recap of Merrillville Caravan

as usual it was very nice. it was moved this year from the Raddison to the Avalon Manor, which was a few blocks east of I-65. it seemed to me that it was slightly smaller than the last few years, i believe someone mentioned that 700ish tickets were sold. this might have been caused by the new sponsor, the Gary Railcats. you had to buy your tickets through them, in the previous years, it was sponsored by the girls and boys clubs of northwest indiana.
details of the night.

1. i was ready to smack tommy williams, the former score and espn radio host is the public address announcer for the railcats now, and he was the m c for the evening. his non stop man love for the white sox was really getting on my nerves. every time he said something about the cubs, he had to follow it with a comparison to the white sox. very irritating.
   
2. when you entered, you were given a name of the person you could get an autograph for, this was done with a random draw, i was able to get the following autographs and to speak with them.

question and answer session.
as you would expect, lou got 90% of the questions aimed at him.
he started with a statement that prior, wood and miller are all looking good, this got a great responce from the crowd with plenty of growls and a few boo's, i think this let him know right away how the rest of the night was going to go.

his first question of the night from a fan was, what are you going to do about center field? his responce to this was.. boy you people get right to it dont you! then he laughed and basically he said the job was pie's to lose. they are going to give him every chance to win the job. he also said that if he doesnt work out, hendry will have to get a veteran center fielder to hold the job until he's ready. he didn't seem to like the jones idea in center very much.
one thing i noticed was how well lou and brenly were getting along, it seemed like they were good friends, they sit next to each other and were talking most of the night. on several questions, lou asked brenly opinion on matters, in the previous years, i never saw dusty talking to brenly at all. this could be helpful as the season rolls along, if they are truly friends, brenly might spot some things from up top and pass them on to lou.
a fan asked lou about future prospects that might make the team, his reponse was that he's not waiting for prospects, that he's wanting to win now, and this team except for center field is ready to go.
Matt Murton was a crowd favorite, you can tell that most of the fans are rooting for this kid to do well, two amusing things from the crowd. a young lady asked for a hug, he said ok and she rushed up to the stage and got one, there were several good natured remarks from the guys on the podium about the advantages of being a big leaguer. later a young guy asked murton if he could play left field for his softball team on an off day when he was at home, this got a big laugh from the crowd, and lou said he might just let him do it!
Mark DeRosa, he was asked what made him want to be a cub, he said he remembered how exciting it was in 2003 when he was a member of the braves, he said it was a huge difference playing before fans that were actually into the game, compaired to the atlanta fans, he said from that moment on, we would jump at a chance to be a cub.

and the evening ended with HARRY CARREY'S arrival, courtesy of Dempster. he brought the house down with his impression of harry, and we all left on a good note.
well thats if for me, i cant wait for march 9th, i'm off to mesa for 10 days of my slice of heaven.
by the way if your flying out there, you cant beat the deals that skyvalue is giving out of the gary-chicago airport. my family of 3 is flying round trip for $500 with free parking. and since there is only one airline flying, no waiting at the gate, you show up and board your flight. just take the skyway and get off right at the airport.