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          Chicago Cubs Report

          Len Kasper Twitter mailbag: Who's his favorite Cub?

          May 2, 2016
          • Jesse RogersESPN Staff Writer
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              Jesse joined ESPN Chicago in September 2009 and covers MLB for ESPN.com.
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          PITTSBURGH -- Chicago Cubs play-by-play man Len Kasper has been broadcasting games since 2005. He answers your questions as we open this week’s Twitter mailbag.

          Len Kasper: My goal is to be here for the rest of my career. Hopefully that will happen. LK: Last year was full of them, but I would say pre-2015 would be the Aramis Ramirez home run against the Brewers in June of 2007. That kind of started the Lou Piniella era in terms of the Cubs being back-to-back division champions. In terms of last year, being on the field when the Cubs beat the Cardinals in the playoffs was pretty hard to beat. LK: With all due respect to all those guys, whom I love, Derrek Lee is probably my favorite player in every facet. I feel like I end up comparing every player to Derrek in terms of maturity and all the things that he brought to the field. LK: Staying warm at Wrigley when the wind blows in isn't always easy. Actually it's the mental focus required for 3-plus hours every day. Those days where you wake up after not having a ton of sleep. The adrenaline of the day usually carries you through but by the end of the day I'm pretty exhausted, which is a good thing. That's the way it should be. LK: I'm a Skechers guy whether its dress shoes or tennis shoes. I try to mix it up as much as possible. I'm probably more casual now than I've ever been, because that's how Joe (Maddon) likes to roll. It ends up bleeding to the broadcasters, too. LK: That's actually a good question. We're great friends off the air. We usually have breakfast, lunch or dinner at the ballpark together but I do think there is value in not spending too much time with each other because all of the on-air conversations we have are organic and natural and I don't like to get into stuff off the air that we're going to talk about during the game. I'd rather surprise him. He's so curious and fun and usually the first thing that he says is the funniest or the best, so I don't ever want it to feel like it's an inside joke. LK: They can name the new arena whatever they want, but I will miss Joe Louis Arena because I used to go there as a kid. LK: I think going into this season there are always questions about a bullpen from year to year because it can change a lot, but I've been pleasantly surprised the bullpen has been as good as you would ever hope it could be. Injuries are something you always worry about, so if there was one concern it would be overall health. LK: I think just making it to the big leagues. It was my dream when I was probably 12 years old, and at that point my goal was to call just a major league game. Then I called one in 1999 with the Brewers and I thought, I want to do this every single day. And to be able to have that opportunity is something that I imagined a lot but never probably realistically thought would ever happen. LK: My favorite part of the job is being able to watch a baseball game with one of the smartest friends I've ever had in J.D. and to learn something every day about the game I love. The thing I dislike about the job -- probably sitting through rain delays. I would hate to add up the hours just sitting around waiting for something to happen. It's part of the gig, especially in the Midwest. When you get to the ballpark you hope to show up and play on time but, unfortunately, that's not always possible. LK: (Laughing) I don't think I screwed it up for Jake (by mentioning the no-hitter). Maybe he wouldn't have walked four in his last outing. I always felt our No. 1 job is to impart the pertinent information to viewers. I got several tweets the other night, because the Blackhawks game was starting, people said, "I didn't know it was a no-hitter until you told me and I ended up sticking with you guys or recording the rest of the game." To me, that's the No.1 thing. I want to make sure people watching understand what's going on.