Today is the 4th of July 2026. 250 years ago the founding Fathers of The United States gathered in Philadelphia and adopted the Declaration of Independence. I wasn't there, but I've heard stories. 200 years later when I was 11, It was kind of a big deal to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of our country. So I went with my parents to the town of Lisle, Illinois and attended their 4th of July Parade. I'm not sure if the parade was exactly on the 4th. I think the parade may have been on a Saturday and my sources say (and by sources, I mean I just asked Alexa) that the 4th was on a Sunday.
We went to Lisle, because my Grandparents lived there and during the Summer there was often a gathering of uncles, aunts, cousins and sundry relatives who would gather there. I do remember that during the parade there was a girl a few years younger than myself and I was assisting her in the gathering of candy.
Fast forward no score 14 years give or take a month later and a 25 year old version of myself meets a graduate student at Western Illinois University who just happens to be from Lisle, Illinois. In later years that person would become my best friend, my wife, the mother of our children, and the best school psychologist in Kane County. ( The last distinction is a matter of conjecture but in the near decade I've been in the teaching biz I've never encountered better. )
We are big Mad About You fans and there is an episode where Paul and Jamie discover they may have met years earlier on a trip to a museum. For many years now I have held that Amy was in fact the young girl who I befriended at the parade. Amy told me recently that she is now not sure if she was at that particular parade since she remembers going to a bicentennial parade in Hinsdale where hrt grandparents lived. However, I still cling to the notion that today is the 50th anniversary of the best friend any of us could ever ask for, A friendship filled with fireworks and plenty of parades.
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| Amy and I 2026 4th of July Parade |
Meanwhile back in 1976, the White Sox hosted a doubleheader against the Texas Rangers to commemorate the bicentennial.
The ChiSox defeated the Rangers 7-6 in the first game which took 12 innings. The Rangers over came the South Siders 3-2 in the 2nd game. The White Sox lost 97 games that season but as the doubleheader began on July 4th they were only 5 games below .500 which is how they ended the day as they split the double header.
The Cubs played in New York on Independence Day and lost to the Mets 9-4. This was the 10th consecutive game the Mets won in a row. Mount Prospect native and former Cubs slugger Dave Kingman scored after being walked. Unfortunately for the Cubs, Kingman had not yet come to them and was playing for the Mets. Fortunately for the Cubs, they were also playing a doubleheader and ended the Mets 10 game winning streak with a 4-2 victory. Jose Cardenal, Rick Monday, Cubs heroes of mine at the time each went 2-4 in the first game and were hitting .304 and.288 respectively for the season at the end of the double header. Bill Madlock, the Cubs third baseman who was the 1975 NL batting champ while with the Cubbies also was 2-4 in the opener did not play in the second game but by the end of the season had inflated his 7/4 .310 batting 29 points to get his 2nd consecutive batting title.
