Long wait finally ends for Ricketts family

ATLANTA - On his first "real" day as the owner of the Cubs, Tom Ricketts complained of being "overexposed" as he stood in the bright sunshine at Turner Field.

Maybe it was because his name was in the news for three baseball seasons as a potential owner of the Cubs.

Monday, though, was the real thing.

Although the day ended badly for the family, with the Cubs falling 16-5 to the Braves, it certainly began with enough excitement and anticipation.

"It's just great to be here," said Ricketts, who attended along with his brother, Todd. "Very excited. We look forward to doing a lot of these."

In addition to the sunshine, the game-time temperature was 86 degrees. Asked if he'd take this kind of weather for next Monday's Wrigley Field opener, Ricketts didn't get quite that greedy.

"I would take this minus 30 degrees and still be happy," he said.

As low-key and as bland as Tom Ricketts was, Todd had a little more interesting story.

He drove from Quebec to Chicago on Sunday so he could fly down to Atlanta on Monday. There was no way he was missing Opening Day.

"No, no, no, no," he said. "Eight hundred miles back from spring break. One day. That's where my in-laws are from - Gatineau, Quebec. We went up there for spring break with the in-laws."

Both Ricketts brothers were more than eager to get things going.

"Great fun," Todd said. "Very anxious to get a game under our belts. We closed on the team right after the season ended. I think we're just anxious to get started playing some games and stop talking about Toyota signs and ticket sales and any of those other things that go along with the off-season. Just playing baseball."

Added Tom: "I'm not nervous. I'm just excited. I don't have a lot to do except watch and cheer today.

"It's funny. It's a three-and-a-half-year process if you go way back to when we really started. Yeah, it's just kind of crazy that it's finally here. But it's all good."

For a while, anyway.