For a while, I thought we were in a time warp. Or at least traveling in a time machine that landed back in 1974.
That was when “streaking” — the act of jogging naked in public, mainly by males on college campuses — began its short run. It peaked in 1975 when “Time Warp” was playing on the big screen as part of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
Seems that isn’t the case considering last month’s antics caught on video of two coaches from the Lake Bluff Youth Baseball Association. They were seen dashing about a well-lit Cooperstown, New York baseball field in the buff as members of their team watched the spectacle.
One of the coaches was photographed sliding head-first into home plate in his altogether. That had to leave a mark. Or several.
Perhaps he was showing the best technique for a head-first slide to his 12-and-under charges on the Lake Bluff 12U Blue Cooperstown team. This, as he gamboled naked during the early-morning session, at about 1 a.m.
Despite taking place on June 28, the daring duo continues to be the talk of the North Shore. Their lack of coverage during the late-night streaking incident garnered national media coverage.
If the two were at a Coldplay concert, one wag noted the other day, media folks would be broadcasting their names and where they work. Just like the viral videos from the British rock group’s July 16 appearance at Gillette Stadium, where the New England Patriots call home, outside Boston.
That’s when the venue’s “Kiss Cam” highlighted Andy Byron, CEO of tech-startup firm Astronomer, comfortably snuggling with the company’s human resources chief Kristin Cabot, a woman not his spouse. The “gotcha” moment caused Byron to resign his top-level post with the firm.
In Lake Bluff, baseball association officials quickly fired the two coaches after learning of their stripped-down affair, according to Daniel Dorfman’s front-page story in the July 16 News-Sun. Surely, many residents know the names of the bare pair.
Certainly the kids’ parents know, along with the players who must have watched dumbfounded in disbelief as coaches they once must have held in high esteem ran around in their birthday suits. Authorities in Otsego County, home of Cooperstown where the National Baseball Hall of Fame is located, did not charge the two with public nudity.
Employees of the baseball park in Upstate New York said they didn’t witness the streaking, and could not identify the unclothed runners, authorities said in Dorfman’s account. The two coaches fled the field before law enforcement showed up and high-tailed it back to Lake Bluff.
Footage was obtained by the Otsego County district attorney’s office which, “advised that prosecution was declined due to the level of criminality involved and the fact that all parties reside out of state,” Dorfman quoted New York authorities. No charges, no names.
The two might not even be from Lake Bluff. They could be from Lake Forest, or Knollwood for that matter, whose residents have Lake Bluff addresses. All have been painted with the same barren brush.
Some of those North Shore parents certainly must continue to steam over the au naturel incident. Especially since they dished out more than $1,000 to send their youngsters to the baseball tournament only to have the team disqualified because of the streaking coaches.
Parents and grandparents know the high cost of participating in youth sports. That’s money for nought that players’ parents may not get back.
As for the streaking coaches, they weren’t the first. Some College of Lake County graduates of a certain age may remember when on an early spring day in 1974, a handful of students emulated what was happening at colleges and universities across the U.S.
On the nascent CLC campus in Grayslake surrounded by corn fields, a few brave males with their faces covered followed suit. They chose the college’s crowded student center at lunchtime to make their brief naked run, which was accompanied by camera flashes popping and cheers of those assembled.
The CLC streak was one of more than 1,000 that occurred on college campuses in 1974, one group of researchers determined. The short-lived fad even had a novelty song: “The Streak” by Ray Stevens, which became a Billboard Top 40 hit.
Perhaps the Lake Bluff streakers heard of those at CLC and wanted to imitate them. Maybe they wanted to make a statement: To run free, unencumbered by society’s requirements of wearing clothes while strolling in public.
Or more likely, they are dolts.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
sellenews@gmail.com
X: @sellenews
