Cubs update

If you didn't follow us during Twitter Friday, you may have missed our "follow-raiser" for the effort to keep the Cubs in Mesa. Needless to say, we think it's a good cause, and something that we need to support to help the local economy. If you want to follow that effort, you can check out their twitter feed @KeeptheCubs.

Also, blogger Joanna Allhands has a blog post about the misconceptions surrounding the Cubs. She answers two of the biggest myths that we hear quite a bit, "why is Mesa holding out?" and "the Cubs aren't worth keeping." The third myth we often hear is that if the Cubs leave Mesa, some other town will step in and sweep them up.

Our response is that the Cubs leaving Mesa for some other city in the valley is highly unlikely. The state of Florida is backing the two local cities vying for the Cubs, which is much more than we can say about Arizona. They also don't have a group like the Goldwater Institute which will litigate at the drop of a hat. Combined with the fact that basically every other city is in the same financial mess right now, who is going to put forth the money to keep the team in town?

Some people seem to believe that one of the other Native American tribes will step up to foot the bill. First, this is still untested. The Cubs would be wise to see how the D-Backs and Rockies fair before taking the same risk. Second, it is also fairly clear that the Cubs don't appear to be interested in sharing a facility with another team. Would a tribe put forth that kind of cash for just one team?

It should also be noted that Spring Training is broken up 15 in Arizona and 15 in Florida right now. That makes one team either have to split squad or sit out every gameday. Something is likely to give.