A new baseball season brings so much anticipation and excitement.  Up until this point, the slate is clean and hope springs anew.

Oftentimes, because of my job and living in the city of Chicago, I’m asked who do I like better: the Cubs or the Sox? Truth be told, I like both teams a lot.

While I think the American League is more difficult because of the designated hitter, I like that pitchers have to bat in the National League, making it more of a “team” thing (besides, if you get a pitcher who can hit, it becomes another threat to the opponent).

In the end, I just look for quick games.  The Cubs and Sox have the ability to draw out some excruciatingly long games, and Major League Baseball never bothers enforcing the “12 seconds between pitches” rule.

As for the above image, obviously, I took this picture of Wrigley Field at night.  I remember it being one of those blazing hot summer nights and I rode my bike to the ballpark. Carrying my photo gear while peddling through Chicago’s streets was a pain in the butt, and I was a sweaty hot mess by the time my image-making was completed.  However, Alisha called on her way to meet up with some friends for a nice, frosty cold beverage.

The hotter summer nights get, the better tasting a bucket of beer can be.

July 2009. (1668)

A couple of weeks ago Alisha and I took in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” at Wrigley Field.  It was a different way to spend a date night as we both enjoy the movie quite a bit.

The event was a mix between a drive-in movie and a viewing of “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”  The bleachers were far more rowdy then those sitting on the grass, so a few times througohut the night someone from the bleachers would yell out something at the movie screen.  It wasn’t anything too distracting, but there was a definite “family section” and  ”not-so-family section.”

Also, seeing a movie in a setting like that was fun.  Everyone was there for a good time and laughed at the same jokes. The people organizing it had look-alikes sitting in Cameron, Sloane and Ferris’ seats for the Wrigley Field scene; when that scene came on, they hit the look-alikes with a spotlight.  The ribbon-board out front ran various quotes from the movie all night, and as the photo above shows, they changed famous Wrigley Field marque to match the “Save Ferris” message from the movie.

October 2011. (0505)

This picture was taken the night before the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois.  Considering the chaos that as about to ensue, I remember at the time it was very, very quiet.

The following morning — game day — I was taking in the scene, just off of the ice, when Martin Havlat (then of the Blackhawks) came out and was standing next to me.  He let out a “Wow” to no one in particular.  I asked him the last time he played a hockey game outside and he said it was years ago, probably when he was twelve or thirteen. In chatting a bit more, I asked him if he was excited, and he motioned to the ice with his head and said “How can you not be?”

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Today is Memorial Day, a time in the United States when we honor our country’s past and present service members for the blanket of liberty the rest of us get to soundly sleep under every night.  In searching for pictures, this one struck me immediately as today’s post.

On top of Wrigley Field’s scoreboard the National League flags fly.  They are ordered in the rankings of the division, so there is West, Central and East, all topped by American Flag.

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Today is opening day at Wrigley Field! By the end of the day, the Cubs should be mathematically eliminated from the post-season.

I took this picture in 2006 while looking up Wrigley Field’s left field foul pole. (In 2009 the Cubs also retired Fergie Jenkins number, and his name and number fly in the wind with Santo and Banks.)

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