Fun in Chi-City

The small town feel good story of the week:

About 3 years ago I was in Bartlett, Illinois dining with my parents at our local deep dish pizza joint called Village Pizza. This is the place where every little league team goes after Saturday's games and a every Bartlett Park District soccer team reserves for its end of the year banquet. Village Pizza sponsors a team in every sport at every age level and they have the team photos on the wall and the trophies behind the cash register to prove it. Although the ownership has changed a few times over the last 26 years Village pizza still maintains its close ties to Bartlett sports. The waitress, a middle aged woman who has worked at the Village for twenty years or so turned to me and asked, "Now that you live on the east coast, what do you miss most about Chicago?" After giving it a little thought i responded by saying, "I miss the Cubs." It was and still is true. I miss being able to go to Wrigley on a weekday and catching the 1:20 game. I miss drinking Old Style with my friends and watching drunk guys in the bleachers heckle the opposing teams' outfielders. I miss the organ. I miss the ivy. I miss the "We Got Wood" t-shirts.

Well, as it turns out that waitress' day job is the personal secretary to some big dawg in the Chicago Tribune Company, the very same company that owns the Chicago Cubs. She gave me her card and told me that whenever I am in town to shoot her an email and she will get me tickets to the game. For the last couple of years my Dad and I have been in touch with her about getting us tickets and she has come through every time including last weekend. Last weekend I flew back to Chicago to catch a Cubs game, a Bogacki family Mother's Day tradition. This year our seats were front row on the third base line right behind the Cubs bullpen. Best seats I have ever had at Wrigley. Eventhough Mike Piazza hit a game winning three run bomb we were still able to fun in the friendly confines. Here are some pics of our afternoon.

On a side note, the "We Got Wood" t-shirts have transformed into "The Cardinals take it in the Pujols" t-shirts.