Saturday was Brian’s 40th birthday party, but instead of having some distinguished dinner or fancy party, he and his wife Jill demonstrated why we respect our elders and why they are some of our favorite role models.

Jill planned a party in the spirit of the Olympics and Festivus by getting together at least 35 of Brian’s favorite friends to compete in a 3-stop bar crawl with activities that were basically a microcosm of Brian’s Chicago existence. Olympic medals and prizes were given out to individual event winners as well as an overall Triathacrawl champion. Competing and heckling were greatly encouraged and there were beer specials at each bar to aid in this. Brain’s brother Chad also helped make the party a success by designing a theme that was carried out in every aspect of the party. They used a photo of Brian next to a big 40 at Wrigley Field and created a design that went on the shirt Brian was wearing and on his cake and on some magnet party favors. Jill really got into details and had everything planned out. And somehow kept her head enough to remember to do everything. Like pass out party favors and later on in the night she had other things like Buckeye candy for everyone (Brian is a huge Buckeyes fan).

At Toons, from noon – 3pm, there was lunch and a shuffleboard competition. Justin came in first and won a “gold” medal and a gift certificate to Brian’s favorite meat emporium, Paulina Meat Market. Brian got the silver and Chad won the bronze. Dallas and I skipped the Toons portion of the day because we were running errands and wanted to rest for a while before being out all afternoon and night.

At Southport Lanes, from 3pm – 6pm, there was a cut-throat pool tournament. Justin came in first again, not without a lot of controversy about rules, and won Brian’s favorite movie, Boomerang. Sam came in second and Chad got third again.

Finally, at Guthrie’s, there was an Asshole tournament. Also, Jill ordered Brian’s favorite pizza for everyone, the Chicken Tang Peeza from Yak-Zies. I’d never had it before, but basically it’s buffalo chicken with buffalo sauce instead of the pizza sauce. She also got a cake similar to the one I got for Dallas’ 30th birthday from everyone’s favorite bakery, Dinkel’s. Dallas and I were able to start playing in the Asshole tournament, but we had to leave early to go to the Double Door to see The Go Team.

At the Double Door the show was supposed to start at 9pm. We were having so much fun at Guthrie’s and not really interested in The Go Team’s opening bands, so we didn’t arrive at Double Door until past 9. Turns out the opening bands hadn’t started yet. We grabbed some beer and got a spot and were waiting out some DJs that we didn’t really care for. It was so hot though, maybe that’s why. After the DJs were a group called The Cool Kids. They were composed of two MCs and a DJ. They were better than the first group, but we were still anxiously awaiting The Go Team. After The Cool Kids got done there was a long break. It was past 11 and we were still waiting to see what we came for. It was so hot inside Double Door, up front where we were standing.. finally we couldn’t take it any more. So we moved to the back where they had outside doors open and a big fan blowing. It was so much nicer. Sure, we gave up some good spots near the front, but we had so much more fun standing in front of the fan dancing and singing and being goofy. And it wasn’t like we couldn’t see the stage. We still could, just farther away. Oh, and it was closer to the bar.

So, we’re still not sure if anyone ended up winning the Asshole competition or if anyone took home the trophy for winning the Triathacrawl, but we had a great Saturday. Also, because of the show, I didn’t have my camera with me, just my camera phone, so that’s why I’ve got these tiny, crummy photos.

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