Free Republic

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Full release from U.S. Attorney's Office: Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff, John Harris, were arrested today by FBI agents on federal corruption charges alleging that they and others are engaging in ongoing criminal activity: conspiring to obtain personal financial benefits for Blagojevich by leveraging his sole authority to appoint a United States Senator; threatening to withhold substantial state assistance to the Tribune Company in connection with the sale of Wrigley Field to induce the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members sharply critical of Blagojevich; and to obtain campaign contributions in exchange...

Tribune group files for debtor protection Tribune Co., publisher of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, is seeking bankruptcy court protection from creditors amid tumbling advertising. The move comes less than a year after Sam Zell took it private. The 161-year-old newspaper and broadcast company was laboring under $12.9 billion in debt, according to Monday's Chapter 11 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. That load and the economic crisis led to the filing, Zell said in a statement. “Factors beyond our control have created a perfect storm,” said Zell, the company's chief executive officer. Zell, 67, has...

Mark Cuban’s Funding of Movies Criticizing U.S. Armed Forces Make Cuban a Poor Suitor for Chicago Cubs On April 2nd, 2007 the Tribune Company announced their intention to sell the Chicago Cubs baseball team following the 2007 season. This decision was made because shareholders compelled the newspaper (TRB: NYSE) to market itself for sale as well as divest certain component parts--including their baseball team. Like any smart seller in a buyer's market, they spruced up the old ballpark (the second oldest in the major leagues) to make it more saleable. The long overdue rebuilding of the playing surface at Wrigley...

I'm blacked out (so how can I be typing ? ..[just thought I'd put that in before someone else did])Is anyone watching?There's no live thread.

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella's suspension was set at four games Monday by Major League Baseball for his weekend dirt-kicking tantrum against an umpire. "I will serve it and I will learn from this experience," Piniella said before Monday night's game at Milwaukee. "These things won't happen again." The commissioner's office originally planned to suspend Piniella for five games. The penalty was reduced by one game after Piniella spoke with John McHale Jr., MLB's executive vice president for administration. Piniella said he was suspended for making contact with umpire Mark Wegner -- which the Cubs first-year manager...

Memorial Day Videos: 'Baseball Hero Saves the Flag' and 'America the Beautiful' Posted by Noel Sheppard on May 28, 2007 - 11:29. Folks, last year at this time, I posted a number of commemorative videos to help you celebrate Memorial Day. “The True Meaning of Memorial Day” can be seen here, and Ray Charles marvelously singing “America the Beautiful” here. By far, the most popular was “Another Memorial Day Video: Baseball Hero Saves the American Flag.”In it, the uplifting story of Chicago Cubs outfielder Rick Monday was told: [T]hirty years ago this past April, as America was in the process of celebrating its...

Dissident group says will continue efforts for sale or breakup of company... Tribune Co. shares gained ground Tuesday, rising as the media company that's been working to revamp operations amid shareholder unrest announced the results of a Dutch tender auction. Analysts said any gains could prove short lived, however. Chicago-based Tribune Co said that about 45 million, or 15%, of its common shares were tendered and that it expects to buy the shares at a price of $32.50 each. The number of shares tendered came in 8 million short of the maximum that the company had initially authorized in the...

LOS ANGELES -- Rick Monday never tires of answering questions about that memorable day 30 years ago, when he performed his own Patriot Act and unwittingly became an icon to millions of American war heroes and their loved ones. Monday was playing center field for the Chicago Cubs on April 25, 1976, at Dodger Stadium when he noticed two protesters kneeling on the grass in left-center, intending to burn the American flag. He immediately bolted toward them and snatched it away.

The Major League Baseball season began in full swing Monday with two controversial figures receiving vastly different receptions from fans. President Bush received a loud standing ovation when he took the mound to throw out the ceremonial first pitch in Cincinnati, a Republican-leaning city. He was accompanied by two injured soldiers and a father who lost his son in Afghanistan. -Snip-Bush became the first sitting president to throw a ceremonial pitch in Cincinnati as the Reds lost 16-7 to the Chicago Cubs. The ball to catcher Jason LaRue was high and off the plate, but Bush called it “my best...

CINCINNATI -- President Bush combined twin passions — baseball and politics — today, throwing the ceremonial first pitch as the Cincinnati Reds, run by a major Bush political fundraiser, and the Chicago Cubs opened their seasons. Bush, whose political world of late has been as chilly as Cincinnati's 50-degree opening day temperature, fared better in the baseball world: From the pitcher's mound his 59-year-old arm found the vicinity of home plate despite a stiff breeze. It was just wide enough to be called a brushback on a right-handed hitter. Reds' catcher Jason LaRue, on the disabled list after knee surgery,...

The President spent the weekend in Crawford Texas. Today the President threw out the first pitch of the Cincinnati Reds opening day baseball game in Cincinnati, Ohio. Before the game he presented Eugene Goss, a junior at Clark Montessori High School in Cincinnati, the Volunteer Service Award as he arrived at the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, Ky. The First Lady visited schools today. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in England back end of last week and spent Sunday and part of today in Baghdad with Jack Straw, she returned to London today with Jack Straw for...

CHICAGO - Its most famous team is the one that cheated, the one forever branded the Black Sox. Its most enduring image may be the outfielder doused with beer while standing against the outfield wall, or maybe the two drunken fans running onto the field to attack a coach. Then, again, it may be the decades of losing. Not the romantic kind tied to some mysterious curse, but the kind that comes with simply playing badly. As the Chicago White Sox take on the Los Angeles Angels for the right to play in the World Series — something they haven't...

NEW YORK (August 12, 2005) -- Marines from Marine Aircraft Group 49, Detachment B, in Newburgh, N.Y., received awards on the field of the New York Mets’ Shea Stadium amidst the cheers and applause of Mets fans, August 7. Staff Sgt. David R. Boucher, avionics technician, and Capt. Joshua M. Vance, assistant operations officer, of Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron (VMGR) 452 were each awarded a Navy Commendation Medal for their “outstanding performances” while on recent deployment in Iraq. “We had a very long successful deployment. We brought everybody back and nobody got hurt. The biggest memories I have are...

Athletes say they don't look back, ever. Athletes lie. Thus, it is safe to theorize the demons doing wind sprints in Nomar Garciaparra's head right now. Starting with, "Man, I'm glad I got married, otherwise the last 18 months would completely suck." The pain from a torn groin could have left Nomar Garciaparra seeing dollar signs now out of his reach.Thursday, Garciaparra got the cheery news that he'll miss at least the next two months with a groin muscle tear. This, after starting the season hitting .157. After watching the Boston Red Sox get their World Series rings. After watching...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) Politicians may flip-flop on some issues, but Gov. Rod Blagojevich insisted Thursday that he has never wavered in his loyalty to the Chicago Cubs. Risking a backlash from die-hard fans of other teams, Blagojevich rejected suggestions that he has sometimes flirted with the Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals. ``Let me be clear: I am unabashedly a Cubs fan,'' Blagojevich said. ``I love the Cubs. When they play the Cardinals, I'm for the Cubs. When the Cubs play the White Sox, I'm for the Cubs.'' Blagojevich said he was simply being polite when he wore a...

I know about the Bosox and the Bambino curse. But I didn't know about the Cubbies' goat jinx until I watched the Little Bears' ill-fated playoff march last October.Please explain the goat.foreverfree

CHICAGO - Harry Caray's restaurant paid $106,600 for the infamous baseball deflected by a fan, and the owners want to destroy the ball and close an agonizing chapter in Cubs history. AP Photo AP Photo Slideshow: MLB: Cubs "Destroying it hopefully will have kind of a cathartic effect for the fans," said winning bidder Grant DePorter, a friend of the late broadcaster and managing partner of his restaurant. DePorter bought the ball in an Internet auction and said he plans to destroy it Feb. 26, when the restaurant organizes a worldwide toast to Caray, who died in 1998. He said...

<p>OAK BROOK, Ill. (AP) -- The owners of Harry Caray's restaurant paid $106,600 for the ball that was deflected by a fan during a playoff loss, a purchase aimed at closing an agonizing chapter in Cubs history.</p> <p>The ball was sold at auction early Friday, with the winning bid by Grant DePorter, managing partner of Harry Caray's Restaurant group, named for the late Cubs broadcaster.</p>

CHICAGO — Steve Bartman surfaced briefly yesterday to say he and his family and friends have been threatened and harassed by some, but received empathy and support from many others since he became the center of controversy by tipping a foul ball at an unfortunate moment during Game 6 of the National League Championship Series. Bartman, a Cubs fan, issued what he termed his "final comment" on the subject. He said he was declining interview requests and would donate to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation all the "generous gift offers" he has received "from individuals and businesses across the country."...

In Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series between the Florida Marlins and the Chicago Cubs Wednesday night, five outs Marlins second baseman Luis Castillo stood in against right-hander Mark Prior of the Cubs, who’d been painting a three-hit shutout until that point. With one out, a 3-2 count, and the Marlins speedy Juan Pierre on second with a double, the switch-hitting Castillo sliced a Prior pitch down the left field foul line. As the pop-up tailed for the grandstands. Cubs leftfielder Moises Alou circled under it, braced his right hand against the wall of the Wrigley Field...