College of Idiots: Rain, Rain, Go Away ...No Seriously, Your Smile Is Creeping Me Out.

"Who the hell is that goofy looking chick?" you may be asking yourself, and "What does this have to do with the Cubs?"

Well, folks, that is Rain Phoenix, sister to her more well known brothers, Joaquin and River Phoenix. See, it's been raining in the Valley of Sun since Saturday, which I assume the Cubs players packed with them on their way out here to Arizona. So when I entered, "rain, Phoenix" into google in order to get a picture of rain in Phoenix, I instead found out that Rain Phoenix is actually a person. So there you go.

Along with the rain, the colder temperatures have also returned. I was forced to wear jeans today, after vowing last Wednesday that I was giving them up for Lent. And no, I still wear pants in the form of shorts, and yes, I am allowed to wear shorts to work, this IS Arizona mind you. Today (presumably) the last of the Cubs arrived to Arizona and full team practices are scheduled to begin tomorrow with real games (as real as Spring Training games are anyway) beginning next Thursday. Let's hope we get all this wet and cold weather out of our system by then.

A couple notes–

Ryan Theriot is in fact not worth the 267,557 extra McRib sandwiches he thought he was worth. The arbitration hearing between the Cubs and The Riot was held in Florida on Saturday and the judges agreed that the Cubs offer was closer to Ryan's actual worth. Theriot will make $2.6 million this year, a substantial jump from the half million he has made the previous 2 years with the Cubs.

Fortunately for the Cubs, following the hearing The Riot didn't go all Milton Bradley and complain, complain, complain. Both Theriot and Hendry had only good things to say about each other with Ryan saying the meeting was very informative, but "long and boring", while Hendry saying it was more of a philosophical-type case than an actual disagreement.

Is that Kevin Costner getting ready for Field of Dreams II? Nope, just Cubs Idiot, Kevin Millar. Photo by Tim at Boys of Spring.

On the Arizona front, while COI claims to be "Your Unofficial 2010 Cubs Spring Training Blog", another blogger has been trying to upstaged us, both in content, insight, pictures and everything else surrounding the Cubs Spring Training. He has even gotten endorsements from a variety of other blogs and even the Sun Times. Tim Sheridan is the P.A. Announcer for Hohokam Stadium, where the Cubs play their home games in the Cactus League, and the author of the blog, Boys of Spring. You would think someone so close to the Cubs would be a little better at writing a blog, but we suggest you just steer clear of his site. It's ill-informed, the photos look like they were taken by a six year old and Tim is a horrible writer.

Okay, we're just kidding. In truth, you really should check out Boys of Spring. Tim follows the Cubs from Fitch park everyday and his both presence during the games gives him insight into the Cubs and Spring Training that you won't find from any other blogs, including this one. And the guy is pretty nice to boot, as he let the Idiots take a tour of the press box and his awesome view of the game as the P.A. Announcer after a game last year. Plus, if you're looking for great photos from Spring Training, Tim is your man, as he posts at least 6 -10 each day that show not only the workouts the players go through, but also some of the less serious times they have.

Well, that's all for now. Now get the hell of my lawn, Rain, before I open an umbrella, or something!