This is why you shouldn’t play football at Wrigley Field

http://www.thestar.com/sports/football/article/893864--this-is-why-you-shouldn-t-play-football-at-wrigley-field

This is why you shouldn’t play football at Wrigley Field
Fri Nov 19 2010
The discovery Friday that the dimensions of baseball shrine Wrigley Field in Chicago do no accommodate football: One of the end zones abuts a brick wall.
Cathal Kelly

After 18 months of planning, NCAA officials have realized that baseball shrine Wrigley Field is dangerously unsuited for football.

Unfortunately, they made the realization one day before a big football game is played there.

On Saturday, Northwestern and Illinois will play at Wrigley in front of a sold-out crowd. The lucky fans are seated in the western end zone.

That’s because the back of the eastward end zone abuts a brick wall in right field. The goalposts there have been mounted on the wall. One long touchdown pass and someone is going to get seriously pancaked.

So Friday morning, the NCAA passed a set of temporary rules that make football a half-court game.

All offensive plays will now head toward the relatively wide-open expanses of the west end zone. Each time possession changes, the ball will have to be re-placed to accommodate the change.

“It’s a little different and the decision is a little late,” Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany told USA Today.

In an effort not to totally alienate half the crowd, all kickoffs will head into the east end zone.

It’s worth noting that the Chicago Bears played at Wrigley for half a century. It was just as dangerous then — one of the end zones fell off into a dugout. But they valued human life less in those days.

Tribune Bankruptcy ‘Stops Clocks’

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aNnMpmsUNMxQ

Tribune Bankruptcy ‘Stops Clocks,’ Eases Debt Burden
By Sarah Rabil

Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Tribune Co.’s bankruptcy filing gives billionaire investor Sam Zell a potentially lighter debt load and time to sell assets including the Chicago Cubs baseball team.

Zell defended the decision to seek protection from creditors, saying in an interview yesterday it would “save the business.” The newspaper publisher and broadcaster has enough cash to operate in bankruptcy, according to documents filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware.

“It stopped the clocks,” said Porter Bibb, managing partner at Mediatech Capital Partners LLC in New York. “He said, ‘Let’s take it right now, get everybody off my back and think about what we want to do next.’”

Tribune, which was on the brink of a possible debt covenant violation, is another example of turmoil in the newspaper industry as the economic crisis coincides with readers and advertisers defecting to the Web.

Creative Loafing Inc., owner of six weekly newspapers, filed for bankruptcy in September, and publishers Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC and Journal Register Co. stopped making interest payments this year.

Zell, who styled himself “The Grave Dancer” for resurrecting distressed companies, was criticized by analysts last December for burdening Tribune with too much debt as industry ad revenue was projected to drop further. He took the 161-year-old publisher of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times private as an employee-owned company less than a year ago for $8.3 billion.

‘Debt Load’

Tribune lists assets of $7.6 billion and debt of $12.9 billion in its Chapter 11 petition. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Merrill Lynch & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. were the lead loan arrangers.

“We were concerned at the time by the significant debt load they were placing on the company,” said Fitch Ratings analyst Mike Simonton, who’s based in Chicago. “As cash flow was diminished we had become more and more concerned.”

Filing bankruptcy enables Tribune to “potentially alleviate some of its debt burden,” Simonton said.

“We have ideas about how to monetize,” said Zell, 67. “We just can’t work on them as well as we’d like under the pressure we’ve had.”

JPMorgan was listed as the biggest creditor, representing lenders owed $8.6 billion. JPMorgan is the biggest holder of that debt with $1 billion, followed by Deutsche Bank AG, owed $737.5 million, and Angelo Gordon & Co. LP, owed $324.5 million, according to court documents.

Senior lenders will recover 31 percent to 50 percent of what they are owed, Simonton said. The company owed $8.57 billion on a senior facility led by JPMorgan Chase, according to the petition.

ESOP Worthless

More junior loans to Tribune and the stock that gave employees technical ownership of the company are probably worthless, Simonton said.

Tribune spokesman Gary Weitman didn’t return phone calls seeking comment.

The employee stock ownership plan created in the buyout paid $250 million in money borrowed from Tribune for its shares. Zell loaned the company $225 million and paid $90 million for warrants to buy the 40 percent of the company at a later date.

With the bankruptcy, Tribune cut off severance pay and deferred compensation to former employees, according to information provided to staff. “We will continue to operate our business as usual,” Zell said in a memo to employees.

Former Times Mirror Co. Chief Executive Officer Mark Willes, who left before the company’s sale to Tribune Co. in 2000, is owed $11.2 million in retirement and deferred compensation.

Executive Pay

Former Times Mirror Chairman Robert Erburu, ex-Newsday publisher Raymond Jansen and Horst Bergmann, another former Times Mirror executive, are owed more than $9 million combined, according to the filing.

Zell has cut jobs this year, including about 14 percent of the editorial workforce at the Chicago Tribune. The Los Angeles Times fired 235 workers in July and August, and cut 75 newsroom positions in October.

The Chicago Cubs and their Wrigley Field ballpark aren’t included in the bankruptcy. The team’s sale process and its timetable for completion are unchanged, the Cubs said in a statement.

Bids for the Major League Baseball team ranged from $850 million to $950 million, a person with knowledge of the process said.

Tribune probably concluded the Cubs were worth more outside Chapter 11, bankruptcy attorney Sharon L. Levine said in an interview.

Cubs Sale

“We do not expect any negative impact from the Tribune Co. filing regarding the sale,” MLB President Bob DuPuy said in an e-mail. A buyer will “at some point be selected and submitted to the commissioner for MLB approval.”

Tribune was probably on the brink of breaching year-end loan covenants that require debt to remain below 9 times adjusted cash flow, CreditSights Inc. analyst Jake Newman said.

Besides the Cubs, the company has considered selling its stake in the Food Network and has been exploring options for some of its office buildings.

Tribune, also the publisher of newspapers including the Baltimore Sun and the Hartford Courant, posted a third-quarter net loss of $121.6 million as newspaper ad revenue slumped 19 percent. The company’s broadcasting group operates 23 television stations, the WGN America cable channel, and WGN-AM radio in Chicago.

Barclays Plc will continue an existing securitization facility and provide a $50 million letter of credit, according to court documents. That will provide a cushion for Zell.

“He’s going to have to operate this company in a fish bowl,” said Jerry Reisman, a senior partner with Garden City, New York-based Reisman, Peirez & Reisman. Under Chapter 11, “you have to operate with complete transparency.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Rabil in New York at srabil@bloomberg.net

Insider Trading, or Political Persecution?

http://norris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/insider-trading-or-political-persecution/

November 17, 2008
Insider Trading, or Political Persecution?
By Floyd Norris

Did Mark Cuban, the Internet entrepreneur turned owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, and would-be buyer of the Chicago Cubs, violate insider trading laws in a particularly egregious fashion?

Or is he the victim of a political hit job because he helped finance a movie that was scathingly critical of President Bush?

Either way, the insider trading complaint from the Securities and Exchange Commission today arouses a lot more interest than most enforcement actions.

I’ll get to the facts of the complaint in a minute, but first here is Mr. Cuban’s reaction. His lawyers issued a statement saying:

This matter, which has been pending before the commission for nearly two years, has no merit and is a product of gross abuse of prosecutorial discretion. Mr. Cuban intends to contest the allegations and to demonstrate that the commission’s claims are infected by the misconduct of the staff of its enforcement division.

Mr. Cuban stated, “I am disappointed that the commission chose to bring this case based upon its enforcement staff’s win-at-any-cost ambitions. The staff’s process was result-oriented, facts be damned. The government’s claims are false and they will be proven to be so.”

A person close to Mr. Cuban provided me with a copy of an e-mail message said to have been sent by Jeffrey Norris, an S.E.C. lawyer in the Fort Worth regional office (and no known relation to me.) This e-mail message seems to have been sent after an exchange in which Mr. Norris complained that Mr. Cuban had financed a movie called “Loose Change” that discusses the president’s actions relating to Sept. 11.

From: Norris, Jeffrey B. [mailto:NorrisJ@SEC.GOV]
Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2007 2:27 PM
To: Mark Cuban
Cc: Cox, Christopher
Subject: RE: “Lose Change”

I AM SHARING THIS WITH CHAIRMAN COX. NEITHER HE NOR THE COMMISSION ENDORSE MY OPINIONS, BUT IN LIGHT OF YOUR THREAT, I THOUGHT SHOULD SEND THIS TO HIM.

Mark:
If this upsets you, I wonder how George Bush feels. I assume that Mr. Cox would view your involvement with “Loose Change” much as I do. After all, he served his country as a Republican Congressman from Orange County for nearly 20 years and was appointed by President Bush. If you feel like sharing my thoughts with Chairman Cox, be my guest.

Previously, I thought you were merely foolish and naïve. Now, however, I see that you are also a hypocrite. I guess your belief in free speech has severe limitations. If someone else is the victim of an absurd conspiracy theory, you defend your right to participate in smearing the good name of a patriot like President Bush. But, when you are the subject of a parody of the attack you have endorsed, you suddenly issue threats.

I think I will e-mail this to Chairman Cox myself. I think he will enjoy it. I’m sure he is also a Laker fan.

Since Chairman Cox may not know the background, I will explain. Mark Cuban is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and has participated in distributing the vicious and absurd documentary, “Loose Change,” which posits that President Bush planned the demolition of the World Trade Center as a pretext for going to war against Iraq. We have had some past exchanges about my opinion the Mr. Cuban’s support for this project is irresponsible and immoral. Below, I parodied his position that every opinion, no matter how absurd and vicious, deserves to be broadly disseminated.

The copy sent to me does not include the previous parody.

John Nester, an S.E.C. spokesman, said this afternoon that the investigation was conducted by the S.E.C.’s Washington office, and that Mr. Norris was not involved in it. He added:

“Chairman Cox has never met the individual who corresponded with Mr. Cuban, nor has he spoken or corresponded with him in any way. After those communications came to light, the matter was referred for disciplinary action against the individual. To avoid any potential appearance issues, Chairman Cox recused himself from the Commission vote, and he has not been involved in this investigation at any time.”

The vote he refers to was the commission’s vote to file the case.

Mr. Norris has not returned a call left for him at his office.

Now for the facts of the insider trading case.

Mr. Cuban made a substantial profit from a quick trade in an Internet company that, oh-so-briefly, was a hot stock in 2004. It is not clear from public records just how much money he made, but even if the S.E.C. succeeds in its efforts to take about $750,000 in profits from him, he will still be one of the few public shareholders to rank as having made a lot of money from the company.

Mamma.com was, and is, an Internet search engine. In late February 2004, it was trading for around $4 a share. Then it announced earnings and announced new advertising features and the stock took off, aided by some stock tip sheets. (That trading brought on an S.E.C. investigation, which ended without charges being filed.)

The trading was crazy. A company with 10.5 million shares outstanding was trading more than 60 million shares a day while the stock ran up. There was heavy short-selling.

Mr. Cuban disclosed that he had acquired 600,000 shares, a 6.3 percent stake, by March 15, 2004. He did not disclose a purchase price or say when he had acquired the shares.

According to the S.E.C., on June 28, 2004, the company’s chief executive asked Mr. Cuban if he would like to participate in a planned new offering of the company’s stock. After being warned that he was receiving confidential information, Mr. Cuban is said to have expressed dismay about the offering. “At the end of the call, Cuban told the C.E.O. ‘Well, now I’m screwed. I can’t sell.’ ”

But a few minutes later he did sell 10,000 shares in after-hours trading. He sold the rest the next day. He took in $7.9 million, realizing an average of $13.24 per share. After the close on June 29, the offering was announced, and the stock opened the next day at $11.89. The S.E.C. figures that is a measure of his illicit gain.

Mamma.com is still around. In fact, I did all the searches connected to this blog using that search engine, and it performed quite adequately. But it has not prospered. The corporate name has changed to Copernic and the current stock price is 28 cents. At that price, Mr. Cuban’s former holding would be worth $168,000.

Mr. Cuban disclosed that sale, as required for a major holder. It is not clear what caused the S.E.C. to begin its investigation in early 2007, two and a half years after the sale. But if Mr. Cuban had waited to sell, he still would have gotten a very good price for the stock — at least from the perspective of 2008 — and the S.E.C. would have had no case.

As it is, there appears to be no question about when Mr. Cuban sold the stock. The S.E.C. cites phone company records and company memos about the timing and content of the call. If those memos were accurate, it appears that Mr. Cuban knew he had a duty not to sell until the information about the offering was made public.

But even if all that is true, the Norris e-mail, sent from an S.E.C. e-mail address, indicates the commission has a lawyer with, at best, very poor judgment.

Sadly, one play defined Merkle's career, life

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3604289

Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Sadly, one play defined Merkle's career, life
By Ed Sherman
Special to ESPN.com

WATERTOWN, Wis. -- Fred Merkle was born in Watertown, Wis., in 1888, but he spent only one year there before his family moved to Toledo, Ohio.

Still, that didn't prevent Watertown resident David Stalker from claiming Merkle as the town's very own. He spearheaded an effort to erect a monument in Merkle's honor.

Set in black marble with a baseball perched on top, the monument notes that Merkle was a "potent line-drive hitter and agile first-baseman." It says he was a member of six World Series teams.

However, there is no mention on the monument of the play that earned Merkle a spot in baseball infamy. The inscription boasts of Merkle's "intelligence" on the field, seemingly a contradiction for a player whose nickname was "Bonehead."

"We want the average person to see Fred Merkle for who he really was," Stalker said. "There was much more to his career than just one play."

Yet as Bill Buckner discovered in the cruelest way possible, one play can define a career. Prior to Buckner and the ball-between-the-legs grounder that ended Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, there was Merkle, the goat of goats.

Tuesday marks the 100th anniversary of the play that forever cemented Merkle's legacy in baseball. The Chicago Cubs and New York Giants were locked in a dramatic pennant race when they met on Sept. 23, 1908.

With the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth, Merkle, who had singled, was on first base and Moose McCormick was on third. With two outs, Al Bridwell then hit an apparent single to drive in McCormick with what seemed the winning run.

It looked to be a huge victory for the Giants, and jubilant fans mobbed the field at the Polo Grounds. But in the commotion, Cubs second baseman Johnny Evers noticed Merkle never touched second base.

Evers frantically waved for the ball, and there's considerable dispute about whether he actually got the game ball. Evers then stepped on second and umpire Hank O'Day called Merkle out on a force, thus nullifying the Giants' run. Keep in mind, this was the same umpire who let a similar play stand up when a base runner didn't touch second at the conclusion of a game earlier in the month.

Despite O'Day's ruling, the game couldn't go on because of all the fans on the field, and it was declared a 1-1 tie. Merkle's nightmare then was compounded when the Cubs and Giants finished the regular season tied. The Cubs won the one-game playoff to win the pennant, propelling them to their last World Series title.

Merkle, who was only 19 at the time, was vilified. The Sporting News, the game's official bible back then, wrote of "the stupidity of Fred Merkle." Newspapers quickly labeled him "Bonehead."
Merkle went on to become a decent player during a 16-year career, finishing with a .273 average. He had 49 stolen bases in 1911, an impressive total considering he was 6-foot and 190 pounds.

Yet Merkle never seemed to get over the top. He was on the losing side of six World Series. When he was blamed for a botched popup that helped cost the Giants the 1912 World Series, the headlines blared, "Bonehead Merkle does it again."

"Sometimes it looks like the Cubs and Merkle got jinxed at the same time," Stalker said.

That day in 1908 forever haunted Merkle and his family. After he retired and moved the family to Daytona Beach, Fla., his daughter came home from school and asked why the kids were calling her "Bonehead."

Once a visiting minister in his church began by saying, "I want to begin by admitting an ugly secret. I am from Toledo, Ohio, birthplace of the infamous Fred 'Bonehead' Merkle."

Merkle promptly walked out.

The pain ran deep for Merkle. Stalker has a collection of photos of Merkle on display in his basement.

"Look, you can see the torture in his eyes," Stalker said. "Right after it happened, he lost his hair and weight. [During the playoff game] he was sitting in the dugout saying 'I'm sorry. It's my fault.'"

But was Merkle truly at fault? Keith Olbermann is among those who say no.

Olbermann, formerly of ESPN and now the host of "Countdown" on MSNBC, has been interested in Merkle's case for more than 30 years. He has proposed Sept. 23 be a national day of amnesty in Merkle's memory, but not because he did something wrong.

"I was struck by the finality of it," Olbermann said. "He does something everybody did, for their own safety, as a game ended. He was the first player on whom the rule was ever enforced and he never lived it down."

Indeed, the real goat might have been O'Day, the umpire. No less than Hall of Fame umpire Bill Klem delivered a stinging indictment.

"Evers talked a great umpire into making the rottenest decision in the history of baseball," Klem said.

The damage, though, was done. Olbermann doubts Merkle will ever be vindicated.

"The goat story is still easier, and more compelling, than the story of the poor rookie victimized by a rule that was never enforced," Olbermann said.

As fate would have it, the Cubs will be in New York on Tuesday to play the Mets. Olbermann plans to attend the game.

"I have to be there," Olbermann said. "I've never believed the Cubs didn't curse themselves by playing that rule on poor Fred. [The Cubs have had] a century of bad luck, meaning something abysmal is likely to happen to the Cubs [on Tuesday], especially since somebody scheduled them to be in New York."

When Merkle retired in 1926, he was so bitter he wanted nothing to do with baseball. It wasn't until 1950 that he returned to a big league park.

Merkle had to be talked into attending an Old-Timers' Game at the Polo Grounds. Even after all these years, he was fearful of how the fans would treat him.

Perhaps the fans remembered the good things he did for the Giants, or perhaps they felt sorry for his plight, but they gave him a loud ovation.

"He had an impressive career," Stalker said. "That's what he should be remembered for."

Oh, if that were only the case. What happened 100 years ago Tuesday even had an impact on his final resting place.

Merkle once cracked, "I suppose when I die, they'll put on my tombstone, 'Here lies Bonehead Merkle.'"

They never got the chance. When he died in 1956 at the age of 67, he was buried in an unmarked grave.

Ed Sherman was a longtime sportswriter for the Chicago Tribune.

Cubs may seek more night games, concerts

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-wrigley_28feb28,1,1982475.story

Cubs may seek more night games, concerts, Wrigleyville alderman says
'Everything on the table,' concerned alderman says
By Gary Washburn
Tribune reporter
February 28, 2008

Chicago Cubs management has floated informal proposals for additional night games and more concerts at Wrigley Field to generate new income and increase the team's value, the alderman whose ward includes the ballpark said Wednesday.

Ald. Thomas Tunney (44th) said he is resigned to a naming rights deal for the historic stadium -- another revenue-producing concept under consideration -- but he takes a dim view of changes that would affect the surrounding neighborhood.

"Without specifics, they are throwing everything on the table ... 'We want to revisit this, revisit this, revisit this,'" Tunney said. "Why? So that the value and the sales price is as lucrative as it possibly can be. The question is ... at what cost to the community, what cost to the city, what cost to the neighborhood?"

Tribune Co., which owns the Cubs, Wrigley Field, and the Chicago Tribune, put the Cubs up for sale last year as part of an $8.2 billion transaction led by billionaire Sam Zell to take the company private. In an attempt to maximize value, Tribune officials have been pursuing a strategy to find a buyer for the team while separately seeking to sell the ballpark to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, which would renovate the stadium.

After long and sometimes bitter negotiations, the Cubs struck deals with the city in recent years to add 12 night games to the schedule, expand seating and develop a building with a parking garage and restaurant next to the park, while agreeing to provide money to address traffic congestion and other neighborhood problems.

Over the team's objections, the City Council made Wrigley an official landmark in 2004, a designation that requires special permission for proposed alterations.

Team officials now "want to get out of the landmark [designation], period," and they want to increase the density of the proposed commercial project, Tunney said.

Special City Council approval has allowed the Cubs to stage concerts by Jimmy Buffett and The Police in the last three years, but team officials now want "more concerts, more extracurricular activities," including a return by Buffett, the alderman said.

Mike Lufrano, Cubs vice president for community affairs, insisted that any proposed changes would be pursued only after listening to Wrigley's neighbors. "I think there are a lot of ideas being tossed about while the ownership of the team and stadium are being discussed, but everything we have done here at Wrigley Field of late has been done in a way that is sensitive to the community," he said.

David Winner, president of the president of the Lake View Community Council, a neighborhood group, said the proposed changes are "all news to our organization." He said he expects the Cubs to honor a city ordinance limiting night games and hold only one concert per year.

The Wrigley name has been on the ballpark since 1926 in honor of chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr., the team's owner at the time. Zell contends that Tribune Co., like other owners of professional sports teams, should get money from naming rights.

Tunney said he foresees a new name unless the Wrigley Co. agrees to come up with cash. But, he added, "I think there are much more critical issues in terms of what the community has to deal with than the ultimate name."

Landmark status means that the signature Wrigley Field sign on the ballpark's exterior will stay even if a new company obtains naming rights, the alderman said.
-----------
gwashburn@tribune.com

Fukudome to Dragons

Robalini's Note: Huh-huh. They said "Fukudome."

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=317216

Fukudome to Dragons: I'm moving to majors
December 11, 2007
Sporting News staff reports

NAGOYA, Japan (AP) -- Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome told the Chunichi Dragons he will not return next season, saying he wants to make a move to the major leagues.

Fukudome, who became a free agent last month, informed the Central League club of his decision Tuesday.

"I won't be playing for a Japanese club next season, I'll play in the majors," Fukudome said. "I appreciate the fans who supported me for nine years. I hope that the fans continue to root for me when they see me playing in the United States."

Fukudome is regarded as one of the best outfielders in Japanese professional baseball. The 30-year-old was a key member of the Japan team that won the inaugural World Baseball Classic in March 2006.

He had surgery on his right elbow in August and sat out the Japan Series, but has 192 homers and a .305 batting average over nine seasons with the Dragons, who won their first championship in 53 years on Nov. 2.

Fukudome has drawn interest from the Chicago Cubs, the San Diego Padres and the Chicago White Sox.

The Padres have made an offer to Fukudome, calling it "one of the two or three biggest offers" in team history.

Cuban taking an interest in the Chicago Cubs

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-cubs-cuban&prov=ap&type=lgns

Cuban taking an interest in the Chicago Cubs
July 13, 2007

CHICAGO (AP) -- Add internet billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to the list of potential Chicago Cubs buyers.

"I submitted an app," Cuban said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Interested parties must submit an application to Major League Baseball to examine the team's finances. Cuban told the Chicago Tribune he sent in the application last week, although he wasn't sure of the date.

Tribune Co., which owns the team, announced in April it was selling itself for $8.2 billion to Chicago real estate mogul Sam Zell, who made the deal contingent on shedding non-core assets. That means the Cubs will go on the auction block at the end of the season -- a decision Tribune chairman and CEO Dennis FitzSimons has conceded was difficult but one that "really makes sense for our shareholders."

Several potential deep-pocketed bidders are expected to vie for the Cubs and possibly for Wrigley Field, including Cuban and Chicago native Jerry Colangelo, the Phoenix Suns CEO who once ran the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Tribune, citing unnamed sources, reported Thursday the family of Omaha, Neb.-based TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.'s founder Joe Ricketts also was considering a bid. Ricketts family representatives declined to comment on the report when contacted by The Associated Press on Thursday.

Forbes magazine recently valued the National League Cubs at $592 million, fifth-highest in baseball, although experts speculate the bidding could start at $600 million.

On the Net:

Chicago Cubs: http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com

Tribune Co.: http://www.tribjobs.com/index.html