Every year I get tickets for the last Cubs game of the year. Remember, your window for buying Cubs’ tickets is basically one weekend in March before they all sell out. Some years this last game strategy pays off, and you’re in a rocking, packed Wrigley Field with the play-offs about to commence. Other years…not so much.
Notice all the empty seats, for instance. Sure, they made money by selling all those tickets, but every empty seat is somebody not buying a dog or a foam bear paw or several overprices beers. As you may have deduced from the way folks were dressed, it was fairly cold that day, too. Even so, it was the utter stink of a year’s worth of bad baseball that kept many fans at home that day. I showed up, but notice that I was clad all in black, save my scarf. (Notice also that my friend Dan and I look like an old fatty-and-skinny comedy duo.)
One reason to go to the park, however, is the newly introduced Northside Twist, which I am holding for the camera in the pizza box it comes in. Please note that the Twist is bigger than it looks here, given that it’s presented against my oversized bulk. Weird how that roll of fat under my chin resembles a twist of that giant pretzel. Well, actually, it’s not that weird, since one thing has a lot to do with the other.
Three of us shared the Twist, and managed to kill it off in an inning. At $15 it’s actually a pretty good deal, better than say four of the regular pretzels they sell for $4 a pop. Amazingly, the Twist wasn’t just a good buy for its comedy value; it’s actually surprisingly tasty. I thought it would be too doughy and hard to cook properly, but it’s actually nicely flaky and light. Only the middle of the pretzel, where the intersection is, stayed a tad dense and undercooked, and that bit actually made a nice contrast to the rest of it. Really, one of of the best pretzels I’ve had. The three sauces aren’t much to talk about, but then I’m not really a sauce guy anyway.
If nothing else, it gives you a reason to go to the park even when the baseball is bad (which is way too often). In fact, damn, now I can’t get one of these until April at the earlier. Somebody else has to start selling these.
I’d say wait until next year, but the Cubs are albatrossed under a slew of horrible long-term contracts for way, way too much money and sporting no trade clauses. We have like ten players signed for next year, and already the standing payroll for 2010 (2010!) is $150,000,000. Basically, we’re kinda screwed for five more years (!) until we burn off Alfonso Soriano’s inane contract, on which we still owe over a hundred million smackers. That’s right, Soriano is signed through 2014. Another welcome present for the team’s new owner, Tom Ricketts.
Wait until 2015, though! Go Cubs!
