Most online petitions involving sports are pretty lame for my tastes, but here's one I can get behind: Replacing the "guest conductors" for the seventh-inning stretch in Wrigley Field with a video of Harry Caray singing it.
Over on change.org, here's the description:
The Cubs have said, with the renovations to Wrigley Field, they plan to embrace its cherished past. What better way than to use the new technology of the new video scoreboard to put Harry Caray on it singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th Inning Stretch?
The giant videoboard in left field -- which some call the "jumbotron" -- now gives the Cubs the ability to bring Harry back in its own way.
The background here, for anyone unaware, is that for years Cubs legendary play-by-play man Harry Caray would sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" from the broadcast booth every seventh-inning stretch at home. If the game was tied or the Cubs were losing at the time, Caray would conclude with "let's get some runs!"
It was a long-standing tradition. And when Caray passed away before the 1998 season, the Cubs found a way to continue the tradition with "guest conductors." Generally celebrities, even if just Chicago-area celebs, would sing. Sometimes "celebrity" is a huge stretch, too.
Of course, it's been 17 years. That's a long time to keep rolling out guest conductors and, in my humble opinion, it's been stale for at least a decade.
Enter the new videoboard. The Cubs now have the ability to have Harry's singing performances live forever. They could even use a different video for when they need to add in the "let's get some runs!" part.
This idea was first floated by Daily Herald columnist Barry Rozner and I love it.
The Cubs, though, don't yet agree. Via Paul Sullivan's column on chicagotribune.com from last week:
Cubs spokesman Julian Green said they are not considering using Harry Caray videos to replace the seventh-inning stretch performers. Green said Cubs surveys the last three years told them using guest conductors for the stretch is “the highest-rated activity during the game.” (Of course, the surveys were conducted before the Cubs started winning games.)
Sullivan is right to allude to the fact that fan surveys from the past few years might be quite a bit different than ones during this season and next. Not only that, surveys don't ask if fans would rather see a guest conductor (it was former Bears tackle James "Big Cat" Williams Wednesday night, by the way -- a nice former Bear but hardly someone that's gonna awe out-of-towners) or a video of Harry Caray.
With so many Cubs fans having grown up with Caray on WGN, my bet is that the vote would be heavily in favor of ditching the guest conductor and going with the Caray video, but I could easily be wrong.
So what say you, Cubs fans? Guest conductor or video of Harry? If you want Harry, go sign the petition and spread the word.
