Folinazzo

Before last night, it had been almost two years since I went to my last Cubs home game. It was good to be back at Wrigley and see the Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 9-5. Felicia and I had seats way up in section 509, row 6. We had a pretty decent view from up there; there was only one pole obstructing our view of left-center field. But I had my fancy camera with the super zoom lens so I was able to get some surprisingly good shots of the players on the field and the signs and rooftops across from Wrigley. I didn’t need any lens to see some interesting things at the ballpark, though. The first was the extraordinary number of “Glamour don’ts”. Seriously, ladies, you’re going to a ballgame, not an audition for “The Bachelor”. I’ll leave it at that. The other was the amount of White Sox fans. A fan of any team is welcome at Wrigley Field. But when your main intent is to go to a ballgame, dressed head to toe in the home team’s rival team’s gear, and proceed to cheer on the opposing team, you deserve to be thrown over the railing from the 500 level. Felicia and I lost count of how many Sox fans were there, talking trash about the Cubs and cheering on the Reds. Seriously, what’s your point? These are the people that give the rest of the Sox’s fans a bad name. I’ve gone to White Sox games and, even though the Sox aren’t my top team, I’ve cheered them on. Even though my loyalties lie with the Cubs and they always will, I still like to see the White Sox do well. But it’s their jerk fans that make me want to hate the White Sox. What would happen if I went to a game at U.S. Cellular Field, decked out in Cubs gear, and cheered for whichever team the Sox were playing? First of all, I’d never do that because I have class. But if I did, do you think I’d leave that park in one piece?

It’s just annoying and frustrating that so many people can be that ignorant and close-minded. I know it’s just baseball but it makes you wonder what their views are on the more important things in life.

Yesterday, as part of Opening Day ceremonies at Wrigley Field, the Cubs unveiled a statue of Cubs legend, Ernie Banks. I watched the replay of the ceremony during the 40-minute rain delay and, shortly after the statue was uncovered, I was horrified by what I saw. At the base of the statue is inscribed the phrase that Ernie made famous: “LETS PLAY TWO!”

Um, anyone see what’s wrong there? I noticed it right away and it almost sent this punctuation stickler into convulsions. Whoever did the engraving forgot an apostrophe! It should read, “LET’S PLAY TWO!” “Let’s” is a contraction comprised of two words, let and us; therefore, that apostrophe is vital! How embarrassing… I couldn’t believe that no one noticed the mistake ahead of time, as I’m sure this statue was in the making for a long time and that there was plenty of preparation for the unveiling ceremony. Lynne Truss, author of one of my favorite books, Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, would also be mortified. I have a desk calendar that has excerpts from the book printed on each day’s page. How fitting that today’s page would have the following excerpt:

We may curse our bad luck that it’s sounds like its; who’s sounds like whose; they’re sounds like their (and there); and you’re sounds like your. But if we are grown-ups who have been through full-time education, we have no excuse for muddling them up.

I couldn’t agree more.

Posted by Francesca