The corner of Clark and Addison was the scene of the 100th Annual 'Next Year Day' party on Saturday night. Rick Telander from the Chicago Sun-Times and Brad Zibung of The Heckler hosted the event at the Cubby Bear and hundreds upon hundreds of Cubs fans turned out to celebrate the start of the baseball season.
At the stroke of midnight, Steve Goodman's family joined Rick Telander's band, the Del-Crustaceans, and led the crowd in singing 'Go Cubs Go.' The balloons dropped as Telandar said, "It's been 100 years since the Cubs won the World Series, but you must have faith that next year is here."
The night began with 'The Worst Harry Caray' contest and the winner, Boone, was determined by the amount of boos he received and actually turned in a nice impression. But questioned, with profanity, why Steve Stone is now on the South Side.
Sam and Bill Sianis, the owners of the Billy Goat Tavern and Grill....yes, that Billy Goat and the Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger skit from Saturday Night Live, told the crowd, "The curse is dead, no more curse, the goat is dead." And of course, those in attendance responded with the loudest ovation of the night.
Before 'Too White Crew' took the stage, Brad from the Heckler hosted what he billed as America's Favorite Board Game....'Pin the Mullet on the Sox Fan.'
The night was filled with Cubs fans from all ages donning various Cubs attire. Seymour Pennants from Since1908clothing.com made an appearance and there were even a couple of face painters sprinkled into the crowd....the evening also included a hot dog vendor for those that could not wait until Monday.
Jim McArdle spent time with the CCO, talked a little Cubs baseball and about the new book he is writing.
The surprise of the evening was seeing Bill Murray weave his way through the crowd and later on he joined Telander and is band on stage for a few blasts from the past.
The obvious, overwhelming theme of the evening was the Cubs ending the 100-year drought and Brad Zibung and Rick Telander did an excellent job of getting the Cubs fans fired-up for the upcoming season.
Clark and Addison is ready for Opening Day....are you?
Hey guys! Impressive review posted so quickly! Thanks for the shout out and the goodwill at the party tonight. Bill Murray singing "Devil With a Blue Dress" is our omen for 2008. Let the games begin and see ya round the yard
It follows Spring T. That would be Summer T. And it looks like Tennessee is the place to be this summer if you like minors' baseball and mountains that smoke. A big part of our future talents will be on diplay there (as will be Dolly's not many miles from the Smokies ball park). For starters (and relievers) look for Samardzija, Veal, Petrick, Ceda and Atkins. I'm saying that S, P and C will be all stars, and that they will be full timers in Wrigley next year--unless one or more is traded.
Wellington Castillo (c) and Colvin (of) too will be all stars (unless C moves up), and Lansford will be impressive if his hitting rises to the level of his fielding. Castillo has huge major league promise with his Pudge like arm and defensive skills as well as the ability to hit. Getting their chance to restore their promise, but likely not doing so, will be Dopirak and Harvey. Each former first rounder is said to have reported in their best shape ever with greater determination. As the church lady says, "Isn't that special!" And she gives them AAG's (applied attitude grades) of D-.
There will be some excellent stories (and some flame-outs) too in AAA and A ball. But we tend to know the AAA guys and the A level ones are two or more years away from the bigs.
Hey Neil, it was nice to meet you last night. Nice review! It was a hell of a night! Let's talk about possibly doing some cross-promotion on our websites. We will be getting thousands of hits in coming days, so you might want to jump on board before this train really takes off!
Good to see your great review and its prominent mention of Steve Goodman and his family. He often doesn't get his due. You might be interested in my 800-page biography, "Steve Goodman: Facing the Music." The book delves deeply into the genesis of "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request" and its semi-sequel, "Go, Cubs Go."
You can find out more at my Internet site (below). Amazingly, the book's first printing sold out in just eight months, all 5,000 copies, and a second printing of 5,000 is available now. The second printing includes hundreds of little updates and additions, including 30 more photos for a total of 575. To order a second-printing copy, see the "online store" page of my site. Just trying to spread word about the book. Feel free to do the same!
Clay Eals
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