Chicago Cubs to Hold Ultimate Seventh Inning Stretch Competition

The "Friendly-Confines" have turned up the entertainment at the Cubs Wrigley Field planning to hold a singing competition of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" according to the official Chicago Cubs website. From now until July 22nd anyone can register for the event at www.cubs.com and make there way to Wrigley Field on July 27th where they will perform their auditions. So back your bags or hop on the L-Train and make your way to this historic event.

The site reports that a panel of judges will listen to everyone that auditions and then will narrow it down to only 50 people. At this point anyone on the Internet will be able to vote for their favorite contestants and the top 10 finalists will be able to go back to Wrigley Field on August 27th for the final audition. Then again anyone wanting to vote on their favorite contestants can do so at www.cubs.com where the final votes will be tallied and the winner will sing during the 7th-Inning Stretch.

If you are by chance unaware of this tradition it became a big deal to sing the song "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" that would be led by none other than Harey Carey the late and great Chicago Cubs broadcaster. Through the years celebrities that happened to be Cubbies fans would go to Wrigley Field on an invitation to lead the 7th-Inning Stretch song. Some have been fantastic, but nominated the worst by many was that of Mike Dikta's singing abilities, which were none. After a horrific outing he was given another chance a couple years later which was funnier than the first, but the same result in the end.

Going into the All-Star break the Chicago Cubs have turned things around closing the gap on the Milwaukee Brewers to only 4 1/2 games. With three days off it will be interesting to see how manager Lou Pinella gears his team up towards the second half of the season. The Cubs are the on the short list for teams with the longest drought since winning a World Series. Their last championship celebration was way back in 1908 leaving this to be an important year to make a move before the media comes down in 2008. Which will make it one hundred years since their last World Series victory. The closest they came was in the National League Championship game in 2003 when controversy and the talk of the Cubs curse took over after leading late in the game when Moises Alou went after a foul ball and was allegedly interfered with from Steve Bartman altering the ball. After that the wheels fell apart and the Florida Marlins came back to win and later the World Series.