D'oh!!! Springfield, Illinois Lost

Sorry to report, that one of my favorite places to spend time on Route 66, Springfield, Illinois, was the runner up in Fox's publicity stunt to push the upcoming release of "The Simpsons Movie". We lost out to Springfield, Vermont, by 733 votes. Sigh!!! OK, I realize the TV Springfield is a bit dysfunctional and has a lot of goofballs, but....it still would have been nice.

Now, I have to say that I did not like the Simpsons when they first appeared on Fox back in 1989. As a teacher, I had a real problem with Bart. However, in the past five years, I have become a big fan. I'd even say that the episodes today are considerably better than the earlier ones.

There were 14 Springfields across the nation competing for the honor of being declared the town most like the imaginary Springfield of Homer Simpson. It has been a running gag of the show not to reveal the true location. Each town had to submit a short video telling why they were THE Springfield. Fans were then able to view the videos and vote for their favorite on the USA Today website.

Springfield, Illinois, made a valiant effort and was definitely pushed by Mayor Tim Davlin. However, the Vermont Springfield, with a population of 9000 was able to tally over 15,000 votes. Our Springfield has over 100,000 residents. Perhaps the Vermont town was able to get some of the Chicago ghost voters.

First, the Cozy Dog loses out in Illinois' Seven Wonders, now this!!!

Crying in My Beer While Eating Donuts. --RoadDog