The open date in the schedule afforded me plenty of time to fret about our Cubs--our winless, tied-for-last-place, scoring-just-one-run-for-every-nine-innings, being-outscored-by-a-whopping-four-runs-per-game Cubs.

(Aside: in light of Monday's ringing defeat, I am downgrading my '07 prediction. New pick--Cubs, 43-119; 51 games behind the Brewers.)

I also enjoyed the news and speculation in the Chicago media about who will next own the Pennantless Wonders. Tuesday's Tribune listed Andy McKenna among those locals with a possible interest in buying the team.

McKenna, you may remember, was Chairman of the Cubs right after Tribune Company purchased the club. These days he is the Non-Executive Chairman of McDonald's and Chairman of the Schwartz Paper Company. Impressive, right? Actually, it's just the beginning. The rest of McKenna's resumé, courtesy of the McDonald's Web site:

He is currently a Director of Aon Corporation, Chicago Bears Football Club, Inc., Click Commerce, and Skyline Corporation. He acted as Chairman of the Chicago White Sox from 1975 - 1981. He also served as Chairman of the Chicago Cubs from 1981 - 1984. He served as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Notre Dame from 1992 - 2000 and was Vice Chairman for six years prior to that. He continues to serve as a trustee for the University of Notre Dame.

McKenna has served on many civic, community and philanthropic boards. He was previously Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Science and Industry and continues to serve as a trustee. He has also served as Chairman of the Economic Club of Chicago. He is a director of The American Ireland Fund, Children's Memorial Hospital of Chicago, Lyric Opera and United Way of Metropolitan Chicago, among many others. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago and was previously Chairman of The Commercial Club of Chicago. In addition, he is the Founding Chairman of Chicago Metropolis 2020. His former directorships include Bank One (1991-1999), Dean Foods (1982-2000) and Tribune Company (1982-2002). In addition, he served as the Chairman of the 1997 United Way/Crusade of Mercy Campaign for Chicagoland area.

Mark Cuban, by contrast, once volunteered to work in a Dairy Queen.

I know it's early in the sale process. In fact, the process hasn't even officially begun. But it's very easy for me to picture a fellow like McKenna, as part of a syndicate with similarly distinguished, gray-haired Chicago businessmen, slipping right into the owner's chair. He has baseball in his background and has been associated with enough good causes to earn a dozen places in Heaven.

Naturally, I prefer Mark Cuban.

Which brings me to the reason for today's headline--this quote attributed to White Sox Chairman, Chicago Bulls Chairman, and #3 Enemy of the Blog, Jerry Reinsdorf, after he was asked for his feelings about Cuban possibly joining the fraternity of Major League Baseball owners:

“It is a matter of public record that when Cuban was approved to buy the Dallas Mavericks, the vote was 29-1.”