I hope you have a Jim Kern Day... NOT a Warren Brusstar Day

I never saw Jim Kern pitch.
Not live at least. If I saw him on TV, I have no memory of it.

But yet I remember Jim Kern vividly. I didn't remember the fact that he was a 3 time All Star and finished 4th in the 1979 AL Cy Young Award balloting.

Nope. I remembered that every year it seemed like he just looked happy on his baseball card.

I mean just look at his 1979 Topps Card.

The guy is loving life!
He's playing for a 90 loss Indians team going nowhere in a hurry, but he's laughing away.

He's an All Star with mess up hair and the bad ass "Tomahawk C" hat and a full set of teeth,

This guy is ready to take the mound and have a great time.

In 1979 he switched teams to Texas and won the Rolaids Relief Award. That would put a smile on anyone's face.

I distinctly remember being 7 years old and laughing when I saw this card.

Later in Texas he grew some ridiculous facial hair but that obviously didn't put a damper on his mood.

I have no idea if he was a cool guy or not.

But I remember thinking even as a kid that he looked like he was having fun and savoring being a ball player.

Jim Kern was a state of mind. A way to look at life.

It was about positivity and being happy with where you are.


Now contrast that with Warren Brusstar.

Man this guy always looked mad.

Maybe he was ticked off that his hat didn't quite cover his curly hair, giving him a "White Oscar Gamble" quality.

Maybe it was playing in the rough Veterans Stadium in some intense playoff caliber actions.

Maybe he was grinding his teeth in pain from all the shoulder injuries he piled up as a sinker ball pitcher

Or perhaps, unlike Kern, Brusstar had a thankless job. He wasn't a starter and he wasn't a closer. He piled up neither wins (he got 28 over 9 big league seasons) nor saves (14 total in his career) in an era when those two stats seemed to be the only yard stick people had to measure a pitcher's value.

Either way, as a kid, I thought he looked really mean.



And he kept looking mean as the years went on.



Being a part of a World Champion and pitching in the 1980 World Series didn't put a smile on his face..




Even a hair cut and moving to The Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field couldn't cheer him up.

Come on man! You are a big league pitcher with a World Series ring! Cheer up!



So that's my advice to you my dear readers.
Embrace the Jim Kern within.
Wear that smile. He may not have a won a World Series, but he seemed to have more fun along the way.

I didn't get an A in math but...

Some word problems were kind of easy.
Like "If you are going to play a football game in a stadium, and the league needs to have 100 yards of playing space, 20 yards of end zone space and six feet on either side beyond the endzone... how big does the playing field have to be?"

Simple addition.
And if the playing space is less than the sum total of space needed, should they play there?

The whole fiasco at Wrigley today is mindboggling. They had no problem playing football for years in Wrigley because they figured out if the field was positioned in a certain direction, there was enough room to play football.

The novel concept of MEASURING was employed.

And the Big 10 sent Northwestern a letter this week about the lack of space? They just figured this out 36 hours ago?

This game wasn't a surprise! It's been on the schedule for a while. It's not like the Northwestern football team knocked on Wrigley Field's door on Thursday and said "Hey, do you mind if we play here this weekend?"

So figure it out, folks. Hey, when I was a kid, I wanted the Red Sox to play in my front yard. But they couldn't. Do you know why?

THERE WASN'T ENOUGH ROOM!

Pretty simple math.

Bonnie Hunt should manage the Cubs

The Cubs have started their search for a new manager and we know 3 things... it won't be Lou Piniella, who retired to take care of his mom... it won't be coach Alan Trammell, whose experience as a big league manager and being a World Series MVP I guess disqualified him... and it won't be interim manager Mike Quade, who is a placeholder.

So now you've heard the names being mentioned as who will be managing the team as they try, as every other manager has done since 1908 and fallen short, as World Series winners.

Cub hero Ryne Sandberg? (No experience in the bigs as a manager.)

Former Indians skipper Eric Wedge? (Nice manager, but how many "nice managers" have left Wrigleyville ringless?)

Bobby Valentine? (They tried the "big name" manager route with Dusty Baker and Lou Piniella.)

Chicago's own Joe Girardi? (Would YOU leave a Yankee team with an unlimited payroll?)

No, the Cubs need to think outside of the box and bring in someone who can put their own stamp on the team and will live and die with the team.

So Bonnie Hunt makes the most sense.

Now I know what you are thinking... I am bringing Bonnie's name up because I am sucking up to my former boss.

Maybe I am.

But as with all of my insanity... there is some truth in there.

So hear me out.



1. YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO SAY "THE MANAGER DOESN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT WE CUBS FANS ARE GOING THROUGH!"

We shut down production of the show for a few days in April. Do you know why? Bonnie had to go to opening day at Wrigley Field. Now keep in mind we taped in Los Angeles. So we shut things down and Bonnie flew out to Wrigley to see a team that was going nowhere in a hurry.

She hasn't missed an opening day since 1977 and she loves her Cubs. She talks about her love for the Cubs in the film We Believe, she would talk Cubs in the office and the studio was filled with Wrigley Field pictures. (By the way, she used to live in the apartments beyond Wrigley Field.)

Hell, Bonnie wants the Cubs to win more than the Cubs do!

2. BONNIE WILL MAKE SURE EVERYONE IS DOING THEIR JOB

Trust me on this one. Bonnie doesn't miss a detail. And if someone is slacking, she'll let you know. Not in a mean way... just in a wonderfully sarcastic way that will have you say "OK, I won't do THAT again."

The players who don't hustle will know it. It won't be mean... but it will sting. Carlos Zambrano's temper tantrum would have been diffused with a quick "For $18 million you'd think you could throw a strike or two. Maybe I'm greedy."


3. YOU NEED TO IMPROVISE TO MANAGE THIS TEAM... AND BONNIE CAN DO THAT

There's always something unpredictable that happens with the Cubs. Whether it is the banishing of Carlos Zambrano, the up and down of Fukudome and figuring out what the hell to do with Soriano, you need to be able to change your plan in midstream.

Well in Chicago there's no better place to show your improvisation chops than The Second City, where Bonnie was a star. Her entire background is based on improvisation. Her sitcom Life With Bonnie was based on improvisation. And I saw Bonnie zig and zag in interview after interview. Trust me, changing course in mid season and mid game isn't going to be a challenge. She'll be right at home.


4. THE POST GAME INTERVIEWS WOULD BE HILARIOUS

Now I am not talking about the "get the seven second delay button ready" like an Ozzie Guillen post game press conference.

Bonnie's will be funny, classy, family friendly... but in their own way just as cutting.

In fact the contrast of Bonnie's warm, family friendly but passionate Cubs and Ozzie's rougher with a chip on their shoulder White Sox would be a perfect illustration of what the two franchises are all about.

Check out Bonnie on Letterman. She's just funny. Now imagine her talking about a tough Cubs loss. It would be good TV.


5. THEY NEED TO TRY SOMETHING NEW

When you try and fail at something every single time you do it for 102 years, it's time to say "What haven't we done?"

They've built a team around hitting... and a team around pitching.

They've developed superstars from the farm AND traded and signed Hall of Famers. Take a look at my Home Grown vs. Acquired entry for the Cubs. They've had a colossal amount of talent on the squad.

So it isn't the players.

As for the managers, they've tried life long baseball men like Don Zimmer, Gene Michael, Herman Franks, Jim Frey and Jim Riggleman. They've had Hall of Famer players like Gabby Hartnett, Rogers Hornsby, Lou Boudreau and Frankie Frisch manage the team. They've had managers who had success elsewhere like Dusty Baker, Don Baylor and Lou Piniella come in.

They brought in Leo Durocher, one of the great managers of all time.
They even tried, in 1960-1961 and 1962 a rotation of coaches instead of a single manager.

Nothing worked. So how is handing the reigns over to a passionate fan something that can be simply dismissed.

You might as well give it a shot. What's the worst that can happen? Bonnie will fall short. Well so did Leo the Lip!

So give Bonnie a shot!
No doubt she'll bring the great Don Lake around as the first base coach. (He's a Tornto fan, but hey, he's already seen his Blue Jays win a few.)

What do you have to lose, Cubs?
You've been losing enough for over a century.

And if Bonnie wins it for the Cubs, you already have the leading lady for the inevitable film version.

Just remember it was your pal Sully who came up with the idea!

I can't help but feel a little responsible for the Cubs loss

I want to humbly apologize to Cubs fans every where, especially my boss... the prolific and award winning TV producer Frank Sinton.

I was walking back from an edit bay to my computer when I walked past Frank's office.
To paint the picture a little bit, Frank is a HUGE Cubs fan.

He has an Ernie Banks uniform hanging in his office.

I poked my head into his office on the pretense of saying hello and updating him on the show we are working on. But in reality I wanted to catch part of the game that was playing in his office.

At the time the Cubs were up 2-0, there were 2 outs, 1 on and 2 strikes to Manny Ramirez.

The Cubs were rolling. Wrigley was rocking. Ryan Dempster was dealing.
And Frank had an expression on his face that can only be described as "cautiously pumped."

Suddenly Dempster lost his control... he started nibbling to Ramirez (understandable) and walked him.
Then he nibbled when pitching to Ethier... and Dempster had loaded the bases.

I turned to Frank and said "This all started when I walked in. Maybe I should go."

Frank said "no it's alright."

James Loney was next up. Frank turned to Mark Mayer, the other executive producer (and a very happy Phillies fan), and said "I can't believe the Daily News gave the first base edge to Loney over Lee."

Dempster got 2 quick strikes on Loney.
And then it happened.

A swing... a miss... strike three... end of the inning...

And Frank stood up pumping his fist with a loud "YES!"

One problem: Loney foul tipped it into the dirt.
New life.

And he hit a pop up to centerfield... that just kept going...
I thought it was going to the edge of the warning track... but it kept going.

And into the seats for a go ahead grand slam.
And Frank just said softly "Oh no."

It wasn't an "Oh no" of shock or an "Oh no" of being blind sided.

It was that "oh no" I used to give when I didn't do my homework and was asked to hand it in.
It was that "oh no" a wife would say when she caught her husband with another woman... again.
It was that "oh no" I am guessing Sarah Palin felt when Katie Couric asked her, well, anything.

It was the "oh no" I said when Aaron Boone hit that home run.

It was the "oh no" that basically said "why did I think this wasn't going to happen?"
It was the "oh no" that expressed the disgust that you convinced yourself that this was going to be different and realized that it's the same old song.

I looked over at Mark and we shared an expression that clearly meant "I guess maybe the Daily News was right to give the Dodgers the edge at first."

I walked towards the door and said "maybe I should go."
Frank said "maybe you should."

So if I had ANYTHING to do with that loss, let me apologize to Cubs fans everywhere...

Especially the one who is employing me!