Cubbiebluestew Outlasts Another One

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

Hard to make jokes but the consensus is that the deceased wouldn't want it any other way.

It is with heavy heart that I announce long-time Desipiot and all-around good guy Jim Flannery  passed away this past July 9th at 60.

Tonker, Fork and I sort of stumbled across this obituary--after noticing that flannj hadn't appeared in the Only Slack in quite some time--and it's fair to say we're all still in a bit of shock after having made this discovery. 

RIP, buddy.  May they serve some of the finest scotch wherever you're bellied up at.

[Quality Start Machine]

Hard to make jokes but the consensus is that the deceased wouldn't want it any other way.

It is with heavy heart that I announce long-time Desipiot and all-around good guy Jim Flannery  passed away this past July 12th at 60.

Tonker, Fork and I sort of stumbled across this obituary--after noticing that flannj hadn't appeared in the Only Slack in quite some time--and it's fair to say we're all still in a bit of shock after having made this discovery. 

RIP, buddy.  May they serve some of the finest scotch wherever you're bellied up at.

May everyone stay off your lawn, or at least your plot.

Safe travels, buddy.

[Tonker]

I'm not going to lie, I'm more bitter than flannj's beloved olive oil about this. One of the good guys and a good friend. Fuck sake.

[Andy]

Goddamn this sucks.  Best wishes to all the remaining Flanns out there, and to all of us.

Time to go drink.

[thehawk]

Drinking sounds like a good idea. Glad our paths crossed Flaanj

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Okay, here is how I remember the beginning our "discussion".

I had just returned from the bathroom and I'm pretty sure it was Thrill playing the role of a fucking instigator that said "Did you see Crane Kenney over there, you should go talk to him".
I could not let this opportunity pass so I immediately turned and walked over to him. He was talking to some typical moron Cub fan about Buffalo Dogs or something.
I stood about two feet away in his line of sight and waited for them to finish their conversation.
I had already caught his eye so he really couldn't go anywhere, I introduced myself and told him that I have been a season ticket holder for the last 15 years and that I had a bone to pick with him.
I explained that my tickets went up in price 17% in '08 and that I remember he came out with an apology saying that the prices had been fixed before the economy tanked and they realized that this would be a hardship on many people but sorry the budget was fixed and there was nothing they could do about it.

He agreed that he had made those statements.

I continued, "So what did you do after that apology? That apology that I took to be sincere?"
"You raised my ticket prices 12 and a half percent in '09."
"And then you raised them again this year."

I explained that I understand the the law of supply and demand.
And that I understood that the Cubs have a captive audience, with a waiting list of 70,000 (as an aside I said that if you were to release more season tickets that list would probably shrink to more like 10,000 and he agreed).
And that you can charge whatever the market can bear.
But to come out with a supposed apology like you did and then substantially raise prices the next two years was wrong, disingenuous, and essentially a lie.

To his credit he agreed that he shouldn't have made the statements and that he regretted them.

He then said that my price increases didn't sound right and should be looked into, that the increases should have been a lot smaller.
And then to my complete amazement he pointed to Wittenmyer and said "You should read the article that Gordon wrote, it details the ticket pricing very accurately"

My response word for word was "Why would I want to read something that fuckhead wrote?"

There was an awkward pause after that and then quite a bit more discussion which I am too hungover to detail right now but I promise I will eventually.

Also the Triumvirate started as Pre, me, and then pretty much everybody else.

Watching Gordo lose it at Kerm was fucking outstanding.

Jesus is Sarah Spain a big girl.

And Pre, thanks for all the beers.

I had a blast as usual. You guys are a bunch of clowns. I'd hang out with you anytime.

[CBStew]

Hard to make jokes but the consensus is that the deceased wouldn't want it any other way.

It is with heavy heart that I announce long-time Desipiot and all-around good guy Jim Flannery  passed away this past July 9th at 60.

Tonker, Fork and I sort of stumbled across this obituary--after noticing that flannj hadn't appeared in the Only Slack in quite some time--and it's fair to say we're all still in a bit of shock after having made this discovery. 

RIP, buddy.  May they serve some of the finest scotch wherever you're bellied up at.

Damn!  This is terrible news.  Great sense of humor.  Good politics.  What else do you need in a friend?

[Bort]

This really sucks. A genuinely good guy.

[Brownie]

I'm on vacation with my son and have had a ton of windshield time. Fork sent me a note to tell me. Horrible. I read the obit and didn't read to the end... until later. I made a remark that he was too young, but now I feel even worse. He was a good man, but no man, good or not deserves to feel the depths of despair and depression.

Last night, I read some more, and I believe he died on the 11th anniversary of his father's death, and only a couple weeks before his son married. His love of family was clearly evident, so it's just a horrible, shitty situation.

I love all you morans, and we should come back here more. Twitter is a nasty locale.

[Wheezer]

Cripes, didn't he suggest that I stick around a while longer the last time I mentioned stepping in front of a bus in the Slackbox?

Depression lies.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

I've had some time to reflect--it really does seem difficult to believe.  So sudden and shocking.  When you spend parts of 12 or so years crossing paths with someone online, you learn a lot about them, but you really remember the physical interactions you've had with them, few as they turned out to be. 

By my count I met flannj 5 times.  The first would've been the same time a bunch of you first met him--the Rooftop Game in '08.  He was immediately likeable in person, and the conversation was genuine. Because I'm 13 years his junior, and at the time I first met him I was still in the first decade of my marriage with one 2 year old child, I found myself drawn to him as a sort of guide--not just the night I met him but every subsequent encounter. 

I believe the next time I met flannj was at Galway Bay when Fork threw an entire Fest in Tonker's honor.   That evening, flannj provided Tonker a signed Alfonso Soriano framed photo.  Part of the idea behind the gift was that noted Soriano Hater Chuck was to be in attendance that night, so the idea of publicly gifting our European Desipio Representative with this photo in front of Chuck was too good of an opportunity to pass up.  I remember flannj telling me about the gift beforehand, he was so excited to give it to Jeff.

The third time I met flannj was probably the night that flannj himself was the star attraction.  Thrill has already provided flannj's own recollection of that epic evening of the Cubs Convention in 2011  from the next day's perspective; my own lasting image is of aggrieved season-ticket holder flannj nearly literally buttonholing Crane Kenney over a table to just berate the living fuck out of him.  It was glorious and if flannj had dropped dead that night rather than 8 years later I think I would have been okay with it. 

The 4th encounter with flannj was when a handful of us met up for a ShoutLunch downtown at Skrine Chops.  What was memorable about that day was when flannj--a trader (or some financial markets guy) who worked around nearby LaSalle Street--showed us his work ID badge, which was nearly 25 years old and revealed a full coif of dark hair on his head--which at the time was either bald or white.  He still had his goddamn badge from like 1987.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

The 5th--and sadly, final--time I met flannj was completely unexpected.  I'm guessing it'd have been around 2013 or 2014.  I had to be at work downtown WAY earlier than usual and got on the train at my stop at around 5:50 AM or some ungodly time.  I went to the upstairs of the car--as I almost always did--and walked toward the end of the row.  At the end seat--facing the row--sat a sleeping figure with a baseball cap over his eyes.  As I got closer and sat down I noticed the hat  was of the University of Miami of Ohio which I knew--from the aforementioned 6 (at the time) or so years that I had gotten to know Jim--was his alma mater (and, if I'm not mistaken, where he sent one of his 2 boys).  I looked closer and confirmed, "Son of a bitch.  Jim fucking Flannery sleeping on the train before work sitting right there".

I let him sleep the entire ride and, when the train began to pull into  Ogilvie Transportation Center I began to train my middle finger on him, so that when he came to and pulled his hat back it'd be the first thing he'd see.  When he came to, he looked at me, and then immediately saw my middle finger, then e looked back at me, then back at my finger, then back at me one more time before sort of snorting softly and shaking his head.  The conversation was much shorter that morning as we filed off the train and parted our ways with a handshake, and I guess that would be the last time we actually met in person.

In one of our encounters--one of the three in which alcohol was consumed, and I'm pretty sure it was the Cubs Convention night before he flattened Crane-- I had a conversation with Jim that has always stuck with me.  While I was reminded of this conversation this weekend, it's one that I had thought about many times since I had it--and will continue to do so in the future even if Jim were still living.  I was just having an honest discussion about the challenges of raising kids in this world--my kids would've been 5 and 1 at the time and Jim had already put his 2 sons through college while his daughter was entering it.  He had been married over 20 years at that point.  I related how my wife and I both work and we're juggling our careers and young kids and as a result of the stress would find ourselves sniping at each other on occasion, or yelling at the 5 year old, the baby's screaming, everything seems so out of control--these are days that every one has, not just parents but the dynamics of multiple personalities and ages and the need to raise the kids normally and all that happy fun stuff all mixed together....I basically turned to flannj as if to say "How the hell do you do it?"  Unsurprisingly, Jim didn't pretend he had the answers.  He acknowledged that he endured the exact same moments of duress and whatnot, and then he said the thing that I've always kept in mind.

"Breakfast.  We had difficulty but one thing I always made sure to do was that as often as possible, we sat at breakfast.  No pretense.  No goals.  Just sit with your family and appreciate it, let it come to you"  By "breakfast" I think Jim really meant meals in general--surely if he was working on LaSalle Street he was out the door early, as evidenced by the time I bumped into him.  But I took it to heart and I swear if there wasn't some truth to it.  Being more mindful around the table and enjoying what I have was some of the best advice anyone's any given to me.

[Tonker]

Thanks, old son - I enjoyed all of that.

[Quality Start Machine]

If you are so inclined, here is a link for donations, as requested by his wife.