Marquee Sports, Cubs, Real Life Hits Our Pastime
Hi ladies and gents. I’ve had a bit of a hiatus, but here’s hoping we come back to a much more consistent basis. I apologize to anyone that’s been sitting at the edge of your couch waiting for my next post (ahem, mom).
I have had a tough time talking about the *Cubs* of late. That has a lot to do with the leaked emails, racism, domestic violence, and just the plethora of bad press. The Cubs, baseball, and sports have always been mine – and I assume your – escape from this world that would rather beat you down than pick you up. But, as we are learning, ugly lies under many rocks, even in our safe spaces.
Racism has absolutely struck this organization, regardless of how you try to explain it. Now, I understand that Joe Ricketts isn’t involved in day-to-day decisions for the Chicago Cubs. This is a point that was reiterated by Tom Ricketts when the emails were released. But what I know about people with money, and power is, they don’t give you $400 million and have absolutely no say in how things, from a 5,000 foot view, is run.
This doesn’t mean that Tom is now guilty for the sins of his father. This is why the next words Tom speaks to the media – and more important the fan base – needs to be honest, and real, and he needs to not treat us like we’re naive to Joe’s past influences on the organization. He also has to publicly tell everyone that the only involvement his father might have going forward is any potential profits due to an investor of a profitable organization.
Without jumping on a soapbox, I have seen far too many people belittling others for having feelings on these emails. Personally, we shouldn’t tell others how to feel about racism. Maybe you don’t understand why someone feels the way they do, but don’t make them feel like less of a person, or fan, because of their thoughts or feelings. Just be a caring dude or chika, allow others to feel however they feel, afterall, you’ve likely never walked a mile in their shoes.
I’m sorry… I’ve been struggling with those thoughts for some time.
Marquee Sports Network
Starting in 2020, Cubs fans will be watching Cubs baseball on Marquee Sports Network.
Of course, because optics aren’t a thing anymore, the Cubs are being questioned about this decision. Here’s why…
Sinclair Broadcast Group owns 191 stations, with 607 channels, in 89 markets in the US. They are a leader in the news industry, and have many sports channels and unique content. Sinclair operates 191 local Chicago channels, they also own the Tennis Channel. Marquee Sports Network will be Sinclair’s first regional sports network.
Where people take issue is in the fact that they are a right-leaning media group.
Now that in itself isn’t troublesome, nor should it be. I can understand a fan that has very strong political ideologies which are in contrast to those shared by Sinclair, and now, if they want to watch the Cubs, they are putting money into an organization that has been caught broadcasting mass propaganda.
That message was shared by FOX, but also ABC, CBS, NBC, and any other network they own. Now, will Len Kasper be asked to read a propaganda script during the seventh-inning stretch? No. That’s not going to happen. The Cubs aren’t apart of a massive conspiracy to brainwash their fans into one-way of thinking. They will broadcast games, they will fill your day with a ton of Cubs content – content unlike anything fans have had access to in the past. But the baseball season is six months long, and there’s only 162 regular season games on the calendar, and there’s a LOT of time that the network will need to find creative content to broadcast. It’s still a fairly large jump to believe they’d go full red state on fans.
Addison Russell
In the coming days we all expect Addison Russell to answer a lot of serious questions. I’ve been very vocal on my thoughts and feelings on Russell, and that the Cubs should have parted ways as soon as they possibly could. Theo Epstein even told us that there were trusted confidants that urged him to release Russell, “ I personally think we’re doing the right thing. I understand people who are upset and think we should just move on, but I can at least pledge to these people we are taking this on earnestly and it’s important to us, that they’re not just words.
“ their actions, and we will continue to be transparent with you and our fans about everything we are doing to try and attack this problem with domestic violence, and will continue to hold Addison to and incredibly high standard or he won’t play a regular season game as a cub ever again.”
Theo continued on Russell, “Addison is well aware he’s been given a conditional second chance,” Theo told reporters during a 47-minute press conference with Joe Maddon and Jed Hoyer. “He really has taken things to heart. He has fully and enthusiastically complied with everything MLB has put in front of him.”
Perhaps the way the Cubs are handling Russell is the right way. I have gotten the impression from Theo that he isn’t one to just make business decisions, but that he indeed cares, and indeed makes the best overall decision. I tend to give Theo the benefit of the doubt that he isn’t looking at Russell as an asset, but believes in his heart-of-hearts that this is absolutely the best decision for both the organization, but also the person. His affirmation that they are doing everything they can for Melisa Reidy as well, tells me that their goal is to be better in the future.
We can, or at least I can, move forward and cover Cubs baseball again. After this offseason, and the way the 2018 season ended, we all need to start talking fun and baseball and the national pastime again.
