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Wrigley Goat Head No Laughing Matter to Rahm

By Ted Cox | April 11, 2013 2:03pm
 Mayor Rahm Emanuel didn't find the goat head delivered to Wrigley Field one bit amusing.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel didn't find the goat head delivered to Wrigley Field one bit amusing.
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DNAinfo/Ted Cox

PULLMAN — Mayor Rahm Emanuel found the goat head delivered to Cub owner Tom Ricketts at Wrigley Field to be no laughing matter.

"Hey, look, there's nothing else to say," he responded when asked about it at a South Side news conference Thursday. "The deed speaks for itself. It's wrong to do."

The mayor said he had called Ricketts Wednesday night to tell him, "Obviously, if the police need to do something, we'll be on it."

The decapitated goat head was reportedly delivered anonymously in an "intimidating package" Wednesday, although the motives remain unclear. It no doubt has something to do with the team's infamous Billy Goat Curse, but whether meant as comical or as a threat with ongoing negotiations on a $500 million Wrigley rehabilitation project is unclear.

Some have found humor in the event, at the mayor's expense. But Emanuel took it seriously Thursday.

He predicted, however, the a deal was imminent. "I think we're, in my own view, in the bottom of the ninth of that process," Emanuel said. "We're closer than ever before."

Emanuel said he had two priorities: for Cub ownership to be able to make improvements to the 99-year-old ballpark, and for "residents to get the benefits they've been seeking" in the Wrigleyville neighborhood.

"I know what I want to see done," Emanuel added. "I've brought the parties together."

He thanked Ricketts for his commitment to keep the Cubs in Chicago regardless.