CHICAGO - The owners of one of Major League Baseball's most beloved teams, the Chicago Cubs, have filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The team is owned by The Chicago Tribune, which recently, also filed for bankruptcy. And the Chicago Tribune is owned by Chicago Transit Authority, the transportation company, not the 70s and 80s band, which also has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Palmetto Bompenini, a spokesperson for the baseball team said that there were so many factors that led to the bankruptcy filing foremost of which was the outrageous cost of baseballs.
Bompenini said that the 'horse hides' had nearly tripled in price in just the past year alone. He also said that baseball bats have also increased in price which is due mostly to the widespread California woodpecker attacks on the pine trees used in the production of the bats.
He added that although the price increase was eventually passed on down to the fans it became extremely hard to make a profit.
The team announcer Miles Wynnwicky said that the Cubs organization had asked him to take a 30 percent pay cut which he did. They then asked him to bring in and use his own microphone which he also did.
But he said that it really got ridiculous when the Cubs owners told him that if he wanted to eat a hot dog, popcorn, or Cracker Jacks in the announcing booth he would have to pay a food fee of $15 per game, on top of now having to pay for any food item or drink which he ate or drank.
He said that he did not feel that it was right that he had to pay $11 for a 10 ounce cup of beer. He said that he could deal with paying $9 for a bag of peanuts, which held 13 peanuts, but the beer thing was downright outrageous and preposterous.
Several fans were asked for their opinions and one fan Darren Coldpratt, who said that he had been coming to the Cubs games for 72 years said that the astronomical salaries that the players are receiving helped to put the Cubs in the mess that they are in.
He said that the five highest paid Cubs players were making a combined total of $78 million, or an average of $15.6 per player. Coldpratt said that it was absolutely crazy.
He asked if these prima donna divas weren't playing baseball what the hell would they be doing? They could not even make one/one hundredth of that amount no matter where they worked.
Another fan, Prescott Lowerhouse, 58, said that one of the Cub players makes $18,650,000 a year (baseball season). Lowerhouse says he works 40 hours a week and makes $8 an hour as a dancing pole repairman.
Elvira Frontgammon, 33, who said that she loves the Cubs so much she named her eldest daughter Ernie Banks Frontgammon, said that this past year she had to mortgage her house in order to afford to buy season tickets.
Frontgammon said that she was hoping that Oprah Winfrey would have grown some and stepped up and purchased the team. She said that with the money Oprah has she could almost buy all of Illinois and have enough money left over to buy Lake Michigan.
The Cubs who own a 101 year old title drought which is the longest in any national sport are being sold for $740 million to the Rickeletti family of Brooklyn.
Gino Ricketetti said right off that he plans to call each of his players into his office at Wrigley Field and have a one-on-one talk with each one and explain that he hates to, but that he is going to be giving each player a 70 percent pay cut.
When Ricketetti was told that, that was illegal, he replied that it was not illegal because he had found a clause that allows him to do it. When asked what clause that was, he smiled and replied, "It's the Gino, Angelo, and Vinnie Ricketetti 'clause.'
Ricketetti was asked to explain it and he declined saying that he would much rather not for reasons of decency, secrecy, and the basic overall safety of each individual player.
SIDENOTE: The Ricketetti family says that for now the Cubs will remain in Chicago, but he said that in 2010, the team will probably become the Brooklyn Cubs.
