you lose some sleep over it?

Let's see...I could either choose the NFL and spend then next ten years trying to prevent 280-pound free safeties from removing my head from my torso...all without a guaranteed contract or I could sign with the Cubs for 10 million and throw a baseball every few days for the next 20 years. Yeah, that was a real brain teaser.

SAMARDZIJA: I don't lose any sleep over anything, but it was a hard decision. I had a premonition that my locker would be smashed in between Mark DeRosa, the good, and then the evil of Jason Marquis. It's a constant battle for me, but I knew that's where I wanted to be, so it wasn't too bad of a decision.

Jason Marquis is evil. That's a news flash.

DEROSA: Did you know I played quarterback [at Penn] when we first met?

Let it go, Mark. Just let it go.

SAMARDZIJA: I did find out the first Spring Training, someone told me about it, and said you had some skills. I'm guessing it was probably George [Castle]. I'm sure if anybody told me, it was George.

Who in the hell is George Castle? Now I have to use Google to follow this interview? Thanks a pant load.

DEROSA: Do you feel like in the Minor Leagues, you could've performed better if you were on a bigger stage? Were you bored with the Minor Leagues? And, I'm not disrespecting the Minor Leagues.

Hear that all you Minor Leaguers? DeRosa thinks you're boring. Sounds like someone needs a visit from Julio Castillo and his signature "pitch."

SAMARDZIJA: It wasn't the same, let's just say that, as playing in front of a lot of people and playing against better competition. I felt I was there for a reason to work on stuff, but I knew where I wanted to be.

DEROSA: So, not so much result.

Is that sarcasm?

SAMARDZIJA: Not so much result, as you can tell.

Yes. Yes it was. Two points for DeRo.

DEROSA: Are you able to go to dinner in the city of Chicago and lead a pretty normal life?

Is the "in the city of" really necessary here? Who is reading this that needs that clarification? "Oh, he means Chicago as in the city. Now I get it."

SAMARDZIJA: Are you able to go to dinner in Chicago and live a pretty normal life?

Who's asking the questions here, Jeff? Get your own blog and you can ask all the damn questions you want.

DEROSA: Yes, very much so. I'm a happily married man with a wife and child. I'm not single with long, flowing locks, who was an All-America at Notre Dame.

I'm getting a little uncomfortable with this line of questioning. Long, flowing locks? Really?

SAMARDZIJA: I think you're answering the question for me.

He is? What was the question again?

DEROSA: We've talked about throwing passes many times.

Apparently, we're moving on. Heaven forbid we get a straight answer from 'The Pulse' today.

SAMARDZIJA: We feel we're under a pretty tough radar here, throwing passes.

Ok, I'll be honest. I have no idea what you two are talking about at this point. I feel like the dorky kid in the hallway who is clueless to the fact that the jocks are making fun of him. I think I'm are one step away from one of them stuffing me in a locker.

DEROSA: I'm very impressed with how this guy has come up and been able to fit right in. The guy's got ice water in his veins and that's a direct reflection of playing football. It's something that shapes your life. People who've never played football don't understand the bond. You could tell by the play [Friday against St. Louis] in the ninth -- he gave me a huge chest bump when I made the barehanded bunt play. It was right out of catching a touchdown pass, but I was playing against Cornell and he was playing against USC.

OK, this "interview" is over! Come on! Where is your journalistic integrity for God's sake? I am pretty sure that at this point, DeRo is sitting on JS's lap running his fingers through his "long, flowing locks."

Go Cubs.