Is there a better guy to eulogize the South Side Irish Parade than that true Chicago character -- the Old Neighborhood's most prolific goofball -- Mike Houlihan?
Oh, heck no.
On Sunday, Houli presented his thoughts on the parade's untimely death (Organizers killed it after certain revelers acted like fools lat year) at a "Parade Wake" at the Beverly Wood Restaurant.
Houli begs the question: Is the parade really dead?
It starts this way:
"Only the Good die young ... and our South Side Irish Paddy's Day parade was oh so young.
Certainly too young to die.
Born on St. Patrick's Day in 1979, she would be 31 years this Wednesday. 31 years. I'm almost twice as old as that.
When I was 31, well, I acted like a goof sometimes myself. But nobody said, "He got drunk and embarrassed us, let's kill him."
No they didn't. They believed in me. They saw the potential for something greater in me and never withdrew their love and support.
But South Side Paddy ... Well, is SHE really dead?
You've got to listen to the rest: SouthSideIrishParadeeulogy.WMA
By the way, James "Skinny" Sheahan -- Mayor Daley's former parade czar -- predicts the parade will be back next year. Why?
Because without it, Beverly is Irish, but "boring."
And take a listen to the Chicago Police Department's Pipes and Drums playing inside Dingers Sunday afternoon: CPDPIPESANDDRUMS.WMA
At his best, Mark Konkol is a White Sox fan. He lives on the South Side. He
enjoys cold beer. At one time or another over the last 10 years, he's covered Chicago and Cook County government, city schools, transportation and the ins-and-outs of neighborhood life. E-mail him at 
