In June of 1979 the San Diego Chicken, now working solo from his gig at KGB radio, re-emerged in San Diego. The Chicken hatched from a heavily guarded egg, symbolizing a rebirth of sorts for the local icon.
According to the famous San Diego Chicken's website, San Diego Union sports editor Jack Murphy once wrote:
That quote brings a tear to this blog's digital eye."The Chicken has the soul of a poet. He is an embryonic Charles Chaplin in chicken feathers."
What people don't know about that particular day in June of '79 was that the Chicken's egg was not empty. Ted Giannoulas had filled the egg with the ingredients of one of his favorite summer time dishes: the deviled egg.
Giannoulas had filled a portion of the prop with mashed egg yolk, mustard, mayonnaise, and a generous serving of cayenne pepper to properly give the dish its renowned appearance.
No written record exists of whether the grounds crew sampled any of the San Diego chicken's offereings only that there is proof positive that the Chicken came before the deviled egg.
I don't get to see the Padres play on TV so I asked some friends on Twitter to shoot some ideas my way. Deviled eggs came courtesy of @rich_roberts. While this story is stupid and made up it could have happened. But the mayonnaise surely would have spoiled in June.
So Jack Murphy said of The Chicken:
ReplyDelete"The Chicken has the soul of a poet. He is an embryonic Charles Chaplin in chicken feathers."
I'm guessing Canepa would say:
"The Chicken has the soul of a poet. However, he is no embryonic Charles Chaplin in chicken feathers."
And therein lies the difference.
Masterfully said, Lon.
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