By Will Lingo
(contributing: J.J. Cooper, Matthew Eddy, Will Kimmey, Chris Kline, John Manuel and Alan Matthews)
May 17, 2004

SEVENTH INNING

It might as well have been a slow Tuesday night for Jamie Jenkins, the general manager of concessions who shows no signs of wear after seven innings of bouncing back and forth between stands. As Jenkins walks by the fan assistance center, two young female employees tell him their night is over and they will be walking home.

"Are you sure you're going to be OK walking home?" Jenkins asks. The two girls smile and one lifts up her arm to show him her bicep. "If anybody messes with us, I'll just use these," she says. "Believe me, we'll be fine."

Jenkins bids adieu to the young workers and runs back through the evening's action. "Things ran pretty smooth," he says. "We had a couple of staffing issues, so we had to move some people around. We made it through, though. We have a lot of people and I get a lot of help from all directions. We're ready for anything here. We try to put on a good show."

Jenkins remained calm, cool and collected throughout the night, even as he made his pregame rounds, making sure each concession stand was stocked with not only the general fare, but with employees to get it to the fans. "The toughest thing here is staffing," he says. "We can always get a case of hot dogs or a case of french fries. The toughest thing is getting people to show up. We have over 150 seasonal, part-time and volunteers, but we push 200 on busy nights."

While the Bulls feature a variety of items, including a low-carb menu, Jenkins says fans fall back to the classics. "The biggest seller has to be the basics—hot dogs. There's a lot of things on the landscape now with the Atkins diet and people wanting to eat healthy, but they still come to the ballpark to eat hot dogs."

They're eating hot dogs in the owner's box, but these are delivered to the box, for free, a significant difference from what goes on below on the main concourse. The Bulls use this box to entertain sponsors when Goodmon isn't using it, and it's full tonight, with some people sitting out in the balcony seats watching the game, while others make use of the pool table and a couple of kids play checkers.

And in the back of the box, Tammy Bridges is cutting hair. It's her first season at the hair cutter here, and she says it's a nice change of pace from her day job, working at an investment firm. "Working there is my livelihood," she says. "Working here is my passion."

The Bulls offer it as an offbeat perk, and she cuts hair for fans in the box throughout the game as well as for the players before the gates open. On a busy night like tonight, she does 10 haircuts. The Bulls pay her an hourly wage, and the haircuts are free, though tips are always appreciated.

Bridges used to cut hair full-time in a salon, so she knows her way around a head of hair. But she says people are always hesitant at first, and usually send a child in for the initial haircut of the night.

"You wouldn't believe how many people ask, 'Are you the real thing?' " she says.