NU-Illini at Wrigley Field November 20

[sox83cubs84]

The first college football game at the Cubs home field since 1938 will be taking place this coming Saturday, but the ballpark doesn't appear to be rolling out the welcome mat for ballhawks seeking a pigskin as a trophy.

ESPNChicago reported that Sheffield Avenue would be turned into a party/festival area for the game. The east goalpost, which is in front of the right field wall, may have FGs and XPs kicked through that end up in this special purpose area, meaning that even if a fan seeking a football gets in, their ability to move around will be severly restricted, unlike baseball games, where ballhawks can run dozens of feet to make a catch.

The Cubs reportedly are going to be watching this experiment to see if, sometime in the next couple of years, they can adopt this practice for Cubs games. If Sheffield ends up being a party area that the Cubs make money from, how much longer until Waveland Avenue is next...?

All told, for the guys on the street (at least the ones I get along with), I hope the Cubs don't see enough in the street party area to adapt it to an 81-game home schedule.

Dave Miedema

[otismalibu]

Re: NU-Illini at Wrigley Field November 20

http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/wrigley-field-football-configuration-fright-lines-29246

[Jayworld]

Re: NU-Illini at Wrigley Field November 20

Is there some reason they would not run the field the way the Bears used to run it when playing in Wrigley (from the first base foul line to left field)? From several vintage pictures I've seen, it looks as if it would provide more room that way...

[sox83cubs84]

Re: NU-Illini at Wrigley Field November 20

Is there some reason they would not run the field the way the Bears used to run it when playing in Wrigley (from the first base foul line to left field)? From several vintage pictures I've seen, it looks as if it would provide more room that way...

I'm not sure why...that would make more sense to me, as well. There used to be all sorts of scrums and pileups for footballs on Waveland Avenue in the 1960s (before nets). One of the Ballhawks I do get along with, Rich Buhrke, grabbed two as a teenager.

Dave Miedema

[ballhawknet]

Re: NU-Illini at Wrigley Field November 20

Is there some reason they would not run the field the way the Bears used to run it when playing in Wrigley (from the first base foul line to left field)? From several vintage pictures I've seen, it looks as if it would provide more room that way...

Ok , I had a little extra time on my hand and decide to play around with
photoshop. . It is as close to accurate and to scale as I can design

The reason they are going the other way , east west , is simple. A whole
field never fit the other way. The end zones were only 8 yards deep . In the photo I show the full 120 yard field going north/south with the white lines representing the actual back end zone line ( 8ft end zones )

Also this overhead view gives one a good idea of why it is a lot easier to hit a home run into the bleachers in the left ( or onto Waveland ) vs hitting one out to right. I marked the outfield signs with circles , the 368's and 400 in center. The left field sign is not even close to where a normal power alley is marked . Even the center field sign is off and not directly in line with home and second.

Lastly , not sure what Dave M. was expecting since they are not "rolling out the welcome mat" for the Ballhawks. ?? Im sure the Cubs concern for us hawks is somewhere between making sure Ronnie Woo Woo gets his game day ticket , and providing Moe with free parking near the ballpark ... lol. And I'm not sure where Dave M got the idea that ( and Id like to hear a quote from someone ) " The Cubs reportedly are going to be watching this experiment to see if, sometime in the next couple of years, they can adopt this practice for Cubs games ". ( really ? who said that ? )
For a one time game such as this football event , sure you can get the necessary permits for blocking a public street , but for 81 games a year ??
never going to happen. The Cubs have their own problems selling actual tickets let alone worrying about a "tent event " outside the park.

So relax on that Mr Doom ... I mean Mediema . Try to look at the bright side of things... there will be no nets ( most likely ) . So balls will come out
and that's a cool thing even if there are 1000 people out there !!! And don't worry , Waveland and Sheffield will never be blocked for events during regular season Cubs games.... now the World Series...different story .... lol.

[trsent]

Re: NU-Illini at Wrigley Field November 20

I don't understand what y'all are worrying about.

They should tear the dump down and build a nice, modern ballpark with a normal place to go to the bathroom and plenty of reasonably priced parking.

Maybe move the location to the old Migs Field or maybe move west and a lot closer to The Edens.

Everybody's a dreamer...

[Jayworld]

Re: NU-Illini at Wrigley Field November 20

[QUOTE=ballhawknet;226360]Ok , I had a little extra time on my hand and decide to play around with
photoshop. . It is as close to accurate and to scale as I can design

The reason they are going the other way , east west , is simple. A whole
field never fit the other way. The end zones were only 8 yards deep . In the photo I show the full 120 yard field going north/south with the white lines representing the actual back end zone line ( 8ft end zones )

Ballhawknet: very good research on your part. Not being from Chicago (but being a stadium aficionado), I did not realize that Wrigley offered only 8 yard endzones during the Bears tenure. From a PDF I found: "...The tour guide stated that the Chicago Bears played 51 years in Wrigley Field. They moved to Soldier Field when the NFL moved the goal posts to the back of the 10-yard end-zone. Wrigley
Field did not have the space for full 10 yards of end zone. The Bears had played with 8-yard end zones in Wrigley Field. The Cubs would have had to place the goal posts behind the visitors club house in the first few rows of seats and just beyond the left field wall messing up some bleacher bums views."

[trsent]

Re: NU-Illini at Wrigley Field November 20

Years from now, what will Wrigley look like?

http://www.csnchicago.com/11/16/10/Years-from-now-what-will-Wrigley-look-li/landing_cubs.html?blockID=354454&feedID=661

[sox83cubs84]

Re: NU-Illini at Wrigley Field November 20

Dave D>:

The comments were made on the Saturday AM GameDay show on WMVP AM-1000 (Chicago's ESPN affiliate). Moreover, similar discussions were made on The Afternoon Saloon on the same station Monday.

Dave Miedema

[ballhawknet]

Re: NU-Illini at Wrigley Field November 20

Dave D>:

The comments were made on the Saturday AM GameDay show on WMVP AM-1000 (Chicago's ESPN affiliate). Moreover, similar discussions were made on The Afternoon Saloon on the same station Monday.

Dave Miedema

Oh ok , I took " Cubs are reportedly " like it was from actual news agency not just some radio personality giving his opinion on what they think the Cubs might look to do... My opinion remains it can't and will never happen during the the regular season. Not 1 time , not 81 times .

You should have stated who reported it in your comments. That way I could have just laughed to myself instead of questioning who the heck said it

[otismalibu]

Re: NU-Illini at Wrigley Field November 20

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/ncf/news/story?id=5824661

[ballhawknet]

Re: NU-Illini at Wrigley Field November 20

[quote=sox83cubs84;226229] the ballpark doesn't appear to be rolling out the welcome mat for ballhawks seeking a pigskin as a trophy.

[quote=otismalibu] http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/wrigle...ht-lines-29246

They have decide not to use the east end zone , it would NOW be fair to say they are " not rolling out the welcome mat ... "

By the way , only 2 out of 24 attempted field goals came out on to Sheffield on Thursday .

Good thing they had 8 months to figure this out . I would be upset if I had end zone seats in the east end. I wouldn't think they would practice that direction for field goals either on game day . So that might be it .....

I guess going to have to wait until opening day for another ball ... its only 132 days 23 hours 5 minutes ......

[ballhawknet]

Re: NU-Illini at Wrigley Field November 20

Prior to the game , Illinois' kicker decided that even though they were not going to use the East end zone during the game , he still wanted to try and
kick a few out of the ballpark. And he did !!! Three of them . There were a lot of people on the street , but no one was really paying attention . The first one hit the top of a "trailer? " and went to another fan. The second one when wide left ..I have no idea where it went. Third one right through the middle of the goal posts to where I was standing on the other side of Sheffield.

Cool how they have the Illinois stamp on them. I wish MLB teams had their own stamp on baseballs.

Hopefully the powers that be can fix the end zone problem before next years game so we can get some game action on the street.

[both-teams-played-hard]

Re: NU-Illini at Wrigley Field November 20

Prior to the game , Illinois' kicker decided that even though they were not going to use the East end zone during the game , he still wanted to try and
kick a few out of the ballpark. And he did !!! Three of them . There were a lot of people on the street , but no one was really paying attention . The first one hit the top of a "trailer? " and went to another fan. The second one when wide left ..I have no idea where it went. Third one right through the middle of the goal posts to where I was standing on the other side of Sheffield.

Cool how they have the Illinois stamp on them. I wish MLB teams had their own stamp on baseballs.

Hopefully the powers that be can fix the end zone problem before next years game so we can get some game action on the street.

IMPRESSIVE!

[sox83cubs84]

Re: NU-Illini at Wrigley Field November 20

Nice grab, Dave. Unless I'm missing someone, that makes three Chicago Ballhawks who've caught footballs at college or pro games. Rich Buhrke grabbed two old Duke pre-merger footballs on Waveland Avenue at early 1960's Bears games. Then, in 1983, I corraled an extra point during a USFL game (Blitz-Wranglers) at Soldier Field (no nets).

Dave Miedema