Rooting for The Cubs. Just a Little.
Okay, this is a dandy story.
There’s a guy named Joe Rickett who has more money than a Monopoly game. Rumors started flying about what he was going to do with some of that money.
Joe Ricketts has had quite a day. Thursday morning’s New York Times identified the billionaire founder of TD Ameritrade as bankroller of a $10 million super PAC campaign to attack President Obama over his past ties to his old pastor, the hyperbolic Rev. Jeremiah Wright—a favorite villain of the right wing during the 2008 campaign.
Okay, ponder that for a minute. Ten million dollars to attack a minister who has less influence on Barack Obama than I do. Or you do. Or Sarah Palin does.
That seems a tad excessive.
It also seems a tad silly because one of Rickett’s sons is chairman of the Chicago Cubs, a baseball team you might have heard of if you read to the bottom of the scores in the sport’s section.
And the Cubs play in Wriggly Field, which you might have heard of if you studied ancient world history. Wriggly Field was built about the same time as the pyramids. They’ve had to carbon date second base several times.
Joe Ricketts
So, Rickett’s son is trying to get the city of Chicago to spend $300 million to fix up the crumbling parthenon of baseball.
And the mayor of Chicago is … are you following me, now? Rahm Emanuel. Yes, the same Rahm Emanuel who was Obama’s Chief of Staff. And there are several African American aldermen on city council in Chicago.
So Daddy is spending money to defeat a candidate who is the best friend of the mayor who the son needs to help fix his ballpark.
And to their credit, it only took the Rickett boys about a week to figure out that maybe they are biting off their nose to spite their face. However, in all fairness, their faces are also in need of some renovation.
So, two statements go out. The first is this.
“The mayor is pissed. Very pissed. Very, very pissed,” an aide to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s hyperkinetic former chief of staff told me upon reading the news of Ricketts Senior’s planned anti-Obama assault. Hours later Emanuel said brusquely, “It’s insulting to the president. It’s insulting to the country.”
Followed by son Ricketts
Also upset: Tom Ricketts, who said: “As chairman of the Chicago Cubs, I repudiate any return to racially divisive issues in this year’s presidential campaign or in any setting—like my father has.”
Game over.
It is also interesting to note that Joe Ricketts may be a son of a motherless goat, but he raised some good kids.
But Tom Ricketts isn’t the only member of the family who may have been unhappy with Dad’s activities. Laura Ricketts, Tom’s sister and thus part owner of the team, is a big contributor to Obama and other Democrats and has hosted fundraisers for gay backers of the president. Two other Ricketts siblings, Todd and Peter, also have a piece of the action with the ball club.
Thanks to David for the heads-up.
Wow, thanks for the follow-up info. My son and family live in Chicago and every time I go to see them I pass Wrigley Field on the CTA. When I first read Ricketts’s hateful proposal I was mentally eliminating the Cubs from my affections but that has changed with the information on the Ricketts siblings particularly the daughter. I will still root for these underdogs.
1$300,000,000 (wanted to get all of those zeroes in there) to repair a stadium for a wealthy man’s team to play in – isn’t that socialism and a transfer of wealth?
2Parents are a lot of work, aren’t we/they. Poor kid.
3Call me a cynic. Don’t know if this is a case of “Oh, hell, Daddy done lost his mind” apologies and back tracking. Or a genuwine shur nuff case of the Romney/Republican campaign goin’ “Oh, Heck, we better not start on the goofy religion path it will bite us on the butt.”
4My beloved Cubs… sigh. Beautiful days like this, I used to take the afternoon off, hop the El outside my office, and find myself transported to this sparkling emerald garden in the middle of an urban neighborhood. Welcome to Wrigley Field, Home of the Chicago Cubs.
You’d walk in from the sidewalk, and come up the steps underneath the stands. The grass would be so green it almost hurt your eyes. The neatly trimmed ivy on the outfield wall gleamed darkly. The flags snapped in the breeze, one for each team, each division on its own lanyard, with the teams arranged from top to bottom in their order in the standings. Was the Cubs’ flag on top? No worries: there’s always next year, and the beer is cold.
My prized possession is a baseball signed by Ernie Banks, my childhood hero “Chip. Hope. Ernie Banks.”
I’m working from home this afternoon, the Cubs are playing the White Sox and WGN is on the bigscreen.
Hey, Beer Man!
5The Cubbies are trying mightily to get to .400. Probably to no avail but, having been a Cub fan forever, my daughter once lived withing walking distance of this venerable palace, I remain of the opinion that the Cubs are my favorite team, other than whoever is playing the Cardinals.
6Back to the original statement; Ricketts never came close to .400 with this.
I may have to reconsider my allegiance.
I hope they sell tickets to the next Ricketts Family Thanksgiving dinner…..I’d wager it’s gonna be a doozy once the wine and scotch starts flowin!!!
7Watch out, Cubbies…you’ve had to live with the Curse of the Billy Goat for the last 67 years…the Curse of the Kenyan Socialist will be next!
8@Cheryl: Why, yes, it is socialism. Good to know the city of Chicago has all that extra $ so rich people can get richer. Too bad daddy couldn’t spend his $ on the stadium instead. Oh wait, that might bring some jobs to the area. Daddy probably outsourced all the ad jobs to the Philipines. Daddy wouldn’t want to have any economic recovery or jobs created before the election, now would he? Especially, if they were, gasp, union jobs.
9My first thought, when I learned who was behind this Jeremiah Wright effort, was to ask my Bubba if he had closed that account with TDAmeritrade, yet. If not, he needs to answer the damn phone the next time they call and give them an earful.
10A player who made statements like those Ricketts is paying for would be disciplined by the Commissioner. I too wonder about the wisdom of spending public money so rich men can get richer.
11Chip honey, Ernie’s advice was spot on!!
12And I have ALWAYS been a Cubs fan, daughter of two Chicagoans, one of whom’s philosophy was ” Protestant? maybe! Sox fan? NEVER!” (Mama is a Papist AND a Cub’s fan :D)
And that doesn’t even take into account Andre Dawsons’s shoulders or Ryne Sandberg’s everything…
In my earlier life I remember Mark Lemonjello and Joe Morgan and that guy with the lovely voice who used to call for the ‘stros when I was mowing the lawn…sigh.
13