McCaleb: Wings are the thing around here
The Crystal Lake Chicken Wings. How’s that for the name of a local minor league baseball team?
Of course, there’s no minor league team planned for Crystal Lake.
The team that’s going to make its debut in the Frontier League in 2011 will play in a new stadium to be built along Route 14 in Woodstock.
And the group that owns McHenry County’s first pro baseball team is set to announce its name and logo sometime next week. The owners say they’ve received thousands of suggestions from residents after holding a name-the-team contest. The person who offered up the winning team name will receive an authentic game jersey, cap and two season tickets.
Since the team is in Woodstock, Chicken Wings doesn’t really make sense as a mascot. We’ll find out next week.
If Crystal Lake were home to the team, as was originally proposed, Chicken Wings would be a contender. Why?
Because Crystal Lake unofficially has become the chicken wing capital of, well, McHenry County, anyway.
And that’s cool with me. A plate of wings, a mug of beer, and baseball on TV? Not much better than that.
Yes, I’m a man of simple tastes.
I grew up about 80 miles east of Buffalo, N.Y., the official wing capital of, well, the world. The kind of wings that have grown so popular here in recent years were invented at Buffalo’s Anchor Bar about 45 years ago.
The story is legendary.
OK, not really. But it’s nice having so many wing options so close to home.
This week, Buffalo Wings & Rings reopened at 1520 Carlemont Drive in south Crystal Lake. It’s about a 7-iron from Fire Bar & Grill. “Wings” might not be in Fire Bar’s name, but it’s on plenty of plates inside the restaurant.
Earlier this year, Buffalo Wild Wings opened a new restaurant on Route 14 in Crystal Lake. The restaurant formerly known as BW3 is that same 7-iron from Wings Etc., which opened on Route 14 a couple of years ago.
About a mile east on Route 14 is Hooters. While Hooters might be better known for its, umm, uniforms, chicken wings are the most popular item on the menu.
So what’s going on? Someone at City Hall have a wing fetish?
“I can tell you, it is not me,” Mayor Aaron Shepley said. “I don’t even eat chicken wings. I’m a fan of chicken fingers, grilled chicken, all kinds of chicken. Just not chicken wings.”
Shepley speculated that it might be part of a conspiracy in the city’s planning department.
“If I were to conduct an investigation, my immediate suspicion would be someone from the department of planning was behind it,” he joked.
No investigation needed, Mr. Mayor. Just keep the wings coming.
• Dan McCaleb is editor of the Northwest Herald. He can be reached at 815-459-4122, or via e-mail at dmccaleb@nwherald.com.