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Have you ever been to SF?

We don't make a party out of lovin'
We like holdin' hands and pitchin' woo
We don't let our hair grow long and shaggy
Like the hippies out in San Francisco do

We don't make a party out of lovin'
We like holdin' hands and pitchin' woo
We don't let our hair grow long and shaggy
Like the hippies out in San Francisco do

Merle Haggard, from his song "Okie from Muskogee," who ended up letting his hair grow long and shaggy and smoking pot.  As an aside the only person I knew in college who had used LSD was from ... Muskogee.

I am as interested as anyone in the managerial search. And I may have ideas about the qualities of the person who should manage the Cubs, but they are based on very little direct knowledge about the candidates (or exactly what Theo is looking for beyond the generalities he's given).

I will continue to read articles and posts out of curiosity, and a certain amount of baseball boredom. I may even end up having a real favorite based on what I read.

But my bottom line is that Theo will be in the best position to choose between the candidates.  So whether it's Girardi, Ross or anyone else, I'm going to be cool with it and hope it works out for the best.  Maybe it will or maybe it won't, but I am confident Theo and the gang are in a far better position to judge among the candidates than I am. So I will follow the search with deep interest and bated breath, but without any particular emotional investment in any of the candidates.

I vi$ited $an Franci$co years ago.  Alcatraz wa$ very intere$ting and the cable car$ were fun to ride up and down the hill$.

Yes, San Francisco is super expensive. Think maybe only those hippies who have become investment bankers can now afford.

Saw Cubs at Oracle Park in July (Sandoval walkoff homer game). Wonderful ballpark and city.

When I worked at Griffith years ago, there was a woman who worked in product development (her claim to fame was that she developed the Red Lobster cheese biscuits.  Anyone who has been to Red Lobster will remember them.)  She went to two out of town seminars while she worked at Griffith.  I forget which came first, but she went for a week to Mexico City, and was there when they had their mammoth earthquake, and she went to San Francisco just in time to be in the earthquake that interfered with the World Series one year.  Griffith never sent her to another seminar, perhaps saving another major city from disaster.

Interesting first-four listing.  Wonder how many others they'll interview?  Three of those four are basically internal guys.  (Ross has external job, but feels "insider".)  Two of them were part of existing team that, using Theo's words, lacked "energy", was unsuccessful in "reaching" players, and was unsuccessful in getting guys to be the "best players they could be". 

Obviously none of Ross, Venable, or Loretta have managed before, I don't believe at any level?  Actually, Loretta has, Team Israel for World Baseball in 2012.  Otherwise, he was an admin guy for Padres since 2009, I think this was maybe his first year "coaching"?  Venable's had the 2 years coaching 1B, no managing?  Ross zero coaching, no managing? 

Ross is 42; Venable is only 36.

I wonder what kind of a cat Loretta is.  The recent story of stealing the umpire head phones and talking to the replay officials in New York was kind of both funny and kinda weird.  Maybe he'd be funny, impulsive, and high-energy?  Beats me. 

Venable as 1B coach seems relatively quiet and businesslike.  From TV shots he doesn't seem like a super non-stop talker or super rah-rah.  Princeton doesn't mean you're brilliant, but maybe he is?  Being the youngest at 36, that may have some advantages. 

Girardi is an outstanding individual with a ton of good qualities.  I wonder how hard it might be to establish rapport with Cub players who maybe don't have hard-work and max-preparation coded into their DNA? 
 
By reputation Ross is strong in terms of "reach" and "accountability" personality.  He seems to be one guy in recent Cubs history that expected things to be done right, and would call it out when it wasn't.  People skills guy who could connect.  Might be good from discipline, motivation, rapport, and work-hard standpoint.  I wonder if he's smart enough, or might struggle with issues of strategy and analysis and stuff? 

Anyway, seems like a nice group of candidates already.  And those are just the first four with ties to the club or the city. 

It's always so cold in San Francisco, like a bone.  Maybe Mike Maddux has a bone up his sleeve, like his brother as pitching coach.

I bet we steal some bases, try some hit and runs with Rose, I guess he's still on the blacklist, but at least he isn't too much on TV.