Big Day

I had this written out last night, but I didn't save it and something happened and it was gone oh well.

Sammy
I had very mixed reactions about the Sosa trade when I heard about it at the bar Friday night. I knew he probably would not be back with the team in 2005, but I was still a little dissapointed to hear the news. Sammy has been one of the greatest Cubs ever and he made many summers more interesting when the Cubs were a horrible team. At one point, Sosa hit home runs in 8 straight Cub games that I attended from 1999-2002. Nothing was exciting at Wrigley when he hit one out. I have an old Playstation Game with him on the cover. In the opening video for the game, there's a video of Sosa hitting, hopping and running towards first. The camera doesn't follow him though, it focuses on the crowd behind the Cubs dugout, who all stand up to see where the ball is going. There are very few times in sports that you can get a whole crowd to stand up in anticipation of something happening. And it happened a lot for Sosa. I remember in '98 running out of the shower at home when he hit number 62 and slipping and falling because I could hear the game and heard he hit one. My favorite moment will be from Game 1 against the Marlins when Sosa tied the game with a 2 run HR, and all Al Leiter can say is, "He did it... He did it!"

All this being said, it was Sosa's time to go. He knew that his welcome and his teammates attitudes towards him were going down, and so did the fans. I think this year will be a much more enjoyable year for Cub fans, unlike last year when I didn't like all of the complaining and moaning throughout the whole season. Read this article and it pretty much sums up my feelings. The best line by Gene Wojciechowski was this: "he forgot how to take the temperature of a city that can stomach losing, but despises frauds." Do not read this article, by Jayson Stark. I don't know why I even provided the link. But Jayson, the Cubs couldn't manufacture any runs this season because nobody could get on base, not because they hit 235 HRs last season. The Cubs will be good next year. Hendry is not done dealing and someone else will be in the outfield, hopefully Huff or Wilkerson. So have faith, Cub fans, 2005 could still be "our year."

Marquette

Marquette had a real good win yesterday. It wasn't good that they beat a bad team by 4 points and it took them 2 OTs to do it. It was good that they won with out their star player. Mason and Chapman had some bad shooting days but their 3 pointers were huge. I got to see the highlights on the local news tonight. Mason's 3 at the end of regulation and Chapman's 3 at the end of the 2nd OT both were from about 22-23 feet. As for Diener, it will be interesting to see how long he is out. Stress fractures are strange. I have no idea which bone it is or where it is in the inflammation process to even think about how long he will be out. Hopefully, he will be back for Wednesday. UAB is a must win for us. It would help out our resume and really get us on a roll to start February. Click on links below for game wrap-ups.
Journal Sentinal (photo taken from there)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch