Fun Friday: October Baseball
I wrote in early September that I thought the Mets could make it into October. Well I was sort of right. The Mets were a shambles for most of the year but in September they called up their Triple A Las Vegas team and those scrappy kids got them into the wild card game in which our last standing young arm, Thor, went head to head with arguably the best post season pitcher in the game right now and held his own for seven innings. We all know that the Mets’ season ended with a three run homer in the top of the ninth. I am thankful to the Mets for giving us more of a season than we thought was possible at the all star break:
I'd like to thank the @Mets for a fun season, with lots of ups and downs, and Thor for throwing a gem of a game last night in crunchtime.
— Fred Wilson (@fredwilson) October 6, 2016
But now that the Mets are out, I have thrown myself 100% behind the Cubs. As I explained on Twitter yesterday, I can relate to them:
@m_francis hell no. Cubs all the way. SF and Boston sports fans have it too good. I appreciate the agony of fandom that is a Cubs fan.
— Fred Wilson (@fredwilson) October 6, 2016
So as we do on Fun Friday, let’s get into the comments and talk. Who are you rooting for in the postseason?
Comments (Archived):
An Indians v Cubs Series would be great.
14.3% chance of that happening!Cubs are the clubhouse leader at 29.2% likelihood of victory. After that, Boston and Washington.Math: it’s awesome.
CUBS
Da Cubs.
I am and have always been a @Yankees fan. But I too am supporting the Cubs this offseason. Theo has built a great team and their fans have suffered for long enough. Also the Cubs winning means the Red Sox can’t, so win-win
yesss
In keeping with this election year’s theme…not SF and not Boston.
Cubs vs. Cleveland in the WS!
One and done in WC isn’t fair. Anything can happen in one game, more so than w/ any other sport, and the outcome isn’t necessarily a reflection of the better team. Bumgarner dominated a tad more than Noah, but I’m not buying SF is the better team. 2 out of 3 makes a lot more sense. Collins and Sandy deserve a helluva lot of credit for crafting a fun, talented team that played hard when they could have easily folded.
Cubs – of course. Last week I took my MBA class to meet with Twin’s president David St. Peter. Though we lost a few games this year… O.K. 103 is a lot of games… David was upbeat – and a class act. He came up from selling T-shirts for the Twins to become President. The business of baseball is tough, and it was refreshing to see he still has passion for his team, and his gratefulness to the fans. And, I still think the Twins stadium is one of the best parks in baseball.
i knew Kirby Puckett pretty well in college. He would have loved that ballpark.
I just looked at his linkedin it’s interesting.https://www.linkedin.com/in…Where does a guy like that go from there after reaching the top at such a young age (early 30’s when he was named President)? He now appears to be 45 or 46. Has been President since 2002 pretty much the longest job he ever held. I would think that that type of role (which appears administrative in nature) would get boring since you aren’t response for wins and losses as much as the less exciting part of baseball.Would be curious what the takeaways were considering that this generation isn’t the type that plans to stick at an organization as long as David has.
He really is a great, down to earth guy. I had never met him before, and just reached out via email – and he responded generously with his time – I’ve taken three groups of students over the years to meet with him.He works for a great Minnesota family – and it was no small task for him to get our new stadium built – it really is a great venue. If you or any AVC’er ever want, the first beer on the left field deck is on me!
We overlook that deck in our Butler Square office. Will be in MN Wednesday and Thursday.
Just pinged you on Linked in… want to grab a beer Wednesday night?
T O R O N TO . B L U E J A Y S https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
YES
The way you write about baseball makes it seem to be almost as complicated a game as cricket, and that is just not possible.I would be rooting for the Oneplus 3, but it already comes unlocked.
Baseball is truly biblical.Genesis 1:1–“In the big inning….”
…there was the word, and it was…rounders 🙂
In Toronto here. GO JAYS GO!Everyone loves the Jays. https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Nov 2014 ????
She likes the Jays but isn’t that conscientious about her license plate validity?
Hahaha…that’s got to be the funniest license plate. Lots of men probably are honking their horns as they pass by.
I’d love to see big papi take home a final ring.
That Mets/Giants game was amazing. I couldn’t believe the Viking had a no hitter going through 6. I welcome anyone aboard the Cubs train. I have been a Cubs fan all my life. It has been agony. Cubs fans are superstitious. I really don’t care who the Cubs play in the playoffs. I am just happy to be able to watch them play in October.It’s been totally fun watching them play this year. They fight really hard and compete. Maddon has done an awesome job-and any startup CEO could take lessons from the way he manages and speaks to his team to their company.
Born and raised a Yankee fan, spending my youth in the bleachers of the old Stadium in the Bronx.Honestly wish I cared more about this as there is nothing as connecting as being in love with your team.But this year, I will follow and give myself over to the Cubs I think.
Cubbies. You have to be a hard-hearted hometown zealot for one of the other playoff teams not to feel a sneaking wish that the Cubs win. “Perseverance furthers.” — I Ching
As a Cardinals fan, I find it tough to root for the Cubs. But I think Theo Epstein is pure genius, and would love to see him cement his place in history with a Cub championship. Having turned around two storied franchises that were on the schneid for so long has been amazing to watch. Cubs Vs. Cleveland in a Lovable Losers World Series. Cubs win in 6 games.
I went to the Texas Rangers game here in Dallas yesterday. It was truly depressing. I hope they rally
LA fans also know the agony of long term fandom. We’ve been rebuilding for 28 years. Go Dodgers!
The Dodgers are sort of like the iPhone…you know it’s expensive and too often the battery dies too early but it’s the best when it works.The Cubs are like the Samsung Galaxy 7…you’ve just gotta count on them blowing up at some point.
Couldn’t the same be said about the Dodgers every postseason? Great record, division title, then they blow up?
As a Yankee fan, here’s hoping the Cubs win against the Red Sox.
Go Tribe!
As a Bay Area native it’s the Giants for me. I get that we’ve had it good, but there’s something magical about the even year thing. And the redemption of best record in the first half, one of the worst in the second half, then getting it done in October.
As a Bay Area and San Franciscan transplant living in NYC, i’m amazed at the number of SF Giants fans in the city. I respect the Cubs season and all they have accomplished, they remind me of the Nationals, young, energetic, talented but missing that certain something to get them over the top. While i can feel for the Cubs…all must bow down to the even year magic. Best of luck to the AL teams in contention, would love to see a Red Sox vs. Giants World Series. Let’s go Giants!!!!
Jays vs. Cubs! https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Raised in Cleveland. 20 years in Chicago. Tribe v Cubbies all the way.
Fred try Syncing your mobile calendar to the ESPN daily calendar. You’ll get a reminder for every post season game in your mobile calendar with a link to view or stream even if it’s not on ESPN. It’s super useful and ESPN curate sports events that are important throughout the year.My start-up, CalReply powers it:http://cal.espn.com/espn-da…
As a Canadian it’s my patriotic duty to root for the Blue Jays, who are a lot of fun to watch. I follow the Giants in the NL and the Blue Jays in the AL, so this has been a pretty exciting October so far.
I’m a long suffering Cubs fan, so I’m ready to see my Cubbies finally win. I was hoping for the Mets to win though, so I didn’t have to spend a fortune going back to Chicago to watch them play at Wrigley.
I’m not really a big baseball fan, but my moms is a diehard Boston Red Sox fan. She grew up heartbroken season after season. My senior year of college (2012) she got breast cancer, and her defeating it the following fall (2013) coincided with the Sox winning the world series. She had lost all her curls and then regained them, gone through so much, and emerged victorious, and watching her so gleeful and so free and all that, so hype, so pumped about the Sox winning the world series, I’ve adopted them as my 2nd fav team in sports and will support them forever because of her. For life!!!! go sox
We will see a robot Jackie Robinson before we see a cubs ws win.
kevando:”We will see a robot Jackie Robinson”was that a millennial joke? Flew by us at the speed of a tortoise.
haha.. just a joke that, the MLB will allow animatronic players to join teams before the cubs in a world series. another joke about how the cubs suck. and will never win.
kevando:”another joke about how the cubs suck. and will never win.”Now that is a straight forward and unambiguous statement.
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
Gee, the “top” or “bottom” of an inning? I never knew what they were! The Cubs? They are from Boston, Chicago, somewhere else? SF? Is that the same as Oakland? The Mets are “out”? Of what? If the Mets are “out”, why care about the Cubs?Ah, don’t bother to explain! I don’t know anything about baseball.Base-a ball-a has-a not-a been so good-uh to me-e or me to it!Once I tried to learn to hit a baseball. Out back I thought I would toss up a ball, hit it with a bat, have it bounce off the side of the brick house, pick up the ball, and hit it again, practice, and get good. Ah, the bricks and house were not at risk! I kept trying. Eventually I got tired. I have yet to hit a baseball that way! Right — for the whole effort, never once hit the ball! I was plenty strong, then about 6′ with good muscles from lots of yard work, a little football, etc. Eventually I got enough manual dexterity to make it, in time and in tune, through much of the Bach Chaconne. But, baseball? No hope!Have I really been missing out on much?My father never paid any attention to baseball. When I was about 10, a wealthy guy two houses to the west suddenly took my brother and I to a pro baseball game. That was my first and last. The neighbor was in scrap iron and soon went to, right, Birmingham. I do remember that part!Baseball? Gee. You mean some people actually like that? I thought that everyone gave up long ago!I did like the movie Moneyball, especially the little speech at the end by the owner of the Boston team, whatever that was, about people going “bat shit crazy”.
As I have remarked before I know practically nothing about the particular games, players, teams and so on. I simply wasn’t raised to appreciate it or understand it. (Which seems unfortunate actually). I am very interested in the business of sports (and entertainment) though and always would read any articles discussing the same. No question I’d be a good sports or entertainment agent. Even not knowing the game. Probably better because I don’t know the game actually. Separate the emotion and all of that.I know that sports people are superstitious and things like that of course. I do know that human nature wise people are attracted to sports because of the intermittent reinforcement of the wins and losses. Also the gambling. And the pride in thinking that it actually matters (party in your brain) when you can proudly say that your team has won.Article this morning in the NYT:http://www.nytimes.com/2016…The N.F.L. has a history of holding cities hostage to pay for stadiums.
Cubs ownership is rebuilding Wrigley with private money-another reason to like the Cubs. The White Sox leeched off govt.
Cubs with their depth on pitching (if they can get past bumgarner’s giants) will carry the championship, even with Jason Howard’s signing.
He’s been great in the outfield. He’s also been pretty hot the last 15-20 games. MadBum is a helluva pitcher. Probably the one everyone would pick if you had to win one game.
Da (Little) Bears!
Boston. Forever and always. 🙂 But if they don’t make it I’ll be rooting for the Cubs. They’ve suffered long enough.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…I am not sure yet. 😉
Torn this year. I live in the DC area, so a Nationals championship would be something I’d remember forever. But my father-in-law is a lifelong Cubs fan and there won’t be too many more of these chances in his lifetime. So, I think I’d be happy with either of these two teams winning it all.
Go Cubs! https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
As a Boston fan, my loyalty is straight ahead.The Big Popi story is really amazing. Even my Yankee friends nod astonishment at his season.But the Cubs deserve to play well in the post season. Screw the goat and the cat.cubs v cleve would be fun.bos v LA would be fun. At least it would be a glimmer of the Celtics v Lakers 30 years ago.bos vs SF would be personally fun since my sisters are in the Bay area and would be split tortured.If LA v SF happens first, scalpers heaven is going to be enormous.If LA v Cubs, LA fans are going to be shocked at the amount of Cubs fans in LA, and fly-ins are going to be at those games.Cubs fans throughout the mid West deserve the joy Boston got in 2004.If they win, it would be nice for the murders to stop and Bartman to get forgiveness and an armored car for the parade. (grin)
Rangers! Talk about suffering. 1 out away from winning…twice. Ugh!
Glad to have ya on the bandwagon, Fred. Go Cubs!
Lifelong Red Sox fan here, a Cubs – Red Sox World Series would be epic. However, I really don’t think the Red Sox have the pitching to win it all this year. They had their hot streak (11 straight wins) two weeks too early. Now reverting to the mean, unfortunately during the playoffs.
CONTRIBUTORS:SPORTS RANT!True fans who actually enjoy sports and support a team no matter the results. The seminal bandwagoner is the worst type of pseudo fan. They only follow sports for connecting with true sports fans. They are unable to name a starting group on any sports team if their life depended upon it. (Fortunately it is only sports and our life’s don’t depend upon it)If they don’t catch ESPN highlights they wouldn’t know a player if they sat next to them at Starbucks where they drink their daily Latte.Our hat is tipped to all the die-hard fans (Cleveland and Cub type) who stick in there during years of futility and win a Championship to have deplorable bandwagoners attempt their yearly hitch hike. Pass them by and never pick their posteriors up.#TrueKnicks,Yankees,NYGiants,NYRangers#Bandwagonersbedamned
I can see how that would be annoying actually. A bit like “wantrapreneurs”.
Ouch
Go Cubs! https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
https://scorecardsports.wor… Cute poem.
CONTRIBUTORS:Boston Red Sox getting schooled by Cleveland Indians. Schooled
CONTRIBUTORS:Waited for another source to mention it. But as we have cited as nausea that Twitter is dead in the water no matter the Evangelical push. The dog just will not hunt. Those with a short position have done very well.No matter how brilliant Jack Dorsey is he is unable to run two separate companies. JD should have concentrated as we cited a year ago on Square only.