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Why Wrigley Field Must Be Destroyed
The Wall Street Journal ^ | May 14, 2012 | RICH COHEN

Posted on 05/14/2012 7:46:35 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican

Having not won a World Series since 1908, and having last appeared on that stage in 1945—a war year in which the professional leagues were still populated by has-beens and freaks—the Chicago Cubs must contemplate the only solution that might restore the team to glory: Tear down Wrigley Field.

Destroy it. Annihilate it. Collapse it with the sort of charges that put the Sands Hotel out of its misery in Vegas. Implosion or explosion, get rid of it. That pile of quaintness has to go. Not merely the structure, but the ground on which it stands.

I'm a Roman, and to me, the expanse between Waveland and Addison on Chicago's North Side is Carthage. The struts and concessions, the catwalk where the late broadcaster Harry Caray once greeted me with all the fluid liquidity of an animatronic Disneyland pirate—Hello, Cubs fan!—the ramps that ascend like a ziggurat to heaven—it's a false heaven—the bases, trestles, ivy, wooden seats and bleachers, the towering center-field scoreboard—all of it must be ripped out and carried away like the holy artifacts were carried out of the temple in Jerusalem, heaped in a pile and burned. Then the ground itself must be salted, made barren, covered with a housing project, say, a Stalinist monolith, so never again will a shrine arise on that haunted block. As it was with Moses, the followers and fans, though they search, shall never find its bones.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


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To: dfwgator
Elwood Blues will have to go to the DMV to get his address changed.

"1066 West Addison?

That's Wrigley Field!"

21 posted on 05/14/2012 8:18:59 PM PDT by Disambiguator
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To: Melas

All of the old sports stadiums and traditions must be destroyed. So that the masses will be more willing to accept the future their masters dictate to them.

The more people forget how things ever were, the easier it is to get them to accept “change”.


22 posted on 05/14/2012 8:19:13 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (Barack Obama has cut and run from what he called "the right war".)
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To: Disambiguator

23 posted on 05/14/2012 8:21:24 PM PDT by dfwgator (Don't wake up in a roadside ditch. Get rid of Romney.)
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To: MinorityRepublican
Good article. All good things must come to an end. As a Pittsburgher, I grew up in walking distance of old Forbes Field where Honus Wagner played-- where I saw my first Pirates and Steeler Games torn down. It was somewhat sad, but honestly, Forbes Field was a dump... it needed to be torn down. Just like Wrigley needs to go.

Recently, the Pittsburgh Civic Arena (the Igloo) was demolished. I had many a fond memories of that place... the first time I ever tried ice skating... the Hornets, Penguins... college basketball... concerts from the Beatles to Sonny & Chere to Paul MaCarthy... but it was time. The building had outlived its usefulness.

Nostalgia is a great thing, but there is always a time to move on.

24 posted on 05/14/2012 8:25:18 PM PDT by Ditto (Nov 2, 2010 -- Partial cleaning accomplished. More trash to remove in 2012)
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To: Ditto

Yankees Fan from WAY back [I was at the ‘58 and ‘61 World Series]. Didn’t complain about the re-model, BUT when they built Macoombs Dam Park, instead of building a new Stadium on the site of the old one, I swore I’d never enter the place. Never have. Sometimes nostalgia is all you’ve got.

Maris din’t hit #61 in “The New Yankee Stadium”. Larsen, Wells and Cone didn’t pitch perfect games there. And Gehrig didn’t play first, Mick didn’t play center, Ford didn’t pitch, Yogi and thurman didn’t catch there, and Ruth never hit the snot out of a baseball there...


25 posted on 05/14/2012 8:32:37 PM PDT by PzLdr ("The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am" - Darth Vader)
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To: MinorityRepublican

For all you north siders here. The last time the Cubs won it all, they played at Polk and Wood Streets, on the south side.


26 posted on 05/14/2012 8:39:26 PM PDT by dznutz
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To: MinorityRepublican

Please let the Cardinals get some more easy Ws from that hellhole and those stupid Cubbies.

then yeah - arc-light that POS!!


27 posted on 05/14/2012 8:45:41 PM PDT by Longdriver
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To: MinorityRepublican
I got a Joey Votto bobblehead this past Saturday night at Great American BallPark. Sat in the *front row-w--w". 42K in attendance but lost to the Nats 2-1. Next night, Mother's Day, about 5K in attendance and Votto hits three homers.

When I lived in Lincoln Park, I'd take in 30-40 Cubs games a year but there was only one year (81) where the Cubs got into the playoffs. This is a great park and this Cohen writer is a real b*tcher for sure.

28 posted on 05/14/2012 8:50:42 PM PDT by Zuben Elgenubi
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To: MinorityRepublican

So that more taxpayers can be bilked for building a replacement?


29 posted on 05/14/2012 8:53:00 PM PDT by Ingtar ("As the light begins to fade in the city on the hill")
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To: MinorityRepublican

Curse of the Billy Goat


30 posted on 05/14/2012 8:56:01 PM PDT by bigbob
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To: SamAdams76

That all is true, but....good times...good times. :-)


31 posted on 05/14/2012 9:01:56 PM PDT by Conservative4Ever (Waiting for the new tagline to download)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Wrigley Field is an entity and an attraction all its own. It’s the world’s biggest beer garden and singles bar.

The Cubs are nothing but a sideshow of minimal relevance.


32 posted on 05/14/2012 9:09:41 PM PDT by M1903A1 ("We shed all that is good and virtuous for that which is shoddy and sleazy... and call it progress")
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To: PzLdr
Maris din’t hit #61 in “The New Yankee Stadium”. Larsen, Wells and Cone didn’t pitch perfect games there. And Gehrig didn’t play first, Mick didn’t play center, Ford didn’t pitch, Yogi and thurman didn’t catch there, and Ruth never hit the snot out of a baseball there...

Ya, but in Pittsburgh, I can take you to a hunk of the left-center field wall where Mazirosoki's home run in 1960 beat the Mighty Yanks in game seven. The people with the serious nostalgia thing for baseball gather there every October 13 to reminisce.

No matter how much you love your wife, you can't make her like she's 20 years old again, and you can't make an old dilapidated ball park attractive to 20 year olds either.

There's a point where ball teams have to move on. It is a business after all.

33 posted on 05/14/2012 9:11:23 PM PDT by Ditto (Nov 2, 2010 -- Partial cleaning accomplished. More trash to remove in 2012)
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To: MinorityRepublican

How about moving the Cubs to either Tennessee or North Carolina? Chicago doesn’t need two teams anymore.


34 posted on 05/14/2012 9:59:21 PM PDT by Greg123456
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To: MinorityRepublican

That’s just so cute. A Cubs fan with dreams of getting to the Big Show.

When you add up a combination of World Series appearances and/or wins, the Yankees and the Cardinals have owned the last century. The Cubs, not so much.

Would a new park really make a difference?


35 posted on 05/14/2012 10:46:17 PM PDT by lurk
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To: Ditto

you can’t make an old dilapidated ball park attractive to 20 year olds either.

but when they turn 40 their memories are golden
and they remember. Sure they go to the modern venues
but they go to Wrigley to experience baseball.

Go Cubs.


36 posted on 05/15/2012 1:22:08 AM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: SamAdams76

Was that you I was sitting next to on Saturday? I’m 6’1”, not abnormally tall but when I sit in the common seats at Fenway my knees are always jammed into seat in front of me. It’s a great ballpark but it was built for hobbits.

I got away with giving the Jamaican only $30 this time.


37 posted on 05/15/2012 2:49:17 AM PDT by muir_redwoods (I like Obamacare because Granny signed the will and I need the cash)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Thye should convert a section of seats behind home plate to a small goat pasture. I wouldn’t go to watch the Cubs. But I might go to watch the goats watch the Cubs.


38 posted on 05/15/2012 3:32:11 AM PDT by rod1 (CTLY)
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To: Melas

I agree. Still as much as the WSJ has gone downhill, it is still better than the toilet paper quality we get from all the other big city rags out there.


39 posted on 05/15/2012 3:36:19 AM PDT by catfish1957 (My dream for hope and change is to see the punk POTUS in prison for treason)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Hell with the flubs. I guess it is now offical that no one alive remembers their last championship. Serves these ____ right. Most obnoxious ignorant fans in MLB.


40 posted on 05/15/2012 3:40:13 AM PDT by catfish1957 (My dream for hope and change is to see the punk POTUS in prison for treason)
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