Bill Murray Stepped Here – Groundhog Day Historical Marker

In this life, I’ve met Bill Murray twice.
Once briefly after his 2008 skydive stint at the Air & Water show a few years back where he stopped for only one person on his escape route from the madness, and it just so happened to be me. We locked eyes, shook hands and I died a little inside before he was rushed off from the quickly-​forming crowd and I followed, love-​struck behind.
The second time was a bit more intimate… and I have photographic evidence to prove it (
). We were up in the club (a comedy club) and thanks to the one and only Carol J, I got to be the one and only ‘civilian’ amongst a buncha company stooges (newscasters and radio show hosts) to attend. We got to talk, take photos, brush up against each other, sweat profusely in excitement (okay, that was mostly me), etc. It was a grand olé day… and then about 10 paces outside the comedy club I stepped in the biggest pile of dog doo to ever land on a Chicago city street. And actually, in hindsight I can’t even confirm that it was dog doo it was so huge. For all I know it was an urban bear or something, but it was absolutely huge. You win some, you lose some.
This slice of cinematic history marks the Bill’s (technically, Phil Connors’) last step before he takes a short dip in a deep puddle off the curb after practically jumping out of his skin to get away from Neddy Ned Ryerson and his humbly aggressive attempts to pitch a life insurance policy on Phil’s way to the annual Gobbler’s Knob Punxsatawny Phil Groundhog Day ceremony.
And while this historical marker located on the Groundhog Day Walking Tour (
) isn’t quite the real-​deal, in person, out-​of-​body experience that actually meeting the the man, the myth, the legend is, it’s a damn fine tribute for anyone who wants to walk where BM once, twice, thrice and beyond did… just beware of that puddle (1:44 — 1:46
). It’s a doooooozy!