One month after the Chicago Cubs announced a World Series trophy tour with no Lake County stops on the itinerary, a revised roster was released this week. Eager eyes ran down the list like a chorus girl hoping to survive the audition.
More Top Picks Best Colored Overlay Color For Visual Stress
Let’s see … it will travel this weekend to Chicago for the 32nd annual Cubs Convention, which for once will be more than an opportunity to rub elbows with Glendon Rusch and Pete LaCock (scheduled to attend) …
Feb. 8 in Omaha and Feb. 10 in Lincoln — as in Nebraska, where your governor is no less than Pete Ricketts of the billionaire Ricketts family that owns the Cubs, so fill in the blanks yourself on that one …
Feb. 20 in not only St. Joseph but also Kalamazoo in Michigan, which is a state that has its own Major League Baseball team but apparently wants to poach ours now that it’s good …
And some of the previously announced locations now have dates attached, including South Bend, Ind., which will host the trophy at not one but two locations in the bustling metropolis of 101,000 on Jan. 21 …
But the list still features no love for Lake County. This must not stand.
As mentioned in this space five long weeks ago, the Chicago White Sox saw fit to bring their version of the Commissioner’s Trophy north of Lake Cook Road way, way back in 2006, a few months after the Sox somehow won a World Series. If you’re picking up on my sarcasm, all I can say is that revenge delayed isn’t revenge denied.
Anyway, perhaps the most notable Lake County stop was at the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan, where something like 1,000 fans filed through the lobby to gaze upon their shining reward in hushed silence.
That wasn’t the only Lake County appearance by the 2005 World Series hardware. There also were two visits in January to — try not to roll your eyes too deeply back into your head on this one — U.S. Cellular stores, one in Gurnee and the other in Deerfield.
If and when the Sox manage to win the World Series again, be advised that there is a Guaranteed Rate location in Deerfield, so start lining up there now to beat the crowd when the trophy comes through.
Anyway, a dive into the News-Sun archives reveals that those three Lake County appearances by the White Sox trophy were among no less than 45 stops that were scheduled by early January 2006. You can only imagine how difficult it is for me as a lifelong Cubs fan to admit that the White Sox were the superior organization in this regard — at least so far.
It is important to note that information for the Chicago Cubs Trophy Tour Presented by State Farm — and that is what it is formally known as at http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/chc/fan_forum/trophy-tour/ — still includes the phrase “more locations to come.” We must cling to the hope that whoever is throwing darts at the board down at 1060 W. Addison will eventually land on a location those of us this far north can get to without getting stuck in major traffic on the Edens or having to plan a vacation to Council Bluffs, Iowa (which is on the list for Feb. 11).
It can be reported that at least one Lake County booster is trying to make our wildest trophy dreams come true. Jan Gibson, director of communications at the Genesee Theatre, confirmed this week that the Cubs officially have been invited to pay a visit to Waukegan.
“The staff at the Genesee Theatre hopes that the Cubs organization will select our theatre to display the World Series trophy,” Gibson said via email on Friday. “We have requested several times for this trophy to be on display at the Genesee, and we know that they are considering our request.
“Their response has been that they are excited to share the team’s historic victory throughout Chicago and the Midwest, and they will reach out to us if a visit is possible.”
The key phrase here, of course, is “they are considering our request.” If Ernie Banks taught us anything, it is that we must always choose optimism.
Twitter@NewsSunDanMoran
More Top Picks Braun Tributecollection