Back to work...

I may not have anything new to tell you, but I do have some new pictures you guys just might like a little bit ;)

First of all. Cubs play the Nationals starting tonight. Time to get back into baseball mode. Everybody had some time off to relax. Hopefully it will help our boys get on track for the rest of the season. Send some positive energy out to DC for Jeff and the rest of the guys.

All Star break was a bit of a disappointment. As if it wasn't bad enough that Lilly didn't get to play, the classy St. Louis fans booed him in addition. Nice. Nothing like showing what a bunch of jackasses you are on national TV. Someone probably needs to remind them that it was their beloved 1st baseman who made the big error in the game. Basically it was a total snoozefest.

My favorite part of the whole thing, the Homerun Derby, wasn't really that great either. Nothing will ever top Josh Hamilton last year in my opinion. Not one guy in there that I was interested in watching. I can't stand Fielder, and Pujols was a disappointment also. Both have cute kids, and I have to admit I was falling madly in love with Pujols little boy hanging on him the whole time. Otherwise, it was nothing spectacular and by the time the 3rd round got there, I was barely watching it. So it also gets a D+ in my book this year.

I boycotted the triple A all star game this year because I didn't think Jeff got a fair chance. He should have been there. I know he got called up before...but it's the whole principle of the matter.

Probably the most entertaining and insane thing that happened in the last few days was the UFC fight. So glad I didn't miss the end of this one. GSP kicked some major ass and was, in my opinion, the best fight of the evening. Lesnar, who I am now totally terrified of, made a complete ass of himself after his win. Not that he wasn't an ass before, but holy crap. He's just a classless mess. I hear he apologized for his little, um...."performance", but still. The guy is a beast and I'm not sure anyone can beat him. He has all the makings of something amazing...and then he has to go and blow it by opening that big, fat mouth of his. It's amazing how someone can just totally change your opinion of them by one stupid move. Honestly, I can't stand Mir, but Lesnar didn't win any friends that night. Even if he did earn some respect during the fight, he pretty much lost it all in the 5 minutes after. Hopefully it's a lesson learned.

Back to the good stuff though....pictures. I'm kinda loving this one.
This one's cute too.
Some pretty high level meeting stuff going on here. Wish you could see the little "JS" s on his shoes. I'll find a pic eventually so you can check them out. Guess there'll be no question as to who they belonged to when they show up on eBay now.
And this....ah yes, I know... You're very welcome.

It really doesn't get much better than that now, does it? I'm at a loss for words. Other than "woof" what else can I say? You guys can take it from here...

Chillin'

I had already decided what I wanted to talk about today, but I got an email suggesting a theme for an entry that was kind of interesting...so I'll do both.

First of all...yesterday's game proved to me that my dream of Jeff getting to play outfield at some point is not so far fetched. If you watched the game, you saw Sean Marshall go to left and Heilman come in for one batter. Yes, I said Sean Marshall. There was a pitcher in the outfield. How awesome is that? Unfortunately, it was the WRONG pitcher. Still, it gives me hope that someday Sweet Lou might humor me and give Hot Legs a go out there...even if it's just for one batter. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing that would be.

Now to the email. I get occasional suggestions on things people want me to talk about. A lot of times it has to do with music and playlists...and I promise I'll get to one of those eventually. This one hit me as kind of fun though, because I'm constantly talking about this to my friends anyway, and they are constantly telling me that I want to know the absolute dumbest stuff. We did that Q&A a long time ago with Jeff where you guys asked the questions, but I didn't do too many of my own. Basically my curiosity doesn't run along the same lines as "what's your favorite color?". Anyway...the email asked me if there was anything I didn't know about Jeff and would I do an entry about that. Things I'm curious about that I don't know. So here goes.

I've already told you guys once that I used to love it when he'd blog about mundane things like ordering the 5 for 5 at the Arby's drive through. That's all me right there. That's my kind of stuff. So I guess one thing I think would be interesting to know is...what's always in the fridge at the Samardzija homestead. They always show you on Cribs...but since Jeff's not done one of those (yet), what are the "must have's" as far as the fridge goes. We know he's got Oatmeal Crunch ice cream in the freezer...but what else is in there? Something else I've always wondered about, not just about him, but all professional athletes... Once you're playing a sport day in and day out, do you still want to watch it on TV when you're not playing? In other words, does playing baseball, kind of take away the desire to be a baseball fan in the off time? I'm guessing maybe it's more relaxing to just stay away from it totally, but then maybe not. Same thing with football. Another stupid curiosity that we discussed ad nauseum last weekend...since he has the choice of several bad ass rides to cruise around in. What dictates which one of those rides is chosen on a particular day. Just whatever mood he's in, or the Escalade doesn't come out in the rain/snow, or what? Stupid question? Yeah, but that doesn't stop me from wondering. Another one...When you play a game at night and then an afternoon game the next day, is it just a straight home and nothing else kinda thing? It's kind of a unique to the Cubs kind of situation, since most teams don't play the number of day games we do, but I've always wondered. Is it just too much to go out after those games, with having to get up and go back to the ballpark early the next day? I know he's said before he usually hits the drive through somewhere and grabs some food after, but then what? Go home, lay around on the couch and then to bed? Somehow I can't believe that, but maybe I'm wrong ;) And as always, I have those deep, thought provoking questions like... if you knew a tornado was going to hit your house and you only had 5 minutes to grab everything you could save, what would those things be? Somebody asked me that once, and my first answer was "my laptop". Pitiful, huh? Those are my kind of questions. I put a lot of thought into the things I want to know I guess...probably way too much thought. Isn't there a saying about curiosity killing the cat? Probably applies to me.

Now, my original idea for this entry was centered around the All Star Break. Yay for vacations, sleeping in, etc. Hope he enjoys his days off. Can't imagine that's really much of a break, but I guess when you play nearly every single day for 7-8 months, anytime you get more than one day off in a row it's a welcome thing. What exactly does a Jeff Samardzija do during an All Star break? Probably as little as possible. At least that's what he SHOULD do. I'm hoping he takes some well deserved time off and just chillaxes for a bit. Last year he did some of this:
Ah, the good ole days...when we actually got reports from the man himself on how things were going...and pictures like that one. That made me happy for a long, long time. I miss those days. I know you guys do to. Is it just me, or does it seem like this was more than just a year ago? A lot has changed I guess...

As much as I wish he might do some of this
I know it probably won't happen. Who knows though. Maybe he'll surprise us. I check the website obsessively daily so I'll let you know if anything changes.

Ever notice how all the "just hanging around" pics are of Jeff and Sammy? Always nice to know he's keeping the family close. Family is always a safe haven. Friends are great, but family is where the trust lies. At least in our family it is. Pretty sure these two are the same way.

Maybe a little bit of this?

And some time with the friends....and the ladies. (Did you like the way I found a totally lame excuse to throw this picture on here? - It can never make too many appearances). Now don't get all freaked out because there's a picture of Jeff with some girls on here. Every time I post this, people go crazy, some for obvious reasons, and others because there are females involved. Get a grip...he's not a monk. I'm pretty sure he's not spending ALL his time hanging out with his boys. This picture is definitely in the Samardzijapalooza Hall of Fame. I know you guys always enjoy it.

Hopefully Mr. Sexy enjoys his days off and doesn't get too bored. (I doubt that's going to happen). I'll be spending my time watching the Homerun Derby and All Star Game. Even though there's no one I really want to see in the Derby, I'll watch it just to see some bombs and the adorable little kids with their daddies on the field. I love that part. It's the only time you get to see that side of those guys, and it just makes them so much more likable. Especially guys like Fielder, who I can't stand normally. The interaction with those little kids is just precious. And the All Star Game...let's just hope for a National League win for a change. I'm so sick of seeing the AL put it to us. Maybe this year is the year.

The good, the bad, and the boob flashing

Sorry guys...no gameday pics, but my favorite picture provider went to the game and promised me good pictures when she can find time to send them to me. Yay for the 'Palooza faithful coming through for me when they go to games.

Let's start with the good. Jeff did awesome. 2 full innings, no runs scored. If Lou would listen to me, he might have saved himself some agony by going with the bad ass instead of Heilman. He teased me with the warmup, then sat him down and pulled the old switcheroo, which promptly came back to bite him in the ass. If he had put studly in when I wanted him to, the runfest might not have happened. Once the damage was done though, everybody's favorite starter/reliever/stud came in to mop up the rest of the mess and then almost made me forget we were losing with his stellar performance. The numbers look like this: 2IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 2 BB, 1K, and the ERA is at 4.82 (mainly because of a shaky start in April) but falling. All in all, I think it was a pretty good showing considering the game situation and the suckage that went on before he took over.

Now the bad. Well, obviously, we lost. Everytime the ball went to left field I got worried. Seriously...Soriano needs to be kept in a 10 by 10 foot area of the outfield and not be allowed to deviate from that position so he doesn't interfere with other players who are actually hustling to make a play. Please Lou...don't allow him to call anyone off the ball. All plays in the general direction of Hoppy McSkippy should have assistance coming from all directions, because they're probably going to be needed. I don't know what Soriano was driving today, but the other day he rolled up in that white Rolls and it made me wonder if he ought to maybe give some of that money they're paying him back. Today, I decided he DEFINITELY needs to. He shouldn't be issued a paycheck till he either starts hitting, or makes an effort to run after fly balls instead of lollygagging out there at his "never faster than leisurely" pace. Rich Harden was a less attractive, extremely fragile version of Jeff Samardzija at the plate today with 2 awesome hits. Unfortunately, he didn't resemble Jeff at all on the pitcher's mound. It was pretty ugly.

And speaking of ugly...the boob flashing in the bleachers today was quite entertaining for the males in attendance. In case you missed it, there were two girls in the bleachers during BP in white bikini tops and that staple of ballpark hoochiemama-ness, miniskirts. Normally this is not a big deal in the bleachers. There's definitely no dress code out there. This was pretty over the top though, even for the bleacher gang. Our Cubbie boys seemed mildly amused, but didn't give them much more than a look or two over their shoulders. The Cards pitchers, however, were a different story. I'm surprised one of them didn't take a ball to the head. Totally hilarious to watch the interaction. It did give us something to talk about though, and we can't help but wonder something...When girls are in the bleachers standing against the fence, and they're wearing miniskirts...can the guys on the field see up their skirts?? We need to ask Jeff this. Personally I don't like wearing miniskirts to games, especially in the bleachers. Just not conducive to climbing around. I like being comfortable, and the last thing I want to worry about at a ballgame is whether you can see up my skirt. I see these girls in their skirts and dresses and can't help but wonder if they're there to see a game, or to "be seen" at a game. One word of advice...if you're going to dress like that, please don't get fall down drunk, 'cause nobody wants to see that.

I honestly love sitting in the bleachers though. It's a great view, there's full sun no matter what time of day it is, and you don't have people in and out like you do in regular seats. They tend to stay put more out there. Plus it's a party. It's actually my favorite place to sit. Everybody should sit out there at least once.

It was definitely a fun day, despite the loss. The weather was sketchy at first, but it was as if God looked at his watch and said "gametime". The sun came out and it was absolutely gorgeous the rest of the day.

Make sure you guys check out the Lesnar/Mir fight tonight. Should be a good one, and I'm picking Lesnar 'cause he's a freakin' beast.

Details when i get home.

That was not pretty. Jeff did awesome though. No pics but my 'palooza "staff photog" was at the game so we'll get some.

Jeffs in

Jeffs warming up