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Reviews: Cubbie Blues
"A home run. For every fan who's waited a hundred years, here's elegant and passionate proof that you aren't alone."
- Marcus Sakey, award-winning author of The Blade Itself, At the City's Edge and Good People
"This anthology is full of great stories and wonderful anecdotes about the trades, plays and bad luck that make up the fiber of a true Cub fans' being. A book to keep near while waiting for next year."
- Judy Rokyo, widow of legendary columnist Mike Royko
"It's possible that too much has been written about how hard Cubs fans have it. Come on, now. They get to watch baseball in a charming park where the company is sometimes less than entirely corporate. Still, there's something to be said for tradition, even if the tradition is complaining, and lots of the complainers collected herein are not only literate but funny."
- Bill Littlefield, acclaimed sports author and host of National Public Radio's Only a Game
"My advice to the great fans of Chicago? Tell them to read this baseball book with their double cheeseburger from the Billy Goat...It's good for the digestion."
- Sam Sianis, owner of the Billy Goat Tavern
"The Chicago Cubs have subverted the traditional notion that America only loves a winner. The brand product has become failure itself, and without it the Cubs would be nothing. Only contrary Chicago could come up with something so beautifully perverse."
- Irvine Welsh, author of the novel Trainspotting
"I laughed and I cried. Dude, this [book] is the bomb."
-David Goodman, brother of singer and songwriter Steve Goodman ("Go Cubs Go", "A Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request") and "Cubbie Blues" contributor
"Very, very impressed with the anthology. Unlike the Cubs, this will be a winner."
- Dave Hoekstra, writer for the Chicago Sun-Times and "Cubbie Blues" contributor
"I think this book will go down as the definitive fan's favorite."
- Dave Cihla, co-creator of the Shawon-O-Meter
"Cubbie Blues is really a great book, not only for the Cubs fans to reflect and enjoy the Cubs' history, but also for people raised in foreign cultures to learn the atmosphere and sentiment about the Cubs and what the Cubs have meant and mean to their fans."
- Takeo Kamada, Evanston, IL
"I picked[the book]up yesterday and my boyfriend hasn't been able to put it down since."
- Kelly Phillips, Chicago, IL
"...the most enjoyable book signing I ever attended...I don't know who had the most fun, the folks who bought the books or the authors, all of whom-if I can speak for myself - came away feeling awfully good because they were part of a project that was both enjoyable and worthwhile."
- Robert Goldsborough, award-winning author of "Three Strikes You're Dead" and "Cubbie Blues" contributor
"I just wanted to let you know that my parents were so very pleased about Cubbie Blues when I gave it to them on Christmas Eve - even more so than I had expected...it really is a great book."
- Christine Sneed, "Cubbie Blues" contributor
"Definitely a must read for any Cubs fan. I especially enjoyed being reminded of old friends, like Matt Karchner."
- Karen S., Milwaukee, WI
"The book is tremendous. I gave one to a Cub fan at work, and he went nuts! He's still relatively young - in his twenties - so he has a ways to go as a true sufferer, but, still, I shouldn't dismiss his anguish. Next year maybe he'll rejoice."
- Chris Christensen, "Cubbie Blues" contributor
"The perfect gift for the cockeyed optimist in your dugout."
- Ric Hess, co-owner of Sheffield's bar and "Cubbie Blues" contributor
"What truly makes baseball special, more than any other sport, is the history of the game and the reverence that people have for it. That is what makes Cubbie Blues more than just a book about baseball. It is a look at the romantic side of America's pasttime. Everyone remembers the first game they went to with their dad or the feeling they get when they walk into a new stadium and see the green grass in the outfield. Even though it is said that Cubs fans don't care and only attend games to be seen (which is true nowadays), how many other teams have such a quantity of short stories and poems written about them? It is amazing to sit back and think about the passion and heartbreakthat these fans have gone through. Cubbie Blues does a great job of telling the story of the love that little boys and grown men alike have for the Chicago Cubs.
"What makes these stories truly special is that these memories are combined with Wrigley Field, the crown jewel of all Major League stadiums. I've started my odyssey of visiting every Major League stadium and I've now been to 13 of them. I don't consider myself an expert or a baseball historian, but I'm smart enough to know that there isn't a better place to be on a Saturday afternoon than at Wrigley Field drinking a cold one.
"The opposite of being smart is being a member of the Lakeview Polar Bear Club. As a member of the LPBC, both before and after you jump in the water, it is pure stupidity. You know how cold the water is before you go in, you know how cold you'll be when you get out, and yet you know your'e going to keep coming back for more. The only thing that compares to that is a young baseball fan that comes along and looks at the history of the Cubs, looks to the future of the Cubs and decides, yeah, I want to be a Cubs fan too. Cubbie Blues highlights the stupidity of all Cubs fans - past, present, and future, that you have chosen to be a Cubs fan. They have chosen their own misery. But as all true fans will tell you, it's not a choice, it's just who you are."
- Brian Marchal, Lakeview Polar Bear Club, 2/25/09