Cubs Convention Day 1: Age of the New Manager

     As the lights dimmed in the ballroom of the Sheraton last night, the assembled crowd cheered in approval of their baseball heroes. Cubs baseball had returned, and fans were coming out in droves to the 30th Annual Cubs Convention. The evening stated out with a live broadcast by B96 in the hotel's bar, which saw many different giveaways(I even won a fedora!) Then the opening ceremony started, and as expected, the biggest applause was saved for Jon Lester and Joe Maddon. After all the festivities ended, it was time for Friday Night with Ryan Dempster, a talk show where Dempster interviewed different big names involved with the team, including new manager Joe Maddon, Anthony Rizzo, and other figures as well. Dempster even took a page from David Letterman and came up with a Top Ten List of why the Cubs hired Joe Maddon:

10. "We misheard and thought he knew [actress] Eva Longoria."

9. "We're trying to set the Guinness Book of World Records for most fired managers."

8. "We needed someone who would take the leftover Harry Caray glasses."

7. "The Cubs' bus keeps breaking down so we figured, 'Hey, we can use his RV.'"

6. "Most managers take shots from the media; Joe Maddon buys shots for the media."

5. "We have a young team here in Chicago, and if 60 is the new 40, well, we need someone to manage all of our toddlers."

4. "[Model wife of former Cub David DeJesus] Kim DeJesus told us to."

3. "He's the son of a plumber and, let's just face it: the Wrigley bathrooms need a ton of work."

2. "We just feel bad for anyone who lives in Florida."

1. "Well, because of all the other managers we tried to tamper with, none of them called us back."

     That was about it for Friday's first day, but Saturday promises to be the meat of the order, with several different sessions taking place, all which should be very interesting to see.  As promised, Chicago 365 will be there for all of the hype.