Mad Dog in Kane County

Bill Madlock was the guest speaker at the Kane County Cougar winter banquet. He had a rough start, but fell back on the old stand-by...making fun of the Chicago Cubs.

Bill Madlock was forced to wing it Friday as he addressed the crowd at the Cougars’ Winter Banquet.

Madlock’s luggage did not make it after his red-eye flight to town from Las Vegas. Not only was the featured speaker sheepish to be in blue jeans for the occasion, but more problematic, he was without the speech he had prepared.

“So if I stink, it’s United Airlines’ fault,” Madlock said in opening his speech. “You know I played for the Cubs, we’ve always got excuses.”

That is pretty funny. He also gets a dig in on his hosts.

Madlock has some ties to the Midwest League, having served a stint as Battle Creek’s hitting coach.

“We couldn’t beat West Michigan, either ... and it looks like they’re doing the same thing to you guys,” Madlock said, referencing the Cougars’ two losses to West Michigan in Midwest League Championship Series. “Wait until next year. You get used to saying that around this area.”

There is more at the article, but I'll leave you with this little gem...

Madlock, though, predicted a big 2008 for the Cubs, and said he has tried not to dwell on the performance-enhancing drug scandal that has besmirched baseball this off-season, joking that a Mitchell report in his era would have included questions more like “How many Ho Hos did Rick Reuschel buy?”

Well, let's see. By the way, the SI cover below has an interesting phrase at the top.




He may have had a body by Hostess, but he could still pitch.