Good afternoon everyone, hopefully everybody is all geared up for the Holidays this week and has all their shopping done! Just wanted to inform everyone about an email that I received from the Cubs today about the 2009 Cubs Club. There are some positives but some negatives to this club that I will blog about now.

Ok first off this new club is being seperated into three categories. The Standard, The Ivy, and The Marquee. Pretty much the difference in each membership is the price, and how many tickets you will be able to buy during a special pre-sale. That is where things get negative for me and I’ll talk more about at the end of this post.

The standard membership entitles you to the following for $19.95:

• 2009 Membership Card
• 2009 MLB.com Gameday Audio
• Cubs Club sticker
• Exclusive E-mails and Web Content
• Members-Only Section
• Exclusive Message Board
• Interactive Cameras

The Ivy membership entitles you to the following for $129.95:

• Everything included in the Standard membership PLUS
• MLB.TV 30-Day Trial Subscription
• Opportunity to purchase up to 4 tickets in a special Ivy-level pre-sale
• Special Gate entrance at Wrigley Field

The Marquee membership entitles you to the following for $249.00:

• Everything included in the Standard membership PLUS
• MLB.TV 30-Day Trial Subscription
• Opportunity to purchase up to 12 tickets in a special Marquee-level pre-sale
• Cubs Marquee Club t-shirt
• Non-game on-field event during 2009 for all marquee members

Ok so basically you can shell out $129.95 or $249.00 for a pre-sale that the team plans on offering. Who knows what games these will be for and what tickets will be available during these pre-sales. I don’t like it one bit considering you can usually pick up tickets to any game during the onsales. The only way I see these memberships being a good deal is if you get discounted ticket prices for your four or twelve tickets, but also receive a pre-sale for any playoff tickets that might go on sale. Other then that it just doesn’t seem worth it to me.

What’s your opinions on these memberships? Just another way for the team to bring in some more money? Do you plan on buying any of them and if so, what is your reasoning?

Sorry about the lack of updates the past few days. We were busy moving the site to a new and improved server to handle some things we have planned for the future.

While we were not able to update, the Cubs won their last two games and now have a season record of 95-60. They are currently up by 10.5 games in the division over the Milwaukee Brewers and are closing in on home field advantage through the National League playoffs.

Lou is giving a few starters days off here and there for some rest but said that he will still field a competitive team because it would not be fare to the remaining teams in the playoffs if he did not put out a good lineup each day. I hope Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden get a few extra days off and only throw 3-4 innings when they do make their start just so they can stay fresh for the NLDS.

Speaking of the NLDS, how many of were able to score ticket today through the Cubs lottery? I was lucky enough to get selected and picked up two tickets for game 1. It does suck that not very many people got selected and they will now be forced to order through stubhub. What we like to tell people is check StubHub, but also check out the tickets that are available at places like Online Seats, Ticket Specialists and Vivid Seats.

I plan on having an update this evening after the Cubs and Mets game is over. The Cubs will be looking to take game two of the series against the Braves.

So if you are like most people, you have been wondering how the Chicago Cubs would be selling playoff tickets. Well on Wednesday afternoon, the Cubs sent out an email that stated that they will be using a lottery this year rather then the virtual waiting room that allowed everyone to try and get tickets. You can sign up for the lottery at cubs.com

Personally I do not like this at all. I always had good luck with the virtual waiting room. The lottery will select so many people, and then it is unknown if they will be throwin in a vrw at a certain time or if they will buy tickets a different way. One thing that I have heard is that the tickets will all be will call. Meaning you will have to have a personal id and credit card that you used to purchase the tickets and then go down to Wrigley and pick up the tickets in person. I wish we could atleast do ticket fast (print at home) but it doesn’t look like it.

Families that were hoping to take the entire family to the game are pretty much out of luck. If you are selected for the lottery, you can only purchase two tickets to one game. Yep, I know it sucks but the Cubs are just trying to be fare and allow more fans to attend games without having to pay scalper prices.

So what is your take on this situation? I say bring back the virtual waiting room and print at home tickets! Leave us a comment and let us know your opinion on the ticket situation.

If you want to see what some of the Cubs minor league players look like, then you will want to get out to Wrigley Field on July 29th when the Peoria Cheifs play the Kane County Cougars.  It is believed to be the first ever minor league game to be played at historic Wrigley Field.

Tickets are on sale now at Cubs.com if you would like to go.  Ryne Sandberg will be coaching the Peoria Cheifs so make sure you get out there early and possibly get an autograph by the former Cubs second basemen.

Let us know if you plan on going!  It would be great for your entire family to spend a day at Wrigley Field!