If you believe new Illinois State basketball coaches Porter Moser and Robin Pingeton, fans will be giving them plenty of advice after the duo finishes leading the Wrigley Field fans in singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game in the seventh inning of Saturdays Cubs vs. Colorado Rockies game. That advice figures to include stick to coaching.
Based on 13 years experience apiece as college basketball coaches, both are confident in their ability to lead Illinois State basketball back to the top of the Missouri Valley Conference. But neither sees a singing career on the horizon.
Im a huge Cubs fan, but, if I had to make a list of my top 10 abilities, singing wouldnt be in the first 10 ... or the second 10 or the third 10, said Moser. Seriously, though, I plan to have fun with this. Going to a Cubs game is about having a good time and being with people having a good time.
Since the ritual commemorates the late Harry Caray--a Hall of Fame sportscaster who was, by his own admission, tone deaf--Moser and Pingeton wont be the first non-professionals to fill the leading roles. Hundreds of sports figures, politicians and other personalities have done the job since Carays death in 1998.
Pingeton, an Iowa native who played softball in college at St. Ambrose, admits shes a novice baseball fan, making just her second trip to Wrigley. In an effort to shore-up her confidence, colleagues advised her to flip on the television and watch a performance. Oops--that days singer happened to be actress Jane Seymour.
She was really good! said Pingeton, showing serious apprehension. In an effort to assuage her fears, Redbird womens basketball play-by-play announcer R.C. McBride sent Pingeton a treasured recording of one of Harry Carays seventh-inning renditions.
It definitely wont be the first trip--or the last--to Wrigley for Moser, a Chicago-area native of Naperville who attended high school at Benet Academy. He is a life-long, die-hard Cubs fan who admits to singing along with Caray and a number of his successors from various locations in the stands at Wrigley, even since he has lived away from Chicago.
Every year I come back to Wrigley Field to see some games, said Moser, who is friends with Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry, Creightons baseball coach when Moser played basketball for the Bluejays in the 1980s. This will be tougher than being in the stands because you cant hear the organ in the press box; you just have to sing.
Pingeton is banking on Mosers Cubs experience.
Porter assured me he would lead, said Pingeton. Its going to be fun. Actually, its a great opportunity to represent Illinois State and reach out to a lot of people, although I hope those who are watching will realize that basketball coaches arent necessarily great singers.
According to Cubs officials, Pingeton is only the second womens college basketball coach--and the first female womens college coach--to sing for the stretch. The first was Connecticuts Geno Auriemma.
The appearance at Wrigley will be the first of two this summer for the Redbird coaches, who also will be on hand for the Cubs-White Sox game June 22, Illinois State University Alumni Day. Saturdays trip will include live interviews--in the sixth inning with WGN-Cubs Network announcers Pat Hughes and Ron Santo and after the seventh inning stretch on Fox Sports with Chip Caray and Steve Stone.
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