The other night when I was walking the dogs, I picked up a brick cast aside in a nearby woods. I needed it for the recipe that I’m preparing next week called Chicken Under A Brick so I brought it home with me. Apparently, the Italians have figured out magical way to grill chicken that uses the weight of an aluminum foil covered brick to press the bird forcefully against the the grill. After my success with Beer Can Chicken, I’m hoping for another “winner-winner-chicken-dinner.” It also got me thinking about bricks. 

Eleven years ago I got a unique birthday present from my wife, when the Cubs were offering personalized commemorative bricks to be placed on the grounds of Wrigley Field. “3 Generations – Mike Adam Gavyn 9/10/2007.” My dad, Burt, should probably have been included as the Fourth Generation and his dad, Bill, the Fifth in a long line of family Cub fans. However, as my wife explains, it was the date of the first Cubs game for my grandson in the company of myself, my son, and my only nephew (three generations). In a similar manner, I bought my parents their own brick in front of Nick’s on the campus of Indiana University where they met, and I’m pretty sure they included my name on one of the pavers in the downtown plaza of our hometown of Elkhart, Indiana.

I grew up in Indiana as a fan of both basketball and auto racing. The one-class Indiana High School basketball tournament and the Indy 500 were both captivating annual Hoosier traditions. I certainly launched my fair share of “bricks” off the rim trying to perfect my round-ball shooting skills on the basketball court. A “brick” is an errant shot but not as bad as an “air ball.” I grabbed a ball at a local fitness club recently after years of not touching one, and the result was nothing but “bricks and/or air balls.” 

On a couple of special occasions I’ve driven a race car, but never as part of a race. I once got to drive my personal car on the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway known as the Brickyard.  In 1909 the original surface of crushed rock and tar was replaced with 3.2 million bricks. In October 1961, it was all topped with asphalt leaving only a 36” strip at the start/finish line now known as the “yard of bricks.” It’s worth kissing! I also attended the inaugural Brickyard 400 back on 8/6/1994 won by a Hoosier high school graduate named Jeff Gordon. This year it will be known as the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard Powered by Florida Georgia Line. The naming rights must have cost a pile of gold bricks! . 

When I think of brickyards, for some reason I recall a former neighborhood in East Chicago, Indiana primarily inhabited by African Americans, many of which were employed by a nearby brickyard. When I was in high school, the East Chicago Roosevelt Roughriders were the top basketball team in the state, including the championship in 1970. The East Chicago Washington Senators won it the following year. The area was a basketball hotbed, with great shooters who rarely laid a brick. Speaking of Chicago, I also recall WGN TV and Radio play-by-play sportscaster Jack Brickhouse on Cubs and White Sox games growing up. He was the predecessor of Harry Carey, who are both enshrined as Hall of Fame broadcasting legends.

The long lasting endurance of brick construction dates as far back as 7500 BC, while the tallest brick structure in the world is the 1,046 foot high Chrysler Building in New York City, also home of a gastropub named The Brickyard. Nearby Newark, New Jersey is nicknamed “Brick City.” Plus, everyone knows the story of The Three Little Pigs and how the Big Bad Wolf huffed and puffed but couldn’t blow down the brick house, after destroying the others made out of straw and sticks. You’ve also heard the phrase, “Built like a brick sh**house,” and sang along with the The Commodores 1977 dance hit, Brick House. On a similar note, Jethro Tull’s album Thick as a Brick was released in 1972, and Pink Floyd’s rock opera Another Brick in the Wall came out in 1979. Finally, there is an Atlanta-based band named Brick that coined the word “dazz” after their unique disco-jazz style of music.

You don’t have to go far to find a restaurant, bar, or pizza joint named “Brick House” – just “follow the yellow brick road.” It not only leads to Oz, but also takes you to the slot machines at the Las Vegas MGM Hotel. All the big stars are promoted on the giant marques that you find only in Vegas, and engraved on what could be considered to be “star-shaped bricks” on the sidewalks of Hollywood. Does a brick have to be square or rectangular? No matter what shape, it’s a form of immortality that you can buy. The bottom line is if you can’t have your name in lights, at least put it on a brick.