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May 26, 2005 From 1945 up until his death in 1998, Harry Caray was an announcer of “The Great American Past Time,” Baseball. He announced for the teams of St. Louis Cardinals, Oakland A’s, Chicago White Sox (11 years) and for 16 years the Chicago Cubs. This beloved voice of baseball was inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame in Cooperstown, New York in 1989. But what most people remember most about this remarkable man was his tradition of singing and encouraging the crowd to join in one of baseball’s most loved songs, “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” during the Seventh Inning Stretch. After his passing, the Cubs Ball club decided to continue Mr. Caray’s tradition and they invited local and international celebrities to lead the crowd in the singing during the Seventh Inning Stretch. They also had the celebrity to throw the first pitch of the home games. The Cubs have had everyone from local winning high school teams to music and movie stars. Names like Bill Murry, George Wendt, Ozzy and Sharon Osborne. Anyone you can imagine, they have had the honor of leading the singing of the Seventh Inning Stretch. Then came Tuesday, the 24th of May and the anticipation of having one of NASCARS Superstars, Jeff Gordon. On Saturday Night before he was to lead the singing of the Seventh Inning Stretch, he admitted that he did not know the words to “Take Me Out To The Ball Game.” I must admit, when he said this, I laughed so hard, I nearly fell out of my chair. Even school children know the words to this song. #24, Jeff Gordon, had PLENTY of time between Sunday morning and the time he was to appear at Wrigley Field to download the words and print them off. That would be what any normal person would do, right? I guess not for Jeff Gordon. So Tuesday night came and he ceremoniously threw out the first pitch, he was so excited, that he threw the ball over the head of the catcher and the catcher had to jump up to catch the ball. Then the anticipation built for the Seventh Inning Stretch. And that’s when the assault on my auditory senses began. Let me take you through the catastrophe step by step. As soon as the freak got his grubby mitts on the microphone, he screamed into it “Hello everyone and welcome to Wrigley STADIUM!” first off it’s Wrigley Field, must be all those races of going left that impaired his brain functions. Then he counts to the start of the song, and disaster strikes once again, he started the song faster than it should be sung and was finished with the line while the crowd was on the word ”me.” Then the idiot stood there and laughed into the microphone that rang out all over the stadium and his laughing face was shown on the Jumbo-Tron and then the Chicago Cubs fans got irate. It was if the Great Jeff Gordon was sniffing airplane glue. And not surprising to me or any die-hard cub fan or NASCAR fan, he was promptly booed and to be honest, I’m surprised that the Cubs fans didn’t .throw hot dogs or popcorn at him. At least someone should have lobbed empty beer cups at him. I just wonder what they will show on the pre-race this Sunday before the Coca-Cola 600 at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway? All I know is he’d better hope and pray that no Cubs Fans show up for the Tropicana 400 at the Chicagoland Speedway when NASCAR comes to Chicago. ------------ About the author: Kaycee Nilson has completed her first novel, "Night Falls on Chicago." The first two chapters can be viewed at http://www.KayceeNilson.com. Besides writing columns for Useless-Knowledge, Kaycee is currently working on two more novels, "From the Mind of a Vampire", and "I'll Love You Til You Die." If you have enjoyed what you read, or would like to leave Kaycee a message, please visit her message board at http://www.KayceeNilson.com/Board Email: Kaycee@kayceenilson.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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