We here at GROTA, in our quest to be the best sports blog of 2008, and to provide comprehensive coverage of all things Cub, have failed to date in addressing the saga of the Bronzed Mr. Cub.

You see, Jason's friend, Ernie, the baseball player, was honored with a new statue in front of Wrigley Field. And there, emblazoned on the south face of the granite pedestal upon which Ernie's statue resides, was Ernie's motto in life, "LETS PLAY TWO."

Now, as students of the GROTA school for grammar and kids who can't read so good, I know not-a-one of you see the error in that command, but apparently there's supposed to be an apostrophe between the T and the S. At least, that's what Jonathan Brandmeier of WLUP-FM claims.

According to this piece of hard hitting investigative reporting, Brandmeier was the first to call sculptor Lou Cella and explain to him that the GROTA rules of grammar just weren't good enough in the "real world."

Now I'll point out the following facts: Ernie Banks, Hank Aaron, Billy Williams, Jessie Jackson, Fergie Jenkins, Ron Santo, and Cub luminaries Crane Kenney and Mike Lufrano were all in attendance at Ernie's statue's unveiling, and none of them noticed. So therefore, they must all be loyal goat readers.

Well, after the error was explained, the Cubs organization got to work and set about to repair the statue. The apostrophe was added in, but as you can see from the picture below, one of these is not like the others.

Unfortunately, lost in all the hub-bub about misplaced apostrophes, it's easy to forget that a magnificent piece of art-work was unveiled at Wrigley Field. I mean, what's a missing apostrophe? The guy who did the Sphinx forgot a nose, and the Venus de Milo sculptor overlooked her arms*! No one seems to think those masterpieces are any less valuable because of an oversight by a stressed out artist.

Anyhow, Now for the good part. Pictures of Ernie's statue, taken with the goat camera by yours truly.

Ernie Banks' statue from the south.

The Ernie Banks statue from the west.

Warning: Clicking on this picture of the Ernie Banks' statue will open a 2.2 MB picture showing the phenomenal detail on Ernie's statue right outside of Wrigley Field. It will load slowly, but enjoy. And once again, congratulations to both Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks and sculptor Lou Cella for an amazing piece of art-work that will be beloved by Cubs fans for the next century.

Footnotes: * Yes, I know.