Chicago Cubs

Local radio host honors Cubs’ Tony Campana with parody song

Chicago Cubs outfielder Tony Campana had the baseball world buzzing Tuesday night after he sailed through the air to elude the seemingly unavoidable tag of Houston third baseman Matt Downs. Our own Dave Brown even compared the athletic and creative hustle play to something we might see from Superman, or even 2011's most popular underdog, "Super" Sam Fuld.

After watching the replay several times, I'm in agreement that Campana's status should be elevated from regular guy/fourth outfielder to, at the very least, a superhero in training. He's just going to need a cape, a fancy suit and his very own theme song to complete the transformation.

Well, make that a cape and a suit, because the song has already been taken care of by Matt Spiegel — a Chicago sports radio personality who co-hosts from 9-1 every weekday on 670 The Score — who wrote, produced and recorded The Tony Campana Song — a short, but humorous parody set to Barry Manilow's Copacabana.

The parody was originally recorded shortly after Campana's major-league debut last season, but it's about to see a surge in popularity after WGN aired it during Wednesday night's telecast. In fact, if you're interested, you can find the Tony Campana parody, along with other Chicago sports-related parodies recorded by Spiegel and his partner Dan McNeil, on iTunes.

As for my personal take: The Tony Campana Song gets two thumbs up because it meets the only two criteria I have for parody songs: First, the lyrics are spot on, but more importantly than that, it doesn't overstay its welcome.

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• Thu May 24, 2012 4:04 pm EDT
• Big League Stew
• Mark Townsend
• Comment

Tony Campana slide combines best of Superman, Pete Rose and Sam Fuld

The hiring of Theo Epstein as club president and Jed Hoyer as GM failed to turn the Chicago Cubs into a World Series contender in one season. Not a surprise, but the Cubs owning the worst record in the majors heading into action Wednesday still is a big downer for fans hoping the winds of change would bring something better, and sooner.

At least there's Tony Campana. He's a holdover from the previous administration, but Campana has batted .306 with a .359 on-base percentage (that could be better) and 12 stolen bases. Campana optimistically boasted in spring training that he could steal 100 bases if given the chance. Perhaps he could. But his speed has made him fun to watch. Like here, after an errant pickoff attempt against the Houston Astros on Tuesday night:

"Uh oh," goes Cubs broadcaster Len Kasper. But never fear, Len! Campana's acrobatic (and remarkably lucky) slide somehow eludes the tag of infielder Matt Downs at third base. The ninja move from the government was part-Pete Rose, part-Superman, part-Sam Fuld.

He doesn't touch him with the glove. Amazing.

A year ago after Fuld got off to a hot start at the plate and made some astounding diving catches in the outfield, the Tampa Bay Rays hastily put together a superhero cape giveaway day in Fuld's name. The rest of Fuld's season wasn't as super, but that shouldn't stop the Cubs from stealing the idea and getting Campana a cape of his own. Or tights. Big red boots?

It's either that or give out free haircuts in the Moe Howard-bowl style to honor the legacy of Pete Rose. (A cape is better.) Oh, by the way, the Cubs stranded Campana at third and lost 2-1, their eighth straight defeat.

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• Wed May 23, 2012 2:48 pm EDT
• Big League Stew
• David Brown
• Comment

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