Black Hand Productions

Last night Julie and I went to Wrigley Field for the BP Crosstown Classic between the White Sox and the Cubs.  The Blackhawks were on hand with the Stanley Cup.

Side Note:

* As low scoring baseball goes the game was interesting to watch since both pitchers had ‘no-hitters‘ going for quite a while.  The Cubs ended up winning 1-0.

** We got rooftop tickets via youswoop.com and went to the Down the Line rooftop.  I was not impressed at all.  There was little information on their website (when do doors open, where’s the entrance, etc.) and the way the whole thing was run was shady.  On the main deck they had three couches setup and then tables and chairs behind them.  If you weren’t one of the first 3 people up you didn’t get a couch (I was fourth) and when you sat at the tables people just stood in front of you.  We ended up moving down stairs and watched from the window and the TV.  I think they might have just started business this season but compared to the Skybox on Sheffield this place was a joke.

Yesterday I met up with a friend who was in town for the Cubs – Pirates game at Wrigley Field.  I’m not sure how Dave was able to get tickets but they were probably the best seats I’ve ever had at Wrigley.  Definitely up there with the seats I had at the Dodgers game last year.  Having these seats provided us with the opportunity to see  some of the best beermen in the business.

The Rickshaw business around Wrigleyville is booming.  The bicycle rickshaws, which are much more common, setup shop right outside my house on game days.  today on my walk home I spotted this classic rickshaw.

I’m pretty sure that’s Lebowski looking for a fare.

This past weekend the Mets were in town and I went to a couple of games with Julie (I skipped the second game in protest of the concept of ‘Pitch Counts‘ which are completely arbitrary and in my humble opinion total bullshit).  Today’s game the Mets actually won and as you can see in the photographs above I focused on the beermen and the ushers.  Badass mustaches are nearly required to work as a beerman or an usher at Wrigley Field.

Jon Lovitz threw out the first pitch (after a muligan he made a decent throw) and sung during the 7th inning stretch.  I must say I respect Lovitz as he didn’t wear the lame personalized jersey.  Instead he wore a Ernie Banks jersey.

Side Notes:

* Tim Tebow of the Florida Gators made an appearance.

** Billy Cub once again was adhering to his restraining order and roaming the perimeter of Wrigley Field.

*** The view from my seat.

Once again Legendary Traffic Coordinator Sal Pisconeri came to town.  The main purpose of the weekend was to see another Cleveland sports team lose a game despite itself.  We accomplished this with the best seats in Wrigley Field.  I of course secured the tickets figuring no way a ‘Row 1′ seat can really be obstructed view.  I was wrong.   Dead wrong.  As you can see in the top photograph there was a load bearing steel I-beam directly in front of my seat.  I could only see the batter, center and right field.  Really quite amazing.  On two separate occasions I was shocked to learn from Sal (who sat to my right) that the Indians had the bases loaded.  This is because I could not see any of the bases… at a Baseball game.

Classic.

The Kyle Neugebauer Bachelor Party was also in town, which of course led to a couple bar ‘throwouts’, several broken bottles and some really bad choices.  On the other hand Sal and I managed to go nearly the entire weekend with just two meals. I have to say if you’re going to spend 48 hours in Chicago and only eat twice you do as we did.  Wiener’s Circle (after 1am) and Lou Malnati’s deep dish pizza (I’ve moved on from my infatuation with Giordano’s over the last 8 months).  Needless to say Lou Malnati’s put us into a food coma which lasted about 4 hours and threw us off our game.

But as great men always do… we rallied.

This weekend a group of gentlemen gathered in the Queen City for Dominic’s bachelor party.  As you can tell in the photographs below we managed to have a good time, watch some baseball and make reservations… everywhere.  We got to watch the Reds managed to beat the cubs in 11 innings from the comfort of a suite that included Skyline Chili and a desert/alcohol cart.  Not to mention the parting gifts…

There isn’t much remembered about the rest of the night but I believe these pictures tell a story:

*Side Note:

1. For the record this is my third baseball game in nine days.
2. This was the chair in one of our hotel rooms.  We made a couple of aesthetic adjustments over the course of the weekend but essentially this is how it was when we received it:

Last night I went with Lauren and a couple friends to the Cubs – Dodgers game at Wrigley Field.  Our seats were probably the closest I’ve ever had to the field in a baseball game and we were right next to Dodgers’ bull pen.

My thoughts on Baseball (Pitching):

Seriously, count the pitchers in the picture above.  Nine.  Maybe one of them is a coach… maybe.  So let’s go with eight.  Now add the guy playing in the game right now, back to nine.  Nine pitchers.  Is it me or that enough to field an entire team?  I have no idea how many players a team can dress but I’d be willing to bet it’s change over the last 60 years.  Why is this necessary?  Nine pitchers.  What other sport in the world allows you to have eight backups for one position?  And this is without me even getting into the pitcher who will come out just to pitch to one guy and then he’s done for the night.

When did this madness begin?  Please… some one explain it to me.

As you can tell from the photo above we sat behind a couple young southern gentleman from Alabama.  For those who don’t know these guys are sporting ‘Joe Willy Namath’s‘.

Todd Laureano was keeping the world safe last night.

Quick Commentary:

1. First photograph – This man is not of a ‘Photographer’.  That’s just a guy sitting at the game with his wife.  Lens Envy.
2. Second photograph – Harry Caray was in attendance.
3. Third photograph – That man is wearing black leather pants and a hooded sweatshirt.  I’m pretty sure the only reasonable excuse is that he is literally at the end of closet and all other clothes are filthy.
4. Same photograph, check the couple in the same row looking at him in total disgust.

*Side Note:  The rest of my photographs from the game are here.

On Thursday Julie and I met Dan in the bleachers for the Cub’s – Phillies game.  The Cubs were down for much of the game until  Aramis Ramirez’s grand slam in the eighth inning.  I’ve only sat in the bleachers once before but I was much higher in the stands.  This time we sat with Dan’s friends who get there when they open and have the front row in left field.   Julie had a little issue with security due to the phonetics of her tshirt but other than that it was a good time.

* This was the view from our seats in the left field of the bleachers.