AaronGleeman.com

im glad Harry Caray's the chicago watering hole and restaurant bought the infamous Steve Bartman foul ball that changed the fate of the cubs this october, and broke the spirits of cubs fans everywhere.

im not glad, however, that they plan on destroying the ball.

heres what they should do with that ball.

they should erect a permanent dunk tank next to the outside portion of the brick wall on waveland ave.

in the tank should reside the nemesis, mr bartman. wearing his stupid sweater with the turtleneck sticking out, listening to his stupid radio via headphones, and donning the classic blue cubs hat as if to symbolize all of the failings of my favorite team for nearly 100 years.

there will be a line. and once you get to the front of the line you pay ten bucks. they hand you the $100k ball that bartman nor moises alou ever caught, and you get a shot at dunking the enemy.

there will be cops all around the dunk tank and participants will be disuaded from pulling out their handguns although there wouldnt be a jury in illinois who would convict, but the money goes to getting the cubs some relief pitchers.

and maybe a-rod.

destroying anything so fascinating and dark is foolish and emotional. plus it would be like destroying history.

and a cash cow.

thirty to fourty thousand people go to wrigley each game. if 10,000 paid $10 to not only hold the foul ball, but have a chance at dunking one of the most worthy to be dunked men in history, then the cubs would raise $100,000 a game, which is approximately what rodriguez gets paid per game.

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speaking of money, i hope Steinbrenner goes broke in his arms race against the red sox.

he had a stacked team last year and he couldnt beat the marlins whose payroll was a fraction of the bronx bombers. the a's have proven that beaneball is not only the future but also the present.

the cubs were a foul ball out away from beating the marlins and they didnt go out the year before and collect allstars like baseball cards, writing checks like paris hilton at a barneys half off sale.

every time the yankees lose a big game i laugh my cubfan ass off, and it saddens me that the red sox are trying to beat the boss at his own game. theyve got schilling, theyve got manny, theyve got nomah, they should just ride this one out and do what the yankees fail to do: let their team actually be a team.

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speaking of nomar and a-rod and manny and the players union. the union needs to let a-rod give back the money to the rangers. the mlb players union is the strongest in the world. but sometimes you can be too strong for your own good.

it is in the best interest of baseball and in the best interest of a-rod and the boston redsox and in the best interest of major league baseball fans if a-rod can leave the rangers and join the team that he wants to join.

this is a-rod deciding on his own that he wants to give the money back, not the team trying to take it. a good union should want the choices and the power and the freedom to remain with its union members, and thats whats going on here.

if they try to cause problems with a-rod it might discourage players and teams from making $100 million contracts, and the union certainly doesnt want that.

therefore they should let a-rod go to fenway and hit 80 home runs and change baseball entirely instead of acting like the pouty little brat that theyve become.