Just How Violent Was The Fourth?
Violent Weekend Concludes
Collapsed Bridge Was Overloaded
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Farmer's Market Roundup - Summer Harvests
Sam Zell said yesterday that he'd be down with selling the naming rights to Wrigley. Which isn't news exactly. He's been saying that for a while. But he said it again and louder.
Zell was on CNBC yesterday (argh, make that video embeddable) talking about his plan to sell the Cubs, among other things. Zell's selling the team and the naming rights to the stadium separately and says he already has a handful of buyers being vetted by Major League Baseball. "Perhaps the Wrigley Co. will decide that, after getting it for free for so long, that it's time to pay for it," he said. Perhaps you've heard? Zell? He's kinda glib? He also said
Wrigley is an obvious world-wide icon and Wrigley Field is world-wide known. But, in the world of economics, when I bought the Tribune, I didn't get a discount because I wasn't going to use the naming rights that field represents.
And now the Sun-Times is freaking out. "How would you like the sound of Depends Field? Or Preparation H Ballpark?" they pant. Considering how often the Cubs play like ass, would that be so bad? [S-T, AP]
Transcript of the Cubs part of the interview, via CNBC, after the jump....
Cut and pasted from the transcript:
CNBC's Becky Quick: SAM ZELL IS WITH FOR ANOTHER "SQUAWK" EXCLUSIVE. HE'S THE CHAIRMAN OF THE EQUITY GROUP INVESTMENTS. MR. ZELL, THANK YOU FOR BEING WITH US TODAY.Zell: MY PLEASURE.
Quick: LET'S START OFF TALKING ABOUT THOSE CUBBIES, HOW ARE THINGS GOING SO FAR? ARE YOU FINDING A BUYER FOR THE STADIUM AND TEAM?
Zell: THIS IS A SITUATION WHERE WE OWN THE CUBS. AND WE INTEND TO SELL
THE CUBS. AND WE INTEND TO SELL THE CUBS ON OUR TIME FRAME. AND IN THE
MANNER IN WHICH WE CHOOSE TO DO SO. AND THE FACT THAT OTHER PEOPLE HAVE
OPINIONS AS TO WHAT WE SHOULD OR SHOULDN'T DO IS VERY INTERESTING, JUST
LIKE I COULD HAVE OPINIONS ABOUT WHAT YOU SHOULD DO.Quick: I AGREE WITH THAT. SO WHAT'S A MANNER THAT YOU THINK -- WHAT'S A
MANNER THAT YOU THINK IS A GOOD TIME FRAME AT THIS POSITION?
Zell: WELL, I THINK THAT WE'VE WORKED ON A STRUCTURE WHERE WE SEPARATE WRIGLEY FIELD FROM THE TEAM. WE THINK THAT'S BEST FOR US. WE THINK THAT'S BEST FOR ANY OWNER AND MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, WE THINK IT'S BEST FOR THE CITY OF CHICAGO.Quick: ALTHOUGH THAT HAS STIRRED UP QUITE A BIT OF A DEBATE. WHAT ARE
PEOPLE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THINGS SAYING AND WILL IT SLOW DOWN THE
PROCESS?Zell: EXCUSE ME FOR BEING SARCASTIC, BUT THE IDEA OF A DEBATE OCCURRING
OVER WHAT I SHOULD DO WITH MY ASSET LEAVES ME SOMEWHAT QUESTIONING THE INTEGRITY OF THE DEBATE. I THINK THERE'S A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO WOULD LIKE
TO BUY THE CUBS AND WOULD LIKE TO BUY THE CUBS UNDER THEIR TERMS AND
CONDITIONS. AND UNFORTUNATELY, THEY HAVE TO DEAL WITH ME.Quick: ALTHOUGH MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL IS A LITTLE BIT OF SOMEBODY WHO
GETS TO GET INVOLVED WITH THIS AS WELL. IT'S DIFFERENT THAN OTHER DEALS.THEIR GET TO HAVE A SAY, THE OWNERS OF MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL?
Zell: THE WAY THE PROCESS WORKS, MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL APPROVES A
SERIES OF POTENTIAL CANDIDATES. SO IN THIS CASE, I THINK WE'VE ALREADY HAD FOUR OR SIX GROUPS THAT HAVE BEEN APPROVED BY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TO BE AN OWNER OF THE CUBS. SO I DON'T THINK THE MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL ELEMENT IS GOING TO BE MUCH OF AN ISSUE. BECAUSE ANY ONE OF THOSE GROUPS,AS FAR AS I KNOW, WOULD BE FINE.
Then the conversation turned to economics and finance stuff and we stopped caring.
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Um, isn't Wrigley Field like the FIRST park EVER to have name-rights associated with it? Am I missing something?
Who cares. Everyone will still call it Wrigley.
It's not really name rights if the guy who owns the team is named Wrigley. It's not like Wrigley paid himself to have the park named after him. and i'm sure it was named after him as more of a vanity thing than anything else.
Zell just seems like a real jag. I don't care what he does with the name in the end because under his guidance the Trib is going to go down faster than a $2 whore.
The stadium was called Weeghman Park when it was owned by Charles Weeghman and it was called Wrigley Field when it was owned by William Wrigley (with a brief interlude as Cubs Park prior to renovations).
I believe wholeheartedly in free enterprise, but there's a time when capitalism should take a backseat to the greater good.
If he were building a new stadium, I wouldn't begrudge him "Google Field" or "Southwest Airlines Park."
But it is an iconic structure for crying out loud. And he has a lot of nerve talking about "most of all, what's important to the citizens of Chicago."
I mean, it's one thing to MF somebody, but you don't have to lie about it. I think it's fair to say that most Chicagoans would think it's "best" to keep it named Wrigley.
Wrigley is a gum and a MAN.
So, would no one care if he renamed it Zell Field? By that logic?
I hope he sells the naming rights TO HIMSELF just to show all of you!
I hope he sells the naming rights TO HIMSELF just to show all of you!
That would be a very costly way of burning us...
This is why it's great to be a White Sox fan. We didn't really piss ourselves when they went to "U.S. Cellular" and we got over it pretty quickly (i.e.- "The Cell"). Championships help you forget things fast.
Meanwhile, this will be a years-long saga and every pink-hatted Cubs "fan" will scream that the sky is falling as the team itself cruises to another soul crushing sub-par season.
I think of myself as a Cubs fan and I could care less about what the name of the park is. Though I might miss the old Wrigley sign a little bit, it doesn't matter. It won't make it any less fun to go to a game based on what the official name of the park is. If anything the additional revenue would only help the team.
"I believe wholeheartedly in free enterprise, but there's a time when capitalism should take a backseat to the greater good."
"greater good"
seniors and children first?
no!
heathcare for all, nope!
housing for all, heck no!
free equal education for all, who them? No way!
The Cubs?... YES,ITS About the greater good,
Capitalism should take a back seat to a stupid basemball team that suburbanites and yuppies love along with a few o.k. people.
You sir are a Red Eye Reading Moron,
Regards,
Spook
Commentator( and one hot potata!) of the month-elect
Spook,
Your comment is too boring for me to address.
they've been slowly adding more and more advertising at wrigley for a while. every year, it's a little bit more. it wasn't that long ago that there was no adverstising there. also, wrigley gum has been getting free advertising off this park forever and i'm guessing zell is using this threat to coerce the company to pony up
Seriously, did your mom drop you on your head or something? Like for an hour?
Spook:
As you have yet to get a comment saying that you INSPIRE people, I believe I am front-runner for commentor of the month.
Also, you are boring. HAHAHAHAHA!
I never called the new park Comiskey. I don't mind calling it the Cell. I don't think anyone who doesn't have to would call Wrigley anything but Wrigley.
"We didn't really piss ourselves when they went to "U.S. Cellular"
That's funny, I remember it a little differently. There are quite a few fans who refuse to call it anything other than Sox Park.
...on the other hand, is there really a company out there with a desire to be reviled that much that they would buy the naming rights for Wrigley?
I mean, this is Chicago... you've still got people boycotting Macy*s over a name, for god's sake (instead of boycotting them for more logical reasons like, for instance, a lack of service or quality merchandise).
Besides, that's a bit different anyway, because nobody gave a damn about that hole of a stadium in the first place.
Signed,
Not a Cubs fan.
the cubs are one of the more profitable teams in mlb. no matter what they call the park, drunk suburbanites will still be clamoring to get in. there's no such thing as bad publicity, as they say.
wow, i totally missed the fact that SAL-E's pic was used for the post. he's great on feast of fools and apparently bff with zell.
Events like this should serve as a reminder to sports fans of all stripes and sides that sports is a business and they could give a rat's fuck in hell about your childhood memories of holding grandpa's hat while he bought you a dog at Wrigley or Comisky or whatever.
Sports teams bully brow-beat communities into funding their expansions (luxury boxes) to stadiums all the time. Miller is out to turn a profit, the biggest one he can. You don't matter and all the letter-writing and stamping of feet won't change that. They're corporations and scummy ones at that.
All the strum and drang and raging and wailing and gnashing of teeth means nothing, you'll still line up, pay up and bend over to take it from your sports team again, and again and again.
Only way to win is to go outside and play.
Though I might miss the old Wrigley sign a little bit, it doesn't matter.
Hasn't Wrigley Field been given landmark status? If so, then I believe the iconic sign will have to remain, no matter what they rename the park...
Oh get the F*ck out Spav1! Put that crack pipe down! who’s running your campaign Matilda? Just because you got an Barack O’Bama button on your pink Powder Puff Girls back pack, don’t mean you can inspire any body!
I’ve got this race locked up. I’ve got most of the delegates, the momentum, and a buck fifthy cash on hand and a pocket full of pistachios!
Under my reign its gonna be a new day,
Starting with Hates Puppies surrendering the Spook moniker
Then watch out Macy protestors, The New Chicagoist will lead a movement of agitattion,organizing and protest to
change the name of the old Comiskey Park to Noam "Chomsky Park"!
The Cubs will be called the Cubans playing in Fidel Castro Field!
Via Le Revolution!
signed,
Spook-Commentator for a New Chicagoist!
I think when (not if) he does sell the naming rights, it will be similar to what the Denver Broncos did -- their stadium is called Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium. So I'm guessing something like (Sponsor) Park at Wrigley Field. Gay, yes, but it's better than getting rid of the name entirely.
that golden mean philosophy (Heartless Corporation Park at Wrigley Field) works better than that "for the greater good" bullcrap, for sure.
also, there's an entire neighborhood (where i live) referred to as wrigley, wrigleyville so that name ain't going nowhere.
@Spook
It's Power Puff not Powder Puff -1 point
It's Obama not O'Bama (what, is he Irish?) -1 point
It's Viva Le Revolution not Via (Latin - "by way of") Le Revolution -1 point
Your campaign is falling apart. Commenters are looking for solid leadership with sharp looks and a smart mind. I'm afraid you're the Giuliani in this Chicagoist race.
I may have come into the race late but I am fighting for a brighter Chicago!
----
On point: Selling the name of the field will do little than confuse the hell out of Santo. I can only image what that first broadcast would be like. "Pat, where the hell are we again? Fuck it, I'm calling it Wrigley."
I am just saying he is a multi-billionaire already, is it asking too much for him to spare an icon?
Believe me I couldn't care less, I didn't grow up here.
But I mean pretty soon it is going to be the Chicago Energizer Batteries instead of the Cubs and the Denver Broncos by British Potroleum. When does it end?
I'm not offering this up as startlingly original thought, just adding my voice to the chorus of people who think some things should be left alone no matter how much cash there is to be made.
I vote for "Old Style Park".
And I used to run this open mic stand-up showcase in Roger's Park. Every week, this crazy old lady would come in, and do the most bizarre five minutes I'd ever seen. She'd get by on crazy facial expressions, prolonged moments of mumbling into the mic punctuated by the sudden screaming of random words like "Broadway!" and "Corn!".
And every week, she'd get laughs. Not the "Wow, she's a sharp writer and has a unique voice" kind of laughs, but "Who the fuck let the bag lady on stage?" kind of laughs.
Anyway, that's what I think about every time Spook submits a comment.
(Hugs!)
@spookhatespuppies: thanks for the LULZ. You delivered the punchline beautifully.
@spookhates:
I am so excited for tomorrow!
How interesting Hatespup! We might have passed each other like ships, yo!
Cause indeed, I wasn’t too far away from you! See I was at the Green Mill, son. And while You (probably wearing a red argyle sweater and kaki Dockers),were trying to be the next Jerry Seinfield along with a bunch of others of your ilk, laughing at homeless women and such, your boy Spook was at the Green Mill Poetry Slam rocking rhymes, laying lyrical wreck, and mentally slaying wack MC’s!
Furthermore, your whole style is chump, you laugh at homeless women, while I buy the homeless drinks if they can make it pass the door man. But on the real, any body notice how Nola( unlike Chicago) is a lot more tolerant of its "crazy/Homeless" denizens and even often giving them special cultural status?
Oh and I see you Ed (Ma and Pa) Knittle! Like James Brown said "Watch yo self!" this race gets dirty son! And I'm more like Paul Welstone with the school bus!
And are you sure Barack O'Bama does not use a apostrophe in his name among certain audiences when he autograph’s his book??????
Holla at ya Spook!
The terminator commentator-elect
Has anyone else noticed that Spook seems to be finishing his general education requirements for a BA? This month he's name-checked Hegel (in a weird context...), Beckett (every Sophomore with a crush on the TA's fav WfG), and now Chomsky (the growin-dreads-cuz-I'm-not-livin-at-home club's number one cultural critic).
Wagers on the next mad props to the undergraduate canon? Zinn perhaps? Freud's "The Future of an Illusion"? A Nietzsche misappropriation?
spook....:
It's Rogers Park, there's no apostrophe in it!
It's named after Philip Rogers, not Roger!
Spook: A Man for the People, Suckas (Can you count?!)
Keepin' it real in Chicago and enabling crazy, homeless alcoholics since 1998!
Punch the Spook ballot (or just the candidate himself) in February '08!
@Spav1:
So am I... So am I...
@Scoot:
Sorry, never noticed that one before. Thanks.
@Spook:
I kid because I love. And if you notice, I wasn't laughing at the lady. I was too worried about her fucking up my PA equipment or falling off the stage and suing me.
Sorry Yoko, my education aint midwest and I'm proud of that ;-)
But I do have two copies of Zinn, and Illusion.
and most of the other folks you mentioned!
See, you my friend, are stuck in a midwest intellectual construct.
learning should be continuous, which means brushing off the classics now and then and refreshing yourself or as I like to say, getting reacquainted. Cleary from your remarks you were not intellectually engaged in school, but thats how it is for most Americans right on up to the President!
Heck I just reread Hamlet for the 20? time. And we can also kick around some Morrison, as in Toni. Heck looks like I'm gone be at this desk for a few so we can do this!
My advice? Let folks like Beckett, Tolstoy, Chekov, James Baldwin, A. Miller, T Williams, Ellison, etc, etc, etc, back into your life! Its a sin to read them for credit and leave them behind or even love them and leave them! No!
Like Prince said “I don’t care pretty baaaaaby just take me with you” as in them!
You feel me?
As Tupac said "Holla if you hear me!"
I.) Sox fans didn't like the change to U.S. Cellular
a.) Spook is a douche
b.) If Old Comiskey was still the White Sox stadium there would have been an even bigger public outcry over the name change. I'm a Cubs fan and I still would have been irritated by it
i.) Spook is a douche
II.) The iconic Wrigley sign will not go anywhere
a.) The park has landmark status
b.) The name of the park will most likely be changed to something like "________ Park at Wrigley Field" with the corporate signage/logo going right above the iconic sign
III.) Really sick of all the pink hat talk, the yuppy talk, the non-fan talk.
a.) Spookhatespuppies...also a douche.
b.) Similarly...Peteypants...douche.
Word Pinko! And you know I like the name "Pinko", and I am looking for a vice commentator!
and yea I know people give me much beef about the "enabling crazy, homeless alcoholics since 1998!"
But on the real, don't they deserve a drink too? I mean being homeless is hard work. Give me all the logic you want, but like Spav1 smoking at the bar, I aint changing on that one.
@Mike_Thoms
Fine. Depending on the success of tomorrow night, I propose a Chicagoist Fantasy Baseball League to determine the greater fan.
I hope Zell DOES rename it something "commercial."
Cuz I hate the Cubs.
Sorry guys, but it's true.
And where exactly did your 'education' take place Spook? Please tell me so that I know where not to send my children.
@Spook:
WOULD YOU LET A HOMELESS PERSON SMOKE IN A BAR?
I would not. Cigarettes are expensive and you know they wouldn't have their own.
@rhos:
Don't be spiteful. Not the place.
Well Vit
Honestly I do enjoy a certain degree of anonymity that this forum provides so I’ll just say that it’s about a two hour plane flight (I hate long car trips) out east.
Actually once there I hated the place. But after graduation I realized what a socratic foundation it gave me based up an intellectual un-housing. I think it’s important to under go an intellectual vertigo to realize how much we don't know, and how much of what we think we knew was based on pudding. This is a very uncomfortable process. And most folks would rather avoid it.
But no matter where you go or didn't go the above is very attainable IF learning and questioning is valued and placed at a premium by the individual, like talking about the cubs for instance. Can you imagine what it would look like if so many people got so worked up over a book?
I can hear it coming now --Booo hissss, booo hissss!
And see Spav1 We agree! No homeless smokers at a bars either!
Spook:
You are like that hideous loner who sits in the back during creative writing class and then whips out insane misogynistic, violent poetry and everyone else just looks around wide-eyed and like, wondering if really OWN a hunting knife. And then when the teacher asks you about it, you get quiet and say that "no one gets it" and then you walk out.
Jesus.
Nope, Spavis! that dude sounds like a suburban or rural type.
Your Spook was a pop lock'n, tic toc'n spinning on his neck, robot doing, moonwalking, electronic Boogaloo dreaming, break dancing, smart aleck, teacher annoying, basketball playing, B boy with a book always hidden some where on my person to be read when no one was watching. Actually I wanted to grow up, move to New York and be like Sugar Pop! word!
It was only years later that I became a public intellectual, minor p minor i.
And who were you Spavis?
Spav1,
Despite the inflamatory rhetoric and frequent misspellings he still manages to at least come nearer to speaking truth to power than most of the commentors on this blog and in a much more entertaining way. On top of that he sounds at the very least like he'd actually be fun to go drinking with, while you sound like you'd be stone drag and would probably complain about good service and leave a shitty tip.
So can we count on Spook crunking and moonwalking his ass over to Sheffield's tomorrow night? First Guinness is on me, and I believe spookhatespuppies has your first scotch...
I love all the crazy bastards on this blog.
Except for spookhatespuppies. That guy is a TOTAL dick.
Navin and Spook:
dont you know? I am a paid operative of Chicagoist to be a bitch and increase page views. Seems to be working.
and spook: I was in a sorority, pretended to be stupid to get laid, and wouldn't have given the time of day to boys like you.
@Spav1:
Delta Zeta? Sounds about like the DZ's at my school.
So it is supposed to mean something that you were 'educated' east of Chicago?
anyone not educated on the east coast is a rube. this is common knowledge
I know this is sarcasm but I feel compelled to state that much of my family is from New England, and I know lots of people there, and if you don't think that NE isn't capable of allowing rubes through their educational system, I invite you to visit New Hampshire with me sometime, upon your return, your mind will have been changed ;)
Vit Vit Vit, dude, man, son, yo, kid, homey. Aint no hard and fast rules to nothing, except in Chicago it gets too cold during the winter.
Sam Zell can grab the corporate board of Macy's and get lost.
Seriously when did the "for sale" sign go up on all of Chicago's icons? Give me an finn' break.
go to hell, sam zell
Our former governor seems to be talking out of both sides of his mouth regarding the benefits of the Illinois Sports Facility Authority purchasing Wrigley Field.
I quote,
Thompson said it makes sense for the authority to buy Wrigley.
"The public would get a restored Wrigley Field, the most iconic baseball field in America, at no cost," he said. "If I can't sell it at no cost to the taxpayer I'm not much of a salesman."
The Authority's proposal is likely to include the creation of a special taxing district at Wrigley, in which future growth in sales taxes over the next 30 years would go toward the cost of restoring the stadium.
The difference between the projected revenue total and the renovation cost "is what would go to the Tribune," Thompson said.
I guess Big Jim doesn't think the use of sales tax increment financing to pay for a few hundred million dollars of renovation comes out of the taxpayer's pocket.