If you want a taste of Wrigley history, stop at the corner of Waveland and Kenmore Avenues, beyond the left-field bleachers. There youll find the ballhawks, a group of Cubs fans who hang out with their baseball gloves on -- from before batting practice until after the final out -- hoping to snag a home run ball from beyond the ivy.I spoke with a couple of them before a recent game: Rich Buhrke, whos been chasing glory for 57 years, and Dave Davison, with a mere three decades on the job.I watch them scan the skies; the stiff north-by-northwest winds suggest slim pickings during the nights game, and with no batting practice scheduled, itll be slow. So they have time to chat.My first question: Why? Whats the purpose of spending so many days outside Wrigley, all for a ball?Buhrkes answer is as pure and simple as a game of catch: Ive had so much fun -- since I was 12 years old.When you get a homer -- on the fly or after it bounces around the crowd -- he says, For that instant, youre part of the game, and its a big thrill. I still get an adrenaline rush.While back surgery has slowed Buhrkes running game, its now all about predictions, positioning and playing the angles.It takes deep baseball knowledge to be a ball hawk. They monitor pitchers who tend to give up lots of homers, as well as hitters tendencies. They can read the reactions of the crowd along the back wall of the bleachers to tell if a ball is indeed headed out of the park.They also monitor their own statistics. Buhrke has snagged 179 in-game home runs over the years, including Ron Santos 299th and 300th career blasts. He has homers both given up by, and hit by, Cubs pitchers Fergie Jenkins and Scott Sanderson. He also has footballs from point-after-touchdown kicks, back when the Bears played at Wrigley. But his first home run ball might be his most memorable.It was Don Zimmers first dinger as a Cub, after being traded to Chicago from the Dodgers in 1960. Zimmer hit it off his former Dodgers roommate, Johnny Podres. Buhrke got it signed, but the signature faded over the years. Decades later, he went to an autograph show to get it re-signed. There, Zimmer proceeded to tell the inside story of the home run. It came on a 2-0 pitch, a count where the book says a .250 hitter should take a pitch. But Zimmer swung away, and Podres gave him an earful about it all the way around the bases.Every time we see each other, it comes up. You gotta show him this sometime! Zimmer told Buhrke.So when Podres was in town for another autograph show, Buhrke brought him the ball, and said, Don Zimmer told me to come over by you. Podres laughed and told the same story Zimmer had.Then he signed the other side of the ball.The ballhawks are also famous on their own terms. Theres been a documentary film made about them, with Cubs uber-fan Bill Murray narrating, which was screened at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.And Davison has another sort of modern fame: his own bobblehead doll. At the 2002 All-Star Game in Milwaukee, Davison snagged a ball Sammy Sosa blasted out of Miller Park during the Home Run Derby. The TV announcers discussed his feat, and years later, folks from the Milwaukee-based National Bobblehead Hall of Fame met Davison at a card show and asked him if hed want to be immortalized. It finally happened this year, and you can buy one from Davison, along with jewelry made from baseballs he has caught.Other developments this season, however, havent been as good for Davison, Buhrke and the other ballhawks.Thanks to bleacher expansion and what Buhrke calls That Monstrosity -- the new left-field video board -- many balls that wouldve gone onto Waveland Ave. stay in the park. The hawks estimate they get 60 percent fewer balls than in past years. Beyond physical changes, manager Joe Maddons noted disdain for batting practice doesnt help, either. Maddons philosophy of batting practice kills us, Buhrke says. The ballhawks know if BP will happen when the Wrigley Field grounds crew climbs up to spread the netting that protects the video board, and if it doesnt, well, then its time to settle in and tell some stories.These guys know the geography of the games history at the Friendly Confines, and they act as unofficial historians and ambassadors for Wrigleys most famous home runs. Out-of-town fans come looking for the spots where famed long shots by Dave Kingman or Sosa landed on Kenmore Ave. This afternoon, some random fan sought a Mike Schmidt landing zone, and was informed that that particular ball went up the alley, not down the street.You can find ballhawks inside the park as well: During one of the pregame videos the Cubs show on the new board, Buhrke himself appears, holding up a ball as Harry Caray shouts, Holy Cow! Buhrke had never seen the film until I captured an image for him, and based on his age, clothes and other clues, he says its from the late 1980s. He thinks it mightve been an Andre Dawson ball, but cant be completely sure.This season, Davison scored the most historic out-of-the-park ball of the year to date. On May 27, backup catcher David Ross 100th career home run hit the NUVEEN sign and ricocheted into the first front yard on Kenmore. Buhrke had predicted that such caroms would come, but Davison admits he thought the sign was mostly air and that it wouldnt cause any crazy bounces. He happily eats his words: Rich was right, but so far Im the only guy who benefited from it.After Davison snagged the ball, for the rest of the game the Cubs had security shadow him to ensure he wouldnt switch the ball out for another. They neednt have worried: Davison happily gave the ball to Ross, asking only for a photo with him. The grateful Ross praised Davisons generosity.People dont realize when they do stuff like that, its the memory, Ross said to MLB.com. Ill always remember that guy gave me that ball and was kind enough to do that. Now that guy is connected with me for life in my memory.Another memorable time for the ballhawks was the steroid era, when Sosa, Mark McGwire and other sluggers sent countless balls out of the park. It was as exciting as hell, Buhrke says, but as a good baseball purist, he continues, [PED use] never shouldve got into baseball, and now that its out, keep it out. He advocates harsher penalties for juicers, who he says are role models, whether they want to be or not.The ballhawks are role models of a sort, too, exemplars of passionate fan engagement with the game on their own terms. They attend many games, and sometimes follow the Cubs on the road. Theyre part of baseballs genuine folk culture, but over the decades theyve watched that folk culture transform into corporate culture.The starkest example of this transformation at Wrigley is the rooftop clubs. Before Jim Murphy put some seats on top of his tavern, you could watch the Cubs from a rooftop only if you knew someone who lived in the building. Youd clamber up a ladder to the roof, hand up a couple of folding lawn chairs, a cooler with a few cold brews and a transistor radio with Lou Boudreau and Vince Lloyd calling the game.Nobody made a buck off it. Now, the Wrigley rooftops are quintessential corporate America, with $100 tickets that have food and drink and TVs and lawsuits flying around like fungo balls.But the ballhawks are a living memory, a connection to Cubs fan culture before East Lakeview became Wrigleyville. They may perch beyond its walls, but they are as much a part of Wrigley Field as the ivy. Wholesale Patriots Jerseys Free Shipping . -- An ugly goal by Nick Bonino helped the Anaheim Ducks overcome the defensive-minded Phoenix Coyotes on a night when their ragged power play continued to struggle. Youth JaWhaun Bentley Jersey . 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The 67th-ranked Mattek-Sands won seven straight games at one point to grab a commanding 5-0 lead in the final set on yet another wet, chilly day in Paris. "Shes a champion, and I had to play some of my best tennis ever to beat her," Mattek-Sands said. "Im really proud of myself that I was able to close out the match the way I did." The 31-year-old Li refused to make any excuses after the loss. "I know for sure that I dont normally lose seven games in a row," she said. "It was very tough conditions, coming back to the court three times. But for both players it was the same. "I should find out what happened and Ill talk to myself, my team to see what happened." The 28-year-old Mattek-Sands posted the fourth top-10 win of her career and her second of 2013. She upset 2012 French Open runner-up Sara Errani on some red clay in Stuttgart last month. Li was this years Aussie Open runner-up to Azarenka and captured the lone Grand Slam title of her career at the 2011 French Open. Second-seeded and defending champion Maria Sharapova was leading promising Canadian Eugenie Bouchard 6-2, 4-2 when play was halted on Day 5. Rain interrupted the tennis several times on Thursday, forcing the suspension or postponement of five womens singles matches. The former No. 1 Sharapova completed a career Grand Slam by titling here a year ago, including a victory over Errani in the final. Seventh-seeded former Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova improved to 7-1 in her last two trips to the French Open with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over last weeks Brussels runner-up Peng Shuai of China, while ninth-seeded former Roland Garros finalist Sam Stosur reached the third round with a 6-4, 6-3 handliing of Frances Kristina Mladenovic.dddddddddddd The former U.S. Open champion Stosur was the runner-up here three years ago. Sloane Stephens, seeded 17th at this fortnight, improved to 7-1 in Grand Slam action this year with a workmanlike 6-1, 6-3 spanking of fellow American Vania King, while 18th-seeded former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia drubbed Spaniard Garbine Muguruza 6-3, 6-0 to reach the round of 32. "I know that when Im healthy and free of injuries Im still capable of playing great tennis," said Jankovic, a former U.S. Open runner-up. She will meet Stosur on Saturday. In other action involving seeds, New Zealands Marina Erakovic upended No. 16 Dominika Cibulkova of the Slovak Republic 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, Argentine Paula Ormaechea took out No. 27 Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), and a No. 31 Cornet dispensed Spaniard Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-1, 6-3. Cornet is fresh off her clay-court title in Strasbourg, France. Erakovic will encounter Stephens, while Ormaechea will face Mattek-Sands in an unlikely third-rounder on Saturday. Also, American Jamie Hampton beat Slovak Anna Schmiedlova 7-5, 6-2 and Chinese Zheng Jie leveled American Melanie Oudin 6-3, 6-1. The 23-year-old Hampton is rewarded with a third-rounder against the formidable Kvitova. Twelfth-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko was tied with Aussie Ashleigh Barty 3-3 in the opening set and last weeks Brussels champion Kaia Kanepi of Estonia was ahead of Swiss Stefanie Voegele 6-5 in the first set when play was called for the day. The third round will get underway Friday, including matches for world No. 1 Serena Williams, fourth-seeded Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska and a fifth-seeded Errani. The 15-time Grand Slam singles titlist Williams will take on 26th-seeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea, while Radwanska will meet German Dinah Pfizenmaier and Errani will be opposed by 32nd-seeded German Sabine Lisicki. The red-hot 31-year-old Williams, the 2002 French Open champion, is currently riding a 26-match winning streak and is 69-3 overall since suffering a shocking first-round loss at the hands of French journeywoman Virginie Razzano at last years French Open. Williams and her older sister Venus were forced to pull out of the doubles draw, as Venus is nursing a sore back. The mighty sisters were seeded 12th at this fortnight and are two-time French Open champions (1999, 2010). Cheap NFL Womens Jerseys China Jerseys Wholesale NFL T-shirts China NFL Jerseys NFL T-shirts From China Wholesale NFL Hoodies Wholesale Jerseys ' ' '