‘Neon Man’: Logo wasn’t bright idea
The last thing Tony Ruh wants to be is the next goat in Cubs lore. Or the next Bartman. But there he was, in the ninth inning of the Cubs’ Game 1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday night, flashing a self-made neon Cubs logo from behind home plate and disrupting the game.
Ruh, 49, is best-known on the Chicago sports scene as “Neon Man.” He has dressed from head to toe in neon during major contests for the Bulls, White Sox and Bears.
But when he turned on the sign at Chase Field, the second-base umpire rushed in. After a brief talk with the home-plate umpire, security was told to confiscate the device from Ruh.
Later, Ruh was denounced on sports talk radio in Chicago and Phoenix. Diamondback fans accused him of trying to disrupt their pitcher. Cubs fans said he made them look bad.
“I’m not a bad guy, really,” Ruh said Thursday in Phoenix. “It was just a little bad judgment on my part.”
Ruh said Diamondbacks officials told him they would give the sign back to him after the game but Phoenix police confiscated it to make sure it wasn’t an explosive. As of Thursday evening, Major League Baseball officials had the sign and said they might return it sometime after Game 2, Ruh said.
“Neon Man,” who attended Game 2 and has tickets for a possible Game 5 at Chase, summed up: “I was just an idiot.”
— Terry Armour
Cubs fans would rather go shirtless
Cubs fans are known for their tradition of throwing back the home run ball from a visiting team at Wrigley Field. They brought that tradition to Chase Field. Sort of.
During Diamondbacks games, T-shirts are shot into the stands for fans. But when Cubs fans got hold of the shirts for Games 1 and 2, they promptly threw them back onto the field.
— Terry Armour
Suit says Wrigley rooftop overcrowded
The owner of a building across the street from Wrigley Field filed a lawsuit Thursday against a tenant who has a rooftop club, alleging that club has invited almost twice as many customers onto the rooftop as city permits allow.
The building owner and landlord, 3625 Sheffield LLC, contends that the rooftop business, 3621 North Sheffield Rooftop LLC, has a city occupancy permit that allows no more than 140 people on the roof.
On Sept. 22, the tenant, which does business as Wrigley Field Rooftop Club, allowed about 277 people on the rooftop, according to the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court. Rooftop club officials could not be reached for comment Thursday.
— Michael Higgins
