To who?
Why, to the memory of one of the greatest managerial meltdowns in major-league history!
Yes, sports fans, Tuesday is the 25th anniversary of former skipper Lee Elia's all-time classic in Wrigley Field, when he shredded Cubs fans in a profanity-laced tirade that quickly became one of the most bootlegged tapes this side of a Grateful Dead show.
If you haven't heard it yet -- or if you have, but haven't played it in awhile -- it's just one more reason to be thankful for the existence of Youtube. Check Elia's rant out here (be forewarned, it's very R-rated, though exquisitely poetic).
It all started after the Cubs suffered another loss, this one 4-3 to the Dodgers, and some fans tossed beer and hurled insults at Cubs Larry Bowa and Keith Moreland as they came off the field.
"A few moments before, someone was calling MOreland a fat redhead and Bowa a Pygmy shortstop," Elia reminisced last week to the Chicago Sun-Times. "It just set me off."
Uh, yeah.
"We've got all these so-called f------ fans that come out here and say they're Cub fans, who are supposed to be behind you, ripping every f------ thing you do," Elia ranted to reporters on that fateful day. "I tell you one f------ thing, I hope we get f------ hotter than s---. Just to stuff it up them 3,000 f------ people that show up ever f------ day. because if they're the real Chicago f------ fans, they can kiss my f------ ass, right downtown, and print it!"
He went on to note that "85 percent of the world is working, the other 15 percent come out here. A f------ playground for the f------ c----------."
Incredibly, Elia -- whose Cubs were 5-14 at that point, in last place in the NL East -- kept his job for another four months before being fired that August.
All these years later, Elia, now a special assistant to Mariners manager John McLaren and a beloved figure in the Mariners organization, is revisiting the long ago moment that turned him into a sort of cult hero. Through an Illinois-based memorabilia dealer, Elia is selling an autographed baseball that contains a 20-second sound chip in which he parodies his tirade with a positive message to Cubs fans. The ball, which is scheduled to be unveiled Monday at Harry Caray's Restaurant in downtown Chicago, also has the inscription, "And print it!"
Elia, a surivor of prostate cancer, has designated a portion of the proceeds for Chicago Baseball Cancer charities. Best part of all might be that the ball also will come with an mp3 copy of the unedited tirade.
For more information, call 1-800-581-8661 or go to www.leeunplugged.com.
Likes: Umpire Kerwin Danley released from the hospital. What a scary moment Saturday night, when he was drilled with Brad Penny's mid-90s fastball and he lost consciousness. And what a blessing that he wasn't seriously hurt. ... Tampa Bay in first place, even if the Rays are tied. What a thing in the AL East in the final days of April. ... The Lee Elia rant. I've had a copy of the tape for years, and it is just so staggeringly entertaining. And to think how times have changed: That happened today, it would be all over ESPN, CNN, other assorted cable channels, the Internet, national radio, etc., within the hour. Back then, one radio guy who was in Elia's office had his tape recorder, and it went out on a Chicago radio station and then those in the inner circle of the Chicago media got themselves tapes of it, and it spread from there.
Dislikes: That one of the Cleveland Indians -- Grady Sizemore? C.C. Sabathia? Fausto Carmona? -- has yet to show up at a Cavaliers NBA playoff game wearing a Washington Wizards cap. You may recall Cavaliers star LeBron James showing up at Jacobs Field during the Cleveland-New York playoffs last fall wearing a Yankees cap?
Rock 'N' Roll Lyric of the Day:
"She's like so whatever
"You can do so much better
"I think we should get together now
"And that's what everyone's talking about"
-- Avril Lavigne, Girlfriend