Lighting the Olympic Cauldron - What History Does Rio Have to Live Up To?

Two years ago, we went down a journey to walk through the history of one of our favorite sporting events in the Olympics, but alas it wasn't athletics themselves we walked through, so much as it was a moment to reflect on something that technically isn’t sports, but very much sports related. Its a tradition I'd love to continue.

The opening ceremony for the Rio Olympics is just over 24 hours away, and even though the ceremony is all about aesthetics, throwing a party, art, history and theater, and not specificaly sports which is what we generally write all about, it’s something that the large majority of sports fans have grown to love and anticipate.

However I’m not really going to be talking about the ceremony itself, but cover something much more specific, something that has always intrigued me specifically on “opening” night: The lighting of the Olympic Cauldron that signifies the beginning of the games.

I'm not talking about the relay of the torch for days and/or months but instead, the literal time from whence the torch enters the stadium to the cauldron being lit, its arguably one of the best moments that happens in the Olympics, It’s a monumental moment, and I really can’t wait to see what Rio has in store for us, can they truly raise the bar, can they do their own unique thing, what will it be memorable for?

In order to properly judge this, I feel like GBS should take you through the full and very interesting history of the Olympic Torch. Why do we have war and conflict to thank for much of its elements and what it has become, and the ceremony and now surprise of lighting of the cauldron. So join me on this trip through history will you?

The Ancient Games
As per Wikipedia:

“In the time of the original games within the boundaries of Olympia, the altar of the sanctuary dedicated to the goddess Hera maintained a continuous flame. For the ancient Greeks, fire had divine connotations—it was thought to have been stolen from the gods by Prometheus. Therefore, fire was also present at many of the sanctuaries in Olympia, Greece.”

The Modern Olympics Begin - No Flames, Just Games

In the early years there was only a "Summer" Olympics (first Winter games were 1924) and during these early years ther flame tradition had not yet been rekindled.

Summer Games in black, Winter Games in blue.

1896 – Athens, Greece
1900 – Paris, France
1904 - St. Louis, United States
1908 – London, England
1912 – Stockholm, Sweden
1916 - Not held - World War I – Scheduled for Berlin, Germany
1920 – Antwerp, Belgium
1924 - Chamonix, France
1924 – Paris, France
1928 - St. Moritz, Switzerland

Interesting to note that the first ever Winter Olympic Games went to France along with Summer Games in the same year. In fact, this dual hosting repeats itself in 1932 with the USA getting both and in 1936 with Germany; It was also scheduled to dual host again that way in 1940 for Japan, but those games were never held (see below).

A Flame is Simply Lit as Commemoration

1928 – Amsterdam, Netherlands   

 

In 1928, for the first time they decided to have a continuous flame buring during the games in Amsterdam, but it wasn’t the ceremony it is now of deciding who got to light it and making it a big deal as evidenced by this historical footnote: “An employee of the Electric Utility of Amsterdam lit the first Olympic flame in the Marathon Tower of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam.”

That’s right, the first modern Olympic flame was lit by... some guy... because it was his job…
It actually switched over to being famous people or famous athletes in time giving us the “who will light the cauldron?” suspense, but that’s what some of the lightings looked like through the early years of the tradition.

1932 - Lake Placid, N.Y., United States
 
1932 - Los Angeles, United States 

1936 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

War Brings an Everlasting Tradition - The Torch Relay Begins From Olympia, Greece

In the previous 4 Olympics, the cauldron was simply lit up. Believe it or not, the tradition of lighting the torches from the lasting flame in Olympia, Greece and transporting it to the host site came from questionable intent. Why is that, who is to thank for the torch relay? The Nazis. In 1936 the Germans were hosting the Summer Games and hoped of showing their Aryan theory of superiority. Hitler specifically thought lighting the flame from Greece was a way to connect his Aryan Nation directly with the gods as that’s where the original flame came from, but the Nazis had and claimed a different agenda publicly, which though it may have been a facade of an intention, ended up sticking.

The Nazis knew they were getting closer to war, and in an attempt to sway public opinion, historians note they devised the relay as a way to make many countries feel included in their Olympic games by running the torch through their country on the way to Germany, increasing goodwill and gettingg a sense of togetherness. The Olympic flame was lit by a concave mirror in Olympia, Greece and transported over 3,187 kilometers by 3,331 runners in twelve days and eleven nights from Greece to Berlin, but not entirely as planned as there were protests in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia on the way.

So the Nazis gave us the torch relay, but when it comes to the actual lighting of the torch during the opening ceremony, its generally ho-hum, person runs up and lights that cauldron, cool mement but not quite the spectacle it has become.

1936 – Berlin, Germany




So while the new addition to the ceremony signifying the beginning of the games was nice, Jessie Owens kicked some ass, the Boys in the Boat kicked some ass and; Hitler then got mad and started a terrible war because Hilter was stupid, and thus...

1940 - Not held - World War II  - Scheduled for Sapporo, Japan
1940 - Not held - World War II – Scheduled for Tokyo, Japan
1944 - Not held - World War II  - Scheduled for Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
1944 - Not held - World War II – Scheduled for London, United Kingdom

So while the Nazis may have had political/tactical charged intentions behind the torch relay, their “bringing everyone together” via the torch relay remained even after World War II, even if that’s not what they actually intended. Through this time after war, the lighting of the cauldron was still 100% of the time an athlete running into the stadium, sometimes doing a lap of the track and then running up the steps to the top of one end of the stadium or a grandstand and lighting a standard cauldron wherever it was, usually within basic reach of height.

1948 - St. Moritz, Switzerland
 
1948 – London, England

1952 - Oslo, Norway

1952 – Helsinki, Finland





1956 - Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy

1956 – Melbourne, Australia

Australia begins the "who will light the torch" build up, by not telling anyone who will light it, and surprising everyone with a 19-time World Record holder: ron clark. 




1960 - Squaw Valley, California, United States

1960 – Rome, Italy


The First Winter Relay from Olympia, Greece


1964 - Innsbruck, Austria  

While Innsbruck wasn't a change in the standard running up and lighting of a basic cauldron with a flame from Greece, it was just the first Winter Olympics to do so. Does that mean the previous Winter Olympics had no flame relay... why certainly not, the previous Winter Olympics had quite an interesting history:

“1952 and 1960 had torch relays starting in the fireplace of skiing pioneer Sondre Norheim, and one (1956) had a relay starting in Rome. The 1984 Winter Games were preceded by two torch relays, one from Norheim's fireplace, and the other from Olympia. The plan had been to mingle the two flames, lighting the cauldron with the combination, but this was disallowed; instead, only the Greek flame was used.” 

Yeah thats right, the flame came from some dude's fireplace!!! They put an end to that short lived tradition...  Sadly the IOC had the video of this ceremony pulled from YouTube for some reason...

1964 – Tokyo, Japan





1968 - Grenoble, France
 
Innovating Socially

1968 - Mexico City, Mexico

Leave it up to the Mexicans to break a huge barrier as Enriqueta Basilio became the first woman to light the Olympic Cauldron


1972 - Sapporo, Japan
 
1972 – Munich, West Germany
 
Most anything people remember from Munich is the tragedy during these Olympic Games, but as you can see they started moving that cauldron up higher, starting to pave the way for a trend in putting that cauldron in sight of everyone and making it bigger. 



1976 - Innsbruck, Austria
 
1976 – Montreal, Canada

The Canadians then give us dual cauldron lighters for the first time.



War and Conflict Ups the Gamesmanship of the Cauldrons and Lightings

So after World War II, the lighting of the cauldron runs largely on tradition, a torch relay from Greece where a surprise athlete from the host country does the final leg into the stadium and lights the basic cauldron. but much like the relay itself coming from conflict/politics, Leave it to conflict/politics again and the threat of war to once again push the way into torch/cauldron innovation. Going into the late 70s and early 80s the Cold War came upon the world. With it brought a giant pissing contest between the Soviet Union and the United States in the forms of the Space Race, technology advancement, espionage, communications and encryption advancements, economic advancements and failures, nuclear advancements and lastly of course… Olympic Cauldron lighting advancements.

The athletes themselves are already competing, but why stop there? We need to prove who is better, at everything. So in comes the perfect storm in 1980 at the height of the Cold War, with the U.S. hosting the Winter Games and the Soviet Union was hosting the Summer Games later that year. The  U.S. had the standard lighting of the Cauldron... or so everyone thought. Charles Morgan Kerr, A doctor from Arizona who had been elected from all 52 torch bearers to run the final leg, he wasn't even an athlete, barely even important in retrospect.

He was able to walk up steps to light the cauldron, but it was no ordinary Olympic Cauldron, it was the first ever movable Cauldron in Olympic history, so after it was lit it raised high, like really, very freaking high, above everyone, higher than any flame ever before as if the U.S. was saying we have the best cauldron that has ever been done, highest ever, no one else could do this.

1980 – Lake Placid, United States
Cauldron lighter: Charles Morgan Kerr
The Surprise: Whoa look how high that cauldron goes!!
The Cauldron: ditto to above
The Lasting Memory: Literally the cauldron itself amidst all the athletes rising up above everyone. The cauldron was amazing and having it go up too, but the person lighting it is somewhat forgettable. By the days standards though it was amazing on cauldron alone.

Sadly the only video I can find of this is in the first 5 seconds of the 1984 Olympic broadcast here.

Its On!!!

So that pretty much set the stage, how could everyone, namely the Soviets, one up the Americans, and the modern history of things has been entertaining to say the least since. The U.S. went on to boycott the Soviet Summer Games but it didn't stop people from watching and seeing how the Soviet Union would reply to that?


1980 – Moscow, Soviet Union
Cauldron lighter: Sergey Belov (4-time olympic medalist in basketball, including gold in 1972)
The Surprise: How in the world is anyone going to get up to that cauldron, its behind all the people in the stadium!? Whoa where in the hell did that floating pathway come from!?
The Cauldron: Very tall and very large above the stadium
The Lasting Memory: Watching Belov run atop the crowd as the colors change in his wake then the magic pathway disappeared after he was done running on it.




1984 –  Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
Cauldron lighter: Sanda Dubravcic (Yugoslavia's champion figure skater)
The Surprise: The torch arrives via cross country skiers
The Cauldron: Like Moscow and many before it, its tall and atop the end of the stadium seemingly out of reach
The Lasting Memory: Dubravcic running through the performers and up an incredibly steep incline that is actually disappearing behind her





1984 – Los Angeles, United States
Cauldron lighter: Rafer Johnson (Winner of the 1960 decathalon) also the first black person to light the caldron
The Surprise: How in the hell is anyone getting up there to light that thing!?
The Cauldron: It was standard, but it was atop the arch of the rose bowl but seemingly, inaccessible to anyone
The Lasting Memory: It went a little like this, 1) we see the cauldron but no one can get up there.. 2) ok that's a staircase, that gets him higher but it is a stairway to nothing... 3) whoa the whole Olympic symbol is on fire!

Imagine if they did it at night. Imagine what they could do if L.A. wins the 2024 games they are bidding on.




1988 – Calgary, Canada
Cauldron lighter: Robyn Perry (12 year old figure skater)
The Surprise: Leave it to Canada to go "eh, just lighting this thing is still good enough for us" Ok but really watch this whole opening ceremony, it just has Canada written all over it from mountee riding on horses to the base stadium floor.
The Cauldron: Big copper/bronze color and it kept rising up after lit
The Lasting Memory: Seeing the lit cauldron between the giant intersecting spires






1988 – Seoul, South Korea
Cauldron lighters: Track and field and dancing athletes Chung Sun-Man, Sohn Mi-Chung, and Kim Won-Tak
The Surprise: There is no way in hell anyone can get to that cauldron!
The Cauldron: read above, it was this incredibly tall stem maybe 20+ stories high
The Lasting Memory: Seeing the torch bearers get on the platform and be elevated up the entire stem so they could light the torch. Also hoping the birds would get off the cauldron so they don't get fried. And if that wasn't enough a perfectly timed flyby just as it was lit.




1992 – Albertville, France
Cauldron lighter: Michel Platini and François-Cyrille Grange (a footballer and a 9 year old who remains the youngest cauldron lighter in history)
The Surprise: This was the first time we got to see a fireball (fire on a guide rope) that Grange lit and it then flew into the cauldron.
The Cauldron: like a giant musical instrument honestly
The Lasting Memory: It was the first night time ceremony which allowed them to do the fireball



1992 – Barcelona, Spain
Cauldron lighter: Antonio Rebollo (paralympic archer)
The Surprise: He shot a freaking flaming arrow into the cauldron!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Cauldron: It was tall, and high above the stadium, overseeing it, and inaccessible to anyone but that did matter because...
The Lasting Memory: He just shot a flaming arrow into the cauldron to light it!!!  I really like to think this will forever remain one of, if not the, coolest lighting ever. It took a massive amount of skill to pull this off and that's what made it so damn impressive. I really like to think this was the pivotal moment that took us from really cool, to holy shit no one could have dreamed thats how we were going to do it pushing the envelope. This will always be my favorite, mostly just from the level of difficulty and bad-assness of it.



1994 – Lillehammer, Norway
Cauldron lighter: Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway
The Surprise: He just ski jumped in with the flame in hand!!!!
The Cauldron: It was just a white cylinder, not even that remarkable, it was all about the delivery on this one.
The Lasting Memory: Its silly to lay the importance to Prince of Norway who lit the cauldron because no one cares about that, you can barely even find that part on YouTube, the part people care about was Stein Gruben ski jumping with the flame in hand to deliver it to the games. The insane part is that he wasn't even supposed to do it, he was just the understudy that filled in due to injury.



1996 – Atlanta, United States
Cauldron lighter: Muhammad Ali
The Surprise: Muhammad Ali
The Cauldron: A Large french fries from McDonalds??? Seriously, that's what it looked like
The Lasting Memory: For many people it was obviously Ali holding the flame and then lighting a little fireball the shot up to the very odd, McDonalds french fry holder looking shape. The anticipation of "who will it be" was so great on this one, I remember people visibly trying to figre out who was last in the line.



1998 – Nagano, Japan
Cauldron lighter: Midori Ito (1992 silver medalist)
The Surprise: Chris Moon (a mine explosion survivor) delivers the torch into the stadium and eventually it goes up but then its Ito in gorgeous Japanese traditional outfit from under the stage who does the lighting, not the one who delivered it up there
The Cauldron: Actually very unique with the colors and the way it had a bunch of spurs of sorts
The Lasting Memory: A basic but perfect lighting, proving that you don't always have to be in a running suit, you can look elaborately elegant



2000 – Sydney, Australia
Cauldron lighter: Cathy Freeman (Winner of Olympic silver in 1996 and went o to win in Sydney too, the only person ever to light a cauldron and win a gold medal in the same games.)
The Surprise: the Australians built a freaking waterfall into their stadium but forgot to build a cauldron!!! Where is the flame going to go!!!?
The Cauldron: A hidden from view saucer under a waterfall that rose up and connected to its stem.
The Lasting Memory: My personal favorite cauldron to date, it was completely hidden, yet perfectly in view, the entire time hidden under the water so that final torchbearer Cathy Freeman literally set water on fire. Think about that for a second. She set water on fire, then the flame arose around her, made its way up to the top where it got attached to a stem and rose even higher, its just awesome.



2002 – Salt Lake City, United States
Cauldron lighter: The Whole 1980 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team
The Surprise: Mike Eruzione recreates the famous 1980 medal ceremony with the entire 1980 hockey team
The Cauldron: A beautiful swirling spire very high above everything
The Lasting Memory: Many people remember the torch being skated around the rink, but it seemed silly when you noticed they were just doing circles. But then it got really cool, for Americans at least, when the final torch bearer was captain of the 1980 hockey team, Mike Eruzione. What made it awesome was that he recreated, to the detail, the exact scene of the 1980 medal ceremony, because back then only captains were awarded the medal but in 1980 he waved up the entire team, and did the same with the torch setting the record for the most ever cauldron lighters.



2004 – Athens, Greece
Cauldron lighter: Nikolaos Kaklamanakis (Sailing gold medalist, and won silver in these games)
The Surprise: the flying torch bearers
The Cauldron: I'm sure its not what they were going for but it looked like a giant joint until it was made vertical.
The Lasting Memory: not only did a bunch of torch bearers fly out from the crowd, but Kaklamanakis ran up a shaky staircase to what looked like the biggest joint ever and lit up. The torch then made a 120ish angle turn upward to soar over.



2006 – Torino, Italy
Cauldron lighter: Stefania Belmondo (cross country skier, one of Italy's most decorated olympians with 10 medals)
The Surprise: The whole freaking stadium lights up!?
The Cauldron: Uhh technically the whole stadium got lit up, the cauldron looked like it exploded, but if we're talking just the cauldron it was a cool set of spiraling pipes high above everything.
The Lasting Memory: The stadium blowing up into a giant fireball to light the torch was just awesome.



But lets take a second to awe at this opening ceremony, A Ferrari F1 car did a pit stop and donuts in the stadium... Pavarotti rocked everyone's socks off this was an awesome night. I man McCartney doing "Hey Jude" in 2012 was cool, but Pavarotti doing Nessum Dorma under the light cauldron... I have no words.


On second thought if it were China, the donuts would have made a perfect Olympic rings on the ground... speaking of...

2008 – Bejing, China
Cauldron lighter: Li Ning (China's most decorated athlete, gymnastics, with six medals)
The Surprise: What the hell is going on, are the chinese even human, this whole thing looks like a science fiction thriller, people are flying, the torch is gigantic but it was literally not there 2 seconds ago!!!
The Cauldron: an amazing paper spiral look, but crazier is that it literally wasn't there until it was time for the lighting.
The Lasting Memory: The memory everyone in the world had was spending the next 2 weeks trying to pick their jaw up off the floor from the opening ceremony, the dancing, the drumming, the blocks, the largest LED screens ever, the projected videos, the dancing calligraphy, and to top it off their torch lighter was suspended and ran the entire length of the stadium's rim sideways, and then lit a cauldron that appears out of freaking nowhere.



2010 – Vancouver, Canada
Cauldron lighter: Catriona Le May Doan, Steve Nash, Nancy Greene and Wayne Gretzky...ish
The Surprise: Soo... I guess only 3 torch lighters needed?
The Cauldron: It was supposed to be, and eventually was, 4 leaning towers around a master cauldron, but one of them got stuck so eventually they gave in and just lit the 3 that were up. After wards they fixed the 4th and got it done.
The Lasting Memory: Sadly all video of this ceremony is being pulled off youTube, and the collage below doesn't fully show the awkward million hours everyone stood around waiting to see if the 4th tower would show up. It was awesome of Canada though to have the idea of having 4 towers leading up to a master cauldron.



2012 – London, England
Cauldron lighter: Seven unknown aspiring young athletes
The Surprise: After high stakes gambling, worldwide speculation, the Britians turn to 7 unknown young athletes to light the numerous cauldrons, rather than a single one.
The Cauldron: One mini cauldron for every country participating in the Olympics
The Lasting Memory: London did what they do, they saw what China did and knew they couldn't compete with the scale so they brought their ingenuity. Rather than a famous athlete they sent their youth to do the lighting, and rather than one big cauldron, the made a ring of small ones that each country was able to take home. Innovation in spades those Brits.



2014 – Sochi, Russia
Cauldron lighter:  Irina Rodnina and Vladislav Tretiak (triple gold medalists for Russia in figure skating and hockey respectively)
The Surprise:  None really outside of who would light it, everyone was convinced it would be Putin's girlfriend. But the cauldron was built in plain sight outside the stadium, and it lit up just about as expected. It was awesome to see the way the flamethrowers crossed patterns going up to the cauldron.
The Cauldron: A leaning spire in the center of all the indoor facilities of the Olympics.
The Lasting Memory: Everyone will always remember that 5th ring that never opened, and that Russia has inspired some great music... but in terms of the torch it was so very pulled back from expectations of recent ceremonies, and if anything the lasting memory was that they left the stadium and lit a torch no one there could see, literaly. Sure it could be seen during the day but not by anyone attending the ceremony; this is a video shot by someone in the ceremony, watch the runner disappear and then you have to watch the rest on a TV screen.

I also sadly can't embed anything because the IOC and Russia are deleting any video of this ever happening from the internet.Well sort-of, you can click this link of the complete opening ceremony,, then fast forward a few hours in and find the cauldron lighting.

...

So this all brings us to Rio, Brazil then doesn't it?

2014 – Rio, Brazil 
Cauldron lighter:  ???
The Surprise:  ???
The Cauldron: ???
The Lasting Memory: ???

What do you have in store for us Rio...? We await in great anticipation for tomorrow night!!!

2018 - Pyeongchang, South Korea
2020 – Tokyo, Japan
2022 - Bejing, China

New music: Summer Olympics

The Summer Olympics are set to kickoff next week, and we'll be covering some of the events here and on twitter. For now, here are a couple of songs we recently recorded to celebrate the summer games...

GBS Road Trip: Tennessee Smokies

Although the AA Tennessee Smokies (Chicago Cubs) play just a few hours away from where I am in Nashville, I never got a chance to see recent prospects like Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber. Their time at that level was so brief, and it just never fit into my schedule. So when I learned that Ian Happ was promoted to Tennessee last week, I checked the schedule and determined that this past weekend was my only good chance to get over there.

So Sunday morning we drove east and checked out the game at Smokies Stadium that night, as Tennessee beat the Pensacola Blue Wahoos 3-0.

Happ had three hits the night before, including his first AA home run. He picked right up in Sunday's game, and I got to see him get three more hits. Happ clearly is a player on the rise, much like the top prospects before him, who are doing so well in Chicago and Iowa now. He honestly already seemed kind of out of place on the field, even though he'd just arrived.

Of course, he followed this up with another three hits last night (and another home run). So he's 11-for-15 through five games, and his AVG/OBP/OPS are a ridiculous .733/.706/1.973. Maybe Pensacola is just terrible? I know the Cubs want these guys to experience struggles at each level, but so far that isn't happening for Happ at AA.

Overall it was a great experience. For a family of five, we got the tickets, meal vouchers, and three Kid Zone passes for about $4 more than it cost us to see Finding Dory the weekend before. I've been to hundreds of games, including MLB, college, and high school, but living in New Orleans and Nashville my whole life, I've only been to AAA minor league games. I now have to say that AA is a much better value. While I usually go for the "cheap" seats in the outfield (which is like $10-12 for a AAA Nashville Sounds game), at Smokies Stadium we sat five rows directly behind home plate and paid less to do so.

In addition to being able to see Happ play, I was looking forward to watching a few other players as well. I think we'll be seeing the following players at the major league level eventually:

Billy McKinney - I've been keeping an eye on McKnney's progress since the Cubs acquired him in the Samardzija/Russell deal and have written about him here before. He had two hits, a walk, and a run, and he looked great. He's only hitting .264 at Tennessee this year, but the average is improving. His OBP is .365 (up from .346 at AA last season), and his strike out to walk ratio is 35:50.

Victor Caratini - He was 0-for-3 in the game we saw, but he looked good behind the plate in a Tennessee shut out. He's hitting .295 for the season, with an OBP of .386. He has also started 13 games at first base and has not made an error there this season. Originally a third baseman, Caratini could make the catching situation in Chicago even more interesting within the next year or so. If David Ross is truly done and Miguel Montero keeps playing the way he currently is, I think we'll be looking at Contreras and Schwarber as the two main catchers for 2017. Adding Caratini to the mix would give the team a third catcher who also plays other positions.

Paul Blackburn - A 2012 1st round pick out of high school, Blackburn has lowered his ERA each year so far. His career ERA is 3.02, and it is currently at 2.35 following Sunday's six scoreless innings. He's 5-2 for the year with a career record of 25-14. His 84 innings and 53 strike outs lead the Smokies.

Jacob Hannemann - While he hasn't hit for a high average in the minors, Hannemann is exciting on the bases. He stole a base and was caught once on Sunday, bringing his totals in those categories to 25 and 7. He led off the game with a nice slap hit to the opposite field, bouncing it over the third baseman's head. He has only 25 walks and an OBP of .323, but if he gets those numbers up, he'll be fun to watch.

What we missed:

Joe Nathan - Nathan is currently at Tennessee, trying to get back to the majors. It would've been fun to see him pitch, and a healthy Nathan will look nice in Chicago's bullpen.

Brad Markey - Markey started Monday night, so we missed him by a day. He's a 2014 19th round pick out of Virginia Tech who has a 2.13 ERA in the minors so far. He's been at Tennessee all season, and his 6 wins lead the team. His 2.34 is right under Blackburn's and leads Tennessee starters.

Jen-Ho Tseng - Tseng has been a top prospect for a few years now and is currently ranked #24 on the MLB's Cubs list. Through nine starts, he's 3-3 with a 2.98 ERA.

We definitely had a lot of fun. I'm hoping we can make it back there later this season, especially if something like a Gleyber Torres promotion happens at some point.

The Cubs are losing, but the young players are getting experience

The current four-game losing streak that the Cubs are experiencing is not a reason for fans to panic. Not yet, anyway. Yes, it's never fun to be swept by the Cardinals. And you hope to (A) score more than two runs in Miami and/or (B) not see your 8th inning reliever give up those runs in a 4-2 loss. But there is much more going on here.

The Cubs will now try to bounce back from their longest losing streak of the season, yet they enter the weekend with a firm nine-game lead. What's more important, though, is the fact that more young players are getting work at this level here in June.

Remember last year in the postseason when Javy Baez hit the huge home run against St. Louis? Fans love it when Chicago puts these guys in big spots and they come through like that. But it isn't magic. Baez had to get enough time in the league to get to that point. And this is exactly what we're seeing right now with Contreras and Almora (and possibly a couple of relievers as well).

I believe that the front office and coaching staff see Almora and Contreras as key players down the stretch and into the postseason. If this is true, it has to start now. These innings and at-bats might not seem very important here in June. But in September (and hopefully October), every bit of experience could pay off.

This really shouldn't even be a surprise to Cubs fans, as the team is sort of making this a routine now. The only difference now, of course, is the huge division lead. Yes, the lead has dipped to single digits. But give it just give it a minute for things to start to click again.

Furthermore, for a guy like Contreras to get the promotion and to have immediate success seems about right when looking at the team's track record.

For example, take a look at Kris Bryant's and Kyle Schwarber's AVG/OBP/OPS stats from their time at AAA. Bryant's stats were .298/.412/1.037, while Schwarber's were .333/.403/1.036. Those numbers were similar enough that it wasn't a total shock to see Schwarber follow up Bryant's MLB success. Well, Contreras also had very comparable numbers of .350/.439/1.030.

Taking this a step further, I am personally interested in another guy currently at AAA Iowa: Dan Vogelbach. Through 228 AAA at-bats, he's posted a similar .298/.419/.941 at Iowa this season. The average matches Bryant's, while the OBP is better than both Bryant and Schwarber. I know, I know. There's nowhere to play him in Chicago. Of course, we never expected to see Willson Contreras playing first base last night either, did we? All I know is that these other players were obviously ready to come up within 200 at-bats or fewer, and Vogelbach's time could be coming soon.

I assume the Cubs front office is watching all of these stats and more, considering possibly finding  a spot for Vogelbach in Chicago or (more likely) making other teams aware of the numbers as the trade deadline approaches. Either way, the success of Bryant, Schwarber, and Contreras could lead to a call-up or a significant trade when it comes to Vogelbach.

The system is working, and we cannot get caught up in a four-game losing streak and begin to think otherwise. Hopefully in the fall, we'll look back at this time as the week where we saw what Contreras was really capable of: owning the catcher position, filling in at first base, and driving in some of the team's only runs in the midst of its worst losing streak.

Finally, just for fun, I'll point out that Ian Happ is now at AA Tennessee. His numbers at A+ of .296/.410/.885 do compare OK to Bryant's (.333/.387/1.106) and Schwarber's (.302/.393/.952) at that level. As expected, he showed less power but got on base at a better pace than both of them. But he's clearly on the same path!

More songs about baseball!

Here is another set of baseball songs from Vista Blue! Check out a great review from Faster and Louder, and look for a CD coming soon featuring all 20 of the band's baseball songs recorded so far.

We're ready for the Olympics. Is Brazil?

We're getting excited about the upcoming Summer Olympics, but obviously there are currently some issues in Brazil that will need to be addressed over the next couple of months.

In case you missed it, check out SNL veteran Maya Rudolph spoofing impeached Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff from the recent season finale. In this clip, Rousseff assures us that there are only a couple of things left to do: "Get one million poo-poos out of the river, and build all the buildings!"

Baseball Cards: The strange case of Ed Romero

Am I the only one who finds it odd that "Ed Romero" seemed like such a concerned young man in 1988, only to resurface as "Mike Schooler" in 1991, flashing a smile and not having a single care in the world?

Baseball Cards: Hello?

When your mom decides to call you just as they're taking your picture for your rookie card...

Cubs Dominate Angels to Begin the Season

Yes, it's only been one game so far, but on Opening Night, the Chicago Cubs illustrated exactly why fans are so excited for this season, firing on all cylinders and defeating the Angels 9-0.

First, consider the fact that Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, and Addison Russell combined to go 0-for-10 with five stikeouts, and the offense still posted NINE runs. In fact, even without a hit, Bryant walked twice, scored twice, and drove in a run.

More importantly, this lineup is so strong, particularly when using the DH in an American League park, that Miguel Montero hits EIGHTH. It's not a surprise that he was the offensive hero in the opener, hitting a home run and driving in three runs. Montero is more of a cleanup hitter than anything else, with more than 1,000 career at-bats hitting fourth in the lineup, more than any other lineup position. Having him at the bottom of the order is just another strength of this Cubs team.

And just yesterday I mentioned that I hoped Matt Szczur would get a chance to contribute before Javier Baez returns from the DL, and of course Szczur knocked in three runs on his only at-bat in the opener.

The Cubs scored nine runs against a good team on a night when one run would've been enough, thanks to Jake Arrieta's dominance. This lineup is intimidating, to say the least. Obviously, teams will beat the Cubs this year. But it won't be easy.

A Look at the 2016 Chicago Cubs Opening Day Roster

There are no real surprises on the 2016 Chicago Cubs Opening Day roster. The team breaks camp with one of the best 25-man rosters in the league, if not the best. After a surprising 2015 season that saw many of the organization's top prospects called up and placed into significant roles, and ended with an NLCS appearance, the Cubs front office made it clear this offseason that the team is being built to win now.

Adding star players Jason Heyward and John Lackey not only improves the Cubs, but it immediately weakens  division rivals (and 2015 NL Central champs), the St. Louis Cardinals. Throw in newcomers Ben Zobrist and Adam Warren, and we can see clear upgrades to a roster that won 97 games last year. That's kind of amazing.

Manager Joe Maddon now has all kinds of flexibility, just as he likes it. Zobrist can play anywhere, and although Javy Baez will be on the DL for the first week or so, he is being groomed to be another Zobrist. Heyward and Dexter Fowler can play anywhere in the outfield, while Kyle Schwarber is actually going to do some catching in addition to playing left field. And of course, Kris Bryant has proven he can do pretty much anything better than pretty much anyone.

On the pitching side, having Lackey jump into the rotation's number three slot behind Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester suddenly has people saying this might be the league's best staff. Jason Hammel struggled a little in the second half last year, but his 3.74 ERA looks terrific for a 4th starter. Furthermore, with 15 wins and a 3.49 ERA over his first 1.5 seasons, Kyle Hendricks could be the best 5th starter out there.

And then there's the flexibility in the bullpen, where the Cubs have somehow piled up effective starters who are now serving as relievers. Warren, Trevor Cahill, Clayton Richard, and Travis Wood could all stretch out as starters if needed, and the Cubs have the kind of offense that could keep the team in contention even if some of these bullpen arms had to become starters.

I should definitely mention Matt Szczur, who I had fun with in a recent post, following all of the outfield moves the Cubs made. In the end, with Baez on the DL, it's Szczur who grabbed the last roster spot for now. What makes it more impressive is that Baez could've easily been replaced by infielder Munenori Kawasaki, who hit an impressive .367 this spring, with an OBP of .446 through 49 at bats. But Szczur, who is out of options, hit .375 to secure the spot and stick with the team, at least for a little while. I'm hoping he gets the chance to make the most of it.

The flexibility doesn't stop with the major league roster, as the Cubs have talented players like Kawasaki and Shane Victorino signed to minor league deals. In addition, the next group of prosepcts could be ready soon as well, and players like Jeimer Candelario, Wilson Contreras, Albert Almora, and others could make things very interesting at some point soon (or could be used as trade chips to upgrade the major league team if/when needed).

As a Cubs fan, this is probably the best team I've ever been able to watch. I'm ready for the season to kick off tonight, and I'm hoping it ends with a World Series win in the fall.

MLB 2016 Predictions

Here are my predictions for the 2016 MLB season. Yes, I am predicting that the Cubs will win the World Series. Although it's one of those things I just can't believe will ever actually happen, I'd feel pretty dumb if this ended up being the year and I had some other team listed here. There are so many good teams this year, and this was difficult. You can hear some of my thoughts about this on our latest episode of Beers and Baseball Cards. Feel free to tell me why/how I'm wrong in the comments!

NL East	Mets
NL Central	Cubs
NL West	Giants
NL Wild Card	Cardinals
NL Wild Card	Nationals
AL East	Yankees
AL Central	Royals
AL West	Angels
AL Wild Card	Rangers
AL Wild Card	White Sox
World Series	Cubs over Yankees

Beers and Baseball Cards 06

Mike and Brett preview the 2016 MLB season as they open packs of 1992 Fleer and random grab bags of cards. Music by The Ueckers. Thanks for listening!




Jerry Browne's reaction when he learned he was being traded to Oakland...

Baseball Cards: Dad Goes to Fantasy Camp

When your dad went to fantasy camp that time and thought he was a real player....

Jerry Reuss, Geoff Zahn, Tom Hume, Joe Cowley, Bill Scherrer, Ron Kittle, Donnie Hill

Beers and Baseball Cards 05

Mike and Brett welcome the 2016 MLB Spring Training season with a new episode, experimenting with football cards this time. They also discussed LSU basketball, Ben Simmons, fantasy baseball, Cubs/White Sox, Saints, and other random sports topics. Music by The Ueckers. Thanks for listening!

Just some social media posts about Adam LaRoche

Wedge and I already chimed in on this subject. But I thought that might be a little unfair and maybe we should give the other side a voice as well.

Here are just a few of the first random public posts that popped up in a Facebook search for LaRoche.

 

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More Data Points of the LaRoche Story

Don't miss Mike's good op-ed below on Adam LaRoche's retirement. Mike gets right to the point that many people don't even understand A) what its like to have kids, but also B) what its like to have options in life. Many people are stuck in job or feel lacking of freedom but lets put a few facts out there to put more of LaRoche's decision into perspective.

#1 - He's been bringing his son to team functions for some time and people haven't noticed because he's been playing great. Being a DC resident I witnessed his 2011-2014 seasons. .341 OBP in those 4 years, 6th in MVP voting and Golden Glove winner in 2012, a core piece of the lineup. So that's why this has never even come up before.

Look at any major sport, when a guy is producing for a team they let them do whatever, like guys getting arrested, or in this case, bringing their kid to the day job.

#2 - Ken Williams is allowed to ban any kids from team events. People forget that baseball is a job for MLB players. Williams said "name one job in the country were you can bring your child to work everyday." and he's right. If ownership or management thinks you are doing anything that might be hurting your performance they can request you change it so long as its nothing illegal.

I happen to be allowed to work remotely for my job, but that's with the expectation that I perform my job. IF I under-perform my employer has every right to tell my I can't telework anymore and have to come into the office.

#3 - bosses can suffer consequences, I've had former bosses force entire staffs out with dumb decision making; its quite possible LaRoche is "taking one for the team" cause other players are mad about the "no kids" decision.

#4 - He's NOT foregoing $13,000,000
One of the worst thing that happens in sports is the advertisement of player contracts because its so disorting of facts. People, and by that I mean everyday fans, seem to think that being a professional athlete is the same as being a waiter, mechanic, accountant, chef etc. Its not for many reasons

A) bonuses, performance targets and incentives vs. guaranteed money. Often when sports contracts are announced for some idiotic reason media always announce a contracts potential maximum, a figure athletes rarely reach because many of the targets are impossible or not entirely within their control like "make the playoffs" etc.

B) TAXES!!! People seem to forget that athletes pay taxes too, and in fact they pay more because the salary is higher. general consensus is that you take 20% off your salary to estimate your take home, for athletes its a hell of a lot more than that.

C) FEES / AGENTS / ETC.   LaRoche has an agent, he has trainers, he has supplements/vitamins and more that come out of his own pocket.

If you put all that together his $13 million might be more like $6-7 million. Not saying thats something to sneeze at, but also saying don't kid yourself on the $13 million part.

#5 - He likely doesn't need the money. LaRoche, if he has been smart with money should have plenty of it, turning down $"$13 million" might be something he's willing to forego because he frankly doesn't need it. He plays in America's most absurdly salaried sport and has had a good career. Baseball pays its players more than any other sport, and the players can play for longer than most any other sport aside from maybe golf. Laroche has been playing since 2004, here's his salary according to contracts thus far.

Year	Age	Team	Salary	Sources
2004	24	Atlanta Braves	$300,000	4/7/04 AP
2005	25	Atlanta Braves	$337,500
2006	26	Atlanta Braves	$420,000
2007	27	Pittsburgh Pirates	$3,200,000
2008	28	Pittsburgh Pirates	$5,000,000
2009	29	Pittsburgh Pirates	$7,050,000
2010	30	Arizona Diamondbacks	$4,500,000
2011	31	Washington Nationals	$7,000,000
2012	32	Washington Nationals	$8,000,000
2013	33	Washington Nationals	$10,000,000
2014	34	Washington Nationals	$12,000,000
2015	35	Chicago White Sox	$12,000,000
2015	35	Washington Nationals	$2,000,000	Buyout of contract option
			$71,807,500

So, taking into account points 4A, 4B, and 4C above to be conservative lets say he only gets 50% of whats advertised, he'd still have amassed $36+ million so far by the age of 35. Most of us won't amass $36 million in our lifetime. This ignores any money he has made from investments, endorsements, if his wife has a job etc.:

"LaRoche is one of the co-owners of Outdoor Networks hunting show Buck Commander with friends and pro athletes Chipper Jones, Ryan Langerhans, Tom Martin, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, and Willie Robertson who is from the Duck Commander series."

So is a $13 million contract something to sneeze at... well no. But is it going to put Adam LaRoche's family in dire straights... not likely so long as he has been smart with what he's made so far. Once you are paid enough money to own a house and car outright and pay utilities, the honest truth is that more money is just to spend on more things you want to try, but not things you need.

#6 - He can just as easily unretire and play for another team that allows him to bring his kid. 

Adam LaRoche puts family first, and people lose their minds.

When Chicago White Sox first baseman Adam LaRoche retired unexpectedly yesterday, everyone assumed there was something behind it. Well, it didn't take long to find out that LaRoche retired because team president Ken Williams asked him to stop bringing his son to the clubhouse so often. Of course, LaRoche gave up his salary of $13 million in the process.

Apparently LaRoche was bringing his 14-year-old on most days (I assume when he wasn't in school?), which might seem like a bit much. However, it seems his son has been a fixture in the clubhouse in past years, particularly when LaRoche played for the Washington Nationals from 2011-14. So if this is the first time we're hearing about it, there are a lot of other people out there who have not had a problem with it until now.

So first, there are the fans, many of whom are idiots, calling out LaRoche for retiring. The fact that people are posting comments on these articles calling LaRoche "selfish" and "entitled" is just amazing to me. I also wonder if these people have children of their own.

Personally, I believe it would be "selfish" to say that, no matter what you truly believe is right, you are going to do whatever you need to do to get that $13 million that you have coming to you. It's yours. You earned it, dammit, and no one is going to take that from you. Forget that LaRoche hit only .207 last year, with a miserable OBP of .293. That's his money, right?

No, guys. What LaRoche has done is the complete opposite of "selfish." It's something that many parents would never do. He decided that spending time with his son each and every day was more important than his "legacy," his statistics, his career, and of course, (literally) stacks and stacks of money.

Now, right when the story came out, I had nothing but admiration for LaRoche. I imagined that Williams was voicing concerns that he had received from the players, and with a newseason, the players wanted things to be more serious in the clubhouse. And I was totally OK with that. I could see players asking for something like that and could easily see LaRoche quietly retiring as a way of respecting his teammates' wishes while ultimately choosing his family over the money.

But that isn't even the case! This afternoon we learned the White Sox players were extremely close to boycotting today's spring training game to SUPPORT LaRoche. So it isn't even the players who are requesting this change. It's simply Ken Williams.

It's worth noting, of course, that the White Sox have drafted two of Williams's sons in recent years, in addition to sons of Harold Baines and others. But still, the players don't get to make all of the rules; Williams is the president, and he has the right to make the changes that he thinks need to be made.

But all of that aside, as a dad, I have nothing but respect for LaRoche and now for the players who are supporting him.

Could the Cubs really lose Kris Bryant after 2020?

So it seems that the players' union is seriously going to pursue getting service time credited to Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant (along with Maikel Franco of the Phillies), essentially advancing free agency by a full year in the process. The Cubs placed Bryant at AAA-Iowa for 12 days to start the 2015 season before calling him up and watching him earn the Rookie of the Year title over the rest of the year.

The total of 12 days was not a random number but was in fact the exact amount of days the Cubs needed to keep Bryant off of the roster in order to retain him through the 2021 season. If the players' union is successful and is able to get any service time credited for the 12 days, Chicago would have to bid for Bryant's services as a free agent a year sooner, following the 2020 season.

This is absurd, right?

First of all, the players' union bargained for this. It was an agreement. You can't get everything you want, give some to the other side, and then come back later and say, "Never mind, we want to change one of those things we agreed to."

Honestly, the Cubs may have kept Bryant in the minors as long as they needed to, even if the magic date had been in June or July. There is no current formula in place yet to establish when a player is 100 percent Major League ready. So regardless of what player agents want to tell us, the team still has the right to bring a player up when it wants to. There are rules in place (Rule 5, arbitration periods, etc.) to protect the player and to prevent a team from doing it beyond a few years. But the Cubs had every right last season to do what it did. The established period was 12 days. They followed the rules.

If it ever did come down to proving Bryant was kept down and brought up due to anything other than a matter of service time (and the 2021 season), Chicago could easily point to injuries to Tommy La Stella and Mike Olt, who were both placed on the disbaled list in April 2015. But it shouldn't have to.

On the other hand, I feel like Chicago could also argue that it would've played Bryant beginning on Opening Day if the team had known that the CBA deal would be changed later. Of course, the team lost the division by a few games, and even though the Cubs beat both the Pirates and the Cardinals in the playoffs, a division title would've been even better. Winning just an extra game or two in April could've led to hosting a home game for the one-game playoff with Pittsburgh, along with the extra gate revenue that game provides.

If anything is changed, it should be from this point moving forward. I don't see legally how or why they should be able to go back and change an agreement. That sounds like a terrible precedent to set. And yes, as a Cubs fan, I selfishly want Bryant around for at least one extra season.

Of course, it'll be interesting to see how this all turns out in five years or so. There are so many possibilities at this point, including a contract extension, a trade, or even some type of injury, among other things that could happen. But if the Cubs win the 2021 World Series, led by Kris Bryant in the final year of his original contract, we know people will look back at those 12 days in April 2015 and say that ultimately the team did the right thing and followed the rules to which everyone had agreed.

New senior John Valek III is a great addition to LSU pitching rotation

After watching the LSU basketball team get completely crushed by Kentucky on Saturday, it was great to see the  baseball team sweep a double-header (and the series) against Fordham later that day and move to 9-2 on the season. The highlight of the day was definitely the huge comeback in the night game, as the Tigers trailed 7-3 in the seventh, before putting up seven runs in the inning to win 10-7. But lost in the excitement was another solid start from newcomer John Valek III in the afternoon contest, helping the Tigers cruise to a 15-1 victory.

Valek is now 3-0 and was honored by the Louisiana Sportswriters Association as its February Pitcher of the Month. While his three wins have come against non-conference opponents, and SEC competition will be tougher, fans have to be excited about what Valek brings to the team as the third starter.

Playing his first three seasons at Akron University, Valek was immediately eligible to pitch for LSU in 2016 after Akron's program was shut down. Many teams around the country would've loved to grab another team's ace, especially one with three years, 42 starts, and nearly 300 innings of experience. Yet here he is, pitching for LSU and looking like someone who could make a huge difference each weekend in SEC play.

The most encouraging statistic that Valek has posted so far is his one walk (and 16 strikeouts) through 17+ innings. Friday starter Jared Poche has walked eight but has maintained an excellent ERA of 0.92, while ace Alex Lange has uncharacteristically allowed nine free passes and posted a 4.15 ERA so far. I think we all expect Lange to bounce back very soon, and now having Valek throwing behind him is yet another weapon, particularly if he remains this consistent in the strike zone.

LSU's offense will put up runs, we hope, and the defense is coming together nicely, considering Jake Fraley was the team's only returning starter. A team with a good offense and a solid defense can only benefit from a pitcher who doesn't allow walks.

At GBS, we've always been curious about colleges shutting down their baseball programs, most notably when we semi-adopted the Vermont Catamounts during their final season in 2009. It's a disturbing trend over the last decade, as fans increasingly support football and largely ignore school baseball programs. However, this is the first time that one of the teams we follow has been directly impacted by a program's being discontinued.

I'm looking forward to watching Valek finish out his college career in a Tigers uniform, hopefully contributing to another LSU College World Series run in the process.

Five things that need to happen for LSU to beat Kentucky

The LSU basketball team will travel to Kentucky tomorrow and will likely have to win in order to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament (without winning the SEC Tournament). As ESPN points out every time LSU takes the court now, anything less than an NCAA bid would be disappointing, and it's unfortunate that it has come down to needing to win at Kentucky.

We know it's possible. Two months ago, LSU defeated Kentucky 85-67, although that game was played in Baton Rouge, where the Tigers have definitely played better this year. Winning at Kentucky will be much tougher, and below are the five things that I think will need to happen for LSU to win.

1. Ben Simmons needs to keep hitting free throws.

We know what to expect from Simmons at this point, as he has consistently been a triple-double threat throughout the season. His free throw shooting, however, has been inconsistent. Still, in the last two games, both LSU victories, Simmons hit 20 of his 23 free throw attempts. This made a huge difference when closing out the wins.

2. Craig Victor needs to stay out of foul trouble.

I love Victor's game, and I look forward to watching him become more of a leader. Unfortunately, I think he often ends up having to be physical in the paint, due to LSU's overall lack of inside players and the fact that Simmons appears to avoid contact to stay out of foul trouble himself. Victor's mid-range shooting and his toughness will be crucial to beating Kentucky, and the Tigers can't afford to watch him sit early if he picks up a couple of early fouls.

3. Antonio Blakeney needs to stay hot.

We all know Simmons is the best freshman in the country, if not the best overall player. But Blakeney is special, and it's rare that a player with his talent is not even the best freshman on his own team. But he knew that coming in, started hot, spent the middle of the season coming off of the bench, and has simply become an offensive force. He is averaging 23 points per game over the team's last four contests, shooting 80 percent (24 of 30) from the free throw line during that time. With Keith Hornsby's recent injury, Blakeney absolutely must score for the Tigers to win.

4. Someone else needs to step up.

Whether it's Tim Quarterman, Jalyn Patterson, or even Brandon Sampson, with Hornsby out, this team needs a fourth scorer to step up. Quarterman is the most likely candidate, and he led the Tigers in the January win over the Wildcats with 21 points, along with 10 rebounds and seven assists. Although that type of performance has not been the norm for Quarterman lately, he has averaged 13 points in his last two games. But again, I'd settle for Patterson stepping up and hitting some outside shots if he's left open. He had 11 against Florida just two games ago, while Sampson scored eight against Missouri this week.

5. LSU needs to keep any lead it might get.

When the Tigers upset the Wildcats in January, they led by 10 at halftime. I remember Kentucky coach John Calipari saying the second half would be much different. It wasn't, as the Tigers outscored his team 48-40. Lately, however, LSU has struggled keeping leads. Last weekend, Florida scored 62 points in the second half to cut an 11-point halftime lead to five, while Missouri trailed by 22 at the half earlier this week before losing by only nine. And we all remember Blogathon, when LSU led no. 1 Oklahoma by double digits and then lost the game. Without a strong inside game, this team can only keep a lead if it protects the ball during every possession, and that's what needs to happen tomorrow.

Possible recent excerpts from the journal of Cubs outfielder Matt Szczur

Look, I like Matt Szczur, in a "possible 5th or 6th outfielder with some hidden potential" kind of way. But there's no doubt that the recent outfield transactions made by the Chicago Cubs, while upgrading the roster, have likely had a large impact on Szczur's chances of making the team this year.

Below is what I imagine some of his recent journal excerpts might look like:

12.01.15 - Well, it looks like Fowler is probably gone. Maybe Baez will start playing some outfield. But either way, I could have a shot at the 4th or 5th outfield slot next year, assuming Almora doesn't explode like Bryant, Soler, Russell, and Schwarber did last year.

12.08.15 - Signed Zobrist, but traded Castro. So maybe this won't impact the OF too much.

12.15.15 - Signed Heyward to an 8-year deal. OK, that affects the OF. Still, with Heyward, Soler, and Schwarber, that might leave Coghlan and me going for two spots. This could work!

02.17.16 - (1st entry) Matt Murton will be in camp. That's nice. He could be a good instructor.

02.17.16 - (2nd entry) Oh wait. Murton is still a player? Well, I hit .292 with a .355 OBP last year at Iowa. This is just for insurance. No big deal.

02.25.16 - (1st entry) Coghlan got traded. Well, that's a surprise, but we had a lot of depth and flexibility, especially with Baez and Zobrist on the roster. Things could be looking up!

02.25.16 - (2nd entry) Fowler is back?! How in the hell did that happen? One minute I'm shagging flies, the next minute Dexter is out here hugging everyone. This is outrageous.

02.26.16 - Victorino?! We signed Shane Victorino?! Cheese and rice. If anyone needs me, I'll just be binge-watching "Fuller House" with Matt Murton today, waiting for us to sign Ian Desmond or Austin Jackson.

LSU Tigers Must Improve at the Free Throw Line

Last March I watched the LSU Tigers completely give away an NCAA Tournament game to N.C. State. Although the Tigers were the lower seed in the opening 8-9 matchup, they held way more talent and potential than their 22-11 record showed. With two legitimate stars in Jarell Martin and Jordan Mickey, it felt like the Tigers could make a run. Unfortunately, LSU managed to make only 12 of its 22 free throws (with Mickey going 4-for-9) and lost by one point.

It was miserable. It was a terrible way to end such a promising season. And it was the one thing I hoped would be better in 2015-16.

Unfortunately, it isn't. Yes, Coach Johnny Jones doesn't shoot the free throws. But there has to be a way to get his players to make more of them.

Last night, LSU was surprised by Alabama at home, losing 76-69 for its second loss in three games. The Tigers seemed to be in control most of the way, and they were certainly never truly out of it until the final minute or so. They didn't play any worse than the Crimson Tide, and they didn't make a bunch of plays that felt out of character for this year's roster, which has been way too inconsistent overall. Alabama simply won the game by being the better team in the final five minutes.

But once again, missed free throws contributed significantly to another crushing defeat. The Tigers shot 20-for-35 from the line (57.1 percent), with most of the shots and misses coming from Ben Simmons, who was 10-for-19. (Yes, I know the team likely wouldn't be as successful as it is without Simmons in the first place, but that logic didn't help much last year either.) By comparison, Alabama's Retin Obasohan shot 11-for-11 from the stripe alone.

The free throw situation needs to improve before fans should expect any outcome different from last year, assuming the Tigers do even get a tournament bid in March. In fact, of the regular contributors, only Keith Hornsby (81.8) is shooting better than 70 percent at the line. That's a huge problem, one that will continue to impact the outcomes of games as the season winds down, unless the Tigers find a way to fix it.

The team is now 16-10, has lost on two Wednesdays in a row, and will now finish with three out of five games on the road, including the regular season finale at Kentucky. Entering the conference tournament with 20 wins seemed fairly certain a couple of weeks ago, but now it'd probably take a four-game win streak starting this weekend in order to pull it off.

It's 2016, and the Cubs just invited Matt Murton to Spring Training

I know what you're thinking. "Are you an idiot?" "Have you not gotten any sleep since Blogathon?" "Wasn't 'Crackerjack' such a great movie?"

OK, no one is thinking that last one, aside from maybe Speedgeek.

But I'm sure you're all definitely thinking, "Matt Murton? He'd be like 68 years old now! He couldn't coach these kids, let alone play with them!"

Well, you're wrong. Not only is he half that age (34), but he is indeed also going to be in Arizona with the Cubs this spring as a player. Although he likely doesn't have much of a chance to make the final major league roster, he's an interesting player to have in the organization, stashed at AAA Iowa, for example.

First of all, realize that Murton was a career .286 hitter before leaving for Japan after 2009. His numbers with the Cubs were even better: .294 average and .362 OBP through parts of four seasons. (For what it's worth, through seven seasons in Japan, those totals are .310/.354.) I'm totally on board with giving some plate appearances to anyone who can get on base in front of the team's big hitters.

But also, let's look at the current state of the Cubs outfield. If the starters are Kyle Schwarber, Jason Heyward, and Jorge Soler, then only Soler bats from the right side. If Chris Coghlan is the fourth outfielder, that's another left-handed bat. So if things stay as they are currently, right-handed depth could be needed soon, even if right-handed Matt Szczur is the fifth outfielder.

(Of course, there are wildcards here. Infielders Ben Zobrist, a switch hitter, and righty Javy Baez may see time in the outfield. There's also Albert Almora, a right-hander that everyone is pulling for to be the team's next young star. And I'm still not fully convinced that the Cubs won't bring back Dexter Fowler, another switch hitter.)

Either way, even if Murton never contributes in Chicago again, it's a fun signing. It'll be great when Speedgeek and I can sit just a few feet away from him as he patrols the outfield in Nashville when the Iowa Cubs come to town to face the Sounds. Hey, maybe they can get Mark Prior on the mound too?

Can Tecmo Bowl Tell the Future?

So we've done our Tecmo Super Bowl prediction for eight years now, but this is the first time we let the computer control both teams and used updated rosters. Granted, our rosters were one year old, but it was still most of the key players from this year's Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers.

So how close were we? In many ways, we were pretty close!

Below are some of the similarities that I noticed as I watched Super Bowl 50:

• The final score of Super Bowl 50 was 24-10, which was the score we had in Tecmo until a late Broncos TD made the final 31-10.

• The halftime score of 13-7 was not far off from Tecmo's 17-7.

• Panthers kicker Graham Gano made a big second-half field goal to get Carolina to 10 points and within one score. On Tecmo it was 17-10, while in the real game Gano made it 16-10. (It was also a crazy 62-yarder on Tecmo.)

• In our Tecmo game, the Broncos defense forced a Newton fumble and nearly ran it in for a score. Of course, they did this twice in the real game, scoring a touchdown on one of them.

• And finally, while Peyton Manning didn't complete 90 percent of his passes like he did in the Tecmo battle, he was still above 50 percent, unlike Cam Newton, who managed 30 percent in Tecmo and was barely better in real life, at 43 percent. (Newton did gain more yardage than Manning, of course, out passing him 265 to 141.)

Overall, I'd say our Tecmo preview/prediction was fairly accurate, especially when considering most people saw the Broncos as huge underdogs. Next year we'll try to have the most updated rosters we can find.

Super Bowl 50: The Tecmo Super Bowl Prediction

In my 8th annual Tecmo Super Bowl prediction, I'll be changing things up again. For the first five years, I picked the team I wanted to win the game, and I played a game of Tecmo Suer Bowl against the other team, which was controlled by the computer. Of course I always won, but when I picked the wrong team in 2014, we decided I should start allowing the computer to control both teams. (My prediction was wrong again in 2015.)

This year I had the computer controlling both teams again; however, the version of Tecmo Super Bowl that I now have on my phone includes modern teams and rosters. Technology! Unfortunately, my rosters were last updated for the 2014 season, so there are some differences. But we still got to see how Peyton Manning's Broncos performed against Cam Newton's Panthers... in an ancient video game.

Regardless of how we got there, the outcome of this year's Super Bowl is clear:

The Denver Broncos will defeat the Carolina Panthers. 

Here's why...

1st Quarter

Denver won the coin toss (there's your prop bet prediction), took the ball first, and started at its 45. Running back Montee Ball dominated from the beginning, as Manning mixed in passes to Wes Welker and Emmanuel Sanders. The drive stalled in the redzone though, after a third-down sack by Thomas Davis. The Broncos kicked a field goal to go up 3-0 and never trailed in the game.

The Panthers had nothing going in their first possession and quickly punted back to the Broncos. Luke Kuechly got a sack on the first play of the drive, but then Manning hit Sanders with a 20-yard pass and a first down to end the quarter.

2nd Quarter

Manning opened the quarter with passes to Ball and Demaryius Thomas, and then Montee carried the ball in (get it?) for the game's first touchdown. Denver led 10-0.

The Panthers struck right back. Newton scrambled for 30+ yards, completed a screen to Deangelo Williams, and then scored on another run to cut the score to 10-7.

Manning got the ball back and worked the two-minute drill like he does in real life, passing to Welker, handing off to Ball, and then throwing a 30-yard score to Ball on a screen. The Broncos led 17-7 at the half.

3rd Quarter

Newton opened the half by gaining some yards on the ground and completing a pass to Greg Olsen. But things stalled near mid-field when Terrance Knighton grabbed his second sack of the game (or the total amount of sacks he actually had in the entire 2014 season).

Still, kicker Graham Gano banged in a 62-yard field goal to cut Denver's lead to 17-10.

Carolina's defense put the team in great shape, forcing a punt after another sack by Davis. But Newton failed to complete a pass, and the Panthers punted it right back. Still, Carolina stopped Denver once again to force another punt at the start of the final quarter.

4th Quarter

Newton quickly completed a big pass to Olsen for 22 yards and looked ready to drive down and tie the game. Unfortunately, he was sacked on the next play and fumbled the ball. Denver's Danny Trevathan picked it up and ran it back the Carolina 11, essentially securing the win for Denver.

Ball took four rushes to get it in but finally made it 24-10.

Cam Newton threw four straight incomplete passes on the next possession (and of course, as a New Orleans Saints fan, I'd love to see this actually happen on Sunday). Manning took over, completed a pass to Julius Thomas, and then handed off to Ball for yet another touchdown. Broncos went up 31-10 to end the scoring.

Newton completed another pass to Olsen at the end of the game, but it was too late. He ended the game with 30 percent of his passes completed, compared to Manning's 90 percent. Newton did look good when he ran, but he wasn't nearly as good as Ball, who scored four times.

Here's a look at the final Tecmo Sports News. See you next year!