Ricketts press conference: 11:00 AM CDT, October 30, 2009

[kbwsb]

My take on what he said:
"Stay the course. Why mess with a churning cash cow?

Everything's fine. We'll upgrade the ancient ballpark a little bit. Heck, that's the reason Fenway finally got to hoist a Series banner, right? It had nothing to do with operations."

(but hey, if he spends some of that newfound Wrigley money on the team, good.)

[veryzer]

all the beautiful words and warm sentiments are great. they almost swayed me. almost. i remember a lot of similar things were said when the tribune bought the team too. i will temper my enthusiasm until i see results. that's as it should be.

[The Dude]

Is there anything a new owner could really say to suddenly give you a glowing feeling?

[veryzer]

<!--quoteo(post=67667:date=Oct 30 2009, 01:41 PM:name=The Dude)-->QUOTE (The Dude @ Oct 30 2009, 01:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->Is there anything a new owner could really say to suddenly give you a glowing feeling?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->


nope.

[Scarey]

<!--quoteo(post=67664:date=Oct 30 2009, 01:36 PM:name=KBwsb)-->QUOTE (KBwsb @ Oct 30 2009, 01:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->My take on what he said:
"Stay the course. Why mess with a churning cash cow?

Everything's fine. We'll upgrade the ancient ballpark a little bit. Heck, that's the reason Fenway finally got to hoist a Series banner, right? It had nothing to do with operations."

(but hey, if he spends some of that newfound Wrigley money on the team, good.)<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->


The comments about working towards their number one goal of winning a WS and putting money into player development was just riff-raff then?

[Butcher]

To be fair, he did say something about buying a sports team is partially a labor of love and not just about turning a profit. They are clearly Cubs fans and could have invested $845M in many other ways. They chose the Cubs because they love the Cubs -- not because it's the best way to turn a buck.

[Dirk]

<!--quoteo(post=67664:date=Oct 30 2009, 02:36 PM:name=KBwsb)-->QUOTE (KBwsb @ Oct 30 2009, 02:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->My take on what he said:
"Stay the course. Why mess with a churning cash cow?

Everything's fine. We'll upgrade the ancient ballpark a little bit. Heck, that's the reason Fenway finally got to hoist a Series banner, right? It had nothing to do with operations."

(but hey, if he spends some of that newfound Wrigley money on the team, good.)<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
What exactly did you want to hear? "We're a firing everyone in management and jackin the payroll up to $300 mil! Whooooo ha!"

[Coldneck]

<!--quoteo(post=67667:date=Oct 30 2009, 02:41 PM:name=The Dude)-->QUOTE (The Dude @ Oct 30 2009, 02:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->Is there anything a new owner could really say to suddenly give you a glowing feeling?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Yes. "We've fired JH and hired the entire Boston Red Sox management team." That would have left me with a glowing feeling.

[Butcher]

<!--quoteo(post=67677:date=Oct 30 2009, 02:35 PM:name=Dirk)-->QUOTE (Dirk @ Oct 30 2009, 02:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=67664:date=Oct 30 2009, 02:36 PM:name=KBwsb)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (KBwsb @ Oct 30 2009, 02:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->My take on what he said:
"Stay the course. Why mess with a churning cash cow?

Everything's fine. We'll upgrade the ancient ballpark a little bit. Heck, that's the reason Fenway finally got to hoist a Series banner, right? It had nothing to do with operations."

(but hey, if he spends some of that newfound Wrigley money on the team, good.)<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
What exactly did you want to hear? "We're a firing everyone in management and jackin the payroll up to $300 mil! Whooooo ha!"
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I would have liked that.

[Coldneck]

I loved this repsonse by Rickets:

<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->Right now it's the third highest in the league, so it wasn't as if this team was ever denied financial resources. It's not how much you spend, it's what you get for it and we didn't get our money's worth. We will spend money, but try to make sure that money allows us to become a contender. We're a family owner instead of a corporate owner. That allows us to focus on winning the World Series a little more because we can reinvest our profits. There's no quarterly dividend for investors to gripe about.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Butcher]

<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->That allows us to focus on winning the World Series a little more because we can reinvest our profits. There's no quarterly dividend for investors to gripe about.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blowjob.gif[/img]

That's the part I really like.

[rok]

<!--quoteo(post=67682:date=Oct 30 2009, 02:46 PM:name=Butcher)-->QUOTE (Butcher @ Oct 30 2009, 02:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <!--quotec-->That allows us to focus on winning the World Series a little more because we can reinvest our profits. There's no quarterly dividend for investors to gripe about.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blowjob.gif[/img]

That's the part I really like.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Me too. I was a little underwhelmed by the press conference, but then again I'm sure that the family is still trying to adjust to the new experience. I didn't expect them to be doing backflips, torching Tribco paperwork and axing employees all in one fell swoop. They're taking the right approach. They need to assess the entire organization from top to bottom and build it up over time. They can't be expected to take a jackhammer to the entire structure and revamp the culture of the team overnight with immediate results. This is a prudent way of running a business. A year from now though, I may feel different.

[kbwsb]

<!--quoteo(post=67681:date=Oct 30 2009, 02:45 PM:name=Coldneck)-->QUOTE (Coldneck @ Oct 30 2009, 02:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->I loved this repsonse by Rickets:
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <!--quotec-->Right now it's the third highest in the league, so it wasn't as if this team was ever denied financial resources.<b> It's not how much you spend, it's what you get for it and we didn't get our money's worth.</b> We will spend money, but try to make sure that money allows us to become a contender. .<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I loved that too. At least he kind of <i>gets</i> it, it seems.

[PcB]

Rickets on Boers and BernsteinI think it's in the 1:20-2:00 hour.

If not they replayed it in the last hour.

[BT]

<!--quoteo(post=67702:date=Oct 30 2009, 07:15 PM:name=KBwsb)-->QUOTE (KBwsb @ Oct 30 2009, 07:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=67681:date=Oct 30 2009, 02:45 PM:name=Coldneck)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Coldneck @ Oct 30 2009, 02:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->I loved this repsonse by Rickets:
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <!--quotec-->Right now it's the third highest in the league, so it wasn't as if this team was ever denied financial resources.<b> It's not how much you spend, it's what you get for it and we didn't get our money's worth.</b> We will spend money, but try to make sure that money allows us to become a contender. .<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I loved that too. At least he kind of <i>gets</i> it, it seems.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->


And yet the anti Christ is still our GM. This has to be killing you KB.