Silence

[Frank Sereno]

The last message that had anything to do with the Blackhawks that
was posted in that newsgroup was in November of 2014. That was
before their last Stanley Cup. The last message about the Bulls
was probably longer ago than that. Is the Bears group still
active? So that we made it to 2021 proves something about us.
Stubborn, crazy? I dunno. It was a nice ride while it lasted.

[The old geezer]

I'm still here. Ain't much to talk about as of late. Who is left on the Cubs? Rizzo & Bryant? At least for now. I used to know the
roster, now I don't know hardly any one on the team anymore. Couldn't even tell you who the Manager is! Chicago is becoming a White Sox town! The Old Geezer

[Frank Sereno]

On 2/28/2021 8:08 AM, The old geezer wrote:
> I'm still here. Ain't much to talk about as of late. Who is left on the Cubs? Rizzo & Bryant? At least for now. I used to know the
> roster, now I don't know hardly any one on the team anymore. Couldn't even tell you who the Manager is! Chicago is becoming a White Sox town! The Old Geezer
>

Nice to hear from you. I tried to reply but my computer crashed.
Yes, not many guys left from the core. Rizzo, Bryant, Baez,
Contreras, Heyward and Hendricks is it. Well, Jake Arietta (I can
never remember how it's spelled) is back, but he isn't the same
pitcher that he was then. David Ross is the manager.

Yes, the Sox look like the team to beat in the AL. Not sure what
old Tom is thinking. Maybe he should move the team to Omaha so we
can all forget them.

[Michael Sacks]

I'll say a quick hi. Was off of here for about a year, as shift of work habits due to COVID dropped newsgroups off my radar screen again. Much less of a break than my 15 year hiatus in the early 2000s and 2010s.

On an alt.sports.baseball.chicago-cubs note, I'm back in touch with Al Yellon who was one of the very active people on here like me in the late 90s and early 2000s. You might have seen him on social media or the web through www.BleedCubbieBlue.com. He's pretty responsive on his website for all things, Twitter through @ replies (though not always DMs), or through Facebook if he knows your name personally.

Season's got off to an expected start. Cubs look like a .500 team, who might be able to push for a division title if all of the free-agent-to-be-guys get back to very good form rather than their inconsistent last couple of years. The next 11 months on the north side will be ones of significant decisions and changes. I'm expecting at least three big contracts coming up ... but will they be guys extending on the current roster, or new faces?

The White Sox are up and coming, although I wouldn't say they are the team to beat in the AL. The Yankees look like the team to beat despite their bad start, the Astros and Twins look a tad more dangerous than the White Sox, and the Blue Jays, Rays, A's, and Angels all could be there too. The White Sox look to be dangerous enough to be in the mix until the end of September, and we saw in 2005 that anything can happen in the playoffs. It's nice to see a team in the right trajectory in Chicago. The Cubs are treading water, it's a bit too early to be confident the trade deadline moves the Bulls made are putting them clearly upward, and the Bears and Blackhawks are a mess.

Hope things are going well. I won't say the pandemic end is in sight (indoor masking and some social distancing is going to be around for months at a minimum, a year plus realistically), but it's looks like we're seeing the last peak significant stuff now. Vaccines available for everyone 16+ starting tomorrow in Illinois, looking like 12+ sooner than later. By June, trajectory should be great. By August, things will be excellent. Things might get worse in the winter than the summer, but I doubt we'll see anything again as bad as we're seeing right now or the far worse peaks over the past 13 months. I'm still trying to balance keeping my 13 year old, 10 year old, and 5 year old COVID free with them needing to take some acceptable risk for fun and growth, but I've been fully vaccinated for over a month and my wife was officially fully vaccinated (two weeks after 2nd shot) as of Friday, so things are moving in that direction.

Take care everyone!