8/02/2005 11:42:00 AM by Rob

Big Guy comes out firing



Oh, man, what a great speech!

What a crowd...Forklift was right, the place was overrun by fanboys, like myself. They said there was 28,000 in attendance at the ceremony. It honestly didn't seem like there was half that many, but it was over 80% Cub fans. I actually felt a little sorry for Wade Boggs. I knew he wasn't anywhere near as beloved by Yankee or BoSox fans as Ryno is, but when the head of the HOF introduced him as "...like Rod Carew, just a little bit better", she was right. He was definitely second-hand news on Sunday.

We turned out en masse, I think, more than anything, to help Ryno. Turns out he didn't need our help much at all, just smacking SamMe Sosa (and Raffy Palmiero, who knew?) around with body shots. Revenge is best served cold, they say, and whether he knew it or not, Ryne Sandberg is enjoying the ultimate revenge today, sitting high on the throne while the man who fucked his wife (allegedly, yes, yes) sweats his future out for the next ten days, and for the next five years.

Of course, anyone who took the 3-1 odds on me forgetting my motherfucking camera won, again. There wasn't a whole lot to see. There was a sweet little display case at the very front of the Hall, with game used bat, glove, spikes, shirt, I forget from what error-less streaks or what milestone homers he hit.

The Hall, itself, and maybe it was because it was so crowded, but it didn't do much for me. You can actually touch the plaques, and everything was slickly displayed. I think in an attempt to make it more touchy-feeley, they took a lot of the mystique away. It really wasn't that big, either, too many things were crammed together, but once again, on a normal day, that might have been just peachy. I caught my brother flogging his log in front of the Stan Musial locker.

The ceremony kind of sucked, only because there was a 100 foot square area front and center of the stage that was fenced off for seats. Even if you got there at 7 in the morning, the best you were going to do is see Ryno on the Jumbotron. The promises of free water turned out to be swilling out of a tanker truck, which I personally did not partake of. I didn't see Bill Murray, or really any celebrities except Bud Light, who I literally bumped into (I could have killed him with my bare hands) and Fergie Jenkins, from which I paid $30 for the privilege of his autograph, which I would easily pay again. Good guy.

Other sights seen:

- two dudes had the stones to go into a Main street memorabilia store and asked if they had any pink Cub caps.
- Mike D. would have been beside himself with the toady looking dude who kept standing up in front of me. I saw him later in his car going home, alone. Turns out he's a pastor in something called the Living Water Church. He didn't flinch, though, when I called him a wanker.
- Who in their right mind drove Ronnie Woo to Cooperstown, and why in God's name did they buy him a Seat there? I thought you had to pay upwards of $500 for the privilege in sitting in one of the folding chairs?
- Syracuse, NY, has some outstanding Italian restaurants. Big Ups to Delmonico's and Dominick's.

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