The Cubs’ Legacy of Bad Baseball Now Extends to Bad TV Business

In Uncategorized by andcounting213 Comments

The Cubs just signed a deal to include the Marquee Sports Network on Hulu’s Hulu+Live option inside the Cubs’ broadcast market. That, along with the addition of AT&T NOW, marks basically the first sign of hope for Cubs fans who have cut the cord on cable.

But most of those whose cords remain solidly intact use Xfinity and are still without answers on when they can expect to see the Cubs Fiasco Channel on their screens. Cubs head of screwing up business operations, Crane Kenney, is presumably the imbecile responsible for negotiating deals with cable networks, and he has failed to get one done as of 3+ days before the first spring training game broadcast.

It won’t get done in time. There won’t be a stand-alone streaming option (like Disney+, HBO NOW, ESPN+, you know the drill because this is 2020 and you’re not an idiot because you aren’t Crane Kenney unless someone is reading this aloud to you).

So much revenue is just sitting around. I know that’s no big deal because the Cubs have cash literally flowing out their nostrils. But during an offseason in which so many great players were so very ungettable for the poor billionaires club, it would have been nice to have some forward-thinking . . . or even current-thinking resident of the 21st century come up with a plan to actually make money on this Cubs TV network.

It’s so disappointing. The reason the Cubs have so many fans has very little to do with their historically pathetic ability to play baseball and so much to do with their ingenuity in offering their games on TV nationwide when no one else was doing that. It’s hard to believe they’ve become such a backward-minded waste of a franchise even in the one area they used to absolutely lead the world in: broadcasting.

But here we are. I can’t believe more Cubs fans aren’t way more furious about it.

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  12. berselius

    My folks are out in AZ this week and have hit the back fields a few times. Can report that David Ross is a super friendly dude with the fans. I’m looking forward to being out there next weekend.

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  14. Rizzo the Rat

    Not a huge fan of the Marquee graphics layout. There’s too much on the bottom of the screen and the pitch velo is barely legible.

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  23. uncle dave

    berselius:
    There is something approximating baseball today!

    Pretty sure “Hey Chicago, whaddya say? The Cubs are gonna play something approximating baseball today!” is the new 2020 theme song.

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  26. Author
    andcounting

    uncle dave: Pretty sure “Hey Chicago, whaddya say?The Cubs are gonna play something approximating baseball today!” isthe new 2020 theme song.

    At least we’ll only have to hear it 50 times or so.

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  28. berselius

    I’m going to be at Saturday’s game – on the remote chance that anyone else here is in AZ this weekend, I’ll buy you a beer.

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  38. Rizzo the Rat

    Brandon Morrow told me he threw Thursday and his chest felt good. Unfortunately he was running afterwards and felt something in his calf. Had an MRI yesterday and has a mild tear in his calf (Grade 1 plus) and will be sidelined 10-14 days.

    — Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) February 29, 2020

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  45. BVS

    MLB announced Thursday that Kerwin Danley, Alfonso Marquez, Dan Iassogna and Jim Reynolds have been promoted to crew chief. Gary Cederstrom, Dana DeMuth, Mike Everitt, and Jeff Kellogg are retiring from full-time umpiring work and Ramon de Jesus, Ryan Blakney, Nic Lentz, Chris Segal, and Jansen Visconti are new additions to the full-time staff.

    Apparently CB Bucknor, Angel Hernandez, and Joe West still, inexplicably, have jobs.

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  51. Author
    andcounting

    dmick89,

    Yeah, I mean I don’t see how the rumors could be baseless. I also don’t see how the Brewers wouldn’t know about it. So either they don’t think his sudden offensive increase was cheating-dependent, or they really don’t think he’s going to get caught.

    Or they know their asses are all fired if he leaves and blabs his mouth. Is it legal to put an NDA in an athlete’s contract?

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  53. Perkins

    dmick89:
    andcounting,

    I don’t know what’s legal and what’s not anymore. I just assume if it benefits rich white people it’s legal. If it does not, there’s no way it’s legal.

    Well, Yelich probably helps them sell more tickets, which benefits rich white people. QED.

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  59. Ryno

    Jonathan Mayo @JonathanMayo 17m
    Nice piece of opposite field hitting for No. 21 ⁦@Padres⁩ prospect Blake Hunt for an RBI single

    If your last name is Hunt, you really shouldn’t name your child something that ends in a K sound.

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  62. Rizzo the Rat

    Announcement expected shortly that MLB will be suspending operations. More details to come.

    — Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) March 12, 2020

    The Cubs FO’s strategy of not spending any money this off-season is looking brilliantly prescient now.

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  64. uncle dave

    berselius,

    I’m planning on live-tweeting Hulk Hogan’s “NO HOLDS BARRED” tomorrow starting at about 10:00 PDT. Happy to do a crossover if you think it’ll drive traffic…

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  67. berselius

    Sounds like most of the sports leagues are working off the plan that things might start up again in June.

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  68. Perkins

    It’s going to be really interesting to see how teams handle issues like player comp and season ticket holders in a truncated season. I’d expect revenues to be down across the board even for the games that get played.

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  70. berselius

    Since the NFL offseason is the only thing not closed for business, (dying laughing)o(dying laughing)o(dying laughing) at Bill O’Brien and the Texans.

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  75. Perkins

    https://blogs.fangraphs.com/how-much-do-the-playoff-odds-change-in-a-shorter-season/

    Based on ZiPS, the Cubs playoff chances drop by about 7% in a shortened season (assuming they go down to 81 games). I guess that makes sense if we assume they have the highest true talent level in the division and the volatility from increased sample size makes it less likely that talent wins out, but I’m also curious as to the methodology.

    The Cubs seem to have a more top heavy distribution of talent than other teams in the Central, but a worse bench – I wonder if that wouldn’t help them more in a shortened season since there’s less wear and tear on their best players.

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  76. EnricoPallazzo

    Perkins: I wonder if that wouldn’t help them more in a shortened season since there’s less wear and tear on their best players.

    yeah but i think it would be (at least partially) cancelled out by the fact that IF an injury does in fact happen to a top player, that player will miss a larger percentage of the overall season…

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  77. Rizzo the Rat

    I’m starting to think this season should just be run on a sophisticated graphic baseball simulator.

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  85. Ryno

    Regarding Matt Patricia calling out Slay in a team meeting, telling him to “stop sucking this man’s private” because Slay posted a picture of another player on social media…

    The article’s author wrote:

    Patricia, whose comment was meant figuratively…

    As if people were reading his article and thought Slay was literally sucking a man’s privates when Patricia told him to stop.

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  88. berselius

    uncle dave,

    If you like sci-fi, I can heartily recommend The Expanse. First book is Leviathan Wakes.

    The show they made off the series is also quite good, and is on Amazon Prime.

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  90. Rizzo the Rat

    One thing I’m wondering about: if Japanese and South Korean baseball leagues start their seasons before the MLB, will we be able to watch them in the US?

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  92. uncle dave

    berselius,

    I kinda miss the old old days of ESPN trying desperately to fill time. It was Aussie Rules Football and roller derby back when I was a kid, which I would watch 24/7 right now if they showed it. Instead, we get Stephen A. Smith trying to fill an hour talking about sports that aren’t happening.

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  94. Rizzo the Rat

    New York Mets starter Noah Syndergaard has a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and is expected to undergo Tommy John surgery in the near future, sources tell ESPN. The procedure will keep him out until at earliest April 2021 and likely into the summer months.

    — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 24, 2020

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  96. berselius

    I’m guessing anyone with vague elbow problems might as well just get a knife and dig around in there at this point.

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  98. BVS

    Ryno,

    I bet Matt Patricia will be yet another Detroit manager soon forgotten, or infamously remembered.

    Hard to believe that this stuff still flies even in sports. You can be firm and tough with players without being a bully. Players coming up these days aren’t going to take that, and social media, as much as it suckx, is here to stay.

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  100. Rizzo the Rat

    Rizzo the Rat:
    I’m starting to think this season should just be run on a sophisticated graphic baseball simulator.

    Rhys Hoskins will play Thursday against Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas in MLB The Show with a live-stream on YouTube at 4:10 p.m., the time of what would have been the first pitch of Opening Day.

    — Matt Breen (@matt_breen) March 25, 2020

    Not quite what I meant, but, I’ll take it.

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  101. Ryno

    BVS,

    He’s another in a long line of NE coordinators that struggle as head coaches. Teams keep coveting NE products that don’t seem to understand what made NE successful for so long. Working under Belichick doesn’t make you a good coach if you think sucking a man’s private (figuratively speaking), has any effect on the team.

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  108. berselius

    berselius,

    Seriously, I saw someone bitterly comment this on someone talking about the rebroadcast yesterday. Yes, sadly the Cubs went downhill from winning the championship and having their greatest regular season in team history.

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  109. EnricoPallazzo

    uncle dave:
    Anyone reading anything good right now?

    I have been making my way through all of the grateful dead books. My 2 cents: Bear’s book kinda sucked. The writing felt pretty disjointed and I got the sense that a bunch of important details were glossed over and/or purposely omitted. The blair jackson book was really well written but was written from a journalist’s perspective (not a bad thing but lacked that first-hand feel). Phil’s book is really good, I am about halfway through it. Surprisingly well-written and phil is just a really thoughtful and funny guy and it comes across in his writing. Billy’s book is up next.

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  110. SK

    EnricoPallazzo,

    Let me know how Kreutzmann’s book is. It has been sitting on my bedside table for about a year. My 80-something year old mom bought it for me remembering the Dead were one of my favorite bands. That was true when I was 16, but not really since then — but then, I haven’t kept mom up to date so it’s not her fault (dying laughing) . Still, I’ll get around to it eventually, unless you tell me it sucks.

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  114. BVS

    berselius,

    Would you trade a 31 yo LF slugger and notably bad defender coming off a 1.6 War season and making $3M+/yr, for a 26 yo pitcher coming off a 1.0 War season in arbitration?

    That Ken Patterson trade looks completely reasonable without the Sosa throw in. Larry Himes obviously learned something from watching Dallas Green.

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  115. Rizzo the Rat

    How many Cubs fans thought this was gone off the bat? pic.twitter.com/4vtFaPsj4P

    — Tony Andracki (@TonyAndracki23) April 1, 2020

    I’ll never understand why people describe the Kipnis foul ball as if it were a “near miss.” Even if it had stayed fair, it would have fallen short of the warning track.

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  122. berselius

    Too bad mlb.tv only carries archives back to 2018. Currently watching the Cubs light up Jose Urena on opening day 2018. I guess my terrible memory is a blessing as I rewatch these.

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  128. SK

    berselius,

    with everyone at home, morning baseball could be good? if you gotta work, you watch the stream later… c’mon get creative it’s just an apocalypse we can overcome this

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  129. SK

    By the way, solidarity to any OV comrades out of work already because of the virus. Same with 4 members of family (so far). We are all hanging by the same thread.

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  131. dmick89

    uncle dave,

    Yep. It’s also the smart thing to do. It would be incredibly stupid to start a season even in the limited capacity they’re talking about. I don’t see how they can responsibly start another sports season until there is a vaccine.

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  135. Rizzo the Rat

    dmick89,

    Against this, I would say a couple things:

    1. We cannot wait for an effective vaccine before we start the economy again. A vaccine may not be ready for a year, if ever (we still don’t know how immunity to this disease works, and re-infection may be common).

    2. Some Asian countries are starting their baseball seasons (without fans in attendance). I think it’s worth looking at how the situation goes in these countries.

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  136. Rizzo the Rat

    My position is that, while the MLB may ultimately have to cancel the season, they should only do so after giving very serious consideration to alternative plans to get some games in.

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  138. BVS

    berselius,
    If it gets him out of broadcasting, I’m all for it.

    Some of you were really into The Americans when it was on. Did it hold up through it’s run? Worth starting now that I have time on my hands, assuming I can find it streaming? Other suggestions? (Netflix/Amazon/Spectrum/networks)

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  139. BVS

    So you see those “What does stay at home mean in your state?” lists in news sites? Answer in SC as of today: Nothing

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  140. berselius

    BVS: berselius,
    If it gets him out of broadcasting, I’m all for it.

    It could make for an interesting ‘rivalry’ with the Marlins, given who is the public face of the ownership there.

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  141. berselius

    BVS: Some of you were really into The Americans when it was on. Did it hold up through it’s run? Worth starting now that I have time on my hands, assuming I can find it streaming? Other suggestions? (Netflix/Amazon/Spectrum/networks)

    I never watched past the first few episodes, because Peak TV, but based on everything I read it started great and got even better through its run.

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  142. berselius

    berselius,

    My wife has been on a big Supernatural kick lately, so 300+ episodes of an hour long show has also really cut into my time to watch other things.

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  143. dmick89

    The Americans started great and got even better. It was one of the best shows of all time in my opinion and probably the most underrated show ever.

    I’m going to start Supernatural in the next week. I’ve been rewatching Fringe. I hadn’t seen it in a long time and I forgot how good that show was.

    I’m also a big fan of Bosch, which just released its 6th season. I’ve yet to watch the new season, but the previous 5 have been really good (especially season 2 on).

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  144. BVS

    berselius,

    Is that because she was in the Dean club when Jared Padalucki was on Gilmore Girls?

    Coincidence of day… Just had cable guy in for repairs. TV comes back on to Jared P’s character saying “I’m ready to sacifice my life. I’m ready to sacrifice my family. I’m not ready to be your bitch.” to some guy in a cage with him

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  146. berselius

    BVS: Is that because she was in the Dean club when Jared Padalucki was on Gilmore Girls?

    (dying laughing), no, neither of us liked Gilmore Girls and thought it was an elaborate joke when it was suddenly in the zeitgeist as a universally beloved show a few years back.

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  148. berselius

    In the extremely tiny chance that Ryno is around, it would be great to hear his guesses at the Packers and Bears drafts.

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  149. BVS

    berselius,
    As Ryno’s unofficial apprentice:

    In aggregate, this isn’t too hard…

    Packers: Picks include a series of high end but maybe not superstar players that lead to a top ten draft and help the team remain competitive for the next 4 years.

    Bears will pretend to do what the Packers do, but fail, again. Oh, and they’ll pick and overhype a QB that has glaring weaknesses for the pro game, leading to false expectations, firing a head coach, and losing seasons.

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  152. EnricoPallazzo

    re: tv…

    i am currently enjoying The Insider. i am only on episode three but so far so good. i have a feeling that it is about to go off the rails big-time, although that’s not necessarily a bad thing (for tv anyway…it’s generally bad for trains).

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  154. Rizzo the Rat

    Vin Scully took a fall in his home on Tuesday afternoon. He is hospitalized and is resting comfortably.

    Vin says, “I won’t be doing anymore headfirst sliding, I never liked it.”

    — Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 23, 2020

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  157. EnricoPallazzo

    dmick89: The Outsider? I thought that was pretty good. If you like it, give Mr. Mercedes a try.

    haha yes whoops The Outsider. yes I have heard good things about mr mercedes (tv)…I read the first book and thought it was meh and then actually kinda got into the second two books. I am not really sure how they could make it into a tv show, but the characters were all great so I am definitely willing to give it a shot. thanks, that will be next.

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  162. berselius

    BVS:
    Rizzo the Rat,

    Is Manfred the worst commissioner in sports? FIFA doesn’t have a commissioner right?

    FIFA is the clear #1 when it comes to awful execs, probably followed by the NCAA.

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  163. WaLi

    EnricoPallazzo,

    Outsider started off okay then got meh in my opinion.

    Love scares me only because of what happened last time Packers did this.

    Not a huge fan of the TE pick. But Pace/Nagy is making nothing but bad decisions lately so no surprise. I’ll be rooting for the fins this year I guess

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  167. berselius

    I don’t see any issue with evaluators who graded the Packers draft a solid F, given Rodgers’ contract situation and the lack of depth at WR. I however would “bump” it up to a D+, only because Rodgers has either missed big chunks of time or played on one leg in the past few years. If he had better backups than Brett Hundley and Scott Tolzien I think he might have sat for some of those. The Packers have had sub-replacement level backup QBs for the past decade. Everyone seems to be talking about how Love will be glued to the bench for the next three years, but I think he’ll get a shot at some starts if only due to Rodgers’ age and injury history.

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  171. Author
    andcounting

    Today is the 10th anniversary of Starlin Castro’s debut with the Cubs.

    A) I can’t believe it’s only been 10 years.
    B) Derrek Lee was the starting 1B that day. It’s really hard to believe how much changed between 2010 and 2015.
    C) Castro is only 30 years old. Again, I can’t believe this.

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  173. berselius

    andcounting,

    Tall odds that the players will agree to this initial plan, but I guess we’ll see what happens. You never know.

    It would be interesting if this revenue sharing plan actually has the teams opening up their books for once.

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  174. Author
    andcounting

    berselius,

    Yeah, that would make things really interesting. Show us the money coming in and show us how that compares to all revenue from the last 5 years and sure, we’ll take a proportional salary in exchange.

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  175. BVS

    andcounting,

    If I were the union I’d take that deal, but the owners won’t open the books.

    Seems like an easy negotiation for the union, despite the Illinois Gov siding w ownership.

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  176. berselius

    I’d probably put it at 70% that the season doesn’t happen this year.

    Not sure what the over-under would be.

    /Yellon

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  177. berselius

    This MLB proposal is really some next level union busting. Make it a class war between players with big contracts and min salary guys instead of fighting the billionaires.

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  181. Author
    andcounting

    berselius,

    It seems like such an impossible situation for the players. There have to be many of them who essentially need the season to happen while others would just as soon cancel the season. How do you even negotiate from that position?

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  187. berselius

    berselius:
    The half way point between what the owners and players are proposing is….81 games.

    🤔

    The owners responded, and their feeling is that the halfway point between 55 games and 114 games is 55 games.

    Looks like the actual answer will be zero games.

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  188. berselius

    This league – which just watched the NBA finalize its plans for a return – is too busy kicking each other in the dick through the media to actually get to a place where they can do what’s right for the sport, what’s right for the players, what’s right for the fans, and what is right for the long-term best interests of everyone involved.

    Loved this quote from Brett.

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  190. BVS

    MLB considering fall league in Florida this year. There’s a reason you don’t plan things in the SE in September… especially in Florida.

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  191. BVS

    dmick89,

    Think any of the current events have caused any former Bleachers fans/attendees to regret what they said to Jacque Jones, Jayson Heyward, Milton Bradley…?

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  192. berselius

    Now the owners are pushing for a 48 game season. They might as well just punt to 2021 with that little games.

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  194. BVS

    dmick89,

    My facebook feed has more support for BLM than I expected. Seems that seeing videos of police brutality is finally sinking in for some folks.

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  200. EnricoPallazzo

    looks like the cubs motto was “go big or go home” for this draft. no arguments here…gotta do something risky to get the farm system out of the hole that it is in. wish they would have gotten mick abel though.

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  202. berselius

    I’ve been meaning to re-read Lords of the Realm for months but couldn’t figure out what I did with my copy. I finally ordered a new one. A good reminder that owners gonna owner.

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