Day Off Adventures and CubsAZ Show

Since the Cubs don’t play today it’s a great opportunity to watch the new episode of our CubsAZ weekly video program, this show profiles the Fergie and Friends Celebrity Game that will be held at Hohokam on March 25th. Also on the show I asked Cubs Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins, the Reds George Foster (N.L. MVP in 1977) and a vocal Jon Warden who played for the Detroit Tigers about the Cubs chances this season. As always watch CubsAZ in the main media/TV box on the Homepage or Multimedia page.

Lou Piniella may actually enjoy his day off today after two solid outings by the Cubs. Yesterday’s 8-1 victory over the Mariners in Peoria saw the spring game debut of Rich Harden who tossed a couple solid shutout innings. Ryan Dempster and Aaron Heilman each chucked three successful innings, Dempster allowed no runs on 2 hits while Heilman allowed the Mariners lone run on 2 hits and recorded 5 K’s. Most of the Cubs regulars stayed back and worked at Hohokam which opened up a chance for Doug Deeds to go 4 for 5 with 2 RBI’s. Deeds has some talent but will be 28 years old in June and has only played one season above Double A.

So the Cubs have the day off today…I guess with an expected high temp of 78 degrees and abundant sunshine the boys will find something to do. Although I’m not sure if Lou will make it back for tomorrow’s game as his wife is planning an excursion. Hopefully she doesn’t let Lou do the navigating as we know geography isn’t his strong point. According to the Carrie Muskat article on Cubs.com Lou and Anita may helicopter to the Grand Canyon and then possibly raft the Snake River, which confuses me because the only Snake River I know is the one up in Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon, and Washington…Perhaps they meant the Salt River which is in AZ. If they don’t do that the couple plans on taking a hot-air balloon ride, Lou says “As long as they get me down before Juarez [Mexico], it’s OK”…Let’s hope so, as Juarez is two states and 450 miles from Mesa, perhaps Lou meant Nogales Mexico which actually borders on AZ.

A friend wanted me to go up and do some snowboarding today at Sunrise Ski Resort only a few hours drive from Mesa in the White Mountains but unfortunately I have to much work to do. That’s one of the beauties of AZ, you can golf or swim in the morning and get in some mountain skiing or boarding in the afternoon. If you’re looking for things to do in AZ check out our “Things to do in AZ” page with links to some pretty cool places to go. I put a link to the best AZ hiking guide I’ve found Arizona Trailblazers it has reports and photos from people who have traversed these trails.

Tomorrow the Cubs start a three game home stand hosting WBC team Japan and Kosuke Fukudome, followed by the Mariners and then the Angels on Saturday. Talk with you after tomorrows game.

Check out the CubsAZ show!


I shot this on the Peralta Trail in the Superstition Mountains not far from Mesa