"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do, I stare out the window and wait for spring." - Rogers Hornsby

:: Saturday, February 21, 2004 ::

The Dream Continues

As baseball season begins and this blog begins to refocus on the Cubs, you'll notice (in addition to the True-A-Day story) that I've removed the Howard Dean links, as well as the links to his blogs.

You know, I really did think we could have had something special and different with Dean as president. Here is someone, whether you agreed with him or not, who actually believed in something, and not what his handlers or focus groups told him to believe in. A man with a wife who actually had a career that she wasn't willing to just give up to have the amorphous title of "First Lady".

What the national media did to Gov. Dean with the now-infamous "I Have A Scream" speech was reprehensible. All he was doing was whooping up his supporters. So he screamed. He wasn't angry, he was excited. Our current president wouldn't recognize that kind of excitement if it hit him over the head.

So Howard Dean returns to private life, though he says he'll remain politically active, I can't see him winning an office again, unless it's governor of Vermont, where he remains popular.

I am reminded of the words of Sen. Edward Kennedy, speaking at the 1980 Democratic Convention, his last run for president, when he said:

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

Indeed. Let us hope the energy of the Deaniacs infuses public life for years to come.

:: posted by Al at 12:42 PM [+] ::
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True-A-Day

You'll note a new feature on the sidebar, "True-A-Day", a true story from Randy Cassingham's cool "This Is True" site. You'll see a different story here every day, changed once a day. You'll also need JavaScript enabled to see it.

You'll also notice it's too wide, and the colors are weird. This is a work in progress. I'll get back here later today and make adjustments.

Update: OK, I've fixed the colors. But I cannot seem to figure out how to make it narrower again, like my sidebar used to be, and the text is too large. Or more properly, the text on my RIGHT side is too small.

Does anyone out there know how I can edit my template to fix this?

Also, this is the page on Randy Cassingham's site that explains how to do this. I've read it over and I cannot seem to figure out how to make this box smaller. If you can, let me know.

FURTHER UPDATE! Well, now I've got everything the same text size. But I'd really like the left sidebar to be narrower. Any ideas, please e-mail me.

:: posted by Al at 9:39 AM [+] ::
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More On Illinois Taxes

I wrote the other day on the state of Illinois' useful website for filing your state taxes and have a couple more notes.

First, I was advised by reader Hardy Brigham that TurboTax's state filing program actually is free after rebates:

Looks like you have found a good solution for state taxes. As you may already know, if you get at least TurboTax deluxe, the state version is also free (after a rebate). Because there is so much in common with the federal return, the state interview takes all of 2 to 5 minutes, depending on your situation, and the filing is done along with the federal filing. Also free, and a very easy way to keep your records together.

But I am writing today to give kudos to the state of Illinois again.

I filed my return on Sunday. The refund was in my bank account last night. That took five days, which is quite impressive.

:: posted by Al at 1:42 PM [+] ::
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Welcome Back

Welcome back,
Your dreams were your ticket out.
Welcome back,
To that same old place that you laughed about.
Well the names have all changed since you hung around,
But those dreams have remained and they're turned around.

-- theme from "Welcome Back, Kotter"

On September 30, 1992, 26-year-old Greg Maddux
threw a 7-hit shutout at the Pittsburgh Pirates, winning his 20th game of the season (for a 78-win Cub team), becoming the first Cub pitcher to win 20 since Rick Reuschel in 1977. (This is the highlight video of Maddux in a Cub uniform that has been airing on various stations all day today.)

We knew he was a free agent then, and at the time, had no idea it would be more than eleven years before he'd put on the blue pinstriped #31 he'll don in Mesa, Arizona, either tomorrow or the next day, pending a physical, which he'll surely pass.

As you know if you haven't had your ears and eyes closed all day, the soon-to-be-38-year-old Maddux agreed to a contract with the Cubs late last night.

The deal is now confirmed to be two years for $7.5 million each, with an option year for $9 million in 2006, if Maddux reaches certain incentives. What we don't know yet is exactly what those incentives are.

Wednesday evening update: the deal is now officially announced as: $6 million in 2004, $9 million in 2005, and $9 million in 2006 IF he pitches a combined 400 innings in 2004 and 2005. I stilll think this is eminently fair to both player and club.

I've been in favor of this signing for a long time, and the dog-and-pony show that Scott Boras has put on for five weeks has been the reason I haven't written much about this. I give huge credit to Jim Hendry for not falling for Boras' stunts, for Boras' attempts to get the Cubs to bid against themselves (the ludicrous breathless reports coming out of New York a couple of days ago about the Yankees, a case in point), for holding his ground and reaching what seems to be a very fair compromise, given today's market.

Yes, we wish we could have had Maddux in a Cub uniform the last 11 years, given his success and the fact that he is one of the most intense competitors ever to play the game, and his intelligence trumps nearly every other player playing today. But rehashing the mistakes made by a previous Cub management regime is silly. Maddux won 95 games as a Cub from 1986-1992 (to tell you how long ago his rookie September call-up year was, among his teammates that fall were current Cub batting coach Gary Matthews, current Red Sox manager Terry Francona, and soon-to-be-Hall-of-Fame inductee Dennis Eckersley), and 194 as an Atlanta Brave, but he will, barring injury or complete collapse, win his 300th game in a Cub uniform this season, we hope sometime in late July or early August.

For the practical side of this signing, it's clear to me that even a 38-year-old Greg Maddux is a better option for the rotation than an unproven Juan Cruz. Cruz will make the club in the bullpen, and he's very valuable there, since he can go one inning or three, or even start in an emergency. It increases the depth of the staff and means that none of the prize prospects (Blasko, Brownlie, Ryu, Guzman, Sisco, Jones, and others) have to be rushed.

It's a win-win situation. Let's hope this signing brings us the World Championship we've dreamed of for so long. The Cubs, I believe, now have the best starting rotation in the majors; as it says here: (on ESPN.com's "page 2")

Don't coronate A-Rod's Yankees just yet as baseball's 2004 champs. Picture this:

Assuming even that the Yankees can, say, get by deep A's pitching in the Division Series, then, oh, escape another seven-game thriller with the rival Red Sox, here comes the World Series:

Game 1: vs. Mark Prior
Game 2: vs. Kerry Wood
Game 3: vs. Greg Maddux
Game 4: vs. Clement/Zambrano
Game 5: vs. Prior
Game 6: vs. Wood
Game 7: vs. Maddux

The Yankees may have the All-Star lineup to win 110 games and a division; in signing Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, the Cubs have the All-Star rotation to win a World Series.

Remember that mantra: Lineups win divisions; pitching wins championships.

The irony is so sweet: If the Yankees and Cubs face each other in the Series and it goes seven, A-Rod (loudly introduced yesterday) can lose directly to Maddux (quietly signed late last night).

You won't hear much "best-ever" fawning about this Cubs' rotation, but historical placement is overrated: What matters "best" is that the Cubs have baseball's top rotation this season.

That's a good summary. In a practical sense, I might put Maddux in the rotation between Wood and Prior, to split up the power guys, but it really doesn't matter after the first time through. And if they make him #4, he would start for the Cubs in Atlanta on April 9, a delicious irony after he shut out the Cubs 1-0 (with help in the 9th) in his first start as a Brave in 1993.

Welcome back, Greg. Welcome home.

:: posted by Al at 2:43 PM [+] ::
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Let There Be More Lights...

The Cubs today announced the dates for the four additional night games that they were given permission to schedule by the Chicago City Council last week.

In addition to those listed on the original schedule, the following games which were originally day games will be played at night:

Tuesday, June 8 against the St. Louis Cardinals
Wednesday, Aug. 11 against the San Diego Padres
Wednesday, Sept. 8 against the Montreal Expos
Tuesday, Sept. 28 against the Cincinnati Reds

Less sleep for me in 2004. But I'll take one for the team.

:: posted by Al at 7:35 PM [+] ::
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New Addition to the Cubs Blog Army

Go check out Bill Kelly's Rooftop Report, another welcome addition to the growing ranks of the Cubs Blog Army...

and only another day and a half till pitchers and catchers report!

:: posted by Al at 7:10 PM [+] ::
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Stand Back...

... while I actually write something complimentary about a government service.

No, really. Seriously.

I was finishing up with my income tax returns, both federal and state, this past weekend, since I have a refund coming and I wanted to get it as soon as possible. I use TurboTax for my federal taxes, and file electronically, and although TurboTax charges a fee for that, they also rebate it, so it winds up being free (why they just don't make it free in the first place, is a puzzle, but that's not what this post is about).

TurboTax also offers you the chance to spend $30 on a "state download", so that you can use the same program to do your state taxes. Supposed to save you time inputting all the data, etc.

However, the Illinois form is much simpler and most of the figures are just plug-ins from the federal return, and here's where I'm going to plug a well-designed and useful government service.

The state of Illinois now has a free service where you can enter all your numbers on their secure website, and if you have a refund coming (which I do), you can also have it direct-deposited into your bank account.

Cost: zero.

Thanks to the state of Illinois for actually coming up with:

a) a useful service that
b) works and is easy to use and is
c) free.

Click here if you live in Illinois and want to take advantage of this service. There are clearly marked links at the top of the page.

:: posted by Al at 1:44 PM [+] ::
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