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Absurd ad a way to say goodbye to '09 season
Mary Schmich - September 18, 2009
The night Rick Kaempfer and Dave Stern dreamed up the preposterous ad that ran last week in the Tribune, Rick was in his basement with his 6-year-old son watching the Cubs play the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Cubs pitcher Angel Guzman had just given up a grand slam and, pop, there went more than the ballgame. Dave called.
"That's the end of the season," Rick told Dave that night.
"Wait till next year was just born," Dave answered.
The ad was born at that moment, too, and, really, Rick and Dave insist, it was never intended as a hoax, just a cathartic joke every Cubs fan with a sense of humor -- which is not every Cubs fan -- would understand.
"Just a little self-loathing schtick," says Dave.
You may have seen the ad in last Thursday's Tribune, there on the Celebrations page amid the weddings and anniversaries.
"Suki and Justa Crapi Yeare of Chicago's north side are proud to announce the birth of their daughter, Waitle Nex, born Thursday, August 20th in Los Angeles," it began.
It went on, noting that "the first Waitle Nex Yeare was born in Chicago in 1909" and that the new Waitle was born several weeks premature.
A keen-eyed reader would have noticed that in the photo, Waitle, who was sitting up unsupported in a Cubs shirt and hanging on to a Cubs cap with meaty paws, looked awfully big and frisky for a child born three weeks ago.
That same sharp reader would have guessed that "Justa Crapi" was justa little too cute.
But soon Suki and Justa Crapi Yeare were being vilified on blogs all over the Web. Was there nothing those idiotic Cub fans wouldn't name their children?
"Total morons," said one.
One blogger suggested Waitle be placed in protective custody immediately.
A blog post about Waitle on Deadspin.com, a popular sports site, got thousands of clicks.
Rick and Dave, meanwhile, were sitting at their computers that day Googling "Waitle Nex," pleasantly aghast at how their gag was spreading.
They found Waitle's birth announced on TV news sites in Ft. Worth and Los Angeles. NBC-Ch. 5 called Rick to ask if it was true, and, learning it wasn't, posted a story about the "hoax."
"I didn't see it as a prank," says Rick, who is a freelance writer and former radio producer as well as a die-hard Cubs fan. "I saw it as a fun way to point out that the season's over."
Many people, it should be said, enjoyed the joke. Since Waitle's birth announcement, thousands of people from around the country have clicked on Rick's blog site, justonebadcentury.com. On it, he collects information that tries to make sense of the perennial failures his Uncle Manny taught him to love when he was 5.
And the people who believed that Waitle Nex Yeare was real have a strong defense. There is precedent. Children exist on the planet today with names likes Addison N. Clark and Wrigley Fields.
That baby who posed as Waitle in the ad? He's the son, 8 months old in the photo, of Rick's friend Andy. His name is Ryne.
"After Ryne Sandberg," said Rick. No need to note that Ryne was a famous Cub.
Rick was on his way to Wrigley when we talked Thursday. Cubs vs. the Milwaukee Brewers.
Who did he think would win?
"Well," he said. A pause. "The Cubs."
They lost, as Suki and Justa Crapi Yeare could have predicted.
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Rika Nishimura is a nude Japanese idol who enjoys the status of living legend. 2004 saw the release of the DVD compilation "Rika, 22 Years Old - A Goddess Reincarnated". Her teen DVDs & books still sell thousands yearly.
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