CUBS WEEKEND 2008 - Is There a Spoon Shortage in Canada?

Warning - Long and winding post

Last weekend was circled on my schedule from the first moment last December that I discovered that the Chicago Cubs would be coming to Toronto to play the Blue Jays. To make things even better, big Cub fans Shancho and Maynard were coming up for their second visit to Johnada.

Friday night was relatively calm, after a lovely dinner at Allen's Pub, Maynard and I visited my favourite bar in Toronto - the Only Cafe, then made a quick stop by Jimmy's.

Saturday I woke up early, like a kid on Christmas morning, gleefully awaiting everyone else to get out of bed. We ate breakfast at the First Lady's favourite brunch place Bonjour Brioche. I was nervous the whole time, despite the game not starting for two hours. But we made it in plenty of time. Our seats were pretty far up there, as you can tell:
It was a great game with Cubs scoring a lot of runs off of the "ace" of the Blue Jays, Roy Holiday. The First Lady and Shancho really enjoyed the music that came on before Vernon Wells bats - a little dancy sort of techno number. It was my first game in Toronto; I have to say the stadium is a little boring, and the fans don't get very excited compared to Wrigley Field.

After a bbq at Chez Johnada with an appearance by the Scientorian, we headed out to do some 5 pin bowling. Amazingly, the First Lady (4.5 months pregnant) won the first game. I redeemed myself in the second game and won the series. Maynard, generally the best bowler in the bunch, is not too good at tiny pin bowling, but he looks good tossing the ball:We followed bowling with a trip to Jimmy's for karaoke. It was great, as usual. I sang Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" to much acclaim. I got as close to a standing ovation as you can at Jimmy's. It was a great moment for me. Then Maynard sang "Putting on the Ritz" by Taco. The performance was unbelievable, but slightly disappointing because there was no tap dancing at the end. Over the course of the night, there were many more songs, including a duet by Shancho and the First Lady. The crowd at Jimmy's was nice and creepy, as usual. One particular fellow kept hitting on the First Lady who clearly came with me and, in case you forgot, is OBVIOUSLY 4.5 months pregnant. But Jackie, who owns Jimmy's, was kind as always.

On Sunday, Maymard and I got to the Cubs-Blue Jays game a little earlier as the women stayed behind to shower. It was a beautiful sunny day, so Maynard needed to get some sunglasses. After searching for a while we finally found some. We had much better seats and sat in the shade for about three innings. At the exact moment that the sun was going to hit us and Maynard was jut about to use his sun glasses, the craziest thing happened - the roof of the stadium started to close. It was pretty amazing to watch. We were surprised because it was so nice out, but after twenty minutes of the roof closing you could tell it was about to rain. After the third inning, Shancho and the First Lady finally made it. They even made a sign because the game was going to be on WGN TV in Chicago:It actually says "Go Cubs, Eh?" on the bottom, but the guy who took a picture did not do a very good job of framing it. Anyway, the Cubs won this game after a great pitching performance by former Blue Jay Ted Lilly, so it was a great weekend for Cubs baseball.

We had planned on making it an early night on Sunday after the game, but we headed over to enjoy some drinks at the Drake which has a great rooftop deck. The deck is so nice it was enjoyable even though it rained. At dinner, we had a few too many carafe's of wine and this led us to the Rivoli for more karoake. The Riv had a more serious crowd, and my version of "Ironic" did not go over quite so well. Apparently they don't understand an ironic version of a song called "Ironic" that has no irony in it. I mean why is it ironic to have a bunch of forks when all you need is a spoon? That's just bad planning. After, my lukewarm performance, the Scientorian absolutely ripped through an amazing version of "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince. The crowd seemed confused by the frequent shout outs to Minneapolis, however.

Despite the fact that we clearly didn't want the weekend to end, we had to face reality and headed home in a taxi. The taxi driver was a Croatian immigrant living in Canada who loves Cuba. That's a lot of C's.

Overall, one of the best weekends I've had in a couple of years. And if you read this blog, you know I have good weekends.

Allens - 4 Hortons
The Only Cafe - 4.62 Hortons
Jimmy's - 4 Hortons
brunch at Bonjour Brioche - 4.5 Hortons
The Cubs - 5 Hortons
Rogers Centre - 2 Hortons
5 Pin Bowling - 3.98 Hortons
Rivoli - 3.2 Hortons