The first question of course would be - what makes these the first of the "Modern" TBOX's?  Well, it was after TBOX10 that we once again felt we'd reached an "inflection" point where TBOX was bound for even bigger and better things... and where TBOX moved to its "All-Wrigley" format of taking place entirely between Roscoe and Grace streets along Clark and Sheffield.  TBOX11 was also the first year of the Long, Rectangular Badges and the first year -- yes, it was that recent -- the first year the term "Royal Court" was used officially, to designate the Top 30 Badge Numbers.  But, several things were different about TBOX11 from today... 1) instead of license plates, we decided to hand-make 30 gigiantic styrofoam cutout, hand-painted, glitter-glued giant cutout numbers like the candles on a kids' birthday cake -- to say the least, they were 'unwieldy"  2) instead of the professionally made slick badges we now have, this was the last year I -- ahem -- had friends' employers' generously "loan" me the services of their companies color printers after hours, then use a paper cutter to cut those into thirds, then hand-laminate each one with the individual single-sheet-per-shot laminating machines one of my other friends had given me. Ugh, what a nightmare!!  If you happen to have a TBOX11 badge and compare it to today's, you'll see the difference, and 3) this was the last year before we split the whole route into halves or quarters, and everyone - that's right, everyone - all went together on the same route, leading to some long, long lines and crowds, and 4) this was the last year we didn't start and end at Cubby Bear -- we had our customer service desk still at Blarney Stone, and this year, started at Casey Moran's, but, we just, well, started drinking, no opening ceremonies or anything.  I did rent a limo for the Royal Court and about 20 of us took the 3-block ride from Blarney to Casey Moran's, but honestly, it was quite unspectacular - which led us to come up with the supercharged ceremonies of today.

TBOX11 was also the first year of the TBOX Intern Program, and it kind of started like this... when TBOX was smaller and newer, I pretty much knew everyone or would meet everyone on the crawl.  As it grew, I didn't really get to meet everyone, and believe it or not, I didn't really dress crazy or do anything particular to draw attention to myself.  And though I did have friends and then employees helping me at the past few TBOX's, Fred suggested that I should get some people to be my "interns" -- attend to me during the day, carry my stuff, get drinks, take pictures, etc... the joke being, like someone would actually need a "pub crawl intern".  This partly got inspired by one of my favorite Seinfeld episodes, (you may see the script here) -- the one where Kramer gets an actual Intern to handle his affairs and help him focus on his Big Picture projects.  The exchange that really caught my ear was:

Kramer: Well, apparently the University is very enthusiastic about their students getting some real world corporate experience.
Jerry: But unfortunately, you only provide Fantasy World corporate experience.

Well, that seemed to fit me to a T... and it really locked in when, at the Taste of Randolph in June 2006, these 2 women I didn't know came up to me at our Sponsor Hospitality Booth.  They introduced themselves as Virginia and Michelle, they had brought 2 cases of beer and a cooler, and they were both wearing t-shirts with my picture on them, and they said "Chris, we came to TBOX last year and loved it, and we'll do ANYTHING to be on the Royal Court next year" - my mind raced but I quickly replied, "How would you gals like to be my Official TBOX Interns this year?"  And the rest was history. They worked at our booth the rest of the day, for free, and that December, became the first generation of TBOX Interns.  I bought them both whips to keep people from crowding me, and appointed them 8A and 8B.  And they were awesome!

TBOX11 was also the first year I dressed crazy - I got a fake fur coat on eBay - and someone had also made me a little name-plate pin badge that said "Mr. Festa".  And in discussions with Fred, I came to the conclusion, that TBOX was my big day, and people might as well know who I am... the one day I could truly get away with acting like a Narcissistic, Megalomaniacal Man-Child -- and we were off and running, totaling about 3,400 people total.

Mr. Festa, Tony Y, Tony F with the Giant Hand-Made Royal Numbers

The Original TBOX Interns, Virginia and Michelle, and My Fake Fur Coat

Group with the Handwritten TBOX11 Frame

Girl Wearing Some of the Old Stickers, The First Green "Make Out" Sticker, and Tony F with Giant Number

Future #1 Harold's 5th TBOX but first appearance with "The Boy Scout / Girl Scout Troop" (He is #20 Here, Shown with #4 Tracey and #3 Fuji)

Interns, Fuji, and Tracey, with Old Return Address Stickers and the First Whips

A "Bursting With Fruit Flavor" Cereal Shot at TBOX11