A Happy New Year Blog 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES!

MAY 2012 BE A MUCH IMPROVED HOPE-FILLED YEAR FOR US ON MANY DIFFERENT LEVELS.

Thanks for reading the blog through the last twelve topsy-turvy months. There has been no shortage of issues to blog about in this increasingly complex world we live in.

It's been a total blast to blog for another year. Your varied responses have all been provocative.

So, "Auld Lang Syne" to you. Go hug and kiss somebody special tonight. Have fun.

Enjoy the games this weekend.

Go Tebow. Go Broncos!!

Cheers,

Dan

Merry Christmas 2011

May the Christmas time of peace and joy be yours today and forever.

Christmas is many thing to many people. Around our home, one of our traditions is listening to almost non-stop Christmas music being played. Our favorites are: O Come All Ye Faithful, First Noel and Silent Night.

The Number 1 Christmas song of all time for me is, Joy to the World, played with strings, horns, brass, piano and full chorus. Nothing stirs the soul at Christmas time like the playing and singing of Joy to the World by the fireplace or at the conclusion of Midnight Mass. Here are those timeless singalong words of the first verse:

"Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King;
let ev-'ry heart prepare him room,
and heav'n and nature sing and heav'n and nature sing,
and heav'n and heav'n and nature sing."

Those words pretty much do it for me and why I love Christmas.

What's your favorite Christmas song?

Merry Christmas to you and and to all a good night.

A Christmas Card Plea.

BEWARE: THE FOLLOWING IS MY ANNUAL SHOUT OUT TO SCROOGE.

Dear Writers of Christmas Card Family Yearly Enclosures,

Amidst all the joy of the Season, for some strange reason, I have a few Scrooge-like impulses. This is one of those impulses. Sorry.

I consider myself to be lucky. Great family. Great friends. We all share and acknowledge that friendship abundantly during the Christmas Season with the annual Christmas card and message. However, some enclosed messages are bordering on the excessive triumphing of your kids successes through the year. Some of these "kids" are in their late twenties. Do you really need to know that the budding capitalist, Johnny, Jr., is killing them at Harvard Business School; that your ecologist daughter, Mary Catherine, is saving the native Hickman's onion from extinction; and, that Buck, the family dog, is still flushing out the pheasants in the brush at age 13. I beg you to give it a rest. A family picture, a message, a few words is quite enough to bridge the gap of time distance.

So, If I were to be chemically-influenced enough to write a Christmas letter enclosure, for which I abhor the thought, for what it's worth, this is what I would write:

Merry Christmas.

Hope this card finds you in good health and good spirits. And if otherwise, then, that's OK too! We understand.

Dan, Marian and the kids are getting by and that life continues to challenge and reward us on a daily basis. Relationships come and go. Joys arrive and depart. Faith wavers. Meals missed. Work challenges. Sleep interrupted. Successes embraced. Money short. Health improves. Faith restored. Opportunities lost. Failures endured. Suprises...and so on.

However, clothed in that daily reality, we all wake up, report, earn, help, love and go home to our respective domiciles alone or towards someone. Hopefully, we realize faith, tenderness, respect, trust and purpose in each gift of day.

We pray for each other that God will guide, protect and direct us in the way that HE wants us to go. We look for opportunities to help those who can't help themselves. And that we remain open to that spirit.

We pray for all of you. For your families. For your health. For your livelihoods. For your peace of mind.

Merry Christmas and if the holidays are terrible and lonely that's OK. Know you're not alone for whatever solace that may give you.

May God bless you all and to all who help us throughout the year.

Love,

The Corrigans

The Magnificent Seven? Hardly.

At long last, the debating season is over...for now. Thank God for minor miracles.

Last night was the finale of the seemingly endless Republican debates. I was beginning to think it was another weekly reality series on television. Only difference, the audience was the "survivor".

Last night's debate scene in Sioux Falls, Iowa, brought the seven Republican candidates to the fore once again as a final prelude to the January 3 Iowa caucuses. The caucuses signals the official start of the true race for the Republican nomination for President of the United States that will be confirmed on the stage at the Republican Convention in Tampa, Florida near the end of August. The winner in Iowa in January usually but not always, goes on to win the nomination of their party.

In eight months time, hopefully, the Republicans will choose THE party nominee that will defeat the incumbent President, Barack Obama. In collegial unison, the Republican candidates on stage last night stated repeatedly, "any one of us can beat Obama at this time." That may be true but never underestimate the other side. The ruling party will be vicious and unrelenting in their brickbats and unsavory smears on the appointed nominee. So, which Republican candidate can measure up to what is surely coming from the Democratic "scorched earth" Chicago-style brass knuckles do anything say anything offensive to retain White House power? The envelope please...

First, let's dismiss the wannabes:
Ron Paul. Never trust a man with two first names. This guy is your kooky, brilliant, whining, ancient Uncle Fester who rarely changes his clothes and always appears at the front door with a full appetite and thirst at all family functions. Last to leave too! Have you seen his "followers"? Remember '70s Laugh-in television show with Arte Johnson, Ruth Buzzi and company? You get the picture.
Rick Santorum. A true conservative but way too nice. Really too decent of a man for this post. This is war with these liberals not a Marriage Encounter. You don't want this job, anyway. Go home to your family and get a real job.
Rick Perry. Please, no more Texans for a while. Flunked debating class in high school. That is, if he went to high school.
John Huntsman. Another nice man. A family man. Knows China. Looks like a game show host with a voice to match. He witters on while his audience changes channels.

So who's left, oops, left is a bad word, who remains?
Newt Gingrich.First of all what kind of name is Newt? Wasn't Newt the bastard kid of Texas Ranger Woodrow Call in Lonesome Dove? I thought this Newt was banished to the island of the "please go far far away forever" group along with the Bushes, Clintons, Kennedys and Cuomos. Guess he turned down the invitation, like the others did. Sure, the distended polemicist would destroy Obama in a debate, but, God forbid, as President, he'd destroy any good will this country has left with anybody on the planet. Newt would even make the Martians mad at us.
Mitt Romney. Looks Presidential. Sounds Presidential. Handsome family. Smart. Business-minded. Successful. Wealthy as Croesus. Pedigree. But he flip flops more on the issues than an overweight, over-caffeinated, sleep-apneated flip flopper on an extra firm mattress. He bruises like a gardenia petal. Also, I really worry about a guy who spends millions of his own money, eg. Meg Whitman in California, to pursue elected office. His overzealous desire for this office makes me uncomfortable.

One remains, if you care.
Michele Bachmann. Before you cut me off and surf over to ESPN.com, question: did you see the final debate? If not, go to YouTube and cue it up. Strangely, as the only woman candidate, Bachmann demonstrated to me that she has the 'manjigglies' to take the fight to Obama and his cronies.

Bachmann took on Newt and emasculated him on his weather-changing stances on abortion and influence peddling for huge fees with the disgraced Freddie Mac (GSE) and she eviscerated the zany Paul on his dangerously goofy gobsmacking ideas on what to do with the world's bugbear, Iran.

She is authentic. She is the truest conservative of the bunch. She is smart though subject to verbal faux pas every now and then. A tax attorney by trade. A mother of five by vocation. A foster parent by choice. And the first Republican woman ever to be sent to Washington DC as a Congresswoman from that liberal coldbed, Minnesota. The same state that gave us Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, Eugene McCarthy, Al Franken and God forbid Jesse "The Body" Ventura. A conservative emerged out of that closed society? How in the world of the ghost of George McGovern(I know South Dakota, same frozen neighborhood) did that happen?

Bachmann is the anti-Obama on every substantive issue. Cut taxes. Reduce the size of government. Don't spend money on what you don't have. Decrease the debt. Curb the unbridled powers of the judiciary. Pro-life. Pro-Milton Friedman. Pro-Nuclear. Pro Keystone pipeline. She wants to shutter Fannie and Freddie. And repeal Dodd-Frank. She is tough. I think she is alot tougher than the other candidates in her party. She speaks with a truthfulness and a honest certitude that the others sorely lack. Her tongue is not forked. Her message is steady and firm. There are no haunting soundbites from her past. She would be refreshing for this country. A strong woman. Instead of impotent male scoundrels. Sounds good, eh?

Her baggage is Samsonite not adultery. Her skeletons in the closet only come out on Halloween.

Near the end of the debate, Bachmann summed it up this way to the voters: "are you better off now than you were four years ago?" She smartly recited and borrowed that question first asked by the last great one, Ronald Reagan, in 1980 against President Jimmy Carter. The answer, rhetorically, HELL NO. Carter lost all but six states. Reagan won in a landslide.

But, all these good vibes aside, will Michele Bachmann win her party's nomination? Sadly, no. Her authenticity and her strong beliefs on the issues will not translate well to the 20% independents who are positioned to be the deciders in November.

And who will win the Republican nomination in Tampa? Mitt Romney. His "flexible" appeal to the independent voters is too attractive for the national party elite to ignore.

So, we're stuck with Mitt. Can he win? Yes. However, an imperfect Mitt is a helluva alot better than being stuck with an inept, divisive and infantile Campaigner in Chief for four more painful years.

ABO. ANYBODY BUT OBAMA.

"WE CAN'T WAIT".

Amen.

TTT4Q

Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos defense won again...8-5 on the season. Frankly, I have run out of words to describe what I just saw in Denver. This will be brief.

Down by 10 points, 10-0, to a very good and stingy Chicago Bear defense with 8 minutes to go in the game. Tebow, the Denver Bronco defense, late Chicago miscues and a kicker's big foot covered the deficit by the end of regulation time with the score tied 10-10. Another miracle for which I call "TTT-4Q". "Tim Tebow Time in the 4th Quarter". In overtime, Broncos kicked a 51 yard field goal to win the game. Comeback kid. He has done it SIX times this season in his second year as a pro. Talk about a unique gift for drama at the rarefied 5,280foot elevation of Denver.

Pundits say Tebow can't throw. He can't stay in the pocket. He makes poor decisions with the football. He'll never be a National Football League quarterback. Blah...blah....blahhhhhh! Well looky here... all this smiling humble fiery kid does is WIN. And the pundits retreat scratching their noggins for another weekly case of verbal diarrhea. Excuse yourself, please!

After each improbable win, Tebow does four things in succession: one, he gives glory to Jesus Christ his Saviour; two, he credits his teammates for the success of the day; three, he salutes his coaching staff for the game plan; and, finally, he thanks his fans for their support. If you're looking for number five forget about it. There is no #5. He will not take singular credit for anything even though he has authored alot of the success of the day. Talk about humility. Almost non-existent in this material world. In the end, all those close to him, love him. Those not close to him still revile him for whatever perverted reason. Which is truly weird and a sad mirror of how skewed our society has become.

Personally, I love the guy. I love how he plays the game. How he respects the competition. How he credits everybody around him and how unselfish he is. And, how he surrenders himself to something much bigger than himself. My boys say I have a "bro-mance" for Tebow which started when he was at the U. of Florida. Whatever "bro-mance" means. What I do know is that Tim Tebow on the field electrifies me like no other athlete has in the past. Surely, the stark reality of politics, finance, or one's job falls way short of the thrill of a sports phenomenon. Make no mistake. Tebow is a phenomenon!

To follow Tim Tebow is an exercise in patience, a virtue, which is almost an impossible trait for an Irishman. For three quarters of a Tebow football game, it's black and white. Suddenly, the 4th quarter arrives and the football field becomes color. It happened again tonight.

If you haven't already done so, I urge you all to jump on this Mile High bandwagon called Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos. A word of caution, however, following TT is not for the faint of heart. He will test you. But isn't that what faith is all about? Commitment. Hardship. Forgiveness. Testing. Failure. Sacrifice. Reward. Redemption. A never ending cycle of truly living.

From Denver, I'm privileged to witness all of this firsthand.

The magic continues...

Go Broncos.

Go TT.

angels v Angels

I believe in angels. In fact, I talk to them all the time...under my breath. You may have heard the names of some of these angels: Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, and the guardian angel. I talk. They listen. Good things happen.

My hunch is, I'm not alone in talking to the angels. I see public displays of gratitude from very public figures in front of the whole world saluting the angels and the heavens. Tim Tebow, QB from the Denver Broncos, comes to mind. Another public figure that I often wondered about is the now erstwhile slugger from the St. Louis Cardinals, Albert Pujols, and his magnanimous gesture to the great above after hitting a home run or a big hit. Is he giving a shout-out to the angels with his signature gesture (see picture above)? I surmised yes. But as we all found out today, Albert's 'BIG A'ngels hailed from the City of Angels, Los Angeles, whereas my 'small a'ngels hail from a much loftier address. Big difference. Small 'a'ngels is spiritual. Big 'A'ngels is material.

Stunningly, today the St. Louis Cardinal great and beloved Albert Pujols accepted an offer he couldn't refuse from the cash rich big market Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in Orange County. The deal is 10 years, $254MILLION, a quarter of a billion dollars, a profane amount of cash with a no trade clause to boot. Is ANYBODY on the planet worth THAT for 10 years? I guess so. His name is Albert Pujols, a 32 year old baseball player. Let me put that number in the proper crazy context: Arte Moreno, the owner of the Angels, bought the club in 2003 for $180MILLION. And I thought our economy was in the tank! Silly me.

The Cardinal offer was "woefully" short coming in at "only" $200MILLION for nine years. Get real Birds! Throughout the history of this year-long melodramatic contract negotiation, Albert stated, two things: he wanted to retire a Cardinal alongside his idol, Stan Musial, and that his decision would not be about the money. Red flag, Nice try Albert, IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT THE MONEY.

So, who wins and loses after all of this. Here's my list, let's start with the winners:
1. Dan Lozano. Albert's sleazy agent. He'll make a 10% fee on $254 million. Increases his profile hugely. Scott Boras, who?
2. State of California Franchise Tax Board. 11% state income tax and growing. Jerry Brown thanks you, Albert.
3. Deidre Pujols aka Albert's wife. Her tetchy mood will be more stable in warm pleasant weather year round.
4. Albert's heirs. Set for generations. 50% tax coming. Who cares.
5. American League. Fans, TV rights and deals all are winners.
6. Orange County and a realtor. The OC trumps LA County and the Dodgers once again. And the Pujols will be looking for a very big palace on the Newport Coast. SoCal hasn't been this news relevant since the last earthquake or gas shortage.
7. NL Central. Cubs, Brewers, Reds will be sending Arte Moreno hugs and kisses for a long time.
8. Cardinal Minor Leaguers. New opening at first base.
9. Angels. Short term benefits while Albert is still in prime years.
10. Cardinals. Long term payroll benefits while Albert is long past his functional utility. The DeWitts, Owners of the Cardinals, are breathing again.

The losers are:
1. Cardinal Fans. Not seeing #5 at first base will be traumatic. How do you explain Albert's departure to a young adoring kid in STL? Broken-hearted. Innocence lost. Welcome to the big leagues kid. Sorry.
2. Small Markets. Baseball's non-cap salary reality strikes again at a mid-market team.
3. National Media. Nobody scooped this deal. Arte Moreno should head the CIA. He accomplished more in three hours furtively than the Cardinals accomplished overtly in 2 years.
4. National League. Just lost its Most Valuable Asset to the designated hitter league.
5. City of St. Louis. City continues to lose another icon to outsiders (see Anheuser-Busch).
6. American League West. Texas Rangers has to sign the officially-designated Pujols salary beneficiary, Prince Fielder, just to keep up with the Angels. Manager Ron Washington just dropped another m-fer bomb. Nolan Ryan is ready to punch somebody out!
7. Dominican Republic. Albert's beloved home country. Miami Marlins made geographic sense. Anaheim is four time zones and 4,000 miles away. I guess you just can't go home again.
8. The DeWitts. No matter how you look at this, they lost a sure first ballot future Hall of Famer on their watch. They will catch hell if the Cardinals languish for 10 years.
9. The Angels. Back end of the deal, about 5 years down the road when Albert can't tie his shoes and is still owed $125mil. "How bout batting instructor, Arte?"
10. The Cardinals. Front end of the deal when the Angels are in the World Series next year.

So, thanks for the memories, Albert. 11 years. Three World Series. Abundant good will spread throughout St. Louis. Hope you will be happy in Cali. And when you give that upstairs salute after future home runs, I'll now know what that means. Go Angel$$$$ of Anaheim. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

Go Cards in 2012.

"The same ole sorry-ass Rams."

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IS A SHAMELESS PROMOTION FOR ONE OF MY OWN.


RE: An Open Letter with a personal twist to the Owner of the St. Louis Rams, a National Football League Team.


Dear Mr. Stan Kroenke:

Your St. Louis Rams team, as you are well aware, is one of the consistently 'sorriest' teams in the National Football League. Since 2004, the Rams are 37-87. Blatant scoreboard facts never lie. That is eight years of autumn Sunday embarrassments. It's not all your fault. You've only been the majority owner of the team for the last 18 plus months. The Rams have been 'sorry' a long time before and after their surprising Super Bowl years of 1999 and 2001.

The above headline quote, "The same ole sorry-ass Rams" was proclaimed in 1995 by a victorious Rams opponent, San Francisco 49er lineman Dana Stubblefield, when asked after another dominating win against the hapless Rams, "Why do the 49ers have their way with the Rams?" Stubblefield, without missing a beat, spouted that now infamous and indelible revealing truth line about the Rams. A loser label is a hard one to shake. Just ask your current players.

This past Sunday, the 49ers again had their way with the Rams. The Niners won 26-0. A humiliating shut-out. Another dismal performance by the Rams against their division rival. After week 13, the Niners are 10-2 and clinched the Western Division of the National Football Conference. Rams are 2-10 and clinched the cellar of the same Division. Two teams going in totally different directions. Yet, last year both the Rams and the Niners missed the playoffs. Both stunk. So, it begs the question, Sir, if both teams stunk last year why are Niners so much better than the Rams this year? Simple answer: leadership. The Niners have "it" in the front office and in rookie Head Coach Jim Harbaugh (see above bottom photo). Capable leadership equates to wins. The Rams don't have "it" anywhere in their management house. Absence of capable leadership equates to losses.

So, Mr. Kroenke, going forward, how do the Rams become and stay competitive year to year? Please excuse my forthrightness but here's my ten point management manifesto to you on how to fix the Rams:

1. Mr. Kroenke, you, must take over full control of his team ala Bob Kraft with the New England Patriots. You're a smart man. You know what works and, more importantly, what doesn't.
2. Head Coach Spagnuola. Defensive coordinators do not make good Head Coaches. Cue up Wade Phillips, Jim Haslett, Mike Singletary and Mike Nolan. Sorry Spags. Time to move on.
3. Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels. Prior to his current position with the Rams, he almost single-handedly destroyed the venerable football power the Denver Broncos as their two year Head Coach. His 'scorced earth' style of managing is similar to General William Tecumseh Sherman in his "March to the Sea". He leaves total destruction in his wake wherever he goes. Will QB Sam Bradford ever recover from his one year with Josh? Time for him to move on.
4. General Manager Billy Devaney. The Boston Marathon is looking for a new GM. Goodbye.
5. Director College Scouting John Mancini. Better suited to follow Uncle Henry into music.
6. Hire Offensive Coordinator for the New Orleans Saints, Pete Carmichael, Jr., as Head Coach. Or, U of Oregon Head Coach, Chip Kelly. Another brilliant offensive mind!
7. No need to hire an Offensive Coordinator for now, see #6.
8. Hire Tedi Bruschi as General Manager. A business major at U. of Arizona, three Super Bowl rings with the New England Patriots, one of the smartest players ever in the NFL and a musician who has played with the Boston Pops. When times gets tough, Tedi can blow on his sax and mellow things out.
9. Hire Mike Mayock as Director of College Scouting. A graduate of Boston College, ex-NFL'er and THE nonpareil scouting combine guru on the planet.

10. Drumbeat, this is the shameless part of this blog, Mr. Kroenke, hire my son, Danny Corrigan, pictured above while scouting at an OU game, as Mike Mayock's research analyst for finding the very best talent in the draft. Danny is a full time techie in Silicon Valley and a part-time analyst of all things NFL, particularly, the draft. His approach to all things that matter is analytical, algorithmic and cybermetric. He has an uncanny Bill James-like talent for reducing the 'abstruse to apercus', the esoteric to immediate understanding. His contributions to your future success would be instant. You need this technical modern intelligent young man in your organization!

Sir, there are four games left in this season. Your Rams will be lucky to win another game on their schedule. The Rams finish their season at home on January 1 against the same Niners who demolished them this past weekend at Candlestick. The Rams could be 2-14 by season end and assured of yet another top three pick in next year's draft. You cannot afford another crummy draft. If you continue to squander high draft picks which the Rams have done 3 of the last 4 years, whatever remaining fans you retain in the Edward D. Jones Dome in St. Louis will resemble the garbage bag wearing over their heads "Aints" of the 1980 New Orleans Saints fans whose chant was: "Who dat gunna beat dem Saints? How 'bout everybody!"

Mr. Kroenke, you don't win games with "Xs and Os but with Jimmys and Joes". Draft smart, manage better and wins will come.

So clean house, hire the right people and give Danny a chance. Really what do you have to lose? You'll gain everything and will lose that terrible derisive label coined by Mr. Stubblefield in due time.

Please, give me a reason to be a Rams fan again.

Danny's email address is: danielj.corrigan@gmail.com

Thank you.

Gratefully,


Danny's Dad, a St. Louis native son and long suffering Rams follower from afar


In the meantime, Go Cards!


If anybody out there has a forwarding address for Mr. Kroenke, please share this self-serving blog with him. Thanks alot.

The same ole sorry-ass Cubs...

The Chicago Cubs baseball team. A model of mediocrity. The lovable loser. The fountainhead of futility. The sorry schmemiel. The absolute worst franchise in the history of professional sports. The last time they won anything was 1908.

To historically place 1908 in the proper context, Henry Ford produced his first Model T automobile in 1908. WWI started 6 years later. And dos hermansos bandidos Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were killed in a shootout with the Bolivian federales. OMG, here's the topper, in 1908, America only had 46 states.

1908, what a year...Cubs won the World Series while present day Arizona was still owned by the Mexicans. Talk about a drought! Winning a championship on the North Side of Chicago is like 'Waiting for Godot'. For you math and science types, Godot never arrives.

103 years ago, a plus century is a long long time to be a loser! If you were a loser for that long a time and you owned the team wouldn't you try almost anything to raise the Cubs from the dead. Well, that is exactly what the current Cubs' brass is trying to do by attempting to lure top free agent baseball players to Waveland Avenue and to that joke of a little league bandbox called Wrigley Field. They figure all they need is high priced talent to turn their franchise around. Hey owners of the Cubs raising the Cubs from last place is about as doable as raising the Titantic from the bottom of the North Atlantic.

This past week, the Cub brain trust, an oxymoron if there ever was one, expressed interest and contacted El Hombre, the future Hall of Famer St. Louis Cardinal Albert Pujols, who is a free agent and available to sign with any team who has three things: cash, more cash and alot more cash. The cash-strapped? Pujols is listening to all offers. But the Cubs? Let's be serious. Supposedly, Albert likes to win. Cubs lose. Or, does Albert like the cash more than winning?

Albert signing with the sorry-ass Cubs has as much chance as Obama converting to Christianity. About as much chance as Iran holding a birthday party for the the nation of Israel. About as much chance as Warren Buffett retiring. And about as much chance as Jerry Sandusky admitting to his intimate frontal shower rubs with 10 year old boys. Why would the best want to be the worst? Albert a Cub? A winner going to a loser. Why would Hermes want to be Gap? Why would BMW want to be Kia? And, why would New York City want to be Detroit? Sorry Motor City. You get the point.

But if Albert does sign with the perennially pathetic Cubs, that would give clear credence to the fact that Albert is alot older than his alleged 31 years. In fact, if he signs with the cuddly cubbies, it will prove proof positive that Albert is losing it upstairs. And will confirm the suspicions for many skeptics that Albert's true age is more grandfatherly than fatherly.

So, Albert can do one of three things: one, he can run for the cash to wherever, Chicago, Texas, god forbid the cultural wasteland known as Miami, or timbukto; two, he can retire from the game and take up golf; or, three, the most logical, he can re-sign a big contract with the winningest team in the National League and the reigning World Series champs, the St. Louis Cardinals, and continue to play for consistent winners in baseball heaven...in front of fans who adore him.

My hunch on Option #1 is he'll tell the Cubs "I can't wear that baby blue Winnie the Pooh uniform for whatever you offer". Regarding Option #2, Albert's a terrible golfer which would require years of practice and patience for which he has neither, so that's not particularly appealing. Which leaves option three of Albert re-signing with the Cardinals on their terms which should include a 2% ownership of the club for the rest of his life for his 11 years of exceptional loyalty, leadership and service to the STL. Talk about a healthy annuity for the rest of his life.

Over the years, Chicago took STL's railroads. Chicago took STL's commerce. Chicago took STL's population. But, Chicago will never take our Albert.

Nice try Cubs but a loser is always a loser. Just look at the scoreboard. 103 years of losing history doesn't lie. It's in the books.

Go Cards in 2012 win #12 with or without Albert...hopefully with.

Postscript: Cardinal Nation trust the DeWitts. They are very smart owners! They make those dunderheads to the North look like Fagan-esque devious street urchins in an adult professional world.