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can you see the real me?
My name is Mark Vasko and I am a veteran sports and newscaster in Chicago. After graduating from SIU as Sports Director of student station WIDB, I worked in Aurora for 13 years combined at WMRO and then WKKD. My move into Chicago included time at WBBM and WSCR. My national radio resume includes experience at 1 on 1 Sports, Sporting News Radio and Yahoo Sports Radio. ( It's complicated but those 3 were all basically the same network with different names.) I spent 14 years and did over 1000 broadcasts in professional baseball for the Kane County Cougars, Cook County Cheetahs, Joliet JackHammers and Joliet Slammers. I also spent five years as a regular guest on the 'Chicago Tribune Live' TV program on Comcast SportsNet Chicago with more than 100 TV appearances. My last two full-time radio jobs ended prematurely. I was the morning-drive news anchor for the Illinois Radio Network before the network moved to Springfield, and then my time as afternoon-drive anchor with the U.S. Traffic Network ended as their radio division, then entire company folded. I called games for Aurora U. and Benedictine U. for more than a decade each and have completed my 20th and final season as the play-by-play voice of Lewis University basketball on WJOL in Joliet. (It's time to spend more weekends at home, and there is plenty of overlap in my resume, btw. I've usually worked 2 or 3 jobs at a time for most of my radio career. Most of my BenU and Lewis U. pbp was actually done at the same time. I worked 6 or 7 days a week for just about all of my career. I basically worked every weekend and holiday for more than 20 years straight so I am enjoying slowing things down a bit to say the least.
My wife and I run for fun and so we can eat pizza and ice cream. I have finished two marathons and two half marathons in recent years. Chris has finished three marathons and a 50k. Keeping up with her is an impossible task but I will keep trying. This pandemic and then parental health issues etc. have cut into our running but not our eating, so we have some work to do to get back in shape, lol. I've been working at a friend's coin shop since USTN went out of business and was doing my Lewis play-by-play on the side.
My YouTube page features all sorts of examples of my play-by-play, sportscasts, newscasts and talk shows from over the years, plus some of my favorite songs as well https://www.youtube.com/user/markov700/videos
4/23/2024
Happy 110th birthday to Wrigley Field. This picture is from April of 1914.
I spent quite a few Sunday doubleheaders at Wrigley and quite a few Ladies Days at the ballpark as well. My Grandma Mabel lived at the corner of Clark and Irving when I was a kid. On several Ladies Days we would park at her building's parking lot and all walk the four blocks to the ballpark. You could see the upper deck from her 6th floor bedroom (or was it 7th floor, I can't remember). The park was never full or even close to it, back in the day. For reference, the Cubs averaged under 13 thousand per game in the mid 70's, which is the era I am talking about. That summer of 1984, when they won the Division, they only averaged 26 thousand per game. There was never a doubt you could show up at the park the day of the game and sit anywhere you wanted until about 25 years ago. Even as recently as 1997 they only averaged 27 thousand per game. When I was a kid, the only question was whether or not they would even open up the upper deck to fans. Most of the times I was there, they did not. The day the Phillies beat the Cubs 23-22 in 1979 and Dave Kingman hit one of his 3 home runs about 550 feet across Waveland Avenue onto the porch three houses down Kenmore Avenue, the attendance was under 15 thousand.
Highlights I saw in person include the day I saw Billy Williams go 8 for 8 plus a sac fly in a doubleheader vs. Houston and of course the Sandberg game. I was there with my Dad and brother that day. It was part of my brother Mike's bachelor party! I also saw Greg Maddux beat the Cubs in 2 hours, 7 minutes. and I spend most of the summer of 1984 as a leftfield bleacher bum and was there the day the Sarge passed out bicycle caps with the sergeant logo on them! I also covered game 2 of that year's NLCS as well. Eventually being the baseball beat-reporter for WBBM for a couple summers and going to Wrigley every time the Cubs were at home over that period was really amazing. Having that press box as my workplace was a dream come true. Covering the Sosa-McGwire home run chase and being paid to be there dozens of times after growing up there was so much fun. As a fan I even saw the Bears play there once and saw the Chicago Sting there multiple times as well. I've even seen two Bruce Springsteen concerts at Wrigley. Who knew that would happen? Thanks for all the memories to that grand ole gal at Clark and Addison.
Happy 110th birthday to Wrigley Field. This picture is from April of 1914.
I spent quite a few Sunday doubleheaders at Wrigley and quite a few Ladies Days at the ballpark as well. My Grandma Mabel lived at the corner of Clark and Irving when I was a kid. On several Ladies Days we would park at her building's parking lot and all walk the four blocks to the ballpark. You could see the upper deck from her 6th floor bedroom (or was it 7th floor, I can't remember). The park was never full or even close to it, back in the day. For reference, the Cubs averaged under 13 thousand per game in the mid 70's, which is the era I am talking about. That summer of 1984, when they won the Division, they only averaged 26 thousand per game. There was never a doubt you could show up at the park the day of the game and sit anywhere you wanted until about 25 years ago. Even as recently as 1997 they only averaged 27 thousand per game. When I was a kid, the only question was whether or not they would even open up the upper deck to fans. Most of the times I was there, they did not. The day the Phillies beat the Cubs 23-22 in 1979 and Dave Kingman hit one of his 3 home runs about 550 feet across Waveland Avenue onto the porch three houses down Kenmore Avenue, the attendance was under 15 thousand.
Highlights I saw in person include the day I saw Billy Williams go 8 for 8 plus a sac fly in a doubleheader vs. Houston and of course the Sandberg game. I was there with my Dad and brother that day. It was part of my brother Mike's bachelor party! I also saw Greg Maddux beat the Cubs in 2 hours, 7 minutes. and I spend most of the summer of 1984 as a leftfield bleacher bum and was there the day the Sarge passed out bicycle caps with the sergeant logo on them! I also covered game 2 of that year's NLCS as well. Eventually being the baseball beat-reporter for WBBM for a couple summers and going to Wrigley every time the Cubs were at home over that period was really amazing. Having that press box as my workplace was a dream come true. Covering the Sosa-McGwire home run chase and being paid to be there dozens of times after growing up there was so much fun. As a fan I even saw the Bears play there once and saw the Chicago Sting there multiple times as well. I've even seen two Bruce Springsteen concerts at Wrigley. Who knew that would happen? Thanks for all the memories to that grand ole gal at Clark and Addison.
4/19/2024
I wanted to write something about the best D1 Men's basketball team I ever regularly saw up close and I was even lucky enough to broadcast a few times, the 1990-'91 NIU Huskies. They won a school record 25 times that season and made the NCAA Tournament. At the time, I was the radio voice of the NIU Women's team that was in the middle of their historic run under coach Jane Albright so was on hand to watch that men's team all the time as well. I filled in for Bill Baker on the men's side when he had Football or other duties and seeing that team from courtside was really something. They were led by Donald Whiteside and Donnell Thomas. I was very fortunate to see them play and broadcast them a time or two each season throughout their careers. Whiteside ended up in the NBA, playing for the Toronto Raptors and Atlanta Hawks. D-Train would go on the play professionally in New Zealand and spent several seasons in Europe and in the CBA. At 6'4", he was a bit of a tweener for the NBA, as he was a zealous rebounder but probably not quite big enough to be given that opportunity in the Association. That Huskies team was second in the nation in scoring defense, allowing less that 58 points per game! They finished 25-6 under Jim Molinari and won the Mid-Con regular season title at 14-2. They fell to 2nd place Wis-Green Bay in the Conference Tourney Title game but earned their way into the NCAA Tourney with an At-Large berth as the 13-seed of the Midwest Regional in Dayton, Ohio against 4th seed St. John's. The Huskies lost in that first round 75-68 to end a great season. At one point they won 19 of 20 games that year. One of the games I got to broadcast that season was a 69-65 win over D3 Illinois Benedictine. Who knew I would later broadcast games for more than 10 years at that school! Whiteside was just electric and it tells you just how good Thomas was that D-Train was the one who led that team in scoring, not the player destined for the NBA. Thomas averaged 17 points and almost 9 rebounds per game as a senior. Getting to watch him play for four years was pretty amazing. The Robeson H.S. grad led the Huskies in scoring for 3 years and left as #2 on their all-time scoring list, number 4 all-time in rebounds. Whiteside, from Leo H.S., left NIU with 8 different 3-point shooting records and became only the 2nd Huskies player ever to have over 1000 points and 300 assists in a career. Making the NBA at only 5'10' tells you how talented he really was. Besides his shot, he was lightning quick and made things happen every time he touched the ball, almost never turning the ball over. Other stalwarts that season were Andrew Wells, Brian Molis, Mike Lipnisky and Antwon Harmon. The 1990-'91 women's team btw, won 24 games that season, so I was privileged to see and announce quite a few wins that winter. One of the bigger wins for the men that year was when they beat DePaul 70-61 at Chick Evans Fieldhouse. There were more than 6,200 fans in attendance, SportsChannel was there to put it on TV and Donnell delivered. He scored 20 points and pulled down 17 rebounds in that victory! The Demons were a 20 win team that year, finished 24th in the nation and also went to the NCAA Tournament, losing to Georgia Tech in that same Midwest Regional. The Huskies would fall to 17th ranked Nebraska in the regular season but had a wild 2ot win over Eastern Illinois just before that. Chick Evans was a great place to broadcast from and see a game. When it was packed, it was such a great atmosphere. I miss those days and think of them often. There was some great basketball played there and I was lucky to see quite a bit of it. Please and thank you.
I wanted to write something about the best D1 Men's basketball team I ever regularly saw up close and I was even lucky enough to broadcast a few times, the 1990-'91 NIU Huskies. They won a school record 25 times that season and made the NCAA Tournament. At the time, I was the radio voice of the NIU Women's team that was in the middle of their historic run under coach Jane Albright so was on hand to watch that men's team all the time as well. I filled in for Bill Baker on the men's side when he had Football or other duties and seeing that team from courtside was really something. They were led by Donald Whiteside and Donnell Thomas. I was very fortunate to see them play and broadcast them a time or two each season throughout their careers. Whiteside ended up in the NBA, playing for the Toronto Raptors and Atlanta Hawks. D-Train would go on the play professionally in New Zealand and spent several seasons in Europe and in the CBA. At 6'4", he was a bit of a tweener for the NBA, as he was a zealous rebounder but probably not quite big enough to be given that opportunity in the Association. That Huskies team was second in the nation in scoring defense, allowing less that 58 points per game! They finished 25-6 under Jim Molinari and won the Mid-Con regular season title at 14-2. They fell to 2nd place Wis-Green Bay in the Conference Tourney Title game but earned their way into the NCAA Tourney with an At-Large berth as the 13-seed of the Midwest Regional in Dayton, Ohio against 4th seed St. John's. The Huskies lost in that first round 75-68 to end a great season. At one point they won 19 of 20 games that year. One of the games I got to broadcast that season was a 69-65 win over D3 Illinois Benedictine. Who knew I would later broadcast games for more than 10 years at that school! Whiteside was just electric and it tells you just how good Thomas was that D-Train was the one who led that team in scoring, not the player destined for the NBA. Thomas averaged 17 points and almost 9 rebounds per game as a senior. Getting to watch him play for four years was pretty amazing. The Robeson H.S. grad led the Huskies in scoring for 3 years and left as #2 on their all-time scoring list, number 4 all-time in rebounds. Whiteside, from Leo H.S., left NIU with 8 different 3-point shooting records and became only the 2nd Huskies player ever to have over 1000 points and 300 assists in a career. Making the NBA at only 5'10' tells you how talented he really was. Besides his shot, he was lightning quick and made things happen every time he touched the ball, almost never turning the ball over. Other stalwarts that season were Andrew Wells, Brian Molis, Mike Lipnisky and Antwon Harmon. The 1990-'91 women's team btw, won 24 games that season, so I was privileged to see and announce quite a few wins that winter. One of the bigger wins for the men that year was when they beat DePaul 70-61 at Chick Evans Fieldhouse. There were more than 6,200 fans in attendance, SportsChannel was there to put it on TV and Donnell delivered. He scored 20 points and pulled down 17 rebounds in that victory! The Demons were a 20 win team that year, finished 24th in the nation and also went to the NCAA Tournament, losing to Georgia Tech in that same Midwest Regional. The Huskies would fall to 17th ranked Nebraska in the regular season but had a wild 2ot win over Eastern Illinois just before that. Chick Evans was a great place to broadcast from and see a game. When it was packed, it was such a great atmosphere. I miss those days and think of them often. There was some great basketball played there and I was lucky to see quite a bit of it. Please and thank you.
4/15/2024
I have lost another important part of my childhood as we all have lost former Cubs pitcher Kenny Holtzman, who passed away at the age of 78. He threw 2 no-hitters as a Cub and his career on the North Side should have been longer but Leo Durocher was an ass and Kenny had had enough of him and requested a trade that ended up with him going to Oakland after the 1971 season. Among other things, word was that Durocher used an antisemitic phrase towards him at one point. So chalk that up as another of Leo's many many unforgivable sins as Cubs skipper. Long after Leo left town Kenny returned to end his career as a Cub. Of course that scenario would repeat itself with Greg Maddux, although the evil villain that time was Larry Himes. We can never have nice things for very long here in Chicago. I've told this story before, I believe, but I put this picture here on purpose. If I was at home I would have watched his 1969 no-hitter in black-and-white but instead I was fortunate enough to watch it in Living Color! The only reason for that was I was with my Mom at Sears and stopped to watch the final two innings in their TV department. They had dozens of TV's and all were tuned into WGN. I wasn't going to budge, lol. I sent Mom on her way to buy sheets or whatever she needed to do and told her I was staying right here until the end! Although there was a very good chance we were also there to buy me clothes from the Husky Section, which wasn't traumatizing at all! No my lifelong weight battle wasn't affected by Sears calling me fat at all! Anyway, it was so much fun to see the final out on a large-for-1969 TV screen and in color. His second no-hitter came in Cincinnati in 1971. I just mentioned the other day that the 1972 Cubs was one of my favorite teams ever. They finished 2nd. Gee, maybe they would have won it with Holtzman still on the team! Rick Monday was a nice player but c'mon! A lefty ace is not someone you let get away but Leo was still in the dugout all season and I'm sure that was another reason they didn't win it. I'm trying not to think of how many games a rotation of Jenkins, Holtzman, Pappas, Hands and Burt Hooton would have won! Rick Reuschel was only 23 and was very good already in 18 starts but it would have been nice to have his control in the bullpen that year considering the immortal Dan McGinn was 0-5 out of the pen that summer with an ERA of about 6, allowing 78 hits in 62 innings in 42 appearances! Yes, Leo just kept putting him out there. Clown. They still managed to win 85 games despite that nitwit calling the shots. Holtzman would be an all-star for Oakland in 1972 with 19 wins, btw. He was an all-star again in 1973 with 21 wins. I'm still not mad at that at all!! His first four years with the A's he won 19, 21, 19 and 18 games and his highest ERA in that span was 3.14 in 1975. The former Illini star was and will always be a Cub. Yes he won multiple World Series elsewhere and his short stint in pinstripes means obituaries mention him as a former Yankee but to quite a few of us, Kenny is and always will be a Cub. Thanks for the fun.
I have lost another important part of my childhood as we all have lost former Cubs pitcher Kenny Holtzman, who passed away at the age of 78. He threw 2 no-hitters as a Cub and his career on the North Side should have been longer but Leo Durocher was an ass and Kenny had had enough of him and requested a trade that ended up with him going to Oakland after the 1971 season. Among other things, word was that Durocher used an antisemitic phrase towards him at one point. So chalk that up as another of Leo's many many unforgivable sins as Cubs skipper. Long after Leo left town Kenny returned to end his career as a Cub. Of course that scenario would repeat itself with Greg Maddux, although the evil villain that time was Larry Himes. We can never have nice things for very long here in Chicago. I've told this story before, I believe, but I put this picture here on purpose. If I was at home I would have watched his 1969 no-hitter in black-and-white but instead I was fortunate enough to watch it in Living Color! The only reason for that was I was with my Mom at Sears and stopped to watch the final two innings in their TV department. They had dozens of TV's and all were tuned into WGN. I wasn't going to budge, lol. I sent Mom on her way to buy sheets or whatever she needed to do and told her I was staying right here until the end! Although there was a very good chance we were also there to buy me clothes from the Husky Section, which wasn't traumatizing at all! No my lifelong weight battle wasn't affected by Sears calling me fat at all! Anyway, it was so much fun to see the final out on a large-for-1969 TV screen and in color. His second no-hitter came in Cincinnati in 1971. I just mentioned the other day that the 1972 Cubs was one of my favorite teams ever. They finished 2nd. Gee, maybe they would have won it with Holtzman still on the team! Rick Monday was a nice player but c'mon! A lefty ace is not someone you let get away but Leo was still in the dugout all season and I'm sure that was another reason they didn't win it. I'm trying not to think of how many games a rotation of Jenkins, Holtzman, Pappas, Hands and Burt Hooton would have won! Rick Reuschel was only 23 and was very good already in 18 starts but it would have been nice to have his control in the bullpen that year considering the immortal Dan McGinn was 0-5 out of the pen that summer with an ERA of about 6, allowing 78 hits in 62 innings in 42 appearances! Yes, Leo just kept putting him out there. Clown. They still managed to win 85 games despite that nitwit calling the shots. Holtzman would be an all-star for Oakland in 1972 with 19 wins, btw. He was an all-star again in 1973 with 21 wins. I'm still not mad at that at all!! His first four years with the A's he won 19, 21, 19 and 18 games and his highest ERA in that span was 3.14 in 1975. The former Illini star was and will always be a Cub. Yes he won multiple World Series elsewhere and his short stint in pinstripes means obituaries mention him as a former Yankee but to quite a few of us, Kenny is and always will be a Cub. Thanks for the fun.
4/15/2024
I first posted this story 8 years ago on this date. I wanted to re-post and expand on it today.
This ticket stub is from when I gave Ron Coomer his big break as a baseball broadcaster! lol. He made his radio debut as a baseball color man with yours truly back in 2001 on WJOL during our radio broadcast of the annual charity winter 'softball in the snow' game. Yes, tickets were only a quarter. The idea was to get you in the park in the middle of winter for all the fun that cold January day would provide and then have you contribute money in other ways once you got there. All the local area pro baseball players/umps would come back home and participate. Guys like Steve Parris, Scott Spiezio, Mark Carlson etc. would come out to play a charity game for the organization that was much like the "Make a Wish Foundation". The list of Joliet area ballplayers is pretty impressive, by the way, and also includes Mark Grant, Bill Gullickson, Sean Bergman, Kelly Dransfeldt, Larry Gura, Chris Michalak and many more. Jesse Barfield is about the only big name I can remember who did not come back and participate in the few years I was involved.
Another highlight for me was that Don Ladas would do the first few innings with me each year. The legendary Joliet broadcaster had seen all those players in person back in their high school days and the stories would be flowing just as much as the coffee and hot chocolate in that frigid press box. I love baseball. I love history. I love neighborhood radio. That day would always combine all those passions. The fact that my career got to include such great sports towns as Aurora and Joliet over the years will always be a highlight and something I am proud of.
Coomer, from Lockport High School, came up to the booth after he played a few innings that particular game and finished off the action with me on air. He was great and shared some wonderful stories as well. When the time came in 2013, I lobbied for him to replace Keith Moreland because I knew fans would love him. He was a natural. He also knew baseball inside and out and even ended up playing in Cubbie blue that 2001 season. He guested several times with me on my WJOL talk show thereafter. I could not be happier that he has settled in as the great color commentator he has turned out to be. Seeing that ticket stub brings back some great memories.
I first posted this story 8 years ago on this date. I wanted to re-post and expand on it today.
This ticket stub is from when I gave Ron Coomer his big break as a baseball broadcaster! lol. He made his radio debut as a baseball color man with yours truly back in 2001 on WJOL during our radio broadcast of the annual charity winter 'softball in the snow' game. Yes, tickets were only a quarter. The idea was to get you in the park in the middle of winter for all the fun that cold January day would provide and then have you contribute money in other ways once you got there. All the local area pro baseball players/umps would come back home and participate. Guys like Steve Parris, Scott Spiezio, Mark Carlson etc. would come out to play a charity game for the organization that was much like the "Make a Wish Foundation". The list of Joliet area ballplayers is pretty impressive, by the way, and also includes Mark Grant, Bill Gullickson, Sean Bergman, Kelly Dransfeldt, Larry Gura, Chris Michalak and many more. Jesse Barfield is about the only big name I can remember who did not come back and participate in the few years I was involved.
Another highlight for me was that Don Ladas would do the first few innings with me each year. The legendary Joliet broadcaster had seen all those players in person back in their high school days and the stories would be flowing just as much as the coffee and hot chocolate in that frigid press box. I love baseball. I love history. I love neighborhood radio. That day would always combine all those passions. The fact that my career got to include such great sports towns as Aurora and Joliet over the years will always be a highlight and something I am proud of.
Coomer, from Lockport High School, came up to the booth after he played a few innings that particular game and finished off the action with me on air. He was great and shared some wonderful stories as well. When the time came in 2013, I lobbied for him to replace Keith Moreland because I knew fans would love him. He was a natural. He also knew baseball inside and out and even ended up playing in Cubbie blue that 2001 season. He guested several times with me on my WJOL talk show thereafter. I could not be happier that he has settled in as the great color commentator he has turned out to be. Seeing that ticket stub brings back some great memories.
4/9/2024
We lost my Dad two years ago today. Still weird to not have him around. I'm so glad I took that first picture. On many of my days off we would grab our clubs and drive out to the Bourne Golf Club in Norway, Il near Ottawa. We'd drive out Route 71 to this great spot in the middle of nowhere with the most beautiful 9 hole course you could imagine. I'm sure I've mentioned it here but so many times we'd be the only ones on the course. One of the pluses of working just about every weekend on the radio was a day off during the work week for most others. On a beautiful summer Tuesday we'd pull into the parking lot and see only one or two other cars, tops. We'd play the 9 holes but really we played 27, because no one would be behind us and we'd just keep dropping balls and keep hitting til we got one we liked! That usually took a while, lol. We went there dozens of times over the years. I look back and cherish that time with him. We had such a good time together. We did that until his mid 80's. He really was in great shape until about 90 when nature started to take it's toll. That one picture brings back all sorts of good times. The other picture I've talked about too. He always had that transistor radio with him, listening to the Cubs no matter where he was or what he was doing. Like I said in his eulogy, if you want to know why I went into radio as a profession that picture tells the entire story. He eventually would listen to me on that transistor. That's all you need to know. I miss you sir. Always will. |
4/7/2024
One of the things I will never forget about playing for Bill Seiple as a sophomore at Naperville North was in a team meeting where he told us 'Don't ever come to me during the school day to see if we are playing today. WE ARE PLAYING TODAY." lol. "We are playing no matter what." We did. I'm not sure if it was at Palatine or Naperville but I do remember being in position at first base in the middle of a game as it was sleeting/snowing with about a 25 degree wind chill. I literally had a winter glove on under my first baseman's mitt as sleet was hitting me in the face as I tried to see the pitch cross the plate. lol. And definitely while on Varsity at NNHS, I rushed through my ACT test, then ran out to play in a Saturday DVC doubleheader during a day long, cold 7 hour rain. With a bad cold. Welcome to baseball in Chicagoland.
One of the things I will never forget about playing for Bill Seiple as a sophomore at Naperville North was in a team meeting where he told us 'Don't ever come to me during the school day to see if we are playing today. WE ARE PLAYING TODAY." lol. "We are playing no matter what." We did. I'm not sure if it was at Palatine or Naperville but I do remember being in position at first base in the middle of a game as it was sleeting/snowing with about a 25 degree wind chill. I literally had a winter glove on under my first baseman's mitt as sleet was hitting me in the face as I tried to see the pitch cross the plate. lol. And definitely while on Varsity at NNHS, I rushed through my ACT test, then ran out to play in a Saturday DVC doubleheader during a day long, cold 7 hour rain. With a bad cold. Welcome to baseball in Chicagoland.
4/1/2024
Happy Cubs Home Opener. I mentioned that my favorite White Sox team of my boyhood was the 1972 team. My favorite boyhood Cubs teams were the 1969 and 1972 clubs. Essentially they were the same rosters. Other than the World Series Cubs of 2016, my absolute favorite team was the 1989 Cubs under Don Zimmer. The Boys of Zimmer were so much fun. They won the NL East at 93-69, only to lose to the Giants in the NLCS 4 games to 1. As disappointing as that defeat was, it did not erase the enjoyment of that summer. Zimmer is still my favorite Cubs skipper, mainly for that season in which he managed by the seat of his pants and every single move he made worked, or so it seemed. It was remarkable. Every pinch hitter, reliever etc. seemed to be just what that game needed, regardless of whether or not that move made sense on paper. He went with his gut and that considerable gut was right almost all the time. Every squeeze bunt seemed to work. Every hit-and-run produced a run and so on. Joyful, I'm telling you. The Division winning 1984 Cubs were certainly fun. Hell, I was a leftfield bleacher bum for most of that summer and got to cover that team in the NLCS. I loved every minute of that season. It was a magical and rare run. The loss to the Padres in that NLCS though, soured that season since up two games to none, a trip to the World Series seemed assured. When it didn't happen, the pain lingered for a very long time. 1989 was different somehow. That summer was such a joy that anything in the postseason was just icing on the cake, so the loss the San Fran wasn't as painful somehow. And that group of guys was such a historic group for me. The pitching staff of Greg Maddux, Rick Sutcliffe, Scott Sanderson, Mike Bielecki, Mitch Williams etc. was iconic to me. Add in guys like Mark Grace, Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, Shawon Dunston, Jerome Walton, Dwight Smith, Joe Girardi and even guys like Doug Dascenzo and Lloyd McClendon are still some of my all-time favorites. Don't forget the Cubs were perennially awful. 1984 was an outlier. That 1972 team was the last great team of my childhood. From that year through 1989, the Cubs finished under .500 every single season but 1984. It was a string of 15 of 16 seasons finishing under .500 until the Boys of Zimmer. Dreadful. 1989 was a breath of fresh air. Rookie Jerome Walton was great right out of the gate and his debut included a 30 game hitting streak. That season also featured a game where they trailed 9-0 after five innings against Houston and won! The Cardinals made a late run and made it an exciting finish that took us to the last week of the regular season. Fun. These Cubs weren't patient at the plate waiting for walks. They hit. Hit. Hit. They led the league in batting average and just singled teams to death and created runs. They were last in taking walks. They did not pound out homers. They just kept hitting is all. Mitch Williams was never boring, always made you sweat but earned 36 exciting saves. Greg Maddux was Greg Maddux. He won 19 games with an ERA of 2.95. Ryno did it all that summer. His on-base was .356 with 30 homers. Dawson added j21 of his own. Grace was his usual superb self with an on-base of .405, 28 doubles and even stole 14 bases. An early 7 game win streak let us know this would be interesting. The Cubs led by 4 1/2 games in August but a 6 game losing streak made things a bit too interesting, lol, but they managed to hold off St. Louis with a big series win to seal the deal vs. Montreal with a few games to play. Sutcliffe won 16 games that summer and Bielecki was tremendous at 18-7. Wil Clark was unstoppable in the NLCS though. He hit .650 in those 5 games with 2 homers and 8 rbis. Mark Grace was almost as good for the Cubs, hitting .647 with 1 home run. It was not good enough but that summer was more than enough for me. I loved every minute of it. There have been other postseasons and fun summers since, but only the World Series summer and fall come close to the excitement and enjoyment of 1989. A long time ago now but I will always remember it. Please and thank you.
Happy Cubs Home Opener. I mentioned that my favorite White Sox team of my boyhood was the 1972 team. My favorite boyhood Cubs teams were the 1969 and 1972 clubs. Essentially they were the same rosters. Other than the World Series Cubs of 2016, my absolute favorite team was the 1989 Cubs under Don Zimmer. The Boys of Zimmer were so much fun. They won the NL East at 93-69, only to lose to the Giants in the NLCS 4 games to 1. As disappointing as that defeat was, it did not erase the enjoyment of that summer. Zimmer is still my favorite Cubs skipper, mainly for that season in which he managed by the seat of his pants and every single move he made worked, or so it seemed. It was remarkable. Every pinch hitter, reliever etc. seemed to be just what that game needed, regardless of whether or not that move made sense on paper. He went with his gut and that considerable gut was right almost all the time. Every squeeze bunt seemed to work. Every hit-and-run produced a run and so on. Joyful, I'm telling you. The Division winning 1984 Cubs were certainly fun. Hell, I was a leftfield bleacher bum for most of that summer and got to cover that team in the NLCS. I loved every minute of that season. It was a magical and rare run. The loss to the Padres in that NLCS though, soured that season since up two games to none, a trip to the World Series seemed assured. When it didn't happen, the pain lingered for a very long time. 1989 was different somehow. That summer was such a joy that anything in the postseason was just icing on the cake, so the loss the San Fran wasn't as painful somehow. And that group of guys was such a historic group for me. The pitching staff of Greg Maddux, Rick Sutcliffe, Scott Sanderson, Mike Bielecki, Mitch Williams etc. was iconic to me. Add in guys like Mark Grace, Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, Shawon Dunston, Jerome Walton, Dwight Smith, Joe Girardi and even guys like Doug Dascenzo and Lloyd McClendon are still some of my all-time favorites. Don't forget the Cubs were perennially awful. 1984 was an outlier. That 1972 team was the last great team of my childhood. From that year through 1989, the Cubs finished under .500 every single season but 1984. It was a string of 15 of 16 seasons finishing under .500 until the Boys of Zimmer. Dreadful. 1989 was a breath of fresh air. Rookie Jerome Walton was great right out of the gate and his debut included a 30 game hitting streak. That season also featured a game where they trailed 9-0 after five innings against Houston and won! The Cardinals made a late run and made it an exciting finish that took us to the last week of the regular season. Fun. These Cubs weren't patient at the plate waiting for walks. They hit. Hit. Hit. They led the league in batting average and just singled teams to death and created runs. They were last in taking walks. They did not pound out homers. They just kept hitting is all. Mitch Williams was never boring, always made you sweat but earned 36 exciting saves. Greg Maddux was Greg Maddux. He won 19 games with an ERA of 2.95. Ryno did it all that summer. His on-base was .356 with 30 homers. Dawson added j21 of his own. Grace was his usual superb self with an on-base of .405, 28 doubles and even stole 14 bases. An early 7 game win streak let us know this would be interesting. The Cubs led by 4 1/2 games in August but a 6 game losing streak made things a bit too interesting, lol, but they managed to hold off St. Louis with a big series win to seal the deal vs. Montreal with a few games to play. Sutcliffe won 16 games that summer and Bielecki was tremendous at 18-7. Wil Clark was unstoppable in the NLCS though. He hit .650 in those 5 games with 2 homers and 8 rbis. Mark Grace was almost as good for the Cubs, hitting .647 with 1 home run. It was not good enough but that summer was more than enough for me. I loved every minute of it. There have been other postseasons and fun summers since, but only the World Series summer and fall come close to the excitement and enjoyment of 1989. A long time ago now but I will always remember it. Please and thank you.
3/28/2024
Happy Opening Day and Sox home opener. This is from the 1972 Opening Day at Comiskey. That is my favorite White Sox team. Yes, I am a Cubs fan but I have always liked and rooted for the Sox as well. Yes it is possible. I've lived it. That is Bill Melton, Dick Allen and Carlos May. Add in Walt Williams, Pat Kelly, Jorge Orta, BeeBee Richard, Wilbur Wood, Goose Gossage, Terry Forster, Stan Bahnsen and more. I was 11. I loved baseball. Chicago baseball. All Chicago baseball. This team finished 87-67, 2nd in the AL West. A playoff team nowadays of course but not back in the day. They deserved a postseason and did not get one. The A's won the division and the World Series. Those will always be my favorite Sox uniforms because those are my White Sox and always will be. Again, having Bill Melton do color commentary for me for two years with the Kane County Cougars was such a thrill. He and Santo were and are my third basemen. By the way, the 1972 Cubs finished 2nd in the NL East at 85-70 and also deserved the postseason. We haven't had too many years of both teams in the playoffs the same year obviously. They both should have been playing into October in 1972. That Cubs team was still basically the 1969 Cubs lineup except for Ernie Banks. Add in Jose Cardenal, Jim Hickman, Burt Hooton and Rick Reuschel and that is one of my favorite Cubs teams as well. 1972 seems like another lifetime ago now but baseball and Opening Day always brings that life back to you each Spring. I'm glad it did that for me today. Please and thank you.
Happy Opening Day and Sox home opener. This is from the 1972 Opening Day at Comiskey. That is my favorite White Sox team. Yes, I am a Cubs fan but I have always liked and rooted for the Sox as well. Yes it is possible. I've lived it. That is Bill Melton, Dick Allen and Carlos May. Add in Walt Williams, Pat Kelly, Jorge Orta, BeeBee Richard, Wilbur Wood, Goose Gossage, Terry Forster, Stan Bahnsen and more. I was 11. I loved baseball. Chicago baseball. All Chicago baseball. This team finished 87-67, 2nd in the AL West. A playoff team nowadays of course but not back in the day. They deserved a postseason and did not get one. The A's won the division and the World Series. Those will always be my favorite Sox uniforms because those are my White Sox and always will be. Again, having Bill Melton do color commentary for me for two years with the Kane County Cougars was such a thrill. He and Santo were and are my third basemen. By the way, the 1972 Cubs finished 2nd in the NL East at 85-70 and also deserved the postseason. We haven't had too many years of both teams in the playoffs the same year obviously. They both should have been playing into October in 1972. That Cubs team was still basically the 1969 Cubs lineup except for Ernie Banks. Add in Jose Cardenal, Jim Hickman, Burt Hooton and Rick Reuschel and that is one of my favorite Cubs teams as well. 1972 seems like another lifetime ago now but baseball and Opening Day always brings that life back to you each Spring. I'm glad it did that for me today. Please and thank you.
3/26/2023
I mentioned in a recent post how Tai Streets and Melvin Ely's Thornton team topped Kevin Garnett and Ronnie Fields' Farragut team downstate 29 years ago and how Streets just might be the best all around athlete this state ever produced. I said he certainly is at least in the team picture. I was fortunate to have broadcast that game in question and was also lucky enough to broadcast multiple games of another star athlete that has to be in the team picture for best all around athlete the State of Illinois has ever produced. I'm talking about Kent Graham. The 6'5" star quarterback for the 1986 Class 5A State Champion Wheaton North Falcons was named the National High School Quarterback of the Year for his senior season. He of course went on to play for Notre Dame under Lou Holtz, but that option offense was not Kent's cup of tea so he moved on to start at Ohio State before playing 9 years in the NFL. I got to see his star predecessor at Wheaton North in Chuck Long as he played against my Naperville North Huskies. Long is one year younger than I am. So I knew what a great quarterback looked like. His Falcons then produced Graham who did not just play football. He was a multi-year All-Conference basketball player and a .400 hitter in baseball as well. Playing all three sports obviously did not hurt his football career. Concentrating on one sport is never something I will endorse. Graham could do it all. I was lucky enough to watch him star in all three sports. Again, I broadcast the Naperville high schools for WKKD FM from the mid 80's through the mid '90's so I got to announce him playing vs. North and Central in each sport and and I would pick up the DVC teams that advanced through the football playoffs as well, all the way to the Championship games. I remember his hitting many clutch shots on the basketball court and his football obviously was second to none. Basketball-wise, Graham led his Falcons to 3 straight Sectionals and one trip to the Supers. He was All-DVC as a freshman! As a baseball player at least half of the Major League teams offered him tryouts. On the football field Coach Rexilius considered starting him as a freshman! Coach Rex decided to let him progress without that kind of pressure though. He eventually threw for over 17 hundred yards as his team defeated Mt. Carmel for the 1986 Title. Graham only passed for 96 yards in the Championship game as he sat out some of the contest with a dislocated shoulder or those numbers would have easily topped 18 hundred. Again though I got to broadcast multiple football, basketball and baseball games with Graham impressing in all three sports each and every time over multiple seasons. There are many other athletes I was lucky enough to see up close but few as many times and in as many sports as Graham. He was something special.
I mentioned in a recent post how Tai Streets and Melvin Ely's Thornton team topped Kevin Garnett and Ronnie Fields' Farragut team downstate 29 years ago and how Streets just might be the best all around athlete this state ever produced. I said he certainly is at least in the team picture. I was fortunate to have broadcast that game in question and was also lucky enough to broadcast multiple games of another star athlete that has to be in the team picture for best all around athlete the State of Illinois has ever produced. I'm talking about Kent Graham. The 6'5" star quarterback for the 1986 Class 5A State Champion Wheaton North Falcons was named the National High School Quarterback of the Year for his senior season. He of course went on to play for Notre Dame under Lou Holtz, but that option offense was not Kent's cup of tea so he moved on to start at Ohio State before playing 9 years in the NFL. I got to see his star predecessor at Wheaton North in Chuck Long as he played against my Naperville North Huskies. Long is one year younger than I am. So I knew what a great quarterback looked like. His Falcons then produced Graham who did not just play football. He was a multi-year All-Conference basketball player and a .400 hitter in baseball as well. Playing all three sports obviously did not hurt his football career. Concentrating on one sport is never something I will endorse. Graham could do it all. I was lucky enough to watch him star in all three sports. Again, I broadcast the Naperville high schools for WKKD FM from the mid 80's through the mid '90's so I got to announce him playing vs. North and Central in each sport and and I would pick up the DVC teams that advanced through the football playoffs as well, all the way to the Championship games. I remember his hitting many clutch shots on the basketball court and his football obviously was second to none. Basketball-wise, Graham led his Falcons to 3 straight Sectionals and one trip to the Supers. He was All-DVC as a freshman! As a baseball player at least half of the Major League teams offered him tryouts. On the football field Coach Rexilius considered starting him as a freshman! Coach Rex decided to let him progress without that kind of pressure though. He eventually threw for over 17 hundred yards as his team defeated Mt. Carmel for the 1986 Title. Graham only passed for 96 yards in the Championship game as he sat out some of the contest with a dislocated shoulder or those numbers would have easily topped 18 hundred. Again though I got to broadcast multiple football, basketball and baseball games with Graham impressing in all three sports each and every time over multiple seasons. There are many other athletes I was lucky enough to see up close but few as many times and in as many sports as Graham. He was something special.
3/23/2024
Coaches Matt Painter and Paul Lusk could very well lead Purdue deep into the NCAA Tournament in the coming weeks. As a former Saluki myself, nothing would make me happier. Painter took SIU to the NCAA's as head coach and Lusk played for the Salukis and then coached under Painter. Now they could very well take the Boilermakers to the Final Four. But when I saw long time SIU broadcaster Mike Reis link to a West Lafayette article about Lusk, the first thing I thought about was not Purdue or SIU basketball, but about the Trenton-Wesclin 1990 Class A double-overtime IHSA State Championship win over Fairbury Prairie Central in Champaign-Urbana. Lusk was the star of that State Championship team and I was lucky enough to broadcast that game for WKKD. Lusk is one of a handful of names that I will always associate with Class A basketball here in Illinois no matter what else they have accomplished since then. For all the big names like Kevin Garnett I talked about in my previous post, it was the small schools Elite 8 games at Assembly Hall that gave me the most enjoyment in my dozen or so years broadcasting all the downstate State Tournament action. With that in mind I thought I would write a little about some of my favorite Class A players or all-time. I'm not even saying best or highest scoring etc., I am just saying my favorites. My first paying gig was 10 dollars a game to broadcast football and basketball for the Murphysboro Red Devils for WINI Radio while a student at SIU. I really enjoyed those downstate small school gyms I saw then like Harrisburg, Benton etc. and had an affinity for thoses teams when I saw them play at U of I.
I will start with Lusk. Again, his name will always bring back memories of the 1990 State Tournament to me. That tourney was also memorable because we had a local Aurora team downstate in Aurora Christian and their Marc Davidson was that weekend's highest scorer. Both Trenton-Wesclin and Aurora Christian won their quarterfinal matches and faced off in one of the semifinals. Each of their fathers were their respective coaches by the way and that game was a wild one. Lusk scored an astonishing 34 points in that game while teammate Brent Brede had 24 to help them win the game 83-71. Davidson's 22 points and 10 rebounds were not enough. Lusk, who had 15 points in their quarterfinal win over Shelbyville, scored 15 of those 34 points from the free throw line and hit on one 3-pointer. Brede added 13 rebounds to help that two-man domination that day. Lusk was the go-to guy though with 23 shots in the game and the ball was usually in his hands for obvious reasons. He was incredible. Brede was the unsung hero of that 1990 team though as he would go on to lead them in scoring in the Championship game with a spectacular 36 points. Fairbury concentrated on Lusk, who would still score 12 points of his own, so Brede took over. But it was Lusk would would seal the deal with free throws late and Brede, Davidson and Lusk would end up as 3 of the 5 All-Tournament selections. Lusk and his performance against our local team in the semis is why I will always think of his time in high school more than anything he does as a coach.
Next is another player turned coach in Thad Matta. He has had tremdous success as head coach at Ohio State and Butler, including Final Fours, but he will always be the star of the Hoopeston East Lynn Cornjerkers to me, lol. Matta took them downstate in 1984 and then to 3rd place in 1985 and then his teammate Kevin Root led them to 3rd place again in 1986. I first saw Matta in Champaign in '84 when his team fell to Mt. Pulaski in the quarterfinals despite his 12 points and 14 rebounds. You could tell he was special. He and Root brought them back in 1985 and they topped Pittsfield in the quarterfinal with his great all around game of 11 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals. The problem next was that they ran into Lowell Hamilton and Fernando Bunch of Providence St-Mel in the semi. The Cornjerkers lost by 11 but again Matta was spectacular with 23 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals. Thankfully there was a 3rd place game so I got to see him play one more time and they beat Harvard 84-70 to get that 3rd place trophy. All he did in that game was score 34 points! So yes, he will always be that high school star to me.
There are many more on my list of favorites including the memorable 1992 Elite 8 that included Kent Payne of Elgin St. Edward and Jerry Gee of St. Martin de Porres but the last name I want to talk about here is Jeff Luechtefeld of Okawville in 1987. He jumped out in their easy quarterfinal win over Watseka 75-56. Luechtefeld helped his team roll with 24 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Okawville then shut down Beardstown 49-35 in the semi. He led the way with 17 points, 9 boards, 5 assists and 4 steals. He did everything. Venice edged the Rockets 56-54 in the Championship game but Luechtefeld did all he could do with 29 points! Jesse Hall was the star of that Venice team and was a great scorer but Luechtefeld was the star of that tournament to me. He would go on to star at St. Louis U. where his teams would finish 2nd in the NIT twice. His name and all those others and more will always bring me back to Assembly Hall to all those small school Elite 8 weekends that were so much fun. Please and thank you.
Coaches Matt Painter and Paul Lusk could very well lead Purdue deep into the NCAA Tournament in the coming weeks. As a former Saluki myself, nothing would make me happier. Painter took SIU to the NCAA's as head coach and Lusk played for the Salukis and then coached under Painter. Now they could very well take the Boilermakers to the Final Four. But when I saw long time SIU broadcaster Mike Reis link to a West Lafayette article about Lusk, the first thing I thought about was not Purdue or SIU basketball, but about the Trenton-Wesclin 1990 Class A double-overtime IHSA State Championship win over Fairbury Prairie Central in Champaign-Urbana. Lusk was the star of that State Championship team and I was lucky enough to broadcast that game for WKKD. Lusk is one of a handful of names that I will always associate with Class A basketball here in Illinois no matter what else they have accomplished since then. For all the big names like Kevin Garnett I talked about in my previous post, it was the small schools Elite 8 games at Assembly Hall that gave me the most enjoyment in my dozen or so years broadcasting all the downstate State Tournament action. With that in mind I thought I would write a little about some of my favorite Class A players or all-time. I'm not even saying best or highest scoring etc., I am just saying my favorites. My first paying gig was 10 dollars a game to broadcast football and basketball for the Murphysboro Red Devils for WINI Radio while a student at SIU. I really enjoyed those downstate small school gyms I saw then like Harrisburg, Benton etc. and had an affinity for thoses teams when I saw them play at U of I.
I will start with Lusk. Again, his name will always bring back memories of the 1990 State Tournament to me. That tourney was also memorable because we had a local Aurora team downstate in Aurora Christian and their Marc Davidson was that weekend's highest scorer. Both Trenton-Wesclin and Aurora Christian won their quarterfinal matches and faced off in one of the semifinals. Each of their fathers were their respective coaches by the way and that game was a wild one. Lusk scored an astonishing 34 points in that game while teammate Brent Brede had 24 to help them win the game 83-71. Davidson's 22 points and 10 rebounds were not enough. Lusk, who had 15 points in their quarterfinal win over Shelbyville, scored 15 of those 34 points from the free throw line and hit on one 3-pointer. Brede added 13 rebounds to help that two-man domination that day. Lusk was the go-to guy though with 23 shots in the game and the ball was usually in his hands for obvious reasons. He was incredible. Brede was the unsung hero of that 1990 team though as he would go on to lead them in scoring in the Championship game with a spectacular 36 points. Fairbury concentrated on Lusk, who would still score 12 points of his own, so Brede took over. But it was Lusk would would seal the deal with free throws late and Brede, Davidson and Lusk would end up as 3 of the 5 All-Tournament selections. Lusk and his performance against our local team in the semis is why I will always think of his time in high school more than anything he does as a coach.
Next is another player turned coach in Thad Matta. He has had tremdous success as head coach at Ohio State and Butler, including Final Fours, but he will always be the star of the Hoopeston East Lynn Cornjerkers to me, lol. Matta took them downstate in 1984 and then to 3rd place in 1985 and then his teammate Kevin Root led them to 3rd place again in 1986. I first saw Matta in Champaign in '84 when his team fell to Mt. Pulaski in the quarterfinals despite his 12 points and 14 rebounds. You could tell he was special. He and Root brought them back in 1985 and they topped Pittsfield in the quarterfinal with his great all around game of 11 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals. The problem next was that they ran into Lowell Hamilton and Fernando Bunch of Providence St-Mel in the semi. The Cornjerkers lost by 11 but again Matta was spectacular with 23 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals. Thankfully there was a 3rd place game so I got to see him play one more time and they beat Harvard 84-70 to get that 3rd place trophy. All he did in that game was score 34 points! So yes, he will always be that high school star to me.
There are many more on my list of favorites including the memorable 1992 Elite 8 that included Kent Payne of Elgin St. Edward and Jerry Gee of St. Martin de Porres but the last name I want to talk about here is Jeff Luechtefeld of Okawville in 1987. He jumped out in their easy quarterfinal win over Watseka 75-56. Luechtefeld helped his team roll with 24 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Okawville then shut down Beardstown 49-35 in the semi. He led the way with 17 points, 9 boards, 5 assists and 4 steals. He did everything. Venice edged the Rockets 56-54 in the Championship game but Luechtefeld did all he could do with 29 points! Jesse Hall was the star of that Venice team and was a great scorer but Luechtefeld was the star of that tournament to me. He would go on to star at St. Louis U. where his teams would finish 2nd in the NIT twice. His name and all those others and more will always bring me back to Assembly Hall to all those small school Elite 8 weekends that were so much fun. Please and thank you.
3/17/2024
Today is the 29th anniversary of the Farragut vs Thornton game in Champaign in the IHSA AA quarterfinals, where Kevin Garnett scored 17 points and had 16 rebounds and 7 blocks but still lost to Melvin Ely, Tai Streets and company 46-43. Ronnie Fields was also on that Farragut team that fell, as Garnett's 3-pointer at the buzzer hit off the rim. I was there courtside, broadcasting for WKKD. I remember going to see Garnett earlier play a game, at DePaul's Alumni Hall, if memory serves. The word had gone out that he was not to be missed. They were right. Those 17 pts vs Thornton were still 8 below his average, though, and that would be his final high school game. Thornton almost gave it away that day, however. I think they hit on just 1 of their first 8 free throws in that game before hitting a couple of clutch ones late. I'm glad I got to see Garnett play that season. He was really something. Garnett and Fields finished 28-2, with their only other loss earlier in the year to Peoria Manual.
Tai Streets, by the way, might be the best all-around athlete Illinois ever produced. He is certainly in the team picture. He was the best player in that tourney other than Garnett, was a state long jump champion, elite sprinter and All-American football player who eventually played WR for the 49ers.
The talent in that game was maybe the best ever in a game downstate. Faragut had Garnett (21 years NBA), Fields (CBA, Europe), Michael Wright (Arizona, Knicks draft pick, Europe) and Willie Farley (Fresno St. CBA, Europe) while Thornton had Streets (NFL), Antwan Randle-El (NFL), Napoleon Harris (NFL), Melvin Ely (Fresno St., NBA), Erik Herring (George Mason, Europe) and Chauncey Jones (Alabama, PBL). In other words, losing to Thornton was nothing to be ashamed about for Garnett. 10 future professional athletes were on that court that day. Incredible.
Today is the 29th anniversary of the Farragut vs Thornton game in Champaign in the IHSA AA quarterfinals, where Kevin Garnett scored 17 points and had 16 rebounds and 7 blocks but still lost to Melvin Ely, Tai Streets and company 46-43. Ronnie Fields was also on that Farragut team that fell, as Garnett's 3-pointer at the buzzer hit off the rim. I was there courtside, broadcasting for WKKD. I remember going to see Garnett earlier play a game, at DePaul's Alumni Hall, if memory serves. The word had gone out that he was not to be missed. They were right. Those 17 pts vs Thornton were still 8 below his average, though, and that would be his final high school game. Thornton almost gave it away that day, however. I think they hit on just 1 of their first 8 free throws in that game before hitting a couple of clutch ones late. I'm glad I got to see Garnett play that season. He was really something. Garnett and Fields finished 28-2, with their only other loss earlier in the year to Peoria Manual.
Tai Streets, by the way, might be the best all-around athlete Illinois ever produced. He is certainly in the team picture. He was the best player in that tourney other than Garnett, was a state long jump champion, elite sprinter and All-American football player who eventually played WR for the 49ers.
The talent in that game was maybe the best ever in a game downstate. Faragut had Garnett (21 years NBA), Fields (CBA, Europe), Michael Wright (Arizona, Knicks draft pick, Europe) and Willie Farley (Fresno St. CBA, Europe) while Thornton had Streets (NFL), Antwan Randle-El (NFL), Napoleon Harris (NFL), Melvin Ely (Fresno St., NBA), Erik Herring (George Mason, Europe) and Chauncey Jones (Alabama, PBL). In other words, losing to Thornton was nothing to be ashamed about for Garnett. 10 future professional athletes were on that court that day. Incredible.
3/15/2024
7 years ago on this day on Facebook I told the story of my just finding out I did not get the job as beat reporter for the Cleveland Indians and Cavaliers as they decided to hire the young kid already on staff instead who turns out did not learn on the job and did not last even a year in that position and is no longer even in radio, lol. Seeing that last year on this date prompted me then to write the story here of my being hired as talk show host for AM 1000 but then finding out I was being used as a pawn in a contract dispute, lied to, and then not being hired after all. It's weird re-reading those stories and being put back in that mental state again.
I guess I will re-tell my final radio story today in more depth as it capped all my unfortunate episodes in an unbelievably typical fashion. My last radio job that was not play-by-play was for the US Traffic Network. I had been out of radio for a while after the latest bit of bad luck happened. I was the morning news anchor for the Illinois Radio Network and really enjoying it until the Network was sold and moved down to Springfield. Par for the course for me, lol. It was very tough to then get a radio job as I was in my 50's by then. Really the only way USTN hired me was I happened to catch them when they were fairly desperate for someone to start right away. I had applied numerous times before, was ignored but kept trying. The latest application prompted a phone call literally one hour after applying and it was not an interview. It was a hiring. I was thrilled. She liked my resume and my audio sample and said to start on Monday. It was part-time but they needed someone right away to fill in for everyone, basically. So I worked continuously for about a year at almost 40 hours a week anyway. I did double shifts followed by a morning shift etc. I did whatever, whenever, while still doing play-by-play. I loved working there and loved the people I was working with and the boss I was working for. I then finally got the call that my hard work had paid off. I was going to get a full-time afternoon drive shift. Salary, benefits, stability and so on. All the things I had been working towards for so long. I had been doing that particular shift for a week or so already and it was to become mine. Great. I got that news early in the week that I would start full-time on the upcoming Monday. But on Friday the entire radio division of USTN went out of business, lol. On the Friday before the Monday my full-time was supposed to start, we all lost our jobs. I can laugh now. I was not laughing then. Hell, I'm not actually laughing now either. It still hurts. It's like how many of these body blows is one person supposed to take. I honestly still just wince in disbelief at it all. I also knew it was my last chance in radio. I was right. It took a right place-right time thing to get hired there in the first place. Now I'm even older. Very few people in their 50's are hired now at anything, let alone radio. After that I was approaching 60. Forget it. In the last few years since that has happened I have sent out dozens of applications. I do not even get a response. Now that I have crossed over into my 60's I'm not even sure why I keep trying other than it is what I love and I miss it. I know I won't get the call now and I can't even remember the last thing I even applied for of late but there it is. So I am retired from play-by-play by choice. It was time. But anchoring is still something I would like to keep doing but if it doesn't happen, that's fine. I persevered and had a fun career. So this is it for the woe-is-me stories. And they aren't really that anyway. I hope you don't take them that way. They are just looks back that the insanity of it all. I always rebounded and kept plugging away. But yes it would have been nice if like some of my colleagues I got to stay at one place for 30 years and did not have the stress of continual job searches. Such is life. I did what I set out to do. I dreamed of broadcasting professional baseball when I was eight years old and did that for 14 years. I made a living, barely lol, at something I loved for 4 decades. It wasn't easy but I loved it when I got to do it. I think I will just let March 15 pass on by from now on with no more stories but this one feels like an appropriate way to finish off. Please and thank you.
7 years ago on this day on Facebook I told the story of my just finding out I did not get the job as beat reporter for the Cleveland Indians and Cavaliers as they decided to hire the young kid already on staff instead who turns out did not learn on the job and did not last even a year in that position and is no longer even in radio, lol. Seeing that last year on this date prompted me then to write the story here of my being hired as talk show host for AM 1000 but then finding out I was being used as a pawn in a contract dispute, lied to, and then not being hired after all. It's weird re-reading those stories and being put back in that mental state again.
I guess I will re-tell my final radio story today in more depth as it capped all my unfortunate episodes in an unbelievably typical fashion. My last radio job that was not play-by-play was for the US Traffic Network. I had been out of radio for a while after the latest bit of bad luck happened. I was the morning news anchor for the Illinois Radio Network and really enjoying it until the Network was sold and moved down to Springfield. Par for the course for me, lol. It was very tough to then get a radio job as I was in my 50's by then. Really the only way USTN hired me was I happened to catch them when they were fairly desperate for someone to start right away. I had applied numerous times before, was ignored but kept trying. The latest application prompted a phone call literally one hour after applying and it was not an interview. It was a hiring. I was thrilled. She liked my resume and my audio sample and said to start on Monday. It was part-time but they needed someone right away to fill in for everyone, basically. So I worked continuously for about a year at almost 40 hours a week anyway. I did double shifts followed by a morning shift etc. I did whatever, whenever, while still doing play-by-play. I loved working there and loved the people I was working with and the boss I was working for. I then finally got the call that my hard work had paid off. I was going to get a full-time afternoon drive shift. Salary, benefits, stability and so on. All the things I had been working towards for so long. I had been doing that particular shift for a week or so already and it was to become mine. Great. I got that news early in the week that I would start full-time on the upcoming Monday. But on Friday the entire radio division of USTN went out of business, lol. On the Friday before the Monday my full-time was supposed to start, we all lost our jobs. I can laugh now. I was not laughing then. Hell, I'm not actually laughing now either. It still hurts. It's like how many of these body blows is one person supposed to take. I honestly still just wince in disbelief at it all. I also knew it was my last chance in radio. I was right. It took a right place-right time thing to get hired there in the first place. Now I'm even older. Very few people in their 50's are hired now at anything, let alone radio. After that I was approaching 60. Forget it. In the last few years since that has happened I have sent out dozens of applications. I do not even get a response. Now that I have crossed over into my 60's I'm not even sure why I keep trying other than it is what I love and I miss it. I know I won't get the call now and I can't even remember the last thing I even applied for of late but there it is. So I am retired from play-by-play by choice. It was time. But anchoring is still something I would like to keep doing but if it doesn't happen, that's fine. I persevered and had a fun career. So this is it for the woe-is-me stories. And they aren't really that anyway. I hope you don't take them that way. They are just looks back that the insanity of it all. I always rebounded and kept plugging away. But yes it would have been nice if like some of my colleagues I got to stay at one place for 30 years and did not have the stress of continual job searches. Such is life. I did what I set out to do. I dreamed of broadcasting professional baseball when I was eight years old and did that for 14 years. I made a living, barely lol, at something I loved for 4 decades. It wasn't easy but I loved it when I got to do it. I think I will just let March 15 pass on by from now on with no more stories but this one feels like an appropriate way to finish off. Please and thank you.
3/12/2024
Today is the 8th anniversary of then #2 ranked Benedictine Eagles men's basketball team advancing to the D3 Final Four in Salem, VA. They were 30-0 at the time, after defeating #13 Alma 93-73. Mike Blasczyck led the way with 20 points. Luke Johnson scored 15 points with 14 rebounds. Tahron Harvey had 16 and Brayden Olson finished with 12 points. The Eagles were an incredible 17 of 24 from beyond the 3-point line on the night, led by Blaysczyzk's 6 of 7. They had beaten 10th ranked Ohio Wesleyan 97-84 to advance to the Elite 8. At 30-0, they were the first unbeaten team to make the Final Four since 1999. It came on the heels of their 2nd ever NACC Tournament Championship, the other coming in 2011.
In Salem, BenU defeated 15th ranked Amherst 63-60 in the Semifinal, after trailing by 4 points at halftime. They went on to outscore them 38-31 after halftime to advance to the National Championship game. Blasczyck paced the Eagles with 15 points and Johnson contributed 12 points and 10 rebounds. Going into the Title game, the Eagles were the only remaining undefeated team in any level of NCAA basketball.
St. Thomas of Minnesota gave BenU their only loss on the season in the National Championship game 82-76. The Eagles never led and pulled within 2 points at 73-71 with about 90 seconds remaining but the Tommies scored the next 6 points to put the game away. BenU trailed by 12 with 9 minutes to play. Johnson scored yet another double-double and led the way for Benedictine with 21 points and 11 rebounds. John Dodson had 13 points and Tim Reamer added 11 points off the bench. The Eagles lost the battle of the boards for just the 2nd time all season 36-32 and shot 55 percent from the floor in the 2nd half but the slow early start was too much to overcome. The Tommies finished 30-3 and their seniors ended their careers 106-15.
I was not able to broadcast online from Salem but it was my 2nd ever team to play in a National Championship game. The 1990 Aurora U. baseball team finished 2nd in the country as well. It was such a fun team to broadcast. They were so talented and went comfortably 10 men deep all year. It was tough to not finish out that incredible run with a team I had watched play their entire careers. Thanks for all the fun, guys.
Today is the 8th anniversary of then #2 ranked Benedictine Eagles men's basketball team advancing to the D3 Final Four in Salem, VA. They were 30-0 at the time, after defeating #13 Alma 93-73. Mike Blasczyck led the way with 20 points. Luke Johnson scored 15 points with 14 rebounds. Tahron Harvey had 16 and Brayden Olson finished with 12 points. The Eagles were an incredible 17 of 24 from beyond the 3-point line on the night, led by Blaysczyzk's 6 of 7. They had beaten 10th ranked Ohio Wesleyan 97-84 to advance to the Elite 8. At 30-0, they were the first unbeaten team to make the Final Four since 1999. It came on the heels of their 2nd ever NACC Tournament Championship, the other coming in 2011.
In Salem, BenU defeated 15th ranked Amherst 63-60 in the Semifinal, after trailing by 4 points at halftime. They went on to outscore them 38-31 after halftime to advance to the National Championship game. Blasczyck paced the Eagles with 15 points and Johnson contributed 12 points and 10 rebounds. Going into the Title game, the Eagles were the only remaining undefeated team in any level of NCAA basketball.
St. Thomas of Minnesota gave BenU their only loss on the season in the National Championship game 82-76. The Eagles never led and pulled within 2 points at 73-71 with about 90 seconds remaining but the Tommies scored the next 6 points to put the game away. BenU trailed by 12 with 9 minutes to play. Johnson scored yet another double-double and led the way for Benedictine with 21 points and 11 rebounds. John Dodson had 13 points and Tim Reamer added 11 points off the bench. The Eagles lost the battle of the boards for just the 2nd time all season 36-32 and shot 55 percent from the floor in the 2nd half but the slow early start was too much to overcome. The Tommies finished 30-3 and their seniors ended their careers 106-15.
I was not able to broadcast online from Salem but it was my 2nd ever team to play in a National Championship game. The 1990 Aurora U. baseball team finished 2nd in the country as well. It was such a fun team to broadcast. They were so talented and went comfortably 10 men deep all year. It was tough to not finish out that incredible run with a team I had watched play their entire careers. Thanks for all the fun, guys.
3/10/2024
I lived several lives as a sportscaster in my four decades on the radio. I was a talk show host, play-by-play man, sports anchor and reporter. My time as the baseball beat reporter for WBBM didn't last long enough as far as I was concerned but I loved every minute of it. This was part of my Facebook post four years ago today as part of a reply to Joey Votto talking about how he was against banning reporters from the clubhouse. And I'm re-posting this paragraph today because it genuinely was my favorite day ever as a baseball beat reporter. Grace was my favorite player to interview, one of my favorite Cubs ever, and sharing that moment with him was really special. Win or lose, Grace was always gracious, so to speak, and never shied away from reporters after a tough day for him or his team. That Gold Glove delivered that day meant a lot to him and it showed that day. I got to experience that. Just me. I'm sure he doesn't remember it but I won't forget it.
My favorite day as a baseball beat reporter was when Mark Grace got one of his four gold gloves delivered to the ballpark. I was the only one there as he un-boxed it at his locker. We sat and chatted about what it meant to him. I got great personal insight and feelings that wouldn't have happened in a press conference setting. The locker-room can be a pain for reporters and players but it is a necessary part of the job. We represent the fan and ask what they would ask if they got the chance. The personal stuff, not just what happened on that pitch, can only happen in the locker-room when both sides have created a working relationship, trust and sense of comfort.
I lived several lives as a sportscaster in my four decades on the radio. I was a talk show host, play-by-play man, sports anchor and reporter. My time as the baseball beat reporter for WBBM didn't last long enough as far as I was concerned but I loved every minute of it. This was part of my Facebook post four years ago today as part of a reply to Joey Votto talking about how he was against banning reporters from the clubhouse. And I'm re-posting this paragraph today because it genuinely was my favorite day ever as a baseball beat reporter. Grace was my favorite player to interview, one of my favorite Cubs ever, and sharing that moment with him was really special. Win or lose, Grace was always gracious, so to speak, and never shied away from reporters after a tough day for him or his team. That Gold Glove delivered that day meant a lot to him and it showed that day. I got to experience that. Just me. I'm sure he doesn't remember it but I won't forget it.
My favorite day as a baseball beat reporter was when Mark Grace got one of his four gold gloves delivered to the ballpark. I was the only one there as he un-boxed it at his locker. We sat and chatted about what it meant to him. I got great personal insight and feelings that wouldn't have happened in a press conference setting. The locker-room can be a pain for reporters and players but it is a necessary part of the job. We represent the fan and ask what they would ask if they got the chance. The personal stuff, not just what happened on that pitch, can only happen in the locker-room when both sides have created a working relationship, trust and sense of comfort.
3/9/2024
I first posted about Kevin McKenna 3 years ago but I am bringing it back today as the Palatine Pirates just finished 4th in the 4A State Basketball Tournament last night. It was their first ever trip downstate, amazingly. They finished 28-10 after falling to Normal Community in the semis and then losing to New Trier last night in the 3rd place game. They still bring home their first ever State Tournament trophy. I grew up in Palatine, my brother graduated as a 3-sport star with the Pirates and I played basketball and baseball as a freshman there before we moved to Naperville. Here is my look back at the best Pirate basketball player ever, from 3 years ago.
Kevin won a Championship ring with the L.A. Lakers in the NBA and is still involved in basketball as a member of the coaching ranks to this day, but it all started as a player at Palatine H.S. where he starred on the Varsity with my older brother Michael. Kevin came to mind because Indiana State just parted ways with their head coach Greg Lansing after 11 seasons. He took over that job from McKenna back then, which is what brought all this to mind when I saw Lansing's firing and so here we are. McKenna was a tremendous shooter in his day and that is why he hung around the Pro's for seven seasons and was a perfect addition to that run and gun Paul Westhead coached team in L.A. that won it all running his 'system' of run, shoot quickly and shoot often. McKenna starred at Creighton before becoming a fourth round draft pick by Los Angeles after his final college season in 1981. He tallied exactly 15 hundred points with the BlueJays and won a regular season and tournament title in the Missouri Valley with the Jays. Kevin is in the Creighton Hall of Fame, where he was team MVP his final two seasons. He would go on to win a Championship in the CBA as well with La Crosse to add to his earlier NBA ring. I got to see his beginnings in Palatine and he was something to behold. He was 6' 5" in high school before leaving college at 6' 7". Despite that height, he was a wing player at Palatine because he could score at will and those shots couldn't be blocked from that far out. This was before the 3-point line came into existence and he would set up way out on the right wing and just hit all day long from what would be NBA 3-point distance today. He scored a then school-record 620 points in his senior season. I shudder to think how many points that would be today, since the vast majority of his shots were from what is well beyond the current 3-point line. 1,000 points in a season now gets you into the IHSA record books top 20. He would have had that easily, if all of those baskets counted for 3 back in the day He still managed to average 24 points per game as it was! He actually also would have closed his NBA career near his hometown as a Chicago Bull but he was a late cut by Chicago in the preseason as his achilles injuries finally took their toll in 1988 and he decided to retire. After that, Kevin assisted at Creighton and spent a year as head coach in the CBA with Sioux Falls and was then head coach with D2 Nebraska-Omaha for four seasons where he won a pair of Coach of the Year awards. He then spent three years at the helm at Indiana State and since leaving there, McKenna has been an assistant coach at Oregon and is still there to this day. Watching McKenna in that tiny 100 year old gym at the old Palatine High School in the mid 70's, it was easy to tell he was something special. I knew, even as a kid, that I was looking at an NBA player. I was glad I turned out to be right. He could really light it up and thinking of those days still brings a smile to my face.
I first posted about Kevin McKenna 3 years ago but I am bringing it back today as the Palatine Pirates just finished 4th in the 4A State Basketball Tournament last night. It was their first ever trip downstate, amazingly. They finished 28-10 after falling to Normal Community in the semis and then losing to New Trier last night in the 3rd place game. They still bring home their first ever State Tournament trophy. I grew up in Palatine, my brother graduated as a 3-sport star with the Pirates and I played basketball and baseball as a freshman there before we moved to Naperville. Here is my look back at the best Pirate basketball player ever, from 3 years ago.
Kevin won a Championship ring with the L.A. Lakers in the NBA and is still involved in basketball as a member of the coaching ranks to this day, but it all started as a player at Palatine H.S. where he starred on the Varsity with my older brother Michael. Kevin came to mind because Indiana State just parted ways with their head coach Greg Lansing after 11 seasons. He took over that job from McKenna back then, which is what brought all this to mind when I saw Lansing's firing and so here we are. McKenna was a tremendous shooter in his day and that is why he hung around the Pro's for seven seasons and was a perfect addition to that run and gun Paul Westhead coached team in L.A. that won it all running his 'system' of run, shoot quickly and shoot often. McKenna starred at Creighton before becoming a fourth round draft pick by Los Angeles after his final college season in 1981. He tallied exactly 15 hundred points with the BlueJays and won a regular season and tournament title in the Missouri Valley with the Jays. Kevin is in the Creighton Hall of Fame, where he was team MVP his final two seasons. He would go on to win a Championship in the CBA as well with La Crosse to add to his earlier NBA ring. I got to see his beginnings in Palatine and he was something to behold. He was 6' 5" in high school before leaving college at 6' 7". Despite that height, he was a wing player at Palatine because he could score at will and those shots couldn't be blocked from that far out. This was before the 3-point line came into existence and he would set up way out on the right wing and just hit all day long from what would be NBA 3-point distance today. He scored a then school-record 620 points in his senior season. I shudder to think how many points that would be today, since the vast majority of his shots were from what is well beyond the current 3-point line. 1,000 points in a season now gets you into the IHSA record books top 20. He would have had that easily, if all of those baskets counted for 3 back in the day He still managed to average 24 points per game as it was! He actually also would have closed his NBA career near his hometown as a Chicago Bull but he was a late cut by Chicago in the preseason as his achilles injuries finally took their toll in 1988 and he decided to retire. After that, Kevin assisted at Creighton and spent a year as head coach in the CBA with Sioux Falls and was then head coach with D2 Nebraska-Omaha for four seasons where he won a pair of Coach of the Year awards. He then spent three years at the helm at Indiana State and since leaving there, McKenna has been an assistant coach at Oregon and is still there to this day. Watching McKenna in that tiny 100 year old gym at the old Palatine High School in the mid 70's, it was easy to tell he was something special. I knew, even as a kid, that I was looking at an NBA player. I was glad I turned out to be right. He could really light it up and thinking of those days still brings a smile to my face.
3/6/2024
This is the 8th anniversary of a great win for the Lewis Flyers men's basketball team that gave them the GLVC Championship and a bid into the D2 NCAA Basketball Tournament. It was their first Title since the 2002 season. The Flyers topped rival Wisconsin-Parkside 80-71 to cap a wild 2016 Conference Tourney. The Rangers were ranked 14th in the nation and one of their best players was guard Kendale McCullum, who happened to then transfer to Lewis to become one of their best point guards of all-time. McCullum scored 15 points with 6 assists as the Rangers were led by Andy Mazurczak's 22 points. Lewis never trailed however as five Flyers scored in double figures but the game was a thriller down the stretch as all games vs. Parkside seemed to be. Kyle Nelson was brilliant with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Max Strus had 17 points while Frank Vukaj was great in all areas with 8 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks. I mention this game because this was one of the best Lewis teams in my 20 years there and it capped one heck of a weekend in St. Charles, Missouri. I have already talked about the quarterfinal game of that tourney in my list of favorite games I ever broadcast. This was one of the best ever seasons for men's teams in GLVC history and the Flyers were only the 5th seed in the Tourney despite over 20 wins coming in! They even had to win a game just to make it into the quarterfinals and then they beat 4th seed Indy in the wild quarterfinal comeback win I talked about where they trailed 15-4 out of the gate. The Flyers moved on to beat top seed Bellarmine in the semis to finally face #3 seed Parkside in this final. The league was so packed that Lewis would not have even made the NCAA Tourney unless they topped the Rangers in this game. This victory put Lewis at 24-8. Mazurczak was the GLVC Player of the Year that season and 17 of his 22 points came in the second half trying to rally his team. Lewis led by 15 at halftime thanks to a Strus 40 footer at the buzzer. The Mazurczak heroics helped UWP to a 33-18 run to open the second half to tie the game at 67-67 with just under 7 minutes to play. Lewis would the score 6 straight. Eventually Mazurczak hit a pair of free throws to make it 75-71 with just over 3 minutes remaining. Naturally it was Strus who clinched it late thanks to a 3-pointer with just 39 seconds to play and we could finally breathe easy. Strus, the current NBA star for Cleveland, was named Tournament MVP. To show the strength of the GLVC, Parkside still was named top seed in the Regional with Bellarmine #2, the Flyers #4 and Indy #6. A tired Lewis team was beaten by Saginaw Valley in the 1st round as they would go on the win that Regional. I honestly think the GLVC teams all exhausted themselves beating each other up in the Conference Tourney as the NCAA's were a bit of an anti-climax. Strus would go on to transfer to DePaul and I've said it before and will say it again here. If Max stays, the Flyers go on to win the National Title that following season. Obviously we were all happy for Max but were a bit sad for what could have been. This second-to-last game for Strus as a Flyer was a great one and he rose to the occasion once again here. He scored 16 in his final game but only played 26 minutes thanks to foul trouble that certainly did not help the Lewis chances of advancing. Both Lewis teams are currently back in St. Charles, Missouri was this season's GLVC Tourney. I wish them both the best of luck and wish I was down there with them broadcasting all their games like I used to. Please and thank you.
This is the 8th anniversary of a great win for the Lewis Flyers men's basketball team that gave them the GLVC Championship and a bid into the D2 NCAA Basketball Tournament. It was their first Title since the 2002 season. The Flyers topped rival Wisconsin-Parkside 80-71 to cap a wild 2016 Conference Tourney. The Rangers were ranked 14th in the nation and one of their best players was guard Kendale McCullum, who happened to then transfer to Lewis to become one of their best point guards of all-time. McCullum scored 15 points with 6 assists as the Rangers were led by Andy Mazurczak's 22 points. Lewis never trailed however as five Flyers scored in double figures but the game was a thriller down the stretch as all games vs. Parkside seemed to be. Kyle Nelson was brilliant with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Max Strus had 17 points while Frank Vukaj was great in all areas with 8 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks. I mention this game because this was one of the best Lewis teams in my 20 years there and it capped one heck of a weekend in St. Charles, Missouri. I have already talked about the quarterfinal game of that tourney in my list of favorite games I ever broadcast. This was one of the best ever seasons for men's teams in GLVC history and the Flyers were only the 5th seed in the Tourney despite over 20 wins coming in! They even had to win a game just to make it into the quarterfinals and then they beat 4th seed Indy in the wild quarterfinal comeback win I talked about where they trailed 15-4 out of the gate. The Flyers moved on to beat top seed Bellarmine in the semis to finally face #3 seed Parkside in this final. The league was so packed that Lewis would not have even made the NCAA Tourney unless they topped the Rangers in this game. This victory put Lewis at 24-8. Mazurczak was the GLVC Player of the Year that season and 17 of his 22 points came in the second half trying to rally his team. Lewis led by 15 at halftime thanks to a Strus 40 footer at the buzzer. The Mazurczak heroics helped UWP to a 33-18 run to open the second half to tie the game at 67-67 with just under 7 minutes to play. Lewis would the score 6 straight. Eventually Mazurczak hit a pair of free throws to make it 75-71 with just over 3 minutes remaining. Naturally it was Strus who clinched it late thanks to a 3-pointer with just 39 seconds to play and we could finally breathe easy. Strus, the current NBA star for Cleveland, was named Tournament MVP. To show the strength of the GLVC, Parkside still was named top seed in the Regional with Bellarmine #2, the Flyers #4 and Indy #6. A tired Lewis team was beaten by Saginaw Valley in the 1st round as they would go on the win that Regional. I honestly think the GLVC teams all exhausted themselves beating each other up in the Conference Tourney as the NCAA's were a bit of an anti-climax. Strus would go on to transfer to DePaul and I've said it before and will say it again here. If Max stays, the Flyers go on to win the National Title that following season. Obviously we were all happy for Max but were a bit sad for what could have been. This second-to-last game for Strus as a Flyer was a great one and he rose to the occasion once again here. He scored 16 in his final game but only played 26 minutes thanks to foul trouble that certainly did not help the Lewis chances of advancing. Both Lewis teams are currently back in St. Charles, Missouri was this season's GLVC Tourney. I wish them both the best of luck and wish I was down there with them broadcasting all their games like I used to. Please and thank you.
3/4/2024
So today will be the best high school girls basketball team that was my team to broadcast. This 1988 Naperville North girls team was my only team to go downstate in my time broadcasting high school ball. Not only did they go to Champaign, they finished 4th in the AA IHSA State Tournament. They were led by Jenny Sovacool. Like the 1993 Naperville Central boys team led by Anthony Parker, this team had a superstar as well. Sovacool is more well known for her soccer exploits but was also a tremendous basketball player. In soccer, she led the Huskies to a State Championship, was a 3-time All-American and was a member of the US National Soccer team. In basketball, she was All-State and was named to the the 1988 All-Tournament team at the AA State Tournament. As a sophomore! That 1988 team was not just Jenny Sovacool however. Linda Kukla, Katie Fish, Diana Lacy, Kelli Warren and more were just outstanding. But it was Sovacool who was the steadying influence on the court. That team finished 27-5 and losing to Marshall in the 3rd place game was certainly no shame, especially considering they featured future WNBA star Latonia Foster and Rita Hale, who is now in the DePaul Athletic Hall of Fame.
The Huskies had beaten Romeoville 64-60 to earn their trip to Champaign. In the quarterfinals, the edged Lourdes 40-39 after jumping out to a 13-5 lead after the first quarter. Kukla was the main story in that game as she led the way with 12 points and 6 rebounds. Lourdes trailed by 7 with 3 minutes to play, tied it at 39, but center Lisa Martin hit 2 free throws with 4 seconds left, for the win. Sovacool was only 1-8 from the floor for 2 points on the night. Warren added 10 points and 3 different players each tied for the team lead in rebounds with 7. It really was a team effort. The semifinal was a thriller. York outlasted the Huskies 47-45 as Amy Stock hit the game winning layup with 2 seconds left in overtime! Sovacool was over her first game jitters and paced NNHS with 16 points and added 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Kukla finished with 12 points and 8 boards. North led after 3 quarters but were outscored 13-7 in the 4th and had to settle for a chance at 3rd place. Marshall outscored the Huskies in every quarter to take home the victory but 27 wins and 4th place is still amazing. Maine West ended up beating York in the Title game but even being in the top 4 with those other storied programs really said something for the type of season it was for Naperville North. It was very cool to broadcast my high school in Champaign and see them play so well there and all season long.
3/3/2024
It's March Madness time so I thought I would talk about the best Illinois Boys basketball team I broadcast for in my four decades as an announcer. There are three main candidates and two of them were coached by my friend Mark Lindo, but I think the honor has to go to the Bob Sterr coached 1993 Naperville Central RedHawks, led by Anthony Parker. I have already talked recently about Coach Lindo's Aurora Central Catholic Chargers that got screwed out of a chance to go downstate in their Class A Supersectional loss to Seneca and about his Naperville North team that defeated Coach Sterr and Central in 3 overtimes at the East Aurora Sectional Final only to fall in the NIU Supersectional. Keep in mind, while the legendary Neal Ormond broadcast West Aurora games for me and the equally legendary Bob Locke broadcast East Aurora, It was my job to broadcast the Napervilles on our FM station on Friday nights and then do Aurora Central, Waubonsie Valley and Marmion games on Saturdays, along with my duties as voice of Aurora University. Sadly, none of my high school teams ever made it downstate. All three of the teams I have mentioned here advanced to the Supers but got no further. So I broadcast all the games from Champaign every year without ever getting to do my own team. Also btw, Bob Burnell, just inducted into the East Aurora Athletic Hall of Fame, helped me with Oswego, Aurora Christian and other games too at WKKD.
The 1992-'93 RedHawks finished 24-6 and looked like they were well on their way to Champaign. They just picked a terrible time to play their absolute worst half of basketball as it turned out, the second half of the SuperSectional! Again, Central was led by Anthony Parker, whose sister Candace was a pretty good high school player too, lol. Candace gets quite a bit of the spotlight, and rightly so but Anthony's accomplishements should not be overlooked. His is currently the GM of the Orlando Magic, for instance! While at Bradley, he was named the 1996 MVC Player of the Year, led them to a Conference Title and then hit 8 of 10 3-pointers while scoring 34 points in a Bradley loss to Stanford in the NCAA Tournament. He then was selected 21st overall by the New Jersey Nets and spent 9 years in the NBA. His three best seasons were spent with the Toronto Raptors, averaging in double digits all three years. He also starred in Europe for several years.
The Supersectional loss to Fremd in 1993 still hurts, lol. Central led 40-18 at halftime! The RedHawks hit 70% from the floor that half and Parker was 8 of 9 from the floor for 23 pts. The second half was a completely different game as the Vikings picked up their defensive pressure and effort tremendously. Parker hit just 1 of 9 from the field the rest of the way and settled for 28 pts. It was not enough because Chris Laughlin came alive for the Vikings. Their bench player had 2 pts at the break and only averaged 3 points per game on the season, but lit up the scoreboard in the second half with 24 more points and his 26 overall led the way for that incredible comeback. It was 51-43 after 3 quarters before they put away Central for good in the 4th. A player who had not started all year drilled 3-pointer after 3-pointer off the bench and his team earned it's first trip downstate after 4 Supersectional defeats.
Central had advanced to NIU by edging East Aurora 67-66 in overtime for their first trip to the Supers since 1915. Parker's jumper with 6 seconds left in OT gave him 25 points on the night and their final win of their best ever season. Kevin Savage paced the Tomcats with 22 points. In the Sectional Semi, the RedHawks had beaten Wheaton North easily 63-44 as Parker scored 19. The NCHS Regional wins were an equally easy 73-54 victory over Glenbard West and a 55-45 triumph over West Chicago, so once they got by East Aurora it seemed like Champaign was a foregone conclusion. Their great start againt Fremd certainly strengthened that belief. The heartbreaking loss was even tougher for me not just because Central was my team and it was easy to root for Bob Sterr but because Fremd was my enemy, lol. I graduated from Naperville North HS but I grew up in Palatine. My brother played Varsity basketball for the Palatine Pirates and I played freshman ball for them before we moved to Naperville during my sophomore year. The Vikings were still my crosstown rival and the bad guys as far as I was concerned! Now they were rallying to ruin my team's chances of going downstate and that made it even worse for me, lol. I can laugh now. I wasn't, that night at NIU.
The late Coach Sterr won 10 DVC Championships, 9 Regional Titles and that season was his lone Sectional Title and thanks to Parker and company, it was a great, great season indeed. Parker would get help from Mark Etzbach, Tyler Turnquist, Kevin Thill and Mike Sartore on the way to those 24 wins. Watching Parker dominate was really something. I got to watch Candace do the same soon after.
The two Mark Lindo teams that also made it to the Supersectionals were the 1994 Naperville North Huskies and the 1991 Aurora Central Catholic Chargers. There are also articles on both of those teams if you scroll down. Those 3 teams were awesome and the NCHS team tops my list by a very small margin. Please and thank you.
It's March Madness time so I thought I would talk about the best Illinois Boys basketball team I broadcast for in my four decades as an announcer. There are three main candidates and two of them were coached by my friend Mark Lindo, but I think the honor has to go to the Bob Sterr coached 1993 Naperville Central RedHawks, led by Anthony Parker. I have already talked recently about Coach Lindo's Aurora Central Catholic Chargers that got screwed out of a chance to go downstate in their Class A Supersectional loss to Seneca and about his Naperville North team that defeated Coach Sterr and Central in 3 overtimes at the East Aurora Sectional Final only to fall in the NIU Supersectional. Keep in mind, while the legendary Neal Ormond broadcast West Aurora games for me and the equally legendary Bob Locke broadcast East Aurora, It was my job to broadcast the Napervilles on our FM station on Friday nights and then do Aurora Central, Waubonsie Valley and Marmion games on Saturdays, along with my duties as voice of Aurora University. Sadly, none of my high school teams ever made it downstate. All three of the teams I have mentioned here advanced to the Supers but got no further. So I broadcast all the games from Champaign every year without ever getting to do my own team. Also btw, Bob Burnell, just inducted into the East Aurora Athletic Hall of Fame, helped me with Oswego, Aurora Christian and other games too at WKKD.
The 1992-'93 RedHawks finished 24-6 and looked like they were well on their way to Champaign. They just picked a terrible time to play their absolute worst half of basketball as it turned out, the second half of the SuperSectional! Again, Central was led by Anthony Parker, whose sister Candace was a pretty good high school player too, lol. Candace gets quite a bit of the spotlight, and rightly so but Anthony's accomplishements should not be overlooked. His is currently the GM of the Orlando Magic, for instance! While at Bradley, he was named the 1996 MVC Player of the Year, led them to a Conference Title and then hit 8 of 10 3-pointers while scoring 34 points in a Bradley loss to Stanford in the NCAA Tournament. He then was selected 21st overall by the New Jersey Nets and spent 9 years in the NBA. His three best seasons were spent with the Toronto Raptors, averaging in double digits all three years. He also starred in Europe for several years.
The Supersectional loss to Fremd in 1993 still hurts, lol. Central led 40-18 at halftime! The RedHawks hit 70% from the floor that half and Parker was 8 of 9 from the floor for 23 pts. The second half was a completely different game as the Vikings picked up their defensive pressure and effort tremendously. Parker hit just 1 of 9 from the field the rest of the way and settled for 28 pts. It was not enough because Chris Laughlin came alive for the Vikings. Their bench player had 2 pts at the break and only averaged 3 points per game on the season, but lit up the scoreboard in the second half with 24 more points and his 26 overall led the way for that incredible comeback. It was 51-43 after 3 quarters before they put away Central for good in the 4th. A player who had not started all year drilled 3-pointer after 3-pointer off the bench and his team earned it's first trip downstate after 4 Supersectional defeats.
Central had advanced to NIU by edging East Aurora 67-66 in overtime for their first trip to the Supers since 1915. Parker's jumper with 6 seconds left in OT gave him 25 points on the night and their final win of their best ever season. Kevin Savage paced the Tomcats with 22 points. In the Sectional Semi, the RedHawks had beaten Wheaton North easily 63-44 as Parker scored 19. The NCHS Regional wins were an equally easy 73-54 victory over Glenbard West and a 55-45 triumph over West Chicago, so once they got by East Aurora it seemed like Champaign was a foregone conclusion. Their great start againt Fremd certainly strengthened that belief. The heartbreaking loss was even tougher for me not just because Central was my team and it was easy to root for Bob Sterr but because Fremd was my enemy, lol. I graduated from Naperville North HS but I grew up in Palatine. My brother played Varsity basketball for the Palatine Pirates and I played freshman ball for them before we moved to Naperville during my sophomore year. The Vikings were still my crosstown rival and the bad guys as far as I was concerned! Now they were rallying to ruin my team's chances of going downstate and that made it even worse for me, lol. I can laugh now. I wasn't, that night at NIU.
The late Coach Sterr won 10 DVC Championships, 9 Regional Titles and that season was his lone Sectional Title and thanks to Parker and company, it was a great, great season indeed. Parker would get help from Mark Etzbach, Tyler Turnquist, Kevin Thill and Mike Sartore on the way to those 24 wins. Watching Parker dominate was really something. I got to watch Candace do the same soon after.
The two Mark Lindo teams that also made it to the Supersectionals were the 1994 Naperville North Huskies and the 1991 Aurora Central Catholic Chargers. There are also articles on both of those teams if you scroll down. Those 3 teams were awesome and the NCHS team tops my list by a very small margin. Please and thank you.
2/27/2024
I always check my Facebook History each morning. This was a post of mine from 10 years ago today.
"I just did the math. I will end up doing more than 100 Benedictine Eagles games of various sports this school year, including football. Toss into that at least 35 Lewis Flyers basketball games. Now add in at least 100 Joliet Slammers baseball games this summer. Yes, that is a lot. And yes, that makes me happy."
From 9 years ago
"So in the span of 22 hours I broadcast two Lewis basketball games in Kenosha, a Benedictine volleyball game in Lisle and did a news anchor shift for USTN in the Loop. I think that calls for a frosty beverage."
So yes, it's weird not be that busy this winter. I'm not complaining. It's my choice but it doesn't make it any less strange to have such an open calendar.
And yes, 2014 was really fun. It was my last full-time Summer in pro baseball. I only did part of the 2015 season, after the unpaid intern they hired to save money to replace me left the team for a real job and so I finished out that season. I think I've told the story but I had gone out to the ballpark as a fan to watch a game and ran into the GM on the concourse. We were talking and he asked if I wanted to finish out the last 7 weeks of the season. I said sure. I was let go once by the Joliet JackHammers due to money and twice by the Slammers for money issues. Keep in mind they were paying me peanuts, lol. But I loved it so I never said no to coming back. That's how I knew it wasn't personal. Whenever they found the money, they asked me back. But doing solely play-by-play all year 'round was a blast. I wish I could have done that more often. Every other full-time baseball summer I had was also filled with other radio responsibilities. No complaints but all-play-by-play made for a happy boy in 2014.
I always check my Facebook History each morning. This was a post of mine from 10 years ago today.
"I just did the math. I will end up doing more than 100 Benedictine Eagles games of various sports this school year, including football. Toss into that at least 35 Lewis Flyers basketball games. Now add in at least 100 Joliet Slammers baseball games this summer. Yes, that is a lot. And yes, that makes me happy."
From 9 years ago
"So in the span of 22 hours I broadcast two Lewis basketball games in Kenosha, a Benedictine volleyball game in Lisle and did a news anchor shift for USTN in the Loop. I think that calls for a frosty beverage."
So yes, it's weird not be that busy this winter. I'm not complaining. It's my choice but it doesn't make it any less strange to have such an open calendar.
And yes, 2014 was really fun. It was my last full-time Summer in pro baseball. I only did part of the 2015 season, after the unpaid intern they hired to save money to replace me left the team for a real job and so I finished out that season. I think I've told the story but I had gone out to the ballpark as a fan to watch a game and ran into the GM on the concourse. We were talking and he asked if I wanted to finish out the last 7 weeks of the season. I said sure. I was let go once by the Joliet JackHammers due to money and twice by the Slammers for money issues. Keep in mind they were paying me peanuts, lol. But I loved it so I never said no to coming back. That's how I knew it wasn't personal. Whenever they found the money, they asked me back. But doing solely play-by-play all year 'round was a blast. I wish I could have done that more often. Every other full-time baseball summer I had was also filled with other radio responsibilities. No complaints but all-play-by-play made for a happy boy in 2014.
2/22/2024
Jerry Reinsdorf is really, really something. It's nice to know it's Bridgeport's fault the Sox can't compete. I've lived within 7 blocks of the ballpark for the last 12 years. I guess it's my fault TLR was garbage and they still don't have a 2B or a RF. I would have solved those problems if asked btw, lol. Any of my neighbors could have too, frankly. I'm fairly certain it isn't Bridgeport or Canaryville's fault Jerry hasn't spent even close to 100 million for a ballplayer like everyone else in baseball. (the A's haven't either but they somehow have an owner even worse than Jerry) I'm still paying for the current Sox Park btw. Now he wants me to pay for his current one and his future one too. Umm, he's the billionaire not me. Pay for your own damn park, pal.
While I'm at it, in case you missed it, Mitch Trubisky has been cut again. Again. Thank goodness the Bears did not get stuck with Patrick Mahomes, lol. And that brings us to the current Bears qb situation. My friend and Benedictine U. Athletic Hall of Fame Head Football Coach Jon Cooper weighed in on the NFL Draft with me when asked if the Bears should select Caleb Williams or another qb with the first pick. Coop also happens to be a long-time scout for Ourlads NFL Scouting Service, by the way.
"As someone who studies the film, they all have holes. You won’t know for sure what you have until you have him in the building. Media currently hyping Williams. But there are issues to be addressed and answered. See Ourlads for our assessment. At this point we think Williams is talented but prefer Jayden Daniels."
So I went to YouTube and I dare you to watch the Daniels LSU highlight film and not want the Bears to select him. I dare you. He is special. Special.
Jerry Reinsdorf is really, really something. It's nice to know it's Bridgeport's fault the Sox can't compete. I've lived within 7 blocks of the ballpark for the last 12 years. I guess it's my fault TLR was garbage and they still don't have a 2B or a RF. I would have solved those problems if asked btw, lol. Any of my neighbors could have too, frankly. I'm fairly certain it isn't Bridgeport or Canaryville's fault Jerry hasn't spent even close to 100 million for a ballplayer like everyone else in baseball. (the A's haven't either but they somehow have an owner even worse than Jerry) I'm still paying for the current Sox Park btw. Now he wants me to pay for his current one and his future one too. Umm, he's the billionaire not me. Pay for your own damn park, pal.
While I'm at it, in case you missed it, Mitch Trubisky has been cut again. Again. Thank goodness the Bears did not get stuck with Patrick Mahomes, lol. And that brings us to the current Bears qb situation. My friend and Benedictine U. Athletic Hall of Fame Head Football Coach Jon Cooper weighed in on the NFL Draft with me when asked if the Bears should select Caleb Williams or another qb with the first pick. Coop also happens to be a long-time scout for Ourlads NFL Scouting Service, by the way.
"As someone who studies the film, they all have holes. You won’t know for sure what you have until you have him in the building. Media currently hyping Williams. But there are issues to be addressed and answered. See Ourlads for our assessment. At this point we think Williams is talented but prefer Jayden Daniels."
So I went to YouTube and I dare you to watch the Daniels LSU highlight film and not want the Bears to select him. I dare you. He is special. Special.
2/19/2024
Just a couple things... So it's been exactly a year since my last Lewis Flyers basketball broadcast, when they gave me this nice honor of a jersey and plaque. Therefore it's been a year since I've been on the radio. It's definitely been strange. I miss it but I don't miss the long winter drives to Evansville or Quincy or Houghton etc. I definitely miss doing what I love though, so if anyone needs a part-time sports, news or traffic anchor, I'm around. The play-by-play headset has been set down but a nice warm anchor booth somewhere still appeals to me because not doing radio at all for a year is just weird, lol. Also, I came across this picture of my Dad playing 16 inch softball in the city. He was teammates with the late great Loyola basketball coach Gene Sullivan on the Amons and the Kaydees. They played on the same team for years back in the '50's and early '60's. My Dad played 1st base, Gene was in short-center and his brother Vince Sullivan was in center. Their home games were in Kelvyn and Kosciusko Park. Sully was such a great guy. He is so underrated as a basketball coach. Besides taking the Ramblers and Alfredrick Hughes to the NCAA Tournament, he was Johnny Dee's main assistant at Notre Dame for years. He eventually became the Athletic Director at DePaul. It was weird to me that someone I admired so much as a kid was actually a good friend of my Father! This picture really makes me miss my Dad. |
2/7/2024
Today is National Girls and Women in Sports Day. When I was talking to Coach Lindo for my previous post, he asked if I ever counted how many basketball games I broadcast in my 41 years behind the mic! I hadn't ever really thought about it. But he lit the fire and I figured it was time to do some math, considering that number is not likely to grow any more at the moment. That also got me to thinking that there is a very good chance that no one else has broadcast as many girls high school basketball games, plus women's college basketball games as I did in my career. So let's do the math. Or my best guess at the math.
12 years of all IHSA A and AA girls games downstate in Champaign, 10 years of Aurora University women, 5 seasons as the voice of the NIU women during their glory days under Jane Albright, 12 years as the voice of Benedictine University women, 20 years as voice of the Lewis Flyers women. So that is high school A and AA, plus D3, D2 and D1 women's college basketball covering 41 straight years uninterrupted. (Some BenU and Lewis seasons overlapped but I would broadcast who ever played at home on Saturdays etc. My best conservative estimate of the number of girls/womens basketball games I broadcast in 41 years is 1,025. That is 70 for NIU, 200 IHSA, 125 for Aurora U, 180 for BenU, 450 for Lewis. Maybe someone has done more but I did them at every possible level of high school and college here in Illinois for four decades.
As far as my boys and men's estimates, I have 20 games for SIU, 10 for NIU as a Bill Baker fill-in when he was out of town for football etc., 125 for Aurora U, 800 IHSA, 180 BenU and 450 Lewis games and you get a total of 2,610 basketball games in the state of Illinois. 1,585 plus 1,025. Again, I did games at all levels for the guys as well, A and AA in IHSA, D1, D2 and D3 in college. I had originally estimated several hundred less for the IHSA portion until my wife reminded me of all the holiday tournaments I broadcast over the years. At least a dozen Thanksgiving Tournament weekends, about 15 Christmas Tournament weekends for Aurora and then Joliet, and more. Over 26 hundred total basketball broadcasts in my career. Not a bad number.
Back to the girls' and women's total of 1,025. I'm proud my stations went downstate each year for each weekend, no matter who was represented. Every game girls game from Champaign was broadcast every year for A and AA. (I say Champaign because the move to Peoria was in my final year doing State Tournament games. I only did one Tournament there, all the other years were at Assembly Hall in Champaign) Most stations only did the boys games. WMRO, WKKD and WJOL did all of them while I was with them. The same can basically be said at the college level. I would do Lewis Flyers conference doubleheaders for instance, home and road for most of my time with them. I would set up my equipment for the women's game but no one would be next to me. Even the home radio station would not do their own women's games. They would show up in the middle of my game one broadcast to get ready for game two. It was aggravating. That also meant though that I had fans from both schools listening to each of my women's broadcasts. I took pride in that, therefore, and did even more homework for the opposition than normal to make sure they would enjoy the broadcast as well. It was one of their only chances to hear their team on the radio. Same thing at home. I would set up for the doubleheader in Romeoville and would invariably be the only radio there for game one. There were few exceptions. For Benedictine, it was the same. The midweek conference matchups would not be doubleheaders. Men one night and women the other etc. on a Tuesday, Wednesday format. For the women's night, as usual, I would be the only media more often than not. There were exceptions but again very few. So maybe someone has done more women's basketball than yours truly in the State of Illinois over the years but I'm sure it's a short list if one exists at all.
And that means is I've been lucky enough to see some amazing female talent over the years at the high school and college level. It was a little aggravating that so many of my colleagues over the years at places like WSCR etc. did not appreciate women's basketball like I did but it's their loss, frankly. So many of the All-Americans I broadcast at Lewis U. could have easily played at the D1 level but I was certainly glad they chose D2. I got to see over 1000 girls basketball games. I was the lucky one.
And of course, this being National Girls and Women in Sports Day, I want to mention that I had the pleasure of also announcing plenty of college soccer, lacrosse, volleyball and softball games over the years too, not just basketball. I can't even hazard a count of all those but it has to be in the hundreds. I loved every minute of it.
Today is National Girls and Women in Sports Day. When I was talking to Coach Lindo for my previous post, he asked if I ever counted how many basketball games I broadcast in my 41 years behind the mic! I hadn't ever really thought about it. But he lit the fire and I figured it was time to do some math, considering that number is not likely to grow any more at the moment. That also got me to thinking that there is a very good chance that no one else has broadcast as many girls high school basketball games, plus women's college basketball games as I did in my career. So let's do the math. Or my best guess at the math.
12 years of all IHSA A and AA girls games downstate in Champaign, 10 years of Aurora University women, 5 seasons as the voice of the NIU women during their glory days under Jane Albright, 12 years as the voice of Benedictine University women, 20 years as voice of the Lewis Flyers women. So that is high school A and AA, plus D3, D2 and D1 women's college basketball covering 41 straight years uninterrupted. (Some BenU and Lewis seasons overlapped but I would broadcast who ever played at home on Saturdays etc. My best conservative estimate of the number of girls/womens basketball games I broadcast in 41 years is 1,025. That is 70 for NIU, 200 IHSA, 125 for Aurora U, 180 for BenU, 450 for Lewis. Maybe someone has done more but I did them at every possible level of high school and college here in Illinois for four decades.
As far as my boys and men's estimates, I have 20 games for SIU, 10 for NIU as a Bill Baker fill-in when he was out of town for football etc., 125 for Aurora U, 800 IHSA, 180 BenU and 450 Lewis games and you get a total of 2,610 basketball games in the state of Illinois. 1,585 plus 1,025. Again, I did games at all levels for the guys as well, A and AA in IHSA, D1, D2 and D3 in college. I had originally estimated several hundred less for the IHSA portion until my wife reminded me of all the holiday tournaments I broadcast over the years. At least a dozen Thanksgiving Tournament weekends, about 15 Christmas Tournament weekends for Aurora and then Joliet, and more. Over 26 hundred total basketball broadcasts in my career. Not a bad number.
Back to the girls' and women's total of 1,025. I'm proud my stations went downstate each year for each weekend, no matter who was represented. Every game girls game from Champaign was broadcast every year for A and AA. (I say Champaign because the move to Peoria was in my final year doing State Tournament games. I only did one Tournament there, all the other years were at Assembly Hall in Champaign) Most stations only did the boys games. WMRO, WKKD and WJOL did all of them while I was with them. The same can basically be said at the college level. I would do Lewis Flyers conference doubleheaders for instance, home and road for most of my time with them. I would set up my equipment for the women's game but no one would be next to me. Even the home radio station would not do their own women's games. They would show up in the middle of my game one broadcast to get ready for game two. It was aggravating. That also meant though that I had fans from both schools listening to each of my women's broadcasts. I took pride in that, therefore, and did even more homework for the opposition than normal to make sure they would enjoy the broadcast as well. It was one of their only chances to hear their team on the radio. Same thing at home. I would set up for the doubleheader in Romeoville and would invariably be the only radio there for game one. There were few exceptions. For Benedictine, it was the same. The midweek conference matchups would not be doubleheaders. Men one night and women the other etc. on a Tuesday, Wednesday format. For the women's night, as usual, I would be the only media more often than not. There were exceptions but again very few. So maybe someone has done more women's basketball than yours truly in the State of Illinois over the years but I'm sure it's a short list if one exists at all.
And that means is I've been lucky enough to see some amazing female talent over the years at the high school and college level. It was a little aggravating that so many of my colleagues over the years at places like WSCR etc. did not appreciate women's basketball like I did but it's their loss, frankly. So many of the All-Americans I broadcast at Lewis U. could have easily played at the D1 level but I was certainly glad they chose D2. I got to see over 1000 girls basketball games. I was the lucky one.
And of course, this being National Girls and Women in Sports Day, I want to mention that I had the pleasure of also announcing plenty of college soccer, lacrosse, volleyball and softball games over the years too, not just basketball. I can't even hazard a count of all those but it has to be in the hundreds. I loved every minute of it.
1/31/2024
Speaking of triple overtime thrillers, my other favorite 3ot broadcast that comes to mind was 30 years ago now. March 11, 1994 saw the Naperville North Huskies defeat rival Naperville Central 76-60 in the AA East Aurora Sectional Final 76-60 in three overtimes! I mentioned this exact game one year ago today as well, but as the 30 year anniversary is coming up, I thought I would talk more in depth about another of the most exciting games I ever had the good fortune to broadcast.
I'm bummed that I no longer have my audio cassette of that game. I lost it when a pipe burst in my bedroom closet years ago. I do remember yelling 'Dauernheim' a lot late in that game because of some big baskets!
And btw, if you notice in the box score, there were 3,700 fans there that night. It was electric. That Huskies team then lost to Conant in the SuperSectional after having already beating them in the East Aurora Christmas Tourney Championship game, a game I also broadcast for WKKD in Aurora.
From Jason Buckley, who I also went on to broadcast while playing at Aurora University--
"Greatest environment I've ever been a part of as an athlete (including the subsequent SuperSectional). Scott Carius buried a 3 to tie late and I was yelling to foul, thinking we were still down one. When I did foul (hacked) Mike Burke with 7 seconds to go in regulation, I looked up and immediately thought to myself, "I just pulled a Chris Webber." Lindo told me not to worry about it and pull the rebound. Sean Jones grabbed the board and almost drilled a half court shot to win. The rest is fuzzy, other than Larry Christian's accuracy from the line to clinch it. 16-0 in the third OT. Only 3 minute OT's way back when. Unreal experience."
Naperville North Coach Mark Lindo, a good friend, texted me his memories of that wild event.
"The schools came in with a combined 5 losses. Two Naperville schools sold out the East Aurora gym. Naperville Central won both regular season games by small margins and those were two of the three North losses at that point in the year. 3 overtimes! I remember Central missed a free throw that would have won in regulation, Mike Burke I believe. Larry Christian was 16 of 16 in free throws in the 3rd OT. We won by outscoring Central 16-0 in the 3rd OT. 16 points in 3 minutes! We were led by Christian, Buckley, Jones, Carius and Gacki. Juniors who played a key role were Hairston, Hanson and Knoeck who were 24-4 the next year. It was awesome for Coach Sterr and myself to bring Naperville basketball into Aurora. We had to beat East Aurora in the Regional Final and a good Ron Johnson St. Charles team in the Sectional Semi. Naperville Central beat West Aurora in their Semifinal I believe."
The East High gym was my favorite place to broadcast a high school game. They had an actual press box in that large facility, where you were out of the way of fans and could concentrate on the work at hand. We had put in a dedicated phone line there for all our broadcasts of East Aurora Tomcat games, plus all the State Tournament contests. It would be packed for big games and so loud and so much fun. This game, with so much on the line, plus the rivalry factor, made it even more special. Three overtimes only added to the excitement. Coach Lindo and Coach Sterr were also two of my favorite people. I would interview all the area coaches once a week on my daily afternoon talk show and they were such a joy to talk basketball with. Two nicer people you could not find. I got to broadcast their teams in various SuperSectionals over the years but never did get to see them advance to Champaign. Such a shame. They deserved it. Both of the teams in this game were great but not deep. If you look at the box score, for the RedHawks, they only used one player extensively off the bench, as Aaron Pembroke played 19 minutes. The Huskies were much the same, as Max Hanson played 29 minutes off the bench, but Jerry Hairston--the future Major League baseball player--only saw 9 minutes of action off the bench. Obviously, Central ran out of gas as they were outscored 16-0 in the final three minute overtime session. Larry Christian's 34 points are impressive considering he finished an amazing 20 of 23 from the free throw line and added 12 rebounds. Central caused an incredible 30 turnovers but lost the rebound battle by 15. North won the game somehow despite those turnovers and with only two 3 pointers to their credit. Remarkable. Central only shot 29% from the field for the night and that doomed them in the long run.
The fact I graduated from Naperville North and got to broadcast them in a SuperSectional because of this win didn't hurt my enjoyment of this game either! A more exciting game though was hard to find in my four decades on the air, that is for sure.
Speaking of triple overtime thrillers, my other favorite 3ot broadcast that comes to mind was 30 years ago now. March 11, 1994 saw the Naperville North Huskies defeat rival Naperville Central 76-60 in the AA East Aurora Sectional Final 76-60 in three overtimes! I mentioned this exact game one year ago today as well, but as the 30 year anniversary is coming up, I thought I would talk more in depth about another of the most exciting games I ever had the good fortune to broadcast.
I'm bummed that I no longer have my audio cassette of that game. I lost it when a pipe burst in my bedroom closet years ago. I do remember yelling 'Dauernheim' a lot late in that game because of some big baskets!
And btw, if you notice in the box score, there were 3,700 fans there that night. It was electric. That Huskies team then lost to Conant in the SuperSectional after having already beating them in the East Aurora Christmas Tourney Championship game, a game I also broadcast for WKKD in Aurora.
From Jason Buckley, who I also went on to broadcast while playing at Aurora University--
"Greatest environment I've ever been a part of as an athlete (including the subsequent SuperSectional). Scott Carius buried a 3 to tie late and I was yelling to foul, thinking we were still down one. When I did foul (hacked) Mike Burke with 7 seconds to go in regulation, I looked up and immediately thought to myself, "I just pulled a Chris Webber." Lindo told me not to worry about it and pull the rebound. Sean Jones grabbed the board and almost drilled a half court shot to win. The rest is fuzzy, other than Larry Christian's accuracy from the line to clinch it. 16-0 in the third OT. Only 3 minute OT's way back when. Unreal experience."
Naperville North Coach Mark Lindo, a good friend, texted me his memories of that wild event.
"The schools came in with a combined 5 losses. Two Naperville schools sold out the East Aurora gym. Naperville Central won both regular season games by small margins and those were two of the three North losses at that point in the year. 3 overtimes! I remember Central missed a free throw that would have won in regulation, Mike Burke I believe. Larry Christian was 16 of 16 in free throws in the 3rd OT. We won by outscoring Central 16-0 in the 3rd OT. 16 points in 3 minutes! We were led by Christian, Buckley, Jones, Carius and Gacki. Juniors who played a key role were Hairston, Hanson and Knoeck who were 24-4 the next year. It was awesome for Coach Sterr and myself to bring Naperville basketball into Aurora. We had to beat East Aurora in the Regional Final and a good Ron Johnson St. Charles team in the Sectional Semi. Naperville Central beat West Aurora in their Semifinal I believe."
The East High gym was my favorite place to broadcast a high school game. They had an actual press box in that large facility, where you were out of the way of fans and could concentrate on the work at hand. We had put in a dedicated phone line there for all our broadcasts of East Aurora Tomcat games, plus all the State Tournament contests. It would be packed for big games and so loud and so much fun. This game, with so much on the line, plus the rivalry factor, made it even more special. Three overtimes only added to the excitement. Coach Lindo and Coach Sterr were also two of my favorite people. I would interview all the area coaches once a week on my daily afternoon talk show and they were such a joy to talk basketball with. Two nicer people you could not find. I got to broadcast their teams in various SuperSectionals over the years but never did get to see them advance to Champaign. Such a shame. They deserved it. Both of the teams in this game were great but not deep. If you look at the box score, for the RedHawks, they only used one player extensively off the bench, as Aaron Pembroke played 19 minutes. The Huskies were much the same, as Max Hanson played 29 minutes off the bench, but Jerry Hairston--the future Major League baseball player--only saw 9 minutes of action off the bench. Obviously, Central ran out of gas as they were outscored 16-0 in the final three minute overtime session. Larry Christian's 34 points are impressive considering he finished an amazing 20 of 23 from the free throw line and added 12 rebounds. Central caused an incredible 30 turnovers but lost the rebound battle by 15. North won the game somehow despite those turnovers and with only two 3 pointers to their credit. Remarkable. Central only shot 29% from the field for the night and that doomed them in the long run.
The fact I graduated from Naperville North and got to broadcast them in a SuperSectional because of this win didn't hurt my enjoyment of this game either! A more exciting game though was hard to find in my four decades on the air, that is for sure.
1/30/2024
Today is the 10th anniversary of one of the most exciting games I ever broadcast in my four decades of doing basketball games. I've mentioned it before, I'm sure, but this feels like a good time to do a full recap of this triple overtime thriller. The game, in Indianapolis, featured the 16th ranked Greyhounds and the 20th ranked Flyers in game one of my GLVC doubleheader broadcast. (btw, game two would see the 10th ranked Greyhounds men's team top the 17th ranked Flyers 80-66, so this day featured four of the best teams in all of D2 that season.)
Game one was a back and forth affair for most of the contest, with Indy up by six at halftime. This was before women's games would go to playing four quarters instead of two halves. The Hounds would extend their lead to 77-67 with about five minutes remaining in regulation. The comeback included a steal by Alyssa Dengler, plus 3 pointers from Nikki Nellen and Jamie Johnson that tied the game at 79. Lewis had a chance to win in regulation when Nellen stole the ball with 12 seconds to play but Johnson missed a jumper and Mariyah Henley missed 2 put back attempts at the buzzer! Off to overtime number one we would go.
Lewis led 85-81 but Shelby Wall hit a 3 pointer for the Hounds to make it 85-84 with 90 seconds to go. Both teams would trade turnovers and fouls. Nellen hit one free throw but was answered by Katy McIntosh hitting both of hers to tie the game at 86 with 32 seconds remaining. Once again the Flyers had a chance to win it but Johnson missed a jumper with 4 seconds left and Henley's fall away put back once more went off the rim as the buzzer sounded! Off to overtime number two!
Nellen's 3 pointer would put Lewis up top 95-91 with just under two minutes to go. A pair of Henley free throws with just 9 seconds left would keep the Flyers lead at 4 points, at 97-93, and appeared to ice the game but a late McIntosh jumper made it 97-95 with 2 seconds to play and then Kelly Walter stole the inbounds pass from Jamie Johnson and her shot from the paint at the buzzer went in to force a third overtime! Crazy! How about overtime number three?!
Nellen hit her 4th 3 pointer of the night to give Lewis a 100-97 advantage but Shelby Wall's 3 would tie it once more at 100 apiece. A pair of baskets from Jess Reinhart would put the Flyers back on top by four at 104-100 with 2:52 to go. A Kristin Itschner steal and a Henley rebound basket would make it 106-100 with 39 seconds remaining. The teams traded scores and a pair of Jamie Johnson free throw would put the Flyers up by 7 with just 9 seconds to go but of course it was not over just yet. Dajana Jovanovic hit a 3 pointer for Indy to make it 109-105 with 2 seconds left but this time Lewis inbounded the ball cleanly and a pair of Henley free throws with 1 second to go would finally end this long, long thriller with Lewis surviving 111-105!
Johnson finished with 29 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Henley scored 23 points with an astonishing 18 rebounds! Itschner had her usual all around game of 22 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Reinhart contributed her stellar dependable 16 points and 10 rebounds plus 3 key steals. Nellen ended with 13 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 steals of her own! Kelly Walter's 25 points paced Indy as six Greyhounds ended in double figures. The Flyers finished with an incredible 60 rebounds in that game which tells you all you need to know about how hard that team played.
I will never forget that game and how exhausted I was after calling it, lol. And I still had the men's game to go! I will also never forget interviewing Coach Carlsen on the post game show. I sat at a table in the front row of their stands basically to broadcast at Nicoson Hall and it was always a fun place to do a game from, as both teams always put on a great show in their rivalry. I will always miss that group of Flyers and miss traveling with them on the road. That game will always be in my Mount Rushmore of basketball games I ever broadcast, men's or women's, at any level of high school or college. Thanks for the memories, ladies!
Today is the 10th anniversary of one of the most exciting games I ever broadcast in my four decades of doing basketball games. I've mentioned it before, I'm sure, but this feels like a good time to do a full recap of this triple overtime thriller. The game, in Indianapolis, featured the 16th ranked Greyhounds and the 20th ranked Flyers in game one of my GLVC doubleheader broadcast. (btw, game two would see the 10th ranked Greyhounds men's team top the 17th ranked Flyers 80-66, so this day featured four of the best teams in all of D2 that season.)
Game one was a back and forth affair for most of the contest, with Indy up by six at halftime. This was before women's games would go to playing four quarters instead of two halves. The Hounds would extend their lead to 77-67 with about five minutes remaining in regulation. The comeback included a steal by Alyssa Dengler, plus 3 pointers from Nikki Nellen and Jamie Johnson that tied the game at 79. Lewis had a chance to win in regulation when Nellen stole the ball with 12 seconds to play but Johnson missed a jumper and Mariyah Henley missed 2 put back attempts at the buzzer! Off to overtime number one we would go.
Lewis led 85-81 but Shelby Wall hit a 3 pointer for the Hounds to make it 85-84 with 90 seconds to go. Both teams would trade turnovers and fouls. Nellen hit one free throw but was answered by Katy McIntosh hitting both of hers to tie the game at 86 with 32 seconds remaining. Once again the Flyers had a chance to win it but Johnson missed a jumper with 4 seconds left and Henley's fall away put back once more went off the rim as the buzzer sounded! Off to overtime number two!
Nellen's 3 pointer would put Lewis up top 95-91 with just under two minutes to go. A pair of Henley free throws with just 9 seconds left would keep the Flyers lead at 4 points, at 97-93, and appeared to ice the game but a late McIntosh jumper made it 97-95 with 2 seconds to play and then Kelly Walter stole the inbounds pass from Jamie Johnson and her shot from the paint at the buzzer went in to force a third overtime! Crazy! How about overtime number three?!
Nellen hit her 4th 3 pointer of the night to give Lewis a 100-97 advantage but Shelby Wall's 3 would tie it once more at 100 apiece. A pair of baskets from Jess Reinhart would put the Flyers back on top by four at 104-100 with 2:52 to go. A Kristin Itschner steal and a Henley rebound basket would make it 106-100 with 39 seconds remaining. The teams traded scores and a pair of Jamie Johnson free throw would put the Flyers up by 7 with just 9 seconds to go but of course it was not over just yet. Dajana Jovanovic hit a 3 pointer for Indy to make it 109-105 with 2 seconds left but this time Lewis inbounded the ball cleanly and a pair of Henley free throws with 1 second to go would finally end this long, long thriller with Lewis surviving 111-105!
Johnson finished with 29 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Henley scored 23 points with an astonishing 18 rebounds! Itschner had her usual all around game of 22 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Reinhart contributed her stellar dependable 16 points and 10 rebounds plus 3 key steals. Nellen ended with 13 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 steals of her own! Kelly Walter's 25 points paced Indy as six Greyhounds ended in double figures. The Flyers finished with an incredible 60 rebounds in that game which tells you all you need to know about how hard that team played.
I will never forget that game and how exhausted I was after calling it, lol. And I still had the men's game to go! I will also never forget interviewing Coach Carlsen on the post game show. I sat at a table in the front row of their stands basically to broadcast at Nicoson Hall and it was always a fun place to do a game from, as both teams always put on a great show in their rivalry. I will always miss that group of Flyers and miss traveling with them on the road. That game will always be in my Mount Rushmore of basketball games I ever broadcast, men's or women's, at any level of high school or college. Thanks for the memories, ladies!
1/20/2024
Happy Birthday to my best bud Mick Kahler! It's weird that I have so few pictures of him and I together over the years. Of course most of our adventures were pre-cellphone days, so we didn't have cameras in our pockets. I have many many snapshots of our fun in my brain however, and I do wish those could be downloaded into actual pictures. I remember Mick coming back from meeting Bruce Springsteen at the SIU Arena in '81 and telling me about it, ringing out our shirts by the car after sweating through our clothes at the Clash show at the Aragon in '82, him bringing back the sliders from White Castle at halftime of the Bears Super Bowl win, us leaning against the back wall of the tiny Smart Bar watching the sonic assault of the Ramones in 1986, dancing in the aisle at the John Eddie show at Poplar Creek in 1989, us talking to Bruce Hornsby backstage before a Poplar Creek show as he was dribbling a basketball, Mick getting me 2nd row seats to see the Who at Alpine Valley in 1989 as I sat right in front of Pete Townshend since row 1 was empty, us cheering for the Bears at the Pontiac Silverdome on Thanksgiving of 1997, visiting Mick at the WRSE studios in Elmhurst as he was playing a song by the Jam, us going to see Alan Jackson together at the Horizon, us walking down radio row together before Super Bowl XXXIV in Atlanta in 2000 in a trip that not only had us seeing that game but also an Atlanta Hawks game on that trip, us driving together to see Springsteen in Cleveland in 2002, both of us rocking out at a Kool Ray and the Polaroidz bar show, Mick telling me he just got the job to be the producer for Larry Lujack and on and on and on. I wish I had the pictures but I do have those amazing memories. Thanks my brother.
We've known each other since we were 18 years old. We both somehow ended up in radio. He not only worked as producer for the legendary Larry Lujack but also for Murph in the Morning and for Big John Howell and Ramblin Ray at US99. Somehow we never worked together and I don't know why. In this rare picture of us together, Mick is on the left and I am the goofball on the right, at the wedding of our friends Dave and Charlene Ross in Oxnard, California many years ago.
Happy Birthday to my best bud Mick Kahler! It's weird that I have so few pictures of him and I together over the years. Of course most of our adventures were pre-cellphone days, so we didn't have cameras in our pockets. I have many many snapshots of our fun in my brain however, and I do wish those could be downloaded into actual pictures. I remember Mick coming back from meeting Bruce Springsteen at the SIU Arena in '81 and telling me about it, ringing out our shirts by the car after sweating through our clothes at the Clash show at the Aragon in '82, him bringing back the sliders from White Castle at halftime of the Bears Super Bowl win, us leaning against the back wall of the tiny Smart Bar watching the sonic assault of the Ramones in 1986, dancing in the aisle at the John Eddie show at Poplar Creek in 1989, us talking to Bruce Hornsby backstage before a Poplar Creek show as he was dribbling a basketball, Mick getting me 2nd row seats to see the Who at Alpine Valley in 1989 as I sat right in front of Pete Townshend since row 1 was empty, us cheering for the Bears at the Pontiac Silverdome on Thanksgiving of 1997, visiting Mick at the WRSE studios in Elmhurst as he was playing a song by the Jam, us going to see Alan Jackson together at the Horizon, us walking down radio row together before Super Bowl XXXIV in Atlanta in 2000 in a trip that not only had us seeing that game but also an Atlanta Hawks game on that trip, us driving together to see Springsteen in Cleveland in 2002, both of us rocking out at a Kool Ray and the Polaroidz bar show, Mick telling me he just got the job to be the producer for Larry Lujack and on and on and on. I wish I had the pictures but I do have those amazing memories. Thanks my brother.
We've known each other since we were 18 years old. We both somehow ended up in radio. He not only worked as producer for the legendary Larry Lujack but also for Murph in the Morning and for Big John Howell and Ramblin Ray at US99. Somehow we never worked together and I don't know why. In this rare picture of us together, Mick is on the left and I am the goofball on the right, at the wedding of our friends Dave and Charlene Ross in Oxnard, California many years ago.
1/8/2024
I just heard the news that former Aurora University head basketball coach Don Holler passed away a few days ago. So sad to hear the news. He passed away at home on the 4th from Alzheimers at 88 years of age. The picture here is from the first full season I broadcast his teams at AU, the 1985-'86 season. They were great that year, finishing 20-6 and 9-1 in conference. He won 644 games in 44 years as head coach. That resume includes stops at Aurora Central Catholic and Oswego among others. I was very lucky and spoiled to begin my Aurora area broadcasting career with him as head coach of my college team. I got to begin by working with the best. I spent a dozen years as voice of AU sports, mostly on WKKD, and he could not have been a better coach or better person to work with. His teams were so much fun to broadcast as well. I got to see James Lancaster as a player for Don until James took over the Spartans reigns as coach in 1994. The list of other great players who starred for Coach Holler is a long one but just a few I saw include Brian Mekush, Will Flowers, David Eshaya, Jason Buckley, Drew Avery, Kyler Werve and of course, AU's current head football coach Don Beebe. I've told the story many times but the former NFL star began his college career as Don's point guard on the Spartans basketball team before the school brought back the football program. I hadn't seen Don in a number of years but James brought Don and Mark Lindo out to see AU play at Benedictine during my final year as the Eagles broadcaster a few years back. We all got to spend a few minutes reminiscing before the game and it was so great to see Coach Holler's smiling face. That is what I will remember most. He was intense like most coaches but in reality he was such a laid back, happy, smiling guy. You could tell he loved what he did and enjoyed all of it. I enjoyed my time with him. Thanks for everything Don. RIP, my friend.
I just heard the news that former Aurora University head basketball coach Don Holler passed away a few days ago. So sad to hear the news. He passed away at home on the 4th from Alzheimers at 88 years of age. The picture here is from the first full season I broadcast his teams at AU, the 1985-'86 season. They were great that year, finishing 20-6 and 9-1 in conference. He won 644 games in 44 years as head coach. That resume includes stops at Aurora Central Catholic and Oswego among others. I was very lucky and spoiled to begin my Aurora area broadcasting career with him as head coach of my college team. I got to begin by working with the best. I spent a dozen years as voice of AU sports, mostly on WKKD, and he could not have been a better coach or better person to work with. His teams were so much fun to broadcast as well. I got to see James Lancaster as a player for Don until James took over the Spartans reigns as coach in 1994. The list of other great players who starred for Coach Holler is a long one but just a few I saw include Brian Mekush, Will Flowers, David Eshaya, Jason Buckley, Drew Avery, Kyler Werve and of course, AU's current head football coach Don Beebe. I've told the story many times but the former NFL star began his college career as Don's point guard on the Spartans basketball team before the school brought back the football program. I hadn't seen Don in a number of years but James brought Don and Mark Lindo out to see AU play at Benedictine during my final year as the Eagles broadcaster a few years back. We all got to spend a few minutes reminiscing before the game and it was so great to see Coach Holler's smiling face. That is what I will remember most. He was intense like most coaches but in reality he was such a laid back, happy, smiling guy. You could tell he loved what he did and enjoyed all of it. I enjoyed my time with him. Thanks for everything Don. RIP, my friend.
12/31/2023
My final upload from the Steve Moga shoebox of cassettes. It's from 30 years ago, which still is hard to believe. It is almost all of the 2nd half of Aurora U. vs Wartburg at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Rapids 11/6/93. I wanted to include more but the 1st half was pretty ugly, lol. Wartburg was a playoff team and dominated from the start and between AU turnovers and penalties and Wartburg scores, the 1st half was not a fun listen, lol. The 2nd half was at least more interesting and the cassette ends just as AU scores with under 3 minutes to play in a 27-7 loss. The UNI-Dome was a fun place to broadcast from and a nice place to end that season, though. I hope everyone liked these videos. I loved listening back to them and re-living that time at WKKD. I've said it multiple times, I would never have left there if the ownership decision hadn't been made to make the format Spanish language. I was sure that the format would fail miserably and I would be back there in about a year. I was wrong. The format was such a complete failure that the station went out of business entirely and even the spot on the dial 1580 went dark and no longer exists, lol. By the way, the station was it's most ever successful at the time of that stupidity. We were Classic Country when we weren't doing news and sports. People loved it. Yes, I'm still mad about it, lol. I'm so glad Steve found this box of cassettes. If anyone comes across any old basketball or other old sports we did there back in the day, let me know and I will convert it for you and put it up on my page. Here is the description of this video I put on it's page.
From 11/6/1993 this is the 2nd half of the game played at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa on WKKD-AM in Aurora. Steve Moga and myself on the call. Wartburg won easily 27-7 during their playoff year that finished 9-2 after a 1st round defeat at the hands of Wisc-La Crosse 55-26. The Spartans, still an independent after resurrecting their program in 1986, would finish 4-5 just one year after their 9-1 playoff season in 1992. AU earned their 1st playoff bid after finishing that regular season 9-0 before losing a close 1st round game at Illinois Wesleyan 21-12. The very young '93 Spartans team was actually a pre-season Top 20 team despite returning only 10 starters, 4 of which would miss most or all of the season with injuries.
My final upload from the Steve Moga shoebox of cassettes. It's from 30 years ago, which still is hard to believe. It is almost all of the 2nd half of Aurora U. vs Wartburg at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Rapids 11/6/93. I wanted to include more but the 1st half was pretty ugly, lol. Wartburg was a playoff team and dominated from the start and between AU turnovers and penalties and Wartburg scores, the 1st half was not a fun listen, lol. The 2nd half was at least more interesting and the cassette ends just as AU scores with under 3 minutes to play in a 27-7 loss. The UNI-Dome was a fun place to broadcast from and a nice place to end that season, though. I hope everyone liked these videos. I loved listening back to them and re-living that time at WKKD. I've said it multiple times, I would never have left there if the ownership decision hadn't been made to make the format Spanish language. I was sure that the format would fail miserably and I would be back there in about a year. I was wrong. The format was such a complete failure that the station went out of business entirely and even the spot on the dial 1580 went dark and no longer exists, lol. By the way, the station was it's most ever successful at the time of that stupidity. We were Classic Country when we weren't doing news and sports. People loved it. Yes, I'm still mad about it, lol. I'm so glad Steve found this box of cassettes. If anyone comes across any old basketball or other old sports we did there back in the day, let me know and I will convert it for you and put it up on my page. Here is the description of this video I put on it's page.
From 11/6/1993 this is the 2nd half of the game played at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa on WKKD-AM in Aurora. Steve Moga and myself on the call. Wartburg won easily 27-7 during their playoff year that finished 9-2 after a 1st round defeat at the hands of Wisc-La Crosse 55-26. The Spartans, still an independent after resurrecting their program in 1986, would finish 4-5 just one year after their 9-1 playoff season in 1992. AU earned their 1st playoff bid after finishing that regular season 9-0 before losing a close 1st round game at Illinois Wesleyan 21-12. The very young '93 Spartans team was actually a pre-season Top 20 team despite returning only 10 starters, 4 of which would miss most or all of the season with injuries.
12/30/2023
Finally watching the Barry Sanders documentary. I've always said that Sanders is my favorite non-Chicago football player of all-time. Watching him run was so much fun. He was the best thing about Thanksgiving games. This doc is really something. I agree with what was said about Emmitt Smith too. Give me a break with Emmitt. Walter got no help. Barry got no help. Emmitt had Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin so give me a break with Emmitt. He was fine. He ain't no Walter or Barry. But to tell you about the Lions ineptitude was the Wayne Fontes conversation with Barry telling him years later that he wanted to get him help at quarterback but wasn't allowed. Joe Montana called Fontes himself and said I want to play for you and with Barry. GM Chuck Schmidt said Montana was too old, lol. All Montana did with the Chiefs instead was throw for over 2000 yards in 1993 and then over 3000 yards in 1994. How many yards would he have thrown for with defenses still having to worry about Sanders? They would have won everything. Montana is my other non-Chicago favorite football player. I'm pissed I didn't get to watch them play together. in 1994, Fontes said to go out and get Warren Moon as his quarterback. Schmidt said Moon was too old too, lol. Pathetic. All Moon did that year after he signed with Minnesota was throw for over 4000 yards! I feel sorry for Lions fans and for Sanders. They deserved better. Kinda like Bears fans. We deserve better. To me that era of Walter through Barry was the best the NFL was for me as a fan. I like running backs. I liked the league better when it was about the running back and those were the best to do it in my opinion. If Payton doesn't have the rushing record, it should be Sanders. Those two certainly are my favorites. Great documentary and great to watch Sanders highlights. Always.
By the way, my favorite non-Chicago baseball players as I've always said is Roberto Clemente. My favorite non-Chicago hockey player is Bobby Orr. I was thrilled when he became a Blackhawk, even though I knew he didn't anything left in the tank or his knees. He was a Blackhawk, at least for a few games. My favorite non-Chicago basketball player is Pete Maravich. I wish I got to watch him more on TV here since there were very few games on national TV that didn't include either the 76ers, Lakers or Knicks back in the day. Even televised college ball didn't include LSU either. There weren't 50 college games on TV each weekend. But the few chances and highlights were and are incredible.
Finally watching the Barry Sanders documentary. I've always said that Sanders is my favorite non-Chicago football player of all-time. Watching him run was so much fun. He was the best thing about Thanksgiving games. This doc is really something. I agree with what was said about Emmitt Smith too. Give me a break with Emmitt. Walter got no help. Barry got no help. Emmitt had Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin so give me a break with Emmitt. He was fine. He ain't no Walter or Barry. But to tell you about the Lions ineptitude was the Wayne Fontes conversation with Barry telling him years later that he wanted to get him help at quarterback but wasn't allowed. Joe Montana called Fontes himself and said I want to play for you and with Barry. GM Chuck Schmidt said Montana was too old, lol. All Montana did with the Chiefs instead was throw for over 2000 yards in 1993 and then over 3000 yards in 1994. How many yards would he have thrown for with defenses still having to worry about Sanders? They would have won everything. Montana is my other non-Chicago favorite football player. I'm pissed I didn't get to watch them play together. in 1994, Fontes said to go out and get Warren Moon as his quarterback. Schmidt said Moon was too old too, lol. Pathetic. All Moon did that year after he signed with Minnesota was throw for over 4000 yards! I feel sorry for Lions fans and for Sanders. They deserved better. Kinda like Bears fans. We deserve better. To me that era of Walter through Barry was the best the NFL was for me as a fan. I like running backs. I liked the league better when it was about the running back and those were the best to do it in my opinion. If Payton doesn't have the rushing record, it should be Sanders. Those two certainly are my favorites. Great documentary and great to watch Sanders highlights. Always.
By the way, my favorite non-Chicago baseball players as I've always said is Roberto Clemente. My favorite non-Chicago hockey player is Bobby Orr. I was thrilled when he became a Blackhawk, even though I knew he didn't anything left in the tank or his knees. He was a Blackhawk, at least for a few games. My favorite non-Chicago basketball player is Pete Maravich. I wish I got to watch him more on TV here since there were very few games on national TV that didn't include either the 76ers, Lakers or Knicks back in the day. Even televised college ball didn't include LSU either. There weren't 50 college games on TV each weekend. But the few chances and highlights were and are incredible.
12/29/2023
RIP. Joey Meyer, who was such a great guy and coach. Plus, my family used to live across the street from his sister, in Naperville. It was kind of weird but also very cool that on holidays back in the late 70's and early 80's like Thanksgiving or Easter, we would look out our window and across the street we would see Coach Ray and Joey shooting baskets with Merianne's kids. My sister used to babysit for them. I had the opportunity to talk to Joey on a few occasions as a reporter and he could not have been better. I am also going to take this opportunity to talk about his coaching friends who I knew even better than Joey like Jim Platt and Jim Molinari who were Joey's assistants at DePaul. Platt was a regular guest on my WKKD talk show thanks to his Aurora connection and he would check in all the time while eventually head coach at Arkansas-Little Rock. Coach Mo took over for Jim Rosborough at NIU and was a regular guest with me while at NIU and then at Bradley. The third Jim of this circle of coaches and great guys, Rosborough was also a regular guest while at NIU and then as an assistant at Arizona. Between Joey and the three Jims, we were pretty blessed back in the day to have as many quality humans and great coaches around. I enjoyed all our conversations so much. It was because of the great respect I had for Joey, frankly, that I did not bother the other Jims for his phone number to have him on my show. Those were guys I respected immensely but Joey and Coach Ray were legends in my book and I didn't want to bug Joey to come on my little show in Aurora, lol. I knew they would hook me up if I asked and I knew Joey would be nice enough to come on with me but he was JOEY for goodness sake! I left him alone and did not bother him when he was across the street with his family and I didn't want to bother him for my show either. Again, I did eventually get to talk to him on a few occasions professionally and he couldn't have been nicer. I even told him about living across the street from his sister and he got a kick out of that, but again, I revered those DePaul teams that he and his Dad coached. The Meyers were larger than life to me. I wasn't about to impose even if he wasn't going to see it that way. News of his passing has made me think of all those guys again today. I miss their friendship and their basketball knowledge that I mined on many an occasion. Posting my buddy Moga's cassettes lately has me very nostalgic for my days at WMRO and WKKD. I miss those people mostly. I spent so much time talking basketball and broadcasting basketball in Aurora with a great group of people. Speaking of coaches, I am not going to fail to mention NIU's Jane Albright and her assistant Sue Semrau. The Huskies would have that great run of NCAA appearances due to the talents of those two while I was their announcer. Semrau would go on to lead Florida State to 468 wins over 24 years and is now in their Hall of Fame, btw. So I tip my cap to Joey and all the coaches he befriended and mentored that went on to such success and all the coaches I was lucky enough to be around. There are many, many others I am not mentioning here like James Lancaster and Keith Bunkenburg to name just a few more and the long list of coaches I worked with at Lewis is without peer. I finally have a winter basketball free for the first time in over 40 years, but strangely I find myself thinking more basketball than ever. Oh well. At least I'm keeping mileage off my car. Cheers and happy new year, all.
RIP. Joey Meyer, who was such a great guy and coach. Plus, my family used to live across the street from his sister, in Naperville. It was kind of weird but also very cool that on holidays back in the late 70's and early 80's like Thanksgiving or Easter, we would look out our window and across the street we would see Coach Ray and Joey shooting baskets with Merianne's kids. My sister used to babysit for them. I had the opportunity to talk to Joey on a few occasions as a reporter and he could not have been better. I am also going to take this opportunity to talk about his coaching friends who I knew even better than Joey like Jim Platt and Jim Molinari who were Joey's assistants at DePaul. Platt was a regular guest on my WKKD talk show thanks to his Aurora connection and he would check in all the time while eventually head coach at Arkansas-Little Rock. Coach Mo took over for Jim Rosborough at NIU and was a regular guest with me while at NIU and then at Bradley. The third Jim of this circle of coaches and great guys, Rosborough was also a regular guest while at NIU and then as an assistant at Arizona. Between Joey and the three Jims, we were pretty blessed back in the day to have as many quality humans and great coaches around. I enjoyed all our conversations so much. It was because of the great respect I had for Joey, frankly, that I did not bother the other Jims for his phone number to have him on my show. Those were guys I respected immensely but Joey and Coach Ray were legends in my book and I didn't want to bug Joey to come on my little show in Aurora, lol. I knew they would hook me up if I asked and I knew Joey would be nice enough to come on with me but he was JOEY for goodness sake! I left him alone and did not bother him when he was across the street with his family and I didn't want to bother him for my show either. Again, I did eventually get to talk to him on a few occasions professionally and he couldn't have been nicer. I even told him about living across the street from his sister and he got a kick out of that, but again, I revered those DePaul teams that he and his Dad coached. The Meyers were larger than life to me. I wasn't about to impose even if he wasn't going to see it that way. News of his passing has made me think of all those guys again today. I miss their friendship and their basketball knowledge that I mined on many an occasion. Posting my buddy Moga's cassettes lately has me very nostalgic for my days at WMRO and WKKD. I miss those people mostly. I spent so much time talking basketball and broadcasting basketball in Aurora with a great group of people. Speaking of coaches, I am not going to fail to mention NIU's Jane Albright and her assistant Sue Semrau. The Huskies would have that great run of NCAA appearances due to the talents of those two while I was their announcer. Semrau would go on to lead Florida State to 468 wins over 24 years and is now in their Hall of Fame, btw. So I tip my cap to Joey and all the coaches he befriended and mentored that went on to such success and all the coaches I was lucky enough to be around. There are many, many others I am not mentioning here like James Lancaster and Keith Bunkenburg to name just a few more and the long list of coaches I worked with at Lewis is without peer. I finally have a winter basketball free for the first time in over 40 years, but strangely I find myself thinking more basketball than ever. Oh well. At least I'm keeping mileage off my car. Cheers and happy new year, all.
12/28/2023
Here is the final baseball game that was found in the Steve Moga shoebox of cassettes. Moga pitches a gem in this one, a 2-hitter. Sadly it is only from one side of one cassette, though. AU beat Illinois Wesleyan 12-0 at Snell Field in late March of 1988 on WKKD. This is only a couple innings worth but the Spartans were great that day. I have a nice long postgame talk with Jim Schmid too. Aurora was great that season, won 22 games and were undefeated in Conference but were kept out of the National Tournament that year somehow. Of course, two years later they played in the D3 National Championship game. I hope you don't mind my indulgence but I included my jacket there in the video, that I still have and I also include my picture from back in the day and the plaque that AU gave me for my 10 years as voice of the Spartans. I hadn't done that in any of the other videos so figured I would do it in this one. I have one more cassette to upload, it is from a 1993 football game that Moga and I did together vs Wartburg at the Unidome in Cedar Falls, Iowa. That will conclude the Moga shoebox videos that I have had so much fun listening to and posting. I really miss those days and those people at AU. This project has been a blast. One more to go.
Here's the link to the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlY0Ic2hMZM
Here is the final baseball game that was found in the Steve Moga shoebox of cassettes. Moga pitches a gem in this one, a 2-hitter. Sadly it is only from one side of one cassette, though. AU beat Illinois Wesleyan 12-0 at Snell Field in late March of 1988 on WKKD. This is only a couple innings worth but the Spartans were great that day. I have a nice long postgame talk with Jim Schmid too. Aurora was great that season, won 22 games and were undefeated in Conference but were kept out of the National Tournament that year somehow. Of course, two years later they played in the D3 National Championship game. I hope you don't mind my indulgence but I included my jacket there in the video, that I still have and I also include my picture from back in the day and the plaque that AU gave me for my 10 years as voice of the Spartans. I hadn't done that in any of the other videos so figured I would do it in this one. I have one more cassette to upload, it is from a 1993 football game that Moga and I did together vs Wartburg at the Unidome in Cedar Falls, Iowa. That will conclude the Moga shoebox videos that I have had so much fun listening to and posting. I really miss those days and those people at AU. This project has been a blast. One more to go.
Here's the link to the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlY0Ic2hMZM
12/24/2023
Here is a little Christmas present for us all. From the Steve Moga shoebox of cassettes comes this great find. It is Steve Klauke on the call of a Waubonsee College baseball game in 1986 vs Black Hawk College with Moga on the mound. It is the first 5 innings of the broadcast. Klauke, who as you all know was my first boss after hiring me at WMRO right out of SIU, has just concluded 29 seasons and 4,181 games with AAA Salt Lake, so this is a look back at how his amazing career got started in Aurora. I of course eventually went across town to WKKD and he and I would both broadcast Chiefs and Aurora U. games etc. for our stations until he left for Utah. Steve sent me this baseball card, his first with Salt Lake, back in 1994. I'm glad I kept it and get to share it here. Back in the day, we both had one-man operations. We both did doubleheaders solo and the commercials were ones we even read ourselves live on site. No breaks for us! I would even do my Aurora Spartans doubleheaders with a cassette of oldies that I would play between games until I was ready to begin game two. Once they sent it to me at the park, it was my operation totally for six hours or whatever until it was time to resume regular programming. Steve had it much the same way at WMRO. So fun to listen back to those commercials too. I read plenty of the same ones myself at both stations over the years. Also fun to hear names like Chris Hess and Greg Chione etc. playing for the Chiefs with Dave Randall as Head Coach. I broadcast them at WCC as well and I broadcast Hess and company at Aurora Central Catholic as they finished 2nd in the State in 1984. I just missed out on their State Championship the year before, as I was still at SIU.
So my friend Steve Moga is pitching and my friend Steve Klauke is on the call of this game featuring other Chiefs I remember so well. Enjoy this trip back in time. Here is the YouTube link...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL7SEtcdctQ
12/23/2023
So my friend Larry Bush texted me to tell me the quarterback for Coastal Carolina is Ethan Vasko. So now I have a new favorite college football team lol. They just beat San Jose State 24-14 in the Hawaii Bowl. He threw for 299 yards and 3 touchdowns as a redshirt freshman. He won 2 State Championships in Virginia. Do I have relatives in Virginia? Not that I know of, but it is not a common name so I assume I am some sort of distant relative. So now I'm going to have to find a Vasko Chanticleers jersey. And maybe they could use a play-by-play guy 🙂 (and I had to look up that a Chanticleer is a proud and fierce rooster. Sure. Why not, lol)
So my friend Larry Bush texted me to tell me the quarterback for Coastal Carolina is Ethan Vasko. So now I have a new favorite college football team lol. They just beat San Jose State 24-14 in the Hawaii Bowl. He threw for 299 yards and 3 touchdowns as a redshirt freshman. He won 2 State Championships in Virginia. Do I have relatives in Virginia? Not that I know of, but it is not a common name so I assume I am some sort of distant relative. So now I'm going to have to find a Vasko Chanticleers jersey. And maybe they could use a play-by-play guy 🙂 (and I had to look up that a Chanticleer is a proud and fierce rooster. Sure. Why not, lol)
12/8/2023
My friend Jon Cooper gets inducted into the Benedictine University Athletics Hall of Fame tomorrow night. I wanted to post this today. This broadcast has been up on my YouTube page for a while but figured I would bring it back today in his honor. It is from his final season at the helm of the BenU football program. I broadcast Coop's games my entire career. He was the defensive coordinator at Aurora U. the entire 12 years I was the voice of AU sports and then soon after he and my other good friend Dave Beyer were the ones who brought me over to be the voice of BenU for 13 years. Those two guys being in Lisle were the main reason I took the gig. Jon was at Benedictine for 11 years and left as the winningest coach in school history. Coop took the Eagles to the D3 playoffs in 3 of his final 6 seasons there. His best season was 2010 when the Eagles would win their final 7 regular season games in a row before falling to 4th ranked St. Thomas in the postseason and finish 8-3 on the year. Jon is without doubt one of the finest defensive minds I have ever come across in any level of football. I also broadcast D1 in my career and covered the Bears for several seasons as well, so I've seen football up close from all levels. Coop should have been a defensive coach in the NFL and only bad luck kept him out of the big time. I know the stories. He can share them if he wants but the Arizona Cardinals wanted to hire him back in the day, for one, but it never happened. It is their loss. He has also worked for Ourlads scouting service for many years, evaluating talent for each year's NFL draft. I had him on the air with me on WSCR as well as other stations to talk about many upcoming drafts over the years. I broadcast D3 football for 25 seasons. He was on the sidelines for almost every single game I ever did. I wouldn't have had it any other way. And a nicer guy you will not find. Sadly, I won't be able to be at the banquet tomorrow so wanted to put my tribute here. I loved doing his AU and then BenU games and it was always fun when Luke Stanczyk could join me on the air as well in Lisle. So I tip my cap to Coop. He is more than deserving of this honor. Thanks for all the fun football and even more fun conversations over the years, my friend.
Here is the youtube link to the 2015 BenU football broadcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdVQjDVIGH4
My friend Jon Cooper gets inducted into the Benedictine University Athletics Hall of Fame tomorrow night. I wanted to post this today. This broadcast has been up on my YouTube page for a while but figured I would bring it back today in his honor. It is from his final season at the helm of the BenU football program. I broadcast Coop's games my entire career. He was the defensive coordinator at Aurora U. the entire 12 years I was the voice of AU sports and then soon after he and my other good friend Dave Beyer were the ones who brought me over to be the voice of BenU for 13 years. Those two guys being in Lisle were the main reason I took the gig. Jon was at Benedictine for 11 years and left as the winningest coach in school history. Coop took the Eagles to the D3 playoffs in 3 of his final 6 seasons there. His best season was 2010 when the Eagles would win their final 7 regular season games in a row before falling to 4th ranked St. Thomas in the postseason and finish 8-3 on the year. Jon is without doubt one of the finest defensive minds I have ever come across in any level of football. I also broadcast D1 in my career and covered the Bears for several seasons as well, so I've seen football up close from all levels. Coop should have been a defensive coach in the NFL and only bad luck kept him out of the big time. I know the stories. He can share them if he wants but the Arizona Cardinals wanted to hire him back in the day, for one, but it never happened. It is their loss. He has also worked for Ourlads scouting service for many years, evaluating talent for each year's NFL draft. I had him on the air with me on WSCR as well as other stations to talk about many upcoming drafts over the years. I broadcast D3 football for 25 seasons. He was on the sidelines for almost every single game I ever did. I wouldn't have had it any other way. And a nicer guy you will not find. Sadly, I won't be able to be at the banquet tomorrow so wanted to put my tribute here. I loved doing his AU and then BenU games and it was always fun when Luke Stanczyk could join me on the air as well in Lisle. So I tip my cap to Coop. He is more than deserving of this honor. Thanks for all the fun football and even more fun conversations over the years, my friend.
Here is the youtube link to the 2015 BenU football broadcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdVQjDVIGH4
12/3/2023
This is the final few innings of my radio broadcast on WKKD of the Aurora Spartans 6-0 1987 D3 MidEast Regional semifinal victory over the defending National Champions, Marrietta College played in Wooster, Ohio. It ranks as one of the most important wins in school history. It seemed no matter how well Aurora would play, they would never seem to get a bid into the National Tournament. Exhibit A was the previous season of 1986 when the Spartans finished 25-12 overall with a perfect 11-0 record in Conference and still did not get an invite. Our league got very little respect, especially compared to the neighboring CCIW. The 1987 team could not be denied their bid however as this victory over Marietta would be their 31st win of the season. Getting to the Regional was one thing. Proving they belonged was another. If they had gone 2-and-out that year, getting another invite would have been almost impossible. AU opened the regional by losing to North Park 2-1, so a lot was on the line in the next game. They bounced back by defeating Ohio Wesleyan 5-2 as they kept their hopes alive for that season and maybe seasons to come as well. A 5-3 win over Wooster helped their reputation too and earned them a spot in the Regional Semis. The problem was, they would have to face the defending National Champions, Marietta in that game. If they lose, AU probably gets a nice pat on the back but future tourney bids would still likely be hard to come by. Instead, the Spartans played maybe their best game of the year and used a tremendous pitching performance by Steve Moga who hurled a complete game 6 hit shutout to earn a spot in the Regional Final. Aurora had proven they belonged with the big boys and proved they were an elite program with this performance. It wasn't just a win, it was a convincing domination over the program that had won D3 Championships in 1981, 1983 and 1986. AU was on the map now and could not be passed over any longer. I have already posted the 1987 Regional Championship game loss to North Central College that took place later that same day. It took maybe the best team in NCC history to deny Aurora's advancing to the D3 World Series in 1987. Their first trip there would have to wait until 1990 when they went all the way to the National Championship game. This broadcast features John Sudges for Marietta, who starred at West Aurora High School and Waubonsee Community College before being part of the Marietta Title team in 1986 and he eventually played Major Men's Fastpitch Softball for Aurora's Coors Silver Bullets and then he played in Decatur. I announced him playing for Aurora and he won an ISC Championship with the Decatur Pride in 1995. Again, I'm so glad Moges found these cassettes. They have been so much fun to re-visit.
Here is the YouTube link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdbFyxOSp9M
This is the final few innings of my radio broadcast on WKKD of the Aurora Spartans 6-0 1987 D3 MidEast Regional semifinal victory over the defending National Champions, Marrietta College played in Wooster, Ohio. It ranks as one of the most important wins in school history. It seemed no matter how well Aurora would play, they would never seem to get a bid into the National Tournament. Exhibit A was the previous season of 1986 when the Spartans finished 25-12 overall with a perfect 11-0 record in Conference and still did not get an invite. Our league got very little respect, especially compared to the neighboring CCIW. The 1987 team could not be denied their bid however as this victory over Marietta would be their 31st win of the season. Getting to the Regional was one thing. Proving they belonged was another. If they had gone 2-and-out that year, getting another invite would have been almost impossible. AU opened the regional by losing to North Park 2-1, so a lot was on the line in the next game. They bounced back by defeating Ohio Wesleyan 5-2 as they kept their hopes alive for that season and maybe seasons to come as well. A 5-3 win over Wooster helped their reputation too and earned them a spot in the Regional Semis. The problem was, they would have to face the defending National Champions, Marietta in that game. If they lose, AU probably gets a nice pat on the back but future tourney bids would still likely be hard to come by. Instead, the Spartans played maybe their best game of the year and used a tremendous pitching performance by Steve Moga who hurled a complete game 6 hit shutout to earn a spot in the Regional Final. Aurora had proven they belonged with the big boys and proved they were an elite program with this performance. It wasn't just a win, it was a convincing domination over the program that had won D3 Championships in 1981, 1983 and 1986. AU was on the map now and could not be passed over any longer. I have already posted the 1987 Regional Championship game loss to North Central College that took place later that same day. It took maybe the best team in NCC history to deny Aurora's advancing to the D3 World Series in 1987. Their first trip there would have to wait until 1990 when they went all the way to the National Championship game. This broadcast features John Sudges for Marietta, who starred at West Aurora High School and Waubonsee Community College before being part of the Marietta Title team in 1986 and he eventually played Major Men's Fastpitch Softball for Aurora's Coors Silver Bullets and then he played in Decatur. I announced him playing for Aurora and he won an ISC Championship with the Decatur Pride in 1995. Again, I'm so glad Moges found these cassettes. They have been so much fun to re-visit.
Here is the YouTube link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdbFyxOSp9M
11/24/2023
Aurora U. football plays UW-La Crosse on Saturday in the D3 playoffs and if they and North Central both win their games, it will be AU vs NCC in the quarterfinals. Pretty cool for schools 11 miles apart. In honor of the Spartans undefeated 11-0 season so far, I thought I would post another game from the Steve Moga shoebox of cassettes.
This is my WKKD radio broadcast from Oct. 28, 1995 as AU played at Trinity International, coached by former Chicago Bear, Leslie Frazier. This Trinity team won it's conference title and were quarterbacked by Jon Stark. He had transferred in to play for Frazier after backing up Charlie Ward and Danny Kanell at Florida State for two years. This was his final year of eligibility and he made the most of it, throwing for 3,148 yards with 21 touchdowns that season in 10 games. The Baltimore Ravens then selected him in the 7th round of the NFL draft. A torn rotator cuff and other issues then derailed his NFL career. His main target that year was Karl Hankton, who transferred in from LSU to Trinity the year before. He finished with an amazing 55 TD catches in just his 2 seasons with the Trojans. Hankton went on to play ten years in the NFL and remains the Carolina Panthers all-time leader in special teams tackles. I also mention TE Demetrius Coleman for Trinity in this broadcast, who was a pro prospect too, but he did not end up in the NFL after this All-American season. The AU effort in this game only goes to show how good the Spartans defense was that year, as they held those stars in check all day long in this game that ended in a 15-12 win, although it was a cold rainy, muddy day and the conditions were not great. This Spartans team had three of the best tacklers in school history on it's roster. Drew Avery, Jason Stransky and Joe Jacobs remain in the top 8 all-time in Spartans history in career tackles. John Novak, from this team, remains in the top 10 all-time in sacks. Avery, along with Brandon Kopf, remain in the top 10 all-time in interceptions. Matt Deegan is just outside the top 10 in picks. The 1995 Spartans struggled offensively though and finished 3-6, as they scored more than 15 points only 3 times that year, but in this one those 15 points were enough for a win. Important to remember how young this team was however. They had only 8 seniors on a 95 man roster in 1995. This was a very long game and I cut out a big chunk of the first half where not much happened other than sloppy play on the wet field. Sadly the wind and rain affected the play in this one quite a bit. It helped AU get the win but it was not a pretty game to watch. Again, AU won this contest 15-12 but my cassette runs out with just a few minutes remaining with the Spartans up 13-12, so a safety in the closing seconds secured the victory.
I have a couple questions for Jon Cooper. How did we get the safety at the end of the game? I don't remember. And how was it to prepare to stop that high powered offense? Yes, they had quite a few dropped passes but the Spartans were great that day on defense.
And there are plenty of mentions about our buddy Dave Beyer in this broadcast. The SID extraordinaire was sitting right behind us in the press box and feeding us stats and thankfully so, in this long, long game. This was well before live stats were fed to us on laptops. Dave, Steve and I would travel together on our road game Saturdays and time together with those guys is one of the things I miss most about my days as voice of the Spartans.
Coach Jon Cooper, AU Defensive Coodinator at the time and eventually Head Coach at Benedictine, responded to my questions. Here are his comments on the game...
I have the video of this game and yes it was a long game. Trinity was throwing the ball and it was before they changed the rules to speed up games. We felt we had to pressure Stark and we blitzed 44 out of 88 snaps. We used a lot of Jim Johnson’s zone blitz schemes which he was using with Indianapolis at the
time. He spent a lot of time teaching me the previous off season and it payed off for us.
A big play early was a big hit on Hankton over the middle by Drew Avery separating him from the ball. He was a little gun shy after that and caught only 2 passes. Ironically 4 years later Jim was hired by the Eagles and Leslie Frazier was also hired to coach the secondary. I gave Jim a thumbs up on Leslie. I spent 8 days in Jim’s first Eagles camp in 99 as a visiting coach. One of the Eagle receivers was Karl Hankton. We had some fun talking about that game. The safety came on Trinity being called fo offensive holding in the end zone which essentially ended the game.
The whole secondary played well along with pressure from the front seven. Our goal was to make Stark think he was a “fighter pilot” He was under constant pressure. Dan Shonka who was scouting for the Eagles told me the next spring that
game cost him a bit in the draft.
Another player who had a big game was Kevin Watson who was effective blitzing from the MLB spot. I believe it was Novak who was held in the end zone for the safety. He gave the fits coming off the edge. The field wasn’t really muddy but was full of goose droppings. Trinity used to put white flags all over the field to keep them away. Because of an event they took them off a day early and the geese had a field day. Our white uniforms became gray as the game wore on.
Here is my YouTube link to the broadcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06vZO0NHEzc
Aurora U. football plays UW-La Crosse on Saturday in the D3 playoffs and if they and North Central both win their games, it will be AU vs NCC in the quarterfinals. Pretty cool for schools 11 miles apart. In honor of the Spartans undefeated 11-0 season so far, I thought I would post another game from the Steve Moga shoebox of cassettes.
This is my WKKD radio broadcast from Oct. 28, 1995 as AU played at Trinity International, coached by former Chicago Bear, Leslie Frazier. This Trinity team won it's conference title and were quarterbacked by Jon Stark. He had transferred in to play for Frazier after backing up Charlie Ward and Danny Kanell at Florida State for two years. This was his final year of eligibility and he made the most of it, throwing for 3,148 yards with 21 touchdowns that season in 10 games. The Baltimore Ravens then selected him in the 7th round of the NFL draft. A torn rotator cuff and other issues then derailed his NFL career. His main target that year was Karl Hankton, who transferred in from LSU to Trinity the year before. He finished with an amazing 55 TD catches in just his 2 seasons with the Trojans. Hankton went on to play ten years in the NFL and remains the Carolina Panthers all-time leader in special teams tackles. I also mention TE Demetrius Coleman for Trinity in this broadcast, who was a pro prospect too, but he did not end up in the NFL after this All-American season. The AU effort in this game only goes to show how good the Spartans defense was that year, as they held those stars in check all day long in this game that ended in a 15-12 win, although it was a cold rainy, muddy day and the conditions were not great. This Spartans team had three of the best tacklers in school history on it's roster. Drew Avery, Jason Stransky and Joe Jacobs remain in the top 8 all-time in Spartans history in career tackles. John Novak, from this team, remains in the top 10 all-time in sacks. Avery, along with Brandon Kopf, remain in the top 10 all-time in interceptions. Matt Deegan is just outside the top 10 in picks. The 1995 Spartans struggled offensively though and finished 3-6, as they scored more than 15 points only 3 times that year, but in this one those 15 points were enough for a win. Important to remember how young this team was however. They had only 8 seniors on a 95 man roster in 1995. This was a very long game and I cut out a big chunk of the first half where not much happened other than sloppy play on the wet field. Sadly the wind and rain affected the play in this one quite a bit. It helped AU get the win but it was not a pretty game to watch. Again, AU won this contest 15-12 but my cassette runs out with just a few minutes remaining with the Spartans up 13-12, so a safety in the closing seconds secured the victory.
I have a couple questions for Jon Cooper. How did we get the safety at the end of the game? I don't remember. And how was it to prepare to stop that high powered offense? Yes, they had quite a few dropped passes but the Spartans were great that day on defense.
And there are plenty of mentions about our buddy Dave Beyer in this broadcast. The SID extraordinaire was sitting right behind us in the press box and feeding us stats and thankfully so, in this long, long game. This was well before live stats were fed to us on laptops. Dave, Steve and I would travel together on our road game Saturdays and time together with those guys is one of the things I miss most about my days as voice of the Spartans.
Coach Jon Cooper, AU Defensive Coodinator at the time and eventually Head Coach at Benedictine, responded to my questions. Here are his comments on the game...
I have the video of this game and yes it was a long game. Trinity was throwing the ball and it was before they changed the rules to speed up games. We felt we had to pressure Stark and we blitzed 44 out of 88 snaps. We used a lot of Jim Johnson’s zone blitz schemes which he was using with Indianapolis at the
time. He spent a lot of time teaching me the previous off season and it payed off for us.
A big play early was a big hit on Hankton over the middle by Drew Avery separating him from the ball. He was a little gun shy after that and caught only 2 passes. Ironically 4 years later Jim was hired by the Eagles and Leslie Frazier was also hired to coach the secondary. I gave Jim a thumbs up on Leslie. I spent 8 days in Jim’s first Eagles camp in 99 as a visiting coach. One of the Eagle receivers was Karl Hankton. We had some fun talking about that game. The safety came on Trinity being called fo offensive holding in the end zone which essentially ended the game.
The whole secondary played well along with pressure from the front seven. Our goal was to make Stark think he was a “fighter pilot” He was under constant pressure. Dan Shonka who was scouting for the Eagles told me the next spring that
game cost him a bit in the draft.
Another player who had a big game was Kevin Watson who was effective blitzing from the MLB spot. I believe it was Novak who was held in the end zone for the safety. He gave the fits coming off the edge. The field wasn’t really muddy but was full of goose droppings. Trinity used to put white flags all over the field to keep them away. Because of an event they took them off a day early and the geese had a field day. Our white uniforms became gray as the game wore on.
Here is my YouTube link to the broadcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06vZO0NHEzc
11/13/2023
A quick comment on Jerry Reinsdorf, after his latest debacle with Jason Benetti. I ranted about Jerry not too long ago and also gave Jason some unsolicited advice, but I certainly understand his value to Sox fans and Reinsdorf needs another rant now too. I have been a sports fan in this city now for more than 5 decades and worked as a sportscaster here for more than 4. I have never seen anything like this. Jerry now seems to no longer even pretend to hide his contempt for his customer. It is insane. He honestly does stuff now to purposefully antagonize the very people keeping him in business. There is no other conclusion to make. Being a bad owner and one who is being genuinely mean are two different things. The McCaskeys, I believe, absolutely want to win. They are just historically bad at it. I think they are decent people with decent ideals but sadly for us are really bad at the business of winning. It is just well meaning incompetence that is fairly unmatched in the sports world. They can't get out of their own way. Reinsdorf on the other hand, has just become a bastard. I don't have any other word for it. He has always been more about money than winning but now he is the cranky old bitter 'get off my lawn' neighbor and has taken it to the Nth degree. Benetti is very popular with the fan base, so screw them, he's out. Fans hate Tony LaRussa, screw them I'm keeping him around as a consultant. No one else on Planet Earth would hire Getz as GM, screw my fanbase, I like having him around so he's the guy. Getz wants a head of player development that is a college assistant coach with no experience in pro ball whatsoever and is completely unqualified, sure hire the guy. I know my fanbase will support a winner but I will continually say that they have to show up first before I spend money rather than the other way around, because screw them. I blew up the rebuild's Championship window by hiring the old alcoholic LaRussa in the first place because screw them, he's my friend. I tore down a historic baseball palace that the fans loved because screw them, I want sky boxes. I helped arrange the owners free agent collusion because I wanted to save money rather than try to improve my team because screw them, I only care about profit. And on and on and on. We built that ballpark for him, after he of course threatened to move to Florida. Since it's ours can we just lock him out of the damn place and say screw you we are not letting you do this to us anymore. I say we find out.
A quick comment on Jerry Reinsdorf, after his latest debacle with Jason Benetti. I ranted about Jerry not too long ago and also gave Jason some unsolicited advice, but I certainly understand his value to Sox fans and Reinsdorf needs another rant now too. I have been a sports fan in this city now for more than 5 decades and worked as a sportscaster here for more than 4. I have never seen anything like this. Jerry now seems to no longer even pretend to hide his contempt for his customer. It is insane. He honestly does stuff now to purposefully antagonize the very people keeping him in business. There is no other conclusion to make. Being a bad owner and one who is being genuinely mean are two different things. The McCaskeys, I believe, absolutely want to win. They are just historically bad at it. I think they are decent people with decent ideals but sadly for us are really bad at the business of winning. It is just well meaning incompetence that is fairly unmatched in the sports world. They can't get out of their own way. Reinsdorf on the other hand, has just become a bastard. I don't have any other word for it. He has always been more about money than winning but now he is the cranky old bitter 'get off my lawn' neighbor and has taken it to the Nth degree. Benetti is very popular with the fan base, so screw them, he's out. Fans hate Tony LaRussa, screw them I'm keeping him around as a consultant. No one else on Planet Earth would hire Getz as GM, screw my fanbase, I like having him around so he's the guy. Getz wants a head of player development that is a college assistant coach with no experience in pro ball whatsoever and is completely unqualified, sure hire the guy. I know my fanbase will support a winner but I will continually say that they have to show up first before I spend money rather than the other way around, because screw them. I blew up the rebuild's Championship window by hiring the old alcoholic LaRussa in the first place because screw them, he's my friend. I tore down a historic baseball palace that the fans loved because screw them, I want sky boxes. I helped arrange the owners free agent collusion because I wanted to save money rather than try to improve my team because screw them, I only care about profit. And on and on and on. We built that ballpark for him, after he of course threatened to move to Florida. Since it's ours can we just lock him out of the damn place and say screw you we are not letting you do this to us anymore. I say we find out.
11/8/2023
How about the day we almost beat the Illini.
As long as I am talking about November memories concerning Flyers basketball, here is one more story. This one concerns the day we came within seconds of upsetting the Fighting Illini! November 9, 2008 was the day Lewis U. went down to Champaign-Urbana and almost knocked off Bruce Weber's U of I squad. Illinois won 62-56 but it was a 2-point game with under 5 minutes to play and a one possession game with just 30 seconds left! Lewis trailed by just four at the break, 30-26. A 13-4 run put them up by 14 but the Flyers responded with a 12-3 run of their own to cut the deficit to 52-50 with 4:45 remaining. It became 56-50 with 3 minutes to play but a Marty Strus free throw and a Brandon Dagans jumper cut it to 56-53 with just 2:07 to play. The scored stayed the same for 90 more seconds until a 3-pointer from Demetri McCamey put the game away for the Illini at 59-53 with just 26 seconds to go. Dagans would eventually answer with a 3 of his own with just 10 seconds to go to close out the score 62-56. But to be down by just 3 with under 30 seconds to play against U of I at Assembly Hall was really something. As I mentioned in my recent story about the Notre Dame game of the following year, our opponent had to play their main starters way more minutes than they had planned. McCamey played 31 minutes and Chester Frazier played 32 minutes to hold off the Flyers. Mike Davis led them with 18 points and McCamey finished with 16. Dagans was outstanding and was maybe the best player on the floor in that game. He ended up with 18 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. As well as the Flyers played, and they played great, a few more 3-pointers and the upset would likely have happened. Both Jason Genova and Dennis Thomas were an uncharacteristic 0-3 from beyond the arc. Even Dagans was just 2-8. One more 3-pointer from each and it could have easily been a Lewis victory. Genova played very well otherwise and finished with 8 points and 8 rebounds. Marty Strus finished with 7 points and his interior defense, along with Thomas' D from outside the paint helped shut down Illinois and hold them to 37% shooting for the game. The Illini knew they had a fight on their hands and Coach Weber said as much on his post game radio interview that was piped into the arena. He gave the Flyers all sorts of credit and said that his Illini were lucky to come out with a win. It was a thrill to be courtside for that exciting game against a Big Ten team on the road. I could not have been more proud to be part of that group.
One last item is a short word about another early D1 contest and that was our 65-55 win over UIC on Nov 10, 2009. It wasn't just a D1 win but a 10 point win at that. Justin Jarosz paced Lewis with 23 points and Strus had 13 rebounds. We led by as many as 19 at one point. UIC is not Notre Dame, DePaul or Illinois but they are D1 from the City and we went to the Pavilion and showed we belonged. Another great night. I will miss those.
How about the day we almost beat the Illini.
As long as I am talking about November memories concerning Flyers basketball, here is one more story. This one concerns the day we came within seconds of upsetting the Fighting Illini! November 9, 2008 was the day Lewis U. went down to Champaign-Urbana and almost knocked off Bruce Weber's U of I squad. Illinois won 62-56 but it was a 2-point game with under 5 minutes to play and a one possession game with just 30 seconds left! Lewis trailed by just four at the break, 30-26. A 13-4 run put them up by 14 but the Flyers responded with a 12-3 run of their own to cut the deficit to 52-50 with 4:45 remaining. It became 56-50 with 3 minutes to play but a Marty Strus free throw and a Brandon Dagans jumper cut it to 56-53 with just 2:07 to play. The scored stayed the same for 90 more seconds until a 3-pointer from Demetri McCamey put the game away for the Illini at 59-53 with just 26 seconds to go. Dagans would eventually answer with a 3 of his own with just 10 seconds to go to close out the score 62-56. But to be down by just 3 with under 30 seconds to play against U of I at Assembly Hall was really something. As I mentioned in my recent story about the Notre Dame game of the following year, our opponent had to play their main starters way more minutes than they had planned. McCamey played 31 minutes and Chester Frazier played 32 minutes to hold off the Flyers. Mike Davis led them with 18 points and McCamey finished with 16. Dagans was outstanding and was maybe the best player on the floor in that game. He ended up with 18 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. As well as the Flyers played, and they played great, a few more 3-pointers and the upset would likely have happened. Both Jason Genova and Dennis Thomas were an uncharacteristic 0-3 from beyond the arc. Even Dagans was just 2-8. One more 3-pointer from each and it could have easily been a Lewis victory. Genova played very well otherwise and finished with 8 points and 8 rebounds. Marty Strus finished with 7 points and his interior defense, along with Thomas' D from outside the paint helped shut down Illinois and hold them to 37% shooting for the game. The Illini knew they had a fight on their hands and Coach Weber said as much on his post game radio interview that was piped into the arena. He gave the Flyers all sorts of credit and said that his Illini were lucky to come out with a win. It was a thrill to be courtside for that exciting game against a Big Ten team on the road. I could not have been more proud to be part of that group.
One last item is a short word about another early D1 contest and that was our 65-55 win over UIC on Nov 10, 2009. It wasn't just a D1 win but a 10 point win at that. Justin Jarosz paced Lewis with 23 points and Strus had 13 rebounds. We led by as many as 19 at one point. UIC is not Notre Dame, DePaul or Illinois but they are D1 from the City and we went to the Pavilion and showed we belonged. Another great night. I will miss those.
11/7/2023
Yes it's going to be weird not broadcasting Lewis U. or any basketball this season. And yes I will probably look back at past years often. 13 years ago tonight, the Flyers beat DePaul 70-68. Lewis shot almost 70 percent in the first half, at one point scored 14 straight and had a 15 point lead early in the second half. The Demons clawed their way back after that and created 13 steals on the night to make it close but a Cleveland Melvin steal in the closing seconds led to a miss 3-pointer just before the buzzer by Mike Stovall. Chris McClellan led with 17 points and was 4 of 5 from beyond the arc. Dennis Thomas had 14 points and Matt Toth finished with 9 points and 7 rebounds. Stovall led the Demons with 13 points. There were many memorable games in my 20 years there, but one where you lead a D1 by15 in the second half and come out with a win certainly ranks up there. This was not their best run of DePaul teams back then but they were in a big time D1 league, a big time local Chicago D1 program with an important history of Tournament runs and it was a very fun win that night for us. We beat the Demons twice in my time with the Flyers (plus a 2 point loss that should have also been a win but several ridiculous calls keep us from that victory) and we beat other D1 as well. Making it more memorable that night was that I got to sit courtside with my old co-workers from the Score, Zach Zaidman and Laurence Holmes as they were the DePaul broadcasters that season, but my team was the one that came out on top! Best of luck to Scott Trost and crew this season. I'm sure I will be there as a fan a few times because I won't be able to stay away all that long.
Yes it's going to be weird not broadcasting Lewis U. or any basketball this season. And yes I will probably look back at past years often. 13 years ago tonight, the Flyers beat DePaul 70-68. Lewis shot almost 70 percent in the first half, at one point scored 14 straight and had a 15 point lead early in the second half. The Demons clawed their way back after that and created 13 steals on the night to make it close but a Cleveland Melvin steal in the closing seconds led to a miss 3-pointer just before the buzzer by Mike Stovall. Chris McClellan led with 17 points and was 4 of 5 from beyond the arc. Dennis Thomas had 14 points and Matt Toth finished with 9 points and 7 rebounds. Stovall led the Demons with 13 points. There were many memorable games in my 20 years there, but one where you lead a D1 by15 in the second half and come out with a win certainly ranks up there. This was not their best run of DePaul teams back then but they were in a big time D1 league, a big time local Chicago D1 program with an important history of Tournament runs and it was a very fun win that night for us. We beat the Demons twice in my time with the Flyers (plus a 2 point loss that should have also been a win but several ridiculous calls keep us from that victory) and we beat other D1 as well. Making it more memorable that night was that I got to sit courtside with my old co-workers from the Score, Zach Zaidman and Laurence Holmes as they were the DePaul broadcasters that season, but my team was the one that came out on top! Best of luck to Scott Trost and crew this season. I'm sure I will be there as a fan a few times because I won't be able to stay away all that long.
11/5/2023
Bill Murray makes the headline but the bigger news is that Mike Veeck is the main new owner. Veeck, of course the son of Bill Veeck, is the best owner in Independent baseball. He cares and he knows how to run a successful team. I am hopeful of the future now for my team. Yes, I call it my team. Emotionally it will always be my team to me. Scott Slocum and I pushed for the existence of a minor league team from the very beginning and I was there the day Mayor Schultz swung the baseball-painted wrecking ball to knock down buildings to make way for the ballpark. I was there as the park was being built and was part of the broadcast crew for years of Joliet JackHammers and then Slammers games. I have a Slammers Championship ring and that will always be my ballpark to me. I miss being in that tiny broadcast booth and always will. I like Nick, the current owner, and I like Heather, the current GM. I liked working for and with them. I just have different ideas about how to pack that ballpark again. I am confident Veeck will think like I do and bring back the days when over 6,000 people would come into Silver Cross Field on a regular basis. The atmosphere during those early JackHammers games was so much fun. I am confident that at least 4,000 fans can be there on a daily basis each summer like there used to be. Schaumburg averaged over 45 hundred this year and Joliet improved to over 2,000 this summer. That sad part is that was an improvement over recent numbers of around 18 hundred. The JackHammers averaged over 4,000 every year when I was there with 45 hundred the average in 2003 with several crowds over 6,000. Yes, I am a radio guy, but I will always believe that having the games on WJOL with Bryan Dolgin and myself had something to do with that. People in Joliet still listen to WJOL regularly. It is and has been something people have done in that town every day for decades. Lewis games and their success would not matter anywhere near as much if they weren't heard on 1340 AM. All those high school games they do make as much money as they do because that town cares about it's teams and it's sports. The last few years of the JackHammers were a mismanaged mess. The Slammers took over not from ground zero but from minus-2 as I've said over the years. That we won the Championship that year and mended local fences and brought people back to that park was a minor miracle. I was proud to be part of it. Bill Waliewski, Aaron Morse and I worked our butts off to bring fun back to game day. I will put our radio broadcasts the summer of 2011 up against anyones. It was daily promotion of the product to a public that has that radio station on in their homes and their cars still to this day. Yes, people listen to streaming sports now but Joliet has been and still is a radio town. Slammers games need to be back on the radio and need to be done by a professional (cough, cough) like they used to be. Having games streamed only, and done my an unpaid intern just won't cut it if they want to double their attendance like it used to be. And as Aaron has said, their website needs to be 999 percent better and it needs to be a place that actually accomplishes something. Veeck is just about the best at in-game promotions and I hope he realizes and enacts the other things that need to be done. I care about that team and that park. I want it to thrive like it should be. Yes, the celebrity of Bill Murray will help but many other things need to be done and if done, they can work. Please and thank you.
Bill Murray makes the headline but the bigger news is that Mike Veeck is the main new owner. Veeck, of course the son of Bill Veeck, is the best owner in Independent baseball. He cares and he knows how to run a successful team. I am hopeful of the future now for my team. Yes, I call it my team. Emotionally it will always be my team to me. Scott Slocum and I pushed for the existence of a minor league team from the very beginning and I was there the day Mayor Schultz swung the baseball-painted wrecking ball to knock down buildings to make way for the ballpark. I was there as the park was being built and was part of the broadcast crew for years of Joliet JackHammers and then Slammers games. I have a Slammers Championship ring and that will always be my ballpark to me. I miss being in that tiny broadcast booth and always will. I like Nick, the current owner, and I like Heather, the current GM. I liked working for and with them. I just have different ideas about how to pack that ballpark again. I am confident Veeck will think like I do and bring back the days when over 6,000 people would come into Silver Cross Field on a regular basis. The atmosphere during those early JackHammers games was so much fun. I am confident that at least 4,000 fans can be there on a daily basis each summer like there used to be. Schaumburg averaged over 45 hundred this year and Joliet improved to over 2,000 this summer. That sad part is that was an improvement over recent numbers of around 18 hundred. The JackHammers averaged over 4,000 every year when I was there with 45 hundred the average in 2003 with several crowds over 6,000. Yes, I am a radio guy, but I will always believe that having the games on WJOL with Bryan Dolgin and myself had something to do with that. People in Joliet still listen to WJOL regularly. It is and has been something people have done in that town every day for decades. Lewis games and their success would not matter anywhere near as much if they weren't heard on 1340 AM. All those high school games they do make as much money as they do because that town cares about it's teams and it's sports. The last few years of the JackHammers were a mismanaged mess. The Slammers took over not from ground zero but from minus-2 as I've said over the years. That we won the Championship that year and mended local fences and brought people back to that park was a minor miracle. I was proud to be part of it. Bill Waliewski, Aaron Morse and I worked our butts off to bring fun back to game day. I will put our radio broadcasts the summer of 2011 up against anyones. It was daily promotion of the product to a public that has that radio station on in their homes and their cars still to this day. Yes, people listen to streaming sports now but Joliet has been and still is a radio town. Slammers games need to be back on the radio and need to be done by a professional (cough, cough) like they used to be. Having games streamed only, and done my an unpaid intern just won't cut it if they want to double their attendance like it used to be. And as Aaron has said, their website needs to be 999 percent better and it needs to be a place that actually accomplishes something. Veeck is just about the best at in-game promotions and I hope he realizes and enacts the other things that need to be done. I care about that team and that park. I want it to thrive like it should be. Yes, the celebrity of Bill Murray will help but many other things need to be done and if done, they can work. Please and thank you.
11/03/2023
When I woke up on this day 7 years ago, the Cubs had won game 7 of the World Series the night before. Looking at my Facebook history, it was all Cubs as you can imagine. It still means as much to me now, thinking about that night and how much the Cubs mean to me and have meant to me. The majority of conversations my Dad and I had in our lives have to do with the Cubs, lol. And thanks to the Cubs, my Grandma Foley and I always had something to talk about. No one was a bigger Cubs fan than she was. My Dad, who luckily was around to share that World Series with, has since passed way and every year on the anniversary of this win, it will be even more emotional. I am re-shaping a post from 7 years ago this morning here today to include my Dad. My Dad got his Cubs love from his Father. I wish I got to know him but he died when I was a little boy. My Cubs disease comes from both sides of my family. My sentimental shout-out goes to a grandparent on each side of the family. I've mentioned my Grandma Foley here before. She was a diehard Cubs fan who lived in a high-rise at the corner of Clark and Irving when I was a kid. You could see inside Wrigley's right field upper deck from her window, just four blocks away. Mom Foley, as we called her, went to Spring Training every year for a decade or so in the 70's and 80's. She would meet up with her two sisters, Maude and Nonie and the three would spend a week each March going to games in Arizona. She would collect autographs for me. Pictured here is a signed program from 1987. Very cool that Jody Davis and Scott Sanderson's signatures were made directly to me! I see Keith Moreland, Rick Sutcliffe and Shawon Dunston on there too. Mabel even signed me up for the Cubs fan club and gave that to me for my 6th birthday. She would wear a Cubs batting helmet every once in a while and had pictures of the 1969 Cubs interspersed with pictures of her grandkids on her wall! When I was little, we would visit her on Ladie's Day at the ballpark and walk the four blocks to Wrigley for a game. She watched all the other games on TV while keeping score of every single one of them for as long as I knew her. My Grandpa Vasko was a huge Cubs fan too. He died when I was five so I don't remember much but I do know he was a regular at Wrigley dating all the way back to the 1930's. I thought of both grandparents last night. I recently found my copy of the Tribune sports-page we had stored in a box somewhere. It dates back to about 1958. It is a picture of the Cubs rightfielder, Lee Walls perhaps, making a catch. You can also see the right field bleachers in the picture. A lone figure sits halfway up, with no one around in a mostly empty ballpark. It was Grandpa Vasko. He would hop the streetcar from his house near the corner of Kostner and Belmont (about a block from the old WSCR studios I would work at one day) and go to many many games each summer according to my Dad. He worked at a tool-and-die company after coming over from Slovakia around the end of World War I. Grandpa was never all that healthy as he got older and an afternoon at the ballpark was good therapy for him, as was listening to games on the radio. He would eventually pass away from 'hardening of the arteries' as they called it back then. I wish I could have talked to him about those Cubs teams from the 30's and 40's that actually won games and went to several World Series! My parents were both Cubs fans as a result of their parent's enthusiasm. Dad always had his radio to his ear, in particular. No matter where we were, he was listening to the ballgame. As I said in my recent eulogy, I wonder where I got my desire to be a baseball broadcaster from? I really don't need to wonder, actually. The fact I got to eventually have him listen to MY baseball games on the radio still makes me smile. We went to many Cubs games together once I became an adult and watched countless games on TV, including several in this Championship run. That is really what made this World Series even more special. He had to make it into his 90's to see a Championship but we got to see it together. I will never forget it. Again, I got the Cubs disease from both sides of the family. This Championship is the kind of thing that makes you a little kid again, just for a while. |
11/1/2023
This game was 14 years ago now, but it is still a night I will never forget, which is why I am re-posting today. Now that basketball season is underway, these kind of old posts will make it more and more strange to me that I am not going to be broadcasting any hoops this winter. Any yes, Marty Strus is Max's older brother and was outstanding as a Flyer as well. Marty remains the Lewis all-time career leader in blocked shots by a wide margin and is still 2nd all-time in career field goal percentage at .637.
Here is my post from 3 years ago, today.
11 years ago today was one of my favorite games to broadcast for the Flyers over the years. The Irish beat Lewis 70-54 but the Flyers led the game multiple times in the 2nd half and forced Big East Pre Season Player of the Year Luke Harangody to play 36 minutes to avoid an upset. Luke scored 33pts and took half his team's shots to hold off Lewis. Four Irish starters played at least 35 minutes. I certainly don't think that was their plan for an exhibition game but the Flyers forced their hand with such a good game. Lewis closed out the first half on a 9-0 run and led 41-40 in the 2nd half on a Dennis Thomas layup. It became a 2pt lead at 44-42 with about 14 minutes to go and the Irish didn't take control for good until about 9 and half minutes remaining. It was one heck of an effort for a team that lost their top 2 scorers from the previous season but Marty Strus and Chris McClellan were outstanding. Strus had 14 points, 11rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. McClellan led Lewis with 18 points and hit 4 three pointers. Thomas finished with 9 points and 5 assists but hit on just 1 of 7 three pointers and the team only hit 37% overall from the field. A few more shots drop and who knows? As it was, they battled the Irish, and as I said, forced them to play their starters the entire game. Harangody took over the contest and scored 18pts in the last 13 minutes to make sure it was an Irish victory. In other words, it took one of the best D1 players in the nation putting his team on his shoulders to hold us off that day. I've been a Notre Dame basketball fan my whole life. Guys like Austin Carr, John Shumate and Kelly Tripucka 'are' college basketball to me, so to walk into that arena and have my team play so well was a thrill. Flyers wins over the likes of DePaul and UIC etc. over the years have proven that elite D2 doesn't have to take a back seat to anyone in D1. This game proved it as well.
This game was 14 years ago now, but it is still a night I will never forget, which is why I am re-posting today. Now that basketball season is underway, these kind of old posts will make it more and more strange to me that I am not going to be broadcasting any hoops this winter. Any yes, Marty Strus is Max's older brother and was outstanding as a Flyer as well. Marty remains the Lewis all-time career leader in blocked shots by a wide margin and is still 2nd all-time in career field goal percentage at .637.
Here is my post from 3 years ago, today.
11 years ago today was one of my favorite games to broadcast for the Flyers over the years. The Irish beat Lewis 70-54 but the Flyers led the game multiple times in the 2nd half and forced Big East Pre Season Player of the Year Luke Harangody to play 36 minutes to avoid an upset. Luke scored 33pts and took half his team's shots to hold off Lewis. Four Irish starters played at least 35 minutes. I certainly don't think that was their plan for an exhibition game but the Flyers forced their hand with such a good game. Lewis closed out the first half on a 9-0 run and led 41-40 in the 2nd half on a Dennis Thomas layup. It became a 2pt lead at 44-42 with about 14 minutes to go and the Irish didn't take control for good until about 9 and half minutes remaining. It was one heck of an effort for a team that lost their top 2 scorers from the previous season but Marty Strus and Chris McClellan were outstanding. Strus had 14 points, 11rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. McClellan led Lewis with 18 points and hit 4 three pointers. Thomas finished with 9 points and 5 assists but hit on just 1 of 7 three pointers and the team only hit 37% overall from the field. A few more shots drop and who knows? As it was, they battled the Irish, and as I said, forced them to play their starters the entire game. Harangody took over the contest and scored 18pts in the last 13 minutes to make sure it was an Irish victory. In other words, it took one of the best D1 players in the nation putting his team on his shoulders to hold us off that day. I've been a Notre Dame basketball fan my whole life. Guys like Austin Carr, John Shumate and Kelly Tripucka 'are' college basketball to me, so to walk into that arena and have my team play so well was a thrill. Flyers wins over the likes of DePaul and UIC etc. over the years have proven that elite D2 doesn't have to take a back seat to anyone in D1. This game proved it as well.
10/16/2023
Don't blame the fans for a Bears quarterback controversy. This is Fields fault. He did not step up and silence all other options. He just didn't.
Tyson Bagent deserves the chance to take this thing the rest of the way. We now know who Justin Fields is and is not. He is an NFL quarterback, a special athlete, but is not a franchise quarterback. If he was, we would know that by now. Fields will very likely a very good NFL quarterback, just not here. I like him and wish him well but this experience here is over. Bagent came in yesterday and immediately looked confident, with quick feet and good decision making as he found his guy and got it to him consistently. Those are things we have not seen from Fields enough. The Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator should be fired, yes, but Fields is not the guy. I'm not saying Bagent is, but I am saying he has earned the chance to play out this year regardless of Fields' health so we can see if he is. People keep downplaying Bagent because of where he played in college. Who cares? I don't. Every time he is on the field he plays well. What more do you want? He played well in the exhibition season but that didn't count supposedly. He played incredibly well at D2 Shepard but that apparently doesn't count. Nonsense. It all counts. Everyone is looking at this the wrong way. They say he has to prove he can play at this level. Wellll, actually the big, strong, fast NFL players have to prove they are finally the ones to make him play badly. No one else has. Why do we think it ends here? Fields kept getting the benefit of the doubt because of his draft status and college he played for. What's that got us? It seems to me some team has to prove they can stop Bagent, no matter that he wasn't drafted or didn't play at a big school. All he's been is good. He was D2 National Player of the Year and has thrown 159 TD passes, more than any college player ever at any level. How doesn't that count? Maybe I am biased because of four decades broadcasting D2 and D3 schools. Special athletes are special athletes. I broadcast Don Beebe as a D3 point guard. He was special as a basketball player, the quickest on the court. He then proved how special he was at football at small Chadron State. Max Strus just started in the NBA Finals. He was at D2 Lewis and was obviously special. I have many, many other examples. Bagent is obviously special too. He went on the field early in his rookie year in the middle of a game using an offense that wasn't geared toward his talents. He promptly looked like he belonged and moved the team down the field for a TD. Maybe it will all catch up to him and maybe he will be an absolute bust, but again, all he has done is play well when on the field all his life. He does not have to prove he can play against this level of athlete. This level of athlete has to prove they are finally the ones who show the world Bagent has reached the top level of his talent and it isn't in the NFL. It is not the other way around. And btw, what do the Bears have to lose? They aren't going anywhere this season no matter what. Please and thank you.
Don't blame the fans for a Bears quarterback controversy. This is Fields fault. He did not step up and silence all other options. He just didn't.
Tyson Bagent deserves the chance to take this thing the rest of the way. We now know who Justin Fields is and is not. He is an NFL quarterback, a special athlete, but is not a franchise quarterback. If he was, we would know that by now. Fields will very likely a very good NFL quarterback, just not here. I like him and wish him well but this experience here is over. Bagent came in yesterday and immediately looked confident, with quick feet and good decision making as he found his guy and got it to him consistently. Those are things we have not seen from Fields enough. The Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator should be fired, yes, but Fields is not the guy. I'm not saying Bagent is, but I am saying he has earned the chance to play out this year regardless of Fields' health so we can see if he is. People keep downplaying Bagent because of where he played in college. Who cares? I don't. Every time he is on the field he plays well. What more do you want? He played well in the exhibition season but that didn't count supposedly. He played incredibly well at D2 Shepard but that apparently doesn't count. Nonsense. It all counts. Everyone is looking at this the wrong way. They say he has to prove he can play at this level. Wellll, actually the big, strong, fast NFL players have to prove they are finally the ones to make him play badly. No one else has. Why do we think it ends here? Fields kept getting the benefit of the doubt because of his draft status and college he played for. What's that got us? It seems to me some team has to prove they can stop Bagent, no matter that he wasn't drafted or didn't play at a big school. All he's been is good. He was D2 National Player of the Year and has thrown 159 TD passes, more than any college player ever at any level. How doesn't that count? Maybe I am biased because of four decades broadcasting D2 and D3 schools. Special athletes are special athletes. I broadcast Don Beebe as a D3 point guard. He was special as a basketball player, the quickest on the court. He then proved how special he was at football at small Chadron State. Max Strus just started in the NBA Finals. He was at D2 Lewis and was obviously special. I have many, many other examples. Bagent is obviously special too. He went on the field early in his rookie year in the middle of a game using an offense that wasn't geared toward his talents. He promptly looked like he belonged and moved the team down the field for a TD. Maybe it will all catch up to him and maybe he will be an absolute bust, but again, all he has done is play well when on the field all his life. He does not have to prove he can play against this level of athlete. This level of athlete has to prove they are finally the ones who show the world Bagent has reached the top level of his talent and it isn't in the NFL. It is not the other way around. And btw, what do the Bears have to lose? They aren't going anywhere this season no matter what. Please and thank you.
10/14/2023
Today is the 20th anniversary of the day Bartman came into our lexicon, so I thought I would re-post this recap of how it was all blown out of proportion and how most Cubs fans forgot all about it, and him, almost immediately. Why the rest of the baseball nation or the media did not forget about him will always be a mystery to me. There definitely were meatballs doing meatball things, though. Hell, Harry Caray's blew up the baseball! Ridiculous. The poor guy did have his life altered, but not by the knowledgeable fans watching. Those are the Cubs fans I am talking about here.
I feel compelled to address this today on the anniversary of the Cubs game that Bartman became a public figure. ESPN continues to ascribe "Public Enemy No. 1" status to him in Chicago and amongst Cubs fans. It is such lazy nonsense and it has got to stop. No serious Cubs fan was mad at Bartman for more than a minute and he never was hated by more than a few knuckleheads. To treat it otherwise is a lie. I was on the edge of my seat when it happened and was mad about it at that moment. Literally minutes later he and it was forgotten however. There was way more bad going on than a fan that touched a foul ball. Moises Alou overreacted. Just go back to your position, moron. Mark Prior couldn't get anybody out all of sudden and the same for Farnsworth and then Remlinger. Two intentional walks scored, so that strategy backfired. Dusty Baker didn't go out to call everybody together to just frickin relax. Alex Gonzalez booted an inning-ending double play ball. Sammy Sosa threw to the wrong base. Also Bernie Mac sang the 7th inning stretch and it went on way too long, pumping up the Marlins as he kept referring to the Cubs as the "Champs". Prior should have warmed up during that long long delay. And of course, there was a-whole-nother game to be played and the Cubs lost that one too as Kerry Wood and Farnsworth were terrible. Only people outside Chicago make a big deal out of Bartman. I have not and will not watch the 30 for 30 on Bartman. That postseason is still painful for me and most Cubs fans but Bartman has nothing to do with it.
Today is the 20th anniversary of the day Bartman came into our lexicon, so I thought I would re-post this recap of how it was all blown out of proportion and how most Cubs fans forgot all about it, and him, almost immediately. Why the rest of the baseball nation or the media did not forget about him will always be a mystery to me. There definitely were meatballs doing meatball things, though. Hell, Harry Caray's blew up the baseball! Ridiculous. The poor guy did have his life altered, but not by the knowledgeable fans watching. Those are the Cubs fans I am talking about here.
I feel compelled to address this today on the anniversary of the Cubs game that Bartman became a public figure. ESPN continues to ascribe "Public Enemy No. 1" status to him in Chicago and amongst Cubs fans. It is such lazy nonsense and it has got to stop. No serious Cubs fan was mad at Bartman for more than a minute and he never was hated by more than a few knuckleheads. To treat it otherwise is a lie. I was on the edge of my seat when it happened and was mad about it at that moment. Literally minutes later he and it was forgotten however. There was way more bad going on than a fan that touched a foul ball. Moises Alou overreacted. Just go back to your position, moron. Mark Prior couldn't get anybody out all of sudden and the same for Farnsworth and then Remlinger. Two intentional walks scored, so that strategy backfired. Dusty Baker didn't go out to call everybody together to just frickin relax. Alex Gonzalez booted an inning-ending double play ball. Sammy Sosa threw to the wrong base. Also Bernie Mac sang the 7th inning stretch and it went on way too long, pumping up the Marlins as he kept referring to the Cubs as the "Champs". Prior should have warmed up during that long long delay. And of course, there was a-whole-nother game to be played and the Cubs lost that one too as Kerry Wood and Farnsworth were terrible. Only people outside Chicago make a big deal out of Bartman. I have not and will not watch the 30 for 30 on Bartman. That postseason is still painful for me and most Cubs fans but Bartman has nothing to do with it.
10/12/2023
Another basketball season is about to get underway and it is hard to believe I will not be a part of it. For the first time in over four decades I will not have a basketball team of my own. Feels very weird. Official practices are getting underway and I don't have a broadcast schedule to map out. Kinda feel lost. It's my own doing, this retirement from play-by-play thing, but that doesn't make it any less bizarre. It was time to step away but the juices get flowing right about now. Every October for 41 years I had a team of my own. On the college side it was SIU when I was a student, then the NIU women, Aurora U., Benedictine and Lewis U. I never had a winter off from basketball. As much as I love baseball too, I did go the occasional year without calling a baseball game. That never happened on the hardwood. During my time at WKKD, besides NIU and Aurora, I was also the guy who called Aurora Central Catholic, Marmion, Oswego, Naperville North and Naperville Central High School games there. For more than a decade I was the voice of their games on the radio as well. And as I've said before, I went downstate to Champaign for a dozen years straight to broadcast all four weekends of the IHSA State Basketball Tournament too. That's a lot of basketball in my 4+ decades on the air. As nice as it will be to go to a game or two as a fan, it will be strange to go to gym without my headset. I'll get used to it, but it might take a while. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed calling games. I got to do what I loved for a very long time. Radio is a tough business and I've mentioned some hard times and setbacks but once the game started, all that was pushed aside. I won in the end, really. I didn't get rich and I bounced around but I got to get up every day and do something that I never considered 'work', although I like to think I worked pretty hard at it. It was the most fun hard work could be. Now I think I'll let someone else climb up those bleachers, dragging equipment behind, after driving to those gyms in often miserable winter conditions. It wasn't ever easy but I wouldn't change a minute of it. Please and thank you.
Another basketball season is about to get underway and it is hard to believe I will not be a part of it. For the first time in over four decades I will not have a basketball team of my own. Feels very weird. Official practices are getting underway and I don't have a broadcast schedule to map out. Kinda feel lost. It's my own doing, this retirement from play-by-play thing, but that doesn't make it any less bizarre. It was time to step away but the juices get flowing right about now. Every October for 41 years I had a team of my own. On the college side it was SIU when I was a student, then the NIU women, Aurora U., Benedictine and Lewis U. I never had a winter off from basketball. As much as I love baseball too, I did go the occasional year without calling a baseball game. That never happened on the hardwood. During my time at WKKD, besides NIU and Aurora, I was also the guy who called Aurora Central Catholic, Marmion, Oswego, Naperville North and Naperville Central High School games there. For more than a decade I was the voice of their games on the radio as well. And as I've said before, I went downstate to Champaign for a dozen years straight to broadcast all four weekends of the IHSA State Basketball Tournament too. That's a lot of basketball in my 4+ decades on the air. As nice as it will be to go to a game or two as a fan, it will be strange to go to gym without my headset. I'll get used to it, but it might take a while. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed calling games. I got to do what I loved for a very long time. Radio is a tough business and I've mentioned some hard times and setbacks but once the game started, all that was pushed aside. I won in the end, really. I didn't get rich and I bounced around but I got to get up every day and do something that I never considered 'work', although I like to think I worked pretty hard at it. It was the most fun hard work could be. Now I think I'll let someone else climb up those bleachers, dragging equipment behind, after driving to those gyms in often miserable winter conditions. It wasn't ever easy but I wouldn't change a minute of it. Please and thank you.
10/6/2023
RIP Dick Butkus. Hard to believe another pillar of my childhood is gone. These are my Butkus football cards from my shoebox. I was lucky enough to work the Doug Buffone and Ed O'Bradovich. I interviewed Gayle Sayers. It was a thrill to spend time with those Bears that meant so much to me when I was young. I've also talked about my time with Walter Payton and those Super Bowl Bears before they won it all. But Butkus was Butkus, if you know what I mean. I never got to talk to Butkus other than say 'hi' once, though. He was larger than life. He 'was' football when I was a kid. He is one of the reasons why these current Bears are such a disappointment. They have no idea of the legacy they are not living up to. There have not been many great seasons but there have been many great players. Butkus highlights. Sayers highlights. Payton highlights. There aren't many better things in football. These Bears are not honoring that jersey and that history. They need to watch those highlight videos before they take the field again. That would honor Dick Butkus and he has earned it.
One more thing on Butkus. I was lucky enough, and am old enough lol, to see Butkus play in person once. I've mentioned it before, because it was Bobby Douglass' best game as a pro. It was the one time I saw the Bears play at Wrigley Field. It was Nov 22, 1970. I was 9 years old and my Dad took me to see the Bears vs the Bills. We sat on an aisle seat. They used to have seat-backs nailed to the wall on the concourse behind the plate. You would flip down the seat for football games there. We stood the whole time anyway. That was the game Douglass threw four TD passes despite suffering a broken wrist early in the game. Also in that game, both Doug Buffone and Butkus intercepted passes. Butkus was always on the field for special teams as well, if you can believe it. He was on the kick teams even. They actually squibbed a kick that Butkus fell on and was credited with a kick return that day. They didn't want to kick to Cecil Turner. The Bears won 31-13. But again, like I said yesterday, getting to see Doug and O'B play and then work with them was such a thrill. Getting to say I saw Butkus play and make tackles and pick off a pass is also something no one can take away. There was only on Dick Butkus. I'm glad he was ours.
RIP Dick Butkus. Hard to believe another pillar of my childhood is gone. These are my Butkus football cards from my shoebox. I was lucky enough to work the Doug Buffone and Ed O'Bradovich. I interviewed Gayle Sayers. It was a thrill to spend time with those Bears that meant so much to me when I was young. I've also talked about my time with Walter Payton and those Super Bowl Bears before they won it all. But Butkus was Butkus, if you know what I mean. I never got to talk to Butkus other than say 'hi' once, though. He was larger than life. He 'was' football when I was a kid. He is one of the reasons why these current Bears are such a disappointment. They have no idea of the legacy they are not living up to. There have not been many great seasons but there have been many great players. Butkus highlights. Sayers highlights. Payton highlights. There aren't many better things in football. These Bears are not honoring that jersey and that history. They need to watch those highlight videos before they take the field again. That would honor Dick Butkus and he has earned it.
One more thing on Butkus. I was lucky enough, and am old enough lol, to see Butkus play in person once. I've mentioned it before, because it was Bobby Douglass' best game as a pro. It was the one time I saw the Bears play at Wrigley Field. It was Nov 22, 1970. I was 9 years old and my Dad took me to see the Bears vs the Bills. We sat on an aisle seat. They used to have seat-backs nailed to the wall on the concourse behind the plate. You would flip down the seat for football games there. We stood the whole time anyway. That was the game Douglass threw four TD passes despite suffering a broken wrist early in the game. Also in that game, both Doug Buffone and Butkus intercepted passes. Butkus was always on the field for special teams as well, if you can believe it. He was on the kick teams even. They actually squibbed a kick that Butkus fell on and was credited with a kick return that day. They didn't want to kick to Cecil Turner. The Bears won 31-13. But again, like I said yesterday, getting to see Doug and O'B play and then work with them was such a thrill. Getting to say I saw Butkus play and make tackles and pick off a pass is also something no one can take away. There was only on Dick Butkus. I'm glad he was ours.
9/21/2023
Here is the last of the Kane County Cougars broadcasts from the Steve Moga shoebox of cassettes. As much as I enjoyed hearing and posting the previous game from 1996, I think I like this one even more. It's because all the big names played. Mark Kotsay was in the lineup for Kane County and so was Amaury Garcia. Josh Booty played as well along with Rany Winn and Nate Rolison, who was spectacular defensively in this one. And we talked about the newly acquired Ryan Dempster, while Rosey Brown and Jaime Jones missed it due to injuries. Not only that, but David Ortiz, Hall of Famer, played in this game for Wisconsin. Back then, he was known as David Arias, but he hit the ball just as hard and certainly did in this game! This is from the final home game of 1996, on August 31. Early in the game, our friend and former co-worker Paul Palian joined us in the booth for a bit. The crowd was crazy, more than 13,000 and that meant that the final total for that summer was 436,076 and so the average attendance was 6,607. That means they averaged almost a sellout for the season, since that ballpark had yet to expand. The sound quality is great for a cassette that is 27 years old. It is such an interesting team, in that they were shutout 15 times that year but eventually had 9 players make the Majors. Steve and I had so much fun on the air and I think it showed in this one. Again, I am so happy Steve found that shoebox. Here is the description from the video.
Final 5 innings of WKKD radio broadcast with Steve Moga in the booth with me for the last home game of the season in front of a record crowd of 13,129. David Ortiz, then named David Arias, played for the Rattlers. Mark Kotsay was in the lineup for the Cougars. 9 Cougars from this team played in MLB-- Mike Duvall, Josh Booty, Roosevelt Brown, Ryan Dempster, Alex Gonzalez, Randy Winn, Nate Rolison, Amaury Garcia and Kotsay. 6 Rattlers would make the Majors. Ortiz, a 10-time all-star became a Hall of Famer in 2022.
Here is the YouTube video link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IQFI1f4Rbc
Here is the last of the Kane County Cougars broadcasts from the Steve Moga shoebox of cassettes. As much as I enjoyed hearing and posting the previous game from 1996, I think I like this one even more. It's because all the big names played. Mark Kotsay was in the lineup for Kane County and so was Amaury Garcia. Josh Booty played as well along with Rany Winn and Nate Rolison, who was spectacular defensively in this one. And we talked about the newly acquired Ryan Dempster, while Rosey Brown and Jaime Jones missed it due to injuries. Not only that, but David Ortiz, Hall of Famer, played in this game for Wisconsin. Back then, he was known as David Arias, but he hit the ball just as hard and certainly did in this game! This is from the final home game of 1996, on August 31. Early in the game, our friend and former co-worker Paul Palian joined us in the booth for a bit. The crowd was crazy, more than 13,000 and that meant that the final total for that summer was 436,076 and so the average attendance was 6,607. That means they averaged almost a sellout for the season, since that ballpark had yet to expand. The sound quality is great for a cassette that is 27 years old. It is such an interesting team, in that they were shutout 15 times that year but eventually had 9 players make the Majors. Steve and I had so much fun on the air and I think it showed in this one. Again, I am so happy Steve found that shoebox. Here is the description from the video.
Final 5 innings of WKKD radio broadcast with Steve Moga in the booth with me for the last home game of the season in front of a record crowd of 13,129. David Ortiz, then named David Arias, played for the Rattlers. Mark Kotsay was in the lineup for the Cougars. 9 Cougars from this team played in MLB-- Mike Duvall, Josh Booty, Roosevelt Brown, Ryan Dempster, Alex Gonzalez, Randy Winn, Nate Rolison, Amaury Garcia and Kotsay. 6 Rattlers would make the Majors. Ortiz, a 10-time all-star became a Hall of Famer in 2022.
Here is the YouTube video link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IQFI1f4Rbc
9/20/2023
My Steve Moga shoebox project continues with Aurora U. football at Valpo in 1996. The second half is all we have. This also happens to be my last ever road broadcast for the Spartans football team as WKKD went Spanish language that year and so I only did 1997 AU home games for the school TV station to wrap up my Spartans era before following Sports Information Director Dave Beyer over to Benedictine. Steve, Dave and I had some great Saturday road trips over the years, all over the midwest, and Dave was next to us in the booth for this one on a pretty miserable day in Indiana, weatherwise. It was cold, cloudy, snowy, muddy, windy etc. Including the players mentioned below, it was fun to hear names like Brandon Kopf again too. He was one of the best all-around athletes I ever got to broadcast, including his time at East Aurora. He was a three-sport star for AU as well. Ricky Natividad has a big kick return late in this one. This is from my video description....
From Nov. 9, 1996, the final game of the Spartans season, this is the second half of the radio broadcast with Steve Moga in the booth with me from Valparaiso. The Spartans began 5-1 on the season but lost their last 3 games to finish 5-4. Valpo ended 4-6. In this game, after leading early, AU fell behind in the 3rd quarter but rallied with big plays in the 4th to make it close. LB Jason Stransky was the defensive and team MVP in 1996 and 1997. Stransky and Drew Avery remain 2 of the top 6 in career tackles. Mark Hancock is still 4th all-time in AU passing yards. Nick Browder remains 4th all-time in VU passing yards. My YouTube link at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2rSSXxa02k
My Steve Moga shoebox project continues with Aurora U. football at Valpo in 1996. The second half is all we have. This also happens to be my last ever road broadcast for the Spartans football team as WKKD went Spanish language that year and so I only did 1997 AU home games for the school TV station to wrap up my Spartans era before following Sports Information Director Dave Beyer over to Benedictine. Steve, Dave and I had some great Saturday road trips over the years, all over the midwest, and Dave was next to us in the booth for this one on a pretty miserable day in Indiana, weatherwise. It was cold, cloudy, snowy, muddy, windy etc. Including the players mentioned below, it was fun to hear names like Brandon Kopf again too. He was one of the best all-around athletes I ever got to broadcast, including his time at East Aurora. He was a three-sport star for AU as well. Ricky Natividad has a big kick return late in this one. This is from my video description....
From Nov. 9, 1996, the final game of the Spartans season, this is the second half of the radio broadcast with Steve Moga in the booth with me from Valparaiso. The Spartans began 5-1 on the season but lost their last 3 games to finish 5-4. Valpo ended 4-6. In this game, after leading early, AU fell behind in the 3rd quarter but rallied with big plays in the 4th to make it close. LB Jason Stransky was the defensive and team MVP in 1996 and 1997. Stransky and Drew Avery remain 2 of the top 6 in career tackles. Mark Hancock is still 4th all-time in AU passing yards. Nick Browder remains 4th all-time in VU passing yards. My YouTube link at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2rSSXxa02k
9/16/2023
My latest YouTube upload is a very pleasant surprise. While listening to the cassettes from the shoe box belonging to Steve Moga, at the end of one game, tacked on to the end of that cassette, was this first quarter of a basketball game from the 1992 boys Class A State Tournament in Champaign. It was Bob Burnell and I on the call. So much fun to hear this bit of our WKKD history. I broadcast games downstate for at least a dozen years and only have this bit to look back on. This Findlay team was very special as well. They were from a tiny town near Decatur and had only 96 students in the whole school. They would go on to win the State Championship over Normal U. High in the Title game. The sound quality is not great but I don't care. I'm glad to have this little bit of Bob and I doing a game together from Assembly Hall. Clayton Stivers, one of the Findlay twin towers, would go on to play a season at NIU before transferring. Chris Payne of St. Eds would play at Elmhurst and South Dakota State and would eventually coach numerous high schools including Burlington Central. That was the great thing about going downstate each year. I got to see schools and players from all parts of the State. In the game just completed prior to this one that day, Bob and I talk about seeing Jerry Gee, who would go on to be Mr Basketball in Illinois two years later, in their game vs Benton and Jo Jo Johnson. Johnson would go on to play at SIU. Steve's shoe box continues to bring back nice memories for me. Here is the YouTube link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaDctbabR8M
My latest YouTube upload is a very pleasant surprise. While listening to the cassettes from the shoe box belonging to Steve Moga, at the end of one game, tacked on to the end of that cassette, was this first quarter of a basketball game from the 1992 boys Class A State Tournament in Champaign. It was Bob Burnell and I on the call. So much fun to hear this bit of our WKKD history. I broadcast games downstate for at least a dozen years and only have this bit to look back on. This Findlay team was very special as well. They were from a tiny town near Decatur and had only 96 students in the whole school. They would go on to win the State Championship over Normal U. High in the Title game. The sound quality is not great but I don't care. I'm glad to have this little bit of Bob and I doing a game together from Assembly Hall. Clayton Stivers, one of the Findlay twin towers, would go on to play a season at NIU before transferring. Chris Payne of St. Eds would play at Elmhurst and South Dakota State and would eventually coach numerous high schools including Burlington Central. That was the great thing about going downstate each year. I got to see schools and players from all parts of the State. In the game just completed prior to this one that day, Bob and I talk about seeing Jerry Gee, who would go on to be Mr Basketball in Illinois two years later, in their game vs Benton and Jo Jo Johnson. Johnson would go on to play at SIU. Steve's shoe box continues to bring back nice memories for me. Here is the YouTube link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaDctbabR8M
9/13/2023
I mentioned this in a post back in July but re-posting as today is the 45th anniversary, yes the 45th, lol, of seeing Cheap Trick at North Central College in that tiny Merner Fieldhouse gym all the way back on September 13, 1978. They had already been around a while, opening for Kiss, Queen, Kansas, Rainbow, Aerosmith and many others. They had just played with AC/DC on the 9th in Johnson City, Tennessee and this show was just before they would become huge stars and headline theaters and eventually arenas. One month after the Naperville show, their Live at Budokan album was released in Japan. It was such a hit, it was then released in the U.S. in January of 1979 and they became household names. I Want You To Want Me went to #7 on the charts and the album went to #13, selling over 3 million copies. Never again would I see them from a folding chair, just feet from the stage, but I would see them countless times regardless. I've mentioned it before, but one of my main memories of that 1978 show was that two nitwits sitting behind me partied a bit too hard before the show and missed it completely, lol. They passed out during the opening act! We basically got to see that live record played in front of us, before others got to hear it on record. It was great. They still are great in concert. Now the boys from Rockford are in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Wild. Happy they are still rocking.
I mentioned this in a post back in July but re-posting as today is the 45th anniversary, yes the 45th, lol, of seeing Cheap Trick at North Central College in that tiny Merner Fieldhouse gym all the way back on September 13, 1978. They had already been around a while, opening for Kiss, Queen, Kansas, Rainbow, Aerosmith and many others. They had just played with AC/DC on the 9th in Johnson City, Tennessee and this show was just before they would become huge stars and headline theaters and eventually arenas. One month after the Naperville show, their Live at Budokan album was released in Japan. It was such a hit, it was then released in the U.S. in January of 1979 and they became household names. I Want You To Want Me went to #7 on the charts and the album went to #13, selling over 3 million copies. Never again would I see them from a folding chair, just feet from the stage, but I would see them countless times regardless. I've mentioned it before, but one of my main memories of that 1978 show was that two nitwits sitting behind me partied a bit too hard before the show and missed it completely, lol. They passed out during the opening act! We basically got to see that live record played in front of us, before others got to hear it on record. It was great. They still are great in concert. Now the boys from Rockford are in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Wild. Happy they are still rocking.
9/12/2023
At this point, maybe Steve Moga and I are the only ones who care, lol, but here is the next uploaded game from his box of cassettes. It is a very fun and exciting game from July, 16 1996. It's the Kane County Cougars vs West Michigan. I am so happy to find this one. I happen to think Steve and I are very good here, if I do say so myself. If you asked me for my favorite example that represents my 41 years of play-by-play this one just might be it. There are multiple home runs, multiple great defensive plays and more. This is almost all of the game. I cut out a couple of scoreless half innings just to make sure it came in under two hours. Josh Booty played well and it is so much fun to hear these names again like Randy Winn, Joe Funaro and so on. Jaime Jones did not play as he was on the disabled list. The same for Amaury Garcia. Mark Kotsay and Ryan Dempster joined the team shortly after this game. I have another game vs West Michigan from the end of August that I will upload soon that one features Kotsay etc. Over 7, 000 fans were on hand and Mike Quade was the Manager of West Michigan that season. He, of course, would go on to get that job with the Cubs. A nice thing about these games is that I reconnected with Cougars Manager Lynn Jones recently to tell him about these YouTube videos. I hadn't talked to him in years. He was so much fun to work with back in the day and I learned so much baseball from just being around him. We had a great talk to catch up and he mentioned that the Marlins should have made Booty a pitcher. He was right, I think. Booty, the quarterback of course, had a gun for an arm. Maybe he would have stayed with baseball then. Who knows? I loved that summer and that group of guys. The three first round picks and millionaire bonus signees, Booty, Kotsay and Jones were fun to watch and hang with that season. They all lived together, once Kotsay signed his deal and joined the team. Dempster came in on a trade a short time after this game and was dominant the rest of the season. Just for me, I put in a couple pictures of myself at the ballpark in this video, including a few of me throwing out a first pitch late in that season. Hey, these are my videos, ya know! lol. Enjoy. I did. Here is the YouTube link to copy and paste
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejV9tws9qJU
At this point, maybe Steve Moga and I are the only ones who care, lol, but here is the next uploaded game from his box of cassettes. It is a very fun and exciting game from July, 16 1996. It's the Kane County Cougars vs West Michigan. I am so happy to find this one. I happen to think Steve and I are very good here, if I do say so myself. If you asked me for my favorite example that represents my 41 years of play-by-play this one just might be it. There are multiple home runs, multiple great defensive plays and more. This is almost all of the game. I cut out a couple of scoreless half innings just to make sure it came in under two hours. Josh Booty played well and it is so much fun to hear these names again like Randy Winn, Joe Funaro and so on. Jaime Jones did not play as he was on the disabled list. The same for Amaury Garcia. Mark Kotsay and Ryan Dempster joined the team shortly after this game. I have another game vs West Michigan from the end of August that I will upload soon that one features Kotsay etc. Over 7, 000 fans were on hand and Mike Quade was the Manager of West Michigan that season. He, of course, would go on to get that job with the Cubs. A nice thing about these games is that I reconnected with Cougars Manager Lynn Jones recently to tell him about these YouTube videos. I hadn't talked to him in years. He was so much fun to work with back in the day and I learned so much baseball from just being around him. We had a great talk to catch up and he mentioned that the Marlins should have made Booty a pitcher. He was right, I think. Booty, the quarterback of course, had a gun for an arm. Maybe he would have stayed with baseball then. Who knows? I loved that summer and that group of guys. The three first round picks and millionaire bonus signees, Booty, Kotsay and Jones were fun to watch and hang with that season. They all lived together, once Kotsay signed his deal and joined the team. Dempster came in on a trade a short time after this game and was dominant the rest of the season. Just for me, I put in a couple pictures of myself at the ballpark in this video, including a few of me throwing out a first pitch late in that season. Hey, these are my videos, ya know! lol. Enjoy. I did. Here is the YouTube link to copy and paste
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejV9tws9qJU
9/9/2023
Here's the next selection from the Steve Moga cassette collection. He pitches in this one and pitches well. I'm glad his parents taped this for posterity It's a game from 35 years ago. I don't ever feel all that old until I say things like that! This is Aurora vs Benedictine from way back when they were still called IBC. It's weird to listen to me call them that. I was the voice of Aurora sports for 12 seasons, ten on WKKD, and then I was the voice of Benedictine for 13 years, after they had become Benedictine University. This is from the old IBC baseball field and the crackle in the sound quality comes from the fact I had to tape two 10 foot poles together and put my broadcast antennae on top of that, tape the now 20 foot pole to the backstop and point the front of that antennae back towards Aurora and WKKD. We called it a Marti antennae and it looked like an old roof TV kind of thing. I needed that much height to clear the tree tops on campus for a line-of-sight type broadcast without interference. The distance between IBC and the radio station was pretty much the maximum for that type of broadcast as well. Ah, the good old days, lol. This is the full 7 inning game. Back then they would do 7 inning doubleheaders. I went in and snipped the broadcast quite a bit to tighten it up. I cut out at least 20 throws to first base, 6 mound visits, 9 live commercial reads and so on. It would have lasted at least another 30 minutes if I didn't . Every AU vs IBC doubleheader used to and still does decide the conference championship, basically.. Concordia-Chicago had a good run there for a while but really that twinbill always had a lot riding on it. AU would go on the win the league that year but did not go the the national tournament. Our conference got very little respect back in the day and only the AU run all the way to the National Championship game in 1990 changed that. Fun to listen back to a Jim Schmid vs John Ostrowski matchup. Both teams were good that year and were both poised to be great for a good long run right after this. Every time I went to IBC for baseball, I would show up with our broadcast RV, and pull up by the field to see Coach O raking by home plate. All the water from rains would run right to home plate and he was forever trying to get that area ready to play! Those were some great days with some great battles. And I mean battles. More than one of those important doubleheaders devolved into brawls, lol. It was a rivalry even without a conference title riding on it, remember. I'm glad I got to broadcast both sides of it eventually. Two great coaches, two great schools and I hope I did them proud on their broadcasts. Enjoy. Here is my description that I put on the video link and these are the pictures from the video I made. My full radio broadcast of game 1 of a doubleheader from April 16, 1988 on WKKD AM in Aurora, Il. This 7 inning game played at Illinois Benedictine College in Lisle, Il with both teams undefeated in NIIC play at the time. AU would go on to win the Conference Title at 10-0 with an overall record of 22-7. I was the voice of Aurora U. sports for 12 years and then was the voice of Benedictine sports for 13 years after that. AU's Bob Guajardo finished 1988 with what remains a school record batting average of .494 and he still has the career record for batting average of .442. The Spartans pitcher in this game, Steve Moga, finished as the Conference Pitcher of the Year and was the Aurora U. Athlete of the Year. IBC finished the season 21-17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av1JGmv7SoM |
9/2/2023 Next up from the Steve Moga shoebox of cassettes is my broadcast of the Aurora Spartans at Hope from 9/28/1991 on WKKD-AM in Aurora with Steve as my commentator. This is the final 3 quarters of the game. It was tied 0-0 after the 1st quarter. AU finished 5-3-1 that year, their 5th season since bringing back football in 1986. AU would finish 9-1 the following season. Fred Schuldes from this team would be named All-American in '91 and also from this team LB Chris Ferko would be named a 1st Team All-American in '92 as would OT Randy Haehnel. KR Rodney Stinson would twice be named All-American for AU. Records included in pictures in this video are from the 2003 Media Guide and are included here to click on and see better. This is a road game but is from the first season we had a press box to broadcast from instead of scaffolding at AU, which was an adventure, lol. Fun to listen back to a game from so long ago. Such fun memories. I hope you enjoy. Here is the YouTube link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oNbjYugK0Q |
8/23/2023
Next up on the list from the Steve Moga shoebox of cassettes is a Kane County Cougars game he and I did late in the 1995 season in Burlington against the Bees. Again, so happy he found this stuff. Enjoyable to listen back to this. You can tell he and I had fun doing games together. There was a lot of talent on that Class-A Midwest League Kane County team. Roskos, Jackson, Cady, Castillo and more. I put up most of the game in this video. It has the 1st inning and then from the 4th inning on until the end. 2 hours of Cougars fun. Now that I have retired from play-by-play after 41 years, it is enjoyable to listen back to some of the good times I had. I hope you enjoy it too. Btw, I invoke the name of long-time AAA Salt Lake City broadcaster and friend Steve Klauke at about the 27 minute mark thanks to Moga's Klauke-like puns early in the broadcast, lol.
As I tag in the video description, Luis Castillo and Josh Booty were part of that KCC team but did not start in this game. Castillo paced the team w a .326 average. Booty played 31 games, splitting that season with Short-Season Elmira. John Roskos hit .297 w 88 RBIs, Ryan Jackson .293, 39 doubles, 82 RBIs, Todd Dunwoody .283, 14 hrs, 89 RBIs. Greg Press, the starter in this one, finished 10-8 w a 3.60 ERA. The Cougars were 62-62 at the time of this game and finished 69-69. Jesse Ibarra was the star for the Bees, leading the league w 34 home runs, had 96 RBIs and hit .330. Steve Lake, the pitcher, paced them with 10 wins on the year. Burlington finished 54-81. 1995 Bees that made MLB included Deivi Cruz, Wilson Delgado and Shawn Estes. Beloit won the Championship. Here's the YouTube link.
https://youtu.be/HNoLnYaAcFU
Next up on the list from the Steve Moga shoebox of cassettes is a Kane County Cougars game he and I did late in the 1995 season in Burlington against the Bees. Again, so happy he found this stuff. Enjoyable to listen back to this. You can tell he and I had fun doing games together. There was a lot of talent on that Class-A Midwest League Kane County team. Roskos, Jackson, Cady, Castillo and more. I put up most of the game in this video. It has the 1st inning and then from the 4th inning on until the end. 2 hours of Cougars fun. Now that I have retired from play-by-play after 41 years, it is enjoyable to listen back to some of the good times I had. I hope you enjoy it too. Btw, I invoke the name of long-time AAA Salt Lake City broadcaster and friend Steve Klauke at about the 27 minute mark thanks to Moga's Klauke-like puns early in the broadcast, lol.
As I tag in the video description, Luis Castillo and Josh Booty were part of that KCC team but did not start in this game. Castillo paced the team w a .326 average. Booty played 31 games, splitting that season with Short-Season Elmira. John Roskos hit .297 w 88 RBIs, Ryan Jackson .293, 39 doubles, 82 RBIs, Todd Dunwoody .283, 14 hrs, 89 RBIs. Greg Press, the starter in this one, finished 10-8 w a 3.60 ERA. The Cougars were 62-62 at the time of this game and finished 69-69. Jesse Ibarra was the star for the Bees, leading the league w 34 home runs, had 96 RBIs and hit .330. Steve Lake, the pitcher, paced them with 10 wins on the year. Burlington finished 54-81. 1995 Bees that made MLB included Deivi Cruz, Wilson Delgado and Shawn Estes. Beloit won the Championship. Here's the YouTube link.
https://youtu.be/HNoLnYaAcFU
8/20/2023
So here is the first of my batch of new videos I will post to my YouTube page thanks to Steve Moga and his shoebox of cassettes! I just posted the last half of my WKKD broadcast of this great game. It starts in the bottom of the 5th and that is plenty, lol. That last 90 minutes is pretty damn exciting! I forgot how exciting frankly. Bobby G was just a freshman but became one of the best players on that team and in D3 by mid-season. Maury Sage was so good in 1987 that he took over for All-American Dale Koehring as the best pitcher on that team and Moga's post-season performance got them into that Championship game and was named the Pitcher of the Regional for his shutout of defending National Champ, Marietta. Those three, plus Eddie Velez and others were so good that season that they led all levels of college baseball in ERA at 2.86. The problem for the Spartans was that they ran into the Cardinals best team ever, basically. Matt Richards is still one of their best pitchers to this day while Ken Ritter and Craig Stefan still own just about all offensive records in school history. Sadly they were two-and-out in the World Series because they deserved to go deeper. I am convinced they both deserved to be in that World Series despite being just 11 miles apart. Stefan was drafted by the Brewers and Ritter signed with Oakland the following year. There wasn't any non-affiliated baseball back then and that still bothers me for guys like Guajardo, Sage, Koehring and Moga in particular. They weren't drafted but all four should have been given the chance to play pro ball for Joliet or Schaumburg or whoever, at least. They would have put up numbers good enough to get signed by someone eventually. They deserved their chance but were good too soon! They all should have been given their shot of at least one year in A-ball. I had so much fun listening back to this game and thinking back on all the fun I had broadcasting that team. I talk to Jim Schmid postgame, so stick around for that. More to come, when I get the time.
Here is the link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv2DTdvdAMA
So here is the first of my batch of new videos I will post to my YouTube page thanks to Steve Moga and his shoebox of cassettes! I just posted the last half of my WKKD broadcast of this great game. It starts in the bottom of the 5th and that is plenty, lol. That last 90 minutes is pretty damn exciting! I forgot how exciting frankly. Bobby G was just a freshman but became one of the best players on that team and in D3 by mid-season. Maury Sage was so good in 1987 that he took over for All-American Dale Koehring as the best pitcher on that team and Moga's post-season performance got them into that Championship game and was named the Pitcher of the Regional for his shutout of defending National Champ, Marietta. Those three, plus Eddie Velez and others were so good that season that they led all levels of college baseball in ERA at 2.86. The problem for the Spartans was that they ran into the Cardinals best team ever, basically. Matt Richards is still one of their best pitchers to this day while Ken Ritter and Craig Stefan still own just about all offensive records in school history. Sadly they were two-and-out in the World Series because they deserved to go deeper. I am convinced they both deserved to be in that World Series despite being just 11 miles apart. Stefan was drafted by the Brewers and Ritter signed with Oakland the following year. There wasn't any non-affiliated baseball back then and that still bothers me for guys like Guajardo, Sage, Koehring and Moga in particular. They weren't drafted but all four should have been given the chance to play pro ball for Joliet or Schaumburg or whoever, at least. They would have put up numbers good enough to get signed by someone eventually. They deserved their chance but were good too soon! They all should have been given their shot of at least one year in A-ball. I had so much fun listening back to this game and thinking back on all the fun I had broadcasting that team. I talk to Jim Schmid postgame, so stick around for that. More to come, when I get the time.
Here is the link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv2DTdvdAMA
8/18/2023
I had lunch on Monday with a bunch of my buddies from back in the day in Aurora. So much fun to see those faces again. Steve Moga brought in this box of cassettes for me. He and I broadcast a ton of games together for WKKD and these are some of us together and some I announced of him pitching for Aurora U. in the late '80's! I sampled some last night. So much fun to listen to. In the coming weeks I'll be digitizing them and posting some to my YouTube page. I'm so glad he dug this out of a closet. I lost almost all of my WKKD era tapes in a flood years ago. This stuff is old!! There is Aurora U. baseball with some vs. Benedictine, AU football from as early as 1991, Kane County Cougars baseball from 1995 and '96 and more. What a fun trip down memory lane. I'll let you know when things go online and will put the links here. Please and thank you.
I had lunch on Monday with a bunch of my buddies from back in the day in Aurora. So much fun to see those faces again. Steve Moga brought in this box of cassettes for me. He and I broadcast a ton of games together for WKKD and these are some of us together and some I announced of him pitching for Aurora U. in the late '80's! I sampled some last night. So much fun to listen to. In the coming weeks I'll be digitizing them and posting some to my YouTube page. I'm so glad he dug this out of a closet. I lost almost all of my WKKD era tapes in a flood years ago. This stuff is old!! There is Aurora U. baseball with some vs. Benedictine, AU football from as early as 1991, Kane County Cougars baseball from 1995 and '96 and more. What a fun trip down memory lane. I'll let you know when things go online and will put the links here. Please and thank you.
8/17/2023
I came across a picture of my on-air studio at IRN. I still miss that Illinois Radio Network morning news anchor job and always will, I guess. It was the perfect radio job for me. It was downtown but was located in a place I could park on the street for free just two blocks away. The people I worked with and for were great. I got to really enjoy writing and reading the news. Even though it was the early morning shift, I got used to it and enjoyed then having the rest of the day to go for a run or to a ballgame etc. I was the only one in the office at the time, so it was quiet and could concentrate on my job without distractions. It was rewarding having my newscasts broadcast on so many stations across the State each morning. I enjoyed looking for stories that were important for each segment of our big State. I was lucky enough to do play-by-play until I felt it was time to step away. I was not lucky enough to keep doing news or sportscasts until I was ready to stop. IRN was sold and moved down to Springfield before I had even worked there a year. I still think I can anchor at a high level. I'd like to find out if anyone needs anything :)
I came across a picture of my on-air studio at IRN. I still miss that Illinois Radio Network morning news anchor job and always will, I guess. It was the perfect radio job for me. It was downtown but was located in a place I could park on the street for free just two blocks away. The people I worked with and for were great. I got to really enjoy writing and reading the news. Even though it was the early morning shift, I got used to it and enjoyed then having the rest of the day to go for a run or to a ballgame etc. I was the only one in the office at the time, so it was quiet and could concentrate on my job without distractions. It was rewarding having my newscasts broadcast on so many stations across the State each morning. I enjoyed looking for stories that were important for each segment of our big State. I was lucky enough to do play-by-play until I felt it was time to step away. I was not lucky enough to keep doing news or sportscasts until I was ready to stop. IRN was sold and moved down to Springfield before I had even worked there a year. I still think I can anchor at a high level. I'd like to find out if anyone needs anything :)
8/8/2023
Another tough day. I still can't believe it. I got home from work and literally went online to wish Mark Krueger a happy birthday on Facebook, only to find that he has passed away. I still can't even process it. We've known each other for more than 30 years. We did Naperville high school football broadcasts together back in the day and then shared press boxes and basketball gyms together more times than I can count. What a great guy and what a tragedy. He was a few years younger than me and it just shouldn't be. Funnily enough, I filled in for him numerous times as well over the years. He was just as busy as I was and he did numerous jobs at the same time, just like me. If he couldn't do a Waubonsee College game, Steve Moga would call me and I'd fill in for him if I was available. If he couldn't do an Elmhurst College game, Kevin Juday would call me and I'd fill in if I could! I was always honored and happy to be thought of as someone those guys could call and entrust a broadcast to. And I knew I better not let the fans down. They were used to the professional job Mark gave them. Mark, Steve and Kevin are my friends and it was always good to work with and for them. I'm trying to come up with more to say but I am still in shock. I have lost way too many people lately and even though Steve and Kevin are closer to Mark than I am, it is still going to take a long time to get used to this idea that he isn't around anymore. Steve and I are having lunch with some other friends on Monday and he just said Mark was probably going to be there too. Ugh. Just ugh. If you are putting off getting together with friends, just don't. Call them. Get together. You just never know.
Another tough day. I still can't believe it. I got home from work and literally went online to wish Mark Krueger a happy birthday on Facebook, only to find that he has passed away. I still can't even process it. We've known each other for more than 30 years. We did Naperville high school football broadcasts together back in the day and then shared press boxes and basketball gyms together more times than I can count. What a great guy and what a tragedy. He was a few years younger than me and it just shouldn't be. Funnily enough, I filled in for him numerous times as well over the years. He was just as busy as I was and he did numerous jobs at the same time, just like me. If he couldn't do a Waubonsee College game, Steve Moga would call me and I'd fill in for him if I was available. If he couldn't do an Elmhurst College game, Kevin Juday would call me and I'd fill in if I could! I was always honored and happy to be thought of as someone those guys could call and entrust a broadcast to. And I knew I better not let the fans down. They were used to the professional job Mark gave them. Mark, Steve and Kevin are my friends and it was always good to work with and for them. I'm trying to come up with more to say but I am still in shock. I have lost way too many people lately and even though Steve and Kevin are closer to Mark than I am, it is still going to take a long time to get used to this idea that he isn't around anymore. Steve and I are having lunch with some other friends on Monday and he just said Mark was probably going to be there too. Ugh. Just ugh. If you are putting off getting together with friends, just don't. Call them. Get together. You just never know.
8/8/2023
Gary Cohen on the Orioles/Kevin Brown controversy.
"Let me just say one thing to Baltimore Orioles management. You draped yourself in humiliation when you fired Jon Miller. And you're doing it again. And if you don't want Kevin Brown, there are 29 other teams who do."
I am so glad the Orioles are getting bashed for this garbage. His sin was being 'negative' by giving a stat that was in the team's game notes, for goodness sake! Suspended! So bush league by the O's. So glad MLB announcers across the league are sticking up for their comrade. And of course, I had the same type of thing happen to me, lol. I wasn't suspended but I was called to the carpet for negativity. My sin, mentioning batting averages on the air! How dare I. It really was the lone negative experience of mine in my five years with Kane County. In 1996 we had three million dollar signees. Josh Booty, Jaime Jones and Mark Kotsay. We also had many other future Major Leaguers and hopes were high. We just didn't hit. It was surprising, but it wasn't my fault that Rene Rascon finished at .170, Walt White at .175 and Hector Kuilan at .201. Booty finished at .206 but did at least have 21 homers. Jones only hit .249 with 8 home runs. Non-prospect Joe Funaro led us in hitting at .309 and Kotsay finished 2nd in average at .283 but only played 17 games after signing his deal late. It was so bad in the middle of the year that the team decided to stop showing the player batting averages on the scoreboard as the batter came to the plate. I don't know why. It's a fact. It's a stat. And btw, no one cares. They are there to have a good time and cheer for their team. I continued to give the batter numbers as he came to the plate. I wasn't ever told not to. Eventually a local scout got mad at me for making his signings look bad or some such nonsense and he complained to the team. I got cornered after a game and was told not to be so negative, lol. If anything I was bending over backwards to make my broadcasts positive despite the bad numbers. For instance, I kept mentioning how hard Booty was working, since he was taking extra hitting every single day before games in the cage and by taking flips and working off a tee etc. They were a great group. I raved about their work ethic and how nice they all were. They just didn't hit. They were killing the messenger because facts made them look bad. So dumb. So silly. I don't think that was why I wasn't brought back the next season because GM Bill Larson eventually hired me to be his play-by-play guy with the Cook County Cheetahs a few years later, but it was still unfortunate. Don't blame the announcer for failings on the field. Listeners know better. Trust they know baseball and let things be what they are. Be better at your job and leave the announcers alone. Please and thank you.
Gary Cohen on the Orioles/Kevin Brown controversy.
"Let me just say one thing to Baltimore Orioles management. You draped yourself in humiliation when you fired Jon Miller. And you're doing it again. And if you don't want Kevin Brown, there are 29 other teams who do."
I am so glad the Orioles are getting bashed for this garbage. His sin was being 'negative' by giving a stat that was in the team's game notes, for goodness sake! Suspended! So bush league by the O's. So glad MLB announcers across the league are sticking up for their comrade. And of course, I had the same type of thing happen to me, lol. I wasn't suspended but I was called to the carpet for negativity. My sin, mentioning batting averages on the air! How dare I. It really was the lone negative experience of mine in my five years with Kane County. In 1996 we had three million dollar signees. Josh Booty, Jaime Jones and Mark Kotsay. We also had many other future Major Leaguers and hopes were high. We just didn't hit. It was surprising, but it wasn't my fault that Rene Rascon finished at .170, Walt White at .175 and Hector Kuilan at .201. Booty finished at .206 but did at least have 21 homers. Jones only hit .249 with 8 home runs. Non-prospect Joe Funaro led us in hitting at .309 and Kotsay finished 2nd in average at .283 but only played 17 games after signing his deal late. It was so bad in the middle of the year that the team decided to stop showing the player batting averages on the scoreboard as the batter came to the plate. I don't know why. It's a fact. It's a stat. And btw, no one cares. They are there to have a good time and cheer for their team. I continued to give the batter numbers as he came to the plate. I wasn't ever told not to. Eventually a local scout got mad at me for making his signings look bad or some such nonsense and he complained to the team. I got cornered after a game and was told not to be so negative, lol. If anything I was bending over backwards to make my broadcasts positive despite the bad numbers. For instance, I kept mentioning how hard Booty was working, since he was taking extra hitting every single day before games in the cage and by taking flips and working off a tee etc. They were a great group. I raved about their work ethic and how nice they all were. They just didn't hit. They were killing the messenger because facts made them look bad. So dumb. So silly. I don't think that was why I wasn't brought back the next season because GM Bill Larson eventually hired me to be his play-by-play guy with the Cook County Cheetahs a few years later, but it was still unfortunate. Don't blame the announcer for failings on the field. Listeners know better. Trust they know baseball and let things be what they are. Be better at your job and leave the announcers alone. Please and thank you.
8/7/2023
Former White Sox players talking about how bad the atmosphere was is such a shame and such an embarrassment. And say what you will about Ozzie Guillen but none of this would be a problem if he was Manager. He would not tolerate lack of effort, he would put down rules and enforce them and he would be a leader with expectations to be lived up to. Once again, who is in charge of this team? Both Hahn and Pedro talked to the media this afternoon and neither took any responsibility. Pedro blamed the players and said he noticed early there were no leaders in the clubhouse. Well, pal, then that means it is even more important the Manager steps in and provides that leadership! It's better that the players police themselves but having zero leaders is not acceptable. Actually the best is to have leadership from their Skipper and from a few veteran players. What the hell else is the Manager good for? If he comes back, it will be an even bigger embarrassment. He has proven he is not up to the job. You can't have lazy players getting away with it. You just can't. Sleeping! Really?! C'mon! All these muscle pulls etc. are lack of effort, period. Yet, they keep happening. It isn't the training staff.
I know it's the Minors, but I have seen both sides of the equation up close and personal. Baseball is baseball. The 2011 Joliet Slammers won the Championship for numerous reasons but leadership and camaraderie were front and center. That team liked each other, played for each other and if a player messed around, he was called out for it. You have to care about winning in order to win. It's that simple. There was a rule that you could have ONE beer on the bus on the way back home from a road trip, for example. The rule was from the Manager, Bart Zeller, who was great by the way. A real leader. The team leaders then made sure it was followed. One night a veteran violated that rule by absolutely getting hammered and having to be helped off the bus back in Joliet. They took care of him and got him home. At the ballpark the next day though, they read him the riot act and it never happened again. I knew then this could be a fun year. There was accountability. The players took care of it. They were serious about winning. Being a drunk was not going to be tolerated. That team pulled together and became tighter and tighter as that season went on. You could feel it. I knew we were going to win the whole thing. I just knew it. They were a TEAM that cared about each other and played their asses off. Winning is fun btw. Why play that game any differently?
Another summer as a broadcaster I saw the exact opposite and knew we were weren't going to win anything and we didn't. The team's best players were not about winning, they were about going out after games to drink and pick up girls. I know they were young ballplayers and everything but you could tell the game was just getting in the way of having a good time. The Manager did nothing to police it. There was no motivation to compete, so they didn't. I was so sad those guys were throwing away a summer of being pro baseball players. That is your White Sox btw. No punishment for being lazy and not caring or not staying in shape etc, means they threw away this season. Threw it away. Salaries don't change anything. The Sox players making millions doesn't make it worse. The result is the same. They wasted a year of their careers. Their Manager not pointing that out to them is inexcusable. Not having fun playing baseball for a living is inexcusable. Sorry, but trying hard at your profession, caring for your co-workers and holding to standards of behavior is not that tough. There is no excuse for not doing it. Burger said he is finally having fun again with his new team. Unreal. How were there no team meetings on the South Side? The answer, NO ONE CARED ENOUGH TO CALL ONE. Pathetic. They should all be fired. All of them. They won't be but they should be. Please and thank you.
Former White Sox players talking about how bad the atmosphere was is such a shame and such an embarrassment. And say what you will about Ozzie Guillen but none of this would be a problem if he was Manager. He would not tolerate lack of effort, he would put down rules and enforce them and he would be a leader with expectations to be lived up to. Once again, who is in charge of this team? Both Hahn and Pedro talked to the media this afternoon and neither took any responsibility. Pedro blamed the players and said he noticed early there were no leaders in the clubhouse. Well, pal, then that means it is even more important the Manager steps in and provides that leadership! It's better that the players police themselves but having zero leaders is not acceptable. Actually the best is to have leadership from their Skipper and from a few veteran players. What the hell else is the Manager good for? If he comes back, it will be an even bigger embarrassment. He has proven he is not up to the job. You can't have lazy players getting away with it. You just can't. Sleeping! Really?! C'mon! All these muscle pulls etc. are lack of effort, period. Yet, they keep happening. It isn't the training staff.
I know it's the Minors, but I have seen both sides of the equation up close and personal. Baseball is baseball. The 2011 Joliet Slammers won the Championship for numerous reasons but leadership and camaraderie were front and center. That team liked each other, played for each other and if a player messed around, he was called out for it. You have to care about winning in order to win. It's that simple. There was a rule that you could have ONE beer on the bus on the way back home from a road trip, for example. The rule was from the Manager, Bart Zeller, who was great by the way. A real leader. The team leaders then made sure it was followed. One night a veteran violated that rule by absolutely getting hammered and having to be helped off the bus back in Joliet. They took care of him and got him home. At the ballpark the next day though, they read him the riot act and it never happened again. I knew then this could be a fun year. There was accountability. The players took care of it. They were serious about winning. Being a drunk was not going to be tolerated. That team pulled together and became tighter and tighter as that season went on. You could feel it. I knew we were going to win the whole thing. I just knew it. They were a TEAM that cared about each other and played their asses off. Winning is fun btw. Why play that game any differently?
Another summer as a broadcaster I saw the exact opposite and knew we were weren't going to win anything and we didn't. The team's best players were not about winning, they were about going out after games to drink and pick up girls. I know they were young ballplayers and everything but you could tell the game was just getting in the way of having a good time. The Manager did nothing to police it. There was no motivation to compete, so they didn't. I was so sad those guys were throwing away a summer of being pro baseball players. That is your White Sox btw. No punishment for being lazy and not caring or not staying in shape etc, means they threw away this season. Threw it away. Salaries don't change anything. The Sox players making millions doesn't make it worse. The result is the same. They wasted a year of their careers. Their Manager not pointing that out to them is inexcusable. Not having fun playing baseball for a living is inexcusable. Sorry, but trying hard at your profession, caring for your co-workers and holding to standards of behavior is not that tough. There is no excuse for not doing it. Burger said he is finally having fun again with his new team. Unreal. How were there no team meetings on the South Side? The answer, NO ONE CARED ENOUGH TO CALL ONE. Pathetic. They should all be fired. All of them. They won't be but they should be. Please and thank you.
7/31/2023
I posted this two years ago to the day and figured I would put it back up seeing as everything said in here still holds true. I tweaked it a bit first though to make it a little less sad, lol. Yes, this is the less sad version! I do still miss baseball and I still do miss full-time radio. It was sparked by thinking about the 1995 Cougars season.
So this post is mostly for me. I have looked back at my time with the Kane County Cougars and other minor league teams many times here, and probably way too many times for most of you, lol. Well, it's fun for me, so here I go again. I have been battling melancholy off and on for a while now, ever since I lost my last radio job with the US Traffic Network, when they went out of business. It really was a gut punch. You can only get kicked around enough before you suffer some effects. Broadcasting pro baseball for 14 years and for more than 1000 games was the most fun I've ever had. I wish I was still doing it. C'est la vie. So I dug out my old 1995 Cougars game program to cheer me up today. That was the first team that became mine. I had been the color guy for Dave Wills for 1992, 1993 and 1994. I started that way in 1995 as well, until he left pretty early on to take a job as a sportscaster in Chicago for the old WMAQ. So the 1995 Cougars became my pro first team as the main play-by-play guy. This program is a nice time capsule of that time for me. At that time, Elfstrom Stadium was still a pretty small ballpark but fans would cram the hills on both sides and pack the place, parking behind the outfield walls on the grass. A September night in 1994 saw over 10,200 fans jam their way in. Those kind of crowds would continue and eventually force the expansion of the park. But I will never forget that first time more than 10 thousand packed the concourse. I could barely get to the press box. But those were exciting times. This program lists the best of the Cougars first four years. It's hard to argue with any on that list and I was lucky enough to broadcast all of them. It doesn't list anyone from that first team in 1991 but Greg Zaun would have really been the only candidate and Charles Johnson was definitely the better choice. 1996 was my second year as the main play-by-play guy and 5th and final year with the team overall. I've gone over all of this but bad luck hit me twice to basically cause all that. My main job was as Sports Director of WKKD AM/FM and the games were on WKKD FM, while my talk show was the the AM. Well, I lost my full-time job as the AM side when they would tragically turn it into a short-lived Spanish language format. It and the station only lasted one more year after that and now no longer exists at all. It and I would probably still be there if not for that nonsense. I worked my tail off, along with my co-horts, for 11 years to make that station a success in Aurora and that achievement and my presence were wiped out completely in one stupid stroke. The only way to stay with the Cougars then would be to become a salesman/play-by-play guy working full-time for the team itself. I certainly wanted to try to do it that way and the wonderful Cougars fans even sent in a petition to the team to see that I stayed on as the play-by-play guy. The team decided an experienced salesman was more important though, so I ended up losing both the baseball and WKKD jobs in September of 1996. It made me feel at the time like I felt when I lost my job at Sporting News Radio a few years later when that Network was sold and then came this more recent USTN stuff. Don't get me wrong, I have a nice job now working with friends and they pay me well and treat me even better and I am grateful for it and them. But I miss my calling as a radio and baseball guy. I just do and I always will. I need these occasional trips down memory lane to help me remember who I am and who I was and to give me a smile. They help. This helped. Please and thank you.
I posted this two years ago to the day and figured I would put it back up seeing as everything said in here still holds true. I tweaked it a bit first though to make it a little less sad, lol. Yes, this is the less sad version! I do still miss baseball and I still do miss full-time radio. It was sparked by thinking about the 1995 Cougars season.
So this post is mostly for me. I have looked back at my time with the Kane County Cougars and other minor league teams many times here, and probably way too many times for most of you, lol. Well, it's fun for me, so here I go again. I have been battling melancholy off and on for a while now, ever since I lost my last radio job with the US Traffic Network, when they went out of business. It really was a gut punch. You can only get kicked around enough before you suffer some effects. Broadcasting pro baseball for 14 years and for more than 1000 games was the most fun I've ever had. I wish I was still doing it. C'est la vie. So I dug out my old 1995 Cougars game program to cheer me up today. That was the first team that became mine. I had been the color guy for Dave Wills for 1992, 1993 and 1994. I started that way in 1995 as well, until he left pretty early on to take a job as a sportscaster in Chicago for the old WMAQ. So the 1995 Cougars became my pro first team as the main play-by-play guy. This program is a nice time capsule of that time for me. At that time, Elfstrom Stadium was still a pretty small ballpark but fans would cram the hills on both sides and pack the place, parking behind the outfield walls on the grass. A September night in 1994 saw over 10,200 fans jam their way in. Those kind of crowds would continue and eventually force the expansion of the park. But I will never forget that first time more than 10 thousand packed the concourse. I could barely get to the press box. But those were exciting times. This program lists the best of the Cougars first four years. It's hard to argue with any on that list and I was lucky enough to broadcast all of them. It doesn't list anyone from that first team in 1991 but Greg Zaun would have really been the only candidate and Charles Johnson was definitely the better choice. 1996 was my second year as the main play-by-play guy and 5th and final year with the team overall. I've gone over all of this but bad luck hit me twice to basically cause all that. My main job was as Sports Director of WKKD AM/FM and the games were on WKKD FM, while my talk show was the the AM. Well, I lost my full-time job as the AM side when they would tragically turn it into a short-lived Spanish language format. It and the station only lasted one more year after that and now no longer exists at all. It and I would probably still be there if not for that nonsense. I worked my tail off, along with my co-horts, for 11 years to make that station a success in Aurora and that achievement and my presence were wiped out completely in one stupid stroke. The only way to stay with the Cougars then would be to become a salesman/play-by-play guy working full-time for the team itself. I certainly wanted to try to do it that way and the wonderful Cougars fans even sent in a petition to the team to see that I stayed on as the play-by-play guy. The team decided an experienced salesman was more important though, so I ended up losing both the baseball and WKKD jobs in September of 1996. It made me feel at the time like I felt when I lost my job at Sporting News Radio a few years later when that Network was sold and then came this more recent USTN stuff. Don't get me wrong, I have a nice job now working with friends and they pay me well and treat me even better and I am grateful for it and them. But I miss my calling as a radio and baseball guy. I just do and I always will. I need these occasional trips down memory lane to help me remember who I am and who I was and to give me a smile. They help. This helped. Please and thank you.
7/28/2023
I have to vent about about broadcasting here. Common sense needs to prevail and have a few things to get off my chest, lol. Exhibit A-Chip Caray and Brad Thompson of the Cardinals. Be better. You are MLB announcers. Act like it. Ian Happ accidentally hits Willson Contreras, his friend btw, with a back swing and Contreras leaves the game with a cut to his head. They hug it out after it happens and all is good. Regardless, pitcher Miles Mikolas buzzes Happ up by his head and then hits him in the hip with a pitch the next time Ian bats. Mikolas correctly gets thrown out for intentionally drilling Happ. Caray and Thompson are mad at the ejection saying, in effect, read the room. Ejection without a warning isn't right and it was just baseball. Umm, no. Ejection for an intentional drilling does not need a warning first. So in other words, they were mad Mikolas got away with almost hitting Happ in the head without receiving a warning. What clowns. Happ did not do it on purpose. Frankly, it is virtually impossible to do that on purpose and THEY ARE FRIENDS. It was up them to read the room. Idiots. I never liked Chip Caray when he was here and still do not. The fact that hit by pitch started a rally and the Cubs scored three runs in that inning because of that Cardinals stupidity makes it even better. The Cards and their announcers continue to be clowns. Congrats.
Next up, some free advice to Jason Benetti. Take a breath. Take several. Look, I like Jason and the job he does. I do not believe however that he is the second coming. As I said when he was hired, I like him. He is good. But I could give you six names off the top of my head that broadcast games with me in the Independent Frontier League that are just as good as he is. I still feel that way. He is not Vin Scully just yet. Stop treating him that way. What he needs to do it to let the game breathe. Yes, I'm giving this advice as someone who has broadcast thousands of baseball games at all levels in my life and as someone who has listened to thousands of games as a fan. I had this discussion with a friend of mine and we both agreed. It made me feel better. I'm not the only one. Let there be a few seconds of dead air here and there. Let the atmosphere of the ballpark into the broadcast. It is TV. We can see what is going on. You don't need to talk every damn second. And he also is not as funny as he thinks he is. Yes, Stoney is knowledgeable and has plenty to add but you do not need to fill every second of the game with talk and ask him 200 questions per broadcast. Take a breath. It is not as relaxing a broadcast it could be. You make me a nervous wreck. Just calm down and let the pictures tell the story more. I swear, I had more dead air on my radio broadcasts then he does on television. I think those silences are valuable. It lets the ballpark tell the story too. You can feel what it is like to be there etc. And not for nothing, Stoney lost me when he told me I could not celebrate a Sox Championship since I did not like the hiring of LaRussa. Well, another rebuild has started. I was right. You were wrong. And obnoxious about it. I still haven't really forgiven him for that and I am not sure I ever will.
Now on to Boog Sciambi. Am I the only Cubs fan who has not warmed to him? I don't think so, but again, the fawning over him is really getting on my nerves. He is nothing special. He just isn't. Again, the best I can say about him is that he is fine. He's fine. But he is not my cup of tea. The trade of Len Kasper for Sciambi was a terrible one for me. I loved Len. Still do. So I listen to radio for both teams because those announcers are great. One is now in the Hall of Fame an the other will be eventually. Both are tremendous. The TV guys, on the other hand, are fine. Period. Boog still thinks he's a national announcer or something. He is not in Atlanta and he is not at ESPN. I just don't think he knows it yet or cares. Being the Cubs announcer means he is following in some big footsteps. He is not living up to that yet. At all. Be THE CUBS ANNOUNCER. Know the history and show that you appreciate it. Do the work. Earn your money. Again, it's TV. I don't care about somebody's beard or shoes. I can see that insignificant stuff. Give me more insight than that nonsense. DO THE WORK.
There. I feel a bit better. Lol. Please and thank you.
I have to vent about about broadcasting here. Common sense needs to prevail and have a few things to get off my chest, lol. Exhibit A-Chip Caray and Brad Thompson of the Cardinals. Be better. You are MLB announcers. Act like it. Ian Happ accidentally hits Willson Contreras, his friend btw, with a back swing and Contreras leaves the game with a cut to his head. They hug it out after it happens and all is good. Regardless, pitcher Miles Mikolas buzzes Happ up by his head and then hits him in the hip with a pitch the next time Ian bats. Mikolas correctly gets thrown out for intentionally drilling Happ. Caray and Thompson are mad at the ejection saying, in effect, read the room. Ejection without a warning isn't right and it was just baseball. Umm, no. Ejection for an intentional drilling does not need a warning first. So in other words, they were mad Mikolas got away with almost hitting Happ in the head without receiving a warning. What clowns. Happ did not do it on purpose. Frankly, it is virtually impossible to do that on purpose and THEY ARE FRIENDS. It was up them to read the room. Idiots. I never liked Chip Caray when he was here and still do not. The fact that hit by pitch started a rally and the Cubs scored three runs in that inning because of that Cardinals stupidity makes it even better. The Cards and their announcers continue to be clowns. Congrats.
Next up, some free advice to Jason Benetti. Take a breath. Take several. Look, I like Jason and the job he does. I do not believe however that he is the second coming. As I said when he was hired, I like him. He is good. But I could give you six names off the top of my head that broadcast games with me in the Independent Frontier League that are just as good as he is. I still feel that way. He is not Vin Scully just yet. Stop treating him that way. What he needs to do it to let the game breathe. Yes, I'm giving this advice as someone who has broadcast thousands of baseball games at all levels in my life and as someone who has listened to thousands of games as a fan. I had this discussion with a friend of mine and we both agreed. It made me feel better. I'm not the only one. Let there be a few seconds of dead air here and there. Let the atmosphere of the ballpark into the broadcast. It is TV. We can see what is going on. You don't need to talk every damn second. And he also is not as funny as he thinks he is. Yes, Stoney is knowledgeable and has plenty to add but you do not need to fill every second of the game with talk and ask him 200 questions per broadcast. Take a breath. It is not as relaxing a broadcast it could be. You make me a nervous wreck. Just calm down and let the pictures tell the story more. I swear, I had more dead air on my radio broadcasts then he does on television. I think those silences are valuable. It lets the ballpark tell the story too. You can feel what it is like to be there etc. And not for nothing, Stoney lost me when he told me I could not celebrate a Sox Championship since I did not like the hiring of LaRussa. Well, another rebuild has started. I was right. You were wrong. And obnoxious about it. I still haven't really forgiven him for that and I am not sure I ever will.
Now on to Boog Sciambi. Am I the only Cubs fan who has not warmed to him? I don't think so, but again, the fawning over him is really getting on my nerves. He is nothing special. He just isn't. Again, the best I can say about him is that he is fine. He's fine. But he is not my cup of tea. The trade of Len Kasper for Sciambi was a terrible one for me. I loved Len. Still do. So I listen to radio for both teams because those announcers are great. One is now in the Hall of Fame an the other will be eventually. Both are tremendous. The TV guys, on the other hand, are fine. Period. Boog still thinks he's a national announcer or something. He is not in Atlanta and he is not at ESPN. I just don't think he knows it yet or cares. Being the Cubs announcer means he is following in some big footsteps. He is not living up to that yet. At all. Be THE CUBS ANNOUNCER. Know the history and show that you appreciate it. Do the work. Earn your money. Again, it's TV. I don't care about somebody's beard or shoes. I can see that insignificant stuff. Give me more insight than that nonsense. DO THE WORK.
There. I feel a bit better. Lol. Please and thank you.
7/27/2023
12 years ago today, Andrew Moss threw a no-hitter for the Joliet Slammers in Cleveland against Lake Erie. I was lucky enough to call 3 no-hitters in the Minors. The 9th inning of each was so much fun and exciting. Even Andrew admitted afterward that this one wasn't too pretty, lol, but he'd take it and it certainly was a thrill. Joliet won 10-1 and it was a big part of what was a special Championship summer. He walked 6 that night, but he did strike out 8 and there were some great plays to help him out. Bobby Leeper made a great diving catch in centerfield in the 1st inning. Brad Netzel made a great leaping grab on a liner in the 6th. Erik Lis, Kyle Maunus, David Fox and Leeper each had homers. The Crushers got their run in the 7th after 2 walks, a hit batter and then a sacrifice fly. So no, it wasn't a work of art but what made it special was that it took 136 pitches for Andrew to battle and finish it off. He earned it for sure. I'm glad this little video recap of the final outs exists. Fun to listen back to some history.
Here's the link to this little recap of my call of the end of the no-hitter on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPeclGIOraE
7/24/2023
I'm going to vent a bit about Jerry Reinsdorf here. I'm not even going to bring up the Bulls here, which I certainly could but I am going to talk about what a travesty he is as owner of the White Sox. As every day goes by I get more and more mad at the fact he tore down Comiskey Park. It really is unforgivable. I have always thought that, but after watching the great documentary Last Comiskey and then a few documentaries on the Negro Leagues, I am even angrier. Fenway is still in business. Wrigley Field is still in business. Why the hell is Comiskey not still in business? We know the answer. Reinsdorf wanted luxury suites. Period. The history of that place be damned. Unforgivable. The money that went into the new ballpark could have gone into updating Comiskey. It needed updating, certainly. And lots of it. But it could have been done. It did not need to be torn down. I was at Comiskey often in it's final season doing my job as a reporter. It was still a great place to watch a game. I went to Detroit to see old Tigers Stadium in it's final season. It was horrible. It was dingy, dirty, tiny and ugly. Comiskey was none of those things. I loved going to that Park as a kid. As I've said, I went to dozens of Sox games with friends. I went to Comiskey with my buddies and to Wrigley with family. I should still be going there. For goodness sake, concrete was falling down onto the concourses at Wrigley as few years ago. It is still there. Comiskey, the home of the East-West Negro League All-Star games, where Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, Gibson, Paige, Shoeless Joe etc. played, should still be here. Jerry did not and does not care about any ballpark but Ebbets Field. He got his luxury boxes with our money and he guards that money with fervor. He does not care about winning teams. His lone Title in 2005 was due in large part to luck. Every team needs luck but the 2005 Sox, as good as they were, depended on the years of their lives for Jose Contreras, Jon Garland, Dustin Hermanson and when Hermanson hurt his back, the fat kid Bobby Jenks was picked off the scrap heap for about ten dollars to save the day several times in that postseason. I realize I am over simplifying things but my point is that Reinsdorf's lone Championship on the South Side needed all sorts of pieces to fall into place and they did. Proof that it was rare kizmet was that the success of 2005 has not been duplicated since. His current GM Rick Hahn is in his 11th season on the job and has not won a damn thing. Somehow he still has that job. Jerry himself ruined the current theoretical Championship window completely by hiring his aging alcoholic buddy to Manage and then that guy sucked all the fun and camaraderie and swagger out of that locker room. The damage is obviously irreparable. Jerry was the guy behind the ownership collusion of the '80's. He did not sign free agents that could have helped his team. He did not improve his team on purpose. He proved winning was not the goal, profit was and is. He took his team off free TV. Say what you want but while the Cubs were still on WGN for free, you had to pay to see the Sox on Sportsvision etc. An entire generation of potential fans was lost. How many White Sox fans living in the City could afford cable TV back then? Not many, I submit to you. We never had cable in Palatine or Naperville ourselves. I would have watched the Sox. I liked both teams. I could not watch them anymore. Shortsighted and greedy. It cost him in the long run. The list of Reinsdorf's sins is endless. My one note on his basketball team is that the only reason the Bulls won any Championships at all is that the Portland Trail Blazers drafted Sam Bowie instead of Michael Jordan in 1984. What Jerry will never seem to understand is that Sox fans support a winner. He always says that if the fans come out, then he will use that money on the team. Well dummy, put a winner on the field and THEN the people will come out. He will never do that. Ever. He just can't make himself spend, just in case that money does not turn into wins. He won't do it. We still don't really know who is in charge of the White Sox. What exactly does Kenny Williams do? Nobody knows. What is Hahn in charge of if Manager is not up to him? I mean really. I could go on but I will stop here. The current ballpark is fine. That's what I will say about it. It's fine. I like it. It isn't terrible. That's the best you can say but it isn't the old Comiskey. It doesn't have the history or tradition or meaning of the old ballyard. It is a sin that park is still not here to enjoy. I would be much happier if my tax money went to keep that Palace alive and brought into the 21st century rather than give Jerry his cash register, that he only got after threatening to move the team to Florida in the first place. Don't give me any nonsense about how Comiskey couldn't have been saved. I don't buy it. How many millions went into the new ballpark and then the updating of it to lop off the upper deck etc. It could have been done and should have been done. It could have been a money maker just as a place for baseball fans from all over the nation to go to see history, not just the Sox. I guarantee you the Sox will not win again as long as he is the owner and that is a shame.
And I was reminded that Reinsdorf and Wirtz teamed up to tear down the old Chicago Stadium for luxury boxes as well. That building was also history and a definite home stadium advantage for both the Bulls and Hawks but money is money.
We deserve better. Please and thank you.
I'm going to vent a bit about Jerry Reinsdorf here. I'm not even going to bring up the Bulls here, which I certainly could but I am going to talk about what a travesty he is as owner of the White Sox. As every day goes by I get more and more mad at the fact he tore down Comiskey Park. It really is unforgivable. I have always thought that, but after watching the great documentary Last Comiskey and then a few documentaries on the Negro Leagues, I am even angrier. Fenway is still in business. Wrigley Field is still in business. Why the hell is Comiskey not still in business? We know the answer. Reinsdorf wanted luxury suites. Period. The history of that place be damned. Unforgivable. The money that went into the new ballpark could have gone into updating Comiskey. It needed updating, certainly. And lots of it. But it could have been done. It did not need to be torn down. I was at Comiskey often in it's final season doing my job as a reporter. It was still a great place to watch a game. I went to Detroit to see old Tigers Stadium in it's final season. It was horrible. It was dingy, dirty, tiny and ugly. Comiskey was none of those things. I loved going to that Park as a kid. As I've said, I went to dozens of Sox games with friends. I went to Comiskey with my buddies and to Wrigley with family. I should still be going there. For goodness sake, concrete was falling down onto the concourses at Wrigley as few years ago. It is still there. Comiskey, the home of the East-West Negro League All-Star games, where Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, Gibson, Paige, Shoeless Joe etc. played, should still be here. Jerry did not and does not care about any ballpark but Ebbets Field. He got his luxury boxes with our money and he guards that money with fervor. He does not care about winning teams. His lone Title in 2005 was due in large part to luck. Every team needs luck but the 2005 Sox, as good as they were, depended on the years of their lives for Jose Contreras, Jon Garland, Dustin Hermanson and when Hermanson hurt his back, the fat kid Bobby Jenks was picked off the scrap heap for about ten dollars to save the day several times in that postseason. I realize I am over simplifying things but my point is that Reinsdorf's lone Championship on the South Side needed all sorts of pieces to fall into place and they did. Proof that it was rare kizmet was that the success of 2005 has not been duplicated since. His current GM Rick Hahn is in his 11th season on the job and has not won a damn thing. Somehow he still has that job. Jerry himself ruined the current theoretical Championship window completely by hiring his aging alcoholic buddy to Manage and then that guy sucked all the fun and camaraderie and swagger out of that locker room. The damage is obviously irreparable. Jerry was the guy behind the ownership collusion of the '80's. He did not sign free agents that could have helped his team. He did not improve his team on purpose. He proved winning was not the goal, profit was and is. He took his team off free TV. Say what you want but while the Cubs were still on WGN for free, you had to pay to see the Sox on Sportsvision etc. An entire generation of potential fans was lost. How many White Sox fans living in the City could afford cable TV back then? Not many, I submit to you. We never had cable in Palatine or Naperville ourselves. I would have watched the Sox. I liked both teams. I could not watch them anymore. Shortsighted and greedy. It cost him in the long run. The list of Reinsdorf's sins is endless. My one note on his basketball team is that the only reason the Bulls won any Championships at all is that the Portland Trail Blazers drafted Sam Bowie instead of Michael Jordan in 1984. What Jerry will never seem to understand is that Sox fans support a winner. He always says that if the fans come out, then he will use that money on the team. Well dummy, put a winner on the field and THEN the people will come out. He will never do that. Ever. He just can't make himself spend, just in case that money does not turn into wins. He won't do it. We still don't really know who is in charge of the White Sox. What exactly does Kenny Williams do? Nobody knows. What is Hahn in charge of if Manager is not up to him? I mean really. I could go on but I will stop here. The current ballpark is fine. That's what I will say about it. It's fine. I like it. It isn't terrible. That's the best you can say but it isn't the old Comiskey. It doesn't have the history or tradition or meaning of the old ballyard. It is a sin that park is still not here to enjoy. I would be much happier if my tax money went to keep that Palace alive and brought into the 21st century rather than give Jerry his cash register, that he only got after threatening to move the team to Florida in the first place. Don't give me any nonsense about how Comiskey couldn't have been saved. I don't buy it. How many millions went into the new ballpark and then the updating of it to lop off the upper deck etc. It could have been done and should have been done. It could have been a money maker just as a place for baseball fans from all over the nation to go to see history, not just the Sox. I guarantee you the Sox will not win again as long as he is the owner and that is a shame.
And I was reminded that Reinsdorf and Wirtz teamed up to tear down the old Chicago Stadium for luxury boxes as well. That building was also history and a definite home stadium advantage for both the Bulls and Hawks but money is money.
We deserve better. Please and thank you.
7/21/2023
Pat Hughes goes into the Broadcast wing of Baseball's Hall of Fame this weekend and it is well deserved. As a lifelong Cubs fan, I have listened to thousands of hours of his games and have thoroughly enjoyed them. He is a pro's pro for sure. I am a student of the art of baseball play-by-play and proud of my years behind the mic. I appreciate the ones who have done it so well over the years. The reverence held for the likes of Dodgers legend Vin Scully is right on the mark, for instance. He was the best there ever was, in my opinion. Many are right up there with him and Pat is on that list. Much will be made of his time in the booth with Ron Santo in testimonials today and rightly so. Those two were very, very entertaining, but as I have pointed out before, Pat did all the heavy lifting in those years. Pat was both the play-by-play man and color man with Ronny adding the Cub fandom and baseball anecdotes and goofiness along the way. Santo was a great foil but he was not the usual color man. He didn't know any stats, he didn't even pretend to, lol. He didn't describe what just happened. He was cheerleader and friend to Pat and the listener. It worked because of Ron's personality, his Cubs love and because Pat could do all the broadcasting stuff so well. He would mention stats, call the play, analyze the play and hand it to Ron for more flavor. Ronny was the friend sitting next to you at the bar watching the game by your side. You knew he played the game at a Hall of Fame level in his day and you knew he loved your team as much as you did. That was his job and he did it well. Pat did the broadcasting stuff. All of it, lol. He deserves the Ford Frick Award for that alone! It was herculean, what he did.
Other than that, he does the play-by-play part so damn well. It is radio. You have to paint the picture for the listener. He excels at that. You can see the game he is broadcasting, even as you are driving down the road. That is the job. He came to Chicago from Milwaukee, of course. I was a young broadcaster at the time. I was never a fan of over the top home run calls. I never tried to come up with my own signature home run call. It was too contrived and fake to me. If one came naturally, then great. Eventually, while broadcasting Kane County Cougar games a home run call just sort of happened. I liked how it came out that first time. I figured I would stick with it. It wasn't obnoxious or silly. It just kind of happened. I was happy about it. Then Pat came to town. I heard him on WGN and liked him immediately. I hadn't really listened to him with the Brewers. Then I heard his home run call. It was exactly the one I had started using! lol. Damn. How the heck did that happen?! So I had to stop. No one would believe I came up with mine independently and who would care. I can't use the one the Cubs announcer is using! Oh well. In other words, I had a home run call for a couple weeks only, out of my 14 years broadcasting Minor League baseball. It was Pat's and he is Pat Hughes for goodness sake. Hall of Famer.
One more thing about Santo, because while writing this it occurs to me that Hawk Harrelson was the same guy. The problem with Hawk for me was that he was the play-by-play man when he should have been the color guy. I liked Hawk. I just think he would have been better as the Santo to someone like John Rooney. Rooney was and is brilliant. He could have done the Hughes role while Hawk did the Santo stuff. I would have listened to that religiously. I still think my favorite Sox team was Rooney with Wayne Hagin. It just didn't last long enough in my opinion. I put Rooney and Hughes up there with the all-time best at that job. The Mt. Rushmore of something is an overused metaphor but if there is a top 10 all-time of radio baseball play-by-play people those two are in it.
My hat's off to Pat. He joins my boyhood idol, Jack Brickhouse, in the Hall. Cubs fans have been pretty darn lucky over the years, at least listening to their team if not always in the win-loss record.
Pat Hughes goes into the Broadcast wing of Baseball's Hall of Fame this weekend and it is well deserved. As a lifelong Cubs fan, I have listened to thousands of hours of his games and have thoroughly enjoyed them. He is a pro's pro for sure. I am a student of the art of baseball play-by-play and proud of my years behind the mic. I appreciate the ones who have done it so well over the years. The reverence held for the likes of Dodgers legend Vin Scully is right on the mark, for instance. He was the best there ever was, in my opinion. Many are right up there with him and Pat is on that list. Much will be made of his time in the booth with Ron Santo in testimonials today and rightly so. Those two were very, very entertaining, but as I have pointed out before, Pat did all the heavy lifting in those years. Pat was both the play-by-play man and color man with Ronny adding the Cub fandom and baseball anecdotes and goofiness along the way. Santo was a great foil but he was not the usual color man. He didn't know any stats, he didn't even pretend to, lol. He didn't describe what just happened. He was cheerleader and friend to Pat and the listener. It worked because of Ron's personality, his Cubs love and because Pat could do all the broadcasting stuff so well. He would mention stats, call the play, analyze the play and hand it to Ron for more flavor. Ronny was the friend sitting next to you at the bar watching the game by your side. You knew he played the game at a Hall of Fame level in his day and you knew he loved your team as much as you did. That was his job and he did it well. Pat did the broadcasting stuff. All of it, lol. He deserves the Ford Frick Award for that alone! It was herculean, what he did.
Other than that, he does the play-by-play part so damn well. It is radio. You have to paint the picture for the listener. He excels at that. You can see the game he is broadcasting, even as you are driving down the road. That is the job. He came to Chicago from Milwaukee, of course. I was a young broadcaster at the time. I was never a fan of over the top home run calls. I never tried to come up with my own signature home run call. It was too contrived and fake to me. If one came naturally, then great. Eventually, while broadcasting Kane County Cougar games a home run call just sort of happened. I liked how it came out that first time. I figured I would stick with it. It wasn't obnoxious or silly. It just kind of happened. I was happy about it. Then Pat came to town. I heard him on WGN and liked him immediately. I hadn't really listened to him with the Brewers. Then I heard his home run call. It was exactly the one I had started using! lol. Damn. How the heck did that happen?! So I had to stop. No one would believe I came up with mine independently and who would care. I can't use the one the Cubs announcer is using! Oh well. In other words, I had a home run call for a couple weeks only, out of my 14 years broadcasting Minor League baseball. It was Pat's and he is Pat Hughes for goodness sake. Hall of Famer.
One more thing about Santo, because while writing this it occurs to me that Hawk Harrelson was the same guy. The problem with Hawk for me was that he was the play-by-play man when he should have been the color guy. I liked Hawk. I just think he would have been better as the Santo to someone like John Rooney. Rooney was and is brilliant. He could have done the Hughes role while Hawk did the Santo stuff. I would have listened to that religiously. I still think my favorite Sox team was Rooney with Wayne Hagin. It just didn't last long enough in my opinion. I put Rooney and Hughes up there with the all-time best at that job. The Mt. Rushmore of something is an overused metaphor but if there is a top 10 all-time of radio baseball play-by-play people those two are in it.
My hat's off to Pat. He joins my boyhood idol, Jack Brickhouse, in the Hall. Cubs fans have been pretty darn lucky over the years, at least listening to their team if not always in the win-loss record.
7/16/2023
Now a post about something 45 years ago, lol
So my friend Denise Kimberly sent me this picture from the Cheap Trick show at the Metro last night. Glad she and her husband Bart loved it. I've mentioned plenty about my love for that band. Here's a little more about the first time I saw them at North Central College in that tiny gym all the way back on September 13, 1978, 45 frickin years ago! They had already been around a while, opening for Kiss, Queen, Kansas, Rainbow, Aerosmith and many others. This show, in tiny Merner Fieldhouse, was just before they would become huge stars and headline theaters and eventually arenas. One month after the Naperville show, their Live at Budokan album was released in Japan. It was such a hit, it was then released in the U.S. in January of 1979 and they became household names. I Want You To Want Me went to #7 on the charts and the album went to #13, selling over 3 million copies. Never again would I see them from a folding chair, just feet from the stage, but I would see them countless times regardless. I've mentioned it before, but one of my main memories of that 1978 show was that two nitwits sitting behind me partied a bit too hard before the show and missed it completely, lol. They passed out during the opening act! We basically got to see that live record played in front of us, before others got to hear it on record. It was great. They still are great in concert. Now the boys from Rockford are in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Wild. Happy they are still rocking.
Now a post about something 45 years ago, lol
So my friend Denise Kimberly sent me this picture from the Cheap Trick show at the Metro last night. Glad she and her husband Bart loved it. I've mentioned plenty about my love for that band. Here's a little more about the first time I saw them at North Central College in that tiny gym all the way back on September 13, 1978, 45 frickin years ago! They had already been around a while, opening for Kiss, Queen, Kansas, Rainbow, Aerosmith and many others. This show, in tiny Merner Fieldhouse, was just before they would become huge stars and headline theaters and eventually arenas. One month after the Naperville show, their Live at Budokan album was released in Japan. It was such a hit, it was then released in the U.S. in January of 1979 and they became household names. I Want You To Want Me went to #7 on the charts and the album went to #13, selling over 3 million copies. Never again would I see them from a folding chair, just feet from the stage, but I would see them countless times regardless. I've mentioned it before, but one of my main memories of that 1978 show was that two nitwits sitting behind me partied a bit too hard before the show and missed it completely, lol. They passed out during the opening act! We basically got to see that live record played in front of us, before others got to hear it on record. It was great. They still are great in concert. Now the boys from Rockford are in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Wild. Happy they are still rocking.
7/15/2023
From the NIU Golf Outing in 1988. 35 years ago now. Everything is always 35 years ago, lol. That is from when I was the voice of the NIU Women's basketball team. That Spring they had finished 14-14 but were poised to put it all together the upcoming season and go 23-8 with Dove, Hinchee, Owens, Foss etc. Their string of 6 straight postseason appearances was just around the corner. .
The great Willy Roy is the man in the middle with yours truly on the left. Willy was the Huskies soccer coach. Prior to that, of course, he coached the Chicago Sting to the NASL Championship. Roy's Huskies were Mid-Con Champs in 1990. What people forget is, Roy was an outstanding player for the U.S. National team too. He was the top scorer on the 1970 and 1974 World Cup teams in qualifying matches. He is also a great guy and was a regular guest of mine on my WKKD talk show. That was a fun day on the course and some fun times getting to know a member of the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame. Willy Roy was just one of the great people I got to be around in DeKalb before during and after each basketball season.
From the NIU Golf Outing in 1988. 35 years ago now. Everything is always 35 years ago, lol. That is from when I was the voice of the NIU Women's basketball team. That Spring they had finished 14-14 but were poised to put it all together the upcoming season and go 23-8 with Dove, Hinchee, Owens, Foss etc. Their string of 6 straight postseason appearances was just around the corner. .
The great Willy Roy is the man in the middle with yours truly on the left. Willy was the Huskies soccer coach. Prior to that, of course, he coached the Chicago Sting to the NASL Championship. Roy's Huskies were Mid-Con Champs in 1990. What people forget is, Roy was an outstanding player for the U.S. National team too. He was the top scorer on the 1970 and 1974 World Cup teams in qualifying matches. He is also a great guy and was a regular guest of mine on my WKKD talk show. That was a fun day on the course and some fun times getting to know a member of the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame. Willy Roy was just one of the great people I got to be around in DeKalb before during and after each basketball season.
7/12/2023
This whole Northwestern thing is so sickening. Hubris has absolutely brought Pat Fitzgerald down and his outdated notion that weird, creepy, sexual hazing was no big deal and was also somehow in fact beneficial has earned him his dismissal. Hazing was forbidden at Northwestern but it continued at the football program for decades and his story of not knowing anything about it is nonsense. Besides which, not knowing isn't any better. He did not look out for the well being of his players. And by the way, this hazing was done to freshman. In other words, it was done to 17 and 18 year olds. Yes, 17 YEAR OLDS. Some players were hazed at Camp Kenosha, their preseason summer training camp home. Plenty of young people do not turn 18 until the Summer and Fall of their freshman year in College. That means Felony Sexual Assault of minors likely took place under Pat's watch. So he and his lawyer can jump in the lake. He does not get the luxury of agreeing to his punishment. He is the punished. Period. Northwestern isn't Alabama or Clemson but his latest long term deal meant Pat was definitely big man on campus and the most important guy around. It kind of reminds me of Paterno and Penn State and I saw that up close and personal. Interestingly, my post about Paterno was on my Facebook page 7 years ago today and figured I would post it again here. These coaches cannot be allowed to be bigger than the school President or the entire academic wing of a University. JoePa was not fun to be around. I was glad for his eventual downfall. Here is my earlier post.
I don't think I have talked about Joe Paterno on here yet, so here goes. There is no longer any doubt about his knowledge of the abuse that went on during his watch and he is a guy I never understood. I was only around him for a short time, but I never liked him. All this gives me another reason not to change that opinion. My first full-time radio job was in State College, PA. in the mid 80's. Sports in that town WAS Penn State Football! That's about all it was. It was such a weird place to work for a Chicago kid. Plus, I have always loved baseball and basketball. Those sports were completely ignored in State College. I was THE sports guy at WRSC. I was the morning sports anchor and then covered Penn State sports. My boss told me to cover PSU football and wrestling and that was it. Period. Nothing else mattered. I was told to cover PSU spring football practice every day. So every afternoon I would go to practice and then get my daily Joe Paterno quotes for the next morning's sportscasts. After a while, there was only so much to can ask about the fourth string tight end etc. Being a baseball guy, I decided 'screw this', I am going to cover an actual PSU home baseball game since it was actually 'in season'. It counts, and everything lol. By then I had tons of stored up inane Paterno quotes anyway. After the game, the head baseball coach told me that I was the only media person he had ever talked to the entire season!! That is how insane those people were for their Nittany Lions football. Nothing else existed. Therefore, I made it a habit to cover every other spring sport. Every other coach could not have been nicer and more appreciative. Meanwhile, Paterno was for ever and always a complete ass! He was a God in that place. Full size cardboard cutouts of his ugly mug were in the storefront of almost every building in town. The media never asked him anything but softball questions and treated him with unbelievable deference. Every answer of his came with a snarl, regardless. I was appalled at all this communal ass-kissing. Everywhere he went, every single person threw metaphorical rose petals in front of him as he walked. Yet he was miserable. I never saw him smile and he was never in a good mood. How could that be? If people genuflect for you, treat you with kid gloves and let you do whatever you want and you are not enjoying yourself, then what more do you want? To tell you more about how and why those people just can't seem to let go of their Paterno hero-worship, the spring intrasquad football game was broadcast on regional television and was a sellout of almost 100,000 people! It was a practice game, for goodness sake! Also, every radio station in town broadcasts PSU football. Honest. Every one. You can't be a station in town and be out of the action. That football team was and probably still is their whole lives. I will never understand it. All that weirdness, plus the fact that my boss was a genuine crazy person made me want to come back home. That and I was working seven days a week for 14,000 a year meant it was time to leave. Maybe it was the pressure to win for all those fanatics, but Paterno was a gruff and humorless man. I never did see any pressure applied though with all the fawning that went on. State College is a beautiful town and the locals were very nice to me. They were just PSU football obsessed. The other coaches couldn't have been nicer. I just wasn't going to be another of the Paterno zombies and as every day goes by, I am more and more happy with that decision. By the way, I never had any interaction with Sandusky that I can remember and I am glad I did not.
This whole Northwestern thing is so sickening. Hubris has absolutely brought Pat Fitzgerald down and his outdated notion that weird, creepy, sexual hazing was no big deal and was also somehow in fact beneficial has earned him his dismissal. Hazing was forbidden at Northwestern but it continued at the football program for decades and his story of not knowing anything about it is nonsense. Besides which, not knowing isn't any better. He did not look out for the well being of his players. And by the way, this hazing was done to freshman. In other words, it was done to 17 and 18 year olds. Yes, 17 YEAR OLDS. Some players were hazed at Camp Kenosha, their preseason summer training camp home. Plenty of young people do not turn 18 until the Summer and Fall of their freshman year in College. That means Felony Sexual Assault of minors likely took place under Pat's watch. So he and his lawyer can jump in the lake. He does not get the luxury of agreeing to his punishment. He is the punished. Period. Northwestern isn't Alabama or Clemson but his latest long term deal meant Pat was definitely big man on campus and the most important guy around. It kind of reminds me of Paterno and Penn State and I saw that up close and personal. Interestingly, my post about Paterno was on my Facebook page 7 years ago today and figured I would post it again here. These coaches cannot be allowed to be bigger than the school President or the entire academic wing of a University. JoePa was not fun to be around. I was glad for his eventual downfall. Here is my earlier post.
I don't think I have talked about Joe Paterno on here yet, so here goes. There is no longer any doubt about his knowledge of the abuse that went on during his watch and he is a guy I never understood. I was only around him for a short time, but I never liked him. All this gives me another reason not to change that opinion. My first full-time radio job was in State College, PA. in the mid 80's. Sports in that town WAS Penn State Football! That's about all it was. It was such a weird place to work for a Chicago kid. Plus, I have always loved baseball and basketball. Those sports were completely ignored in State College. I was THE sports guy at WRSC. I was the morning sports anchor and then covered Penn State sports. My boss told me to cover PSU football and wrestling and that was it. Period. Nothing else mattered. I was told to cover PSU spring football practice every day. So every afternoon I would go to practice and then get my daily Joe Paterno quotes for the next morning's sportscasts. After a while, there was only so much to can ask about the fourth string tight end etc. Being a baseball guy, I decided 'screw this', I am going to cover an actual PSU home baseball game since it was actually 'in season'. It counts, and everything lol. By then I had tons of stored up inane Paterno quotes anyway. After the game, the head baseball coach told me that I was the only media person he had ever talked to the entire season!! That is how insane those people were for their Nittany Lions football. Nothing else existed. Therefore, I made it a habit to cover every other spring sport. Every other coach could not have been nicer and more appreciative. Meanwhile, Paterno was for ever and always a complete ass! He was a God in that place. Full size cardboard cutouts of his ugly mug were in the storefront of almost every building in town. The media never asked him anything but softball questions and treated him with unbelievable deference. Every answer of his came with a snarl, regardless. I was appalled at all this communal ass-kissing. Everywhere he went, every single person threw metaphorical rose petals in front of him as he walked. Yet he was miserable. I never saw him smile and he was never in a good mood. How could that be? If people genuflect for you, treat you with kid gloves and let you do whatever you want and you are not enjoying yourself, then what more do you want? To tell you more about how and why those people just can't seem to let go of their Paterno hero-worship, the spring intrasquad football game was broadcast on regional television and was a sellout of almost 100,000 people! It was a practice game, for goodness sake! Also, every radio station in town broadcasts PSU football. Honest. Every one. You can't be a station in town and be out of the action. That football team was and probably still is their whole lives. I will never understand it. All that weirdness, plus the fact that my boss was a genuine crazy person made me want to come back home. That and I was working seven days a week for 14,000 a year meant it was time to leave. Maybe it was the pressure to win for all those fanatics, but Paterno was a gruff and humorless man. I never did see any pressure applied though with all the fawning that went on. State College is a beautiful town and the locals were very nice to me. They were just PSU football obsessed. The other coaches couldn't have been nicer. I just wasn't going to be another of the Paterno zombies and as every day goes by, I am more and more happy with that decision. By the way, I never had any interaction with Sandusky that I can remember and I am glad I did not.
7/7/2023
I posted this a couple years ago and figured I would do so again today, as it occurs to me that this show was 35 years ago now. Wild. If memory serves, we did this show from 1988 thru 1990. I do remember really enjoying it though, and considering we all did it for free, we better have, lol. It was sort of our take on the "The Sportswriters on TV" that was on SportsVision and Channel 32 back in the '80's with Rick Telander, Bill Jauss, Bill Gleason and Ben Bentley. We talked Aurora and Naperville sports instead of Chicago sports but the idea was the same, just without all the cigar smoking, lol. It is so sad that great people like Jeff Long and Dick Kerner are no longer with us but it's nice to see them here. My winter beard is all grey and white now but at least I still have hair on top and that some is still dark, lol.
One more thing about this story. This show was also shown on an Aurora public access channel and that was at the same time as Wayne's World was a big deal. That skit and movie was about guys hosting a show on Aurora public access, of course. So all my buddies were calling my show 'Marko's World" lol.
I really did enjoy my time working in Aurora and Naperville and will always miss it. Here's the link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QF_rjEyRoI
I posted this a couple years ago and figured I would do so again today, as it occurs to me that this show was 35 years ago now. Wild. If memory serves, we did this show from 1988 thru 1990. I do remember really enjoying it though, and considering we all did it for free, we better have, lol. It was sort of our take on the "The Sportswriters on TV" that was on SportsVision and Channel 32 back in the '80's with Rick Telander, Bill Jauss, Bill Gleason and Ben Bentley. We talked Aurora and Naperville sports instead of Chicago sports but the idea was the same, just without all the cigar smoking, lol. It is so sad that great people like Jeff Long and Dick Kerner are no longer with us but it's nice to see them here. My winter beard is all grey and white now but at least I still have hair on top and that some is still dark, lol.
One more thing about this story. This show was also shown on an Aurora public access channel and that was at the same time as Wayne's World was a big deal. That skit and movie was about guys hosting a show on Aurora public access, of course. So all my buddies were calling my show 'Marko's World" lol.
I really did enjoy my time working in Aurora and Naperville and will always miss it. Here's the link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QF_rjEyRoI
7/6/2023
I suppose this post is a few months late but it occurs to me that this year marks the 35th anniversary of the 1988 IHSA Girls AA Basketball Tourney at the University of Illinois. I was lucky enough to have been there and called the games for WKKD in Aurora. We went down to broadcast all four weekends each year, regardless if a local team was involved or not. That tourney was memorable for both the semifinal and final, as Maine West capped a perfect 35-0 season by defeating Elmhurst York 46-37. But to get there they had to first play Chicago Marshall in the semi. Maine West was ranked #2 in the Nation at the time, while Marshall was ranked #3 in the Country and also undefeated at 28-0. That game might be the best game ever played in AA girls IHSA history. Thanks to a late comeback and a Moira Kennelly buzzer-beater while falling out of bounds, Maine West survived to top Marshall 52-51 to set up the Title matchup with York. Kim Johnson's layup with 8 seconds remaining had given Marshall back their one point lead until the game ending heroics. Marshall, as talented as they were, had to earn their spot in Champaign by getting by Yolanda Griffith and Carver in the Public League. Griffith, who turned into one of the best pro players in U.S. history, averaged 35 points per game with Carver but could not get by Marshall. Moira's sister Nancy earned Miss Basketball honors that season and 7 players total from that Maine West team earned D-1 scholarships. Derril Kip's Warriors teams would win a State record 65 straight games with the help of the Kennelly sisters who both went on to star at Northwestern. Marshall would go on to win the next two State Titles under the legendary Dorothy Gators and Marshall would get revenge over Maine West by defeating them in the 1993 State Championship game 44-41. Marshall's Latonia Foster would take home Miss Basketball to add to her Title in 1989. Good times for a young basketball broadcaster to be sure, since I was there for all those games as well. btw, the picture is the Kennelly sisters celebrating their Title.
I suppose this post is a few months late but it occurs to me that this year marks the 35th anniversary of the 1988 IHSA Girls AA Basketball Tourney at the University of Illinois. I was lucky enough to have been there and called the games for WKKD in Aurora. We went down to broadcast all four weekends each year, regardless if a local team was involved or not. That tourney was memorable for both the semifinal and final, as Maine West capped a perfect 35-0 season by defeating Elmhurst York 46-37. But to get there they had to first play Chicago Marshall in the semi. Maine West was ranked #2 in the Nation at the time, while Marshall was ranked #3 in the Country and also undefeated at 28-0. That game might be the best game ever played in AA girls IHSA history. Thanks to a late comeback and a Moira Kennelly buzzer-beater while falling out of bounds, Maine West survived to top Marshall 52-51 to set up the Title matchup with York. Kim Johnson's layup with 8 seconds remaining had given Marshall back their one point lead until the game ending heroics. Marshall, as talented as they were, had to earn their spot in Champaign by getting by Yolanda Griffith and Carver in the Public League. Griffith, who turned into one of the best pro players in U.S. history, averaged 35 points per game with Carver but could not get by Marshall. Moira's sister Nancy earned Miss Basketball honors that season and 7 players total from that Maine West team earned D-1 scholarships. Derril Kip's Warriors teams would win a State record 65 straight games with the help of the Kennelly sisters who both went on to star at Northwestern. Marshall would go on to win the next two State Titles under the legendary Dorothy Gators and Marshall would get revenge over Maine West by defeating them in the 1993 State Championship game 44-41. Marshall's Latonia Foster would take home Miss Basketball to add to her Title in 1989. Good times for a young basketball broadcaster to be sure, since I was there for all those games as well. btw, the picture is the Kennelly sisters celebrating their Title.
7/4/2023
The 4th of July has meant Cheap Trick a few times over the years, if I wasn't working. I've mentioned the 1979 show before but I saw them on July 4 when I was 18 years old at the Winnebago County Fairgrounds in Pecatonica with AC/DC, Molly Hatchet, the Babys and Steve Dahl & Teenage Radiation. Steve played in place of the Climax Blues Band who were on the poster but did not play the show. I saw them at the Taste of Chicago at the Petrillo Band Shell in 1999. Then two years ago on July 4, Chris and I drove up to Loves Park and saw Cheap Trick play with Off Broadway at the Rockford Rivets stadium. Chris, of course, had to work and we actually missed Off Broadway but I have seen them at least 20 times, so I got over it, lol. She's working today too, btw. I want us both to be retired so much. It's time we enjoyed life a bit more. We've work enough. It is weird that I'm not at a Minor League baseball game or working at a radio station or seeing Cheap Trick. That is what the 4th has usually meant over the years. 9 years ago, I took that picture from the radio booth during batting practice for their July 4 matchup. I am not at a ballpark today but at least I am watching the Tour de France on TV and just got back from a run at the lakefront. I'll take that for today. |
7/2/2023
Crazy to think that was 30 years ago now. Loved that team. Also love that the WKKD banner is in the background under our radio booth. This team and pic of the 1993 Kane County Cougars features catcher Mike Redmond in the top left. He went on to play for the World Series champion 2003 Marlins and eventually became their manager. 16 year old shortstop Edgar Renteria is right next to him. Pitcher Hector Carrasco is in the middle of the top row. Carlos Tosca was the manager in '93 and is on the far left of the middle row. He eventually became manager of the Blue Jays. Former White Sox catcher Charles Johnson is third from the right in the middle row. I was in the booth for the Cougars from '92 through '96, so this was my second KC team. Dave Wills and I got to broadcast that year's Midwest League All-Star Game as we hosted it at Elfstrom Stadium. Of all those guys I mentioned above who made the Majors, I think Chris Sheff and Rey Mendoza were our only All-Stars that summer.
Crazy to think that was 30 years ago now. Loved that team. Also love that the WKKD banner is in the background under our radio booth. This team and pic of the 1993 Kane County Cougars features catcher Mike Redmond in the top left. He went on to play for the World Series champion 2003 Marlins and eventually became their manager. 16 year old shortstop Edgar Renteria is right next to him. Pitcher Hector Carrasco is in the middle of the top row. Carlos Tosca was the manager in '93 and is on the far left of the middle row. He eventually became manager of the Blue Jays. Former White Sox catcher Charles Johnson is third from the right in the middle row. I was in the booth for the Cougars from '92 through '96, so this was my second KC team. Dave Wills and I got to broadcast that year's Midwest League All-Star Game as we hosted it at Elfstrom Stadium. Of all those guys I mentioned above who made the Majors, I think Chris Sheff and Rey Mendoza were our only All-Stars that summer.
6/23/2023
I wrote about the Ryne Sandberg game four years ago. Today marks the 39th anniversary. It takes on a bit more significance now that my Dad is gone as it occurs to me that day was also the last time my Dad, brother and I went to a Cub game together. Not long after that, Michael moved to Arizona and he has lived there ever since. My Dad and I continued to go to games but that was the last time, of the dozens of times, the Vasko boys all went together to Wrigley. It was also one of my most memorable times there, of course. Only two others really stick out from the pack. The three of us were there the day Billy Williams went 8 for 8 with a sacrifice fly in 1972 vs. the Astros and then Dad and I were there in April of 1993 when Jose Guzman took a perfect game into the 8th and then a no-hitter into the 9th inning, only to allow a two-out single to the Braves' Otis Nixon to settle for a one-hitter. I was there in 1998 as a reporter all season for the Sosa-McGwire home run chase, as well as many other memorable days like the game Greg Maddux shut down the Cubs on just 78 pitches in 1997 and the 1984 NLCS, but I'm talking about memorable games as a fan. Here is my story from four years ago about the Sandberg/mustard game.
This is the 35th anniversary of the Sandberg game. I've mentioned it before, but I was there with my Dad and brother. It was my brother's bachelor party. We went with a few of his friends to the game that day and sat way up in the second to last row in the first base side upper deck, surrounded by Cardinals fans. We had a blast during that wild game and had some great good-natured back and forth with those Cards fans. Until it became known as the Sandberg game, we called it the mustard game, lol. After Ryno's first homer, my Dad jumped up and when he sat down, he plopped down on a mustard packet, spraying it on the people behind us in the back row, lol. Ryno drove in an early run but it was 7-1 St. Louis. His rbi grounder and a double from Gary Matthews made it 7-3. It moved to 9-3 until a Richie Hebner single and a Bob Dernier 2-run double made it 9-6. Sandberg added a 2-run single to make it 9-8, so he already had a great day at that point. With the incredible Bruce Sutter on the mound in the 9th, Ryno led off with a game-tying homer, cuing the mustard! St. Louis tallied twice more in the top of the 10th and Sutter had another chance to nail down the save. Dernier coaxed a 2-out walk and Sandberg made it 2 homers and 7 rbi's with another game tying home run! We went berserk after baiting the surrounding fans that he would do it again. We knew he surely wouldn't, so when he actually did, we were as shocked as the Cardinals fans nearby as the whole place went crazy. Davey Owen then capped that wild day with a game-winning pinch single and the whole nation now knew Sandberg was on his way to MVP, thanks to the NBC Game of the Week. It obviously made for a memorable day out for the Vasko boys. This is back when Cubs and Cardinal fans got along very well. It was always a very friendly rivalry until Tony LaRussa came along and ruined it for everyone. His arrogance permeated the franchise and the fandom and soon all that good will went away and never really has returned. Fans would always greet each other warmly entering Wrigley and we would talk good naturedly during each game. Sadly, that disappeared. I hope it comes back some day soon.
I wrote about the Ryne Sandberg game four years ago. Today marks the 39th anniversary. It takes on a bit more significance now that my Dad is gone as it occurs to me that day was also the last time my Dad, brother and I went to a Cub game together. Not long after that, Michael moved to Arizona and he has lived there ever since. My Dad and I continued to go to games but that was the last time, of the dozens of times, the Vasko boys all went together to Wrigley. It was also one of my most memorable times there, of course. Only two others really stick out from the pack. The three of us were there the day Billy Williams went 8 for 8 with a sacrifice fly in 1972 vs. the Astros and then Dad and I were there in April of 1993 when Jose Guzman took a perfect game into the 8th and then a no-hitter into the 9th inning, only to allow a two-out single to the Braves' Otis Nixon to settle for a one-hitter. I was there in 1998 as a reporter all season for the Sosa-McGwire home run chase, as well as many other memorable days like the game Greg Maddux shut down the Cubs on just 78 pitches in 1997 and the 1984 NLCS, but I'm talking about memorable games as a fan. Here is my story from four years ago about the Sandberg/mustard game.
This is the 35th anniversary of the Sandberg game. I've mentioned it before, but I was there with my Dad and brother. It was my brother's bachelor party. We went with a few of his friends to the game that day and sat way up in the second to last row in the first base side upper deck, surrounded by Cardinals fans. We had a blast during that wild game and had some great good-natured back and forth with those Cards fans. Until it became known as the Sandberg game, we called it the mustard game, lol. After Ryno's first homer, my Dad jumped up and when he sat down, he plopped down on a mustard packet, spraying it on the people behind us in the back row, lol. Ryno drove in an early run but it was 7-1 St. Louis. His rbi grounder and a double from Gary Matthews made it 7-3. It moved to 9-3 until a Richie Hebner single and a Bob Dernier 2-run double made it 9-6. Sandberg added a 2-run single to make it 9-8, so he already had a great day at that point. With the incredible Bruce Sutter on the mound in the 9th, Ryno led off with a game-tying homer, cuing the mustard! St. Louis tallied twice more in the top of the 10th and Sutter had another chance to nail down the save. Dernier coaxed a 2-out walk and Sandberg made it 2 homers and 7 rbi's with another game tying home run! We went berserk after baiting the surrounding fans that he would do it again. We knew he surely wouldn't, so when he actually did, we were as shocked as the Cardinals fans nearby as the whole place went crazy. Davey Owen then capped that wild day with a game-winning pinch single and the whole nation now knew Sandberg was on his way to MVP, thanks to the NBC Game of the Week. It obviously made for a memorable day out for the Vasko boys. This is back when Cubs and Cardinal fans got along very well. It was always a very friendly rivalry until Tony LaRussa came along and ruined it for everyone. His arrogance permeated the franchise and the fandom and soon all that good will went away and never really has returned. Fans would always greet each other warmly entering Wrigley and we would talk good naturedly during each game. Sadly, that disappeared. I hope it comes back some day soon.
6/12/2023
Crazy how time flies. 25 years since the Bulls Championship run ended with their Last Dance. So glad I got to be there. This is the story I wrote 2 years ago about Game 5 that took place on this date in 1998. (the picture is my press pass from Game 4. I don't know what happened to my press pass from Game 5. I tried to keep everything, lol. And yes they misspelled my name. I had only been there all postseason long, plus plenty of that regular season and previous seasons but people can't help themselves! I blame Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese explorer. He was the only other Vasco I had ever heard about while growing up. I assume the same for others. I swear, most of my press passes were spelled that way, even if I sent in the correct spelling or gave it to them over the phone.)
Today is the anniversary of Game 5 of the 1998 NBA Finals. I got to cover that entire great final playoff run of the Jordan-era Bulls for 1 on 1 Sports Radio. I was hoping I would get to see my team win that 6th Championship in person and be part of that crazy locker room celebration. Game 4 was tremendous, and as I've said before, I got to even do live national radio updates during that game. No live updates for Game 5 but I was looking forward to champagne on my head when it was over. Karl Malone decided that wasn't going to happen. It was one helluva game and Utah stayed alive with an 83-81 win, denying me my celebration. That would take place after game 6 in Salt Lake City. Malone finished with 39 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. John Stockton fed him the ball and finished with 12 assists. Antoine Carr's 12 points off the bench had him as their only other double digit scorer in that game. On the Bulls side, it was Toni Kukoc who was the story. I've said many times how Toni is one of my all-time favorite Bulls and am thrilled he is now going into the Basketball Hall of Fame. My last game covering the Last Dance, since I didn't travel for Game 6, was the Toni show. Kukoc led the Bulls that night with 30 points! He was magnificent. It just gets sadly forgotten in a losing effort and I am posting here to make sure he gets his due. Jordan finished with 28 that night. Pippen had a rotten shooting effort, hitting just 2 of 16 from the floor, so Toni picked up the slack and did he ever. He hit 4 of 6 three's and hit all 7 of his shots inside the 3-point line, so was 11 of 13 on the night. Even MJ didn't shoot all that well, 9 of 26, so it was Kukoc who really almost got them the Championship in front of the home crowd that night. Scottie finished with only 6 points and no one else did much else and they still almost won thanks to Kukoc. Rodman had a rare rough night as well, since Karl dominated and Dennis only grabbed 3 rebounds in his 24 minutes, fouling Malone 5 times in attempts to slow him down. In fairness to Pippen, he did play tremendous defense that night and did everything else but score, finishing with 11 assists, 11 rebounds and 3 steals. He just could not put the ball in the basket that night. It was a wild finish. The Bulls were down by 4 and Toni came through yet again that game and hit a 3-pointer with 5 seconds remaining to make it 82-81. Jeff Hornacek was fouled with just one second left and missed the first free throw. He hit the second, so the Bulls were down 83-81 with just one second remaining. The teams traded timeouts. MJ got the inbounds pass and missed his 26-foot 3-point attempt at the buzzer. Maybe the ball should have gone to Kukoc that night, but obviously that wasn't going to happen. My time with that team came to an end but it was one fun ride. Covering that 6th Bulls Championship team is one of the favorite things of my career and watching Toni have maybe the best game of his time as a Bull in the Finals spotlight made game 5 even better for me and a great way to go out, even if it didn't end with my clothes soaked in beer and champagne. (btw, MJ dominated with 45 points in the clinching game 6 in Utah and Kukoc was the second-leading scorer with 15)
Crazy how time flies. 25 years since the Bulls Championship run ended with their Last Dance. So glad I got to be there. This is the story I wrote 2 years ago about Game 5 that took place on this date in 1998. (the picture is my press pass from Game 4. I don't know what happened to my press pass from Game 5. I tried to keep everything, lol. And yes they misspelled my name. I had only been there all postseason long, plus plenty of that regular season and previous seasons but people can't help themselves! I blame Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese explorer. He was the only other Vasco I had ever heard about while growing up. I assume the same for others. I swear, most of my press passes were spelled that way, even if I sent in the correct spelling or gave it to them over the phone.)
Today is the anniversary of Game 5 of the 1998 NBA Finals. I got to cover that entire great final playoff run of the Jordan-era Bulls for 1 on 1 Sports Radio. I was hoping I would get to see my team win that 6th Championship in person and be part of that crazy locker room celebration. Game 4 was tremendous, and as I've said before, I got to even do live national radio updates during that game. No live updates for Game 5 but I was looking forward to champagne on my head when it was over. Karl Malone decided that wasn't going to happen. It was one helluva game and Utah stayed alive with an 83-81 win, denying me my celebration. That would take place after game 6 in Salt Lake City. Malone finished with 39 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. John Stockton fed him the ball and finished with 12 assists. Antoine Carr's 12 points off the bench had him as their only other double digit scorer in that game. On the Bulls side, it was Toni Kukoc who was the story. I've said many times how Toni is one of my all-time favorite Bulls and am thrilled he is now going into the Basketball Hall of Fame. My last game covering the Last Dance, since I didn't travel for Game 6, was the Toni show. Kukoc led the Bulls that night with 30 points! He was magnificent. It just gets sadly forgotten in a losing effort and I am posting here to make sure he gets his due. Jordan finished with 28 that night. Pippen had a rotten shooting effort, hitting just 2 of 16 from the floor, so Toni picked up the slack and did he ever. He hit 4 of 6 three's and hit all 7 of his shots inside the 3-point line, so was 11 of 13 on the night. Even MJ didn't shoot all that well, 9 of 26, so it was Kukoc who really almost got them the Championship in front of the home crowd that night. Scottie finished with only 6 points and no one else did much else and they still almost won thanks to Kukoc. Rodman had a rare rough night as well, since Karl dominated and Dennis only grabbed 3 rebounds in his 24 minutes, fouling Malone 5 times in attempts to slow him down. In fairness to Pippen, he did play tremendous defense that night and did everything else but score, finishing with 11 assists, 11 rebounds and 3 steals. He just could not put the ball in the basket that night. It was a wild finish. The Bulls were down by 4 and Toni came through yet again that game and hit a 3-pointer with 5 seconds remaining to make it 82-81. Jeff Hornacek was fouled with just one second left and missed the first free throw. He hit the second, so the Bulls were down 83-81 with just one second remaining. The teams traded timeouts. MJ got the inbounds pass and missed his 26-foot 3-point attempt at the buzzer. Maybe the ball should have gone to Kukoc that night, but obviously that wasn't going to happen. My time with that team came to an end but it was one fun ride. Covering that 6th Bulls Championship team is one of the favorite things of my career and watching Toni have maybe the best game of his time as a Bull in the Finals spotlight made game 5 even better for me and a great way to go out, even if it didn't end with my clothes soaked in beer and champagne. (btw, MJ dominated with 45 points in the clinching game 6 in Utah and Kukoc was the second-leading scorer with 15)
6/9/2023
I have never really told the story about my time at SIU studying broadcasting but the recent news of the retirement of Mike Reis reminds me it is time. I've mentioned a few things here and there but this is my complete recollection. Reis has been the long-time voice of the Salukis. He just completed his 44th season broadcasting SIU football, basketball and baseball. I just completed 41 years of play-by-play myself. He had only been on the job a few seasons then, when I would share press boxes in Carbondale with him while I was at WIDB. I did SIU games for that student station my Junior and Senior years, serving as the station's Sports Director as a Senior. His time as the voice of football and basketball will of course get more publicity now with career retrospectives but his work at Abe Martin Field is what will stick with me most. I was literally put at a card table outside the press box for football and sat nowhere near him for basketball games, but I was just feet from him in the tiny baseball press box for those games. That was the sport where I got to see him in action as I went about my business doing the same games. I learned by osmosis about how to carry myself and by watching him ply his trade. I also would sneak looks at his scorebook and equipment setup etc. I could also hear his call as I did mine. I learned from the best. He never knew it until I just told him on Twitter, but he was my best professor at SIU.
I first shared that baseball press box with him as a Sophomore. I took the unpaid job as public address announcer for that season. I wanted to get my feet wet in my chosen profession and that was my first time sharing the booth with him. I got to see how a baseball press box was run and I got to start living out my dream of spending the spring at baseball games one way or the other. My deep voice and my willingness to show up for free probably got me the job. I just walked up to Coach Itchy Jones one day during pre-season practice and asked if I could have the job. He said sure. He had enough to worry about, lol. I wasn't great those first few games and made numerous mistakes until I got the hang of it. (I was pretty nervous to start!) Meanwhile, Mike was already so good at his job. Again, even before I got the opportunity at WIDB, also probably because of my voice and willingness to do whatever the station needed whenever they needed it, I got to see Mike in action. He became my role model without even knowing it.
Back in the '80's, the job of sportscaster got no respect whatsoever. It was considered the toy department of broadcasting. (A perfect example is the 1989 World Series earthquake. I'll never forget the national surprise at how well Al Michaels handled the live updates throughout the coverage from the stadium. It was so condescending. Gee, a sports guy was outstanding as it turned into a news story. No kidding!) I knew I didn't want to be a DJ or a newsman for a living. I, of course, would end up being both, lol, but that's another story. I wanted to be a sportscaster. I remember my communications classes being all geared to crank out newscasters. You would have assignments of writing and recording news stories, for instance. I told my professor that I didn't want to write news stories, I wanted to write sports stories. After an initial protest, he relented but I could tell he lost all respect for me, lol. Oh well. I was not to be deterred. But that also meant that I knew experience was going to be my best teacher because my actual teachers were not interested in frivolous sports nonsense. It wasn't nonsense to me, so I went to WIDB and thankfully got accepted there. I did everything you could do there. I was an overnight DJ, did sportscasts and I was the one who established the first-ever sports talk show at WIDB. I don't think anybody else knows that but it's true. I've also mentioned before that Bob Odenkirk and I did the first ever sketch comedy show there as well. Gee, whatever happened to him? lol. I wanted to try anything and everything. No teachers were going to help me so I helped myself. Another big day was when Chet Coppock came to town. Again, I didn't really get any guidance. Chet, already a big name in Chicago sportscasting, came to WIDB and had a talk with the staff. He said that you read the news but you talk sports. I have never forgotten that sentence. It was true. Newscasts could sound formal and sound like you were reading the words off the page. Sportscasts had to sound like you were telling your friend what was going on with the the Cubs and Sox today. That was vital to me. I learned to basically just talk my sportscasts from that day on. I would just write down basic information and then would improvise the sportscast live on the air. I would just update the scores and bullet points etc. each time and talk my sportscast through. Even the ones I would tape for later broadcast would be done without reading a script. I never wrote a full script from that day on. I think it made all the difference and I think that helped me get the jobs I would eventually get, all the way up to doing sportscasts on National Radio. I even got to eventually work with Chet at Sporting News Radio. My ten thousand hours were underway.
Another important person to me early on was Scott Kains. He was a classmate and friend who was also a go-getter like myself. He called the radio station in neighboring Murphysboro and asked if they needed anyone to broadcast their local high school games. They said yes, mainly because college kids worked cheap! Scott asked if I wanted to be his color commentator and off we went, each making ten dollars per football and basketball game! Hey, that was big bucks for me back then! So technically WINI in Murphysboro was where my professional radio and play-by-play career started while still in school. Scott helped me get my resume going. I will be forever grateful. The beauty of WIDB was there was no pressure from the outside. It was all self imposed pressure to get better. It was a student station. It was okay to not be perfect. You also got to do everything, so I got to see all sides of sportscasting. I got to interview the Athletic Director, who happened to be former Bears great Gale Sayers. I got to interview the coaches and players and get experience as a reporter too, not just play-by-play man and talk show host. Those talk shows were cool too, just getting a feel for the format and learning to talk off the cuff to fill the time necessary. I was having a blast. I learned I really did love being a sportscaster. That was the most important thing, really. I learned it was absolutely what I wanted to do. I dreamed of being a baseball announcer from the time I was eight years old. Yes, sure, I also wanted to play first base in the Majors first, but I also knew I wanted to broadcast the games. Jack Brickhouse was my idol. I loved Vince Lloyd and Lloyd Pettit but Jack was my guy. I got to have him on the air as a guest while I was doing a Kane County Cougars game against the Rockford Cubbies in 1995. It was a thrill. I never got the thrill of making it to the Majors myself but I made a career out of my passion and spent 14 years in pro ball regardless. By the way, this is my story so please allow me to brag a bit here. I didn't make it to the Big Leagues but I had several people I respected who told me I should have made it. One of the main owners of the Joliet JackHammers came up to me one day in the press box and asked me flat out "What are you doing here?" I asked him what he meant. His reply was "You have no business being in this league. You belong in the Majors." Not bad when you get that from your boss! Also, Bill Melton told me the same thing when he was my color guy with the Cougars. He told me I was the best play-by-play man he had ever worked with and that I should be in the Majors right damn now. Bill could not have been nicer and that compliment warms me to this day. He would know.
My rocky but fun road behind the mic was off and running at Southern Illinois University in the early '80's and Mike Reis was one of the main reasons my resume filled in the way it did. Thanks Mike and thanks to one and all for a helluva ride.
I have never really told the story about my time at SIU studying broadcasting but the recent news of the retirement of Mike Reis reminds me it is time. I've mentioned a few things here and there but this is my complete recollection. Reis has been the long-time voice of the Salukis. He just completed his 44th season broadcasting SIU football, basketball and baseball. I just completed 41 years of play-by-play myself. He had only been on the job a few seasons then, when I would share press boxes in Carbondale with him while I was at WIDB. I did SIU games for that student station my Junior and Senior years, serving as the station's Sports Director as a Senior. His time as the voice of football and basketball will of course get more publicity now with career retrospectives but his work at Abe Martin Field is what will stick with me most. I was literally put at a card table outside the press box for football and sat nowhere near him for basketball games, but I was just feet from him in the tiny baseball press box for those games. That was the sport where I got to see him in action as I went about my business doing the same games. I learned by osmosis about how to carry myself and by watching him ply his trade. I also would sneak looks at his scorebook and equipment setup etc. I could also hear his call as I did mine. I learned from the best. He never knew it until I just told him on Twitter, but he was my best professor at SIU.
I first shared that baseball press box with him as a Sophomore. I took the unpaid job as public address announcer for that season. I wanted to get my feet wet in my chosen profession and that was my first time sharing the booth with him. I got to see how a baseball press box was run and I got to start living out my dream of spending the spring at baseball games one way or the other. My deep voice and my willingness to show up for free probably got me the job. I just walked up to Coach Itchy Jones one day during pre-season practice and asked if I could have the job. He said sure. He had enough to worry about, lol. I wasn't great those first few games and made numerous mistakes until I got the hang of it. (I was pretty nervous to start!) Meanwhile, Mike was already so good at his job. Again, even before I got the opportunity at WIDB, also probably because of my voice and willingness to do whatever the station needed whenever they needed it, I got to see Mike in action. He became my role model without even knowing it.
Back in the '80's, the job of sportscaster got no respect whatsoever. It was considered the toy department of broadcasting. (A perfect example is the 1989 World Series earthquake. I'll never forget the national surprise at how well Al Michaels handled the live updates throughout the coverage from the stadium. It was so condescending. Gee, a sports guy was outstanding as it turned into a news story. No kidding!) I knew I didn't want to be a DJ or a newsman for a living. I, of course, would end up being both, lol, but that's another story. I wanted to be a sportscaster. I remember my communications classes being all geared to crank out newscasters. You would have assignments of writing and recording news stories, for instance. I told my professor that I didn't want to write news stories, I wanted to write sports stories. After an initial protest, he relented but I could tell he lost all respect for me, lol. Oh well. I was not to be deterred. But that also meant that I knew experience was going to be my best teacher because my actual teachers were not interested in frivolous sports nonsense. It wasn't nonsense to me, so I went to WIDB and thankfully got accepted there. I did everything you could do there. I was an overnight DJ, did sportscasts and I was the one who established the first-ever sports talk show at WIDB. I don't think anybody else knows that but it's true. I've also mentioned before that Bob Odenkirk and I did the first ever sketch comedy show there as well. Gee, whatever happened to him? lol. I wanted to try anything and everything. No teachers were going to help me so I helped myself. Another big day was when Chet Coppock came to town. Again, I didn't really get any guidance. Chet, already a big name in Chicago sportscasting, came to WIDB and had a talk with the staff. He said that you read the news but you talk sports. I have never forgotten that sentence. It was true. Newscasts could sound formal and sound like you were reading the words off the page. Sportscasts had to sound like you were telling your friend what was going on with the the Cubs and Sox today. That was vital to me. I learned to basically just talk my sportscasts from that day on. I would just write down basic information and then would improvise the sportscast live on the air. I would just update the scores and bullet points etc. each time and talk my sportscast through. Even the ones I would tape for later broadcast would be done without reading a script. I never wrote a full script from that day on. I think it made all the difference and I think that helped me get the jobs I would eventually get, all the way up to doing sportscasts on National Radio. I even got to eventually work with Chet at Sporting News Radio. My ten thousand hours were underway.
Another important person to me early on was Scott Kains. He was a classmate and friend who was also a go-getter like myself. He called the radio station in neighboring Murphysboro and asked if they needed anyone to broadcast their local high school games. They said yes, mainly because college kids worked cheap! Scott asked if I wanted to be his color commentator and off we went, each making ten dollars per football and basketball game! Hey, that was big bucks for me back then! So technically WINI in Murphysboro was where my professional radio and play-by-play career started while still in school. Scott helped me get my resume going. I will be forever grateful. The beauty of WIDB was there was no pressure from the outside. It was all self imposed pressure to get better. It was a student station. It was okay to not be perfect. You also got to do everything, so I got to see all sides of sportscasting. I got to interview the Athletic Director, who happened to be former Bears great Gale Sayers. I got to interview the coaches and players and get experience as a reporter too, not just play-by-play man and talk show host. Those talk shows were cool too, just getting a feel for the format and learning to talk off the cuff to fill the time necessary. I was having a blast. I learned I really did love being a sportscaster. That was the most important thing, really. I learned it was absolutely what I wanted to do. I dreamed of being a baseball announcer from the time I was eight years old. Yes, sure, I also wanted to play first base in the Majors first, but I also knew I wanted to broadcast the games. Jack Brickhouse was my idol. I loved Vince Lloyd and Lloyd Pettit but Jack was my guy. I got to have him on the air as a guest while I was doing a Kane County Cougars game against the Rockford Cubbies in 1995. It was a thrill. I never got the thrill of making it to the Majors myself but I made a career out of my passion and spent 14 years in pro ball regardless. By the way, this is my story so please allow me to brag a bit here. I didn't make it to the Big Leagues but I had several people I respected who told me I should have made it. One of the main owners of the Joliet JackHammers came up to me one day in the press box and asked me flat out "What are you doing here?" I asked him what he meant. His reply was "You have no business being in this league. You belong in the Majors." Not bad when you get that from your boss! Also, Bill Melton told me the same thing when he was my color guy with the Cougars. He told me I was the best play-by-play man he had ever worked with and that I should be in the Majors right damn now. Bill could not have been nicer and that compliment warms me to this day. He would know.
My rocky but fun road behind the mic was off and running at Southern Illinois University in the early '80's and Mike Reis was one of the main reasons my resume filled in the way it did. Thanks Mike and thanks to one and all for a helluva ride.
6/6/2023
This is my yearly anniversary recap of the longest day of my professional baseball career. Sometimes I do this on the 5th and today I am doing on the 6th. This doubleheader ended at 1:07am on the 6th and then I had to write the game story on the bus ride back to Joliet. Each time I add a few more details that I come across. There are a few memorable days of baseball play-by-play that I will post about every year on it's anniversary. This is one of them. Jason Guerette and I each post about this one thanks to our shared experience of broadcasting each side of the longest broadcast day of our careers. I was downstate in Marion for the doubleheader between the Joliet Slammers and the Southern Illinois Miners. I ended up doing 24 innings-worth of solo play-by-play that day. Yes, that is a personal record and a league record for innings in one day as well! Memorable doesn't even describe it. Game one was a 7-inning no-hitter by the Miners' Rick Teasley. He needed just 82 pitches. Joliet never even so much as threatened to get a hit and we lost 2-0. It was Teasley's third start of the season and his ERA went down to 0.33 for goodness sake! He struck out two and walked two. It was the 400th win in franchise history and is was their 7th straight victory. Then on to game two. The Miners scored first and Joliet tied it up on a Russell Moldenhauer single in the 6th. That 1-1 tie stayed what seemed like forever. 11 different times a lead runner got to 2nd base but no one could knock him in to give either team a lead. In the bottom of the 17th inning of the nightcap...and yes my voice was struggling by then...the Miners had the bases loaded on three walks and Tyler Booth looped a single over the pulled-in infield to end one of the longest days in Frontier League history. There were 28 hits combined in the nightcap and that game saw 14 pitchers take the mound. Game 2 went 5 hours, 13 minutes...well past midnight...1:07am to be exact...and I could finally say goodnight. Our reward for being no-hit and swept in a long, long doubleheader was not even a good night's sleep. It was back on the bus and out of town. Ahh, the pampered life in the minors, lol. I did an 18-inning game with the JackHammers back in the day, but it was not part of a doubleheader and Bryan Dolgin was there to do it with me at Silver Cross Field. This was 24 innings all by my lonesome. It was exhausting but fun. The only other thing that even comes close in my memory was a Men's Major Fastpitch game I called for Aurora Allsteel in the ISC World Tournament in Kimberly, Wisconsin in 1989 when the game itself didn't even start until after 2am due to long games before it. I signed off as the sun came up! That was another day where Mountain Dew sustained me! Next..... I found the game story I wrote and sent in once that doubleheader was over. I finished it on the bus as we came straight home to start a six-game homestand. |
6/6/2023
Obviously, we are all proud of Max Strus starting for the Heat in the NBA Finals and after he played well Sunday in the Miami win over the Nuggets, I wanted to be reminded of his time with the Flyers. I posted this video online on my YouTube page a few years ago. If you want to see Max in action back in the day in Romeoville, here you go. And by the way, he was part of an excellent team that season that finished 24-9 and won the Conference Tournament Championship. They fell to 25th ranked Saginaw Valley in the NCAA Tourney but were a very young team. The future was bright with almost everyone returning. I am convinced the Flyers would have won the NCAA Title the following season, but Max decided to play for DePaul instead. It was tough to lose him but we were all happy he then moved onward and upward.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8zSMm2HPDU
5/31/2023
I haven't posted in a while because Weebly was taken over by Squarespace and for whatever reason I haven't had access back here until just now. I hope that continues but we'll see.
Pretty amazing that Max Strus will be in the starting lineup tomorrow night for the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. So happy for him and still pretty knocked out that a guy I announced for at D2 Lewis U. has done all that he has done with his career. I think we all knew we had something pretty special with Max, but I'm not sure any of us in our wildest dreams would have predicted this. Both Max and his older brother Marty had great careers with the Flyers and could not have been nicer people. I am lucky to have been there for it. Go get that ring my friend!
I haven't posted in a while because Weebly was taken over by Squarespace and for whatever reason I haven't had access back here until just now. I hope that continues but we'll see.
Pretty amazing that Max Strus will be in the starting lineup tomorrow night for the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. So happy for him and still pretty knocked out that a guy I announced for at D2 Lewis U. has done all that he has done with his career. I think we all knew we had something pretty special with Max, but I'm not sure any of us in our wildest dreams would have predicted this. Both Max and his older brother Marty had great careers with the Flyers and could not have been nicer people. I am lucky to have been there for it. Go get that ring my friend!
5/6/2023
Facebook history says 10 years ago today, Dad and I went to see a Kane County Cougars game, the last baseball game we were able to see at a ballpark together. I've been thinking about him as my birthday comes up next week. Still pretty amazing we got to do that one, considering he was almost 88 at the time. Even more amazing, he made it 96 1/2 before he passed. He was slowing down at the time of that Cougars game and it was a lot of walking for him and the inclines etc. were a bit much, so we knew this was going to be the last one. We had a great time though and saw Willson Contreras throw out two baserunners, get a single and a walk. I bumped into a long-time season-ticket holder as we walked into the stadium that day. He remembered my broadcasting days with the team and we had a nice chat, and he gave us his extra front row tickets behind the third base dugout. I even had the lucky seat and won a beef sandwich! lol They had posted on a wall behind the press box all the former Cougars that have made it to the Majors. In my last year there, 1996, there were 9 from that team that made it to the Show. It's weird that the Cougars are Independent now and they open this year's home schedule next week against Fargo-Moorhead, a team the Joliet JackHammers used to play. I might have to go to a game and see my pasts collide a bit. Maybe I will and I'll have a beer in honor of my old man. Cheers, sir.
Facebook history says 10 years ago today, Dad and I went to see a Kane County Cougars game, the last baseball game we were able to see at a ballpark together. I've been thinking about him as my birthday comes up next week. Still pretty amazing we got to do that one, considering he was almost 88 at the time. Even more amazing, he made it 96 1/2 before he passed. He was slowing down at the time of that Cougars game and it was a lot of walking for him and the inclines etc. were a bit much, so we knew this was going to be the last one. We had a great time though and saw Willson Contreras throw out two baserunners, get a single and a walk. I bumped into a long-time season-ticket holder as we walked into the stadium that day. He remembered my broadcasting days with the team and we had a nice chat, and he gave us his extra front row tickets behind the third base dugout. I even had the lucky seat and won a beef sandwich! lol They had posted on a wall behind the press box all the former Cougars that have made it to the Majors. In my last year there, 1996, there were 9 from that team that made it to the Show. It's weird that the Cougars are Independent now and they open this year's home schedule next week against Fargo-Moorhead, a team the Joliet JackHammers used to play. I might have to go to a game and see my pasts collide a bit. Maybe I will and I'll have a beer in honor of my old man. Cheers, sir.
4/28/2023
I've talked about my favorite games and teams etc. recently as I look back on 41 years in radio. This came up on my timeline and I figured I'd bring it back as an example of the opposite! This was the least favorite thing I ever did on the air. Dennis Hastert ended up serving just 13 months in prison for his abuse of multiple Yorkville wrestlers and for the bank fraud that resulted in paying one for his silence. How close he was to the White House as Speaker still gives me chills.
My story of the ridiculous and scary interview I had with Dennis Hastert....
It all makes sense to me now. I interviewed Hastert for WSCR for their 'Score Values' public affairs show, when he was the Speaker of the House. The idea was to get a coup for the station and talk to this political celebrity and important guy about when he was the wrestling coach for Yorkville H.S. It was the weirdest and most uncomfortable interview I would ever do. At first I was happy to just talk about wrestling with him. I was not a fan of his politics anyway. His 'people' hounded me for the week leading up to the interview. It was surreal. I got THREE different calls to go over exactly what I was going to ask. It was like taking calls from the mafia. It was not subtle. I was not to ask about anything but his time at Yorkville as coach. But I didn't understand why that wasn't enough. They even wanted to know what questions I was going to ask about wrestling! Three different times I took calls basically warning me to not veer off topic and to not veer off any of the acceptable wrestling questions. Really?! By the third threatening phone call I was livid. Who the hell does this guy think he is?! You're just a guy from Yorkville who ended up with a good job and you work for me! This is not the old East Germany. I finally did the interview over the phone with him and hated every minute of it. He didn't say much of anything and I couldn't really make it any better because of the limitations of what I could say. I wrote it off as an interview with a man reveling in his power and enjoying pushing his weight around. Turns out it was even worse. Obviously, talking about his old wrestling coach days could have been even more dangerous for him than talking politics. I suppose he was worried this could have been a 'gotcha' interview and I could have known one of those boys he abused, etc. I worked in Aurora for years, after all, and spent a lot of time in Yorkville and that High School. He was a very powerful man and his people made it known very clearly three different times not to mess with him. Now I wish I would have known what he had to hide. He won't spend as much time in prison as he should but at least he is now known for what and who he is. Horrible.
I've talked about my favorite games and teams etc. recently as I look back on 41 years in radio. This came up on my timeline and I figured I'd bring it back as an example of the opposite! This was the least favorite thing I ever did on the air. Dennis Hastert ended up serving just 13 months in prison for his abuse of multiple Yorkville wrestlers and for the bank fraud that resulted in paying one for his silence. How close he was to the White House as Speaker still gives me chills.
My story of the ridiculous and scary interview I had with Dennis Hastert....
It all makes sense to me now. I interviewed Hastert for WSCR for their 'Score Values' public affairs show, when he was the Speaker of the House. The idea was to get a coup for the station and talk to this political celebrity and important guy about when he was the wrestling coach for Yorkville H.S. It was the weirdest and most uncomfortable interview I would ever do. At first I was happy to just talk about wrestling with him. I was not a fan of his politics anyway. His 'people' hounded me for the week leading up to the interview. It was surreal. I got THREE different calls to go over exactly what I was going to ask. It was like taking calls from the mafia. It was not subtle. I was not to ask about anything but his time at Yorkville as coach. But I didn't understand why that wasn't enough. They even wanted to know what questions I was going to ask about wrestling! Three different times I took calls basically warning me to not veer off topic and to not veer off any of the acceptable wrestling questions. Really?! By the third threatening phone call I was livid. Who the hell does this guy think he is?! You're just a guy from Yorkville who ended up with a good job and you work for me! This is not the old East Germany. I finally did the interview over the phone with him and hated every minute of it. He didn't say much of anything and I couldn't really make it any better because of the limitations of what I could say. I wrote it off as an interview with a man reveling in his power and enjoying pushing his weight around. Turns out it was even worse. Obviously, talking about his old wrestling coach days could have been even more dangerous for him than talking politics. I suppose he was worried this could have been a 'gotcha' interview and I could have known one of those boys he abused, etc. I worked in Aurora for years, after all, and spent a lot of time in Yorkville and that High School. He was a very powerful man and his people made it known very clearly three different times not to mess with him. Now I wish I would have known what he had to hide. He won't spend as much time in prison as he should but at least he is now known for what and who he is. Horrible.
4/11/2023
It's still going to take a while longer to get used to all this, I guess. Even a year later, I still have things like this cross my mind. The storm about a week ago knocked out power to Naperville for almost an hour and as soon as I heard about it I thought "I have to call Dad and see how he's doing and if he lost power too" before realizing that wasn't necessary. Then just today, I read a story about the exciting Paris-Roubaix bike race from this past Sunday and thought "I have to talk to Barry and see if he watched it and see what he thought." Umm, I guess not. Losing people who were so regularly in your life and in your thoughts doesn't get any easier with age apparently, especially when the losses gang up on you. At least the six month winter is over! I'll take any positive I can get.
It's still going to take a while longer to get used to all this, I guess. Even a year later, I still have things like this cross my mind. The storm about a week ago knocked out power to Naperville for almost an hour and as soon as I heard about it I thought "I have to call Dad and see how he's doing and if he lost power too" before realizing that wasn't necessary. Then just today, I read a story about the exciting Paris-Roubaix bike race from this past Sunday and thought "I have to talk to Barry and see if he watched it and see what he thought." Umm, I guess not. Losing people who were so regularly in your life and in your thoughts doesn't get any easier with age apparently, especially when the losses gang up on you. At least the six month winter is over! I'll take any positive I can get.
4/9/2023
We lost Dad one year ago today. It's still weird without him. We'd be going to spend Easter with him today, for instance. Holidays are weird now. I like this picture. It seems appropriate. It's from the day he threw out the first pitch at Wrigley. We spent so much time watching and talking Cubs together. Here it now kind of looks like he is walking into the corn, Field of Dreams-like. I salute you, Sir.
And I've told the story but the Joliet Noon Lions Club used to host a Cubs Winter Caravan Day that featured players and coaches, back in the day. They auctioned off a chance to win this opportunity. Dad and I would go together each year and this year I made sure I won it for him! It was really something. We played catch together a few times beforehand, another bonus, to get him ready. He really had fun. He did good too! Yep. We practiced in the cold in March for weeks! He threw to Brooks Kieschnick. I miss you, D.
We lost Dad one year ago today. It's still weird without him. We'd be going to spend Easter with him today, for instance. Holidays are weird now. I like this picture. It seems appropriate. It's from the day he threw out the first pitch at Wrigley. We spent so much time watching and talking Cubs together. Here it now kind of looks like he is walking into the corn, Field of Dreams-like. I salute you, Sir.
And I've told the story but the Joliet Noon Lions Club used to host a Cubs Winter Caravan Day that featured players and coaches, back in the day. They auctioned off a chance to win this opportunity. Dad and I would go together each year and this year I made sure I won it for him! It was really something. We played catch together a few times beforehand, another bonus, to get him ready. He really had fun. He did good too! Yep. We practiced in the cold in March for weeks! He threw to Brooks Kieschnick. I miss you, D.
4/4/2023
I haven't written anything in the last few weeks but figured I would take time today to talk a bit about women's college basketball, considering the NCAA Tournament just concluded in exciting fashion in front of millions of viewers. Almost ten million watched the LSU win over Iowa for the Title. Amazing. I wish the officiating would have been better so that the best players could have played in front of all those people for more of the game, but so be it. Yes, Caitlin Clark is incredible but she is not the only reason for surging interest in women's basketball. Those NCAA games outdrew then NBA on ESPN. In person attendance is also skyrocketing. As Gregg Doyel points out in the Indianapolis Star, Big Ten attendance is way up, in particular. The Purdue women's game at Indiana sold out. The same matchup sold out at Purdue earlier this season as well, and that means almost 15 thousand fans. The Indiana women outdrew the Butler men this year. Illinois set an all-time attendance record this season and on and on. In other words, women's college basketball has finally gotten people's attention and it's about time. I was fortunate to broadcast women's college basketball for all my 41 years of play-by-play. For so much of it, I was the only one doing the women's game at the gym in question. I never did just men's games for any school I worked for. For Lewis U. doubleheaders, for instance, I would always broadcast both ends of the doubleheader. The women would play first, followed by the men. The visiting broadcast crew would be setting up during the women's game as I was broadcasting. They traveled with the men's team and would only broadcast the men's game on the radio. No coverage for the women, no matter how good they were. Ridiculous. That meant that I knew my broadcast was one of the only chances for fans of that women's team to ever hear any games. At all. My Lewis games were also carried on wjol.com, so fans of both schools could listen from anywhere. I would always try to do my best to give that team the coverage they deserved, with extra homework on that team's players etc. to give good info for them that they were not getting from their own hometown radio, for goodness sake. It made me proud to give them some plaudits. Even when I was broadcasting for Division-1 NIU, I would occasionally be the only one doing the women's broadcast. So ridiculous. For D3 Benedictine I would travel and broadcast a women's game as the visitor with the home team not even getting any play-by-play! The same for Aurora U. Such a shame. On the high school level, the story was the same. For 12 straight years I went down to Champaign to broadcast all four Championship weekends. Even if no Aurora area schools were involved, my crew and I would be there to broadcast Girls A and Girls AA games. That's how I got to see Candace Parker, Yolanda Griffith, Cathy Boswell, E.C. Hill, the Catchings sisters and on and on and on. It was nice to give them their due. Broadcast row for the Girls weekends was much less crowded. So silly. They were missing out. The list of tremendous players on the teams I did games for is way too long to name but I got to see some incredible basketball. If you love the sport, you love the sport, no matter what the level. Unless you're a misogynist, and goodness knows I've worked with my share over the years. Hopefully these ratings and attendance figures will be harder to argue with now. The demand is there and the product is more than worthy. I'm glad I got to see the sport grow over the last 40-plus years. In person. A lucky person at that. Please and thank you.
I haven't written anything in the last few weeks but figured I would take time today to talk a bit about women's college basketball, considering the NCAA Tournament just concluded in exciting fashion in front of millions of viewers. Almost ten million watched the LSU win over Iowa for the Title. Amazing. I wish the officiating would have been better so that the best players could have played in front of all those people for more of the game, but so be it. Yes, Caitlin Clark is incredible but she is not the only reason for surging interest in women's basketball. Those NCAA games outdrew then NBA on ESPN. In person attendance is also skyrocketing. As Gregg Doyel points out in the Indianapolis Star, Big Ten attendance is way up, in particular. The Purdue women's game at Indiana sold out. The same matchup sold out at Purdue earlier this season as well, and that means almost 15 thousand fans. The Indiana women outdrew the Butler men this year. Illinois set an all-time attendance record this season and on and on. In other words, women's college basketball has finally gotten people's attention and it's about time. I was fortunate to broadcast women's college basketball for all my 41 years of play-by-play. For so much of it, I was the only one doing the women's game at the gym in question. I never did just men's games for any school I worked for. For Lewis U. doubleheaders, for instance, I would always broadcast both ends of the doubleheader. The women would play first, followed by the men. The visiting broadcast crew would be setting up during the women's game as I was broadcasting. They traveled with the men's team and would only broadcast the men's game on the radio. No coverage for the women, no matter how good they were. Ridiculous. That meant that I knew my broadcast was one of the only chances for fans of that women's team to ever hear any games. At all. My Lewis games were also carried on wjol.com, so fans of both schools could listen from anywhere. I would always try to do my best to give that team the coverage they deserved, with extra homework on that team's players etc. to give good info for them that they were not getting from their own hometown radio, for goodness sake. It made me proud to give them some plaudits. Even when I was broadcasting for Division-1 NIU, I would occasionally be the only one doing the women's broadcast. So ridiculous. For D3 Benedictine I would travel and broadcast a women's game as the visitor with the home team not even getting any play-by-play! The same for Aurora U. Such a shame. On the high school level, the story was the same. For 12 straight years I went down to Champaign to broadcast all four Championship weekends. Even if no Aurora area schools were involved, my crew and I would be there to broadcast Girls A and Girls AA games. That's how I got to see Candace Parker, Yolanda Griffith, Cathy Boswell, E.C. Hill, the Catchings sisters and on and on and on. It was nice to give them their due. Broadcast row for the Girls weekends was much less crowded. So silly. They were missing out. The list of tremendous players on the teams I did games for is way too long to name but I got to see some incredible basketball. If you love the sport, you love the sport, no matter what the level. Unless you're a misogynist, and goodness knows I've worked with my share over the years. Hopefully these ratings and attendance figures will be harder to argue with now. The demand is there and the product is more than worthy. I'm glad I got to see the sport grow over the last 40-plus years. In person. A lucky person at that. Please and thank you.
3/17/2023
Since it's St. Patrick's Day and I'm a history and family history buff, I went back to my Family History story that my cousin Kathy Taylor sent to me, that she and her Mom put together years ago. My Mom's Mom is Mabel Edna Butler Foley. The Butler brothers came here from Ireland and originally settled in Kentucky. The Butlers eventually moved to Joplin, Missouri. The Butlers fought in the Revolutionary War against the Brits. Yes, the Irish have always had problems with the British, lol. And yes, that means Mabel was Irish and also then married an Irishman. So also yes, as much as my Dad's side is Slovak, my Mom's side is Irish. And also yes, Kathy's Mom, my Aunt Pat, also married an Irishman, hence Kathy's maiden name of Maguire. We're freaking Irish, lol. Luckily I have Slovak skin, so I can actually be outside in the Summer, but otherwise I am pretty damn Irish. My Mom's other sister, Bev, married Fran Lough which can be British, Irish or Scottish. Since my Uncle Pete was SO Irish, I figured Fran wasn't, lol.
By the way, my Dad's side has heart issues and my Mom's side has cancer issues but there are people on both sides that lived a long, long time. Mabel's Grandpa lived to 97 and her Great Grandpa lived to 103! Keep in mind the average American life span did not top 40 years of age until almost 1900! Of course, my Dad lived to 96 and his Uncle lived to 92. So who knows?
Another by the way, Mabel's Grandma May Karnes lived in the Oklahoma Indian Territory before joining family in Joplin and eventually marrying Owen Butler. How long ago are we talking? Well, she went by covered wagon in a wagon train to Joplin, lol.
Mabel ended up in Kansas City where she married my Grandpa Foley. My two Aunts were born there in KC. They moved eventually to Central Illinois and my Mom was born in Bloomington. Grandpa died of stomach cancer there when Mom was a little girl and Mabel eventually moved her girls to the south side of Chicago where Mom would graduate from the now defunct Loretto Girls Catholic High School in Woodlawn on 65th Street. So also yes, I am Southside Irish, my friends, and not just because I've lived about 6 blocks from Sox Park for the last 14 years!
Mabel then moved to the far north side of the City to an apartment on the lake in Edgewater Beach, basically. I remember as a little kid running downstairs from her apartment to get to the Good Humor Ice Cream truck, lol. The only other memories I have of her place there were of a weird wicker monkey she had by her much cooler wicker bar. I've never liked monkeys and I blame that creepy wicker monstrosity! That and she had a scary, dark back stairway down to an alley, I guess, that I never took, lol. No freakin way!
All of this is to say that I'm wearin' the green today and currently enjoying a Guiness. Happy St. Paddy's Day, my friends!
Since it's St. Patrick's Day and I'm a history and family history buff, I went back to my Family History story that my cousin Kathy Taylor sent to me, that she and her Mom put together years ago. My Mom's Mom is Mabel Edna Butler Foley. The Butler brothers came here from Ireland and originally settled in Kentucky. The Butlers eventually moved to Joplin, Missouri. The Butlers fought in the Revolutionary War against the Brits. Yes, the Irish have always had problems with the British, lol. And yes, that means Mabel was Irish and also then married an Irishman. So also yes, as much as my Dad's side is Slovak, my Mom's side is Irish. And also yes, Kathy's Mom, my Aunt Pat, also married an Irishman, hence Kathy's maiden name of Maguire. We're freaking Irish, lol. Luckily I have Slovak skin, so I can actually be outside in the Summer, but otherwise I am pretty damn Irish. My Mom's other sister, Bev, married Fran Lough which can be British, Irish or Scottish. Since my Uncle Pete was SO Irish, I figured Fran wasn't, lol.
By the way, my Dad's side has heart issues and my Mom's side has cancer issues but there are people on both sides that lived a long, long time. Mabel's Grandpa lived to 97 and her Great Grandpa lived to 103! Keep in mind the average American life span did not top 40 years of age until almost 1900! Of course, my Dad lived to 96 and his Uncle lived to 92. So who knows?
Another by the way, Mabel's Grandma May Karnes lived in the Oklahoma Indian Territory before joining family in Joplin and eventually marrying Owen Butler. How long ago are we talking? Well, she went by covered wagon in a wagon train to Joplin, lol.
Mabel ended up in Kansas City where she married my Grandpa Foley. My two Aunts were born there in KC. They moved eventually to Central Illinois and my Mom was born in Bloomington. Grandpa died of stomach cancer there when Mom was a little girl and Mabel eventually moved her girls to the south side of Chicago where Mom would graduate from the now defunct Loretto Girls Catholic High School in Woodlawn on 65th Street. So also yes, I am Southside Irish, my friends, and not just because I've lived about 6 blocks from Sox Park for the last 14 years!
Mabel then moved to the far north side of the City to an apartment on the lake in Edgewater Beach, basically. I remember as a little kid running downstairs from her apartment to get to the Good Humor Ice Cream truck, lol. The only other memories I have of her place there were of a weird wicker monkey she had by her much cooler wicker bar. I've never liked monkeys and I blame that creepy wicker monstrosity! That and she had a scary, dark back stairway down to an alley, I guess, that I never took, lol. No freakin way!
All of this is to say that I'm wearin' the green today and currently enjoying a Guiness. Happy St. Paddy's Day, my friends!
3/15/2023
I'm going to tell you the story of how I was hired by ESPN Radio AM 1000 to be a talk show host but never actually made it on the air. There's also a little bit about WSCR in here. My Facebook history reminded me today of how I have already told the stories of how I was hired in Bloomington, Il but never made it on the air, lol, so this wasn't the only time that particular thing happened to me. I mentioned my saga of WJBC two years ago today, and it's time now for this little bit of ridiculousness. I've been told by friends that I should write a book about my radio life. I certainly have enough stories for a few books, lol, but I'm not sure if more than just a few would be interested so I'll just keep sharing a few things here from time to time. This one's a doozy. I've mentioned how when Sporting News Radio laid everyone off and left town, how devastated I was. (Details of the SNR story are below in a story I filed on 2/2/23). This story took place right after that. I thought ESPN Radio was coming in to ride to my rescue after the SNR layoff. Not so much. Actually they made it much, much worse. Justin Craig was the Program Director there at the time. I went into the radio station to have a meeting with him. It turned out to be a hiring, more than an interview. He told me how much he liked my talk shows at Sporting News and that he wanted to hire me to host shows at AM 1000. He told me it would be a few weeks to work out what shift and at what salary but he would give me a start date soon, so just sit tight. He even had me fill out the Company employment paperwork before I left his office. I was elated. Problem solved! I was in no position to quibble about the details and did not care anyway. The remaining problem was that I was still unemployed while I waited and lived on my credit cards in the meantime. The bigger problem was that weeks passed without any word. I was paying rent with my credit card, let alone everything else as I got more and more anxious. Almost two months later I finally got ahold of Justin and asked about my start date. He said "What start date?" He then went on to say that I wasn't hired, I was only interviewed back then. Umm, I pointed out that I was told to sit tight for my start date and even filled out employment paperwork before I left him. He told me that he had everyone fill out paperwork if they interviewed. Beyond that being utter nonsense, it was also a blatant lie. I was screwed. Totally screwed. I eventually found out what happened through the grapevine. From what I was told, they were in new contract talks with Carmen DeFalco and they used me as a bargaining chip. When he took their offer I was cut loose. Lovely. That's what I was told anyway. I don't know if Carmen ever knew about me and my offer but I think so because the next time I met him he was very cold to me. Dude, I had no freaking idea! I swear! We were both played but at least you had a job! I was now still unemployed but I hadn't even looked for a job for two months because I thought I had one! Plus, now I was in serious credit card debt. Radio can be brutal, man. Brutal. I felt like Bill Murray in Stripes. "And then depression set in." And then some. I really thought about calling it quits. I took long, long walks every day trying to decide if I wanted to hang in there with this whole breathing thing. This episode coming so quickly on the heels of the SNR thing was all a bit too much. It took about three weeks of long daily three hour walks around the lakefront to come to some sort of peace. I finally decided to keep living, keep plugging away and so took a job renting apartments, to try and pay my rent while I looked for radio jobs. I still had play-by-play but that never really paid very well. I did that because I loved it. I eventually got back into regular radio work but it was yet another scar that I've collected. I have a bit too many for my taste, but in the end, it's hard to complain. I've been able to pursue my passion as my job for most of my adult life. I've never had it easy but as I've said multiple times, Radio is a great job and a lousy business, lol. It certainly can be.
One little aside, it was a lie from another Program Director that signaled my eventual end at WSCR. Ron Gleason hired me, then Drew Hayes took over as Ron went to WBBM. I was working 45 hours a week and went to Drew, who I really liked by the way. I said I needed salary and benefits. It was illegal to not give it to me. He was very matter of fact. He said absolutely not, lol. He told me to my face that if I didn't like it I could leave. He could walk down to the sidewalk of the NBC Tower and find someone who wanted to take my job in exactly one minute. Every sports fan wants to be on the radio, you know. That guy wouldn't be as good as me, he said, but I was easily replaceable. So the answer is no. Super. I kept at him, however. It was only fair. I was pissed. I needed a paid day off every once in a while. I needed health insurance. I earned it. Eventually, after weeks of bothering him, Drew came into my studio and told me he would take care of me. Again, no details. I guess I should learn to get those, lol, but he would take care of it. A big sigh of relief from me. A little more than a week later, Mitch Rosen walked in the front door as the new PD. Son of a bitch, I thought! I then tell Mitch that Drew gave me his word on a salaried position before he left. Mitch's answer was that he didn't care what went on before he got there. After pestering, Mitch called Drew and he said Drew denied any agreement. All that those incidents proved to me was that I would rather have stayed in Aurora for my entire career. I was happy there. My ego did not need Chicago or national networks. They were nice on my resume and it felt nice to be recognized etc. but I liked it at WKKD and I wish I was still there. If I was, I probably wouldn't be retired right now. The other thing I know is, all that drama took it's toll on my psyche. I am not the same person. A lot of joy has been stolen from me, not just jobs.
Thanks for letting me get this out of my system. It's therapeutic. Whatever I was or wasn't on the air, I was competent, dependable, versatile and hard working. I retire knowing I can look in the mirror and be proud of who I am and the work I did. Please and thank you.
I'm going to tell you the story of how I was hired by ESPN Radio AM 1000 to be a talk show host but never actually made it on the air. There's also a little bit about WSCR in here. My Facebook history reminded me today of how I have already told the stories of how I was hired in Bloomington, Il but never made it on the air, lol, so this wasn't the only time that particular thing happened to me. I mentioned my saga of WJBC two years ago today, and it's time now for this little bit of ridiculousness. I've been told by friends that I should write a book about my radio life. I certainly have enough stories for a few books, lol, but I'm not sure if more than just a few would be interested so I'll just keep sharing a few things here from time to time. This one's a doozy. I've mentioned how when Sporting News Radio laid everyone off and left town, how devastated I was. (Details of the SNR story are below in a story I filed on 2/2/23). This story took place right after that. I thought ESPN Radio was coming in to ride to my rescue after the SNR layoff. Not so much. Actually they made it much, much worse. Justin Craig was the Program Director there at the time. I went into the radio station to have a meeting with him. It turned out to be a hiring, more than an interview. He told me how much he liked my talk shows at Sporting News and that he wanted to hire me to host shows at AM 1000. He told me it would be a few weeks to work out what shift and at what salary but he would give me a start date soon, so just sit tight. He even had me fill out the Company employment paperwork before I left his office. I was elated. Problem solved! I was in no position to quibble about the details and did not care anyway. The remaining problem was that I was still unemployed while I waited and lived on my credit cards in the meantime. The bigger problem was that weeks passed without any word. I was paying rent with my credit card, let alone everything else as I got more and more anxious. Almost two months later I finally got ahold of Justin and asked about my start date. He said "What start date?" He then went on to say that I wasn't hired, I was only interviewed back then. Umm, I pointed out that I was told to sit tight for my start date and even filled out employment paperwork before I left him. He told me that he had everyone fill out paperwork if they interviewed. Beyond that being utter nonsense, it was also a blatant lie. I was screwed. Totally screwed. I eventually found out what happened through the grapevine. From what I was told, they were in new contract talks with Carmen DeFalco and they used me as a bargaining chip. When he took their offer I was cut loose. Lovely. That's what I was told anyway. I don't know if Carmen ever knew about me and my offer but I think so because the next time I met him he was very cold to me. Dude, I had no freaking idea! I swear! We were both played but at least you had a job! I was now still unemployed but I hadn't even looked for a job for two months because I thought I had one! Plus, now I was in serious credit card debt. Radio can be brutal, man. Brutal. I felt like Bill Murray in Stripes. "And then depression set in." And then some. I really thought about calling it quits. I took long, long walks every day trying to decide if I wanted to hang in there with this whole breathing thing. This episode coming so quickly on the heels of the SNR thing was all a bit too much. It took about three weeks of long daily three hour walks around the lakefront to come to some sort of peace. I finally decided to keep living, keep plugging away and so took a job renting apartments, to try and pay my rent while I looked for radio jobs. I still had play-by-play but that never really paid very well. I did that because I loved it. I eventually got back into regular radio work but it was yet another scar that I've collected. I have a bit too many for my taste, but in the end, it's hard to complain. I've been able to pursue my passion as my job for most of my adult life. I've never had it easy but as I've said multiple times, Radio is a great job and a lousy business, lol. It certainly can be.
One little aside, it was a lie from another Program Director that signaled my eventual end at WSCR. Ron Gleason hired me, then Drew Hayes took over as Ron went to WBBM. I was working 45 hours a week and went to Drew, who I really liked by the way. I said I needed salary and benefits. It was illegal to not give it to me. He was very matter of fact. He said absolutely not, lol. He told me to my face that if I didn't like it I could leave. He could walk down to the sidewalk of the NBC Tower and find someone who wanted to take my job in exactly one minute. Every sports fan wants to be on the radio, you know. That guy wouldn't be as good as me, he said, but I was easily replaceable. So the answer is no. Super. I kept at him, however. It was only fair. I was pissed. I needed a paid day off every once in a while. I needed health insurance. I earned it. Eventually, after weeks of bothering him, Drew came into my studio and told me he would take care of me. Again, no details. I guess I should learn to get those, lol, but he would take care of it. A big sigh of relief from me. A little more than a week later, Mitch Rosen walked in the front door as the new PD. Son of a bitch, I thought! I then tell Mitch that Drew gave me his word on a salaried position before he left. Mitch's answer was that he didn't care what went on before he got there. After pestering, Mitch called Drew and he said Drew denied any agreement. All that those incidents proved to me was that I would rather have stayed in Aurora for my entire career. I was happy there. My ego did not need Chicago or national networks. They were nice on my resume and it felt nice to be recognized etc. but I liked it at WKKD and I wish I was still there. If I was, I probably wouldn't be retired right now. The other thing I know is, all that drama took it's toll on my psyche. I am not the same person. A lot of joy has been stolen from me, not just jobs.
Thanks for letting me get this out of my system. It's therapeutic. Whatever I was or wasn't on the air, I was competent, dependable, versatile and hard working. I retire knowing I can look in the mirror and be proud of who I am and the work I did. Please and thank you.
3/6/2023
Congrats to Lewis women's basketball on their D2 Tourney bid but naturally they have the toughest route to get to the Elite 8 in the nation by far, since D2 does not seed and our region is always the toughest. The Flyers start out with #2 ranked Drury. They just played Drury in the GLVC Tournament Championship game last night. This means they will play them for the 4th time this year and for the second game in a row. Lewis led at halftime last night before falling to them. No one else, of course, has to play the 2nd ranked team in the nation for a 4th time this season but Lewis does. If they can upset Drury in the 1st round though, they then likely will play 5th ranked Grand Valley in the 2nd round. And btw, Lewis beat Grand Valley earlier in the regular season but aren't ranked themselves somehow, as they get no credit for playing in the toughest league and region in the country. If they can then beat Grand Valley for a 2nd time this season, they would likely get rewarded by having to face Ashland, the top ranked team in the nation. Does any other region have anything close to having numbers 1, 2 and 5 in the nation in it. Of course not. Gee thanks, NCAA.
The toughest route to the Elite 8 might have been the one this 2012 Flyers men's team faced. They were one of the best teams in school history but it happened to be when the GLVC was the best it ever was as well. The 2012 Flyers featured Marty Strus (Max's 6'10" older brother), Chris McClellan, Ryan Jackson, Julian Lewis etc. and had to play #1 in the nation Bellarmine four times! Our reward for playing them twice in the regular season and then in the GLVC tournament, was to then play them at their place in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament. I will never forget walking into their tiny packed gym for that game. They were #1 and had the advantage of their home crowd as well, let alone the pressure of an official making a call that went against Bellarmine and that rabid crowd in an NCAA game while Coach Scotty Davenport was screaming at them. In other words, we did not get a call all game. I broadcast from the stage behind one of the baskets. That's how old fashioned and old that place was, lol. To say the least, the deck was stacked against us. Of course, we also had to play 7th ranked Kentucky Wesleyan twice in that regular season. Beat them once. We played 9th ranked NKU twice. Beat them once. Played 14th ranked Southern Indy twice. Lost both. Played 15th ranked Indy twice and beat them once. Our league was dominant, as you can see. Losses to Maryville and UMSL were the only two defeats all season we suffered to any other than those top 15 teams. All of those ranked teams I just mentioned belonged in the Elite 8 that season, the Flyers included. Bellarmine was the only one to get there because of the silly regional setup that is used in D2 to save travel money. They lost their Final 4 matchup, but the route they had to take to get there had to take it's toll. No one else had to go through that meat grinder. The Flyers finished 17-12 that season. They were a 20 to 25 win team in any other league and a top 15 team in any other league as well. D2 needs to change their selections, taking in to account the strength of schedule etc. They just do.
Congrats to Lewis women's basketball on their D2 Tourney bid but naturally they have the toughest route to get to the Elite 8 in the nation by far, since D2 does not seed and our region is always the toughest. The Flyers start out with #2 ranked Drury. They just played Drury in the GLVC Tournament Championship game last night. This means they will play them for the 4th time this year and for the second game in a row. Lewis led at halftime last night before falling to them. No one else, of course, has to play the 2nd ranked team in the nation for a 4th time this season but Lewis does. If they can upset Drury in the 1st round though, they then likely will play 5th ranked Grand Valley in the 2nd round. And btw, Lewis beat Grand Valley earlier in the regular season but aren't ranked themselves somehow, as they get no credit for playing in the toughest league and region in the country. If they can then beat Grand Valley for a 2nd time this season, they would likely get rewarded by having to face Ashland, the top ranked team in the nation. Does any other region have anything close to having numbers 1, 2 and 5 in the nation in it. Of course not. Gee thanks, NCAA.
The toughest route to the Elite 8 might have been the one this 2012 Flyers men's team faced. They were one of the best teams in school history but it happened to be when the GLVC was the best it ever was as well. The 2012 Flyers featured Marty Strus (Max's 6'10" older brother), Chris McClellan, Ryan Jackson, Julian Lewis etc. and had to play #1 in the nation Bellarmine four times! Our reward for playing them twice in the regular season and then in the GLVC tournament, was to then play them at their place in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament. I will never forget walking into their tiny packed gym for that game. They were #1 and had the advantage of their home crowd as well, let alone the pressure of an official making a call that went against Bellarmine and that rabid crowd in an NCAA game while Coach Scotty Davenport was screaming at them. In other words, we did not get a call all game. I broadcast from the stage behind one of the baskets. That's how old fashioned and old that place was, lol. To say the least, the deck was stacked against us. Of course, we also had to play 7th ranked Kentucky Wesleyan twice in that regular season. Beat them once. We played 9th ranked NKU twice. Beat them once. Played 14th ranked Southern Indy twice. Lost both. Played 15th ranked Indy twice and beat them once. Our league was dominant, as you can see. Losses to Maryville and UMSL were the only two defeats all season we suffered to any other than those top 15 teams. All of those ranked teams I just mentioned belonged in the Elite 8 that season, the Flyers included. Bellarmine was the only one to get there because of the silly regional setup that is used in D2 to save travel money. They lost their Final 4 matchup, but the route they had to take to get there had to take it's toll. No one else had to go through that meat grinder. The Flyers finished 17-12 that season. They were a 20 to 25 win team in any other league and a top 15 team in any other league as well. D2 needs to change their selections, taking in to account the strength of schedule etc. They just do.
2/27/2023
There have been some great Lewis U. men's basketball teams in my 20 years there and I thought I would write about two of them here, as I continue to look back at 41 years of play-by-play here in Illinois. The 2002 team that made the 'Sweet 16' may be their best of all-time and the 2019 team comes very close indeed. The crazy thing is the 2002 team didn't even finish nationally ranked at all despite their 'Sweet 16' finish and a 25-7 record. I guess it was those seven defeats, but they had to play GLVC foe and defending national champion Kentucky Wesleyan four times that season. The Flyers beat them once and lost once in overtime in those four tries. Wesleyan was the team that would eventually beat them in that 'Sweet 16' game. If they had played just about anyone else, I am sure they would have at least advanced to the Final Four and likely to the National Championship game. Wesleyan lost to Metro State in the Title game in their 5th straight appearance in the National Championship contest. No one else had to play that level of team four times and so three of the Flyers seven defeats were courtesy of the defending champ. So ridiculous they got no credit for beating them once and taking them to OT another time. The Jim Whitesell coached 2002 squad was led by Sammy Bacino's 15ppg. That was their strength. No one was dominant. Their top 5 players all scored between 9-15ppg. They averaged 73ppg and allowed just 65. What they had in particular was Dee Hunter at point guard. He is the all-time assist leader in school history at 528. He ran the show and the team ran a great unselfish half-court offense. Stan Strong is 10th all-time in 3pters which didn't hurt either. That team also played great defense. Hunter is 2nd all-time in steals and Austin Real is 2nd all-time in blocked shots and 6th in rebounds. Lewis opened the 2002 D2 Tourney with a comfortable win over 67-53 Hillsdale and then topped Michigan Tech 62-51 in Round 2. Once again, they had to face Kentucky Wesleyan and lost in a very close finish 80-75. Wesleyan went on to crush Adelphi 71-46 in the Elite 8 game, so it is pretty easy to predict that the Flyers would have done the same if given the chance and would have advanced to the Final Four that season if given another route. Oh well. The 2019 team was also very special. It ran into the same kind of roadblocks the 2002 team did, however, this time in the name of Southern Indiana. And this time it was playing them three times, instead of four, but they were the team that knocked the Flyers out of the NCAA Tournament in the 2nd round, eventually advancing to the Final Four. The Flyers were ranked 15th in the nation at the time and had defeated the Screaming Eagles twice during the regular season. Their reward for beating Grand Valley State 65-63 in the 1st round was to once again play USI, a team that had already won 23 games of their own to that point. The Flyers entered with 25 wins and hosted the contest as the top seed. Beating a quality team like that three times in a season, though, is very tough obviously. This game was a thriller. Lewis led by 10 early, by 3 at halftime, and even built a 14 point lead with about 14 minutes to play. A 20-3 run by USI erased all that as they took a 51-50 lead with just under 6 minutes remaining. The Flyers took a 61-60 lead with 5 seconds left but Mateo Rivera drove the length of the floor and hit the heartbreaking buzzer-beater to give the visitors the win and a trip to the Sweet 16. How tough was that route for the winner? USI had to get by 7th ranked and fellow GLVC foe Bellarmine next and they did, beating them by 7. They then topped West Texas A&M to get the Final Four before losing to Point Loma in the National Semifinals. My point is, the GLVC always has had the toughest route to the D2 Elite 8 and Championship game. Lewis was definitely one of the best 8 teams in the nation that year but only one of our GLVC teams gets through to prove it. So unfair. That 2019 team was led by Kendale McCullum's 16 points and 6 assists per game. Delaney Blaylock was next at 14 points per game. Adam Pischke averaged 11, Donovan Oliver 10 and Anthony D'Avanzo 9. And their bench was loaded. Sadly for Oliver, he picked the wrong time to go 1 for 7 from the field in that USI game. Even one more basket and they advance. Not to put it all on Donovan but that was very unlike him that night. Those 2002 Flyers finished 25-6, winning 12 in a row at one point, including a 4 point win over then 3rd ranked Bellarmine. That streak also included a 1 point win against the Knights a short time later when they were rankded 9th, so a win over Bellarmine in the Elite 8 was certainly possible and a berth in the Final Four would have been nice to get a chance to see. Hunter was the best point guard of the Whitesell era in my opinion and McCullum takes that honor in the Trost era. They ran the show for two special teams that I was fortunate enough to watch and announce for. Please and thank you. |
2/24/2023
I just wanted to thank everyone for their kind words about the post about my final radio broadcast. It means a lot. I have received so many nice calls, texts and messages from friends and colleagues. So many of those came from people back in my Aurora days and considering I have not been on the air in that town since 1996, that really means so much and tells you about the special bond I have with that City, it's people, teams and schools. Lewis did a really nice thing and honored me during a timeout in my final broadcast. I received a nice round of applause from those in attendance and a beautiful plaque and jersey with the number 20 on it, for my 20 years there! Very, very nice. That broadcast capped my 41 years of play-by-play but also my time on radio overall as well. The post below only mentioned the play-by-play side of the equation since it was uninterrupted from start to finish. I left off all the years I spent as a talk show host, reporter, anchor etc. I have talked about those days many times before and treasure those as well but they were spent in fits and starts, littered with layoffs and other silliness. My play-by-play, especially in basketball, was constant from the first time I went behind a mic to the very last. Please and thank you.
I just wanted to thank everyone for their kind words about the post about my final radio broadcast. It means a lot. I have received so many nice calls, texts and messages from friends and colleagues. So many of those came from people back in my Aurora days and considering I have not been on the air in that town since 1996, that really means so much and tells you about the special bond I have with that City, it's people, teams and schools. Lewis did a really nice thing and honored me during a timeout in my final broadcast. I received a nice round of applause from those in attendance and a beautiful plaque and jersey with the number 20 on it, for my 20 years there! Very, very nice. That broadcast capped my 41 years of play-by-play but also my time on radio overall as well. The post below only mentioned the play-by-play side of the equation since it was uninterrupted from start to finish. I left off all the years I spent as a talk show host, reporter, anchor etc. I have talked about those days many times before and treasure those as well but they were spent in fits and starts, littered with layoffs and other silliness. My play-by-play, especially in basketball, was constant from the first time I went behind a mic to the very last. Please and thank you.
2/16/2023
Beware, this is a long, long blog post! Saturday will be my final play-by-play broadcast of my 41 year career behind the mic. In those years, I have been fortunate enough to be the voice of four Minor League Baseball teams, four Universities and one Major Men's Fastpitch Softball team. I have hats representing all those teams except for the Aurora fastpitch team that was sponsored by Allsteel and then Colonial Baking, when I did their games in the late 80's and early 90's. Add in hundreds or even thousands of high school games of all sports and I've been busy, lol. I had the help of many wonderful color commentators and play-by-play guys over the years and I thank them all. The highlights and memories are too numerous to mention here but I have enjoyed every bit of it. My buddy Mark Lindo asked me about my top ten games of my career though, so I figured I will answer him here. One of his teams makes it here and I mentioned another in a post just a few days ago. I have already talked about the 1994 AA Sectional Final of Mark's Naperville North Huskies defeating Bob Sterr's Naperville Central squad in triple overtime, so I will leave it off this list but you can scroll down and read about it on my post from 1/31 if you have not done so. It certainly merits my Top 10 but l will choose another of Coach Lindo's teams to mention here. I will describe them in no particular order but will start with Lindo's Aurora Central Catholic team, since he asked. ACC fell to Seneca in the 1991 Class-A Supersectional 54-52 at Olivet Nazarene on a last second basket that should never have happened. My memory is a little fuzzy all these years later but the game was tied and a timeout was called with the Chargers getting a last chance in regulation with just 4 seconds left. I was taping the game on cassette and had proof of all this and even sent the tape to the IHSA afterwards in my anger of the Chargers getting screwed! Seneca got out of their huddle first and got set up for the inbounds play. The buzzer had not sounded for the end of the timeout yet and ACC was just breaking their huddle but were not on the floor at that point. A player for Seneca started badgering the official to put the ball down and start the 5 second clock saying they were ready to play so let's play! Put the ball down! Put the ball down! In a panic of the moment the ref did just that and starting counting down the 5 seconds with his arm movement. The Chargers ran out onto the floor in an even bigger panic seeing that, so never got to run the play they had just diagrammed. Instead it was scoop up the ball and whip it into play rather than turn the ball over. Mark Aubry intercepted the hurried inbounds throw and laid the ball in to win the game as time expired! I eventually timed my cassette recording of the timeout and it came to 54 seconds from when the 60 second timeout was called to when I started shouting that the ref was putting the ball down! So basically the Irish cheated on purpose to get the ball in play before the timeout was officially over and they got away with it and earned a trip downstate as a reward for their cheating. I still haven't really gotten over it. They knew the second horn had not yet sounded. I am sure that idea came from their bench and it stinks to this day. I'm still mad thinking about it even now, lol. I loved broadcasting his Chargers in that little bandbox of a gym and I loved broadcasting his ACC baseball teams at the old Tiger Club too. (I will never forget a Chuckie Meredith 1988 foul ball in the Class A State Tournament downstate in Springfield. He crushed it down the left field line, barely foul. It remains one of the longest balls I have ever seen hit. A home run to dead center off the bat of 16 year old Cliff Floyd in the Summer Varsity State Tournament at North Central College comes to mind as the only other amateur long ball I've ever seen like it!) There were many memorable Lewis men's games over the years but one stands out. It is from March 4, 2016 in the quarterfinals of the GLVC Tournament. And that was back when the GLVC was really loaded, even more than usual. The proof is that is when Max Strus was a sophomore, we had won 21 games and were still just the 5 seed in that Conference Tournament!! I mean, c'mon! That is one of the best teams we ever had. Max is starting for the Miami Heat right now and Delaney Blaylock is still playing overseas. That entire tournament was memorable. Lewis had to beat Illinois-Springfield in the 1st round to even make it to the quarterfinals. That was an exciting game that the Flyers only won by a 80-76 score. Lewis was unquestionably a team worthy of the NCAA Tournament but because the league was so stacked, they do not get in for sure unless they make it to the Championship game. A loss in the quarters and you are out, no matter how good you are or how many games you've won. Indy was the #4 seed with 20 wins of their own and they jump out to a 15-4 lead to start the game! Not good. The Flyers would steadily cut into that deficit but did not take a lead until 43-42 early in the 2nd half. But an 11-3 run by Indy put them back up 53-46 with about 13 minutes left. A 9-0 run by the Flyers in this game of streaks put them back in the lead at 55-53. Strus fouled out with a minute left in regulation and Lewis up by just one. Frank Vukaj fouled out with 38 seconds left with Lewis up 78-77. Indy took the 79-78 lead thanks to a layup with 19 seconds left. Miles Simelton tied it, making one of two free throws with 8 seconds to go and then Indy missed a buzzer-beater sending it to OT! So the Flyers were down two starters going into overtime but Simelton came up big and then Capel Henshaw split a pair of free throws with 5 seconds remaining to give Lewis a 92-89 lead. A 3-pointer at the buzzer missed and the Flyers survived a thriller! Strus finished with 25pts, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and a block! Simelton had 18pts , Blaylock 17pts, Vukaj 14pts and 9 rebounds and Kyle Nelson finished with 12 points. The next two games could have made this list as well. They were also incredible, with Lewis beating top-seed Bellarmine 70-66 in the semis and then defeating #3 seed Parkside 80-71 to take the Conference Tournament Championship. Every one of those games was spectacular but I picked the Indy game because the other games and the Title doesn't happen without that come from behind overtime heart-stopper. The 80-65 loss to Saginaw Valley in the 1st round of the NCAA's is tough to explain, other than we never really got anything going that entire game. I honestly think we expended so much energy, physically and mentally, to take the GLVC that the NCAA 1st Round was not enough of a reward and was anticlimactic. Winning that Tourney should have already put us into the Elite 8 or Final 4 if you know what I mean. But that whole week in St. Charles, Missouri was one for the ages. Next up is an NIU women's basketball game hosting DePaul on Feb. 15, 1990 at the old Chick Evans Field House in Dekalb. The Huskies, under coach Jane Albright, defeated the Demons 92-77 in front of a record full house of 6,118 fans, while more than 1000 others were turned away at the door! That game had first place on the line in the Conference and the Huskies proved they were the best team that night in emphatic fashion. That was the best team in NIU history as they finished ranked 17th in the nation at 26-5. At one point, they won 21 of 23 games that season and topped 100 points eight times and led the nation in scoring at 94.5 points per game! That night, the excitement in that old barn was just incredible as Tammy Hinchee and Carol Owens combined for 58 points. I'm not sure I ever did any game with more energy and adrenaline in a building than that one. That rivalry was special and that night was incredible. Their season would end in the second round of the NCAA Tourney at Purdue in a game that featured 26 lead changes in a heartbreaking 5 point loss that just missed out on this top ten list too, but is another game I will never forget. Now time for the 1990 Aurora University baseball team that finished 2nd in the nation that season. That postseason is still the most memorable of any sport in any of my 41 years of play-by-play. I have talked numerous times about it and will pick the 7-6 in over Montclair State on May 25th in the 1st round of the D3 World Series in Battle Creek for this list. We came into that Tourney as a major underdog and no one thought we would go to Marietta, Ohio and beat that multi-time national champ in their own regional to even get to the World Series in the first place, but we did. Montclair State had won the national title in '87 and would do so again in 1993 and they thought this game against Aurora would be a walk in the park in round one. It looked good for them as they jumped out to a 5-1 lead after 3 innings against Chris Woods. The lead became 6-2 after 7 innings when the rains came. It was only 6-2 because Steve Michaelson struck out their All-American lefty on 3 straight slow curves with the bases loaded to end that night's play. The contest had to be suspended until the next day due to that heavy rain and both teams went back to the same hotel for the night. At one point, coaches Mark Walsh, Steve Moga and I were in the elevator and we were then joined by a couple Montclair players. They did not know we were with Aurora since we were all in street clothes at that point. They had enjoyed at least a couple beers by then at the hotel bar and were already talking about who they were going to play in the Championship game later that week. We all just looked at each other and smiled. We knew we had them, lol. The Spartans had come from behind all year and actually enjoyed playing from behind. They did not know the team they were dealing with and they thought they would just show up the next day and finish it off easily. We then knew we would win it for sure instead. And did! Down four in the 8th, Aurora went out that next day and promptly scored three times in that frame thanks to a Bob Guajardo single, Mike Foote double and Frank Markett grounder. The Spartans then went right back to work and loaded the bases in the top of 9th. Guajardo walked to force in the tying run and then a Foote fielder's choice pushed across what would be the winning run as John Bachio struck out two to earn the save in the bottom of the 9th! Job done! The Montclair coaches left the field yelling at each other. It was glorious! lol. Eventual champion Eastern Connecticut State knocked us into the loser's bracket and that was followed by a wild win over NC Wesleyan to get us to the Title game and that one could have also made this list. The 8-1 National Championship Game loss to EC State doesn't make the list since we ran out of pitching and they were by far the best team there anyway. We were by far the second best team however. I was able to broadcast all the Benedictine U. sports online in my 13 years there, so got the chance to broadcast soccer, volleyball, lacrosse etc. as well as football, basketball and baseball. So the next two games are Eagles sports starting with the men's soccer team in the 2016 D3 Tournament 3rd round game at the University of Chicago vs. St. Thomas of Minnesota. It is another tough loss. Very tough loss. Painfully tough loss! It was Nov. 19 and freezing cold, as I was broadcasting from outside! The Eagles had already defeated 7th ranked Carthage 2-1 and 12th ranked Whitewater 2-1 before this game with 8th ranked St. Thomas in the 3rd round. Goalie Antonio Marti-Polo made a key save in the opening two minutes and promptly got a punch to the face from a Tommies' player, who was not carded. I just remember looking around to see if anyone else say what I just saw! That was the St. Thomas playbook that day, play as dirty as possible! They picked up foul after foul early to set the tone and got away a bunch more fouls that weren't called. Cheap shots were the order of the day and not a single red card was delivered. Despite that, Francisco Delgado gave BenU the 1-0 lead with a goal in the 36th minute, assisted by Erik Stammer on a rebound. It looked like that 1-0 lead would last but in the 87th minute the Tommies tied it up to force overtime and shock us all. Neither team scored in the 1st overtime and Marti-Polo made a tremendous save to open the second OT but the deflected shot went right to a Tommie who headed it into the open net to win it for St. Thomas. It was a thrilling, back and forth, incredible game that ended in double OT, with a trip to the Elite 8 on the line. The frustrating part is that Benedictine was certainly the better team. We had 8 corner kicks to their 2 and outshot them 12-10 despite being pummeled all game long. There should have been multiple red cards but the Tommies weren't given any at all. The other frustrating part is that somehow the Eagles did not finish in the Top 25 at season's end. They were certainly one of the 8 best teams in the nation and this loss also cost Nick Kapetanos a 1st Team All-American nod. He earned 2nd team for his amazing 21 goal, 7 assist season but a win there at U of C earns the team more opportunities for Nick to show his stuff and for the team to climb the rankings. Another game I am still mad about! The other Eagles game is the softball game May 9, 2014 in the D3 NCAA Regionals at U of C as well. That day, BenU defeated 20th ranked UW-Whitewater 4-2 to advance to the next day's winner's bracket game vs. Thomas More, which they also won 2-1 to earn the Eagles a spot in the Regional Final where they would have to play Whitewater once again. Whitewater would win game 1 on the 11th 7-5 and then beat the Eagles again 5-2 to advance to the Super Regionals. Whitewater would eventually go all the way to the National Semifinals before their season wound end, so that win against them on the 9th is even more impressive. I also picked the Whitewater win over the Thomas More win the next day because it was just so damn fun! That Eagles team finished 34-13 and somehow finished out of the Top 25, as Whitewater ended up ranked 5th. The 4-2 BenU win on the 9th was highlighted by a 3-run 4th inning. Holly Haberkorn was the story of that game with two doubles and a single. She then pitched the final two shutout innings to earn the save. Melissa Guzior earned the victory. Shannon Fritsche doubled in a run while Chelsea White had two hits, and RBI and stole a base. Collecting a total of 13 hits on the day and having at least one hit in each inning is not easy to do and is why I pick this game from that playoff. That team was so much fun to broadcast and the seniors held their graduation ceremony in their Hotel lobby if I remember correctly! I was not terribly thrilled with broadcasting from a card table against the backstop for a NCAA Regional but that team was worth it. If I ever come out of retirement, it would be to broadcast games for BenU softball. I just love that program and that sport. While I'm on the topic of softball, I will next talk about Major Men's Fastpitch in Aurora. I got to take over for Steve Klauke as the voice of that team when Steve moved to Salt Lake City for AAA baseball and pre and post game work with the Utah Jazz. Bob Locke helped me with home games and I did road games and tournaments solo. Aurora was always one of the best teams in the World. The 1989 ISC World Tournament in Kimberly, Wisconsin was highlighted with long games, rain delays and more. I have mentioned this game before but due to all that, the game in question did not even start until 2am! There was no curfew. The games had to be completed so the Tourney could continue. This was another game I used to have on cassette but do not have it any longer, so specific details are gone with the wind. What I remember is that we broadcast the game live and also taped it to play later in the day. That team was so popular in town that plenty listened live. The proof was I did a giveaway to the 3rd caller in the 4th inning and a lot of people called! I bought plenty of Big Gulps worth of Mountain Dew to stay awake. Problem was, due to a long game, two hours in, I really had to go to the washroom which was not close to the field! Bob Locke was there as a fan and I called down to him between innings to help me out, lol. He did a half inning for me as I took care of business and he then went back to his hotel. This was after 4am! The game itself did not end until just after 5am and I remember driving back to my room as the sun came up! Naturally, we had to be back at 11am for our next game, so there wasn't much rest that day. Those tourneys were so much fun. We had a heck of a team that season. We finished 9th in the World with Michael White 1st-team All-Tournament at 3-1 with an 0.00 ERA and 53 strikeouts to just one walk. Wild. Whitey is now the head Softball Coach at Texas, currently ranked 16th this season. John Sudges finished 2nd Team All-World with a .375 batting average. Sioux City Penn Corp won the ISC that year in 1989. I got to travel the continent with that team. It was so much fun as were home games at the old S-A Field. Ah, the good old days. The 2014-2015 Lewis U. women's basketball team is next. I have told many stories about that Elite 8 season and about a 3 OT game the season before that. One game that makes my Top Ten list is from early in that 31-3 season. Very early. We all thought it was going to be a special year but this game proved it to all of us. The first two exhibition games were wins over D1 programs 83-61 over Loyola and 60-49 over NIU. The final exhibition was at Marquette Nov. 9th and against a team that had won 22 games the year before and had made the NIT. Could we beat all three D1's? Really? My girls came up to Milwaukee with me and that also made that day memorable. Then I looked at their roster! Holy Crap! That is the largest roster I have ever seen. Their post players on the roster were 6'5", 6'4", 6'3", 6'3" and 6'1", lol. We had no one over 6'0" on our roster and one of our 6-footers was our wing defender Alyssa Dengler. How in the world were we going to defend these Amazons?! lol. I really didn't think we had much of a chance. It was fun though to be at the scorer's table of that D1 gym doing the broadcast no matter the outcome. Then the game started. It was not the prettiest game but we hung with them all first half long and trailed by just four at 37-33 at the break. All-American Mariyah Henley had foul trouble, so our main post player only ended up playing 24 minutes in the game and finished with just 9 points but did have 12 rebounds in that span. But playing that huge team with having Mariyah on the bench for half the game was even more ominous. All you needed to know about how tough and how good the 5'10" Jess Reinhart was, is that she finished with a team best 24 points against their size with 10 rebounds in 31 minutes! Their game plan was also to shut down our other All-American Jamie Johnson and they did so to the tune of holding her to just 10 shots and 8 points. What they didn't count on was Alexis Grayer coming off the bench to hit three 3's and finish with 15 points! Dengler held their 3pt specialist to just 2 of 8 and our scrappy defense held them to just 29 percent shooting on the day. Quickness made up for lack of height. It was a thrilling finish and Lewis won 75-72. There were 11 ties and 11 lead changes and Reinhart's two free throws with 8 seconds left sealed the win. It was so exciting. Winning despite their size was impressive. Marquette finished with 32 offensive rebounds!, Wow, but the most amazing stat was that they only beat Lewis in points in the paint by one at 31-30! That is all down to effort and depth. I remember gushing in the postgame show about what a special season that had a chance to be. That game made me a believer, for sure. Special that season certainly was and that game was the hint of even better things to come. I have talked about triple overtimes already but I have not talked much about one that decided a state championship. I broadcast 12 straight years of the IHSA weekends in Champaign and the 1989 Boys AA Title game was one of the best ever. East St. Louis Lincoln edged Peoria Central 59-57 in 3 OT to win their 3rd straight championship. Cuonzo Martin led the way with 21 points and Vincent Jackson added 16. Mike Hughes finished with 21 for Peoria and Charles White added 20. The loss was Peoria's only defeat of the season and finished 32-1. Jackson finished off the thriller with a 16-foot buzzer beater for the Championship. Peoria had missed a buzzer beater at the end of the 2nd OT. Hughes had hit a buzzer beater to end the 1st OT. Peoria could have also won it in regulation. Tyrone Howard missed a shot with 6 seconds left, got the rebound and called timeout giving them one last chance. Chris Reynolds was called for charging with 2 seconds left though, so on to the three OT's we went. It was so amazing to call the longest Championship game in IHSA history. Lastly, I wanted to talk about a Minor League baseball game I haven't talked much about yet. There is the 24 inning Slammers doubleheader, the Jake Renshaw complete game in unreal heat and humidity, the Kane County game live on ESPN2 in with an actual temperature of 106 degrees, 3 no-hitters, an A-Rod game in Appleton, an 18 inning Jackhammers game, a Jeff Liefer home run that is still going and more that I have talked about already in my 14 years and 1091 games in pro ball. The 2011 Joliet Slammers gave me my only Championship ring in my 41 years of play-by-play of any sport so I think it is only proper though that I should talk more about the game that won that the team the Frontier League Championship and gave me my lone ring. It certainly is one I will never forget. I was a wild game for sure that the Slammers won 6-5 vs. the River City Rascals that meant Joliet took the series 3 games to 1. Weather was a factor as the game started 45 minutes late in Joliet thanks to rain and there was another rain delay of about 2 and a half hours in the 4th inning as well. The Rascals were heavy favorites, by the way, with 68 wins in the regular season, the most ever. The Slammers earned their way into the Final by playing .660 baseball over the final two months. River City won game one and scored first in every game of the series and did it again in this game 4 with back to back doubles in the 5th from Chris McClendon and Logan Parker and they eventually scored 3 runs in that top of the 5th. In the bottom of the 5th, the Slammers came alive with 5 straight hits and scored 3 of their own to tie it at 3-3. The big hit was a 2-run single from Brad Netzel. At the end of the inning, Stephen Holdren hurled the ball out of Silver Cross and onto the street in anger, lol. The Rascals re-took the lead with a run in the top of the 6th on a Jereck West rbi triple. In the bottom of the 7th the Slammers scored three times though, all with 2 outs to take a 6-4 lead that lasted into the 9th. Joliet had local product and the league's best closer Ryan Quigley on the mound. The Rascals made it interesting and tense for me in the booth as they scored once to make it 6-5, with Holdren coming to the plate with two outs. He was the league's best all around hitter and League MVP. Quigley got Holdren to ground out to end the game and end the stress as the team then mobbed Quigs on the mound. Ryan finished with a league record 28 saves. I got to call my only ever Championship final out! "The Slammers are Frontier League Champs!" In typical fashion it was a come from behind, exciting win for Joliet. They were a special group of guys to spend the summer with and I will be forever grateful for their fun 2011 season. I wanted to stay and celebrate in the locker room but it was already after midnight, thanks to the rain delays. I did get my champagne shower though and did get to share in the joy for a bit before I had to get home. I smiled all the way back to Naperville. I just realized I finished the list without mentioning any of the 25 years I broadcast college football! I spent 13 years broadcasting Benedictine, after 12 years with Aurora U. I also did a handful of football games filling in at Elmhurst College and a few at College of DuPage. So I will add this paragraph about the best D3 running back I ever saw over that time, Ron Griffin. Ron is in the Aurora U. Hall of Fame for his 3,691 yards rushing and for being a 3-time pre-season All-American! I have never seen anyone like him. He was unstoppable. He rushed for 177 yards as a sophomore against Dubuque College and then 176 vs Benedictine as a senior. In between, he came back from a serious knee injury. And that's after breaking a foot as a senior at Dixon H.S. Who knows how great he could have been if 100 percent healthy. That game against Benedictine was Oct 13, 1990 in a 22-7 Spartans win. It put Ron over 1000 yards for the season, 12th best in the nation at the time, at 1,074. He then had one game to go in his career at Menlo, where he picked up 85 more yards. He was not completely healed as a junior and settled for just 983 yards that year, lol. Coach Jim Scott limited his carries that season and he still almost reached 1,000! He could block and catch but mostly he just shook off tacklers like they weren't there and kept on going. I don't remember much more about the game in question but I do remember how happy I was for him to get that 1.000 yards and to come so close again to a 200 yard game. He was special. Many, many others could have made this list but this is not a bad bit of luck for me to be a part of these exciting games. My best compliment was one of the first I ever received. While subbing for Steve Klauke's talk show on WMRO, I got a call during a commercial break from my blind Uncle Flavin. He told me he enjoyed my play-by-play because it helped him 'see' the game in his mind. There isn't anything better and it reminded me of my job ever after. I hope I have helped you take your mind off your troubles for a few hours at a time over the years and enjoyed 'seeing' some sporting events with me. Have a good night. And thanks. |
2/7/2023
I was looking at old concert tickets of mine and realized the 45th anniversary of my first ever concert has just passed. January 21, 1978 is the date my friend John Carroll and I went to see Emerson, Lake and Palmer at the old International Amphitheatre on the south side of Chicago by the old Stock Yards. It was located at 42nd and Halsted, just a few blocks from where I live now! Back then, it was a bit of a drive from Palatine for my buddy and I though. We didn't care. It was going to be an adventure. We were both 16 years old and John had just gotten his driver's license. I didn't have a license or a car. He had both. It was a Saturday night and he and I were just driving back to his house from McDonalds. His parents were going to be out late as usual. They enjoyed their parties! We heard on the Loop that tickets were still available at the door for tonight's ELP show at the Amphitheatre. We looked at each other and said in unison "Let's go!". It was day two of their three day stand in Chicago! Maybe that's why some tickets were available. The first picture is from that first night that became a bootleg. So we headed the car onto the highway and into the big city. Back then, there was no internet or cell phones or directions that were easy to come by. I honestly don't remember exactly how we figured out where we were going or how we got there. We certainly did not know the City at that point. I think we used a pay phone to call 411 to get the address and then used an old fold out map, lol. Regardless, we got there, paid the $9.50 per ticket and went in. We sat pretty high up but did not care. We were at a real, honest to goodness, ROCK SHOW. Back then, my job at K-mart meant I could afford things like drive-in movies, albums and eventually concert tickets like this. Concerts were not insanely expensive back in the day. Thankfully. The first thing that hit us as we took our seats was marijuana smoke, lol. The old arena was filled with smoke, funny smelling smoke! We both got high just sitting there, I'm sure. Then a guy sitting directly above my seat in the section above me spilled his beer down on me and down the back of my shirt, lol. Welcome to the big city and to rock shows! The craziest part of the show was when Keith Emerson, strapped to his piano, would rise above the stage and he and the piano would spin 360 degrees while he played! Wild. Google it. It is on YouTube. Crazy cool for a kid to see that at his first rock concert. We had a blast and they were great. We drove home confident no one would be the wiser. His parents would always stay out til about 2am and I was going to stay overnight. Naturally this was the one time they came home early. Earlier than us. We were busted. Where were we?! We had to confess and it did not go over well. He got grounded. My parents were called. They were none too pleased either. We didn't care, lol. We had an adventure and had loved it. My life-long habit of concert going had begun. Thanks ELP. |
2/2/2023
It has been almost 16 years now, since the then new owners of Sporting News Radio dropped the hammer. I will never forget that day and will never get over it. (over-sharing alert, lol) I had worked there when it was the One-one-One Sports Network and was the tenth and last to be laid off by the new Program Director in his silly house cleaning. I bounced around, then heard that regime did not last. I was not surprised. I called up Bob Berger and said I would love to come back and he immediately said to come in the next day and get started. They didn't really have money in the budget for me but needed me as just about everyone there was overdue to take their vacation time, lol. So it was worked out that I was basically full-time as a part-timer. I didn't care. I was home again at the now called Sporting News Radio Network. I moved into a tiny apartment in Lincoln Park to cut into my drive time to Northbrook, since the commute from Naperville was terrible. It was such a great group of people that all worked together and we took pride in being better than our main competitor in ESPN. We all thought we were better, at least. Being the underdog was fun though. I got to do everything there from sportscasts to reporting to talk shows. I even became the main fill-in for the Todd Wright Tonight overnight show. I was where I belonged, doing what I do best and was even paying my bills! Then it all came crashing down when an entire building's worth of people got called into that one big room to essentially be fired! A company bought Sporting News for the magazine and did not care about the radio division. They certainly did not want any property in Chicago. So while they tried to sell us, the radio side would be moved to L.A. and almost no one was invited to come along. And we were supposed to be grateful that an owner flew all the way out here to fire us in person. Super. After having my 11 years at WKKD end due to the insane and mistaken decision to go Spanish language, it had happened again. I lost a job I loved because of greed and business nonsense. Heartbroken does not even describe it. I now had an apartment I could not pay for and had to start over yet again while living on credit cards. I seriously thought about whether or not I wanted to stay on this planet. (I told you, over-sharing alert, lol) I eventually got a job renting apartments in the City after a Radio job search debacle I will tell you about soon, and that, along with play-by-play, kept me going. Colleges don't change owners or formats. So games for Benedictine and Lewis, plus eventually the Slammers kept me behind the mic while I tried to get my full-time radio life back. Meeting my wife Chris also made me glad I stuck around on Earth and I eventually got jobs at the Illinois Radio Network and then the US Traffic Network. They would remind me I was still a radio guy. Those jobs and Networks would go away too, of course! Oh well. That's my life, friends. To tell you how much I miss Sporting News Radio, I still occasionally drive up to Northbrook and drive into that parking lot on Techny Road to look at that old building of ours. I loved that place and those people and that job. Thanks for putting up with me as I get some of these memories out of my system as my time under headsets comes to a close soon. Please and thank you.
It has been almost 16 years now, since the then new owners of Sporting News Radio dropped the hammer. I will never forget that day and will never get over it. (over-sharing alert, lol) I had worked there when it was the One-one-One Sports Network and was the tenth and last to be laid off by the new Program Director in his silly house cleaning. I bounced around, then heard that regime did not last. I was not surprised. I called up Bob Berger and said I would love to come back and he immediately said to come in the next day and get started. They didn't really have money in the budget for me but needed me as just about everyone there was overdue to take their vacation time, lol. So it was worked out that I was basically full-time as a part-timer. I didn't care. I was home again at the now called Sporting News Radio Network. I moved into a tiny apartment in Lincoln Park to cut into my drive time to Northbrook, since the commute from Naperville was terrible. It was such a great group of people that all worked together and we took pride in being better than our main competitor in ESPN. We all thought we were better, at least. Being the underdog was fun though. I got to do everything there from sportscasts to reporting to talk shows. I even became the main fill-in for the Todd Wright Tonight overnight show. I was where I belonged, doing what I do best and was even paying my bills! Then it all came crashing down when an entire building's worth of people got called into that one big room to essentially be fired! A company bought Sporting News for the magazine and did not care about the radio division. They certainly did not want any property in Chicago. So while they tried to sell us, the radio side would be moved to L.A. and almost no one was invited to come along. And we were supposed to be grateful that an owner flew all the way out here to fire us in person. Super. After having my 11 years at WKKD end due to the insane and mistaken decision to go Spanish language, it had happened again. I lost a job I loved because of greed and business nonsense. Heartbroken does not even describe it. I now had an apartment I could not pay for and had to start over yet again while living on credit cards. I seriously thought about whether or not I wanted to stay on this planet. (I told you, over-sharing alert, lol) I eventually got a job renting apartments in the City after a Radio job search debacle I will tell you about soon, and that, along with play-by-play, kept me going. Colleges don't change owners or formats. So games for Benedictine and Lewis, plus eventually the Slammers kept me behind the mic while I tried to get my full-time radio life back. Meeting my wife Chris also made me glad I stuck around on Earth and I eventually got jobs at the Illinois Radio Network and then the US Traffic Network. They would remind me I was still a radio guy. Those jobs and Networks would go away too, of course! Oh well. That's my life, friends. To tell you how much I miss Sporting News Radio, I still occasionally drive up to Northbrook and drive into that parking lot on Techny Road to look at that old building of ours. I loved that place and those people and that job. Thanks for putting up with me as I get some of these memories out of my system as my time under headsets comes to a close soon. Please and thank you.
2/1/2023
Happy National Girls and Women in Sports Day #NGWSD. I have broadcast the NIU women's basketball team in multiple D1 NCAA Tournaments under Jane Albright, the Lewis U women's team into the D2 Elite 8 under the current NIU coach Lisa Carlsen, but I also was behind the mic for the Aurora U. women's team in the 1994 D3 Tournament under James Lancaster. They fell in the 2nd round 77-60 that year to Wash U. who then made it to the Title game. Aurora won 12 games in a row that season and they remain the highest scoring team in school history at 77 points per game and still have the record for most rebounds in a season as a team as well. They finished that campaign 22-5. Dana Lettow is still the all-time Spartan career points leader with 1,693, good for 18 points per game over 94 games. She won Conference Player of the Year that season and then twice more! Jen Gabel, also from that team, remains the all-time school leader in career field goals with 624 and all-time career leader in rebounds with 1,136 and was Conference Player of the Year the previous season! Samantha Harris was another all-conference selection from that year's team. Again, the shame of that season is AU had to travel to Wash U for that second round game, after defeating Wartburg 61-57 in the first round. The Spartans were an Elite 8 level team but ran into another one a bit too early in that tournament, down in St. Louis. Capital topped Washington 82-63 in the National Championship game. My 41 year career broadcasting basketball in Illinois ends in a few weeks. I have also been courtside for more than a dozen IHSA girls basketball tournaments in that time and I am proud to have promoted the women's game for four decades in Illinois. Please and thank you. |
1/31/2023
So yesterday's post about a triple overtime game prompted this post, as it was another of my most favorite basketball broadcasts of my career. It was a Naperville North 76-60 win over Naperville Central also in triple overtime. It took place at East Aurora HS on March 11, 1994 in front of 3,700 very loud fans in a AA Sectional Final. The atmosphere was incredible and the game was wild. I broadcast the game on WKKD FM that night by myself as memory serves, since we had two other playoff games that night on WKKD AM. Fomer Major League ballplayer Jerry Hairston came off the bench at point guard for Naperville North. Larry Christian was their offense that night however as he hit 20 of 23 from the foul line and had 34 points! Sean Jones ended with 15 points, 12 rebounds and finished a triple-double with 10 turnovers! Scott Carius for North hit a late 3-pointer to force the first overtime. Mike Dauernheim continued to then hit big shot after big shot late to push the game to it's limit for Central. The craziest part was North then outscoring Central 16-0 in the 3rd overtime to finally put it away. The North Huskies, under Mark Lindo, would then lose to Conant in the SuperSectional after having beaten them in their Christmas Tournament Championship game. Lindo's Huskies got back to a SuperSectional in 1998 vs Elgin but fell to a packed Maroons team that featured three Division 1 players on it. Sean Harrington, Marcus Smallwood and Marcus Howard were tough to beat.
So yesterday's post about a triple overtime game prompted this post, as it was another of my most favorite basketball broadcasts of my career. It was a Naperville North 76-60 win over Naperville Central also in triple overtime. It took place at East Aurora HS on March 11, 1994 in front of 3,700 very loud fans in a AA Sectional Final. The atmosphere was incredible and the game was wild. I broadcast the game on WKKD FM that night by myself as memory serves, since we had two other playoff games that night on WKKD AM. Fomer Major League ballplayer Jerry Hairston came off the bench at point guard for Naperville North. Larry Christian was their offense that night however as he hit 20 of 23 from the foul line and had 34 points! Sean Jones ended with 15 points, 12 rebounds and finished a triple-double with 10 turnovers! Scott Carius for North hit a late 3-pointer to force the first overtime. Mike Dauernheim continued to then hit big shot after big shot late to push the game to it's limit for Central. The craziest part was North then outscoring Central 16-0 in the 3rd overtime to finally put it away. The North Huskies, under Mark Lindo, would then lose to Conant in the SuperSectional after having beaten them in their Christmas Tournament Championship game. Lindo's Huskies got back to a SuperSectional in 1998 vs Elgin but fell to a packed Maroons team that featured three Division 1 players on it. Sean Harrington, Marcus Smallwood and Marcus Howard were tough to beat.
1/30/2023
I mentioned this incredible game while on the air this past Saturday since the Lewis women played Indy again. This triple overtime classic was 9 years ago today and I will never forget it. It was one of the most fun broadcasts of my career. Both teams were ranked in the top 20 at the time and this was the group of Flyers that went to the Elite 8 the following season after being ranked #1 in the nation. Mariyah Henley finished with 23 points and 18 rebounds! Jamie Johnson led with 29 points and 7 three-pointers. The Flyers finished with 60 rebounds!
I mentioned this incredible game while on the air this past Saturday since the Lewis women played Indy again. This triple overtime classic was 9 years ago today and I will never forget it. It was one of the most fun broadcasts of my career. Both teams were ranked in the top 20 at the time and this was the group of Flyers that went to the Elite 8 the following season after being ranked #1 in the nation. Mariyah Henley finished with 23 points and 18 rebounds! Jamie Johnson led with 29 points and 7 three-pointers. The Flyers finished with 60 rebounds!
1/30/2023
So Bobby Hull has died. I don't know why but as amazing as he was, he was never a favorite of mine as a kid. I knew nothing of him off ice btw. I just always liked his brother Dennis better and Espo, Mikita, Stapleton and Maggie too, and eventually Savard, Larmer and Wilson. I was a Stan Mikita kid way more than I was a Bobby Hull kid for those Hawks teams. Stan also being Slovak, like me, had a lot to do with it for sure. And I think I've mentioned it before but the only two people I was ever nervous to interview in my career were Doug Wilson and Greg Lemond. That's it. That's the list, lol. I loved to watch Dougy. I've been lucky enough to interview just about any big name you can imagine, from Jordan to Tiger to Payton and on and on. Believe me, Doug's death will hit me harder than the Golden Jet. I was a kid out of college and in the Hawks locker room at Chicago Stadium the first time. I go up to Wilson, practically shaking lol. I ask him one question. He couldn't have been nicer. I then just froze and couldn't think of anything else! After a few seconds of silence I thanked him and walked away, cursing myself under my breath. After a minute or two, I calmed down and thought of a power-play question and went back for more. Knucklehead. Greg Lemond came to town about 25 years ago promoting something or other and I went as a fan more than anything. The only poster I ever had on my wall of an athlete was Greg Lemond. He was and is a hero to me. I have always loved pro cycling and he is the main reason. I had my chance to talk to him that day and again was literally shaking. I shook his hand, said hi, asked a couple of innocuous questions and walked away with the biggest silly smile on my face. I had been a professional sportscaster for years by then. It didn't matter. It was GREG LEMOND! I never had problems with anyone else other than maybe Coach Ditka. He was a bit intimidating for a young kid in the 1984 training camp in Platteville. I sat with him in his golf cart and asked a handful of questions, couldn't think of any more and was about to leave when one more about how great Brian Baschnagel was as a holder came to mind, lol. Bobby Hull, it turns out, was not such a great guy out of uniform. In a way, that makes it easier for me, since he was not a hero of mine. I kind of put him in the Bobby Knight category. Both were really successful in their careers but I wouldn't have wanted anything to do with either in their off hours and would have hated living next door to them. I guess I would rather they were better humans and worse at their jobs. Please and thank you. |
1/25/2023
I am not the first to point this out but if Scott Rolen is a Hall of Famer then so is Mark Grace, who never even got 5 percent of the vote. Grace had 407 more hits in his career in one less season, while striking out 768 fewer times. Rolen hit .300 3 times, Grace did it 9 times and had a career average of .303 to Rolen's .281. Both won multiple gold gloves and both were all-stars multiple times. Both had almost identical amounts of doubles and triples. Rolen had more home runs. Super. That alone shouldn't mean he is a Hall of Famer while Grace doesn't even get consideration. Grace led the decade of the 90's in hits and doubles. Only Pete Rose is not in the Hall of Fame while leading a decade in hits and we know why. Elite defensive first basemen are so underrated and so valuable. Talk to Cubs pitchers and Shawon Dunston about runs prevented. A gold glove 1B is light years better than a guy just put there to catch the ball. He was the best defensive 1B in his league in his era besides his offense. Ridiculous that Rolen is in while Grace is not. |
1/23/2023
All you need to know about the enduring power of radio is contained in tributes to Lin Brehmer on social media, WXRT & WSCR today. If radio is a dying medium it's because of corporate stupidity, corporate mergers, corporate consolidation--in other words corporate greed is killing it, not because it does not still have value to people as entertainment or as a companion. I could go on for a while on this soap box and might do that at some point but suffice it to say, many many people valued Lin and the service he provided to the point they are suffering his loss today in a serious and genuine way. I am retiring from radio after more than 40 years in about a month. I know it's value from both sides of the transaction. I am proud of my part in helping people pass the time and forget their troubles for a few hours. Lin was among the best ever at it. I will likely have more to say after my last Lewis game but for now just know that I will defend my chosen profession to the ends of the earth and am proud of even being in the same building as Lin for a while. And by the way, cancer sucks and I'm sick of losing good people to it.
All you need to know about the enduring power of radio is contained in tributes to Lin Brehmer on social media, WXRT & WSCR today. If radio is a dying medium it's because of corporate stupidity, corporate mergers, corporate consolidation--in other words corporate greed is killing it, not because it does not still have value to people as entertainment or as a companion. I could go on for a while on this soap box and might do that at some point but suffice it to say, many many people valued Lin and the service he provided to the point they are suffering his loss today in a serious and genuine way. I am retiring from radio after more than 40 years in about a month. I know it's value from both sides of the transaction. I am proud of my part in helping people pass the time and forget their troubles for a few hours. Lin was among the best ever at it. I will likely have more to say after my last Lewis game but for now just know that I will defend my chosen profession to the ends of the earth and am proud of even being in the same building as Lin for a while. And by the way, cancer sucks and I'm sick of losing good people to it.
1/22/2023
Not how I wanted to start the day. Such sad, sad news. Lin Brehmer was the best of radio of any kind. As in kind. He made you feel like he was your friend, whether you knew him or not and he was the best of Chicago as well. One of the best things about my working at the Score at the old Belmont Ave. address was sharing that tiny space with WXRT. One of my favorite things was walking down the creaky floorboards of that skinny hallway down to the XRT studios. I was a kid in a candy store. I had listened to that station forever and was able to peak in on Lin, Terri and my old SIU classmate Rich Milne from time to time. Ljn was as passionate a Cubs fan as I was and as passionate a Rock fan as I was. It felt like he was riding in the passenger seat of my car with me as we listened to music and talked Cubs. Irreplaceable is a term that is overused, really, but there is and was only one Lin. RIP.
Not how I wanted to start the day. Such sad, sad news. Lin Brehmer was the best of radio of any kind. As in kind. He made you feel like he was your friend, whether you knew him or not and he was the best of Chicago as well. One of the best things about my working at the Score at the old Belmont Ave. address was sharing that tiny space with WXRT. One of my favorite things was walking down the creaky floorboards of that skinny hallway down to the XRT studios. I was a kid in a candy store. I had listened to that station forever and was able to peak in on Lin, Terri and my old SIU classmate Rich Milne from time to time. Ljn was as passionate a Cubs fan as I was and as passionate a Rock fan as I was. It felt like he was riding in the passenger seat of my car with me as we listened to music and talked Cubs. Irreplaceable is a term that is overused, really, but there is and was only one Lin. RIP.
1/20/2023 Today is National DJ Day. Here is a look back to when I was spinning records, actual records, for WIDB down at SIU. Memories of our playlist and our promotions. I had an overnight shift for a semester and played music from midnight to 6am. I did not make it to many 8am classes, lol. It was fun to have the run of the place overnight with a big record collection to play with but it was tough to then go to class, for sure, no matter when! Then it's a couple pictures from my WKKD days, when my winter beard did not make me look like Santa! I played music there too from time to time, as well as my talk shows etc. I played holiday tunes every Christmas morning for 11 years and DJ'd many other times over the years at good ole AM 1580. I don't have any pictures from my WMRO days but I spun records for WAUR on their FM side weekend nights when I first got hired there. My first full-time radio job was in State College, Pa. I worked 7 days a week. Sure, why not, lol. I was a sportscaster Monday through Friday and was a DJ on the weekends from 6am to 10am, playing oldies. Thankfully I was young and dumb and enjoying being in radio doing anything! Memorable and fun times indeed. |
1/20/2023
Happy Birthday to my brother Mick Kahler. We have spent 40 years going to dozens of concerts and games together, among other things. The good times we've had are innumerable, thanks mostly to his free concert tickets! lol. Almost every Country show I ever went to was thanks to Mick and his US99 tickets! (Although I did go without him to see Dierks Bentley at Joe's Bar before Dierks was big, back in the day.) But I never would have seen people like Alan Jackson etc. without him. Plus, he and I saw some of the best rock shows of our lives together, like the Ramones at the Smart Bar and the Aragon, the Clash at the Aragon twice, the Who in 1982 at Rosemont and too many others to count. He and I saw John Eddie at Poplar Creek as an opener and we danced in the aisle like fools to Jungle Boy as everyone else looked on in astonishment! Most people don't know who Kool Ray and the Polaroidz are but he and I do and we saw that great local bar band a bunch of times. We both ended up in radio by some strange coincidence and have had some crazy adventures on and off the air ever since. I have always thought we would make a great talk show team and regret we have never had the chance to find out. I am lucky enough to have several good friends but sadly most of them moved away from Chicagoland a long time ago. Mick is one of the few of my brothers who remains. We don't hang out as much anymore as lives get in the way but I am forever grateful for his friendship and the laughs he has provided. These pictures highlight just a couple memorable road trips. One was to see Bruce in Cleveland and we also traveled to the Super Bowl in Atlanta together and had one heck of a weekend, seeing the Hawks vs Knicks on Saturday and then the Super Bowl the next day. Thanks for all the adventures Mickey! Here's to you my friend! |
1/5/2023
After a long holiday break, my next Lewis basketball broadcast is January 12 as my 20th and final Flyers season continues. I was going through old press passes, concert tickets and so on, the last few days. I found some stuff from my college days at SIU. Some of it dates back to 40 years ago! Those two passes that are together are from the Spring of 1982 when I joined the stat crew for basketball games after Winter break. Later that Spring I was the public address announcer for our baseball games. My play-by-play career at the student radio station WIDB began later that fall when I did all the home football games, including that contest vs West Texas State on 11/20/82. I then did play-by-play for the basketball games for the 1982-1983 season, followed by the home baseball games on WIDB in the Spring of '83. That is a game program from that season. Kinda fun finding something from basketball games 40 years ago as I start to wrap things up in these next two months and contemplate putting down the headsets I first picked up way back when. |
12/28/2022
This post is for me more than anything, lol, but also for any in my family that are interested in our history. I digitized pages from an old photo book that my Mom had put together a long time ago. Looking at these is very interesting to me since I love history and am curious about my family history in particular. These are mostly very, very old, with family pictures from WWI for goodness sake! The notations are from my Mom, so when she says Great Uncle, she means her Great Uncle, therefore my Great Great Uncle Hard Hartonstall. Now there's a name! lol. But then again, I remember Grandma Mabel telling me about her Cousin Oper, Uncle Dink and Aunt Fanny, lol. When Mom says Dad here, she means her Dad, my Grandpa Foley. There is a picture of him as a teenager! There is also stuff from our family Coal Company in Bloomington, a family furniture store, my Mom's Beauty Contest win, my parent's wedding pictures and Mabel's modeling pictures from 1920 that she did for ads for Rothchild's Department Store in Kansas City, where she met my Grandpa. You can zoom into these pictures and they still look pretty good all these years later. There is also a picture of a house in Denver Mom says she lived at in the 1940's. I had forgotten they ever lived there and don't really know how long they were there. My Mom's side, the Butler's, came from Ireland to Kentucky, then Joplin Missouri, Kansas City, Bloomington, Denver and Chicago. You go where the work is, especially back then. It's cool to look this far back. I have ancestors that fought against the British in the Revolutionary War, for goodness sake. Enjoy. I did. |
12/19/2022
Aurora University finishes the football season ranked #13 in the nation in D3 and North Central is ranked #1 after winning the championship over Mount Union 28-21. AU and NCC are just 11 miles apart, by the way. Pretty good football around here. Plus, I was the broadcaster for the Spartans for their first 12 years of football after the brought the sport back, including that very first game at Colorado College in 1986, so that's why they get top billing, lol. To see them advance in the playoffs and finish ranked #13 in the D3football.com poll this year is pretty freakin' cool. I wish I could have broadcast their postseason games this year. I would have meant a lot to me. I feel like I am a member of the Aurora Spartans Football Alumni even if I was just in the booth for those 100-plus games and not an actual AU grad. So happy for them and even our rival Cardinals for all they have accomplished, as they take the Title with an undefeated 15-0 record. The full final 2022 poll is below.
https://www.d3football.com/top25/2022/final?fbclid=IwAR2VOv9RSPT7sXigzQ1YlNf2LUTBS5DdbVBG-PukN0Y8BPFL16MgaUanKkM
Aurora University finishes the football season ranked #13 in the nation in D3 and North Central is ranked #1 after winning the championship over Mount Union 28-21. AU and NCC are just 11 miles apart, by the way. Pretty good football around here. Plus, I was the broadcaster for the Spartans for their first 12 years of football after the brought the sport back, including that very first game at Colorado College in 1986, so that's why they get top billing, lol. To see them advance in the playoffs and finish ranked #13 in the D3football.com poll this year is pretty freakin' cool. I wish I could have broadcast their postseason games this year. I would have meant a lot to me. I feel like I am a member of the Aurora Spartans Football Alumni even if I was just in the booth for those 100-plus games and not an actual AU grad. So happy for them and even our rival Cardinals for all they have accomplished, as they take the Title with an undefeated 15-0 record. The full final 2022 poll is below.
https://www.d3football.com/top25/2022/final?fbclid=IwAR2VOv9RSPT7sXigzQ1YlNf2LUTBS5DdbVBG-PukN0Y8BPFL16MgaUanKkM
12/11/2022
I'm just curious of what Sox fans think of this, with attendance talk upfront once again. One of the main draws of Wrigley is it's history. The park itself draws fans due to it's age etc. Chris and I were talking about old Comiskey yesterday and one of the worst decisions Reinsdorf made was to tear it down and replace it. She loved old Comiskey and has never warmed to the new park. I like the new park but it is not Comiskey. I think it was vanity that made Reinsdorf want to join other cities in getting a fancy new ballpark with luxury suites etc. when he threatened to move the team if he didn't get it. (another crime of his that he has gotten away with) I think spending the millions on upgrading and modernizing the old park would have been the better idea. The history of Comiskey would be a draw for people to come to town and see games on both sides of town. Old Comiskey hosted Babe Ruth and all the other early MLB greats, the first All-Star game, Negro League All-Star games, World Series games dating back to 1917 and so on. We lost all that history when Jerry said I will move the team to Florida if I don't get my way. I honestly think that is his original sin. The upgraded Wrigley is not the park I went to as a kid but it is still Wrigley. It still feels enough like the old days, which surprised even me, when I went there this summer. A newer upgraded Comiskey, even if it took all 200 million to build the new park in 1991 to do it, with suites and whatever else added would still be Comiskey. It is all a moot point, obviously. We can't go back in time, but I wish the new park was never built and I think attendance would be better if the original park was still in use. Whether or not he would have used that money on players is another matter entirely, I suppose. But the truth is, Reinsdorf and Einhorn buying that team was the worst thing that ever happened to the White Sox and proof of that goes back to tearing down that Palace at 35th and Shields 30 years ago. Please and thank you.
I'm just curious of what Sox fans think of this, with attendance talk upfront once again. One of the main draws of Wrigley is it's history. The park itself draws fans due to it's age etc. Chris and I were talking about old Comiskey yesterday and one of the worst decisions Reinsdorf made was to tear it down and replace it. She loved old Comiskey and has never warmed to the new park. I like the new park but it is not Comiskey. I think it was vanity that made Reinsdorf want to join other cities in getting a fancy new ballpark with luxury suites etc. when he threatened to move the team if he didn't get it. (another crime of his that he has gotten away with) I think spending the millions on upgrading and modernizing the old park would have been the better idea. The history of Comiskey would be a draw for people to come to town and see games on both sides of town. Old Comiskey hosted Babe Ruth and all the other early MLB greats, the first All-Star game, Negro League All-Star games, World Series games dating back to 1917 and so on. We lost all that history when Jerry said I will move the team to Florida if I don't get my way. I honestly think that is his original sin. The upgraded Wrigley is not the park I went to as a kid but it is still Wrigley. It still feels enough like the old days, which surprised even me, when I went there this summer. A newer upgraded Comiskey, even if it took all 200 million to build the new park in 1991 to do it, with suites and whatever else added would still be Comiskey. It is all a moot point, obviously. We can't go back in time, but I wish the new park was never built and I think attendance would be better if the original park was still in use. Whether or not he would have used that money on players is another matter entirely, I suppose. But the truth is, Reinsdorf and Einhorn buying that team was the worst thing that ever happened to the White Sox and proof of that goes back to tearing down that Palace at 35th and Shields 30 years ago. Please and thank you.
12/10/2022
White Sox fans on Twitter are complaining how the Chicago baseball media seems to be in the back pocket of the the Cubs and Sox and never take them on. An example is Bruce Levine apparently blamed Sox fans on the radio today for not showing up to the park, taking the team's side on their not spending on free agents.
{My take on that is the Sox are in the entertainment business and it's up to them to provide a product that sells ticket. Spending 2 years straight alienating and antagonizing fans does not do that. That is on the team, not the fans.}
That Twitter complaint prompted me to respond with this story that I have never told anywhere. I have more space for the full story here on this blog, so here it is. The point is Job Security is why not much criticizing of our baseball teams takes place.
I was a guest on the Chicago Tribune Live television show every two weeks for five straight years, over 100 appearances. I started out when Dan Jiggetts was the host and then Dave Kaplan took over. I really enjoyed my time there and figured I was there to provide some flavor because I knew the Trib columnists on the panel probably couldn't do much criticizing. The Trib wanted to keep the teams happy and their guests keep coming on. I started out on that show when I was on the Score and kept appearing when I was on Sporting News Radio and even after that. As an independent, so to speak, I could be a little more colorful in my opinions and figured that was my job. I must have been decent at it since they kept asking me back.
My disdain for Lou Piniella was and is no secret. He was a good guy but terrible as Cubs manager. The team hired him to be the fiery Lou that he was with the Reds. What they got was a guy who wanted to just write out the lineup and sit and watch a baseball game from the dugout. And get paid. That is what he did. Sleepy Lou. And not just that, he also was a Player's Manager to a tee. He never said a bad word about anyone and so there was no accountability in that clubhouse. It was infuriating as a Cubs fan and one day on CTL I just let him have it. I had enough. Carlos Zambrano had a bad game that day and as I was watching, it was obvious why. His arm angle and release point was all over the place. He was a mess at that point. On that day's show, they played his non-answer to the post-game question of what happened to Carlos today. He said something bland to the effect of 'I don't know why he is struggling but he'll be fine' nonsense. Blah, blah, blah. I went off and yelled "Answer the question! That is your job, answer the question! How do you not know the answer? His release point and arm angle are a mess. Aren't you watching the game? Answer the question!" Because to me, by not answering, Lou wasn't helping anyone, not Carlos, not the fans and not the team.
Well, it turns out that was the last time I was ever on that show. Never again. I called, I emailed and never got any response. None. Silence. No explanation as to why I was not asked back. After five years, nothing. No one had the guts to tell me what was obvious. I was too critical of Lou, therefore of the Cubs, and was too loud about it. I didn't even get a 'try not to do that next time' after 100 appearances. I was persona non grata all of the sudden. So be it. I don't regret my comment. It needed to be said right then and on that particular show as it needed a little boost. It had been a little dry to that point. But if you are wondering why baseball media members here aren't too critical, that is the answer. That is all it took for me to lose that five year job. Media is all tied together here. Reporters appear on radio and TV as well as the paper and so on. The teams own or pay to be on those places. Keep them happy and keep them there and keep the money coming. Please and thank you.
White Sox fans on Twitter are complaining how the Chicago baseball media seems to be in the back pocket of the the Cubs and Sox and never take them on. An example is Bruce Levine apparently blamed Sox fans on the radio today for not showing up to the park, taking the team's side on their not spending on free agents.
{My take on that is the Sox are in the entertainment business and it's up to them to provide a product that sells ticket. Spending 2 years straight alienating and antagonizing fans does not do that. That is on the team, not the fans.}
That Twitter complaint prompted me to respond with this story that I have never told anywhere. I have more space for the full story here on this blog, so here it is. The point is Job Security is why not much criticizing of our baseball teams takes place.
I was a guest on the Chicago Tribune Live television show every two weeks for five straight years, over 100 appearances. I started out when Dan Jiggetts was the host and then Dave Kaplan took over. I really enjoyed my time there and figured I was there to provide some flavor because I knew the Trib columnists on the panel probably couldn't do much criticizing. The Trib wanted to keep the teams happy and their guests keep coming on. I started out on that show when I was on the Score and kept appearing when I was on Sporting News Radio and even after that. As an independent, so to speak, I could be a little more colorful in my opinions and figured that was my job. I must have been decent at it since they kept asking me back.
My disdain for Lou Piniella was and is no secret. He was a good guy but terrible as Cubs manager. The team hired him to be the fiery Lou that he was with the Reds. What they got was a guy who wanted to just write out the lineup and sit and watch a baseball game from the dugout. And get paid. That is what he did. Sleepy Lou. And not just that, he also was a Player's Manager to a tee. He never said a bad word about anyone and so there was no accountability in that clubhouse. It was infuriating as a Cubs fan and one day on CTL I just let him have it. I had enough. Carlos Zambrano had a bad game that day and as I was watching, it was obvious why. His arm angle and release point was all over the place. He was a mess at that point. On that day's show, they played his non-answer to the post-game question of what happened to Carlos today. He said something bland to the effect of 'I don't know why he is struggling but he'll be fine' nonsense. Blah, blah, blah. I went off and yelled "Answer the question! That is your job, answer the question! How do you not know the answer? His release point and arm angle are a mess. Aren't you watching the game? Answer the question!" Because to me, by not answering, Lou wasn't helping anyone, not Carlos, not the fans and not the team.
Well, it turns out that was the last time I was ever on that show. Never again. I called, I emailed and never got any response. None. Silence. No explanation as to why I was not asked back. After five years, nothing. No one had the guts to tell me what was obvious. I was too critical of Lou, therefore of the Cubs, and was too loud about it. I didn't even get a 'try not to do that next time' after 100 appearances. I was persona non grata all of the sudden. So be it. I don't regret my comment. It needed to be said right then and on that particular show as it needed a little boost. It had been a little dry to that point. But if you are wondering why baseball media members here aren't too critical, that is the answer. That is all it took for me to lose that five year job. Media is all tied together here. Reporters appear on radio and TV as well as the paper and so on. The teams own or pay to be on those places. Keep them happy and keep them there and keep the money coming. Please and thank you.
12/7/2022
Congrats to Pat Hughes. Pat is the best. In my baseball career, I had hoped a home run call would come to me naturally and after several years one finally appeared. I didn't want to force it. It came out of the blue one day in Kane County and I liked it and thought I should keep it. Shortly thereafter Pat come here after being the voice of the Brewers and I realized my call was his! So I didn't have one for long after all and I never did replace it, lol. It has been a joy listening to his pbp over the years as a Cub fan. His professionalism and personality will always be fun to listen to. I tip my cap to Mr. Hughes.
Congrats to Pat Hughes. Pat is the best. In my baseball career, I had hoped a home run call would come to me naturally and after several years one finally appeared. I didn't want to force it. It came out of the blue one day in Kane County and I liked it and thought I should keep it. Shortly thereafter Pat come here after being the voice of the Brewers and I realized my call was his! So I didn't have one for long after all and I never did replace it, lol. It has been a joy listening to his pbp over the years as a Cub fan. His professionalism and personality will always be fun to listen to. I tip my cap to Mr. Hughes.
11/29/2022
This was the night I mentioned on July 18 after finding out that Cliff Johnson passed away. Cliff came up to Chris and I before this show and said hi and shook our hands and we chatted for a bit. I got to thank him for all the music over the years. I had no idea it was the last time I would see him sing and talk to him but at least I got to let him know what a fan I was. His passing is still hard for me. I loved that band and his songs. They were the ultimate bar band for me, that played for hours and hours and played dozens of songs of theirs and others. They were so much fun and to get to see that lineup one last time that night was special, since Johnny Ivan hadn't played with them in so long. I didn't know it was the last time I would see that lineup of their first two records but it was such a great show. Just so you know how much I love Off Broadway. I would play songs of theirs at every radio station I ever worked for. They were just this little rock band from Oak Park but I made sure their music was heard coming out of commercials on the Sporting News National Radio network, for goodness sake. I had my producers play their songs coming out of commercials on the Score too, and I would then always mention who they were and how great they were. Cliff and Mimi Betinis of Pezband co-wrote the great holiday song, Christmas Everyday in the early 90's and I then played it every Christmas season on my talk shows on WKKD, WJOL, and the Score. It is this sweet, pretty little song that has nothing to do with Power Pop or Hard Rock but is a classic for me. Everybody knows how much I love Springsteen, the Who, John Eddie, Sammy Llanas, Chuck Ragan, Dave Hause, the Waterboys and more. Off Broadway is the only one of my top ten that I did stuff like that for. That doesn't necessarily make them Number One, but it illustrates how much I love their songs, Cliff's voice, and wanted to spread the gospel, so to speak. Maybe that's why Cliff's passing is still hard, even though I didn't really even know him. They were and are MY band and Cliff was and is MY rock singer. Springsteen is everybody's. They are mine and I will play their music forever. In fact, it's Christmas season now, so time to play Christmas Everyday once again. Please and thank you.
This was the night I mentioned on July 18 after finding out that Cliff Johnson passed away. Cliff came up to Chris and I before this show and said hi and shook our hands and we chatted for a bit. I got to thank him for all the music over the years. I had no idea it was the last time I would see him sing and talk to him but at least I got to let him know what a fan I was. His passing is still hard for me. I loved that band and his songs. They were the ultimate bar band for me, that played for hours and hours and played dozens of songs of theirs and others. They were so much fun and to get to see that lineup one last time that night was special, since Johnny Ivan hadn't played with them in so long. I didn't know it was the last time I would see that lineup of their first two records but it was such a great show. Just so you know how much I love Off Broadway. I would play songs of theirs at every radio station I ever worked for. They were just this little rock band from Oak Park but I made sure their music was heard coming out of commercials on the Sporting News National Radio network, for goodness sake. I had my producers play their songs coming out of commercials on the Score too, and I would then always mention who they were and how great they were. Cliff and Mimi Betinis of Pezband co-wrote the great holiday song, Christmas Everyday in the early 90's and I then played it every Christmas season on my talk shows on WKKD, WJOL, and the Score. It is this sweet, pretty little song that has nothing to do with Power Pop or Hard Rock but is a classic for me. Everybody knows how much I love Springsteen, the Who, John Eddie, Sammy Llanas, Chuck Ragan, Dave Hause, the Waterboys and more. Off Broadway is the only one of my top ten that I did stuff like that for. That doesn't necessarily make them Number One, but it illustrates how much I love their songs, Cliff's voice, and wanted to spread the gospel, so to speak. Maybe that's why Cliff's passing is still hard, even though I didn't really even know him. They were and are MY band and Cliff was and is MY rock singer. Springsteen is everybody's. They are mine and I will play their music forever. In fact, it's Christmas season now, so time to play Christmas Everyday once again. Please and thank you.
11/27/2022
One of my favorite facts about the day Wheaton South won their Title followed immediately by Naperville North's Title win is that those two schools are four miles apart. Four. And they won Championships on the same day and it was fun to be a part of that, especially since I graduated from North.
And, of course, since this is my first Thanksgiving weekend without my Dad, I've been thinking a lot about him. He joined me for a few of those trips downstate. I would get him a sideline pass and he would be on the field for a day's worth of games. That my job gave us an opportunity to spend time together and create memories is one of my favorite things about my broadcasting career.
One of my favorite facts about the day Wheaton South won their Title followed immediately by Naperville North's Title win is that those two schools are four miles apart. Four. And they won Championships on the same day and it was fun to be a part of that, especially since I graduated from North.
And, of course, since this is my first Thanksgiving weekend without my Dad, I've been thinking a lot about him. He joined me for a few of those trips downstate. I would get him a sideline pass and he would be on the field for a day's worth of games. That my job gave us an opportunity to spend time together and create memories is one of my favorite things about my broadcasting career.
11/20/2022
My 20th season broadcasting Lewis U. basketball begins with GLVC doubleheaders Dec. 1st and 3rd. I have decided that this will be my final season as play-by-play man for the Flyers on WJOL. 20 years is a nice round number to go out on and 41 years in a row calling basketball games here in Illinois is something I can be and definitely am proud of. It's time to enjoy a little more down-time now that I am in my 60's. I wouldn't trade a minute of it but I think I've earned a rest and earned an opportunity to watch basketball as a fan. I haven't had the chance to do much of that. My time with the Flyers has been a blast and as a sampling of my Lewis press passes prove, I have been riding buses to many many fun events and big games over these two full decades. The other thing this retirement means is my time on WJOL also will come to an end in February. That also is a very emotional thought for me. Between hosting a WJOL afternoon show for a couple years to seven years broadcasting the Jackhammers and Slammers, plus these 20 years of doing Flyers games on AM 1340, it has been a great run for me on 'JOL. There are still ten doubleheaders to broadcast this season and I can't wait to get started. I still love what I do and this should be another fun season for both the Lewis men and women.
Over the years, I have also had the opportunity to broadcast the occasional baseball, softball, soccer and volleyball game for the Flyers. By the way, Phil Cantu has been with me all 20 years with Lewis as my guy back at the studio running the show. He has had to listen to my Jackhammers, Slammers and Flyers calls over all these years and I am glad he will be with me for one more go around and will put up with me for five hours at a time on ten more dates, lol. Obviously, I can't thank Scott Slocum enough for also asking me every once in awhile to help out on various high school games etc. since I left as talk show host and for being such a good friend and boss.
The crazy thing is that I have worked with only two men's head coaches in my 20 years in Romeoville, Jim Whitesell and Scott Trost. I started out as voice of the Flyers for Jim's last few years, including that great run to the Sweet 16. Jim left and so did I. I was working 45 hours a week at WSCR for two years, that coincided with the short stint for Kyle Green as Lewis head coach, so couldn't do games those two seasons. I left the Score after that for Sporting News Radio as was able to fit the Flyers back in my schedule, so returned as Scott came on board and I have been with Coach Trost for all of his 17 seasons now. It has been my pleasure to call games for someone who has his teams play the right way. They play hard, play defense and play together. They also win a lot, lol. That doesn't hurt either. The man is a pro. Period.
There has been quite a bit more turnover on the other side but they have all been tremendous to work with. I really have been lucky that way. Brian Michalak was my first women's coach and remains a friend more than 20 years later. Lynn Plett took over after that and had some fine seasons but as we all know Lisa Carlsen really kicked that program into high gear highlighted by the Elite 8 squad of 2015 that was ranked #1 in the nation and was the best team in the country that season, no matter how things turned out in Sioux Falls that year. Kristen Gillespie followed and considering I had broadcast her teams at Benedictine as well, it was a joy to continue working with her. Samantha Quigley Smith was by far the best choice to take over for Kristen and a better person and coach you will not find. Matt Nelson took the reigns from Sam, being promoted from assistant and he would have had a great run at Lewis if he had chosen to stay.
I started out with the legendary Paul Ruddy as Athletic Director and it has been another lifer in Dr. Planek the last several years as AD. I am saving special mention of Dan Schumacher here,though. Schu was such a pleasure to work for, and with, in his time with the Flyers. No one worked harder or cared more. He wanted facilities to be proud of and raised countless funds to build new fields and improve working conditions. He ran a professional first class ship and Dan, I just want you to know how much I appreciated it then and still do to this day. You made it easy to be proud to be a Flyer. (I still wish we could have made football work out though!) Thanks as well to Brian Summers. You were a big part of that era for me too.
I also worked with some great Sports Information Directors over the years at Lewis and they all deserve my thanks. Again, special mention goes to both Matt Brendich and Derrick Sloboda who were so great at their jobs and made my life and job so much easier. People have no idea how many hours SID's and assistant SID's work but I do and I appreciate it. Believe me.
I realize that the talk show host in me is taking over and I could go on and on for many more paragraphs but the job isn't over quite yet. I have ten more doubleheaders remaining and intend on enjoying them all. I had long tenures as the broadcast voice for Aurora U., Benedictine U. and Lewis U. I also had a great short stint as radio voice of NIU women's basketball. Hard to believe all that is coming to an end. I don't feel that old, lol, but it is time to enjoy my life away from work, no matter how much fun it's been. Chris and I have some traveling to do. We want to start seeing the parts of the country we've missed and enjoy time together. The one major lesson of the last few years and from losing the people we've lost is that time is guaranteed to no one. My girls and I are going to make sure we enjoy what time we have with each other. Peace and love to you all and thanks for listening all these years.
My 20th season broadcasting Lewis U. basketball begins with GLVC doubleheaders Dec. 1st and 3rd. I have decided that this will be my final season as play-by-play man for the Flyers on WJOL. 20 years is a nice round number to go out on and 41 years in a row calling basketball games here in Illinois is something I can be and definitely am proud of. It's time to enjoy a little more down-time now that I am in my 60's. I wouldn't trade a minute of it but I think I've earned a rest and earned an opportunity to watch basketball as a fan. I haven't had the chance to do much of that. My time with the Flyers has been a blast and as a sampling of my Lewis press passes prove, I have been riding buses to many many fun events and big games over these two full decades. The other thing this retirement means is my time on WJOL also will come to an end in February. That also is a very emotional thought for me. Between hosting a WJOL afternoon show for a couple years to seven years broadcasting the Jackhammers and Slammers, plus these 20 years of doing Flyers games on AM 1340, it has been a great run for me on 'JOL. There are still ten doubleheaders to broadcast this season and I can't wait to get started. I still love what I do and this should be another fun season for both the Lewis men and women.
Over the years, I have also had the opportunity to broadcast the occasional baseball, softball, soccer and volleyball game for the Flyers. By the way, Phil Cantu has been with me all 20 years with Lewis as my guy back at the studio running the show. He has had to listen to my Jackhammers, Slammers and Flyers calls over all these years and I am glad he will be with me for one more go around and will put up with me for five hours at a time on ten more dates, lol. Obviously, I can't thank Scott Slocum enough for also asking me every once in awhile to help out on various high school games etc. since I left as talk show host and for being such a good friend and boss.
The crazy thing is that I have worked with only two men's head coaches in my 20 years in Romeoville, Jim Whitesell and Scott Trost. I started out as voice of the Flyers for Jim's last few years, including that great run to the Sweet 16. Jim left and so did I. I was working 45 hours a week at WSCR for two years, that coincided with the short stint for Kyle Green as Lewis head coach, so couldn't do games those two seasons. I left the Score after that for Sporting News Radio as was able to fit the Flyers back in my schedule, so returned as Scott came on board and I have been with Coach Trost for all of his 17 seasons now. It has been my pleasure to call games for someone who has his teams play the right way. They play hard, play defense and play together. They also win a lot, lol. That doesn't hurt either. The man is a pro. Period.
There has been quite a bit more turnover on the other side but they have all been tremendous to work with. I really have been lucky that way. Brian Michalak was my first women's coach and remains a friend more than 20 years later. Lynn Plett took over after that and had some fine seasons but as we all know Lisa Carlsen really kicked that program into high gear highlighted by the Elite 8 squad of 2015 that was ranked #1 in the nation and was the best team in the country that season, no matter how things turned out in Sioux Falls that year. Kristen Gillespie followed and considering I had broadcast her teams at Benedictine as well, it was a joy to continue working with her. Samantha Quigley Smith was by far the best choice to take over for Kristen and a better person and coach you will not find. Matt Nelson took the reigns from Sam, being promoted from assistant and he would have had a great run at Lewis if he had chosen to stay.
I started out with the legendary Paul Ruddy as Athletic Director and it has been another lifer in Dr. Planek the last several years as AD. I am saving special mention of Dan Schumacher here,though. Schu was such a pleasure to work for, and with, in his time with the Flyers. No one worked harder or cared more. He wanted facilities to be proud of and raised countless funds to build new fields and improve working conditions. He ran a professional first class ship and Dan, I just want you to know how much I appreciated it then and still do to this day. You made it easy to be proud to be a Flyer. (I still wish we could have made football work out though!) Thanks as well to Brian Summers. You were a big part of that era for me too.
I also worked with some great Sports Information Directors over the years at Lewis and they all deserve my thanks. Again, special mention goes to both Matt Brendich and Derrick Sloboda who were so great at their jobs and made my life and job so much easier. People have no idea how many hours SID's and assistant SID's work but I do and I appreciate it. Believe me.
I realize that the talk show host in me is taking over and I could go on and on for many more paragraphs but the job isn't over quite yet. I have ten more doubleheaders remaining and intend on enjoying them all. I had long tenures as the broadcast voice for Aurora U., Benedictine U. and Lewis U. I also had a great short stint as radio voice of NIU women's basketball. Hard to believe all that is coming to an end. I don't feel that old, lol, but it is time to enjoy my life away from work, no matter how much fun it's been. Chris and I have some traveling to do. We want to start seeing the parts of the country we've missed and enjoy time together. The one major lesson of the last few years and from losing the people we've lost is that time is guaranteed to no one. My girls and I are going to make sure we enjoy what time we have with each other. Peace and love to you all and thanks for listening all these years.
11/5/2022
I'm watching the Nolan Ryan documentary and they mention that he never won a Cy Young award, which is insane, of course. The 1973 season in particular is madness that he didn't win it. Jim Palmer was a helluva pitcher and had a great season but Ryan's 1973 was one of the best seasons for a pitcher of all time. In '73 Palmer finished 22-9 with a 2.40 era. He allowed just 225 hits in 296 innings with 158 strikeouts and 113 walks. Palmer had 19 complete games in 37 starts with 6 shutouts. Outstanding stuff but Ryan was better. A lot better and I can't explain how he didn't get the award other than East Coast bias. Ryan was 21-16 with a 2.87 era. If you care about losses by a starter then that is the answer I guess, but as we know, that means nothing. That year Ryan had 25 starts where he allowed 2 or fewer runs! Four times he allowed 3 runs. His California Angels were bad, finishing 15 games back of the Oakland A's. I mention all that to say that those losses were not much on him and to deny him the award for 16 losses is criminal. Now on to his astonishing numbers that year. He threw 2 no-hitters and set the all-time record for strikeouts in a season at 383! That record still stands 50 years later and will never be broken. Ryan allowed just 238 hits in 326 innings. Just remarkable. Even more remarkable, he had 26 complete games in 39 starts! They never worried about pitch counts back then and considering he threw over 100 mph, those stats are even more amazing. By the way, the next season, he threw an estimated 235 pitches in a 13 inning game vs. Boston with 19 strikeouts! His next start was on 3 days rest, lol, and he threw 6 shutout innings. Ryan finished 2nd to Palmer in the Cy Young in 1973 and was top 10 seven other times but never won it. Crazy.
I'm watching the Nolan Ryan documentary and they mention that he never won a Cy Young award, which is insane, of course. The 1973 season in particular is madness that he didn't win it. Jim Palmer was a helluva pitcher and had a great season but Ryan's 1973 was one of the best seasons for a pitcher of all time. In '73 Palmer finished 22-9 with a 2.40 era. He allowed just 225 hits in 296 innings with 158 strikeouts and 113 walks. Palmer had 19 complete games in 37 starts with 6 shutouts. Outstanding stuff but Ryan was better. A lot better and I can't explain how he didn't get the award other than East Coast bias. Ryan was 21-16 with a 2.87 era. If you care about losses by a starter then that is the answer I guess, but as we know, that means nothing. That year Ryan had 25 starts where he allowed 2 or fewer runs! Four times he allowed 3 runs. His California Angels were bad, finishing 15 games back of the Oakland A's. I mention all that to say that those losses were not much on him and to deny him the award for 16 losses is criminal. Now on to his astonishing numbers that year. He threw 2 no-hitters and set the all-time record for strikeouts in a season at 383! That record still stands 50 years later and will never be broken. Ryan allowed just 238 hits in 326 innings. Just remarkable. Even more remarkable, he had 26 complete games in 39 starts! They never worried about pitch counts back then and considering he threw over 100 mph, those stats are even more amazing. By the way, the next season, he threw an estimated 235 pitches in a 13 inning game vs. Boston with 19 strikeouts! His next start was on 3 days rest, lol, and he threw 6 shutout innings. Ryan finished 2nd to Palmer in the Cy Young in 1973 and was top 10 seven other times but never won it. Crazy.
11/2/2022
Today is the 6th anniversary of the Cubs winning the World Series.
Speechless. Wrung Out. Exhausted. Speechless.
Those words were all I could post after game 7 ended, lol. I was broadcasting BenU volleyball that night with one laptop up for stats and the other for the Cubs game! I was listening on the radio on the ride home as the lead slipped away. I got home in time for the 9th inning and ended up watching a whole lot more baseball than I thought I would. lol. What a night, what a finish. I might have to watch it all over again tonight.
Today is the 6th anniversary of the Cubs winning the World Series.
Speechless. Wrung Out. Exhausted. Speechless.
Those words were all I could post after game 7 ended, lol. I was broadcasting BenU volleyball that night with one laptop up for stats and the other for the Cubs game! I was listening on the radio on the ride home as the lead slipped away. I got home in time for the 9th inning and ended up watching a whole lot more baseball than I thought I would. lol. What a night, what a finish. I might have to watch it all over again tonight.
10/26/2022
From the new Jeff Pearlman book on Bo Jackson. Frank Thomas gets his rightful comeuppance. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Big Frank was my least favorite person to deal with in MLB clubhouses. He was never happy, never easy to deal with, no matter if he was 0-3 or 3-3 with 2 hrs. Always treating me and others like we were a bother no matter how good we were to him or how polite we were around him. The fact he then became a member of the media himself has always ticked me off. He treated us like crap and didn't deserve to be one of us. I'm not sure if it makes me feel better or worse that he was even more terrible to the clubbies. 'One Dog' calls him a baby. Another calls him worse. This one page was just posted on Twitter. I can't wait to read the entire book. The one White Sox jersey I own, btw, is a Bo Jackson jersey.
From the new Jeff Pearlman book on Bo Jackson. Frank Thomas gets his rightful comeuppance. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Big Frank was my least favorite person to deal with in MLB clubhouses. He was never happy, never easy to deal with, no matter if he was 0-3 or 3-3 with 2 hrs. Always treating me and others like we were a bother no matter how good we were to him or how polite we were around him. The fact he then became a member of the media himself has always ticked me off. He treated us like crap and didn't deserve to be one of us. I'm not sure if it makes me feel better or worse that he was even more terrible to the clubbies. 'One Dog' calls him a baby. Another calls him worse. This one page was just posted on Twitter. I can't wait to read the entire book. The one White Sox jersey I own, btw, is a Bo Jackson jersey.
10/22/2022
This post was prompted by the picture of that Allsteel season schedule poster from 1990 that was posted today on the Aurora Fastpitch Documentary Facebook page. I've been looking back at my long career lately and I have told some Aurora Major Men's Fastpitch Softball stories over the years but figured I would do an entire post about my time broadcasting their games here. I helped broadcast Allsteel and Colonial Baking games at WMRO and then WKKD in the late 80's and early 90's. I got started helping out Steve Klauke and P.J. Harrigan do their games at 'MRO and then became their main broadcaster at WKKD after Steve left for Utah and I became Sports Director at 'KKD. I was new to the game but fell in love with it in no time at all, thanks to the quality of play and the atmosphere at the old wonderful S-A Field and doing games with P.J. was so much fun. His mini fridge, under the press box table, filled with cold beverages didn't hurt! lol. Eating brats fresh off the grill helped too. Broadcasting those doubleheaders and 4th of July Tournaments and then traveling all over North America with them to National and International Tourneys were some of my best times in this job. The arrival of the Kane County Cougars and then other Minor League baseball teams in Joliet and Schaumburg, Peoria, Normal etc. meant that the popularity of Major Men's Softball teams in Aurora, Bloomington, Decatur etc. was going to inevitably slide. Until then though, those softball games were THE place to go for family entertainment and the crowds at S-A Field were always big. The fact that Aurora always had a great team and was always in the running for National Championships didn't hurt either! I wasn't there for the glory days of the Sealmasters and Home Savings but I am proud and grateful to get to experience those teams and that place when I did. The team in that picture from 1991 in Sioux City was one of my teams. Bob Locke helped me with the home games and I traveled alone with the team for their road games for four years or so. I got to see some of the best players in the world in tournaments in places like Sioux City, Kimberly Wisconsin, Salt Lake City, Mankato Minnesota and Prince Edward Island Canada. That tourney in PEI is one of the best times I ever had. That Island is beyond beautiful and grilling freshly caught Salmon with the team over a few beers on the beach is something I will never forget. I also broadcast games in that tournament for 5 other teams while I was there. I did the same in Kimberly. "As long as you are there, can you do our games too?" Sure, lol. I've told the story about Kimberly before when thanks to rain delays and long games we had a game that didn't even start until after 2am! Bob Locke was at the game as a fan and was in the stands watching. I had been drinking Big Gulps of Mountain Dew to stay awake and needed a bathroom break at about 4:30am and yelled down for Bob to come up and do an inning for me. Thankfully he did and I was able to finish the game, lol. It didn't end until after 5am however and the sun was coming up as I drove into the hotel parking lot! We all had to be back in a few hours for our next game, of course. Interestingly, we broadcast that overnight game live but also taped it to broadcast later in the morning. Just to see if anyone was listening, I did a giveaway to the 5th caller at about 4am and was told the phone rang off the hook back at the station! So that tells you how much people cared about that team in Aurora. The game of Fastpitch was big all over the Midwest at that time. I would see big crowds in Bloomington when we played the Hearts and the Beer Nuts and in Decatur when we played the Pride and so on. I loved my 14 years in Minor League Baseball that followed but people don't understand how popular and how much fun those Fastpitch teams and games were. I am so happy to I got to experience that too. In Sioux City I got to see an epic battle between Pete 'the Heat' Meredith and Michael White that lasted 18 innings, if I remember correctly, and only ended when Meredith was lifted in the last inning, I believe. I saw many other incredible pitchers duels and other great games. Those guys on those Aurora teams were also such great guys. I will never forget playing darts with Paul Algar in a bar in Madison, Wisconsin, for instance. He eventually played there for the Farm after telling me how much he loved Wisconsin, since it reminded him of his beloved New Zealand. That Salt Lake City trip was also a highlight. I wasn't sure what we'd find there but the mountains were beautiful and the beer was plentiful, lol. They were rolling kegs down the aisles during that tournament so not everyone there was Mormon, lol. I got to do some great things while working for that little station at AM 1580 on the dial in Aurora and doing Fastpitch games was at the top of the list. I've said it before and I will say it again, leaving WKKD was not my idea and I never would have left if it was up to me. I loved doing Aurora U. games, Fastpitch, the Cougars eventually and I loved doing that afternoon talk show. I went on to work in Chicago and at National Networks etc. but Aurora and WKKD became my home and always will be. I wish that station still existed and I wish I still worked there. I also wish S-A Field still existed and those teams were still as popular. Oh well. Time marches on but in my mind I will always look back fondly to getting a brat, putting mustard on it, taking it up to that press box and broadcasting Aurora Major Men's Fastpitch Softball. Please and thank you. (thanks to everyone online for the pictures I'm using here. I lost all my memorabilia from that time in my career, including audio tapes, about 25 years ago when a water pipe burst and flooded my bedroom closet destroying basically everything I had kept over the years until that point) More on the team's amazing history here and a documentary in the works. https://www.cffrv.org/profile/aurora-fastpitch-softball-association-documentary-fund/ |
10/21/2022
Happy birthday to my older brother, Michael. That picture was from my freshman year at Palatine H.S. Mike was a senior. He got the new-fangled polyester uniforms and I had the ancient wool ones that were at least 30 years old, lol. I didn't mind. They were heavy and hot but I still thought they were the real thing and stirrups were a pain but they were baseball, if you know what I mean. I miss those days when we shared a bedroom that had our 10 inch black and white TV and not much else, lol. Two tall skinny Slovaks there. He was already his 6'3" there and I was just over 6'1" as a freshman. That's why we were both first basemen, other than Dad was also a first baseman and that's what we wanted to be anyway. Michael was just about the best one defensively I ever saw and I wasn't too shabby either. He had a knee injury in H.S. that nowadays would have been an easy Scope and be back in action. Back then it was a big deal and sidelined him for a long time and mattered quite a bit since he was a 3-sport athlete. We had some legendary one-on-one basketball battles in the driveway, back in the day. I miss those too.
Happy birthday to my older brother, Michael. That picture was from my freshman year at Palatine H.S. Mike was a senior. He got the new-fangled polyester uniforms and I had the ancient wool ones that were at least 30 years old, lol. I didn't mind. They were heavy and hot but I still thought they were the real thing and stirrups were a pain but they were baseball, if you know what I mean. I miss those days when we shared a bedroom that had our 10 inch black and white TV and not much else, lol. Two tall skinny Slovaks there. He was already his 6'3" there and I was just over 6'1" as a freshman. That's why we were both first basemen, other than Dad was also a first baseman and that's what we wanted to be anyway. Michael was just about the best one defensively I ever saw and I wasn't too shabby either. He had a knee injury in H.S. that nowadays would have been an easy Scope and be back in action. Back then it was a big deal and sidelined him for a long time and mattered quite a bit since he was a 3-sport athlete. We had some legendary one-on-one basketball battles in the driveway, back in the day. I miss those too.
10/9/2022
Six years ago today we each finished our first marathon. Hopefully next year we can get back to running. I'd like to do Chicago again sometime too. I'm glad our first one was here at home and I wish we were out there again today.
Six years ago today we each finished our first marathon. Hopefully next year we can get back to running. I'd like to do Chicago again sometime too. I'm glad our first one was here at home and I wish we were out there again today.
9/30/2022
Today is the 40th anniversary of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska album, maybe the saddest album of all time. It's beautiful, poignant, spare and evocative. But mainly sad for me. I love some of the tracks on that record to this day but I haven't listened to it straight through since it came out. I can't. If I am already melancholy, which is often, this record could really push me deep into the morbs, as they say. I mentioned in a recent post that it came out while I was working at the SIU student radio station WIDB, along with a bunch of other important records of that year, from artists such as Elvis Costello, the Clash, The Who, Bad Company, REM and on and on. I was given the choice of which songs to play from those records as DJ and really there were only two worth playing from Nebraska and they were and are Open All Night and Reason to Believe. Johnny 99 and Used Cars are also great songs but were not really college radio appropriate, I didn't think. At least Open All Night was up-tempo! Bruce, we found out recently, has suffered from depression for much of his life and that is certainly where this record came from. It is a serious folk record that is a work of art, really. It just has to be listened to in pieces to be appreciated fully, I think. Atlantic City was the 'single' from this record but I never really connected with that song. I still haven't. Just like the song 'The River'. It is a big song for Bruce but in was too dissonant for me. Reason to Believe is the song that has had the most staying power in my opinion. It has been covered by dozens of artists I respect and is very cinematic and thought provoking. It is brilliant and worth this record all on it's own. Happy 40th to a very important record and collection of songs. The fact he recorded the album with just him, a guitar and a cassette recorder is just a bonus. A cool bonus, that they actually released as a record untouched like that, but a bonus.
Today is the 40th anniversary of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska album, maybe the saddest album of all time. It's beautiful, poignant, spare and evocative. But mainly sad for me. I love some of the tracks on that record to this day but I haven't listened to it straight through since it came out. I can't. If I am already melancholy, which is often, this record could really push me deep into the morbs, as they say. I mentioned in a recent post that it came out while I was working at the SIU student radio station WIDB, along with a bunch of other important records of that year, from artists such as Elvis Costello, the Clash, The Who, Bad Company, REM and on and on. I was given the choice of which songs to play from those records as DJ and really there were only two worth playing from Nebraska and they were and are Open All Night and Reason to Believe. Johnny 99 and Used Cars are also great songs but were not really college radio appropriate, I didn't think. At least Open All Night was up-tempo! Bruce, we found out recently, has suffered from depression for much of his life and that is certainly where this record came from. It is a serious folk record that is a work of art, really. It just has to be listened to in pieces to be appreciated fully, I think. Atlantic City was the 'single' from this record but I never really connected with that song. I still haven't. Just like the song 'The River'. It is a big song for Bruce but in was too dissonant for me. Reason to Believe is the song that has had the most staying power in my opinion. It has been covered by dozens of artists I respect and is very cinematic and thought provoking. It is brilliant and worth this record all on it's own. Happy 40th to a very important record and collection of songs. The fact he recorded the album with just him, a guitar and a cassette recorder is just a bonus. A cool bonus, that they actually released as a record untouched like that, but a bonus.
9/28/2022
So thankfully it appears the Tony LaRussa era is finally over. As bad as this was, it still was better than the Terry Bevington era. I do enjoy re-living the day the Bevington era went from bad to ridiculous though. I just re-read this again and laughed all over again. I first posted this story four years ago. Once again, it was the day Bev was forced to pull a pitcher from a game without anyone warming up in the bullpen and I was there to witness it. This story also reminds me how much I enjoyed being a baseball beat reporter. I miss those days very, very much. Below is a link to a story verifying this actually happened, since it ranks as one of the dumbest things a Manager has ever done!
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/847238
I will never forget sitting in the front row of the press box, next to Julie Swieca and saying "Hey, there's no one warming up! He HAS to take him out now, anyway!" lol. I was the beat-reporter for WBBM, thru Metro Traffic, back then and Jules was there for WSCR... and we had to cover Bev every day. Ugh. What a moron. The whole 8th inning was ridiculous. It was Sept. 1997 vs Cleveland. Tony Castillo faced the first three hitters and allowed two runs. Jeff Darwin then came in for one pitch, which also turned into a run. Tom Fordham then faced two hitters and that included a mound visit after the first hitter and then after the second. No one was warming up though, so the recently acquired Keith Foulke had to be brought in to intentionally walk a batter to buy time so Matt Karchner could warm up! He came in and allowed two more runs to end one of the the worst managed innings ever. I will also never forget, after the game, Bevington...after slamming his two mandatory pre-interview beers...saying that he did it on purpose. He wanted to do it that way. Uh, just no. Nitwit. Julie and I also stuck to our vow, other than after this game, of never asking him a single question, post-all-star-break that season. We let visiting media do it. We got tired of his condescending nonsense. Thank goodness the Sox have Ricky now and all that silliness is in the past. Julie just reminded me that the cherry on the Bevington sundae was that slamming those beers also meant he would then constantly belch through each and every post-game press conference! Again, Keith Foulke was the pitcher who went in for the intentional walk to buy time for Karchner to come in. She says Foulke told her that he was dumbfounded afterward. Of course, he was. lol. We all were.
So thankfully it appears the Tony LaRussa era is finally over. As bad as this was, it still was better than the Terry Bevington era. I do enjoy re-living the day the Bevington era went from bad to ridiculous though. I just re-read this again and laughed all over again. I first posted this story four years ago. Once again, it was the day Bev was forced to pull a pitcher from a game without anyone warming up in the bullpen and I was there to witness it. This story also reminds me how much I enjoyed being a baseball beat reporter. I miss those days very, very much. Below is a link to a story verifying this actually happened, since it ranks as one of the dumbest things a Manager has ever done!
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/847238
I will never forget sitting in the front row of the press box, next to Julie Swieca and saying "Hey, there's no one warming up! He HAS to take him out now, anyway!" lol. I was the beat-reporter for WBBM, thru Metro Traffic, back then and Jules was there for WSCR... and we had to cover Bev every day. Ugh. What a moron. The whole 8th inning was ridiculous. It was Sept. 1997 vs Cleveland. Tony Castillo faced the first three hitters and allowed two runs. Jeff Darwin then came in for one pitch, which also turned into a run. Tom Fordham then faced two hitters and that included a mound visit after the first hitter and then after the second. No one was warming up though, so the recently acquired Keith Foulke had to be brought in to intentionally walk a batter to buy time so Matt Karchner could warm up! He came in and allowed two more runs to end one of the the worst managed innings ever. I will also never forget, after the game, Bevington...after slamming his two mandatory pre-interview beers...saying that he did it on purpose. He wanted to do it that way. Uh, just no. Nitwit. Julie and I also stuck to our vow, other than after this game, of never asking him a single question, post-all-star-break that season. We let visiting media do it. We got tired of his condescending nonsense. Thank goodness the Sox have Ricky now and all that silliness is in the past. Julie just reminded me that the cherry on the Bevington sundae was that slamming those beers also meant he would then constantly belch through each and every post-game press conference! Again, Keith Foulke was the pitcher who went in for the intentional walk to buy time for Karchner to come in. She says Foulke told her that he was dumbfounded afterward. Of course, he was. lol. We all were.
9/20/2022
RIP Maury Wills. Maury joined our 2011 Championship Joliet Slammers for Spring Training and served as bunting, base running and infield instructor. Such a great guy. I got to interview him on the air during our Season Opener. Could have talked to him all day. Legend.
RIP Maury Wills. Maury joined our 2011 Championship Joliet Slammers for Spring Training and served as bunting, base running and infield instructor. Such a great guy. I got to interview him on the air during our Season Opener. Could have talked to him all day. Legend.
9/17/2022
Very surprised and happy SIU beat Northwestern 31-24 today. I got my start broadcasting the Salukis for the WIDB student radio station for two seasons in 1981 and 1982. To tell you my luck, I graduated in the spring of 1983. That fall, SIU won the 1-AA National Championship, lol. They weren't terrible in my two years but I missed broadcasting a National Championship by just a few months.
Since I was with the student station at the time, I didn't merit the press box, so sat at a card table just outside the press box. Several times it rained on me, my notes and equipment in those two years. I guess I should have taken that as a hint of the nonsense to come in my profession, lol. They finished 7-4 in 1981 but starting out 0-3 doomed things. We were 3rd in the Missouri Valley. In 1982 it was the opposite, SIU began 3-0 and then lost 4 straight and finished 6-5 and in 3rd place again. Despite the rain and the cold and the losing streaks, I really loved all of it and knew sports radio was what I wanted to do. All those high school games and 25 years broadcasting D3 football with Aurora and Benedictine followed and as I have said, it is weird to me now to not be at a football field at this time of year anymore on Saturdays. Time flies.
Very surprised and happy SIU beat Northwestern 31-24 today. I got my start broadcasting the Salukis for the WIDB student radio station for two seasons in 1981 and 1982. To tell you my luck, I graduated in the spring of 1983. That fall, SIU won the 1-AA National Championship, lol. They weren't terrible in my two years but I missed broadcasting a National Championship by just a few months.
Since I was with the student station at the time, I didn't merit the press box, so sat at a card table just outside the press box. Several times it rained on me, my notes and equipment in those two years. I guess I should have taken that as a hint of the nonsense to come in my profession, lol. They finished 7-4 in 1981 but starting out 0-3 doomed things. We were 3rd in the Missouri Valley. In 1982 it was the opposite, SIU began 3-0 and then lost 4 straight and finished 6-5 and in 3rd place again. Despite the rain and the cold and the losing streaks, I really loved all of it and knew sports radio was what I wanted to do. All those high school games and 25 years broadcasting D3 football with Aurora and Benedictine followed and as I have said, it is weird to me now to not be at a football field at this time of year anymore on Saturdays. Time flies.
9/11/2022
I say this at this time every year but I miss working at 1on1 Sports and Sporting News Radio most during Fall weekends. Being the update guy during our College Football Saturday shows and then for the Around the NFL shows on Sunday afternoons was so much fun. I also think those were our marquee shows and when we were at our best. I will always be proud to have been a part of that for years. I miss the Bobs and all the others I worked with on those shows back in the day in Northbrook and wish I was still doing it over on Techy Road to this day.
Of course, the other positive of working every Sunday from noon to 7pm was I was too busy updating scores of all the other games to watch more than bits and pieces of any Bears game each weekend, lol. Although I will say that today's second half was encouraging and entertaining with actual second half adjustments! Who knows what will happen this season this is the first time in decades that I actually like the Bears coaching staff and it's quarterback at the same time! lol. Go Bears. Maybe it is okay if I watch more this season, after all.
I say this at this time every year but I miss working at 1on1 Sports and Sporting News Radio most during Fall weekends. Being the update guy during our College Football Saturday shows and then for the Around the NFL shows on Sunday afternoons was so much fun. I also think those were our marquee shows and when we were at our best. I will always be proud to have been a part of that for years. I miss the Bobs and all the others I worked with on those shows back in the day in Northbrook and wish I was still doing it over on Techy Road to this day.
Of course, the other positive of working every Sunday from noon to 7pm was I was too busy updating scores of all the other games to watch more than bits and pieces of any Bears game each weekend, lol. Although I will say that today's second half was encouraging and entertaining with actual second half adjustments! Who knows what will happen this season this is the first time in decades that I actually like the Bears coaching staff and it's quarterback at the same time! lol. Go Bears. Maybe it is okay if I watch more this season, after all.
9/5/2022
The D3 college football season is underway. Benedictine rolled over Finlandia 52-7 and Aurora lost to Hope on the road 38-34 on Saturday. I say every year at this time that it is weird to not be in a football press box anymore on these Saturdays after 25 years broadcasting D3 football here. I will still keep track of my two teams all season, like always. I spent 12 years as the voice of Aurora U. (this plaque honored my time on the radio with them. I then did two years online with them after WKKD went away). I traveled with the team to Colorado College to broadcast their first football game in 1986, after AU brought the sport back into existence.
It was then 13 years as the online voice of Benedictine U. I put this post together 2 years ago and am re-posting here. Enjoy this trip down memory lane. I did.
Saturdays were for driving all around the Midwest to watch the Spartans or Eagles play. I miss it and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
As an aside, I will say that I don't really miss the early days of climbing up a rickety scaffold at Aurora or being in that old press box at IBC where you always felt like it was going to tip over and topple into the stands, but I do miss watching all those guys play back then, lol.
I came across some homework of mine for my AU vs BenU broadcast of 2017. (I even miss doing all the homework for those games, lol) I will re-print some of it here because seeing those names makes me smile.
Highlights of the rivalry that I have seen from both sidelines....
Ron Griffin 176yds rushing vs Benedictine 10/27/1990
--Griff's amazing career rushing 3691yds, 36tds 1987 to 1990
Fonzie Medina 183yds rushing vs Benedictine 10/24/1994
Derek Tieman 159yds rushing vs Benedictine 10/24/1992
Dan Dixon 76yd run vs Benedictine 10/24/1992
Mark Hancock 80yd run vs Benedictine 10/21/1995
George Monaco 70yd run vs Benedictine 10/23/1993
Kurt Whisenandt 85yd pass to Ken Masters vs IBC 10/28/1989
Brandon Kopf 70yd punt return td vs IBC 10/11/97
Brian Fetterolf 30 tackles vs IBC 11/1/1986
--Fetterolf 1st team all-american DB, Rod Stinson 2nd team all-american kick returner 1990. Chris Ferko 2nd team all-amer LB 1992
Bob Westerkamp 193yds receiving, 3tds vs Aurora 10/31/1987
Eric Green 153yds receiving 10/23/1993
--Green 5tds in a game twice in 1992, 100yd kick return 1992, 373 all purpose yds in a game in 1992
Willy Fajkus 72yd punt vs Aurora 10/27/1990
Rod Lindsay 57yd punt return vs Aurora 10/29/1988
Antoine Lewis 94yd punt return vs Aurora 10/22/1994
other notables--
Bob McMillen all-american TE w IBC, Conference Player of the Year...can't find stats but 1991 game at IBC vs Aurora where Bob was unstoppable and untackle-able if that is a word, lol. Hope to find game story because it is still one of the most remarkable things I have ever seen. No surprise he went on to be the AFL all-time rushing leader and Arena League Hall of Famer. Was 6'4" 245 and led IBC in receiving yds, plus kick and punt return yds that season.
John Borsellino 1282yds rushing as junior, BenU record, was 2nd in all of D3 in all-purpose yds before playoff loss to Mt. Union. Brothers Anthony and Joe also BenU well as cousins Mike Borsellino and Al Sarno.
Ryan Sample 48 yd run vs Adrian D3football.com national play of the week--20th in IHSA in passing w 6,556yds at Manteno.
BenU record for season passing 3,299 and season tds 29 2016
Jarrett Lecas 1st team all american special teams, led nation in blocked kicks w 5, returned 2 for scores including blocked fg vs Olivet returned for td. returned blocked extra point for 2-pt conversion vs Rockford. Honorable mention all american as safety. Led BenU in tackles. 4x 1st team all conference
Ben Lockton honorable mention all american DL in 2011
That is just some of that game's homework. I did most of my BenU football games by myself and three hours of solo play by play needed plenty of notes! I wish I was headed to a game next Saturday.
The D3 college football season is underway. Benedictine rolled over Finlandia 52-7 and Aurora lost to Hope on the road 38-34 on Saturday. I say every year at this time that it is weird to not be in a football press box anymore on these Saturdays after 25 years broadcasting D3 football here. I will still keep track of my two teams all season, like always. I spent 12 years as the voice of Aurora U. (this plaque honored my time on the radio with them. I then did two years online with them after WKKD went away). I traveled with the team to Colorado College to broadcast their first football game in 1986, after AU brought the sport back into existence.
It was then 13 years as the online voice of Benedictine U. I put this post together 2 years ago and am re-posting here. Enjoy this trip down memory lane. I did.
Saturdays were for driving all around the Midwest to watch the Spartans or Eagles play. I miss it and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
As an aside, I will say that I don't really miss the early days of climbing up a rickety scaffold at Aurora or being in that old press box at IBC where you always felt like it was going to tip over and topple into the stands, but I do miss watching all those guys play back then, lol.
I came across some homework of mine for my AU vs BenU broadcast of 2017. (I even miss doing all the homework for those games, lol) I will re-print some of it here because seeing those names makes me smile.
Highlights of the rivalry that I have seen from both sidelines....
Ron Griffin 176yds rushing vs Benedictine 10/27/1990
--Griff's amazing career rushing 3691yds, 36tds 1987 to 1990
Fonzie Medina 183yds rushing vs Benedictine 10/24/1994
Derek Tieman 159yds rushing vs Benedictine 10/24/1992
Dan Dixon 76yd run vs Benedictine 10/24/1992
Mark Hancock 80yd run vs Benedictine 10/21/1995
George Monaco 70yd run vs Benedictine 10/23/1993
Kurt Whisenandt 85yd pass to Ken Masters vs IBC 10/28/1989
Brandon Kopf 70yd punt return td vs IBC 10/11/97
Brian Fetterolf 30 tackles vs IBC 11/1/1986
--Fetterolf 1st team all-american DB, Rod Stinson 2nd team all-american kick returner 1990. Chris Ferko 2nd team all-amer LB 1992
Bob Westerkamp 193yds receiving, 3tds vs Aurora 10/31/1987
Eric Green 153yds receiving 10/23/1993
--Green 5tds in a game twice in 1992, 100yd kick return 1992, 373 all purpose yds in a game in 1992
Willy Fajkus 72yd punt vs Aurora 10/27/1990
Rod Lindsay 57yd punt return vs Aurora 10/29/1988
Antoine Lewis 94yd punt return vs Aurora 10/22/1994
other notables--
Bob McMillen all-american TE w IBC, Conference Player of the Year...can't find stats but 1991 game at IBC vs Aurora where Bob was unstoppable and untackle-able if that is a word, lol. Hope to find game story because it is still one of the most remarkable things I have ever seen. No surprise he went on to be the AFL all-time rushing leader and Arena League Hall of Famer. Was 6'4" 245 and led IBC in receiving yds, plus kick and punt return yds that season.
John Borsellino 1282yds rushing as junior, BenU record, was 2nd in all of D3 in all-purpose yds before playoff loss to Mt. Union. Brothers Anthony and Joe also BenU well as cousins Mike Borsellino and Al Sarno.
Ryan Sample 48 yd run vs Adrian D3football.com national play of the week--20th in IHSA in passing w 6,556yds at Manteno.
BenU record for season passing 3,299 and season tds 29 2016
Jarrett Lecas 1st team all american special teams, led nation in blocked kicks w 5, returned 2 for scores including blocked fg vs Olivet returned for td. returned blocked extra point for 2-pt conversion vs Rockford. Honorable mention all american as safety. Led BenU in tackles. 4x 1st team all conference
Ben Lockton honorable mention all american DL in 2011
That is just some of that game's homework. I did most of my BenU football games by myself and three hours of solo play by play needed plenty of notes! I wish I was headed to a game next Saturday.
8/28/2022
I mentioned a 40 year anniversary yesterday and here is another one today. This is the 40th anniversary of my first season as a paid broadcaster for high school football here in Illinois. While at SIU, I got paid a big ten dollars a game to announce for the Murphysboro Red Devils for WINI radio there, lol. Hey, ten bucks was important to a college kid. You could buy a lot of spaghetti noodles for ten bucks! I actually began at WINI the previous winter doing the Red Devil basketball games but this was the first fall broadcasting their football games. Classmate Scott Kains and I did the games together. I have probably broadcast my last high school football game at this point but my decades in tiny wooden press boxes was eventually spent working at WMRO, WKKD and WJOL as well as a few other stations here and there. There are way too many great memories that I will always be grateful for but I will mention just a few here.
I grew up in Palatine and then moved to Naperville as a sophomore. In 1994, I got to broadcast Palatine in the 5A title game, followed by Naperville North in the 6A title game on WKKD. They both lost, but I was there for both of my schools. I had already broadcast a Naperville North championship in 1992. That was a wild weekend, since Oswego and Wheaton South also won titles in 1992. The 1986 Wheaton North state title team led by Kent Graham was particularly memorable. I got to see them all season as I did Dupage Valley Conference games normally on WKKD FM while the Aurora high schools were on WKKD AM. For about a dozen years I would do the Napervilles on the FM on Friday nights and then broadcast Aurora Central Catholic, Waubonsie Valley, Oswego or Marmion on the AM on Saturdays. In 1987 I got to call back to back championships as Providence won in 4A and then Joliet Catholic won in 5A.
Equipment was always an issue and a few days stick out. Back in 1988, Aurora Central played at Herscher in the postseason. I got there and it turns out my phone line was not installed. There was a phone attached to the back wall of the press box and I had to use that. Unfortunately the phone cord didn't get me to the front window, lol, so I broadcast a playoff game standing in the middle of the press box with the phone in one hand and and both rosters spread out in my other hand! There were dozens of other equipment nightmares over the years but I will mention just one more. In 2000 for WJOL, I broadcast two playoff games in one day. I jumped in my car after game one to go to Glenbard North for my game two vs Bolingbrook. The Joliet Catholic game was the middle game of the triple-header. I was listening to that as I was in my car. Trouble was, it was the usual JCA wipeout and the game was a quick one. I pulled into the parking lot at Glenbard as the postgame was ending! My game was just underway so I was glad my cellphone had a full charge. Scott Slocum sent it over to me as I was still just walking into the stadium, for goodness sake. Even though we had called ahead etc. I was told at the ticket booth that there wasn't room for me in the pressbox now that the game had started, so I literally broadcast the game into my cellphone while walking the sidelines! Luckily my charge held and it was actually pretty cool standing at the ten yard line and following a play that went into the endzone. Once again though, I had a phone in one hand and both rosters balanced in the other! It has been a crazy, fun adventure and I wouldn't trade any of it. I have seen dozens and dozens of football fields all over the state and worked with so many great people. It's pretty wild to think that it all started 40 years ago in the small towns of Class A schools in southern Illinois.
I mentioned a 40 year anniversary yesterday and here is another one today. This is the 40th anniversary of my first season as a paid broadcaster for high school football here in Illinois. While at SIU, I got paid a big ten dollars a game to announce for the Murphysboro Red Devils for WINI radio there, lol. Hey, ten bucks was important to a college kid. You could buy a lot of spaghetti noodles for ten bucks! I actually began at WINI the previous winter doing the Red Devil basketball games but this was the first fall broadcasting their football games. Classmate Scott Kains and I did the games together. I have probably broadcast my last high school football game at this point but my decades in tiny wooden press boxes was eventually spent working at WMRO, WKKD and WJOL as well as a few other stations here and there. There are way too many great memories that I will always be grateful for but I will mention just a few here.
I grew up in Palatine and then moved to Naperville as a sophomore. In 1994, I got to broadcast Palatine in the 5A title game, followed by Naperville North in the 6A title game on WKKD. They both lost, but I was there for both of my schools. I had already broadcast a Naperville North championship in 1992. That was a wild weekend, since Oswego and Wheaton South also won titles in 1992. The 1986 Wheaton North state title team led by Kent Graham was particularly memorable. I got to see them all season as I did Dupage Valley Conference games normally on WKKD FM while the Aurora high schools were on WKKD AM. For about a dozen years I would do the Napervilles on the FM on Friday nights and then broadcast Aurora Central Catholic, Waubonsie Valley, Oswego or Marmion on the AM on Saturdays. In 1987 I got to call back to back championships as Providence won in 4A and then Joliet Catholic won in 5A.
Equipment was always an issue and a few days stick out. Back in 1988, Aurora Central played at Herscher in the postseason. I got there and it turns out my phone line was not installed. There was a phone attached to the back wall of the press box and I had to use that. Unfortunately the phone cord didn't get me to the front window, lol, so I broadcast a playoff game standing in the middle of the press box with the phone in one hand and and both rosters spread out in my other hand! There were dozens of other equipment nightmares over the years but I will mention just one more. In 2000 for WJOL, I broadcast two playoff games in one day. I jumped in my car after game one to go to Glenbard North for my game two vs Bolingbrook. The Joliet Catholic game was the middle game of the triple-header. I was listening to that as I was in my car. Trouble was, it was the usual JCA wipeout and the game was a quick one. I pulled into the parking lot at Glenbard as the postgame was ending! My game was just underway so I was glad my cellphone had a full charge. Scott Slocum sent it over to me as I was still just walking into the stadium, for goodness sake. Even though we had called ahead etc. I was told at the ticket booth that there wasn't room for me in the pressbox now that the game had started, so I literally broadcast the game into my cellphone while walking the sidelines! Luckily my charge held and it was actually pretty cool standing at the ten yard line and following a play that went into the endzone. Once again though, I had a phone in one hand and both rosters balanced in the other! It has been a crazy, fun adventure and I wouldn't trade any of it. I have seen dozens and dozens of football fields all over the state and worked with so many great people. It's pretty wild to think that it all started 40 years ago in the small towns of Class A schools in southern Illinois.
8/27/2022
Happy 40th anniversary to the Chronic Town EP. I still listen to all five songs to this day. I played them on WIDB at SIU right when they came out. Here is an old WIDB playlist that features Chronic Town near the top. We were to play a certain number of hot ones per hour and a certain number warm ones etc. There is some great stuff on there. That list was put together by our Music Director, who sadly 40 years on, I don't remember. I don't believe Richard Milne ever became MD interestingly, but I did eventually become Sports Director. I've mentioned before that a few months after Chronic Town came out, REM came and played at the SIU Student Center cafeteria for 4 bucks in front of about 50 people. They were incredible. WIDB was such a cool place to start my radio career. The DJ's got to choose which cuts to play from those records and then fill each hour with choices of our own from our huge record collection. I was told to play cuts from a Who record, Combat Rock from the Clash and from Nebraska by Springsteen, for instance. Not a tough task for me. National Radio Day was a few days ago. I didn't do a post then, since I'm still a bit hurt that no one is employing me at the moment but I will always have great memories from where my 41 year radio career began. REM released Murmer, their first full record the following April, and I listened to that cassette in my portable Walkman continuously as I walked around campus the last month before graduation. It all started with their first single, Radio Free Europe, that I also played at WIDB all the time. I really do always relate my time at WIDB with REM and always will. Thanks for the fun, boys. I'll be listening to Gardening at Night right now and you should too. Please and thank you.
Happy 40th anniversary to the Chronic Town EP. I still listen to all five songs to this day. I played them on WIDB at SIU right when they came out. Here is an old WIDB playlist that features Chronic Town near the top. We were to play a certain number of hot ones per hour and a certain number warm ones etc. There is some great stuff on there. That list was put together by our Music Director, who sadly 40 years on, I don't remember. I don't believe Richard Milne ever became MD interestingly, but I did eventually become Sports Director. I've mentioned before that a few months after Chronic Town came out, REM came and played at the SIU Student Center cafeteria for 4 bucks in front of about 50 people. They were incredible. WIDB was such a cool place to start my radio career. The DJ's got to choose which cuts to play from those records and then fill each hour with choices of our own from our huge record collection. I was told to play cuts from a Who record, Combat Rock from the Clash and from Nebraska by Springsteen, for instance. Not a tough task for me. National Radio Day was a few days ago. I didn't do a post then, since I'm still a bit hurt that no one is employing me at the moment but I will always have great memories from where my 41 year radio career began. REM released Murmer, their first full record the following April, and I listened to that cassette in my portable Walkman continuously as I walked around campus the last month before graduation. It all started with their first single, Radio Free Europe, that I also played at WIDB all the time. I really do always relate my time at WIDB with REM and always will. Thanks for the fun, boys. I'll be listening to Gardening at Night right now and you should too. Please and thank you.
8/21/2022
Hadn't been to a Cubs game in several years but my nephew Greg needed to check Wrigley off his list of ballparks attended so it was a good reason to go back. He's a die hard Sox fan and hadn't really wanted to go there before Sunday. He's a student at Carthage now so cheered for the Brewers, lol. Fine with me. We had a great time with beautiful weather. I still have issues with Cubs ownership and the rebuild but the players have nothing to do with that and it was fun to cheer my team on in person again. I even got to give Jon Lester a deserved standing ovation, as he was there too. Kinda sad to not be able to tell my Dad about my fun day at Wrigley with Greg but time moves on. Yes, despite my disappointment with management, those boys in blue are my team and apparently always will be since cheering for a home run from Ian Happ was automatic and easy etc. I missed that place.
Hadn't been to a Cubs game in several years but my nephew Greg needed to check Wrigley off his list of ballparks attended so it was a good reason to go back. He's a die hard Sox fan and hadn't really wanted to go there before Sunday. He's a student at Carthage now so cheered for the Brewers, lol. Fine with me. We had a great time with beautiful weather. I still have issues with Cubs ownership and the rebuild but the players have nothing to do with that and it was fun to cheer my team on in person again. I even got to give Jon Lester a deserved standing ovation, as he was there too. Kinda sad to not be able to tell my Dad about my fun day at Wrigley with Greg but time moves on. Yes, despite my disappointment with management, those boys in blue are my team and apparently always will be since cheering for a home run from Ian Happ was automatic and easy etc. I missed that place.
8/10/2022
Another tough musical death. We are losing too many, too soon. RIP Lamont Dozier. The trio of Holland, Dozier and Holland wrote just about every great song from the 60's you can think of. They 'were' Motown. Literally dozens of hits were written by them. Just google the list. It is mind boggling. I will tell you about three that I love, since they were covered by the Who. Dance to Keep from Crying is such a great song that Smokey Robinson did originally with the Miracles. The message of that song is important. As Pete Townshend later said '“Rock ‘n’ Roll might not solve your problems, but it does let you dance all over them.” Rock is important to people and those three guys wrote songs that are great at escapism while still being about something. The Who also covered Heatwave from Martha and the Vandellas and Baby Don't You Do It (Don't Break My Heart) by Marvin Gaye. The live version of the latter is one of my faves from them. It is a scorcher. The Who, as the High Numbers, used to do "Dance" in their early live shows, captured here in the picture colorized from the video below. Eddie Holland, by himself, also wrote another of my faves from the Who, "Leaving Here" that Pearl Jam also covered so well. Almost all the hits from the Supremes were thanks to Holland-Dozier-Holland. Thanks for all the catchy, fun songs Lamont.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBendsEKJCY
Another tough musical death. We are losing too many, too soon. RIP Lamont Dozier. The trio of Holland, Dozier and Holland wrote just about every great song from the 60's you can think of. They 'were' Motown. Literally dozens of hits were written by them. Just google the list. It is mind boggling. I will tell you about three that I love, since they were covered by the Who. Dance to Keep from Crying is such a great song that Smokey Robinson did originally with the Miracles. The message of that song is important. As Pete Townshend later said '“Rock ‘n’ Roll might not solve your problems, but it does let you dance all over them.” Rock is important to people and those three guys wrote songs that are great at escapism while still being about something. The Who also covered Heatwave from Martha and the Vandellas and Baby Don't You Do It (Don't Break My Heart) by Marvin Gaye. The live version of the latter is one of my faves from them. It is a scorcher. The Who, as the High Numbers, used to do "Dance" in their early live shows, captured here in the picture colorized from the video below. Eddie Holland, by himself, also wrote another of my faves from the Who, "Leaving Here" that Pearl Jam also covered so well. Almost all the hits from the Supremes were thanks to Holland-Dozier-Holland. Thanks for all the catchy, fun songs Lamont.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBendsEKJCY
8/8/2022
RIP Olivia Newton-John. So sad. I have attached the WLS Big 89 of 1975 because that is what I think of when I think of her, I think about Top 40 radio. She wasn't my 'thing' necessarily but I heard all her songs and appreciated her voice and talent. You would put on WLS all afternoon and hear all these songs. You would hear 'everything'. You would hear Olivia followed by Bachman Turner Overdrive into Barbra Streisand into Steve Miller into Cheech and Chong into Paul McCartney and so on. It was great. It wasn't just one genre. I appreciated the talent of Charlie Rich even though I never bought a record of his. You were exposed to everything. I miss that and I miss her, even though I never bought her records either. She was part of my life thanks to radio. I was buying Who records and Deep Purple but 'I Honestly Love You' was a beautiful song sung beautifully. She will live on in all of us thanks to Top 40.
RIP Olivia Newton-John. So sad. I have attached the WLS Big 89 of 1975 because that is what I think of when I think of her, I think about Top 40 radio. She wasn't my 'thing' necessarily but I heard all her songs and appreciated her voice and talent. You would put on WLS all afternoon and hear all these songs. You would hear 'everything'. You would hear Olivia followed by Bachman Turner Overdrive into Barbra Streisand into Steve Miller into Cheech and Chong into Paul McCartney and so on. It was great. It wasn't just one genre. I appreciated the talent of Charlie Rich even though I never bought a record of his. You were exposed to everything. I miss that and I miss her, even though I never bought her records either. She was part of my life thanks to radio. I was buying Who records and Deep Purple but 'I Honestly Love You' was a beautiful song sung beautifully. She will live on in all of us thanks to Top 40.
8/5/2022
A reminder that the Cubs are horrible by choice. They did not have to be this bad. They are abysmal on purpose because they did not want to pay their players. Period. Current stats of most of the guys they got rid of so they wouldn't have to pay them.
Anthony Rizzo 27 hrs, 66 rbi. Kyle Schwarber 33 hrs, 66 rbi. Kris Bryant batting .306 w .376 on base %. Nick Castellanos 22 doubles, 55 rbi. Yu Darvish just 101 hits allowed w 127 strikeouts in 128 innings and 10 wins. An even though Javy Baez is having a down year, he has 21 doubles, 10 hrs and 41 rbi. That is the same number of hrs as Andrew Vaughn with one more double than he has and no one is calling Vaughn a bust. Plus, I think Javy would be having a better season if he never left.
This rebuild was not necessary! They will be terrible for 5 years due to cheapness!!!
A reminder that the Cubs are horrible by choice. They did not have to be this bad. They are abysmal on purpose because they did not want to pay their players. Period. Current stats of most of the guys they got rid of so they wouldn't have to pay them.
Anthony Rizzo 27 hrs, 66 rbi. Kyle Schwarber 33 hrs, 66 rbi. Kris Bryant batting .306 w .376 on base %. Nick Castellanos 22 doubles, 55 rbi. Yu Darvish just 101 hits allowed w 127 strikeouts in 128 innings and 10 wins. An even though Javy Baez is having a down year, he has 21 doubles, 10 hrs and 41 rbi. That is the same number of hrs as Andrew Vaughn with one more double than he has and no one is calling Vaughn a bust. Plus, I think Javy would be having a better season if he never left.
This rebuild was not necessary! They will be terrible for 5 years due to cheapness!!!
8/2/2022
The baseball teams in this town are an absolute embarrassment. Yes, the players are under performing but the Sox are doing everything humanly possible to make everything worse rather than better and the Cubs are just a complete joke.
They let 2 all-stars and their fans twist in the wind and in doing so signaled to the other teams that they had to make deals, so were understandably therefore offered nothing much in return. So they are tanking unnecessarily and doing a terrible job of it. Super.
The Cubs wasted the rest of a championship window by closing it early thanks to cheapness. The Sox are wasting their championship window entirely due to incompetence. Give the Sox help by adding to the roster and giving them a Manager with energy, accountability and strategy.
And I hope you realize that Hahn's inaction means TLR will be back next year since a World Series is not happening this year. And since the Cubs will not extend Contreras they will get almost nothing for him in return now even if offers weren't great. Our GM's are just terrible.
The baseball teams in this town are an absolute embarrassment. Yes, the players are under performing but the Sox are doing everything humanly possible to make everything worse rather than better and the Cubs are just a complete joke.
They let 2 all-stars and their fans twist in the wind and in doing so signaled to the other teams that they had to make deals, so were understandably therefore offered nothing much in return. So they are tanking unnecessarily and doing a terrible job of it. Super.
The Cubs wasted the rest of a championship window by closing it early thanks to cheapness. The Sox are wasting their championship window entirely due to incompetence. Give the Sox help by adding to the roster and giving them a Manager with energy, accountability and strategy.
And I hope you realize that Hahn's inaction means TLR will be back next year since a World Series is not happening this year. And since the Cubs will not extend Contreras they will get almost nothing for him in return now even if offers weren't great. Our GM's are just terrible.
7/27/2022
Since I think in paragraphs as an old radio talk show host, here are some thoughts on the Bruce Springsteen ticket price debacle. Shameful is right on the money. It is getting tiresome to continue to be disappointed by people. Bruce is not perfect, nobody is, but I really didn't think I would be so angry and gut punched by him and his manager Jon Landau. For the uninitiated, I just picked a show at random at Ticketmaster.com. The show in February in Orlando, Florida. A ticket in the nosebleeds, literally at the top of the arena, as far from the stage as you can be, is going for $432. Call it resale if you want but we're not talking about Stubhub. On the actual Ticketmaster site, that is the price. A 'Platinum' ticket, not resale by any definition in section 115 is on sale for $1,950 dollars. That is the actual ticket price. The actual price for a ticket to stand in the 'Pit', the floor area, is $995. Again, that is not a scalper price, that is the ticket price. There are tickets on Ticketmaster for $4,000 and $5,000 dollars! Justifiably, fans are outraged. So am I. Bruce and Jon were silent for a few days with no comment on the anger. Landau finally talked to the NY Times yesterday and apparently there was no mistake, no miscalculation, no misunderstanding of how the ticketing was going to work this time around.
“After days of this sort of commentary, Mr. Springsteen and his camp had heard enough.”
This pricing is what they wanted and what they got, it turns out. This from a guy who just sold his song catalog for half a BILLION dollars! I don't care what Metallica is charging. That is up to them. Bruce was supposed to be different. He built an entire career on being different. And btw, that talk about an average ticket price in the mid $200's is nonsense and still way too much anyway. He used to do all he could do to limit scalping and limit ridiculous pricing. Now, not so much. Yes, this greed and callousness starts with Ticketmaster. Something has to be done about Ticketmaster. They are a scourge on the entertainment business and are mostly to blame for the outrageousness of concert ticket prices, but Bruce and Jon can cap the pricing for their shows and ensure that it isn't to this level of insanity. They did not because they had no intention to do so. Currently, there is no Chicago show on the schedule. I am sure one will be added. I no longer care. I paid $100 to sit in the last row of Wrigley Field, again as far from the stage as you could be, and I was thrilled I was there for his show there a few years ago. I wasn't thrilled to pay $100 but was glad I did it. I had a great time. I have been trying to justify that same kind of expense for this tour. It turns out I won't be able to get anywhere near this tour for at least double that amount if I'm lucky. So, no thank you. I won't be going. Even if I was given a free ticket to this tour, I won't be going. He doesn't deserve me or my attendance anymore. Please and thank you.
Since I think in paragraphs as an old radio talk show host, here are some thoughts on the Bruce Springsteen ticket price debacle. Shameful is right on the money. It is getting tiresome to continue to be disappointed by people. Bruce is not perfect, nobody is, but I really didn't think I would be so angry and gut punched by him and his manager Jon Landau. For the uninitiated, I just picked a show at random at Ticketmaster.com. The show in February in Orlando, Florida. A ticket in the nosebleeds, literally at the top of the arena, as far from the stage as you can be, is going for $432. Call it resale if you want but we're not talking about Stubhub. On the actual Ticketmaster site, that is the price. A 'Platinum' ticket, not resale by any definition in section 115 is on sale for $1,950 dollars. That is the actual ticket price. The actual price for a ticket to stand in the 'Pit', the floor area, is $995. Again, that is not a scalper price, that is the ticket price. There are tickets on Ticketmaster for $4,000 and $5,000 dollars! Justifiably, fans are outraged. So am I. Bruce and Jon were silent for a few days with no comment on the anger. Landau finally talked to the NY Times yesterday and apparently there was no mistake, no miscalculation, no misunderstanding of how the ticketing was going to work this time around.
“After days of this sort of commentary, Mr. Springsteen and his camp had heard enough.”
This pricing is what they wanted and what they got, it turns out. This from a guy who just sold his song catalog for half a BILLION dollars! I don't care what Metallica is charging. That is up to them. Bruce was supposed to be different. He built an entire career on being different. And btw, that talk about an average ticket price in the mid $200's is nonsense and still way too much anyway. He used to do all he could do to limit scalping and limit ridiculous pricing. Now, not so much. Yes, this greed and callousness starts with Ticketmaster. Something has to be done about Ticketmaster. They are a scourge on the entertainment business and are mostly to blame for the outrageousness of concert ticket prices, but Bruce and Jon can cap the pricing for their shows and ensure that it isn't to this level of insanity. They did not because they had no intention to do so. Currently, there is no Chicago show on the schedule. I am sure one will be added. I no longer care. I paid $100 to sit in the last row of Wrigley Field, again as far from the stage as you could be, and I was thrilled I was there for his show there a few years ago. I wasn't thrilled to pay $100 but was glad I did it. I had a great time. I have been trying to justify that same kind of expense for this tour. It turns out I won't be able to get anywhere near this tour for at least double that amount if I'm lucky. So, no thank you. I won't be going. Even if I was given a free ticket to this tour, I won't be going. He doesn't deserve me or my attendance anymore. Please and thank you.
7/27/2022
Kris Bryant is hitting .301. Anthony Rizzo has 23 hrs and 58 rbis. Kyle Schwarber has 31 hrs and 60 rbis. Yu Darvish has only allowed 89 hits w 109k's in 115 innings w 9 wins and 3.28 era. Yes, Javy Baez has struggled w Detroit but Ian Happ is an all-star and Willson Contreras is the best hitting catcher in baseball. Trading them as well now and breaking up that core was beyond terrible and this current tanking and tear down is inexcusable with the money this team has. They own just about everything around the ballpark now and Marquee exists they said to make them enough money to spend on players. The Ricketts are the worst of the worst.
Kris Bryant is hitting .301. Anthony Rizzo has 23 hrs and 58 rbis. Kyle Schwarber has 31 hrs and 60 rbis. Yu Darvish has only allowed 89 hits w 109k's in 115 innings w 9 wins and 3.28 era. Yes, Javy Baez has struggled w Detroit but Ian Happ is an all-star and Willson Contreras is the best hitting catcher in baseball. Trading them as well now and breaking up that core was beyond terrible and this current tanking and tear down is inexcusable with the money this team has. They own just about everything around the ballpark now and Marquee exists they said to make them enough money to spend on players. The Ricketts are the worst of the worst.
7/19/2022
Happy 30th birthday to WSCR 670 the Score. I worked there for 7 of those years and am very proud of my time there, going back to the early days. I started there when they still shared that tiny building on Belmont Ave with WXRT and the location on the dial was AM 1160. We had to sign off at sundown each day. The production room for my sportscasts was an actual closet that was turned into a place to literally cut up tape with a razor blade to play audio during updates etc. It was exciting to move up in the world to the 6th floor of the NBC Tower, to AM 670, and to 24 hour programming. In my time there I got to be a part of Blackhawks broadcasts as the between period sports anchor. I was the full-time anchor for two years for Boers and Bernstein and for two years I did updates for Doug and O'B. I hosted the NIU Coach's Show for several years, hosted Public Affairs programming, provided live updates from Cubs and Sox games, reported from the Western Open, Bears games and more. You name it I did it. I also filled in as talk show host for just about every show that existed in my 7 years there. The station is hosting an all-day anniversary celebration tomorrow from Real Time Sports. I wish them all well and I miss all the guys and gals I used to work with. I'm fairly certain my name will not be mentioned during all the reminiscing tomorrow but that's fine with me. I wasn't Mike North or Terry Boers or any of the All-Star starters. I was a bench player, but I'm proud of my performance off the bench. Teams don't win without a good bench. We won every single one of my years there because I was part of an excellent and under-appreciated bench, frankly. Producers don't get talked about much either but they put in more work than just about anybody for very little pay. I didn't make much either but I loved what I did for a living and still do. Whenever I hosted shows, I made sure the producers knew how much I appreciated their efforts. I saw too many bigger names either take them for granted or treat them shabbily. It doesn't take any more effort to be nice than to be mean. I know the talk show hosts during my time there appreciated my efforts to help their shows as anchor. It made all the difference. I still listen to the Score and am proud of all they have accomplished since I left. I raise my glass to you all.
Happy 30th birthday to WSCR 670 the Score. I worked there for 7 of those years and am very proud of my time there, going back to the early days. I started there when they still shared that tiny building on Belmont Ave with WXRT and the location on the dial was AM 1160. We had to sign off at sundown each day. The production room for my sportscasts was an actual closet that was turned into a place to literally cut up tape with a razor blade to play audio during updates etc. It was exciting to move up in the world to the 6th floor of the NBC Tower, to AM 670, and to 24 hour programming. In my time there I got to be a part of Blackhawks broadcasts as the between period sports anchor. I was the full-time anchor for two years for Boers and Bernstein and for two years I did updates for Doug and O'B. I hosted the NIU Coach's Show for several years, hosted Public Affairs programming, provided live updates from Cubs and Sox games, reported from the Western Open, Bears games and more. You name it I did it. I also filled in as talk show host for just about every show that existed in my 7 years there. The station is hosting an all-day anniversary celebration tomorrow from Real Time Sports. I wish them all well and I miss all the guys and gals I used to work with. I'm fairly certain my name will not be mentioned during all the reminiscing tomorrow but that's fine with me. I wasn't Mike North or Terry Boers or any of the All-Star starters. I was a bench player, but I'm proud of my performance off the bench. Teams don't win without a good bench. We won every single one of my years there because I was part of an excellent and under-appreciated bench, frankly. Producers don't get talked about much either but they put in more work than just about anybody for very little pay. I didn't make much either but I loved what I did for a living and still do. Whenever I hosted shows, I made sure the producers knew how much I appreciated their efforts. I saw too many bigger names either take them for granted or treat them shabbily. It doesn't take any more effort to be nice than to be mean. I know the talk show hosts during my time there appreciated my efforts to help their shows as anchor. It made all the difference. I still listen to the Score and am proud of all they have accomplished since I left. I raise my glass to you all.
7/18/2022
I can't believe it's been 10 years since I was last on National Sports Radio. I worked for YSR all that year. I miss being me.
I can't believe it's been 10 years since I was last on National Sports Radio. I worked for YSR all that year. I miss being me.
7/18/2022
The loss of Cliff Johnson is just soul crushing. Chris and I went to see Off Broadway at Fitzgerald's in November of 2019 when Johnny Ivan came back and the band from their first two records was finally reunited and performing together. We got there early and when Cliff came in, he went around and literally talked to every fan there and shook hands etc. He thanked us for coming. I laughed and said thank you for everything over the years. The place filled in and they did a tremendous show as always, with Ivan's guitar providing so much power to this great power pop and hard rock band, a band I have loved for more than 40 years. I've seen the guys play live countless times over the years and had the album poster of Quick Turns on my wall in my dorm as SIU. I have loved Cliff forever and saw him play at Fitzgerald's with Mimi Betinis as 'Black n Blond', the Raine and with every group of musicians he ever played with, frankly. I listen to his music all the time to this day. Back in the day at the old Hillside Record Shows I bought bootlegs of old D'Thumbs demos and early Pezband demos with Cliff singing etc. Whenever I hosted a talk show on the Score, I made sure they played some Off Broadway songs coming out of commercials. I'm a fan, in other words, lol. The Fitzgerald's show that night ended and surprisingly there was no encore. I was shocked. Cliff literally ran off the stage at the end and they did not return. I figured they would continue to play for a while for the diehards. Only later did I piece it all together. I knew he had been ill and it finally struck me that he knew this was probably it for him and was thanking his fans, in other words, saying goodbye when he shook our hands. I guess they did not continue because he 'could not' do it. Maybe I'm wrong but that's what I think happened. Regardless, I'm very glad I got the opportunity to thank him that night for all the fun over the years that he and guys have provided me. I have posted a couple Off Broadway songs on my YouTube page over the years. This is one of my favorites, called Battle of the Bands. I put the video together will all the pictures etc. This song never made it on an Off Broadway record but it is just so damn good. It is Cliff and Off Broadway to a T. It rocks, it's catchy and he sings the hell out of it. This is going to be a rough day for me. RIP Cliff and thanks again.
P.S. I did want to mention also that Cliff and Mimi wrote that great Christmas Everyday song together and I played that song on every talk show I ever had at Christmastime. Whether in Aurora or Joliet or wherever, I would play Christmas songs on my Christmas Eve show and I always featured that sweet, beautiful song. Thanks Cliff and Mimi for that holiday classic which will be even more poignant than ever from now on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSzOdbrsNyg
The loss of Cliff Johnson is just soul crushing. Chris and I went to see Off Broadway at Fitzgerald's in November of 2019 when Johnny Ivan came back and the band from their first two records was finally reunited and performing together. We got there early and when Cliff came in, he went around and literally talked to every fan there and shook hands etc. He thanked us for coming. I laughed and said thank you for everything over the years. The place filled in and they did a tremendous show as always, with Ivan's guitar providing so much power to this great power pop and hard rock band, a band I have loved for more than 40 years. I've seen the guys play live countless times over the years and had the album poster of Quick Turns on my wall in my dorm as SIU. I have loved Cliff forever and saw him play at Fitzgerald's with Mimi Betinis as 'Black n Blond', the Raine and with every group of musicians he ever played with, frankly. I listen to his music all the time to this day. Back in the day at the old Hillside Record Shows I bought bootlegs of old D'Thumbs demos and early Pezband demos with Cliff singing etc. Whenever I hosted a talk show on the Score, I made sure they played some Off Broadway songs coming out of commercials. I'm a fan, in other words, lol. The Fitzgerald's show that night ended and surprisingly there was no encore. I was shocked. Cliff literally ran off the stage at the end and they did not return. I figured they would continue to play for a while for the diehards. Only later did I piece it all together. I knew he had been ill and it finally struck me that he knew this was probably it for him and was thanking his fans, in other words, saying goodbye when he shook our hands. I guess they did not continue because he 'could not' do it. Maybe I'm wrong but that's what I think happened. Regardless, I'm very glad I got the opportunity to thank him that night for all the fun over the years that he and guys have provided me. I have posted a couple Off Broadway songs on my YouTube page over the years. This is one of my favorites, called Battle of the Bands. I put the video together will all the pictures etc. This song never made it on an Off Broadway record but it is just so damn good. It is Cliff and Off Broadway to a T. It rocks, it's catchy and he sings the hell out of it. This is going to be a rough day for me. RIP Cliff and thanks again.
P.S. I did want to mention also that Cliff and Mimi wrote that great Christmas Everyday song together and I played that song on every talk show I ever had at Christmastime. Whether in Aurora or Joliet or wherever, I would play Christmas songs on my Christmas Eve show and I always featured that sweet, beautiful song. Thanks Cliff and Mimi for that holiday classic which will be even more poignant than ever from now on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSzOdbrsNyg
7/14/2022
Just two years ago on this day both the Cubs and Sox were in first place. This year, not so much. Also, on this day two years ago I posted about first round draft picks. Now that the Cubs are tanking again, this is even more relevant today. I mentioned in that post how first round picks in baseball are definitely not sure things. In 2002 the Cubs had FOUR of the top 38 selections themselves, all in the first round and used them all on pitchers...Bobby Brownlie of Rutgers, Luke Hagerty of Ball State, Chadd Blasko from Purdue and Orange Coast College's Matt Clanton. None of the four ever even pitched a single inning in the Majors! Not one! In doing so, they skipped over the likes of Joey Votto etc. Their only real good run of first rounders that helped them win it all is when they picked Baez, Almora, Bryant, Schwarber and Ian Happ in the first round from 2011 to 2015. Again, they are in this current tanking position due to terrible drafts since those picks, so relying on upcoming drafts to get them out of this mess is not exactly something I am confident about. Tanking paid off a few years ago but it doesn't always pay off and there is no guarantee it will now, especially considering they never have to tank ever, with the money they make being the most expensive fan experience in baseball with full ballparks almost every night. Teams that regularly fill their Stadium should never tank. Ever. Plus the new CBA was supposed to make tanking a thing of the past. Not so much, apparently. It is so distasteful and so unnecessary but it is profitable and that is why teams do it. They are guaranteed to rake in huge profits from tiny payrolls for four years or so and MAYBE they'll win down the line. If they don't, so what. They have made millions in the meantime and that is their only real goal afterall. Profits. Period. Please and thank you.
Just two years ago on this day both the Cubs and Sox were in first place. This year, not so much. Also, on this day two years ago I posted about first round draft picks. Now that the Cubs are tanking again, this is even more relevant today. I mentioned in that post how first round picks in baseball are definitely not sure things. In 2002 the Cubs had FOUR of the top 38 selections themselves, all in the first round and used them all on pitchers...Bobby Brownlie of Rutgers, Luke Hagerty of Ball State, Chadd Blasko from Purdue and Orange Coast College's Matt Clanton. None of the four ever even pitched a single inning in the Majors! Not one! In doing so, they skipped over the likes of Joey Votto etc. Their only real good run of first rounders that helped them win it all is when they picked Baez, Almora, Bryant, Schwarber and Ian Happ in the first round from 2011 to 2015. Again, they are in this current tanking position due to terrible drafts since those picks, so relying on upcoming drafts to get them out of this mess is not exactly something I am confident about. Tanking paid off a few years ago but it doesn't always pay off and there is no guarantee it will now, especially considering they never have to tank ever, with the money they make being the most expensive fan experience in baseball with full ballparks almost every night. Teams that regularly fill their Stadium should never tank. Ever. Plus the new CBA was supposed to make tanking a thing of the past. Not so much, apparently. It is so distasteful and so unnecessary but it is profitable and that is why teams do it. They are guaranteed to rake in huge profits from tiny payrolls for four years or so and MAYBE they'll win down the line. If they don't, so what. They have made millions in the meantime and that is their only real goal afterall. Profits. Period. Please and thank you.
7/13/2022
This postgame segment says it all. They've had it and I don't blame them. Ozzie and Scott telling it like it is. I can't tell you how much I loved covering Ozzie's Sox teams. His pre-game dugout interviews in particular were the best, although you couldn't use half of the tape thanks to all the F-words! Love the passion here and you don't even have to bleep it! This team needs him. I mean it. If they don't want to waste this season they have to fire Tony and hire Ozzie. Do you think Guillen would put up with lack of hustle on the field? Would he silently put up with terrible one pitch at-bats or bad approaches at the plate? Of course not. He NEEDS that job. He WANTS that job. He LOVES that job. He would bust his tail and bust heads. Tony isn't busting anything. Teams take on the personality of their Manager. Tony is arrogant, entitled and sleepy. So the Sox are too and they play like it. Ozzie would inject some life into that place. That team is too talented to be this bad. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.
https://youtu.be/ww_HPO93_k4
This postgame segment says it all. They've had it and I don't blame them. Ozzie and Scott telling it like it is. I can't tell you how much I loved covering Ozzie's Sox teams. His pre-game dugout interviews in particular were the best, although you couldn't use half of the tape thanks to all the F-words! Love the passion here and you don't even have to bleep it! This team needs him. I mean it. If they don't want to waste this season they have to fire Tony and hire Ozzie. Do you think Guillen would put up with lack of hustle on the field? Would he silently put up with terrible one pitch at-bats or bad approaches at the plate? Of course not. He NEEDS that job. He WANTS that job. He LOVES that job. He would bust his tail and bust heads. Tony isn't busting anything. Teams take on the personality of their Manager. Tony is arrogant, entitled and sleepy. So the Sox are too and they play like it. Ozzie would inject some life into that place. That team is too talented to be this bad. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.
https://youtu.be/ww_HPO93_k4
7/5/2022
After a rough day yesterday thanks to the tragedy in Highland Park, I thought I would think about something better. This is the 30th anniversary summer of my first pro team I ever broadcast for, the 1992 Kane County Cougars. The team finished 15 games under .500 but spawned 9 Major Leaguers. The Cougars were an Orioles affiliate then and were managed by former Met, Giant and Red...Joel Youngblood. WKKD picked up Kane County in their 2nd ever season, so I missed out on year one, but was with them in their next five summers and had the most fun of my life. I had dreamed of being a pro baseball announcer since I was 8 years old. The majority of my 14 years in pro ball would turn out to be with unaffiliated teams but these five years watching guys move up to the Orioles and Marlins etc. were thrilling. Alex Ochoa was our best hitter that year, batting .295 with 59 rbi's. Rick Krivda won 12 games and Bobby Chouinard finished with an ERA of 2.09. There was very little power on the team though as B.J. Waszgis led the way with just 11 homers. We averaged almost 5,000 fans per game and my pro baseball adventure was off and running in a great way. |
7/2/2022
A bit o' history I found. This is a beautiful golf bag travel carrier I won that day for closest to the pin. Always cracks me up that I was a 'celebrity' at these things! Nicer people than Jiggetts and Payton you would not find, btw. Back when WSCR was still on AM 1160. I was working at WBBM at the time. When I moved over to the Score I only got to play in one more of those in my 7 years there since I was always back at the station so others could play that day!
A bit o' history I found. This is a beautiful golf bag travel carrier I won that day for closest to the pin. Always cracks me up that I was a 'celebrity' at these things! Nicer people than Jiggetts and Payton you would not find, btw. Back when WSCR was still on AM 1160. I was working at WBBM at the time. When I moved over to the Score I only got to play in one more of those in my 7 years there since I was always back at the station so others could play that day!
6/30/2022
This is the nicest gift I ever received from a listener in my time on Chicago radio. It is from my days at WSCR. My nickname has been Moose my whole life, thanks to Elmer Moose Vasko of the Chicago Blackhawks. I got the better half of the deal. My brother has always been called Elmer! The real Elmer and I are probably distant relatives but we are not immediate family. Both our Vasko's came from the old Czechoslovakia. His family moved to Canada while mine ended up in Chicago. (Both my Grandpa and Grandma Vasko came from big families, so anything is possible and the name Vasko is not all that common. Grandma was one of 11 kids, for instance. She was the youngest and was called Susie. So was her eldest sister! lol. Honest. They ran out of girls names!)
I don't think I was really known on the air as Moose until the late, great Papa Joe Chevalier called me that all the time when I was on the air with him during my days at the "1-on-1 Sports Network" but the name has been associated with me throughout my life and career.
A listener sent this actual Chicago Tribune to me through the mail, dating from April 3, 1963. The sports-page features a picture of Bobby Hull, with a broken nose and black eye, and Moose Vasko with a bloody cut to his head. The game was against Detroit in the Stanley Cup semifinals. It is very cool to hold the actual sports-page from so many years ago. It was so nice to get and I still have it. I still do get recognized on occasion and still get called Moose by people every once in a while, thanks to all my appearances on the old Chicago Tribune Live and the latest was just a couple days ago.
"You're Moose Vasko, aren't you?"
"That's me."
"I miss you on the air."
"Thanks, so do I." lol
I used to be him. I hope I will be again. Please and thank you.
This is the nicest gift I ever received from a listener in my time on Chicago radio. It is from my days at WSCR. My nickname has been Moose my whole life, thanks to Elmer Moose Vasko of the Chicago Blackhawks. I got the better half of the deal. My brother has always been called Elmer! The real Elmer and I are probably distant relatives but we are not immediate family. Both our Vasko's came from the old Czechoslovakia. His family moved to Canada while mine ended up in Chicago. (Both my Grandpa and Grandma Vasko came from big families, so anything is possible and the name Vasko is not all that common. Grandma was one of 11 kids, for instance. She was the youngest and was called Susie. So was her eldest sister! lol. Honest. They ran out of girls names!)
I don't think I was really known on the air as Moose until the late, great Papa Joe Chevalier called me that all the time when I was on the air with him during my days at the "1-on-1 Sports Network" but the name has been associated with me throughout my life and career.
A listener sent this actual Chicago Tribune to me through the mail, dating from April 3, 1963. The sports-page features a picture of Bobby Hull, with a broken nose and black eye, and Moose Vasko with a bloody cut to his head. The game was against Detroit in the Stanley Cup semifinals. It is very cool to hold the actual sports-page from so many years ago. It was so nice to get and I still have it. I still do get recognized on occasion and still get called Moose by people every once in a while, thanks to all my appearances on the old Chicago Tribune Live and the latest was just a couple days ago.
"You're Moose Vasko, aren't you?"
"That's me."
"I miss you on the air."
"Thanks, so do I." lol
I used to be him. I hope I will be again. Please and thank you.
6/28/2022
I first posted this online six years ago today. It was fun to re-visit.
The longest home run I ever saw in person was courtesy of White Sox prospect Jeff Liefer in South Bend in 1996 vs. Kane County. For those who know Coveleski Stadium, there was a storage shed well beyond the right center field wall. His homer went out of the stadium and over the storage shed on the fly. There is now a permanent brown brick building in it's spot, in the photo below, to give you an idea of how far it went.
Another was by Josh Booty of the KC Cougars in 1995 that went over the storage shed that used to be beyond the left field wall at Elfstrom Stadium. It cleared it easily. He hit some majestic shots. Former White Sox catcher Charles Johnson also hit a monster shot into the tops of the trees beyond center field as well.
The other that comes to mind was by Cliff Floyd. At the time, he was just 16 years old and the homer came in the Summer Varsity State Tournament at North Central College. He was about to be a junior at Thornwood H.S. He demolished a ball to straight away center that cleared everything and just disappeared. Everybody who saw it just stared in disbelief. I just remember thinking to myself 'remember this kid's name, because he will be a major leaguer some day.' It did not surprise me when that came true.
I first posted this online six years ago today. It was fun to re-visit.
The longest home run I ever saw in person was courtesy of White Sox prospect Jeff Liefer in South Bend in 1996 vs. Kane County. For those who know Coveleski Stadium, there was a storage shed well beyond the right center field wall. His homer went out of the stadium and over the storage shed on the fly. There is now a permanent brown brick building in it's spot, in the photo below, to give you an idea of how far it went.
Another was by Josh Booty of the KC Cougars in 1995 that went over the storage shed that used to be beyond the left field wall at Elfstrom Stadium. It cleared it easily. He hit some majestic shots. Former White Sox catcher Charles Johnson also hit a monster shot into the tops of the trees beyond center field as well.
The other that comes to mind was by Cliff Floyd. At the time, he was just 16 years old and the homer came in the Summer Varsity State Tournament at North Central College. He was about to be a junior at Thornwood H.S. He demolished a ball to straight away center that cleared everything and just disappeared. Everybody who saw it just stared in disbelief. I just remember thinking to myself 'remember this kid's name, because he will be a major leaguer some day.' It did not surprise me when that came true.
6/15/2022
The Tigers have 14 pitchers on their active roster. Position players should not be allowed to pitch. Period. That is way more an insult to the game than ghost runners or anything else I can imagine. We should not have to watch an eephus pitch or any other nonsense. At-bats in baseball matter, no matter the score. Managers need to use their relievers better. If a pitcher can't be used five innings spread over 3 days then it is the organizations fault for that stupidity. They make millions. They need to earn it. If most starters can only go 5 innings, which is also ridiculous, then a few of those 9 relievers had better be able to go at least 3 in relief, often. Maybe teams should start valuing the ability to pitch over throwing 99 mph as well. Draft pitchers as well as throwers. Pitchers who won't blow out their arms in 20 pitches can be long relievers perhaps (sarcasm). Long relievers are now a vital position on each team that no teams seem to draft for. And also, If pitchers don't hit now in either league thanks to the universal DH then hitters shouldn't pitch. Period. Common sense. Please and thank you.
The Tigers have 14 pitchers on their active roster. Position players should not be allowed to pitch. Period. That is way more an insult to the game than ghost runners or anything else I can imagine. We should not have to watch an eephus pitch or any other nonsense. At-bats in baseball matter, no matter the score. Managers need to use their relievers better. If a pitcher can't be used five innings spread over 3 days then it is the organizations fault for that stupidity. They make millions. They need to earn it. If most starters can only go 5 innings, which is also ridiculous, then a few of those 9 relievers had better be able to go at least 3 in relief, often. Maybe teams should start valuing the ability to pitch over throwing 99 mph as well. Draft pitchers as well as throwers. Pitchers who won't blow out their arms in 20 pitches can be long relievers perhaps (sarcasm). Long relievers are now a vital position on each team that no teams seem to draft for. And also, If pitchers don't hit now in either league thanks to the universal DH then hitters shouldn't pitch. Period. Common sense. Please and thank you.
6/12/2022
So the Cubs lost by 14 runs today but somehow the White Sox extra inning loss seems worse.
And both sides of town have been given a complete bait and switch. The Cubs were still supposed to be in their Championship window with those players now veterans and battling for a Title every year. Instead almost none of that core remains and they are in a rebuild but it's a rebuild without any sort of plan or year to point to. Meanwhile, the White Sox Championship window was supposed to be open and for the taking starting this season in particular. Instead they are just plain bad. They don't do anything well. Yes, they are picking up injuries daily but they still don't hit, don't play defense, don't run the bases well, players they were depending on like Moncada are bad, the pitching is not dependable at all and the Manager is just a blithering idiot.
Literally both sides of town were supposed to be teasing us with a potential Subway Series. Instead this summer is just a dumpster fire. We have all been screwed but good.
So the Cubs lost by 14 runs today but somehow the White Sox extra inning loss seems worse.
And both sides of town have been given a complete bait and switch. The Cubs were still supposed to be in their Championship window with those players now veterans and battling for a Title every year. Instead almost none of that core remains and they are in a rebuild but it's a rebuild without any sort of plan or year to point to. Meanwhile, the White Sox Championship window was supposed to be open and for the taking starting this season in particular. Instead they are just plain bad. They don't do anything well. Yes, they are picking up injuries daily but they still don't hit, don't play defense, don't run the bases well, players they were depending on like Moncada are bad, the pitching is not dependable at all and the Manager is just a blithering idiot.
Literally both sides of town were supposed to be teasing us with a potential Subway Series. Instead this summer is just a dumpster fire. We have all been screwed but good.
6/5/2022
Pardon me while I continue to live in my past with this re-post but this was a very fun day, the longest ever in my baseball career. I hope to someday create more radio memories.
There are a few memorable days of baseball play-by-play that I will post about every year on it's anniversary. This is one of them. Jason Guerette and I each post about this one thanks to our shared experience of broadcasting each side of the longest broadcast day of our careers.
Today is the anniversary of my longest day on the air in all my time in baseball. It all started on June 5th of 2014 and ended up early in the morning of June 6th! I was downstate in Marion for the doubleheader between the Joliet Slammers and the Southern Illinois Miners. I ended up doing 24 innings-worth of solo play-by-play that day. Yes, that is a personal record and a league record for innings in one day as well! Memorable doesn't even describe it. Game one was a 7-inning no-hitter by the Miners' Rick Teasley. He needed just 82 pitches. Joliet never even so much as threatened to get a hit and we lost 2-0. It was Teasley's third start of the season and his ERA went down to 0.33 for goodness sake! Then on to game two. The Miners scored first and Joliet tied it up on a Russell Moldenhauer single in the 6th. That 1-1 tie stayed what seemed like forever. 11 different times a lead runner got to 2nd base but no one could knock him in to give either team a lead. In the bottom of the 17th inning of the nightcap...and yes my voice was struggling by then...the Miners had the bases loaded on three walks and Tyler Booth looped a single over the pulled-in infield to end one of the longest days in Frontier League history. Game 2 went 5 hours, 13 minutes...well past midnight...1:07am to be exact...and I could finally say goodnight. Our reward for being no-hit and swept in a long, long doubleheader was not even a good night's sleep. It was back on the bus and out of town. Ahh, the pampered life in the minors, lol. I did an 18-inning game with the JackHammers back in the day, but it was not part of a doubleheader and Bryan Dolgin was there to do it with me at Silver Cross Field. This was 24 innings all by my lonesome. It was exhausting but fun. The only other thing that even comes close in my memory was a Men's Major Fastpitch game I called for Aurora Allsteel in the ISC World Tournament in Kimberly, Wisconsin in 1989 when the game itself didn't even start until after 2am due to long games before it. I signed off as the sun came up! That was another day where Mountain Dew sustained me! Next.....
I found the game story I wrote and sent in once that doubleheader was over. I finished it on the bus as we came straight home to start a six-game homestand.
Pardon me while I continue to live in my past with this re-post but this was a very fun day, the longest ever in my baseball career. I hope to someday create more radio memories.
There are a few memorable days of baseball play-by-play that I will post about every year on it's anniversary. This is one of them. Jason Guerette and I each post about this one thanks to our shared experience of broadcasting each side of the longest broadcast day of our careers.
Today is the anniversary of my longest day on the air in all my time in baseball. It all started on June 5th of 2014 and ended up early in the morning of June 6th! I was downstate in Marion for the doubleheader between the Joliet Slammers and the Southern Illinois Miners. I ended up doing 24 innings-worth of solo play-by-play that day. Yes, that is a personal record and a league record for innings in one day as well! Memorable doesn't even describe it. Game one was a 7-inning no-hitter by the Miners' Rick Teasley. He needed just 82 pitches. Joliet never even so much as threatened to get a hit and we lost 2-0. It was Teasley's third start of the season and his ERA went down to 0.33 for goodness sake! Then on to game two. The Miners scored first and Joliet tied it up on a Russell Moldenhauer single in the 6th. That 1-1 tie stayed what seemed like forever. 11 different times a lead runner got to 2nd base but no one could knock him in to give either team a lead. In the bottom of the 17th inning of the nightcap...and yes my voice was struggling by then...the Miners had the bases loaded on three walks and Tyler Booth looped a single over the pulled-in infield to end one of the longest days in Frontier League history. Game 2 went 5 hours, 13 minutes...well past midnight...1:07am to be exact...and I could finally say goodnight. Our reward for being no-hit and swept in a long, long doubleheader was not even a good night's sleep. It was back on the bus and out of town. Ahh, the pampered life in the minors, lol. I did an 18-inning game with the JackHammers back in the day, but it was not part of a doubleheader and Bryan Dolgin was there to do it with me at Silver Cross Field. This was 24 innings all by my lonesome. It was exhausting but fun. The only other thing that even comes close in my memory was a Men's Major Fastpitch game I called for Aurora Allsteel in the ISC World Tournament in Kimberly, Wisconsin in 1989 when the game itself didn't even start until after 2am due to long games before it. I signed off as the sun came up! That was another day where Mountain Dew sustained me! Next.....
I found the game story I wrote and sent in once that doubleheader was over. I finished it on the bus as we came straight home to start a six-game homestand.
6/4/2022
So I'm on Twitter and see a post featuring this picture of the 1968 St Louis Cardinals. Manager Red Schoendienst is the one in uniform and already looked 65 as a 45 year old, lol. Seeing this reminded me of the very first MLB game I ever attended as a reporter and it's proof that it turned out to not be a very glamorous job after all! It was 1984 and I was working for WMRO in Aurora. I got to go to a Cubs-Cards game at Wrigley for the very first time with a press pass. I was so excited! I had been to Clark and Addison dozens of times as a kid and going up to the press box for the first time and into the dugouts and locker rooms for the first time as a 23 year old was such a thrill. The 1984 Cards featured Whitey Herzog as their Manager and Red was still on his staff as a coach. Red had been an All-Star second baseman for the team and Managed them himself for 11 seasons. His 1967 team won the World Series and that pictured 1968 team won the Pennant. As a lifelong Cubs fan I certainly knew who he was. I got to the ballpark early, of course and made sure I went into each clubhouse prior to the game. The very first time I walked into a Major League clubhouse was when I stepped into the Cardinals locker room that day. I took my very first step inside and the very first thing I saw with my wide excited eyes was a completely naked, completely bent over, putting on a sock, 60 year old Red Schoendienst! lol. He looked 80 and about 100 from behind with open legs! I literally jumped back in surprise and shock! Ack! lol. That is why it is so memorable to this day to say the least. The mystery of a MLB clubhouse had been permanently erased in exactly one second! Oh yeah. It wasn't a thrilling place where childhood heroes congregated before emerging onto the field to cheers, it turned out. It was a place where guys changed from their street clothes into their uniforms before their job started! I was so flustered I don't even remember interviewing anyone or even trying to. I think I just high-tailed it outta there to see if I could interview someone in the Cubs clubhouse...that I was now not so much looking forward to entering at this point. I was shocked into professionalism. Do your job, let them do theirs and get the hell out of their way. You're not 12 anymore, you are an adult and this is your profession. It was a lesson that Red's saggy bare ass taught me immediately! And the 1984 version of Wrigley certainly held no glamour anyway. The clubhouses were tiny and dingy and terrible and the press box wasn't much better. You had to climb a bunch of metal stairs to get to the visitors clubhouse and it was just abysmal when you got in there. Even then I was embarrassed with what Major League teams had to put up with. I remember looking around the next time I went in utter amazement at how bad it was. I never had any trouble with Ozzie Guillen when he talked about hating the place. He was right. It might have been iconic from the field view but everywhere else it was just plain bad. The old Chicago Stadium was ancient as hell too but it wasn't anything like Wrigley. The same for Comiskey. Reporters were not exactly spoiled in this town with those old parks to deal with, the old Soldier Field included. I actually loved going to the Old Stadium to cover Blackhawks games in particular, though. I was very proud to go through Gate 3 1/2 to enter. It was special to me. So was sitting in the old Crow's Nest overlooking the ice from just under the roof of the place. I was glad to be young though, because that was one long, long climb up to the top of that old barn that I wouldn't want to do now, I'll tell you! I didn't get to go into a nice, new, clean press box or locker room until the Sox built the new Park. What a nice surprise that was. The same for the U.C. As much as I loved Chicago Stadium, the United Center felt like the Taj Mahal. Baseball Parks will always be my first love though. It was where I feel most at home and centered and at peace to this day. I could have done without that image of Red the very first time I entered a Big League clubhouse but it did give me a story to tell, for sure. I have many, many others added to that list since then and miss being an MLB beat reporter to this day. Being paid to go to old or remodeled or replaced Parks on the North and South sides each day was still just about the best thing I ever got paid to do eventually. I miss it. Thanks Red for getting me started in such a crazy way.
So I'm on Twitter and see a post featuring this picture of the 1968 St Louis Cardinals. Manager Red Schoendienst is the one in uniform and already looked 65 as a 45 year old, lol. Seeing this reminded me of the very first MLB game I ever attended as a reporter and it's proof that it turned out to not be a very glamorous job after all! It was 1984 and I was working for WMRO in Aurora. I got to go to a Cubs-Cards game at Wrigley for the very first time with a press pass. I was so excited! I had been to Clark and Addison dozens of times as a kid and going up to the press box for the first time and into the dugouts and locker rooms for the first time as a 23 year old was such a thrill. The 1984 Cards featured Whitey Herzog as their Manager and Red was still on his staff as a coach. Red had been an All-Star second baseman for the team and Managed them himself for 11 seasons. His 1967 team won the World Series and that pictured 1968 team won the Pennant. As a lifelong Cubs fan I certainly knew who he was. I got to the ballpark early, of course and made sure I went into each clubhouse prior to the game. The very first time I walked into a Major League clubhouse was when I stepped into the Cardinals locker room that day. I took my very first step inside and the very first thing I saw with my wide excited eyes was a completely naked, completely bent over, putting on a sock, 60 year old Red Schoendienst! lol. He looked 80 and about 100 from behind with open legs! I literally jumped back in surprise and shock! Ack! lol. That is why it is so memorable to this day to say the least. The mystery of a MLB clubhouse had been permanently erased in exactly one second! Oh yeah. It wasn't a thrilling place where childhood heroes congregated before emerging onto the field to cheers, it turned out. It was a place where guys changed from their street clothes into their uniforms before their job started! I was so flustered I don't even remember interviewing anyone or even trying to. I think I just high-tailed it outta there to see if I could interview someone in the Cubs clubhouse...that I was now not so much looking forward to entering at this point. I was shocked into professionalism. Do your job, let them do theirs and get the hell out of their way. You're not 12 anymore, you are an adult and this is your profession. It was a lesson that Red's saggy bare ass taught me immediately! And the 1984 version of Wrigley certainly held no glamour anyway. The clubhouses were tiny and dingy and terrible and the press box wasn't much better. You had to climb a bunch of metal stairs to get to the visitors clubhouse and it was just abysmal when you got in there. Even then I was embarrassed with what Major League teams had to put up with. I remember looking around the next time I went in utter amazement at how bad it was. I never had any trouble with Ozzie Guillen when he talked about hating the place. He was right. It might have been iconic from the field view but everywhere else it was just plain bad. The old Chicago Stadium was ancient as hell too but it wasn't anything like Wrigley. The same for Comiskey. Reporters were not exactly spoiled in this town with those old parks to deal with, the old Soldier Field included. I actually loved going to the Old Stadium to cover Blackhawks games in particular, though. I was very proud to go through Gate 3 1/2 to enter. It was special to me. So was sitting in the old Crow's Nest overlooking the ice from just under the roof of the place. I was glad to be young though, because that was one long, long climb up to the top of that old barn that I wouldn't want to do now, I'll tell you! I didn't get to go into a nice, new, clean press box or locker room until the Sox built the new Park. What a nice surprise that was. The same for the U.C. As much as I loved Chicago Stadium, the United Center felt like the Taj Mahal. Baseball Parks will always be my first love though. It was where I feel most at home and centered and at peace to this day. I could have done without that image of Red the very first time I entered a Big League clubhouse but it did give me a story to tell, for sure. I have many, many others added to that list since then and miss being an MLB beat reporter to this day. Being paid to go to old or remodeled or replaced Parks on the North and South sides each day was still just about the best thing I ever got paid to do eventually. I miss it. Thanks Red for getting me started in such a crazy way.
6/2/2022
The school year has come to an end and so I thought I'd post a couple games I broadcast for Lewis U. on my YouTube page. Both happen to be from the same day's GLVC doubleheader in February. My 19th year as the voice of Lewis basketball was another fun one. It also happened to be my 40th straight season broadcasting basketball here in Illinois, going all the way back to my days at SIU, doing Saluki games for the student station WIDB. I am still having a blast and I hope these videos show that. These were for a simulcast on WJOL Radio and the GLVC website.
The Flyers women's team finished 16-15 but played most of the season short-handed. Once healthy they won 11 of 13 before losing to 8th ranked Drury in the Conference Tournament Championship game, one win shy of a bid to the NCAA Tourney. This game here saw the Flyers upset then 4th ranked Drury to win their 6th straight contest. Grace Hilber finished with 24pts, Lily Courier had 23 while Kat Schmidt had 14pts and 12 rebounds. Lewis held the Panthers to just 3 of 21 in three-pointers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Juo6YJcISQ
The Flyers men's team finished 16-11, 12-5 and led the Conference points standings for most of the season. This win here moved them to 10-3 in the GLVC. They would get to 12-3 before losing the final two games of the regular season. Lewis would reach the Conference Tourney semis, only to fall to Indy and miss out on the NCAA Tourney. Dre Bell led the Flyers here with 23 pts and Connor Niego had 21pts and 10 rebounds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfsTz-dGk1w
Enjoy. I did.
The school year has come to an end and so I thought I'd post a couple games I broadcast for Lewis U. on my YouTube page. Both happen to be from the same day's GLVC doubleheader in February. My 19th year as the voice of Lewis basketball was another fun one. It also happened to be my 40th straight season broadcasting basketball here in Illinois, going all the way back to my days at SIU, doing Saluki games for the student station WIDB. I am still having a blast and I hope these videos show that. These were for a simulcast on WJOL Radio and the GLVC website.
The Flyers women's team finished 16-15 but played most of the season short-handed. Once healthy they won 11 of 13 before losing to 8th ranked Drury in the Conference Tournament Championship game, one win shy of a bid to the NCAA Tourney. This game here saw the Flyers upset then 4th ranked Drury to win their 6th straight contest. Grace Hilber finished with 24pts, Lily Courier had 23 while Kat Schmidt had 14pts and 12 rebounds. Lewis held the Panthers to just 3 of 21 in three-pointers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Juo6YJcISQ
The Flyers men's team finished 16-11, 12-5 and led the Conference points standings for most of the season. This win here moved them to 10-3 in the GLVC. They would get to 12-3 before losing the final two games of the regular season. Lewis would reach the Conference Tourney semis, only to fall to Indy and miss out on the NCAA Tourney. Dre Bell led the Flyers here with 23 pts and Connor Niego had 21pts and 10 rebounds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfsTz-dGk1w
Enjoy. I did.
5/20/2022
I haven't posted on here much lately. I'm trying to not be negative and that's a problem since so much in sports and politics has been aggravating lately. Here is a nice topic though. Happy 100th anniversary to WGN radio. I've only been able to be on the air on 720 a handful of times over the years but because of the legacy of that place, I was keenly aware of how cool those opportunities were. This is a pic from when I got to be in the showcase studio for an interview with my buddy Elton Jim Turano. Just walking in that building has been a big deal for me, as a radio guy. I would still love to work there officially someday. It really would be a bucket list kind of thing. I came close once, back in the day. Oh well. Ever since I got into radio myself, my Dad would love to tell me the story of how, when he was dating my Mom, he would drive up Lake Shore Drive on his way home after dropping her off back home on the South Side. He would have WGN on and at midnight the station would sign off the air by playing the Wiffenpoof song, lol. We're talking more than 60 years ago, folks. To then be on that station myself doing traffic updates or talking to Jim has been a big deal to me. Add in, as a lifelong Cubs fan, that I listened to hundreds of hours of Cubs baseball on 720 with Vince Lloyd and Lou Boudreau creating the action for me, well, that place on the dial will always mean something special. Here's to the legacy of one of the premier spots on the dial in the nation. Happy to ya and to all that have graced those halls.
I haven't posted on here much lately. I'm trying to not be negative and that's a problem since so much in sports and politics has been aggravating lately. Here is a nice topic though. Happy 100th anniversary to WGN radio. I've only been able to be on the air on 720 a handful of times over the years but because of the legacy of that place, I was keenly aware of how cool those opportunities were. This is a pic from when I got to be in the showcase studio for an interview with my buddy Elton Jim Turano. Just walking in that building has been a big deal for me, as a radio guy. I would still love to work there officially someday. It really would be a bucket list kind of thing. I came close once, back in the day. Oh well. Ever since I got into radio myself, my Dad would love to tell me the story of how, when he was dating my Mom, he would drive up Lake Shore Drive on his way home after dropping her off back home on the South Side. He would have WGN on and at midnight the station would sign off the air by playing the Wiffenpoof song, lol. We're talking more than 60 years ago, folks. To then be on that station myself doing traffic updates or talking to Jim has been a big deal to me. Add in, as a lifelong Cubs fan, that I listened to hundreds of hours of Cubs baseball on 720 with Vince Lloyd and Lou Boudreau creating the action for me, well, that place on the dial will always mean something special. Here's to the legacy of one of the premier spots on the dial in the nation. Happy to ya and to all that have graced those halls.
4/28/2022
I've posted something like this before at this time of the year and am drawn to do so again. I miss being at the ballpark. I spent 14 years and did more than 1000 pro baseball broadcasts at these 3 minor league fields, Elfstrom Stadium, Hawkinson Ford Field and Silver Cross Field. I also covered hundreds of Cubs and White Sox games over the years as a reporter at Wrigley Field, old Comiskey and the new Sox Park for the likes of WBBM, WSCR, Sporting News Radio, plus a few in the old days for WMRO and WKKD. I even broadcast more than 1000 high school and college baseball games over the years at too many fields to picture here. It feels so weird to be just sitting here and not be at a ballpark in April. My favorite place as a kid was at first base with a glove on my hand. When I couldn't play any longer the next best thing was being in the booth or press box at a ballfield. It is home. It is where I belong and feel most at peace. I miss it. I hope I get to be there again someday, making a living where I should be. |
4/18/2022
I didn't want this to get lost in all that has been going on but the debut album by the Clash was released 45 years ago this past week in the UK on April 8, 1977. I bought it here as an import since it actually wasn't officially released in the US until two years later with a different track list. Career Opportunities is on both versions. I'm lucky to have seen them in concert twice. They are the reason I am still a fan of Punk all these years later. They ARE Punk to me and everyone else is measured by the comparison to their gold standard. The Ramones inspired Joe Strummer in particular and as much as I love the Ramones myself, the Clash took what they did and elevated it to art for me. The Sex Pistols, by the way, made a big initial splash but were too much of a cartoon to take seriously and thankfully did not last. Sid Vicious literally could not play his instrument. At all. (I've gone back and listened to cover versions of the Pistols songs from their one record and it reminded me that those songs are really good when done by bands that can actually sing and play. Glen Matlock wrote that record and he was the one with the most talent in the band and so left them almost immediately, lol) The Clash were songwriters, musicians and showmen. They cared and it showed. And they rocked like hell. And this album started it all. This version of Career Opportunities on YouTube is from Shea Stadium, but what people forget is that they opened for the Who at this show. They were not the headliners. What I would have given to see a double bill of the Clash and the Who. I can't even remember the opening act for the Who when we saw them on that 1982 tour at the Checkerdome in St. Louis. It was the Rockets, whoever they were, I think. We got them and NYC got the Clash. Oh well. Rock on, my friends.
I didn't want this to get lost in all that has been going on but the debut album by the Clash was released 45 years ago this past week in the UK on April 8, 1977. I bought it here as an import since it actually wasn't officially released in the US until two years later with a different track list. Career Opportunities is on both versions. I'm lucky to have seen them in concert twice. They are the reason I am still a fan of Punk all these years later. They ARE Punk to me and everyone else is measured by the comparison to their gold standard. The Ramones inspired Joe Strummer in particular and as much as I love the Ramones myself, the Clash took what they did and elevated it to art for me. The Sex Pistols, by the way, made a big initial splash but were too much of a cartoon to take seriously and thankfully did not last. Sid Vicious literally could not play his instrument. At all. (I've gone back and listened to cover versions of the Pistols songs from their one record and it reminded me that those songs are really good when done by bands that can actually sing and play. Glen Matlock wrote that record and he was the one with the most talent in the band and so left them almost immediately, lol) The Clash were songwriters, musicians and showmen. They cared and it showed. And they rocked like hell. And this album started it all. This version of Career Opportunities on YouTube is from Shea Stadium, but what people forget is that they opened for the Who at this show. They were not the headliners. What I would have given to see a double bill of the Clash and the Who. I can't even remember the opening act for the Who when we saw them on that 1982 tour at the Checkerdome in St. Louis. It was the Rockets, whoever they were, I think. We got them and NYC got the Clash. Oh well. Rock on, my friends.
4/15/2022
So life goes on and I will move on now that my Dad has passed, but I wanted to give one last comment about him first. We did a nice little ceremony to honor him on Tuesday and it was a beautiful day, highlighted by the Naperville Honor Guard giving him a proper Navy sendoff with the rifle salute and afterwards I was honored to receive the folded American Flag. We did not do eulogies. I have been mulling one over in my head for a long, long time and apparently so has my brother, Michael. I will publish both here.
My Mom died 30 years ago from cancer. People called our family the Cleavers because we were a cliche in the best way of a happy family. Dad and Mom had the best marriage imaginable. Dad set an amazing example for his sons on how to be a good person, good husband, good man. And he was just the best Dad. He just was. He came from a generation that did not express emotion all the time but I know he loved me. He did not say I love you. I never really heard it from him until his last few years. He was the nicest, sweetest man alive but those words just weren't always said. What he did though, was tousle my hair. He would walk behind my chair while I was watching TV or whatever and he would reach down and tousle my hair for a couple seconds and walk on. It took a while but I finally figured out what that was. That was his I love you. He said it, just not with words. He also said it with his actions. He came to all my games. And most importantly, he behaved himself! lol. He didn't yell at refs or the coach or me or anyone. He was THERE. That's all that mattered to me. This miserable weather reminds me of his coming to my high school baseball games. I'd look over and he'd invariably be leaning against the fence just past the dugout. I couldn't figure out how he'd gotten out of work to be there but he always was. I'd ask him afterwards and his pat answer was that he told them he had to pick up something at the printer. Again! He went to the printer a lot apparently, lol. He worked hard all his life and literally moved up from the mail room at Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway all the way up to management. Honest. He started in the mail room. He was a natural math wiz and impressed enough people to eventually become Manager of Divisions, working out the rates to charge on all the routes at all the weights etc. He took early retirement and took great care of my Mother during her illness. After she passed, he and I sort of took care of each other. Patty was married by then and Micheal and Donna had been living in Arizona for a while. It was the two of us. Don't get me wrong, he spent a ton of time with his grandkids and over at Patty's house. If he wasn't with me, he was at the Andrew house for sure. The part of each holiday Dad and I would spend together for almost two decades would inevitably be at a Riverboat Casino eating at the buffets and losing money at video poker. He was such a positive force in the world. But he was also the worst joke teller while somehow simultaneously being the funniest guy too. He never remembered a punch line but he still made you laugh. Every time. We golfed at the Bourne golf course in Norway, Illinois dozens of times together. It was our own private course because it was never crowded so far out in the middle of nowhere. It was a 9 hole course but we just kept hitting shots until we liked one because no one was ever behind us, so we basically played 27 each time. I will cherish the memory of those afternoons forever. We watched the Cubs together all the time too and I am thrilled we got to watch some of the World Series with each other. He was the biggest Cubs fan. He always had a transistor radio in his hand with the game on. Gee, I wonder why I got into sportscasting in general and called baseball games in particular? I just wonder. I of course know the answer now and I am lucky to have had my Dad for so long and to have him listen to my games eventually too. We were all lucky. He was genuinely one of a kind. My brother has his story with Dad too and so do we all. I'm pretty sure Dad stuck around so long after Mom's death just to make sure we were all going to be okay. We are, so rest in peace, Sir. You earned it.
Now, here is the story my brother, Michael, wanted to have posted too. Michael does not do social media but he wanted his thoughts out there for all. Here they are. And thank you, my brother, for this story and these sentiments. And thanks for being my brother, the one I have looked up to, literally and figuratively, all my life. I hope you don't mind me tagging my story on to yours. And thank you, Patty. A better little sister cannot be found and the work you did for Dad the last few years to help in his care is more than just above and beyond. I will be grateful forever.
Eulogy for a great man
Some of you joined us in a celebration of Michael Joseph Vasko's life on Tuesday April 12 and some were not able. Mark, Patty, and I were touched and so happy to share that time with those who could attend. Now, as his oldest son I want to reach out to ALL of you and tell you a few things about him from the perspective of someone who shared two of his names.
Speaking of names, he was known at various times as Mike, Michael, Mr. Vasko, and of course Grandpa - a title no one carried more proudly than he - but for now I will refer to him as dad.
Dad was known to be talkative, and his stories were as entertaining as they were instructive, but I will always recall the way he could speak to me in silence. The time I was in my early teens and out past curfew, way past, and peddling my bike furiously to get home while trying to form the beginnings of an excuse that would keep the resultant punishment to a bearable minimum, certain that by morning my story would be complete.
Instead as I quietly opened the front door, I was surprised to see my dad waiting for me five feet inside. I quickly steadied myself and prepared for the first, well-
deserved outburst. But it never came. He expressed himself with nothing more than a look. A look that somehow showed anger but also a clear disappointment. Wordlessly he was able to tell me everything. That I knew better. That more was expected of me. That I had let him down. He then turned and silently walked away. He communicated all that with just his expression while leaving me with some level of dignity, and it is a lesson I have kept with me. Please remember all the times you enjoyed his company but know there was even more to him than that.
I want us all to remember that he wasn’t always 96 years old. I recall his telling me how at lunchtime at school he would wait for the church bells to start ringing and see how far he could run each day before the twelfth one chimed. I want to remember that at one point dad was all of our ages.
Dad was a well-known Cubs fan, but never once did I hear him say that he was too busy with them to spend time with his family. The Cubs were always something we did together. Did he know that 2016 would eventually arrive? I’m not smart enough to know but I have a wonderful suspicion.
Dad loved his family. His parents. His sisters. His three grandkids and as many of their friends as he could get to know. Some men are defined by their jobs. Personally my dad taught me to kinda feel sorry for them.
Dad also saw himself as a provider. Someone who took care of others. Is that why he was sometimes a challenge to be taken care of himself?
As a role model I could not have asked for better. And that fact has come with one serious downside: I have no excuse for not getting it right myself. Donna, I hope I am the husband he was. And thank you so very much for always being there for me as I continue to try. I love you.
As his son, my one simple overwhelming memory of my dad is that he was there. He did everything possible to be there FOR me. And then to be there WITH me. So many others have said the same of him through the years. Was it a sacrifice to be so giving of his time? I just know I was and always will be so very thankful.
I want to close by thanking some very special people while knowing that for each one I mention another exists who deserves to be. Those that helped dad as well as those that helped the helpers.
To Mark and Pam - thanks for all you did to set up the venue for Tuesday's in-person celebration. Now I know why all those things were said about you. It is fair to say the family could not have made it there without you.
To Christine - what a true friend. You will always have a place in our family’s heart.
To Don - Dad loved all the golf, the crossword puzzles, the paintings,and those lunches. And everything else that you two did that he properly never told me about.
To Katie and Steve - thank you for your strength.
To Bill - a special son-in-law from even before that Bears/Giants game; through the rain in turn four; and up to the very last day in his apartment on Wednesday.
To Chris - a daughter-in-law that my dad loved to talk about. He so appreciated all the help you gave him.
To Lauren - he was so thrilled to meet you.
To Anna, Dylan, Courtney, and Jake. Thanks for being there. I wish you the happiness in marriage that my dad had with his Carole.
Finally to Mark and to Patty - you have my special thanks for being there when I was not. Please know that you have my love, my respect, my gratitude, and my envy for it all.
Thanks dad for everything. For 96 years you got it right. I’ll keep trying to make you proud.
My eternal love,
Michael John Vasko
So life goes on and I will move on now that my Dad has passed, but I wanted to give one last comment about him first. We did a nice little ceremony to honor him on Tuesday and it was a beautiful day, highlighted by the Naperville Honor Guard giving him a proper Navy sendoff with the rifle salute and afterwards I was honored to receive the folded American Flag. We did not do eulogies. I have been mulling one over in my head for a long, long time and apparently so has my brother, Michael. I will publish both here.
My Mom died 30 years ago from cancer. People called our family the Cleavers because we were a cliche in the best way of a happy family. Dad and Mom had the best marriage imaginable. Dad set an amazing example for his sons on how to be a good person, good husband, good man. And he was just the best Dad. He just was. He came from a generation that did not express emotion all the time but I know he loved me. He did not say I love you. I never really heard it from him until his last few years. He was the nicest, sweetest man alive but those words just weren't always said. What he did though, was tousle my hair. He would walk behind my chair while I was watching TV or whatever and he would reach down and tousle my hair for a couple seconds and walk on. It took a while but I finally figured out what that was. That was his I love you. He said it, just not with words. He also said it with his actions. He came to all my games. And most importantly, he behaved himself! lol. He didn't yell at refs or the coach or me or anyone. He was THERE. That's all that mattered to me. This miserable weather reminds me of his coming to my high school baseball games. I'd look over and he'd invariably be leaning against the fence just past the dugout. I couldn't figure out how he'd gotten out of work to be there but he always was. I'd ask him afterwards and his pat answer was that he told them he had to pick up something at the printer. Again! He went to the printer a lot apparently, lol. He worked hard all his life and literally moved up from the mail room at Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway all the way up to management. Honest. He started in the mail room. He was a natural math wiz and impressed enough people to eventually become Manager of Divisions, working out the rates to charge on all the routes at all the weights etc. He took early retirement and took great care of my Mother during her illness. After she passed, he and I sort of took care of each other. Patty was married by then and Micheal and Donna had been living in Arizona for a while. It was the two of us. Don't get me wrong, he spent a ton of time with his grandkids and over at Patty's house. If he wasn't with me, he was at the Andrew house for sure. The part of each holiday Dad and I would spend together for almost two decades would inevitably be at a Riverboat Casino eating at the buffets and losing money at video poker. He was such a positive force in the world. But he was also the worst joke teller while somehow simultaneously being the funniest guy too. He never remembered a punch line but he still made you laugh. Every time. We golfed at the Bourne golf course in Norway, Illinois dozens of times together. It was our own private course because it was never crowded so far out in the middle of nowhere. It was a 9 hole course but we just kept hitting shots until we liked one because no one was ever behind us, so we basically played 27 each time. I will cherish the memory of those afternoons forever. We watched the Cubs together all the time too and I am thrilled we got to watch some of the World Series with each other. He was the biggest Cubs fan. He always had a transistor radio in his hand with the game on. Gee, I wonder why I got into sportscasting in general and called baseball games in particular? I just wonder. I of course know the answer now and I am lucky to have had my Dad for so long and to have him listen to my games eventually too. We were all lucky. He was genuinely one of a kind. My brother has his story with Dad too and so do we all. I'm pretty sure Dad stuck around so long after Mom's death just to make sure we were all going to be okay. We are, so rest in peace, Sir. You earned it.
Now, here is the story my brother, Michael, wanted to have posted too. Michael does not do social media but he wanted his thoughts out there for all. Here they are. And thank you, my brother, for this story and these sentiments. And thanks for being my brother, the one I have looked up to, literally and figuratively, all my life. I hope you don't mind me tagging my story on to yours. And thank you, Patty. A better little sister cannot be found and the work you did for Dad the last few years to help in his care is more than just above and beyond. I will be grateful forever.
Eulogy for a great man
Some of you joined us in a celebration of Michael Joseph Vasko's life on Tuesday April 12 and some were not able. Mark, Patty, and I were touched and so happy to share that time with those who could attend. Now, as his oldest son I want to reach out to ALL of you and tell you a few things about him from the perspective of someone who shared two of his names.
Speaking of names, he was known at various times as Mike, Michael, Mr. Vasko, and of course Grandpa - a title no one carried more proudly than he - but for now I will refer to him as dad.
Dad was known to be talkative, and his stories were as entertaining as they were instructive, but I will always recall the way he could speak to me in silence. The time I was in my early teens and out past curfew, way past, and peddling my bike furiously to get home while trying to form the beginnings of an excuse that would keep the resultant punishment to a bearable minimum, certain that by morning my story would be complete.
Instead as I quietly opened the front door, I was surprised to see my dad waiting for me five feet inside. I quickly steadied myself and prepared for the first, well-
deserved outburst. But it never came. He expressed himself with nothing more than a look. A look that somehow showed anger but also a clear disappointment. Wordlessly he was able to tell me everything. That I knew better. That more was expected of me. That I had let him down. He then turned and silently walked away. He communicated all that with just his expression while leaving me with some level of dignity, and it is a lesson I have kept with me. Please remember all the times you enjoyed his company but know there was even more to him than that.
I want us all to remember that he wasn’t always 96 years old. I recall his telling me how at lunchtime at school he would wait for the church bells to start ringing and see how far he could run each day before the twelfth one chimed. I want to remember that at one point dad was all of our ages.
Dad was a well-known Cubs fan, but never once did I hear him say that he was too busy with them to spend time with his family. The Cubs were always something we did together. Did he know that 2016 would eventually arrive? I’m not smart enough to know but I have a wonderful suspicion.
Dad loved his family. His parents. His sisters. His three grandkids and as many of their friends as he could get to know. Some men are defined by their jobs. Personally my dad taught me to kinda feel sorry for them.
Dad also saw himself as a provider. Someone who took care of others. Is that why he was sometimes a challenge to be taken care of himself?
As a role model I could not have asked for better. And that fact has come with one serious downside: I have no excuse for not getting it right myself. Donna, I hope I am the husband he was. And thank you so very much for always being there for me as I continue to try. I love you.
As his son, my one simple overwhelming memory of my dad is that he was there. He did everything possible to be there FOR me. And then to be there WITH me. So many others have said the same of him through the years. Was it a sacrifice to be so giving of his time? I just know I was and always will be so very thankful.
I want to close by thanking some very special people while knowing that for each one I mention another exists who deserves to be. Those that helped dad as well as those that helped the helpers.
To Mark and Pam - thanks for all you did to set up the venue for Tuesday's in-person celebration. Now I know why all those things were said about you. It is fair to say the family could not have made it there without you.
To Christine - what a true friend. You will always have a place in our family’s heart.
To Don - Dad loved all the golf, the crossword puzzles, the paintings,and those lunches. And everything else that you two did that he properly never told me about.
To Katie and Steve - thank you for your strength.
To Bill - a special son-in-law from even before that Bears/Giants game; through the rain in turn four; and up to the very last day in his apartment on Wednesday.
To Chris - a daughter-in-law that my dad loved to talk about. He so appreciated all the help you gave him.
To Lauren - he was so thrilled to meet you.
To Anna, Dylan, Courtney, and Jake. Thanks for being there. I wish you the happiness in marriage that my dad had with his Carole.
Finally to Mark and to Patty - you have my special thanks for being there when I was not. Please know that you have my love, my respect, my gratitude, and my envy for it all.
Thanks dad for everything. For 96 years you got it right. I’ll keep trying to make you proud.
My eternal love,
Michael John Vasko
4/9/2022
We lost my 96 year old Father today. It's hard to even know where to start when talking about that great man. He was the best Dad, Grandpa, Husband and Friend you could imagine. Everyone who met him liked him. The proof is that every time I talked to a friend of mine on the phone their first question always was "how's your dad?" The one picture is an amazing 95 years old, with him as a young, young boy in the backyard with his family on Harding Ave. We got spoiled to have him last until almost his 97th birthday. I was glad I got the chance to tell him how much I loved him at the end. The world lost one of the nicest humans it ever had. I called him Sir, despite how close we were because most of all he was a Gentleman. In every sense of the word. He will be missed by me for all my remaining days. |
4/6/2022
Monday was National Volleyball Day and that brought to mind my favorite of the 12 women's volleyball teams I broadcast for at Benedictine University. The 2012 team finished 30-5 and qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Their season started at 9-0 with all 9 wins done with 3-0 sweeps. After a 5 set win over North Central and another 3-2 victory over Lake Forest, BenU topped Aurora and then Eureka by two more 3-0 scores to open the season at 13-0. A 3-2 loss to Millikin ended that win streak but three more 3-0 wins would follow as they rolled on and on. That team would win the NAC Tournament Championship over Edgewood 3-2 before meeting 15th ranked Chicago in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Eagles had been beaten by then 12th ranked U of C earlier in the season and again fell 3-1 to the Maroons to end that year at an extraordinary 30-5. Only the 37-7 record in 2001 is better. Candice Cuppini finished 4th in school history in kills with 1,367. Molly Kovacich is 8th with 857 and Nicole Adams in 9th with 851. Abby Sattler is 2nd all-time in assists at 3,851. She is also still 9th in digs with 1,167 and Haley Fitzgerald is 10th with 1,166. Meagan Kmieciak is still ranked 8th in aces with 134. Nicole Adams is 5th all-time in block assists at 230. That's a pretty well rounded team. Also, Kara Zuro led that 2012 team in digs with 430, Adams was team leader in kills with 112, while Mailani Burton was 2nd with 84. The Eagles finished 11-1 in the NAC that year and they were 14-1 at home in the Rice Center. They finished with an incredible 21 wins by a 3-0 score. Adams was named an honorable mention All-American after that season and Cuppini was Academic All-District. Five Eagles were all-conference, Cuppini, Adams, Sattler, Zuro and Kovacich. I loved my time behind the mic for BenU volleyball and I announced for a couple other Conference Champs there and saw some other great and memorable players over the years but that team's incredible start and all those 3-0 wins were something I will never forget.
Monday was National Volleyball Day and that brought to mind my favorite of the 12 women's volleyball teams I broadcast for at Benedictine University. The 2012 team finished 30-5 and qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Their season started at 9-0 with all 9 wins done with 3-0 sweeps. After a 5 set win over North Central and another 3-2 victory over Lake Forest, BenU topped Aurora and then Eureka by two more 3-0 scores to open the season at 13-0. A 3-2 loss to Millikin ended that win streak but three more 3-0 wins would follow as they rolled on and on. That team would win the NAC Tournament Championship over Edgewood 3-2 before meeting 15th ranked Chicago in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Eagles had been beaten by then 12th ranked U of C earlier in the season and again fell 3-1 to the Maroons to end that year at an extraordinary 30-5. Only the 37-7 record in 2001 is better. Candice Cuppini finished 4th in school history in kills with 1,367. Molly Kovacich is 8th with 857 and Nicole Adams in 9th with 851. Abby Sattler is 2nd all-time in assists at 3,851. She is also still 9th in digs with 1,167 and Haley Fitzgerald is 10th with 1,166. Meagan Kmieciak is still ranked 8th in aces with 134. Nicole Adams is 5th all-time in block assists at 230. That's a pretty well rounded team. Also, Kara Zuro led that 2012 team in digs with 430, Adams was team leader in kills with 112, while Mailani Burton was 2nd with 84. The Eagles finished 11-1 in the NAC that year and they were 14-1 at home in the Rice Center. They finished with an incredible 21 wins by a 3-0 score. Adams was named an honorable mention All-American after that season and Cuppini was Academic All-District. Five Eagles were all-conference, Cuppini, Adams, Sattler, Zuro and Kovacich. I loved my time behind the mic for BenU volleyball and I announced for a couple other Conference Champs there and saw some other great and memorable players over the years but that team's incredible start and all those 3-0 wins were something I will never forget.
4/4/2022
I haven't posted in a while but with baseball's opening day coming up in a couple days, this occurred to me and is worth talking about.
The 2022 Chicago White Sox are in danger of being the 1994 Chicago Cubs and that is not a good thing. The Sox need starting pitching and Rick Hahn had better get it for them or the this year's Sox will indeed suffer the same fate as the '94 Cubs. This was brought to mind as I visited my Dad on Saturday. We turned on the Marquee network and they were showing the 1994 Cubs opening day game vs. the Mets before the day's actual exhibition game. That's the 'Tuffy Rhodes' game. It was so much fun to hear Harry Caray again, Thom Brennaman not so much, lol. Wrigley was still Wrigley and hadn't been turned into a billboard covered mall yet. As a refresher, 1994 was the strike shortened season that robbed the White Sox of their legitimate chance at a Championship and robbed Frank Thomas of an MVP. The Sox finished 67-46 under Gene Lamont and Big Frank hit an extraordinary .353 with 34 doubles, 38 homers and 101 rbi's in just 113 games. And I think people forget how good Julio Franco was as the DH. He hit .319 with 20 homers and 98 rbi's. Hell, even Darrin Jackson hit .312 but pitching was the reason they could have won it all that summer. Jack McDowell, Alex Fernandez, Jason Bere and Wilson Alvarez all had double digit wins with ERA's all under 4.00. Even Scott Sanderson was 8-4 as the number 5 starter. They were not going to be beaten in a short series or long series for that matter. They were robbed and so were we. The 1994 Cubs had a ton of offense too. They just didn't have starting pitching the Sox did and it cost them a chance at a Championship more than the strike did.
The 1994 Cubs finished 49-64 under Tom Trebelhorn, who deserved a better fate, because that team featured a pre-steroidal Sammy Soso, Ryne Sandberg, Mark Grace, Shawon Dunston, Derrick May etc. It was amazing to see Sosa before he ballooned up. He hit .300 that year with 25 home runs, 17 doubles, 6 triples, 70 rbi's and 22 steals. That's who he was. He was great and built like Andre Dawson. He wasn't a comic book character yet. He didn't need to cheat and ruin his legacy. It was fun and sad to see the 1994 Sosa. Grace hit .298 with 23 doubles that year. May hit .284 with 51 rbi's in left field. Ryno had a sub par season at the plate at .238 but he was still stellar in the field and make a tremendous play in that opener. He would step away from the game for a bit after that strike shortened season. Glenallen hit .297 off the bench and Rey Sanchez hit .285. It was also fun to see the eventual Joliet Jackhammer, Rick Wilkins, behind the plate. He hit 25 doubles for the Cubs that summer with 7 homers and 39 rbi's. Another future Jackhammer, Kevin Roberson, hit 4 homers for the Cubs that summer too. That team had plenty of offense, enough to go deep in the playoffs. What they didn't have was starting pitching. It was dreadful. Mike Morgan pitched that opening day, for goodness sake! Mike Morgan! It was really unforgivable to give that everyday lineup that lack of arms to try to overcome. Steve Trachsel was in his first full season and turned out to be their main starter with a 3.21 ERA and a 9-7 record. Willie Banks lost 12 games with an ERA of 5.40. Anthony Young and Kevin Forster rounded out that rotation. Foster would end up pitching against the Jackhammers with St. Paul, if that tells you anything. Turk Wendall's bullpen ERA was 11.93 and Jose Guzman's ERA was 9.15. The first reliever out of the pen on that opening day was Blaise Ilsley for goodness sake, whoever the heck that is! And for the record, Morgan finished with a 2-10 record with an ERA of 6.69 as the 'ace' in 1994. Randy Myers was the closer and lost 5 games with 21 saves and only pitched 40 innings all summer. Here's an idea, use a good pitcher more often than that when you don't have many others, regardless of situation. Maybe those losses scared Trebs away from that. GM Larry Himes lost his job at season's end and it didn't come soon enough. He cost Trebelhorn his job with that pitching staff and cost that 1994 offense a chance to win plenty of games with that poor pitching staff. The perfect example of what I am talking about is that despite those three homers from Tuffy Rhodes and 8 total runs that opening day, the Cubs still lost 12-8. That amount of runs should be enough to win, obviously.
In other words, Rick Hahn can't pull a Himes and he has to go get pitching. He should have already done it and now it will cost even more but it has to be done. This season will not be cut short. This team should be given the chance to finish like the 1994 team would have. They scored more than 100 more runs than that 1994 Cubs lineup. I am still mad about that work stoppage and I am more of a Cubs fan! Sean Manaea should have ended up on the South Side. Now Hahn's job will be even tougher. Maybe they can outpunch people until the all-star break but now that offense has so much pressure on them. There will be no room for error and that is not fair to them because they are still so young. Michael Kopech shouldn't have all that pressure on him to perform in the rotation either but he will feel it no matter what now. That is also not fair for such a young, inexperienced guy. I didn't understand why they chose not to retain Carlos Rodon and I still don't, and Dallas Keuchel is not what he used to be. Unless Dallas finds the fountain of youth, the Sox are in some trouble for a while. Losing Crochet for the season and Lynn for awhile is such bad luck and they certainly cannot afford to have any more injuries either. Hahn needs to keep working. His deal to acquire a quality outfielder like AJ Pollock was impressive but his work is not done and cannot be done until he shores up the rotation. The 2022 White Sox deserve the help. Please and thank you.
I haven't posted in a while but with baseball's opening day coming up in a couple days, this occurred to me and is worth talking about.
The 2022 Chicago White Sox are in danger of being the 1994 Chicago Cubs and that is not a good thing. The Sox need starting pitching and Rick Hahn had better get it for them or the this year's Sox will indeed suffer the same fate as the '94 Cubs. This was brought to mind as I visited my Dad on Saturday. We turned on the Marquee network and they were showing the 1994 Cubs opening day game vs. the Mets before the day's actual exhibition game. That's the 'Tuffy Rhodes' game. It was so much fun to hear Harry Caray again, Thom Brennaman not so much, lol. Wrigley was still Wrigley and hadn't been turned into a billboard covered mall yet. As a refresher, 1994 was the strike shortened season that robbed the White Sox of their legitimate chance at a Championship and robbed Frank Thomas of an MVP. The Sox finished 67-46 under Gene Lamont and Big Frank hit an extraordinary .353 with 34 doubles, 38 homers and 101 rbi's in just 113 games. And I think people forget how good Julio Franco was as the DH. He hit .319 with 20 homers and 98 rbi's. Hell, even Darrin Jackson hit .312 but pitching was the reason they could have won it all that summer. Jack McDowell, Alex Fernandez, Jason Bere and Wilson Alvarez all had double digit wins with ERA's all under 4.00. Even Scott Sanderson was 8-4 as the number 5 starter. They were not going to be beaten in a short series or long series for that matter. They were robbed and so were we. The 1994 Cubs had a ton of offense too. They just didn't have starting pitching the Sox did and it cost them a chance at a Championship more than the strike did.
The 1994 Cubs finished 49-64 under Tom Trebelhorn, who deserved a better fate, because that team featured a pre-steroidal Sammy Soso, Ryne Sandberg, Mark Grace, Shawon Dunston, Derrick May etc. It was amazing to see Sosa before he ballooned up. He hit .300 that year with 25 home runs, 17 doubles, 6 triples, 70 rbi's and 22 steals. That's who he was. He was great and built like Andre Dawson. He wasn't a comic book character yet. He didn't need to cheat and ruin his legacy. It was fun and sad to see the 1994 Sosa. Grace hit .298 with 23 doubles that year. May hit .284 with 51 rbi's in left field. Ryno had a sub par season at the plate at .238 but he was still stellar in the field and make a tremendous play in that opener. He would step away from the game for a bit after that strike shortened season. Glenallen hit .297 off the bench and Rey Sanchez hit .285. It was also fun to see the eventual Joliet Jackhammer, Rick Wilkins, behind the plate. He hit 25 doubles for the Cubs that summer with 7 homers and 39 rbi's. Another future Jackhammer, Kevin Roberson, hit 4 homers for the Cubs that summer too. That team had plenty of offense, enough to go deep in the playoffs. What they didn't have was starting pitching. It was dreadful. Mike Morgan pitched that opening day, for goodness sake! Mike Morgan! It was really unforgivable to give that everyday lineup that lack of arms to try to overcome. Steve Trachsel was in his first full season and turned out to be their main starter with a 3.21 ERA and a 9-7 record. Willie Banks lost 12 games with an ERA of 5.40. Anthony Young and Kevin Forster rounded out that rotation. Foster would end up pitching against the Jackhammers with St. Paul, if that tells you anything. Turk Wendall's bullpen ERA was 11.93 and Jose Guzman's ERA was 9.15. The first reliever out of the pen on that opening day was Blaise Ilsley for goodness sake, whoever the heck that is! And for the record, Morgan finished with a 2-10 record with an ERA of 6.69 as the 'ace' in 1994. Randy Myers was the closer and lost 5 games with 21 saves and only pitched 40 innings all summer. Here's an idea, use a good pitcher more often than that when you don't have many others, regardless of situation. Maybe those losses scared Trebs away from that. GM Larry Himes lost his job at season's end and it didn't come soon enough. He cost Trebelhorn his job with that pitching staff and cost that 1994 offense a chance to win plenty of games with that poor pitching staff. The perfect example of what I am talking about is that despite those three homers from Tuffy Rhodes and 8 total runs that opening day, the Cubs still lost 12-8. That amount of runs should be enough to win, obviously.
In other words, Rick Hahn can't pull a Himes and he has to go get pitching. He should have already done it and now it will cost even more but it has to be done. This season will not be cut short. This team should be given the chance to finish like the 1994 team would have. They scored more than 100 more runs than that 1994 Cubs lineup. I am still mad about that work stoppage and I am more of a Cubs fan! Sean Manaea should have ended up on the South Side. Now Hahn's job will be even tougher. Maybe they can outpunch people until the all-star break but now that offense has so much pressure on them. There will be no room for error and that is not fair to them because they are still so young. Michael Kopech shouldn't have all that pressure on him to perform in the rotation either but he will feel it no matter what now. That is also not fair for such a young, inexperienced guy. I didn't understand why they chose not to retain Carlos Rodon and I still don't, and Dallas Keuchel is not what he used to be. Unless Dallas finds the fountain of youth, the Sox are in some trouble for a while. Losing Crochet for the season and Lynn for awhile is such bad luck and they certainly cannot afford to have any more injuries either. Hahn needs to keep working. His deal to acquire a quality outfielder like AJ Pollock was impressive but his work is not done and cannot be done until he shores up the rotation. The 2022 White Sox deserve the help. Please and thank you.
3/18/2022
Six years ago today was the biggest win in school history when the 2nd-ranked Benedictine Men's Basketball team defeated #15 Amherst 63-60 to advance to the D3 National Championship game with an undefeated record of 31-0. It was just the third team in all my years broadcasting to advance to a Championship game. The Aurora U. baseball team played for the D3 National Title in 1990 but lost to Eastern Connecticut State and the Joliet Slammers gave me my only Championship ring with the Frontier League Title in 2011. Amherst was appearing in their 7th Final Four but the Eagles took care of business to get to within one victory of a Championship.
The Eagles had advanced as far as the Elite Eight in 1991 but this season surpassed that milestone in many ways.
In this win, Mike Blasczyk led the way with 15pts, Tahron Harvey had 13 points , Adam Reynolds 12 points and Luke Johnson finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Eagles, who led the nation that year in rebound margin, won that battle 50-30 on that day and held them to their worst 3-point shooting day of the season. There were six ties and ten lead changes in the contest. Neither team led by more than eight points the entire way. Free throws were a key for Benedictine as they were 17 of 23 including Blasczyk's key trip to the line when he hit one of two from the stripe with just 5 seconds remaining to give BenU at three point edge. Connor Green's 3-pointer at the buzzer went off the back of the rim moving the Eagles to the Title Game. Green finished with 18 points to lead Amherst and that miss ended his career with a school record 1,757 points!
Yes, the Eagles lost the next day to St. Thomas 82-76 to finish second in the nation while suffering their only loss, but I choose to remember this great game in the semis, the biggest win in school history. I was lucky enough to spend time with and broadcast games for that extraordinary group of guys and those seniors in particular for their entire careers. That remarkable season featured five wins over teams from the rival CCIW, including victories over nationally ranked Elmhurst and North Central. They were given a first round bye into the Tournament and their trip to the Championship game featured a 93-73 romp over Alma at the Rice Center to advance to the Final Four. In that game, BenU hit 8 of their first 12 three-pointers to take an early 26-9 lead and they pushed it to 44-25 at halftime. They would eventually lead by as many as 29 points in a no-doubter. BenU finished 17 of 24 from beyond the arc in that game! Blasczyk paced BenU with 20 points on 6 of 7 in 3's. Johnson finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds while Brayden Olson came off the bench to connect on 4 of 5 three-pointers. Wisconsin-Platteville is the last team to win a D3 Championship with an undefeated record when they went 30-0 in 1998. The Eagles failed to duplicate that with their loss to the 8th-ranked Tommies, who finished with the trophy at 30-3. You definitely have to give St. Thomas credit, by the way. To win the Championship they defeated #1 ranked Augustana in the Elite Eight, #2 ranked Benedictine in the Championship game, #4 ranked Christopher Newport in the semis and 18th ranked Elmhurst earlier in the Tourney.
In that Title game, BenU trailed for the majority of the time but rallied late. They trimmed a 10 point deficit down to 4 with three minutes remaining. Eventually a turnover and dunk got it to 73-71 but they could get no closer. Johnson led the Eagles with 21 points and 11 rebounds, John Dodson had 13 points and 6 assists and Tim Reamer contributed 11 points off the bench. The difference was free throws. The Tommies outscored BenU at the line 27-6 on that day. Though their great season ended one win short, the victory over Amherst in the semifinals to get them to that National Championship contest is the one most remembered here and the biggest win in school history six years ago today. Here's to Coach Bunkenburg and crew for that result and a very memorable season, indeed. Thanks for the memories, fellas!
Six years ago today was the biggest win in school history when the 2nd-ranked Benedictine Men's Basketball team defeated #15 Amherst 63-60 to advance to the D3 National Championship game with an undefeated record of 31-0. It was just the third team in all my years broadcasting to advance to a Championship game. The Aurora U. baseball team played for the D3 National Title in 1990 but lost to Eastern Connecticut State and the Joliet Slammers gave me my only Championship ring with the Frontier League Title in 2011. Amherst was appearing in their 7th Final Four but the Eagles took care of business to get to within one victory of a Championship.
The Eagles had advanced as far as the Elite Eight in 1991 but this season surpassed that milestone in many ways.
In this win, Mike Blasczyk led the way with 15pts, Tahron Harvey had 13 points , Adam Reynolds 12 points and Luke Johnson finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Eagles, who led the nation that year in rebound margin, won that battle 50-30 on that day and held them to their worst 3-point shooting day of the season. There were six ties and ten lead changes in the contest. Neither team led by more than eight points the entire way. Free throws were a key for Benedictine as they were 17 of 23 including Blasczyk's key trip to the line when he hit one of two from the stripe with just 5 seconds remaining to give BenU at three point edge. Connor Green's 3-pointer at the buzzer went off the back of the rim moving the Eagles to the Title Game. Green finished with 18 points to lead Amherst and that miss ended his career with a school record 1,757 points!
Yes, the Eagles lost the next day to St. Thomas 82-76 to finish second in the nation while suffering their only loss, but I choose to remember this great game in the semis, the biggest win in school history. I was lucky enough to spend time with and broadcast games for that extraordinary group of guys and those seniors in particular for their entire careers. That remarkable season featured five wins over teams from the rival CCIW, including victories over nationally ranked Elmhurst and North Central. They were given a first round bye into the Tournament and their trip to the Championship game featured a 93-73 romp over Alma at the Rice Center to advance to the Final Four. In that game, BenU hit 8 of their first 12 three-pointers to take an early 26-9 lead and they pushed it to 44-25 at halftime. They would eventually lead by as many as 29 points in a no-doubter. BenU finished 17 of 24 from beyond the arc in that game! Blasczyk paced BenU with 20 points on 6 of 7 in 3's. Johnson finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds while Brayden Olson came off the bench to connect on 4 of 5 three-pointers. Wisconsin-Platteville is the last team to win a D3 Championship with an undefeated record when they went 30-0 in 1998. The Eagles failed to duplicate that with their loss to the 8th-ranked Tommies, who finished with the trophy at 30-3. You definitely have to give St. Thomas credit, by the way. To win the Championship they defeated #1 ranked Augustana in the Elite Eight, #2 ranked Benedictine in the Championship game, #4 ranked Christopher Newport in the semis and 18th ranked Elmhurst earlier in the Tourney.
In that Title game, BenU trailed for the majority of the time but rallied late. They trimmed a 10 point deficit down to 4 with three minutes remaining. Eventually a turnover and dunk got it to 73-71 but they could get no closer. Johnson led the Eagles with 21 points and 11 rebounds, John Dodson had 13 points and 6 assists and Tim Reamer contributed 11 points off the bench. The difference was free throws. The Tommies outscored BenU at the line 27-6 on that day. Though their great season ended one win short, the victory over Amherst in the semifinals to get them to that National Championship contest is the one most remembered here and the biggest win in school history six years ago today. Here's to Coach Bunkenburg and crew for that result and a very memorable season, indeed. Thanks for the memories, fellas!
2/27/2022
I posted this on Facebook three years ago, today, but am bringing it back here because, as this year's playoffs begin, this is the 20th anniversary of the best Lewis U. Men's basketball team of all-time and I was lucky enough to broadcast them on WJOL. (Again, I have broadast 19 Lewis teams now but skipped two seasons when I was part of the Boers/Bernstein show on WSCR before returning to the scorer's table) The Flyers reached the Sweet 16, and the only reason they didn't advance deeper is, as I talk about here, they had to play eventual National Champion and top ranked Kentucky Wesleyan for the 4th frickin time that season in that Tournament game! They finished 25-7 and definitely would have gotten to the Final Four with a better bracket. Oh well, it was definitely fun while it lasted. That is Sammy Bacino pictured here. He made the Lewis all-decade team along with most of his fellow starters.
It's been the best combined season for me announcing Lewis University Men's and Women's basketball. Right now, the men are ranked 11th in the nation and #1 in the region. The women are ranked 9th in the nation and #2 in the region, behind #1 in the nation, Drury. I thought early that this could be the best men's team since the 2002 team that made the 'Sweet 16' and maybe of all-time.
I wanted to look back at that 2001-2002 season here. The crazy thing is that they didn't finish nationally ranked at all despite that 'Sweet 16' and a 25-7 record. I guess it was those seven defeats, but they had to play national champion Kentucky Wesleyan four times that season. The Flyers beat them once and lost once in overtime. Wesleyan was the team that beat them in that 'Sweet 16' game 80-75. So no one else had to play the best team in the county four times and so three of those seven defeats were courtesy of #1 in the nation. No credit for that I guess and that still rankles me to this day. The 1982 Lewis team finished ranked #17 with all-time great Larry Tucker. They have also finished 20th and 25th. Their best-ever team finished un-ranked. Ugh. That 2002 team was my second year behind the mic for them. The Jim Whitesell coached 2002 squad was led by Sammy Bacino's 15ppg. That was their strength. No one was dominant. Their top 5 players all scored between 9-15ppg. They averaged 73ppg and allowed just 65. What they had in particular was Demetrius Hunter at point guard. He is the all-time assist leader in school history at 528. He ran the show and the team ran a great unselfish half-court offense. Stan Strong is 10th all-time in 3pters which didn't hurt either. That team also played great defense. Hunter is 2nd all-time in steals and Austin Real is 2nd all-time in blocked shots and 6th in rebounds.
This year's team...the 13th under Scott Trost ... has 21 wins with two more regular season games, the conference tourney and nation tourney to come. If they stay #1 in the region, they will host that NCAA Regional and I will get to announce their first games in the national tournament.on WJOL. I hope I get the chance and they definitely have the chance to top that team from 17 years ago.
(That 2019 men's team, talked about in the previous paragraph, eventually lost to 5th ranked Drury 69-67 in overtime at the GLVC Tourney Championship game. They defeated 8th ranked Grand Valley 65-63 in the NCAA Tourney opener but lost to 4th ranked Southern Indiana 62-61 in the 2nd round, just falling short of the Sweet 16 thanks to another ridiculously difficult bracket. They finished 25-6 and certainly challenge the 2002 team as best of all-time. The 2019 women's team finished a great 27-5, as they beat 7th ranked Walsh 86-71 in the opening round of the NCAA's but fell to Grand Valley 72-55 in the 2nd round.)
2/22/2022
Here's how crazy I am, I miss those Benedictine/Lewis tripleheader days! lol. I just happen to love play-by-play and it is still what I do best, I think. I just finished my 19th year doing Lewis basketball games for WJOL, last night. It occurred to me recently that I have been doing play-by-play for 40 years now and basketball is the only sport I have done non-stop over that time. I love baseball but I haven't done any for a few years now and the same for football. There hasn't been a winter for 40 years now that I haven't done basketball, dating back to broadcasting SIU college games and Murphysboro High School games while still in school in Carbondale. I can't think of a sport I've done that I didn't fall in love with. I knew nothing about lacrosse until I started doing games for Benedictine. Those games were so much fun. Fastpitch softball is one of my favorite things and I miss it dearly. Same for volleyball and soccer. I'm now down to just hoops, so it will be a long wait until I start back up in November. I still torture myself and keep up on what the Slammers are doing because I miss that more than you can imagine. Pro baseball will always be my favorite thing. I was pretending to be Jack Brickhouse in my bedroom with my baseball cards when I was 8 years old, for goodness sake. I loved those tripleheaders, but without baseball though, lol. Baseball games are too long to tie them with other sports. Non-baseball tripleheaders are long days but not crazy long and I enjoyed the challenge and it meant I got to do those other sports. It is going to be a tough wait until next basketball season, I will tell you. Please and thank you.
Here's how crazy I am, I miss those Benedictine/Lewis tripleheader days! lol. I just happen to love play-by-play and it is still what I do best, I think. I just finished my 19th year doing Lewis basketball games for WJOL, last night. It occurred to me recently that I have been doing play-by-play for 40 years now and basketball is the only sport I have done non-stop over that time. I love baseball but I haven't done any for a few years now and the same for football. There hasn't been a winter for 40 years now that I haven't done basketball, dating back to broadcasting SIU college games and Murphysboro High School games while still in school in Carbondale. I can't think of a sport I've done that I didn't fall in love with. I knew nothing about lacrosse until I started doing games for Benedictine. Those games were so much fun. Fastpitch softball is one of my favorite things and I miss it dearly. Same for volleyball and soccer. I'm now down to just hoops, so it will be a long wait until I start back up in November. I still torture myself and keep up on what the Slammers are doing because I miss that more than you can imagine. Pro baseball will always be my favorite thing. I was pretending to be Jack Brickhouse in my bedroom with my baseball cards when I was 8 years old, for goodness sake. I loved those tripleheaders, but without baseball though, lol. Baseball games are too long to tie them with other sports. Non-baseball tripleheaders are long days but not crazy long and I enjoyed the challenge and it meant I got to do those other sports. It is going to be a tough wait until next basketball season, I will tell you. Please and thank you.
2/13/2022
I still have the knit hat I bought at Super Bowl 34 in Atlanta, 22 years ago. It is the only one I've been lucky enough to attend. Mick Kahler and I went down for the game and as I'm sure I've mentioned at some point, we braved an ice storm that cancelled almost all the other weekend events to sit up top the Georgia Dome behind one of the end zones. One of the most exciting finishes to a Super Bowl happened on the last play at the opposite 1 yard line, so we were as far from that play as humanly possible while still in the building, lol. We could not tell Kevin Dyson had the ball and we couldn't see if he scored. We only knew who won by seeing which fans were celebrating! The Disney halftime show was boring but we couldn't really see or hear anything anyway! Despite all that, we still had a great time and had a blast going down Radio Row that weekend since we both knew so many radio people broadcasting from there. I think I even remember helping my buddies from One-on-One Sports corral a guest while hanging out with them. I'm glad I got to be at at least one Super Bowl. It was an amazing carnival.
I still have the knit hat I bought at Super Bowl 34 in Atlanta, 22 years ago. It is the only one I've been lucky enough to attend. Mick Kahler and I went down for the game and as I'm sure I've mentioned at some point, we braved an ice storm that cancelled almost all the other weekend events to sit up top the Georgia Dome behind one of the end zones. One of the most exciting finishes to a Super Bowl happened on the last play at the opposite 1 yard line, so we were as far from that play as humanly possible while still in the building, lol. We could not tell Kevin Dyson had the ball and we couldn't see if he scored. We only knew who won by seeing which fans were celebrating! The Disney halftime show was boring but we couldn't really see or hear anything anyway! Despite all that, we still had a great time and had a blast going down Radio Row that weekend since we both knew so many radio people broadcasting from there. I think I even remember helping my buddies from One-on-One Sports corral a guest while hanging out with them. I'm glad I got to be at at least one Super Bowl. It was an amazing carnival.
2/10/2022
I stand by this rant from 2 years ago today, and it is even more true now that Marquee is terrible and that they now want to charge 18 bucks a month for a streaming service as well to watch the team that I wouldn't even watch for free on channel 9 now that they have torn it apart. A pox on the house of Ricketts. Oh, and MLB owners in general are keeping the product from us on purpose anyway for nothing but pure greed in the meantime with this lockout.
Why is it a forgone, accepted situation that the Cubs will not go over the luxury tax this season. They should and frankly had better. That was the deal they made with Cubs fans and they are reneging on the deal. So, I am so done with the Cubs. Seriously. This summer, more than any other since my time with the Slammers ended, do I wish I was the voice of a minor league baseball team. That way I could put all my time and attention on them to fill my baseball passion and thereby ignore the Cubs all together. They do not deserve my money or my time. For someone who has loved the Cubs his entire life, as a third-generation fan from both sides of my family, it will not be pleasant but it is necessary. I am grateful for the World Series win but everything since is an abomination. Say what you will about the White Sox but Jerry is in the baseball business and treats it as such. The Cubs are now the profit business and that business is only about money and it just happens to be baseball that provides it. There is a big difference between the two. The Cubs are solely in the money making business now, period. Wrigley Field is not Wrigley Field anymore. Wrigleyville is not Wrigleyville anymore. Everything is now designed to maximize profit, profit, profit. It is all sanitized, gentrified, branded, suburban blandness. I want the 7-11 back. I want the McDonalds back. I want the City neighborhood back. I want the advertising signs gone. All that stuff would be at least tolerated if that meant the product on the field was the beneficiary, as we were told it was going to be. It is not. Their bankbook is. We were told the increased income would translate to salaries. We put up with those five terrible years of the rebuild with the promise of sustained success. So we swallowed successive win totals of 75, 71, 61, 66 and 73, while paying full price etc. for that product. 2016 was a nice reward but with profits and the value of the franchise at an all-time high, they are now taking all games off free TV and making a Cubs-only channel that some will not even get to see at all, but will pay extra for if they can. And bringing Lou-frickin-Piniella back to be on that channel is insane and totally tone deaf to the situation. Piniella stole their money as a do-nothing Manager and is welcomed back...well not by me. I understand the intricacies of the luxury tax. I know it will cost them a lot more to be over the limit again this year and can even affect draft picks. So what?! They have the money and this window for World Championships is closing and this window is what we suffered five full years for. They have drafted poorly of late anyway. They need to win now before they really do have to start spending even more money re-signing everyone. Letting Castellanos get away was a disgrace. Pay the man. Not doing much of anything else is inexcusable. Trading away your MVP is now more likely than ever and is also absolutely ridiculous. Pay the man. Pay the increased luxury tax and take the penalty. Your fans deserve it. We earned it. We suffered for it. You have the money. Starting your own channel while cutting salary is a slap in the face. I like Ross as the Manager but he is not a miracle worker. They will not win more than 85 games in 2020. The Cubs have already priced me out of attending in person regardless. Their prices are nuts. Even a slight reduction in season-ticket pricing this year doesn't make much difference. You can still get a decent Dodgers ticket for $15 most every game when tickets go on sale at the start of the season. A normal Wrigley bleachers ticket for most days is $45 or $59 with their tiered pricing and can be as much as $88. No thanks. This shrugging acceptance of not improving the team, or even keeping it where it is for 2020, is not shared by me. I will be following and watching baseball, just not the Cubs. Please and thank you.
I stand by this rant from 2 years ago today, and it is even more true now that Marquee is terrible and that they now want to charge 18 bucks a month for a streaming service as well to watch the team that I wouldn't even watch for free on channel 9 now that they have torn it apart. A pox on the house of Ricketts. Oh, and MLB owners in general are keeping the product from us on purpose anyway for nothing but pure greed in the meantime with this lockout.
Why is it a forgone, accepted situation that the Cubs will not go over the luxury tax this season. They should and frankly had better. That was the deal they made with Cubs fans and they are reneging on the deal. So, I am so done with the Cubs. Seriously. This summer, more than any other since my time with the Slammers ended, do I wish I was the voice of a minor league baseball team. That way I could put all my time and attention on them to fill my baseball passion and thereby ignore the Cubs all together. They do not deserve my money or my time. For someone who has loved the Cubs his entire life, as a third-generation fan from both sides of my family, it will not be pleasant but it is necessary. I am grateful for the World Series win but everything since is an abomination. Say what you will about the White Sox but Jerry is in the baseball business and treats it as such. The Cubs are now the profit business and that business is only about money and it just happens to be baseball that provides it. There is a big difference between the two. The Cubs are solely in the money making business now, period. Wrigley Field is not Wrigley Field anymore. Wrigleyville is not Wrigleyville anymore. Everything is now designed to maximize profit, profit, profit. It is all sanitized, gentrified, branded, suburban blandness. I want the 7-11 back. I want the McDonalds back. I want the City neighborhood back. I want the advertising signs gone. All that stuff would be at least tolerated if that meant the product on the field was the beneficiary, as we were told it was going to be. It is not. Their bankbook is. We were told the increased income would translate to salaries. We put up with those five terrible years of the rebuild with the promise of sustained success. So we swallowed successive win totals of 75, 71, 61, 66 and 73, while paying full price etc. for that product. 2016 was a nice reward but with profits and the value of the franchise at an all-time high, they are now taking all games off free TV and making a Cubs-only channel that some will not even get to see at all, but will pay extra for if they can. And bringing Lou-frickin-Piniella back to be on that channel is insane and totally tone deaf to the situation. Piniella stole their money as a do-nothing Manager and is welcomed back...well not by me. I understand the intricacies of the luxury tax. I know it will cost them a lot more to be over the limit again this year and can even affect draft picks. So what?! They have the money and this window for World Championships is closing and this window is what we suffered five full years for. They have drafted poorly of late anyway. They need to win now before they really do have to start spending even more money re-signing everyone. Letting Castellanos get away was a disgrace. Pay the man. Not doing much of anything else is inexcusable. Trading away your MVP is now more likely than ever and is also absolutely ridiculous. Pay the man. Pay the increased luxury tax and take the penalty. Your fans deserve it. We earned it. We suffered for it. You have the money. Starting your own channel while cutting salary is a slap in the face. I like Ross as the Manager but he is not a miracle worker. They will not win more than 85 games in 2020. The Cubs have already priced me out of attending in person regardless. Their prices are nuts. Even a slight reduction in season-ticket pricing this year doesn't make much difference. You can still get a decent Dodgers ticket for $15 most every game when tickets go on sale at the start of the season. A normal Wrigley bleachers ticket for most days is $45 or $59 with their tiered pricing and can be as much as $88. No thanks. This shrugging acceptance of not improving the team, or even keeping it where it is for 2020, is not shared by me. I will be following and watching baseball, just not the Cubs. Please and thank you.
1/31/2022
Sorry for the self-promotion but these are the Facebook comments from the Lewis Flyers team I mentioned yesterday with my box score from 8 years ago. I posted it there as well. It makes me feel good to know my efforts have been appreciated. I wanted to put it here for safe keeping as for whatever reason Facebook does not usually let me access comments from past posts down the line. That women's team and those players will always be special to me. They were together for a long time and the time I spent with them on the road and watching them achieve what they did (they were ranked #1 in the nation for a time the following season) will always be a highlight of my radio career.
Sorry for the self-promotion but these are the Facebook comments from the Lewis Flyers team I mentioned yesterday with my box score from 8 years ago. I posted it there as well. It makes me feel good to know my efforts have been appreciated. I wanted to put it here for safe keeping as for whatever reason Facebook does not usually let me access comments from past posts down the line. That women's team and those players will always be special to me. They were together for a long time and the time I spent with them on the road and watching them achieve what they did (they were ranked #1 in the nation for a time the following season) will always be a highlight of my radio career.
1/30/2022
Today is the 8th anniversary of one of the most memorable games in my 19 years broadcasting Lewis University basketball, as the Lewis Women came from behind and won a triple overtime thriller at Indy. Time marches on and technology improves but home team video streams have turned my road broadcasts into a thing of the past. There is no longer any need for me to travel with teams and do radio broadcasts, if people can turn on their laptops or phones and watch the game that way. I miss those bus trips and seeing other gyms and being peoples eyes for road games and conference and national tournaments. Oh well. I do have some great memories like this one to look back on.
And btw, check out the line for a few of the Flyers, like Mariyah Henley with 23pts and 18 rebs, Jess Reinhart also with a double-double of 16pts, 10 rebs, Jamie Johnson with 29 pts and 7 3-pointers, Kristin Itschner with 22 pts, 8 rebs and 6 assts, and Nikki Nellen with 13pts, 8 assts and 4 steals. Yeah, they were pretty good.
Today is the 8th anniversary of one of the most memorable games in my 19 years broadcasting Lewis University basketball, as the Lewis Women came from behind and won a triple overtime thriller at Indy. Time marches on and technology improves but home team video streams have turned my road broadcasts into a thing of the past. There is no longer any need for me to travel with teams and do radio broadcasts, if people can turn on their laptops or phones and watch the game that way. I miss those bus trips and seeing other gyms and being peoples eyes for road games and conference and national tournaments. Oh well. I do have some great memories like this one to look back on.
And btw, check out the line for a few of the Flyers, like Mariyah Henley with 23pts and 18 rebs, Jess Reinhart also with a double-double of 16pts, 10 rebs, Jamie Johnson with 29 pts and 7 3-pointers, Kristin Itschner with 22 pts, 8 rebs and 6 assts, and Nikki Nellen with 13pts, 8 assts and 4 steals. Yeah, they were pretty good.
1/23/2022
Today is the 7th anniversary of the death of Mr. Cub. He was my favorite Cub as a kid and the only Cubs jersey I own is a Banks jersey. This is a recap of the posts I made that day about a great player and really good guy.
A picture I took of Ernie while down on the field before Game 2 of the 1984 NLCS. Not sure why he was in uniform but was thrilled he was there. Hell, I was thrilled I was there! I was just out of school and working at my first radio job in Aurora at WMRO. I was a few feet from my idol. I was a kid in a candy store. He was just the nicest man. Also, for much of my early childhood, if Williams and Banks weren't coming to bat that inning, the Cubs weren't going to score. If they were, then you didn't want to leave the TV.
One more thing about Ernie. The time I talked to him the longest was at the Western Open, of all places. I was there for the Score, covering Tiger etc. Woods hadn't tee'd off yet and I walked into the clubhouse with some time to kill and saw Ernie sitting at the bar, by himself! I wasn't sure why the seat next to him was open but I wasn't about to miss my chance. I sat down and said hi. We proceeded to have this long nice talk about everything and I got to tell him how much I loved watching him as a kid. My takeaway from that day was not golf or Tiger, it was my time with #14.
Ok, so one more Ernie story. My next door neighbor was nice enough to give me an Ernie Banks signed baseball when I was about 8 years old. The only problem was, as much as I already loved Ernie, I loved actually 'playing' baseball even more. After a while, it was the only baseball I had left and had no choice but to use it. A few years later I realized what a knucklehead I was, as that ball got practically flattened from all the use it got and was eventually lost. Still pains me to this day that I don't have it.
Today is the 7th anniversary of the death of Mr. Cub. He was my favorite Cub as a kid and the only Cubs jersey I own is a Banks jersey. This is a recap of the posts I made that day about a great player and really good guy.
A picture I took of Ernie while down on the field before Game 2 of the 1984 NLCS. Not sure why he was in uniform but was thrilled he was there. Hell, I was thrilled I was there! I was just out of school and working at my first radio job in Aurora at WMRO. I was a few feet from my idol. I was a kid in a candy store. He was just the nicest man. Also, for much of my early childhood, if Williams and Banks weren't coming to bat that inning, the Cubs weren't going to score. If they were, then you didn't want to leave the TV.
One more thing about Ernie. The time I talked to him the longest was at the Western Open, of all places. I was there for the Score, covering Tiger etc. Woods hadn't tee'd off yet and I walked into the clubhouse with some time to kill and saw Ernie sitting at the bar, by himself! I wasn't sure why the seat next to him was open but I wasn't about to miss my chance. I sat down and said hi. We proceeded to have this long nice talk about everything and I got to tell him how much I loved watching him as a kid. My takeaway from that day was not golf or Tiger, it was my time with #14.
Ok, so one more Ernie story. My next door neighbor was nice enough to give me an Ernie Banks signed baseball when I was about 8 years old. The only problem was, as much as I already loved Ernie, I loved actually 'playing' baseball even more. After a while, it was the only baseball I had left and had no choice but to use it. A few years later I realized what a knucklehead I was, as that ball got practically flattened from all the use it got and was eventually lost. Still pains me to this day that I don't have it.
1/17/2022
Such terrible news on the passing of Les Grobstein. Les was such a good guy and an encyclopedia of sports. What a shocker. I worked with him for 7 years at the Score and in various press boxes for years and years as well. Nobody worked harder and his solo overnight show was not easy by any means. RIP.
Just a few more things about the Grobber. I first met him in Platteville in 1984. I've told the story about that first trip for me to Bears training camp, fresh out of college. It was back when the Bears were not covered like they are now. It was Media Day, they needed a designated Media Day (actually weekend) for media to show up and cover training camp back then. Despite it being Media Day, I was one of only 3 radio people there. It was me, for WMRO in Aurora, Brian Davis and Les. That was it. No radio people would be there on any other day normally. I knew of Grobber from WLS and even Sportsphone. A a kid fresh in the biz, he was cool to meet. Brian and I hit it off and hung out that weekend while Les kind of stayed to himself. Still, it was "Les Grobstein". Even back then that was a big deal to me. We would go on to see each other at Soldier Field and he was always friendly. We had assigned seats and I never sat with him there but I did sit next to him many, many times over the years at Wrigley and Comiskey. You had assigned seats there too but things were much more loose with so many games and so many times there were empty seats in the press box. He was forever collecting Media Guides and showing me the ones he had with him. Eventually I got to work with him at the Score. I think I only subbed for him once in my 7 years there, doing his overnight show. He was dependable to a fault. I was glad it was only once, lol. That many hours by yourself without many 3 am callers was tough stuff. I don't know how he did it day in and day out. For that alone, he deserves all the kudos he gets. I hosted the nighttime show many times though and would be there to hand it off to him when I left. I will always be amazed like many others at his instant recall. We would talk about games I know we were both at and he would give all these details that I had long forgotten. His brain worked a whole lot differently than mine. He also did play-by-play for just about everybody over the years. How he found the time I will never know. And he did all that while being a really good guy. I've met quite a few good guys in this business and quite a few that were and are not. He was one of the good ones, who is not replaceable. He did it all, from sportscasts to play-by-play to reporting to talk shows. I don't pretend to be in his class but I take pride in eventually getting to do all those things on a regular basis myself. Les was teased a bit too much for my taste at the Score, by the way. I never participated in that and I never liked when other shows would poke fun at him. They can say it was all in good fun but I am not a fan of that kind of humor. To me it's just mean. Les was a pro's pro and I have tried to be that myself and be a nice guy while doing it. I hope I'm thought of that way. I honestly thought about all that the first time I met him on the sidelines in Platteville. I thought how much I wanted to eventually have a career like his. He was "Les". The one and only.
Such terrible news on the passing of Les Grobstein. Les was such a good guy and an encyclopedia of sports. What a shocker. I worked with him for 7 years at the Score and in various press boxes for years and years as well. Nobody worked harder and his solo overnight show was not easy by any means. RIP.
Just a few more things about the Grobber. I first met him in Platteville in 1984. I've told the story about that first trip for me to Bears training camp, fresh out of college. It was back when the Bears were not covered like they are now. It was Media Day, they needed a designated Media Day (actually weekend) for media to show up and cover training camp back then. Despite it being Media Day, I was one of only 3 radio people there. It was me, for WMRO in Aurora, Brian Davis and Les. That was it. No radio people would be there on any other day normally. I knew of Grobber from WLS and even Sportsphone. A a kid fresh in the biz, he was cool to meet. Brian and I hit it off and hung out that weekend while Les kind of stayed to himself. Still, it was "Les Grobstein". Even back then that was a big deal to me. We would go on to see each other at Soldier Field and he was always friendly. We had assigned seats and I never sat with him there but I did sit next to him many, many times over the years at Wrigley and Comiskey. You had assigned seats there too but things were much more loose with so many games and so many times there were empty seats in the press box. He was forever collecting Media Guides and showing me the ones he had with him. Eventually I got to work with him at the Score. I think I only subbed for him once in my 7 years there, doing his overnight show. He was dependable to a fault. I was glad it was only once, lol. That many hours by yourself without many 3 am callers was tough stuff. I don't know how he did it day in and day out. For that alone, he deserves all the kudos he gets. I hosted the nighttime show many times though and would be there to hand it off to him when I left. I will always be amazed like many others at his instant recall. We would talk about games I know we were both at and he would give all these details that I had long forgotten. His brain worked a whole lot differently than mine. He also did play-by-play for just about everybody over the years. How he found the time I will never know. And he did all that while being a really good guy. I've met quite a few good guys in this business and quite a few that were and are not. He was one of the good ones, who is not replaceable. He did it all, from sportscasts to play-by-play to reporting to talk shows. I don't pretend to be in his class but I take pride in eventually getting to do all those things on a regular basis myself. Les was teased a bit too much for my taste at the Score, by the way. I never participated in that and I never liked when other shows would poke fun at him. They can say it was all in good fun but I am not a fan of that kind of humor. To me it's just mean. Les was a pro's pro and I have tried to be that myself and be a nice guy while doing it. I hope I'm thought of that way. I honestly thought about all that the first time I met him on the sidelines in Platteville. I thought how much I wanted to eventually have a career like his. He was "Les". The one and only.
1/11/2022
Here is a sample of my tweets considering the tire fire that is the Bears lately...
So has anyone sat down with George today to tell him what an absolutely abysmal job he did yesterday.
And people thought they didn't like Michael McCaskey.
And George only got promoted from the ticket office to Chairman because of his name. He wasn't groomed or qualified. Hell, 30 years ago at the Turkey Day game at the Silverdome George sat two rows behind me in the stands! He had worse seats than me. Not exactly an important exec.
Luckily for me, I've decided they are not 'my' Chicago Bears anymore. I cannot do this to myself anymore and I will no longer follow a team I have rooted for my entire life. Hell, I saw them at Wrigley, but enough is enough with this nonsense. They don't deserve me or anyone.
It is a national embarrassment that a charter franchise of the NFL does not have anyone in a position of authority qualified to hire a GM and hasn't had that person for decades, but here we are again soliciting outside football opinions and all at Halas Hall are just fine with it
The legacy of Nagy is that he always tried to outsmart the opposition rather than out-execute them. He wasn't smart enough for that and he didn't have the players to do it anyway, which was his other fire-able failing. He never tailored his offense to his available talent. Gone.
The Bears finally fire their GM and Head Coach today. Sorry, too late. You've already lost me. I just don't care anymore.
Obstinate, thy name is Nagy. And oh yeah, Dalton had no business being this team's #1 qb to start or finish the year. So both the coach and GM had better be gone.
Football is still football. You put in a fullback and run the tailback behind him to the strength of your offensive line and get yourselves one yard. If you don't understand that, you don't deserve to keep your job.
I would very much appreciate having a coach that understands 4th and 1 is a running play, especially when you have one of the best backs in the league. It is NOT a passing play out of the shotgun. Good frickin grief.
Here is a sample of my tweets considering the tire fire that is the Bears lately...
So has anyone sat down with George today to tell him what an absolutely abysmal job he did yesterday.
And people thought they didn't like Michael McCaskey.
And George only got promoted from the ticket office to Chairman because of his name. He wasn't groomed or qualified. Hell, 30 years ago at the Turkey Day game at the Silverdome George sat two rows behind me in the stands! He had worse seats than me. Not exactly an important exec.
Luckily for me, I've decided they are not 'my' Chicago Bears anymore. I cannot do this to myself anymore and I will no longer follow a team I have rooted for my entire life. Hell, I saw them at Wrigley, but enough is enough with this nonsense. They don't deserve me or anyone.
It is a national embarrassment that a charter franchise of the NFL does not have anyone in a position of authority qualified to hire a GM and hasn't had that person for decades, but here we are again soliciting outside football opinions and all at Halas Hall are just fine with it
The legacy of Nagy is that he always tried to outsmart the opposition rather than out-execute them. He wasn't smart enough for that and he didn't have the players to do it anyway, which was his other fire-able failing. He never tailored his offense to his available talent. Gone.
The Bears finally fire their GM and Head Coach today. Sorry, too late. You've already lost me. I just don't care anymore.
Obstinate, thy name is Nagy. And oh yeah, Dalton had no business being this team's #1 qb to start or finish the year. So both the coach and GM had better be gone.
Football is still football. You put in a fullback and run the tailback behind him to the strength of your offensive line and get yourselves one yard. If you don't understand that, you don't deserve to keep your job.
I would very much appreciate having a coach that understands 4th and 1 is a running play, especially when you have one of the best backs in the league. It is NOT a passing play out of the shotgun. Good frickin grief.
1/8/2022
My Facebook post from this date in 2014. I was covering that Maddux game at Wrigley from the press box that day. I'll never forget turning to David Shuster as Greg started the 9th inning and double checking with him, "He hasn't even thrown 70 pitches yet, has he?" I was fortunate to watch those two play in person here and interview them each many times. Maddux was very easy to talk to. Frank, not so much. But both were incredible at their jobs.
My Facebook post from this date in 2014. I was covering that Maddux game at Wrigley from the press box that day. I'll never forget turning to David Shuster as Greg started the 9th inning and double checking with him, "He hasn't even thrown 70 pitches yet, has he?" I was fortunate to watch those two play in person here and interview them each many times. Maddux was very easy to talk to. Frank, not so much. But both were incredible at their jobs.
12/29/2021
This is the 58th anniversary of the NFL Championship game between the Bears and Giants at Wrigley Field. Pete Rozelle asked George Halas to move the game to Soldier Field so they could use lights and a larger seating capacity. Halas said no. The Bears won the Championship 14-10. The game time temp at noon was 9 degrees with a wind chill likely near zero. My Dad was there that day and says it was the coldest he'd ever been in his entire life! Says he went straight to a bar after the game ended and downed 3 quick shots of whiskey and 2 scalding hot bowls of soup to no avail, lol. Bill Wade scored on a pair of quarterback sneaks for the Bears and Ed O'Bradovich and Richie Pettibone had key interceptions. It would be nice if the Bears were relevant like this again.
This is the 58th anniversary of the NFL Championship game between the Bears and Giants at Wrigley Field. Pete Rozelle asked George Halas to move the game to Soldier Field so they could use lights and a larger seating capacity. Halas said no. The Bears won the Championship 14-10. The game time temp at noon was 9 degrees with a wind chill likely near zero. My Dad was there that day and says it was the coldest he'd ever been in his entire life! Says he went straight to a bar after the game ended and downed 3 quick shots of whiskey and 2 scalding hot bowls of soup to no avail, lol. Bill Wade scored on a pair of quarterback sneaks for the Bears and Ed O'Bradovich and Richie Pettibone had key interceptions. It would be nice if the Bears were relevant like this again.
12/29/2021
There are a lot of people who knew both Mike Radomski and Jeff Dickerson way better than I did but losing a 29 year old Mike to a car accident four years ago and now losing 44 year old JD to cancer is a bit hard to fathom. Mike, the Evansville broadcaster, was the nicest guy I met in my 14 years in the Minors. Jeff, from ESPN 1000, was probably the nicest I met in my more than 30 years in sports radio. Again, he treated me like a close friend from the first day our paths crossed at Halas Hall. All I know is that the world needs more nice people in it, not less. These losses are getting harder and harder to take. I only saw those guys on occasion, but they brightened my day each time. I hope the people who were close to both are hanging in there.
There are a lot of people who knew both Mike Radomski and Jeff Dickerson way better than I did but losing a 29 year old Mike to a car accident four years ago and now losing 44 year old JD to cancer is a bit hard to fathom. Mike, the Evansville broadcaster, was the nicest guy I met in my 14 years in the Minors. Jeff, from ESPN 1000, was probably the nicest I met in my more than 30 years in sports radio. Again, he treated me like a close friend from the first day our paths crossed at Halas Hall. All I know is that the world needs more nice people in it, not less. These losses are getting harder and harder to take. I only saw those guys on occasion, but they brightened my day each time. I hope the people who were close to both are hanging in there.
12/28/2021
So incredibly sad to lose Jeff Dickerson. He was such a great guy to work next to at Halas Hall. During my time covering the Bears we had our cubicles next to each other in Lake Forest. I was always met with a friendly face and fun conversation until it was time for Lovie's press conference or our trip into the locker room etc. Cruel. It's just cruel.
The other sad note today is the passing of John Madden. I mentioned this when Pat Summerall died and the same goes for Madden. They were the voices of the 1985 Bears and always will be, in my memories of that season. The Bears would get the top crew each game and they were the best. They made the most exciting season even better. RIP.
So incredibly sad to lose Jeff Dickerson. He was such a great guy to work next to at Halas Hall. During my time covering the Bears we had our cubicles next to each other in Lake Forest. I was always met with a friendly face and fun conversation until it was time for Lovie's press conference or our trip into the locker room etc. Cruel. It's just cruel.
The other sad note today is the passing of John Madden. I mentioned this when Pat Summerall died and the same goes for Madden. They were the voices of the 1985 Bears and always will be, in my memories of that season. The Bears would get the top crew each game and they were the best. They made the most exciting season even better. RIP.
12/26/2021
A screenshot from my Facebook post today. I was working for the US Traffic Network and putting in long hours filling in for all the full-timers using their days off. I became full-time myself just before the network faded away into the ether.
A screenshot from my Facebook post today. I was working for the US Traffic Network and putting in long hours filling in for all the full-timers using their days off. I became full-time myself just before the network faded away into the ether.
12/25/2021
Merry Merry, everybody. Christmas Eve is our holiday, since that's the day Lauren spends with us and we go see Dad as well. We had a great day yesterday as our tradition also includes Barnes and Noble and margaritas in the afternoon, lol, and shepherd's pie and Christmas movies for dinner. Today is the day of rest. Enjoy all.
Merry Merry, everybody. Christmas Eve is our holiday, since that's the day Lauren spends with us and we go see Dad as well. We had a great day yesterday as our tradition also includes Barnes and Noble and margaritas in the afternoon, lol, and shepherd's pie and Christmas movies for dinner. Today is the day of rest. Enjoy all.
12/21/2021
Congrats to former Kane County Cougar, Mark Kotsay, on becoming the new Manager of the Oakland A's. Seems like just yesterday he was part of my 1996 Cougars team there, along with fellow bonus babies Josh Booty and Jaime Jones. The three millionaire roommates were fun to watch and be around. Kotsay (#3) did not spend a ton of time with the club that summer as it took a while to sign his contract after being drafted in the 1st round out of college at Cal State Fullerton but I can still see his line drive opposite field doubles in my mind. He had plenty with us. Kotsay actually joined Steve Moga and myself on the radio for a few innings, the day he joined the club after playing in the Olympics. His defense and arm were also impressive during that last month of the season he was with us. It was then fun to see him put on a White Sox uniform eventually. He should do a good job in Oakland.
Congrats to former Kane County Cougar, Mark Kotsay, on becoming the new Manager of the Oakland A's. Seems like just yesterday he was part of my 1996 Cougars team there, along with fellow bonus babies Josh Booty and Jaime Jones. The three millionaire roommates were fun to watch and be around. Kotsay (#3) did not spend a ton of time with the club that summer as it took a while to sign his contract after being drafted in the 1st round out of college at Cal State Fullerton but I can still see his line drive opposite field doubles in my mind. He had plenty with us. Kotsay actually joined Steve Moga and myself on the radio for a few innings, the day he joined the club after playing in the Olympics. His defense and arm were also impressive during that last month of the season he was with us. It was then fun to see him put on a White Sox uniform eventually. He should do a good job in Oakland.
12/10/2011
We lost another one. RIP Mike Nesmith of the Monkees. When I was a little kid, there were three bands for me, the Beatles, the Monkees and Tommy Roe. I have been a music freak my entire life. I literally lip-synced to I Wanna Hold Your Hand to my relatives when I was 5. I loved the Monkees the most as a kid though. They might have started as guys thrown together for a TV show doing songs by Neil Diamond and Boyce/Hart but they became a heckuva band on their own doing their own songs too. Mike wrote some very good songs including this one. I like this version in particular. My love for all three bands continues to this day. If you don't know Tommy Roe, btw, just google Sweet Little Sheila. Catchy pop songs a plenty from him in the 60's. The Monkees TV show was so cool for a kid. Rock songs on your TV. You didn't see that. Ever. And I have always loved Silly. They were silly. We need more silly. Thanks for everything, Mike.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qijtCYuS5tQ
We lost another one. RIP Mike Nesmith of the Monkees. When I was a little kid, there were three bands for me, the Beatles, the Monkees and Tommy Roe. I have been a music freak my entire life. I literally lip-synced to I Wanna Hold Your Hand to my relatives when I was 5. I loved the Monkees the most as a kid though. They might have started as guys thrown together for a TV show doing songs by Neil Diamond and Boyce/Hart but they became a heckuva band on their own doing their own songs too. Mike wrote some very good songs including this one. I like this version in particular. My love for all three bands continues to this day. If you don't know Tommy Roe, btw, just google Sweet Little Sheila. Catchy pop songs a plenty from him in the 60's. The Monkees TV show was so cool for a kid. Rock songs on your TV. You didn't see that. Ever. And I have always loved Silly. They were silly. We need more silly. Thanks for everything, Mike.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qijtCYuS5tQ
12/7/2021
Congrats to a bunch of Aurorans I either announced or worked with in my WKKD days who all will be going into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Jay Taylor, Rick Albright, and Kevin Talkington. Also congrats to Neil Funk and Dan Roan for their upcoming induction as well. Deserving all.
Scott Trost and Keith Bunkenberg went in a year ago with Billy Taylor. The 2020 class included the Joliet contingent of Allie and Sam Quigley plus Chris Prieboy. 2019 saw my old buddy Bob Mattingly get in along with Craig Sager. 2018 was Dick Goss and Chuck Swirsky along with Jim Molinari. Gordie Kerkman in 2016. My old pal Mark Krueger went in in 2015. My sophomore basketball coach at Naperville North, Bill Petersen went in in 2014. It was Henry Domercant in 2012 and Jack Hermanski in 2011 and Greg Halbleib was inducted in 2009.
That's a pretty sizable group of friends, co-workers and acquaintances in just the last dozen years or so. Even if I never get to join them, I think I'll start going to the annual induction banquet anyway, just so I can catch up with them, fine humans all.
And pardon the self-promotion but I've broadcast 25 years of D3 hoops in Illinois between Aurora and Benedictine, 19 years of D2 with Lewis and I broadcast a dozen IHSA State Finals for both the boys and girls in Champaign in my career at WMRO and WKKD.
And by the way, Mark Lindo, Dave Heiss, Jay Bryant, Jim Harrington, Bob Sterr, Don Holler, Bill Geist, Ed Molitor, Kenny Battle, Tony LaScala, Don Davidson, Pat Sullivan, Bob Hallberg, Denny Bridges, Neal Ormond, Gordie Gillespie and Bill Warden are just a few of the others I have worked with over the years that were inducted more than a dozen years ago.
12/5/2021
Congrats to Minnie Minoso on the Hall of Fame. I think for so long people thought of him as a kind of a novelty, thanks to his playing in MLB in five decades thanks to his cups of coffee in 1976 and 1980. What was left behind in all that was what a great player he was. He was a top five in MVP voting four times and an all-star in nine seasons and finished 2nd in Rookie of the Year voting. Minnie hit over .300 eight times and won three gold gloves. I could go on, but the point is he deserves this.
And speaking of the Hall of Fame, I wrote this ten yeas ago today.
Very glad Ron Santo is finally in the Hall of Fame. I've been saying for years that he deserved it. Just a few stats...he is 8th all-time in homers by a 3b, 8th in all-star appearances by a 3b...but only Mike Schmidt and Eddie Matthews had as many homers and all-stars combined at 3b as Ron. He had 5 gold gloves. As for new stats...his WAR is 6th all-time among 3b. This should have happened years ago.
They both should have gotten in when they were alive but it didn't work out that way. What a shame.
Congrats to Minnie Minoso on the Hall of Fame. I think for so long people thought of him as a kind of a novelty, thanks to his playing in MLB in five decades thanks to his cups of coffee in 1976 and 1980. What was left behind in all that was what a great player he was. He was a top five in MVP voting four times and an all-star in nine seasons and finished 2nd in Rookie of the Year voting. Minnie hit over .300 eight times and won three gold gloves. I could go on, but the point is he deserves this.
And speaking of the Hall of Fame, I wrote this ten yeas ago today.
Very glad Ron Santo is finally in the Hall of Fame. I've been saying for years that he deserved it. Just a few stats...he is 8th all-time in homers by a 3b, 8th in all-star appearances by a 3b...but only Mike Schmidt and Eddie Matthews had as many homers and all-stars combined at 3b as Ron. He had 5 gold gloves. As for new stats...his WAR is 6th all-time among 3b. This should have happened years ago.
They both should have gotten in when they were alive but it didn't work out that way. What a shame.
11/10/2021
You know I miss radio when I see this sentence I posted on my facebook 4 years ago today and get all the feels. I miss being me. I miss my profession, even the 14 hour double shifts in the snow.
I picked the wrong day to do a double shift and 14 hours worth of traffic reports! Snow makes for really dumb drivers.
That being said, I at least still have Lewis U. basketball, which begins this Friday and Saturday.
From Lewisflyers.com
Lewis University's men's basketball team tips-off its 2021-22 season this Friday and Saturday hosting the GLVC/GLIAC Challenge at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers will take on Northern Michigan on Friday at 8 p.m. and Michigan Tech on Saturday at 3 p.m. The other game on Friday will be between McKendree and Michigan Tech at 6 p.m. and Saturday's first contest will be between McKendree and Northern Michigan at 1 p.m.
I will be doing audio/video play-by-play for all four games this weekend for the GLVC streaming website at https://www.glvcsn.com/
And then on Dec. 2 my 19th year as play-by-play man for Lewis U. men's and women's basketball officially begins on WJOL as once again this season I will be doing just the home conference doubleheaders for 1340 AM and wjol.com. I can't wait to get started.
You know I miss radio when I see this sentence I posted on my facebook 4 years ago today and get all the feels. I miss being me. I miss my profession, even the 14 hour double shifts in the snow.
I picked the wrong day to do a double shift and 14 hours worth of traffic reports! Snow makes for really dumb drivers.
That being said, I at least still have Lewis U. basketball, which begins this Friday and Saturday.
From Lewisflyers.com
Lewis University's men's basketball team tips-off its 2021-22 season this Friday and Saturday hosting the GLVC/GLIAC Challenge at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers will take on Northern Michigan on Friday at 8 p.m. and Michigan Tech on Saturday at 3 p.m. The other game on Friday will be between McKendree and Michigan Tech at 6 p.m. and Saturday's first contest will be between McKendree and Northern Michigan at 1 p.m.
I will be doing audio/video play-by-play for all four games this weekend for the GLVC streaming website at https://www.glvcsn.com/
And then on Dec. 2 my 19th year as play-by-play man for Lewis U. men's and women's basketball officially begins on WJOL as once again this season I will be doing just the home conference doubleheaders for 1340 AM and wjol.com. I can't wait to get started.
11/2/2021
"I just got home from work after missing the whole game til the 9th. I could end up watching a whole heckuva lot more baseball than I thought I would. Geeesh!"
This was the first thing I posted on Facebook after getting home from a Benedictine broadcast that night, 5 years ago today. And yes, I did get to watch a whole lot of baseball after getting home as it turned out. I wouldn't have wanted to test my blood pressure or heart rate that night, that's for sure. I have not been all that happy with the Cubs since that night but finally getting that World Series Championship is something I will never forget. The list of disappointing finishes like 1969, 1984, 2003 and so on were put to rest. Fun times.
thanks to my old co-worker in Aurora, Barry Butler, for this great picture
"I just got home from work after missing the whole game til the 9th. I could end up watching a whole heckuva lot more baseball than I thought I would. Geeesh!"
This was the first thing I posted on Facebook after getting home from a Benedictine broadcast that night, 5 years ago today. And yes, I did get to watch a whole lot of baseball after getting home as it turned out. I wouldn't have wanted to test my blood pressure or heart rate that night, that's for sure. I have not been all that happy with the Cubs since that night but finally getting that World Series Championship is something I will never forget. The list of disappointing finishes like 1969, 1984, 2003 and so on were put to rest. Fun times.
thanks to my old co-worker in Aurora, Barry Butler, for this great picture
10/27/2021
I am basically re-posting my blurb from one year ago, today, talking about when my wife and I ran in Washington D.C. on this date in 2019, and I am adding some photos too. I'm still proud of our efforts that day. It was crazy between hills, storms and heat. We still haven't gotten back to running and haven't really had a vacation like that five day trip since then either. Maybe 2022 will be kinder to us. I certainly hope so cuz 2020 and 2021 were not very kind at all. One year ago today I finished the Marine Corps Marathon. It was a crazy day that started in a downpour, continued with more heavy rains...with one insane monsoon-like downpour that made us all break out in wtf-inspired laughter at about the halfway point... and eventually finished in the hot, humid sunshine. It was a challenge to say the least. It took a while, but I finished and thankfully not in that medical transport vehicle. (I kept my jacket on because I didn't want to carry it, but it was hot!) Chris was amazing in her finishing the 50K race ahead of me. 50k! As in 32 miles. Amazing. We had a great time in DC and we were going to go back this year and do it again. It was not to be, thanks to Covid. Hopefully 2021 will be kinder and allow us to get back to doing what we enjoy. |
10/26/2021
Here's another tough one. Mike Hoffmann has passed away. He connects so many of my favorite bands from around here. Lately, he has been playing bass for Sammy Llanas, and you should know how much of a fan of Sam I am. But Mike also was in EIEIO way back when. Mike Gorman and Rob Harding of Off Broadway were in EIEIO with him. Obviously, if you know me you know I am also a huge fan of Off Broadway and have been for decades. So Mike has played with many of my favorite musicians over the years and I love his EIEIO band as well. I remember seeing EIEIO play a show at Summerfest back in the day. They were great and I still play their first two records from the '80's all the time. I only got a chance to say hi to Mike a few times after shows with Sammy in the last few years and never really got to tell him what a fan I was or to have a real conversation with him. I figured maybe I would get the chance the next time around. Crazy. This is a blurry, dark picture of Sam and the band from the backyard birthday party they were nice enough to come and play for us a couple years ago. Mike is tucked in the left there. I just wanted to take a quick pic and get out of the way. Now I wish I had more. Below is a link to a great song from EIEIO's first record, Land of Opportunity. Every song on that record is great. They were called Alt-Country or Punk Country or a lot of other things at the time. What they did was play great rock. Mike was a talent and will be sorely missed around here. My condolences to all his friends in those bands I love and that he spent time with. RIP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqbhkCFmJnU
Here's another tough one. Mike Hoffmann has passed away. He connects so many of my favorite bands from around here. Lately, he has been playing bass for Sammy Llanas, and you should know how much of a fan of Sam I am. But Mike also was in EIEIO way back when. Mike Gorman and Rob Harding of Off Broadway were in EIEIO with him. Obviously, if you know me you know I am also a huge fan of Off Broadway and have been for decades. So Mike has played with many of my favorite musicians over the years and I love his EIEIO band as well. I remember seeing EIEIO play a show at Summerfest back in the day. They were great and I still play their first two records from the '80's all the time. I only got a chance to say hi to Mike a few times after shows with Sammy in the last few years and never really got to tell him what a fan I was or to have a real conversation with him. I figured maybe I would get the chance the next time around. Crazy. This is a blurry, dark picture of Sam and the band from the backyard birthday party they were nice enough to come and play for us a couple years ago. Mike is tucked in the left there. I just wanted to take a quick pic and get out of the way. Now I wish I had more. Below is a link to a great song from EIEIO's first record, Land of Opportunity. Every song on that record is great. They were called Alt-Country or Punk Country or a lot of other things at the time. What they did was play great rock. Mike was a talent and will be sorely missed around here. My condolences to all his friends in those bands I love and that he spent time with. RIP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqbhkCFmJnU
10/25/2021
The sad truth is, this is what Bears football has been like for the vast majority of my life. This will be the 35th at-or-sub .500 season in the last 50 years. I believe this is also the 50th anniversary of the worst play I've seen as a Bears fan. I think it was the 1969 season where Jack Concannon was in the shotgun calling signals when the center snapped it without his being ready for it. Jack wasn't even looking straight ahead at the time. The ball hit Jack in the knee, popped up in the air and was grabbed before it landed by Larry Stallings of the Cardinals who then went 62 yards for a touchdown! We used to just watch the team to see if Sayers, Butkus, Payton etc. would do something fun while the rest of the game was usually laughably bad. We are back there once again, friends. Maybe Fields will do something fun but this is just a joke.
ps. The Bears do not ever fire a coach in mid season. If ever there was a reason to change that tradition this is it. We have established the best way to help Fields and the offense is to have him under center. Naturally, Nagy still starts the game in his shotgun. Fireable arrogance that put the team behind the 8-ball early and the rout was on.
The sad truth is, this is what Bears football has been like for the vast majority of my life. This will be the 35th at-or-sub .500 season in the last 50 years. I believe this is also the 50th anniversary of the worst play I've seen as a Bears fan. I think it was the 1969 season where Jack Concannon was in the shotgun calling signals when the center snapped it without his being ready for it. Jack wasn't even looking straight ahead at the time. The ball hit Jack in the knee, popped up in the air and was grabbed before it landed by Larry Stallings of the Cardinals who then went 62 yards for a touchdown! We used to just watch the team to see if Sayers, Butkus, Payton etc. would do something fun while the rest of the game was usually laughably bad. We are back there once again, friends. Maybe Fields will do something fun but this is just a joke.
ps. The Bears do not ever fire a coach in mid season. If ever there was a reason to change that tradition this is it. We have established the best way to help Fields and the offense is to have him under center. Naturally, Nagy still starts the game in his shotgun. Fireable arrogance that put the team behind the 8-ball early and the rout was on.
10/24/2021
So, I don't understand what happened in the Alec Baldwin accident. I suppose movies and TV are different but it obviously shouldn't have even been allowed to be a possibility. This is a screenshot of my brief on-screen appearance as an extra for Chicago Justice in 2017. There was a gun used in this courtroom scene. Before we started it, the 'Gun Guy' for the show held up the handgun that was to be used. He explained to all of us on the set that it was his job to examine every firearm used on the show and it wasn't given to an actor until he cleared it to be used and was absolutely safe. He showed every one of us that it was unloaded and good to go and then he handed it directly to the actor to hold. No chance for anyone else to touch it or change it etc. We could all be confident in that room that there was no way any accident could occur. Supposedly, an assistant director gave that gun to Baldwin. WTF. Well, did that set have a 'gun guy' or not and how was that simple but vital step not followed? I don't give a damn what the budget for that movie is, if there are multiple firearms especially, how do you not make sure they are all safe to use?! I don't blame Alec necessarily, he used a gun he was given, but he was and is a producer on that movie. The Director has got to make sure every T is crossed though. He is in charge. Unforgivable and shouldn't have happened, especially after Brandon Lee was killed during a scene in the Crow by a prop gun that contained a real bullet in 1993. Unforgivable.
So, I don't understand what happened in the Alec Baldwin accident. I suppose movies and TV are different but it obviously shouldn't have even been allowed to be a possibility. This is a screenshot of my brief on-screen appearance as an extra for Chicago Justice in 2017. There was a gun used in this courtroom scene. Before we started it, the 'Gun Guy' for the show held up the handgun that was to be used. He explained to all of us on the set that it was his job to examine every firearm used on the show and it wasn't given to an actor until he cleared it to be used and was absolutely safe. He showed every one of us that it was unloaded and good to go and then he handed it directly to the actor to hold. No chance for anyone else to touch it or change it etc. We could all be confident in that room that there was no way any accident could occur. Supposedly, an assistant director gave that gun to Baldwin. WTF. Well, did that set have a 'gun guy' or not and how was that simple but vital step not followed? I don't give a damn what the budget for that movie is, if there are multiple firearms especially, how do you not make sure they are all safe to use?! I don't blame Alec necessarily, he used a gun he was given, but he was and is a producer on that movie. The Director has got to make sure every T is crossed though. He is in charge. Unforgivable and shouldn't have happened, especially after Brandon Lee was killed during a scene in the Crow by a prop gun that contained a real bullet in 1993. Unforgivable.
10/17/2021
I got to call a couple of games that Candace Parker played as just a freshman at Naperville Central for NCTV at the Hinsdale South Thanksgiving Tournament if memory serves, and I also broadcast a few games Joliet Catholic's Allie Quigley played at DePaul vs. the Lewis U. women's basketball team for WJOL. I think I got to broadcast her in one playoff game for JCA as well. Watching them both key the comeback today to give the Chicago Sky the WNBA championship was one heckuva thrill! |
9/18/2021
Happy tenth anniversary to my fellow 2011 Joliet Slammers on our Frontier League Championship. Thanks for all the fun and for my only ring in 14 years of minor league ball. The Slammers finished 56-40 and won the East Division in their first year of existence. We averaged over 23 hundred fans per game. We topped River City in four games after sweeping Lake Erie in the semis. Jake Renshaw led the league with 13 regular season wins. Erik Lis was 4th in homers with 20 and 3rd in rbi's with 77. He finished at .302, while Hector Pellot led us in average at .319, 9th in the league. Ryan Quigley led the Frontier League in saves with 28, six more than the runner up. Bart Zeller was a tremendous Manager to work with and watch work with the team. We were a 'team'. I knew midway through the season this club could very well win it all. They meshed and played for each other and together. They cared about each other and wanted to win as a team. That doesn't always happen but when it does, you know you are in for a special season. I was right. It was special in every sense of the word. |
9/14/2021
Minor League baseball is coming to a close this year, so here is one more post in that honor. These are from the 2004 Joliet Jackhammers program. Bryan Dolgin put together a great guide every summer. Those were great days and the Northern League was so much fun. There is an alumni page here and then two pages of All-Time All-Stars after just a couple year of existence, lol. They were and are definitely deserving though. I will never forget Bryan and I broadcasting outside of the booth and pointing hello to the firemen watching the action and listening to us while atop their fire truck in front of the fire station beyond the left field wall. We had a fun All-Star game broadcast that year too. The 2004 Jackhammers finished 49-47 and averaged over 41 hundred fans per game. Josh Loggins led the team with 20 home runs and drove in 76. Jermaine Allensworth led in average at .321. Rich Hyde anchored the pitching staff with 12 wins, (one from the league lead) while Brian Mazone finished with a stellar 1.73 ERA to lead the Northern League by plenty while finishing at 9-2. Mazone had a busy 2004, also spending time with the San Francisco Giants Double-A and Triple-A teams that summer. Fun times for all. |
9/8/2021
This is my story about 9/11. I am writing it now because I think I will stay off of social media on the day itself. It is still a pretty tough thing to think back on for me and frankly, still gives me anxiety. Being bombarded with it in a few days is something I do not want. I woke up that day 20 years ago and turned on the TV. I watched as the second plane hit. I was still catching up on events and it took a bit to realize it was not just a replay of the earlier hit. Once I realized it was a second plane, I knew I had to get going. I was the host of a general topic afternoon drive talk show on WJOL in Joliet at the time. Even though it was well before I usually left for work, I knew they needed all hands on deck at the station. I drove there as quickly as I could and jumped in to help morning man Scott Slocum on the air. I spent the next 12 hours either co-hosting with Scott, taking in audio tape in the newsroom or writing news stories for the newscasts etc. Scott stayed until about 10pm as well and helped me host my show as we took calls and updated people on all that was happening. In other words, I was immersed in it on that day and for days to come as it was THE topic for my show for quite a while thereafter. At the time, I was also working part-time at WSCR-The Score in Chicago as a sports anchor and reporter. I drove downtown soon after 9/11 for an anchor shift at the Score, located at NBC Tower at the time. Things had definitely changed there in the hours after the attack. All of the sudden police were everywhere and concrete barricades were put up in front of the building to guard against truck bombs and the like. Security to get into the building was ramped up considerably. Metal detectors, security guards and more made going to work a very stressful event all of the sudden. Every Chicago high rise was thought to be a potential target at that time and rightly so, especially one that housed multiple media outlets. It was actually very helpful at the time to have a talk show and get my feelings out and talk things through with listeners. I have watched all sorts of documentaries in the intervening years about the attacks and am convinced we were not told everything. I still think that. I haven't made any conclusions or hold any theories necessarily but I do think we have not been told the whole story. Documentaries I can watch. Fictional accounts or movies based in fact however is another story. I don't know why but it is so. I have not and cannot watch any scripted movies with actors about that day. I just can't. Those take me back way more than documentaries do to my feelings on that day and I would just rather not. I guess I can be more clinical with documentaries. I also just don't want to explore this any more than what I have just done here. Please and thank you.
This is my story about 9/11. I am writing it now because I think I will stay off of social media on the day itself. It is still a pretty tough thing to think back on for me and frankly, still gives me anxiety. Being bombarded with it in a few days is something I do not want. I woke up that day 20 years ago and turned on the TV. I watched as the second plane hit. I was still catching up on events and it took a bit to realize it was not just a replay of the earlier hit. Once I realized it was a second plane, I knew I had to get going. I was the host of a general topic afternoon drive talk show on WJOL in Joliet at the time. Even though it was well before I usually left for work, I knew they needed all hands on deck at the station. I drove there as quickly as I could and jumped in to help morning man Scott Slocum on the air. I spent the next 12 hours either co-hosting with Scott, taking in audio tape in the newsroom or writing news stories for the newscasts etc. Scott stayed until about 10pm as well and helped me host my show as we took calls and updated people on all that was happening. In other words, I was immersed in it on that day and for days to come as it was THE topic for my show for quite a while thereafter. At the time, I was also working part-time at WSCR-The Score in Chicago as a sports anchor and reporter. I drove downtown soon after 9/11 for an anchor shift at the Score, located at NBC Tower at the time. Things had definitely changed there in the hours after the attack. All of the sudden police were everywhere and concrete barricades were put up in front of the building to guard against truck bombs and the like. Security to get into the building was ramped up considerably. Metal detectors, security guards and more made going to work a very stressful event all of the sudden. Every Chicago high rise was thought to be a potential target at that time and rightly so, especially one that housed multiple media outlets. It was actually very helpful at the time to have a talk show and get my feelings out and talk things through with listeners. I have watched all sorts of documentaries in the intervening years about the attacks and am convinced we were not told everything. I still think that. I haven't made any conclusions or hold any theories necessarily but I do think we have not been told the whole story. Documentaries I can watch. Fictional accounts or movies based in fact however is another story. I don't know why but it is so. I have not and cannot watch any scripted movies with actors about that day. I just can't. Those take me back way more than documentaries do to my feelings on that day and I would just rather not. I guess I can be more clinical with documentaries. I also just don't want to explore this any more than what I have just done here. Please and thank you.
9/5/2021
It will always feel weird not broadcasting D3 football this time of year, after 25 years in the booth combined between Aurora and Benedictine. Saturdays were for driving all around the Midwest to watch the Spartans or Eagles play. I miss it and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I posted this last year on this day too even though football was on the shelf at the time. It's back now so it's even weirder to have a football Saturday go by yesterday without me.
It will always feel weird not broadcasting D3 football this time of year, after 25 years in the booth combined between Aurora and Benedictine. Saturdays were for driving all around the Midwest to watch the Spartans or Eagles play. I miss it and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I posted this last year on this day too even though football was on the shelf at the time. It's back now so it's even weirder to have a football Saturday go by yesterday without me.
8/25/2021
I stumbled across these basketball cards today and thought I would write about it. The front and back of these four cards are from the NIU Hall of Fame Men's Basketball team. Hard to believe that was 30 years ago. I was the play-by-play voice of the Women's team back then for WKKD and the NIU Network, but I would also fill in for Bill Baker doing the Men's games on the few occasions he had conflicts when Football and Basketball overlapped etc. So I got to broadcast a few of this team's games. This squad is one of three to make the NCAA Tourney in NIU history. They won a school-record 25 games that season and won 11 straight, and topped DePaul 70-61, a team that featured David Booth and Stephen Howard and won 20 games and also made the NCAA Tourney. NIU started that season 20-2 and won the Mid-Con Title. The Huskies took St. John's to the final minute but lost a 1st Round NCAA match-up 75-68. Donnell Thomas led NIU with 17 ppg that year and Donald Whiteside had 12 ppg. Coach Molinari, who was a regular weekly guest on my WKKD afternoon talk show, took home Conference Coach of the Year honors. I'm sure I had more cards from that team at the time but these are the ones that survive. Rod Judson was an assistant coach and the team also featured the likes of Brian Molis, Antwon Harmon and Stacy Arrington. the D-Train was something special and finished with 23pts and 12 rebs vs St. Johns on the big stage of the NCAA Tourney. I was lucky to get to call a few of his games. Whiteside was so dynamic and quick. He made it all the way to the NBA and spent time with Toronto and Atlanta. I loved my time broadcasting the NIU Women's teams that were so successful under Jane Albright in that era. That same season's Women's team won 25 games and went to the Women's NIT after making it to the NCAA Tourney 2nd round with 26 wins the year before. In other words, that was a pretty fun time for me. I'm glad I still have these cards and those memories. I wish I still had some of my audio of D-train and Whiteside dominating from back then. Oh well. Please and thank you.
I stumbled across these basketball cards today and thought I would write about it. The front and back of these four cards are from the NIU Hall of Fame Men's Basketball team. Hard to believe that was 30 years ago. I was the play-by-play voice of the Women's team back then for WKKD and the NIU Network, but I would also fill in for Bill Baker doing the Men's games on the few occasions he had conflicts when Football and Basketball overlapped etc. So I got to broadcast a few of this team's games. This squad is one of three to make the NCAA Tourney in NIU history. They won a school-record 25 games that season and won 11 straight, and topped DePaul 70-61, a team that featured David Booth and Stephen Howard and won 20 games and also made the NCAA Tourney. NIU started that season 20-2 and won the Mid-Con Title. The Huskies took St. John's to the final minute but lost a 1st Round NCAA match-up 75-68. Donnell Thomas led NIU with 17 ppg that year and Donald Whiteside had 12 ppg. Coach Molinari, who was a regular weekly guest on my WKKD afternoon talk show, took home Conference Coach of the Year honors. I'm sure I had more cards from that team at the time but these are the ones that survive. Rod Judson was an assistant coach and the team also featured the likes of Brian Molis, Antwon Harmon and Stacy Arrington. the D-Train was something special and finished with 23pts and 12 rebs vs St. Johns on the big stage of the NCAA Tourney. I was lucky to get to call a few of his games. Whiteside was so dynamic and quick. He made it all the way to the NBA and spent time with Toronto and Atlanta. I loved my time broadcasting the NIU Women's teams that were so successful under Jane Albright in that era. That same season's Women's team won 25 games and went to the Women's NIT after making it to the NCAA Tourney 2nd round with 26 wins the year before. In other words, that was a pretty fun time for me. I'm glad I still have these cards and those memories. I wish I still had some of my audio of D-train and Whiteside dominating from back then. Oh well. Please and thank you.
8/24/2021
What is it with NFL coaches and hubris? And why are the Bears hiring someone with boat loads of it? Nagy is not a good head coach and hubris is the main reason why. He says he needs to see Dalton in the regular season. Why exactly? Because that is the plan, that's why, and hell and high water ain't changing it. Dalton's lone TD pass on Sunday was none of his doing and all of Adams' doing at wide receiver. He has barely picked up a first down as quarterback. Meanwhile, the future of the team almost got killed behind the backup offensive linemen. Fields also is the only excitement this team has and the only chance for big plays from the quarterback position, even as a rookie. Trubisky was on the field for six drives and had six scores on Sunday against the coaching staff that knows him better than anyone in the USA. Maybe it's because his new coaches actually played to his strengths and let him roll out and scramble and throw on the run. The main ingrediant of coach-hubris is 'give me an athlete and I will make him into my kind of football player." I love Dave Wannstedt as a person and enjoyed covering him and his teams but he was one of the worst offenders of that brand of hubris. Draft a weight lifter and I will make him a lineman etc. Nonsense. How about drafting a guy you already know is good at football? If he can't play by 22 years old, you aren't going to magically make him into a good NFL player. You're just not. The Combine is the worst thing to ever happen in the NFL. I don't care what he lifts, long jumps or runs. Can he play? Look at the game film. Can he play? All the rest is window dressing and silliness. These men are not chess pieces, they are human beings. You can't just plug them into a position and it will work out because you can 'coach em up'. Case in point. There are no left tackles on the Chicago Bears right now. Oh there are guys playing left tackle but none of them are left tackles. Left tackle is kind of an important position in football, dontcha think? Well, the Bears drafted a right tackle with a bad back with the intention of making him a left tackle and got rid of the left tackle they already had. Gee, maybe there were good blockers available that are already familiar with and good at left tackle in college to pick instead. Just a thought. Hubris. I can make him a left tackle. Ugh. I can make them play my system. No other sport does that. You tailor your strategy to your talent. I can make Trubisky a drop back passer. No you can't and you didn't. Draft a drop back passer then! Geez. Hubris. Then you couldn't stop Mitch when you played him because you were confident in his supposed inability. Well, his new team used him differently and you couldn't stop him. The Bears had playmakers at running back. Nagy likes to pass and seems alergic to runs. He wasted that advantage and just plain got rid of that talent eventually to make sure that wasn't a problem any more. My passing system will work. Hubris. And don't give me this 'preseason' stuff. Players bust their tails on the field at all times or risk injury. They try no matter what. Plus, they have pride and are trying to make the team or start or whatever. Bad is bad no matter when and the Bears were flat out bad on Sunday. Did he think he didn't have to prepare for Buffalo at all? Fields is a great talent but will Nagy do to him what he did to Trubisky when he actually lets him play? Will he let Fields be Fields? I doubt it. And we are stuck with it all. Ugh.
What is it with NFL coaches and hubris? And why are the Bears hiring someone with boat loads of it? Nagy is not a good head coach and hubris is the main reason why. He says he needs to see Dalton in the regular season. Why exactly? Because that is the plan, that's why, and hell and high water ain't changing it. Dalton's lone TD pass on Sunday was none of his doing and all of Adams' doing at wide receiver. He has barely picked up a first down as quarterback. Meanwhile, the future of the team almost got killed behind the backup offensive linemen. Fields also is the only excitement this team has and the only chance for big plays from the quarterback position, even as a rookie. Trubisky was on the field for six drives and had six scores on Sunday against the coaching staff that knows him better than anyone in the USA. Maybe it's because his new coaches actually played to his strengths and let him roll out and scramble and throw on the run. The main ingrediant of coach-hubris is 'give me an athlete and I will make him into my kind of football player." I love Dave Wannstedt as a person and enjoyed covering him and his teams but he was one of the worst offenders of that brand of hubris. Draft a weight lifter and I will make him a lineman etc. Nonsense. How about drafting a guy you already know is good at football? If he can't play by 22 years old, you aren't going to magically make him into a good NFL player. You're just not. The Combine is the worst thing to ever happen in the NFL. I don't care what he lifts, long jumps or runs. Can he play? Look at the game film. Can he play? All the rest is window dressing and silliness. These men are not chess pieces, they are human beings. You can't just plug them into a position and it will work out because you can 'coach em up'. Case in point. There are no left tackles on the Chicago Bears right now. Oh there are guys playing left tackle but none of them are left tackles. Left tackle is kind of an important position in football, dontcha think? Well, the Bears drafted a right tackle with a bad back with the intention of making him a left tackle and got rid of the left tackle they already had. Gee, maybe there were good blockers available that are already familiar with and good at left tackle in college to pick instead. Just a thought. Hubris. I can make him a left tackle. Ugh. I can make them play my system. No other sport does that. You tailor your strategy to your talent. I can make Trubisky a drop back passer. No you can't and you didn't. Draft a drop back passer then! Geez. Hubris. Then you couldn't stop Mitch when you played him because you were confident in his supposed inability. Well, his new team used him differently and you couldn't stop him. The Bears had playmakers at running back. Nagy likes to pass and seems alergic to runs. He wasted that advantage and just plain got rid of that talent eventually to make sure that wasn't a problem any more. My passing system will work. Hubris. And don't give me this 'preseason' stuff. Players bust their tails on the field at all times or risk injury. They try no matter what. Plus, they have pride and are trying to make the team or start or whatever. Bad is bad no matter when and the Bears were flat out bad on Sunday. Did he think he didn't have to prepare for Buffalo at all? Fields is a great talent but will Nagy do to him what he did to Trubisky when he actually lets him play? Will he let Fields be Fields? I doubt it. And we are stuck with it all. Ugh.
8/17/2021
Yes, this a post about minor league baseball. Sorry, not sorry, lol. I have talked quite a bit about this summer being the 10th anniversary of the Joliet Slammers Championship summer but it is also the 20th anniversary of my 2nd and final year as radio voice of the Cook County Cheetahs, now Windy City Thunderbolts. With the season winding down I wanted to touch on my time there and that summer 20 years ago. I broadcast the games for WXRD out of Crown Point, Indiana. (And yes, minor league baseball needs to be in the radio not just internet and you will never convince me otherwise) Former Chicago Cubs pitcher Milt Pappas was the color man for most of the home games each of those two seasons. I have attached the link to a broadcast from 2000, the only surviving bit from my time there. Again, sadly I lost most of my broadcasting memorabilia and tapes etc. when my closet flooded thanks to a burst water pipe not long after that summer. Milt was fun to work with but was much more 'serious business' so to speak than Bill Melton, for instance, who worked with me at Kane County. And no, Milt never got over settling for that no-hitter and losing his perfect game with two outs in the 9th in 1972. He would bring it up on the air unprompted by me, a lot, lol. We were not a great ballclub in the summer of 2001 in the Frontier League. We were actually pretty terrible, truth be told, but I have never not enjoyed a baseball season. We finished 28-53 under manager Chad Epperson and averaged under 17 hundred fans per game but I have always enjoyed that ballpark, then Hawkinson Ford Field. Jim Rinne, out of Illinois Wesleyan, was our best hitter. We picked him up after being cut from the Arizona Diamondbacks organization and he hit .304 with 21 doubles, 4 homers and 37 rbis. Matt Schneider was our 'slugger' as he led us with 9 homers and was next with 36 rbis, despite hitting only .225. He had been in the Pirates organization. We were outscored that summer 439 to 329, so there was not a lot of offense to crow about. Ray Giorigolzarri is about the only other position player to mention and not just because of that unpronounceable name, lol. He was drafted out of high school in Miami by the White Sox but only ever played in the Frontier League. He led us not only in vowels but also stolen bases with 15. Problem was, he was caught stealing 11 times as well. But Ray also had 12 doubles, 4 homers and 23 rbis. He would go on the drive in 50 runs for Dubois County the following summer. Our best pitcher was Brian Houdek, from Hammond, who was 6-2 plus a save. After that, Jason Shelley was our most reliable starter. I would announce him again with the Joliet Jackhammers in 2005. In 2001 for the Cheetahs he logged 92 innings and only allowed 86 hits. The former Blue Jays prospect struck out 88 in those 92 innings and his era finished at 4.79. His record was only 2-8 but that was not really on him considering the offense didn't help him all that much. I only spent two summers there with Cook County but enjoyed it immensely. I went to WJOL to become their afternoon talk show host, so switched to becoming the Jackhammers color man for the next four summers after that. I basically split my 14 years in the minors between being the play-by-play man and color man. Both jobs were fun but obviously the summers where I was the main guy were the most fun and most challenging. Those bad teams were actually and perversely I suppose the most enjoyable for me. I liked the challenge of keeping the listener entertained and tuned in despite the lopsided scores. I had plenty of those opportunities in 2001, lol. The 2000 team was not much better. They finished 38-46 with Ron Leflore and Steve Maddock splitting the manager duties. Leflore did not seem all that interested in being with us, really. We did have Chris Oxspring that season though. He pitched in 14 games that year before eventually making it all the way to the Majors for a short stint with the San Diego Padres in 2005. The Aussie struck out a man per inning and finished with an era of 3.10 but I did not necessarily think I was looking at a future big leaguer at the time. It was fun to see him progress, though. The people in Crestwood couldn't have been nicer and I loved going back to that ballpark as the visiting announcer for the Slammers for three other seasons.
Here is the link to my YouTube video from the summer of 2000 with Cook County.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrbFqFnFXP0
Please and thank you.
Yes, this a post about minor league baseball. Sorry, not sorry, lol. I have talked quite a bit about this summer being the 10th anniversary of the Joliet Slammers Championship summer but it is also the 20th anniversary of my 2nd and final year as radio voice of the Cook County Cheetahs, now Windy City Thunderbolts. With the season winding down I wanted to touch on my time there and that summer 20 years ago. I broadcast the games for WXRD out of Crown Point, Indiana. (And yes, minor league baseball needs to be in the radio not just internet and you will never convince me otherwise) Former Chicago Cubs pitcher Milt Pappas was the color man for most of the home games each of those two seasons. I have attached the link to a broadcast from 2000, the only surviving bit from my time there. Again, sadly I lost most of my broadcasting memorabilia and tapes etc. when my closet flooded thanks to a burst water pipe not long after that summer. Milt was fun to work with but was much more 'serious business' so to speak than Bill Melton, for instance, who worked with me at Kane County. And no, Milt never got over settling for that no-hitter and losing his perfect game with two outs in the 9th in 1972. He would bring it up on the air unprompted by me, a lot, lol. We were not a great ballclub in the summer of 2001 in the Frontier League. We were actually pretty terrible, truth be told, but I have never not enjoyed a baseball season. We finished 28-53 under manager Chad Epperson and averaged under 17 hundred fans per game but I have always enjoyed that ballpark, then Hawkinson Ford Field. Jim Rinne, out of Illinois Wesleyan, was our best hitter. We picked him up after being cut from the Arizona Diamondbacks organization and he hit .304 with 21 doubles, 4 homers and 37 rbis. Matt Schneider was our 'slugger' as he led us with 9 homers and was next with 36 rbis, despite hitting only .225. He had been in the Pirates organization. We were outscored that summer 439 to 329, so there was not a lot of offense to crow about. Ray Giorigolzarri is about the only other position player to mention and not just because of that unpronounceable name, lol. He was drafted out of high school in Miami by the White Sox but only ever played in the Frontier League. He led us not only in vowels but also stolen bases with 15. Problem was, he was caught stealing 11 times as well. But Ray also had 12 doubles, 4 homers and 23 rbis. He would go on the drive in 50 runs for Dubois County the following summer. Our best pitcher was Brian Houdek, from Hammond, who was 6-2 plus a save. After that, Jason Shelley was our most reliable starter. I would announce him again with the Joliet Jackhammers in 2005. In 2001 for the Cheetahs he logged 92 innings and only allowed 86 hits. The former Blue Jays prospect struck out 88 in those 92 innings and his era finished at 4.79. His record was only 2-8 but that was not really on him considering the offense didn't help him all that much. I only spent two summers there with Cook County but enjoyed it immensely. I went to WJOL to become their afternoon talk show host, so switched to becoming the Jackhammers color man for the next four summers after that. I basically split my 14 years in the minors between being the play-by-play man and color man. Both jobs were fun but obviously the summers where I was the main guy were the most fun and most challenging. Those bad teams were actually and perversely I suppose the most enjoyable for me. I liked the challenge of keeping the listener entertained and tuned in despite the lopsided scores. I had plenty of those opportunities in 2001, lol. The 2000 team was not much better. They finished 38-46 with Ron Leflore and Steve Maddock splitting the manager duties. Leflore did not seem all that interested in being with us, really. We did have Chris Oxspring that season though. He pitched in 14 games that year before eventually making it all the way to the Majors for a short stint with the San Diego Padres in 2005. The Aussie struck out a man per inning and finished with an era of 3.10 but I did not necessarily think I was looking at a future big leaguer at the time. It was fun to see him progress, though. The people in Crestwood couldn't have been nicer and I loved going back to that ballpark as the visiting announcer for the Slammers for three other seasons.
Here is the link to my YouTube video from the summer of 2000 with Cook County.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrbFqFnFXP0
Please and thank you.
8/10/2021
RIP Tony Esposito. This is a tough one. Tony-O was just the best, from the start. The Blackhawks were a last place team and then Tony came to town. They immediately jump to first place the very next season thanks to his 15 shutouts. 15! There is no other #35. He was Rookie of the Year and Vezina winner three times. He should have won the Vezina a lot more but Ken Dryden, the overrated Ken Dryden, kept winning it instead. Don't get me wrong, Dryden was undeniably great, but he did not play every night. Tony did. Dryden won the Vezina in 1979 after playing in the net just 47 times. He was rested when he played. Espo played in 71, 70, 69, 69, 68, 66 games. Tony was not rested. Ever. He just played and stopped pucks. His save percentage was over 90% for 12 straight years. Dryden only played 8 total seasons and less than 400 games. Esposito played 16 seasons and was in the net 888 times. In 1976-77, Tony made 2119 saves. Dryden made over 1600 saves only once. Not to pick on Dryden, but he is revered and can't carry Tony's goalie mask in my opinion. Guess who won the Vezina in 1977, Dryden. Please. Espo played over 4000 minutes in a season four times. Dryden never reached 4000 and won the Vezina with his net parter in 1979 playing less than 3000. That year Tony played almost 3800 minutes and had a save percentage of 90%. Didn't win. Dryden won five times. Please. Tony finished with 76 career shutouts. 76! He was the goalie of my childhood. THE goalie. He was extraordinary. For all the adulation that Hull, Mikita and others got, Tony was beloved. He just showed up to work every day and was reliably great. Always, it seemed. One more thing about Dryden that will always stick in my craw is the 1972 Summit Series vs the Soviets, where he got preferential treatment over Tony. Yes, the fact that Dryden is thought as being better than Esposito by many will bug me forever. Dryden started in net in game one of that battle and allowed 7 goals looking absolutely horrible. Google the highlights. It's terrible. Dryden was also terrible in game 4, good in game 6 and bad in the decisive game 8, but Canada won it and the series anyway. Espo was tremendous in games 2 and 3, had a rough 3rd period in game 5, where his teammates share blame giving him no help in letting a big lead get away, and then Tony was great again in the must-win game 7. He outplayed Dryden by a ton. One final note on Tony-0. During my working days at WKKD in Aurora, my buddies and I would get together at Oscar's Bar in Elmhurst a few nights a week. It became our ritual to meet up and have a beer or two and talk about our work days to blow off some steam. I was basically running an entire station while in my 20's and it was fun but stressful. Mick Kahler, Dave Ross and I would be enjoying our camaraderie and invariable a fancy, long, while Excalibur automobile would pull up right in front of the bar. It was hard to miss as we noticed it outside the front windows. I say automobile because it is hard to call an Excalibur a car, lol. It is not just a car. Just google it. They are amazing. When we'd see that thing arrive, we knew Espo was about to make his entrance. It was a pretty cool thing to see your hockey idol walk right past you. I was too intimidated to strike up any conversation but we'd nod and say hi as he would go up to the bar. It was pretty fun. A lot of Blackhawks have lived in Elmhurst over the years. Grant Mulvey even had a bar of his own there for a while that we also go to. Tony was the best. Period. End of story. The best. I'll drink one for you tonight Espo. Please and thank you.
RIP Tony Esposito. This is a tough one. Tony-O was just the best, from the start. The Blackhawks were a last place team and then Tony came to town. They immediately jump to first place the very next season thanks to his 15 shutouts. 15! There is no other #35. He was Rookie of the Year and Vezina winner three times. He should have won the Vezina a lot more but Ken Dryden, the overrated Ken Dryden, kept winning it instead. Don't get me wrong, Dryden was undeniably great, but he did not play every night. Tony did. Dryden won the Vezina in 1979 after playing in the net just 47 times. He was rested when he played. Espo played in 71, 70, 69, 69, 68, 66 games. Tony was not rested. Ever. He just played and stopped pucks. His save percentage was over 90% for 12 straight years. Dryden only played 8 total seasons and less than 400 games. Esposito played 16 seasons and was in the net 888 times. In 1976-77, Tony made 2119 saves. Dryden made over 1600 saves only once. Not to pick on Dryden, but he is revered and can't carry Tony's goalie mask in my opinion. Guess who won the Vezina in 1977, Dryden. Please. Espo played over 4000 minutes in a season four times. Dryden never reached 4000 and won the Vezina with his net parter in 1979 playing less than 3000. That year Tony played almost 3800 minutes and had a save percentage of 90%. Didn't win. Dryden won five times. Please. Tony finished with 76 career shutouts. 76! He was the goalie of my childhood. THE goalie. He was extraordinary. For all the adulation that Hull, Mikita and others got, Tony was beloved. He just showed up to work every day and was reliably great. Always, it seemed. One more thing about Dryden that will always stick in my craw is the 1972 Summit Series vs the Soviets, where he got preferential treatment over Tony. Yes, the fact that Dryden is thought as being better than Esposito by many will bug me forever. Dryden started in net in game one of that battle and allowed 7 goals looking absolutely horrible. Google the highlights. It's terrible. Dryden was also terrible in game 4, good in game 6 and bad in the decisive game 8, but Canada won it and the series anyway. Espo was tremendous in games 2 and 3, had a rough 3rd period in game 5, where his teammates share blame giving him no help in letting a big lead get away, and then Tony was great again in the must-win game 7. He outplayed Dryden by a ton. One final note on Tony-0. During my working days at WKKD in Aurora, my buddies and I would get together at Oscar's Bar in Elmhurst a few nights a week. It became our ritual to meet up and have a beer or two and talk about our work days to blow off some steam. I was basically running an entire station while in my 20's and it was fun but stressful. Mick Kahler, Dave Ross and I would be enjoying our camaraderie and invariable a fancy, long, while Excalibur automobile would pull up right in front of the bar. It was hard to miss as we noticed it outside the front windows. I say automobile because it is hard to call an Excalibur a car, lol. It is not just a car. Just google it. They are amazing. When we'd see that thing arrive, we knew Espo was about to make his entrance. It was a pretty cool thing to see your hockey idol walk right past you. I was too intimidated to strike up any conversation but we'd nod and say hi as he would go up to the bar. It was pretty fun. A lot of Blackhawks have lived in Elmhurst over the years. Grant Mulvey even had a bar of his own there for a while that we also go to. Tony was the best. Period. End of story. The best. I'll drink one for you tonight Espo. Please and thank you.
8/8/2021
It is absolutely unforgivable where the Cubs are. They have drafted terribly to where last year their farm system was ranked 26th. So trading 5 all-stars rather than paying them doesn't seem too smart for a competitive team on the field right now and a rebuild is premature. Yesterday, they struck out 17 times and had just 1 extra base hit. Rebuilding now means they are years away from competitiveness, since the kids they just acquired are not even close to the Majors. That was not what we signed up for in the last rebuild. We were told to put up with years of dreadful baseball in exchange for years and years of competitiveness after. Promise epic-ally broken. They are a money machine but an absolute travesty of a baseball team. They assured us that turning historic Wrigley into a mall, hotel and more was so they could use that money on salaries. Not. But feel free to spend millions on a sportsbook guys because that seems like a reasonable priority. Nitwits.
It is absolutely unforgivable where the Cubs are. They have drafted terribly to where last year their farm system was ranked 26th. So trading 5 all-stars rather than paying them doesn't seem too smart for a competitive team on the field right now and a rebuild is premature. Yesterday, they struck out 17 times and had just 1 extra base hit. Rebuilding now means they are years away from competitiveness, since the kids they just acquired are not even close to the Majors. That was not what we signed up for in the last rebuild. We were told to put up with years of dreadful baseball in exchange for years and years of competitiveness after. Promise epic-ally broken. They are a money machine but an absolute travesty of a baseball team. They assured us that turning historic Wrigley into a mall, hotel and more was so they could use that money on salaries. Not. But feel free to spend millions on a sportsbook guys because that seems like a reasonable priority. Nitwits.
8/2/2021
My impression from Jed Hoyer on the radio today is the Cubs will never pay anyone. They either take the hometown discount or will be traded or let sign elsewhere. Darvish, Castellanos, Schwarber, Lester were shown the door first before this latest bloodbath. The Ricketts are billionaires and run this team like they are cash strapped. Hoyer proves all that by saying Lance Lynn proved he wanted to stay on the south side, as an example, because he could have gotten more elsewhere but chose to re-sign with the Sox. So, apparently the Cubs were and are never going to be the team that offers fair value. Lovely. I could be more on Hoyer's side if they had signed some but not all. But if you don't pay any of them, you can't blame all of them for not negotiating. It doesn't work that way. They all can't be unreasonable. Not all, over multiple seasons. They did not keep Darvish, Castellanos etc. to make sure they would be sellers now, and then could burn it down and re-build with all those cheap kids in Rookie and A-ball they won't have to pay for years and years. Davies and Madrigal are the only 2 MLB players they got in return for trading 5 all-stars, Rizzo, Kimbrel, Bryant, Baez and Darvish. All the others are cheap kids in the low minors. Rake in millions for the next few years and maybe then sign a big free agent to pair with those kids if they all turn out to be any good. Whoopee.
My impression from Jed Hoyer on the radio today is the Cubs will never pay anyone. They either take the hometown discount or will be traded or let sign elsewhere. Darvish, Castellanos, Schwarber, Lester were shown the door first before this latest bloodbath. The Ricketts are billionaires and run this team like they are cash strapped. Hoyer proves all that by saying Lance Lynn proved he wanted to stay on the south side, as an example, because he could have gotten more elsewhere but chose to re-sign with the Sox. So, apparently the Cubs were and are never going to be the team that offers fair value. Lovely. I could be more on Hoyer's side if they had signed some but not all. But if you don't pay any of them, you can't blame all of them for not negotiating. It doesn't work that way. They all can't be unreasonable. Not all, over multiple seasons. They did not keep Darvish, Castellanos etc. to make sure they would be sellers now, and then could burn it down and re-build with all those cheap kids in Rookie and A-ball they won't have to pay for years and years. Davies and Madrigal are the only 2 MLB players they got in return for trading 5 all-stars, Rizzo, Kimbrel, Bryant, Baez and Darvish. All the others are cheap kids in the low minors. Rake in millions for the next few years and maybe then sign a big free agent to pair with those kids if they all turn out to be any good. Whoopee.
7/31/2021
So this post is mostly for me. I have looked back at my time with the Kane County Cougars and other minor league teams many times here, and probably way too many times for most of you, lol. Well, it's fun for me, so here I go again. I have been battling serious melancholy off and on for a few years now, ever since I lost my last radio job with the US Traffic Network, when they went out of business. It really was a gut punch that I haven't really ever bounced back from. I'm not the same guy. I'm just not. You can only get kicked the the head enough before you suffer brain damange. I hope I find myself again but I haven't yet. My marathon running helped a bit but the pandemic basically took that away from me and ever-present Covid has only made things worse mentally. It's a struggle. The Cubs trades of the last couple days have made it even worse. When I post old baseball stories, you know I'm having a rough patch. That's life and here I am. Broadcasting pro baseball for 14 years and for more than 1000 games was the most fun I've ever had. I wish I was still doing it. C'est la vie. So I dug out my old 1995 Cougars game program to cheer me up today. That was the first team that became mine. I had been the color guy for Dave Wills for 1992, 1993 and 1994. I started that way in 1995 as well, until he left pretty early on to take a job as a sportscaster in Chicago for the old WMAQ. So the 1995 Cougars became my first team as the main play-by-play guy. This program is a nice time capsule of that time for me. At that time, Elfstrom Stadium was still a pretty small ballpark but fans would cram the hills on both sides and pack the place, parking behind the outfield walls on the grass. A September night in 1994 saw over 10,200 fans jam their way in. Those kind of crowds would continue and eventually force the expansion of the park. But I will never forget that first time more than 10 thousand packed the concourse. I could barely get to the press box. But those were exciting times. This program lists the best of the Cougars first four years. It's hard to argue with any on that list and I was lucky enough to broadcast all of them. It doesn't list anyone from that first team in 1991 but Greg Zaun would have really been the only candidate and Charles Johnson was definitely the better choice. 1996 was my second year as the main play-by-play guy and 5th and final year with the team overall. I've gone over all of this but bad luck hit me twice to basically cause all that. My main job was as Sports Director of WKKD AM and the games were on WKKD FM. Well, I lost my full-time job as the AM side when they would tragically turn it into a short-lived Spanish language format. It and the station only lasted one more year after that and now no longer exists at all. It and I would probably still be there if not for that nonsense. I'm not sure I will ever get over that. I worked my tail off, along with my co-horts, for 11 years to make that station a success in Aurora and that success and my presence were wiped out completely in one stupid stroke. The only way to stay with the Cougars then would be to become a salesman/play-by-play guy working for the team itself. I certainly wanted to try to do it that way and the wonderful Cougars fans even sent in a petition to the team to see that I stayed on in that capacity. The team decided an experienced salesman was more important though, so I ended up losing both jobs in September of 1996. It made me feel at the time like I felt when I lost my job at Sporting News Radio a few years later when that Network was sold and moved to California, firing everyone here, and then came this more recent USTN stuff . In other words, I was pretty damn devastated. Don't get me wrong, I have a nice job now working with friends and they pay me well and treat me even better and I am grateful for it and them. But I miss my calling as a radio and baseball guy. I just do and I always will. I need these occasional trips down memory lane to help me remember who I am and was and to give me a smile. They help. This helped. Please and thank you.
7/30/2021
This is a collection of my Tweets from the worst 24 hours in Cubs history for me...
From Tom Ricketts, “I also wish to acknowledge Jed and his team for making the tough decisions necessary to build the next great Cubs team.” It was only tough on the fans. Not tough on Ricketts. This cost cutting was what he wanted all along. He's doing great right now. Clown.
I'm incredibly happy for the White Sox in getting Kimbrel but I'm also so unbelievably pissed at the Cubs right now that it will take a while to switch my attention the now vastly improved Championship chances for the Sox.
BTW, any thought that this isn't a rebuild, the kid the Cubs got for Baez is in Rookie ball and both players they got for Bryant are in A-ball. The outfielder they got for Rizzo is in Rookie ball and the pitcher they got for him is 24yrs old in Rookie ball. Rebuild. Again.
Not paying Darvish or Castellanos hurt their chances of staying contenders this year, which was the goal anyway and got their wish. Not extending Baez and Bryant before this year was a huge mistake. They needed to pay some of that core. They didn't pay ANY of them. It is an embarrassment.
So the Cubs are now officially the Marlins. Win and then trade everyone before having to pay them. An absolute travesty.
And here's an idea. Don't screw anybody else over for service time. Morons.
We need our own network to pay for players. We need to completely overhaul the neighborhood to pay for players. Lol.
If I were Contreras I'd tell Rossy to put the shin guards on cuz I'm taking a mental health day.
Not my most favorite day. This Armstrong is a great young prospect but again, this is painful stuff. How much for the team bus?
Again, there's nothing wrong with Madrigal. He and Hoerner will be good together for a long time. I knew the Cubs weren't going to be able to pay everybody but I didn't think the answer was to pay none of them! Sheesh. Just waiting for the shoe to drop on Bryant and Baez now.
So Baez is obviously being traded now by getting Madrigal. Hoyer has basically just told Cubs fans to f themselves.
So Ross said Rizzo and Bryant not playing had nothing to do with the trade deadline and then said his strategy was to win the game even though Bryant did not pinch hit late. Lovely to be so blatantly lied to.
When the Cubs front office claims to be losing money, they're lying. They intentionally fail to mention the increasing (constantly) value of the franchise. They paid $850million for the team in 2009. The Cubs are now valued at $3.35Billion. Quadrupled their money in 12 years.
A friendly reminder that trading away Kris Byrant is the stupidest thing imaginable. You cannot replace a still young MVP who plays 5 positions well, runs like the wind, hits, hits for power & is unselfish. No matter who you get back, to win, you'll still need a player like Kris.
This is a collection of my Tweets from the worst 24 hours in Cubs history for me...
From Tom Ricketts, “I also wish to acknowledge Jed and his team for making the tough decisions necessary to build the next great Cubs team.” It was only tough on the fans. Not tough on Ricketts. This cost cutting was what he wanted all along. He's doing great right now. Clown.
I'm incredibly happy for the White Sox in getting Kimbrel but I'm also so unbelievably pissed at the Cubs right now that it will take a while to switch my attention the now vastly improved Championship chances for the Sox.
BTW, any thought that this isn't a rebuild, the kid the Cubs got for Baez is in Rookie ball and both players they got for Bryant are in A-ball. The outfielder they got for Rizzo is in Rookie ball and the pitcher they got for him is 24yrs old in Rookie ball. Rebuild. Again.
Not paying Darvish or Castellanos hurt their chances of staying contenders this year, which was the goal anyway and got their wish. Not extending Baez and Bryant before this year was a huge mistake. They needed to pay some of that core. They didn't pay ANY of them. It is an embarrassment.
So the Cubs are now officially the Marlins. Win and then trade everyone before having to pay them. An absolute travesty.
And here's an idea. Don't screw anybody else over for service time. Morons.
We need our own network to pay for players. We need to completely overhaul the neighborhood to pay for players. Lol.
If I were Contreras I'd tell Rossy to put the shin guards on cuz I'm taking a mental health day.
Not my most favorite day. This Armstrong is a great young prospect but again, this is painful stuff. How much for the team bus?
Again, there's nothing wrong with Madrigal. He and Hoerner will be good together for a long time. I knew the Cubs weren't going to be able to pay everybody but I didn't think the answer was to pay none of them! Sheesh. Just waiting for the shoe to drop on Bryant and Baez now.
So Baez is obviously being traded now by getting Madrigal. Hoyer has basically just told Cubs fans to f themselves.
So Ross said Rizzo and Bryant not playing had nothing to do with the trade deadline and then said his strategy was to win the game even though Bryant did not pinch hit late. Lovely to be so blatantly lied to.
When the Cubs front office claims to be losing money, they're lying. They intentionally fail to mention the increasing (constantly) value of the franchise. They paid $850million for the team in 2009. The Cubs are now valued at $3.35Billion. Quadrupled their money in 12 years.
A friendly reminder that trading away Kris Byrant is the stupidest thing imaginable. You cannot replace a still young MVP who plays 5 positions well, runs like the wind, hits, hits for power & is unselfish. No matter who you get back, to win, you'll still need a player like Kris.
7/28/2021
Thankfully it looks like Bob Odenkirk will be okay after a heart 'incident'. His son just tweeted to that effect. I am glad this story about him will not be a posthumous tribute. I figured I will tell my full story here now though, considering I've known him ever since we were 16 year old juniors at Naperville North H.S. We both also ended up at SIU-Carbondale and worked together at their student radio station WIDB. I've touched on all this before but figured I will tell the whole deal here and now. I've attached my old radio interview with Bob that I did on WKKD FM, back in the day when he was promoting a show he was doing at Second City. The sad thing for me is that we never became great, close friends and not because he became famous but because he is a great guy and was fun to be with and we had so much in common. Plus, I was in desperate need of a friend at school as the new kid that never fit in. He made me feel like I wasn't such a unicorn. The shame of all this too is that we met well before texting, emails and IM's and the like. It was much tougher to keep in touch back then. The other shame is that we met way too late in our high school days. Naperville North was and is such a big school that we never even crossed paths until the last semester of junior year, which was his last year there. If we had met when I moved to Naperville my sophomore year, I'm sure we would have become best friends in that time. It just didn't happen that way. But when we did meet, we hit it off immediately. I don't remember the circumstances but we liked each other right way and he invited me over to his house and we would hang out. We were and are both Cub fans and Springsteen fans. We also had the same sense of humor and music and comedy were big connections. But again, we only met with a couple months of school left. Summer came and I went to work at the K-Mart shoe department etc. He graduated early and went to COD, while I finished up my senior year and we didn't talk much thanks to that. I then left for SIU and he went off the Marquette. We didn't have an easy way to keep in touch as I said and we literally didn't talk to each other until he transferred down to Carbondale. Even then, I didn't know he was there until he walked into WIDB one day in the fall of junior year. I was working there as a DJ and I remember looking up and saying 'Bob! What are you doing here?!" We both laughed and he said he had just started there like me and wanted to start a weekly comedy sketch show. We talked for a long, long time and then he asked if I wanted to do that show with him and a friend of his, Tim Thomas? Umm, yeah, lol. So the three of us did "Thursday Night Live" together for a few months. His Wikipedia page says his WIDB show was called the Prime Time Special. I don't know where that came from but it was Thursday Night Live. I don't get mentioned in that page as part of it and neither did Tim. Maybe that other show came later without me as I focused on sports. I don't know. I do know, his first show on WIDB was Thursday Night Live with me and Tim. We talk about it in this radio interview attached here. I don't remember exactly how many shows there were but I do remember he wanted me to write sketches for each show and we would voice all them together. It was a blast. I only remember one of the sketches I wrote and it was about interstellar Olympics, lol. There was golf on a meteor and other events. Sports. I had to include that angle. I do remember he liked that sketch and we had fun performing it. I don't really remember any of his. I wish I did. I just remember laughing a lot and that the shows were a blast. I take pride now in being in on the very ground floor of his great comedy career. I knew by then though that I wanted to be a sportscaster while he wanted to be a professional comedian. I loved comedy but it never occurred to me that a life in comedy was a thing that was even possible. That seemed a pipe dream. Not that my dream was much more realistic but I had a calling so to speak and so did he. So as much fun as I had hanging with my friend again and performing comedy on the radio, it was just something I did for fun. By the end of that school year, I had become Sports Director of the station and off I went into play-by-play of SIU teams and I then started a weekly sports talk show on WIDB. He started the kind of show he wanted to do there and then I started the kind of show I wanted to do. His was the first comedy show in WIDB history and mine was the first sports talk show in station history. I don't regret not asking if we could continue doing comedy together or where that could have led. I'm just proud of my friend's success. Also, since we hadn't seen each other in a couple years until he walked into that basement campus radio studio, our window to become 'best' friends sort of came and went, especially since I didn't continue on that comedy road with him. By then I had my crew of best friends in Carbondale and so did he. Plus, we didn't have cell phones to text and keep in touch. If we did, I'm sure we would have done so all throughout the years. We did keep in touch as much as we could for a while after SIU but he moved on, amazingly enough, to Saturday Night Live and to NYC, so it was not all that easy any more. Again, Marc Arturi had an afternoon show on WKKD FM while I had my afternoon talk show on WKKD AM. I played a taped interview on my show so I could join Marc for this FM interview in 1989 and we talked to Bob about the old days in Naperville and Carbondale. At that time Bob had already worked for SNL for a couple years and we hadn't talked since I came back to Aurora from Pennsylvania in 1985. I asked him about Wayne's World, figuring he had written that sketch about his old home Naperville/Aurora area. Apparently that was all Mike Myers. Cool to listen back and I am very glad it looks like Bob will be okay after a heart scare. Please and thank you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE4LsW1uHdc
7/27/2021
Today is the tenth anniversary of the Andrew Moss no-hitter for the Joliet Slammers vs Lake Erie. I have called three no-hitters in my 14 years in Minor League Baseball. That was number two. It was not a masterpiece, I suppose, but it was a great effort with 8 strikeouts, 6 walks, 1 hit batter, 1 run allowed on 136 pitches in a 10-1 victory. Bobby Leeper made a leaping grab in centerfield in the 1st inning, otherwise there might have been nothing to talk about all this time later. Brad Netzel also made a leaping catch on a liner to short in the 6th to help preserve the headline and a pair of fly balls, one in the bottom of the 9th, made it to the warning track to give the Slammers dugout a scare. Offensively, Leeper, David Fox, Erik Lis and Trey Manz all homered for Joliet. The 24 year old Moss had started the season with Quad City of the Midwest League playing in the Cardinals organization. He was released in May and the Slammers benefited from his talent the remainder of the summer on their way to the Frontier League Championship. Moss' lone run allowed came in the 7th when he loaded the bases with walks and allowed a sacrifice fly.
Earlier that same afternoon, 20 miles away from Avon, Ervin Santana of the Angels no-hit the Indians in Cleveland with 10 strikeouts and 1 walk in a 3-1 win. His lone run allowed came when the first batter he faced reached on an error, stole 2nd and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Two no-hitters within hours and miles of each other. A pretty memorable day, for me included. Here is my call of the last few outs with some pictures to go with it from that day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPeclGIOraE&t=3s
Today is the tenth anniversary of the Andrew Moss no-hitter for the Joliet Slammers vs Lake Erie. I have called three no-hitters in my 14 years in Minor League Baseball. That was number two. It was not a masterpiece, I suppose, but it was a great effort with 8 strikeouts, 6 walks, 1 hit batter, 1 run allowed on 136 pitches in a 10-1 victory. Bobby Leeper made a leaping grab in centerfield in the 1st inning, otherwise there might have been nothing to talk about all this time later. Brad Netzel also made a leaping catch on a liner to short in the 6th to help preserve the headline and a pair of fly balls, one in the bottom of the 9th, made it to the warning track to give the Slammers dugout a scare. Offensively, Leeper, David Fox, Erik Lis and Trey Manz all homered for Joliet. The 24 year old Moss had started the season with Quad City of the Midwest League playing in the Cardinals organization. He was released in May and the Slammers benefited from his talent the remainder of the summer on their way to the Frontier League Championship. Moss' lone run allowed came in the 7th when he loaded the bases with walks and allowed a sacrifice fly.
Earlier that same afternoon, 20 miles away from Avon, Ervin Santana of the Angels no-hit the Indians in Cleveland with 10 strikeouts and 1 walk in a 3-1 win. His lone run allowed came when the first batter he faced reached on an error, stole 2nd and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Two no-hitters within hours and miles of each other. A pretty memorable day, for me included. Here is my call of the last few outs with some pictures to go with it from that day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPeclGIOraE&t=3s
7/24/2021
It should have been the Cleveland Spiders like they were in the late 1800's. The Guardians smacks of that focus group or consultant nonsense that tries for 'young and hip' for some reason and only ends up with something dumb instead. I am not a contrarian all the time. It just seems that way, lol. I believe in science, for instance. I believe everyone needs to take vaccines for them to be effective. You know, common sense, history and common knowledge wins out. Global Warming is real and really bad and human caused. I also don't jump at conspiracy theories just for the sake of it. Although I will say we definitely have not been told the real truth about 9/11. I'm not saying I have the answers but we were not told the whole truth. And some random loner did not kill JFK. No. The other contrarian strain within me is that I believe you cannot tell me what to think about certain things just because of some money decision or some board members change their mind. It is the Sears Tower to me no matter what you want me to call it. Henry Aaron is the home run king. He doesn't need an asterisk. It is Sox Park to me so I won't have to call it whatever they want me to call it this week. It isn't the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, damn it. It's the Fiesta Bowl and so on. My brain is in charge of my reality, not yours. They are now the Cleveland Spiders to me. I am not calling them that Guardians nonsense. They are the the Anaheim Angels, not the ridiculous Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim or whatever. The Chicago Blackhawks are rapidly losing me as a fan but while I hang on for a while longer, to me their logo is a black bird with colorful feathers and not a Native American. They screwed up their decision on that matter but I don't have to abide by it. If I ever get back on the radio as a sportscaster, they will be called Cleveland by me. That is all. Please and thank you.
7/19/2021
I haven't written anything in a while and have decided to take today to write this post about my Father, because I came upon this picture for the very first time not too long ago. My sister gave me a box of Dad's old Navy stuff including his old uniform and that group picture. This picture spurred a lot of investigation and this post will be the result of all that digging. The others included above are ones I have found online. My Dad has never talked about his time in the Navy during WWII. He will turn 96 in September and lives in Assisted Living right now because a couple of his spinal discs basically disintegrated a couple years ago. He was fine, living on his own and even driving until that happened less than three years ago. Now he has to use a walker and can't really bend down and so on. A shame really. He is still mentally sharp as a tack but can't get around easily now. All he has ever told any of us was that he worked on the PBY planes that could land on water and he fixed those planes for the Navy Air Corps while stationed in Pensacola. He has never even admitted to being shipped overseas in his three years in the Navy until the war ended. I have always doubted that, since I've never even heard stories about his time in Florida. All he has ever said is that he went in as a skinny 17 year old and eventually filled out after eating whole Peach pies in the mess hall, lol. The only other story is that he listened to part of a game of the Cubs in the 1945 World Series over Armed Forces Radio in a guys Jeep one day. That is the extent of my knowledge of his time in WWII. Normally it's guys who saw serious suffering that don't share their experiences, so I've always wondered if there was more. I have asked him numerous times for more details. None have ever been forthcoming. Now on to this picture. It is hard to see but the picture is from Boot Camp and has the title of his outfit at the bottom. I had never even known that. I took that information at the bottom and Googled it. The results were astounding!! I honestly don't know for sure if the details I'm about to give you are things he participated in or not but it is the only results I can find anywhere for his Regiment and Company. It doesn't say anything about staying in Pensacola by the way, but it does say an awful lot about Classified activities in the Pacific as a member of a Construction Battalion. In other words, it looks like he was part of the Seebees, as they were known and were attached to the Marines in incredibly important missions. The only Naval 19th Battalion I can find online is the Construction Battalion that spent time in Australia, Leyte Gulf and Samar in the Philippines and more. Unreal. The 19th was attached to Classified missions where now Declassified documents are posted online. Crazy. Battalion 19, Company 727-43 October 16, 1943 is the name at the bottom of his group picture from Boot Camp in Idaho. The 19th Construction Battalion was formed in October of 1943, according to what I have found online. So it's got to be his Battalion, right?! Maybe it isn't and I will never find out for sure because I will not press him on it in person. He obviously does not want to talk more about his time in the Navy, no matter where he was or what he did. But wow, is this interesting if this indeed is what he was a part of and survived. Basically, as I understand it, a Marine Unit was teamed with the 19th Battalion and they would try to take an Island and then the 19th would take over and build the air strips, roads and huts and set up shop for the Marines to then occupy and use that Island. The Battle Off Samar, as it's known, was one of the largest battles in Naval history as part of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, in the Philippines. It is one of the most famous last-stands in American history as the U.S. eventually outlasted the Japanese Imperial Navy despite heavy casualties and overwhelming odds, according to Wikipedia. Dad was there, apparently. Again, maybe not, but the 19th Naval Battalion was formed for that specific construction need in the Pacific Theater and was disbanded immediately at the end of WWII and no longer exists. Dad did not need to fill a four year stint in the Navy. He only served three years and was discharged when the 19th was disbanded. That has to be why his stay was shortened. If he was just working in a ship yard in Florida, I have to believe he would have had to serve a full term. He 'earned' a release at the end of the War. Crazy. Maybe this is just in my imagination but I don't think so. I've always been proud of him as a Dad. I am even more proud of him as a person now. I have always poked fun at how he used to do things around the house. Everything was in a hurry. Now I know why. That is how he learned to do everything on an Island under fire from the enemy or about to be under fire. Get that runway built asap, so the Marines and Air Corps can use it and supplies can be delivered. It all makes sense now. Wild. It also makes sense why he is such a sweet guy, who is unfailingly kind and gentle. He has seen enough violence and bad stuff in his life and wanted to put all that behind. I tip my hat to him and his fellow Seebees. Incredible stuff.
6/29/2021
Scottie Pippen. Sheesh. lol. I will throw my two cents out there on the recent remarks from Scottie. I was lucky enough to spend some time around the Jordan-Pippen Bulls and watch them up close. First off, Phil Jackson is not a racist and that play should have been drawn up for Toni Kukoc in the first place! Toni hit that shot, remember, so there is nothing to complain about anyway! Scottie was a tremendous all around basketball player but he was not THE scorer on those Bulls teams. He was a tenacious defender and could do a little of everything, as the point-forward so to speak. Michael was a scorer. Toni was a scorer. Scottie was not. Period. He has no room to complain about anything. Toni was also taller for that inbounds pass with 1.8 seconds remaining and had hit buzzer-beaters his whole life in Europe and in the NBA. He was a three-point threat despite his height. Scottie was not. This whole thing is embarrassing for Pippen and his legacy. I didn't hold the whole 'migraine' thing against him since I've had migraines my entire life and know how debilitating they can be. But not taking the floor because the play was not drawn up for you was and is inexcusable. He needed to be out there as a decoy or guarded as the inbounder. He was selfish then and his comments now are just as selfish. Kukoc is a Hall of Famer in his own right and is one of my favorite Bulls of all-time. Pippen is not a favorite and he should be but it's his fault he is not. Tells you all you need to know about him and how he has handled himself. I did not interview him in the locker room after games much. He had nothing to say and it was obvious he didn't want to say it in the first place. I loved talking to Kukoc, Kerr, Harper and so on. Even Jordan knew that was part of the job and did it well. Pippen is in the Hall of Fame because of his defense. A better wing defender would be hard to find. Phil's Triangle Offense is what allowed him to shine on 'that' side of the floor as an all-arounder, play maker, etc. The plays didn't all run though MJ because of it. Everybody got involved. Pipp owes Phil, period. Pippen was a Dream Team member because of his defense and because he played with Jordan, not because he could hit a last second shot and he sure as heck wouldn't have had that chance on That Team either. He needs to know what kind of player he was and he definitely doesn't. Delusions of grandeur apparantly. As great as Pippen was, defense does not get headlines. He got appreciation for his efforts because he played with Jordan and in a big market like Chicago and won Championships here. A great defender in Utah gets a few all-star nods and not much else. That fact that Scottie cannot appreciate that is unfortunate. I read an article once about a comparison of stats between Pippen and Alex English. Guess who's are better and guess who you had completely forgotten about! Pippen had his chance to be 'the' man after MJ with the Bulls and in Portland. He proved he could not be that guy here or there. The Blazers got him to be that go-to guy. He failed. Facts are facts, whether he wants to ignore them or not. And obviously Jackson is not a racist. He can be a surly, sourpuss at times, but that has nothing to do with race. That is who he is. He played alongside Earl Monroe, Walt Frazier, Henry Bibby and so on in New York. You don't hear that talk from the guys who lived with him and played with him. Phil isn't perfect and has done some regrettable stuff but race has nothing to do with it. You also don't win all those Titles as a coach if you harbor resentments or ill feelings with most of your roster. Ridiculous and sad. Pippen has had an assault charge, gun charge, a divorce, has lost a child and more. He must be dealing with mental health issues right now. I hope he gets the help he needs but I don't care if he's trying to sell Bourbon or books or what, this crap has got to stop. Kukoc, Jackson, the Bulls and their fans deserve better.
Scottie Pippen. Sheesh. lol. I will throw my two cents out there on the recent remarks from Scottie. I was lucky enough to spend some time around the Jordan-Pippen Bulls and watch them up close. First off, Phil Jackson is not a racist and that play should have been drawn up for Toni Kukoc in the first place! Toni hit that shot, remember, so there is nothing to complain about anyway! Scottie was a tremendous all around basketball player but he was not THE scorer on those Bulls teams. He was a tenacious defender and could do a little of everything, as the point-forward so to speak. Michael was a scorer. Toni was a scorer. Scottie was not. Period. He has no room to complain about anything. Toni was also taller for that inbounds pass with 1.8 seconds remaining and had hit buzzer-beaters his whole life in Europe and in the NBA. He was a three-point threat despite his height. Scottie was not. This whole thing is embarrassing for Pippen and his legacy. I didn't hold the whole 'migraine' thing against him since I've had migraines my entire life and know how debilitating they can be. But not taking the floor because the play was not drawn up for you was and is inexcusable. He needed to be out there as a decoy or guarded as the inbounder. He was selfish then and his comments now are just as selfish. Kukoc is a Hall of Famer in his own right and is one of my favorite Bulls of all-time. Pippen is not a favorite and he should be but it's his fault he is not. Tells you all you need to know about him and how he has handled himself. I did not interview him in the locker room after games much. He had nothing to say and it was obvious he didn't want to say it in the first place. I loved talking to Kukoc, Kerr, Harper and so on. Even Jordan knew that was part of the job and did it well. Pippen is in the Hall of Fame because of his defense. A better wing defender would be hard to find. Phil's Triangle Offense is what allowed him to shine on 'that' side of the floor as an all-arounder, play maker, etc. The plays didn't all run though MJ because of it. Everybody got involved. Pipp owes Phil, period. Pippen was a Dream Team member because of his defense and because he played with Jordan, not because he could hit a last second shot and he sure as heck wouldn't have had that chance on That Team either. He needs to know what kind of player he was and he definitely doesn't. Delusions of grandeur apparantly. As great as Pippen was, defense does not get headlines. He got appreciation for his efforts because he played with Jordan and in a big market like Chicago and won Championships here. A great defender in Utah gets a few all-star nods and not much else. That fact that Scottie cannot appreciate that is unfortunate. I read an article once about a comparison of stats between Pippen and Alex English. Guess who's are better and guess who you had completely forgotten about! Pippen had his chance to be 'the' man after MJ with the Bulls and in Portland. He proved he could not be that guy here or there. The Blazers got him to be that go-to guy. He failed. Facts are facts, whether he wants to ignore them or not. And obviously Jackson is not a racist. He can be a surly, sourpuss at times, but that has nothing to do with race. That is who he is. He played alongside Earl Monroe, Walt Frazier, Henry Bibby and so on in New York. You don't hear that talk from the guys who lived with him and played with him. Phil isn't perfect and has done some regrettable stuff but race has nothing to do with it. You also don't win all those Titles as a coach if you harbor resentments or ill feelings with most of your roster. Ridiculous and sad. Pippen has had an assault charge, gun charge, a divorce, has lost a child and more. He must be dealing with mental health issues right now. I hope he gets the help he needs but I don't care if he's trying to sell Bourbon or books or what, this crap has got to stop. Kukoc, Jackson, the Bulls and their fans deserve better.
6/24/2021
I've decided to do a post about this video as we approach the ten year anniversary of this 7-2-2011 broadcast in just a few days. YouTube had taken this game down from my page for a while due to what they deemed copyright issues. It seems the songs played in the background over the public address were the issue, so there are now some bits of silence in this video and that is the reason. One is all of three seconds long. How that was a violation I have no idea. Regardless, I am just glad this can stay online now. It is not news that I loved that season and I am happy to have this memento to re-visit on occasion. I lost almost all my Kane County Cougars and Cook County Cheetahs tapes, for instance, when my closet flooded years ago. That depresses me to this day. I am the sentimental type. Bill Waliewski and I had a blast working together and that team gave me the only Championship ring of my career. That group on and off the field will always be special to me. My time in that clubhouse and on that team bus were some of the best times of my 14 years in the pro's. As I've said before, I will try not to post a lot about that summer as all these anniversaries come up but I will post a few of the big ones in the next few months. Thanks to all for giving me so much fun crammed into those few short months ten years ago. Enjoy re-living this. I did. This is all that remains from that TV broadcast. The DVD I was given at the time started where this video starts and there is a part in the middle where the DVD freezes, so this is all that was recoverable for this post. I'm glad I have it, at least. Here is the link to the game on my YouTube page.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJvIsUIm-QM
I've decided to do a post about this video as we approach the ten year anniversary of this 7-2-2011 broadcast in just a few days. YouTube had taken this game down from my page for a while due to what they deemed copyright issues. It seems the songs played in the background over the public address were the issue, so there are now some bits of silence in this video and that is the reason. One is all of three seconds long. How that was a violation I have no idea. Regardless, I am just glad this can stay online now. It is not news that I loved that season and I am happy to have this memento to re-visit on occasion. I lost almost all my Kane County Cougars and Cook County Cheetahs tapes, for instance, when my closet flooded years ago. That depresses me to this day. I am the sentimental type. Bill Waliewski and I had a blast working together and that team gave me the only Championship ring of my career. That group on and off the field will always be special to me. My time in that clubhouse and on that team bus were some of the best times of my 14 years in the pro's. As I've said before, I will try not to post a lot about that summer as all these anniversaries come up but I will post a few of the big ones in the next few months. Thanks to all for giving me so much fun crammed into those few short months ten years ago. Enjoy re-living this. I did. This is all that remains from that TV broadcast. The DVD I was given at the time started where this video starts and there is a part in the middle where the DVD freezes, so this is all that was recoverable for this post. I'm glad I have it, at least. Here is the link to the game on my YouTube page.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJvIsUIm-QM
6/18/2021
I've got some time now, so will write a Father's Day post a couple days early. I've written about both these days below separately I think, but figure I would combine them here and add some other info first.
My Dad will turn 96 years old in September and I am lucky to still have him. I never had a Grandfather as my Grandpa Foley passed away when my Mom was a child and my Grandpa Vasko passed away when I was very young and I don't really remember him. I had bad luck with Uncles very early as well. My Uncle Art, my Godfather, divorced my Aunt and moved to Florida before I was ten and I never saw him again. My Uncle Johnny Vasko, who I was very close to, died from cancer soon after. In other words, my Dad was very important to me as my male role model. I couldn't have had a better one. My Dad is still the best guy I know and we have spent a lot of great times together over the years. My Mom died of cancer 30 years ago and Dad and I have spent countless days together since. Billy Crystal's Broadway show was called 700 Sundays. Dad and I have spent at least 14 hundred Sundays together since Mom died. Covid is the only reason that number isn't higher. I was single until I met Chris almost 14 years ago, so for a couple decades Dad and I spent every holiday together. My brother lives in Arizona and my sister has a family of her own so he and I would keep each other company. Dad liked to play video poker, so thanks to the area Riverboats we would spend every Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas etc. at a Casino, lol. We'd play the slots and eat at the buffet. Every weekend for about 20 years we would meet up for Sunday brunch and then watch the Cubs, Bears or Bulls play on TV. We spent countless days on the golf course and I would take him with me on my various play-by-play road trips. I would call him and ask if he wanted to go to my Aurora U. football game down at Eureka with me for instance and he would always say yes. We'd drive down together, he'd drop me off at the stadium, go get an early lunch and then come back to watch the game. It was great. He lives in Assisted Living now thanks to two of the discs in his back disintegrating a couple years ago, so his driving days are over and he needs a walker. Other than that, he is still Dad and we still enjoy each other's company. He is a lifelong Cubs fan. Kiki Cuyler is his favorite player. Kiki was a Cub from 1928 to 1935, so that tells you how long Dad's been a fan! Cuyler is actually a very underappreciated Cub. He hit 43 doubles in 1925 and then hit 50 in 1930, the same year he also drove in 134 runs! Dad took me to dozens of Cub games when I was a kid and we have watched many more together on TV since. Dad has had a transistor radio in his hand his entire life and the Cubs are always on it every Summer. My radio career (coincidence?, lol) had been wonderful and frustrating and everything in between. It did though afford me a chance to give my Dad a couple special days at Wrigley Field and I will be forever grateful for them. Here is a rundown of both of those days.
April 6, 1993. Through some contacts I got my Dad and I spots in the WGN Radio luxury suite for a game vs the Atlanta Braves for game two of that season. It was a long walk up the ramps to the Suite Level but it was worth it to give him a chance to sit in a Suite for a game at Wrigley and enjoy that kind of experience at the place he spent so much time in his life. His Dad took him to countless games via the Cable Car from the Northwest Side, back in the day. It was the Cubs debut of Jose Guzman on the mound that day. He took a perfect game into the 8th inning and a no-hitter into the 9th. My Dad and I were flabbergasted that we were the only ones paying attention to the game in that luxury box. The dessert cart came by the suite in the 9th and everyone in there but us went for the cart! lol. Guzman is on the verge of a no-hitter and we were the only two in that box that knew or cared! We sat in the outside seats by ourselves as Otis Nixon lined a single with 2 outs in the 9th to rob Guzman of his no-no with only us up there realizing it. Chocolate cake could wait, dang-it! Guzman ended up with a 1-0 win and we had a great day. We still laugh about it.
I also got my Dad the opportunity to throw out the first pitch at a Cubs game. Every year, the Cubs would come to Joliet for the Cubs Caravan to promote the upcoming season, right before they reported to Spring Training. I was working in Aurora at WKKD and would come down every year to interview whoever the team sent along and use those interviews on my afternoon show. It was always a good time and I would get to talk to some promising rookie or team ambassador like Billy Williams and so on. They would always have door prizes and raffles etc. too. In 1996, my last in Aurora, one of the raffles was for the opportunity to throw out a first pitch at an early April Cubs game. I wanted Dad to walk on that field and I managed to win that prize that day. It was really cool to see him so excited about it and we started to throw the ball around to each other every chance we got, so it was a good excuse to play catch with my Dad as adults after doing it so much when I was younger. We hadn't done that in ages and it was a great bonus I hadn't counted on. He wanted to make sure his arm was loose and he wouldn't embarrass himself out there on the mound, lol. We eventually ended up long tossing, so I knew he was going to be fine when the big day came. The only problem was, it was still cold and snowy out! We'd go outside anyway all during February and March and get some tosses in if it was possible. On the day of the early April game, sadly, I couldn't go with him because of course I was working. In the 90's in particular, I was always working. I loved it but I worked six and seven days a week for years. I worked every single weekend almost 20 straight years, for instance. I was also the number one radio broadcaster for the Kane County Cougars in 1996 and couldn't really miss a game and frankly didn't want to since I was living my life's dream as a pro baseball announcer. My brother and sister did get to go with him to Wrigley that day though. Brooks Kieschnick was behind the plate for his First Pitch. Dad had a blast and threw a strike. He got his name said over the P.A. and they put it up on the scoreboard. He still talks about it every once in a while. He loved it. It's the least I could do for all he's done for me. I'm happy this picture has the rightfield bleachers in the background. That's where Grandpa Vasko used to sit when he went to games on an almost daily basis by himself after Dad went into the Navy in WWII. Grandpa saw multiple World Series in person at Wrigley. Dad was too old to go to Wrigley Field in 2016 so we didn't get to go there together but we did get to watch some of it on TV and so he finally got to see his team win a World Series.
I'm glad I have this picture and glad to still have him around. Happy Father's Day D. (I have always called him D, short for Dad, for some reason)
I've got some time now, so will write a Father's Day post a couple days early. I've written about both these days below separately I think, but figure I would combine them here and add some other info first.
My Dad will turn 96 years old in September and I am lucky to still have him. I never had a Grandfather as my Grandpa Foley passed away when my Mom was a child and my Grandpa Vasko passed away when I was very young and I don't really remember him. I had bad luck with Uncles very early as well. My Uncle Art, my Godfather, divorced my Aunt and moved to Florida before I was ten and I never saw him again. My Uncle Johnny Vasko, who I was very close to, died from cancer soon after. In other words, my Dad was very important to me as my male role model. I couldn't have had a better one. My Dad is still the best guy I know and we have spent a lot of great times together over the years. My Mom died of cancer 30 years ago and Dad and I have spent countless days together since. Billy Crystal's Broadway show was called 700 Sundays. Dad and I have spent at least 14 hundred Sundays together since Mom died. Covid is the only reason that number isn't higher. I was single until I met Chris almost 14 years ago, so for a couple decades Dad and I spent every holiday together. My brother lives in Arizona and my sister has a family of her own so he and I would keep each other company. Dad liked to play video poker, so thanks to the area Riverboats we would spend every Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas etc. at a Casino, lol. We'd play the slots and eat at the buffet. Every weekend for about 20 years we would meet up for Sunday brunch and then watch the Cubs, Bears or Bulls play on TV. We spent countless days on the golf course and I would take him with me on my various play-by-play road trips. I would call him and ask if he wanted to go to my Aurora U. football game down at Eureka with me for instance and he would always say yes. We'd drive down together, he'd drop me off at the stadium, go get an early lunch and then come back to watch the game. It was great. He lives in Assisted Living now thanks to two of the discs in his back disintegrating a couple years ago, so his driving days are over and he needs a walker. Other than that, he is still Dad and we still enjoy each other's company. He is a lifelong Cubs fan. Kiki Cuyler is his favorite player. Kiki was a Cub from 1928 to 1935, so that tells you how long Dad's been a fan! Cuyler is actually a very underappreciated Cub. He hit 43 doubles in 1925 and then hit 50 in 1930, the same year he also drove in 134 runs! Dad took me to dozens of Cub games when I was a kid and we have watched many more together on TV since. Dad has had a transistor radio in his hand his entire life and the Cubs are always on it every Summer. My radio career (coincidence?, lol) had been wonderful and frustrating and everything in between. It did though afford me a chance to give my Dad a couple special days at Wrigley Field and I will be forever grateful for them. Here is a rundown of both of those days.
April 6, 1993. Through some contacts I got my Dad and I spots in the WGN Radio luxury suite for a game vs the Atlanta Braves for game two of that season. It was a long walk up the ramps to the Suite Level but it was worth it to give him a chance to sit in a Suite for a game at Wrigley and enjoy that kind of experience at the place he spent so much time in his life. His Dad took him to countless games via the Cable Car from the Northwest Side, back in the day. It was the Cubs debut of Jose Guzman on the mound that day. He took a perfect game into the 8th inning and a no-hitter into the 9th. My Dad and I were flabbergasted that we were the only ones paying attention to the game in that luxury box. The dessert cart came by the suite in the 9th and everyone in there but us went for the cart! lol. Guzman is on the verge of a no-hitter and we were the only two in that box that knew or cared! We sat in the outside seats by ourselves as Otis Nixon lined a single with 2 outs in the 9th to rob Guzman of his no-no with only us up there realizing it. Chocolate cake could wait, dang-it! Guzman ended up with a 1-0 win and we had a great day. We still laugh about it.
I also got my Dad the opportunity to throw out the first pitch at a Cubs game. Every year, the Cubs would come to Joliet for the Cubs Caravan to promote the upcoming season, right before they reported to Spring Training. I was working in Aurora at WKKD and would come down every year to interview whoever the team sent along and use those interviews on my afternoon show. It was always a good time and I would get to talk to some promising rookie or team ambassador like Billy Williams and so on. They would always have door prizes and raffles etc. too. In 1996, my last in Aurora, one of the raffles was for the opportunity to throw out a first pitch at an early April Cubs game. I wanted Dad to walk on that field and I managed to win that prize that day. It was really cool to see him so excited about it and we started to throw the ball around to each other every chance we got, so it was a good excuse to play catch with my Dad as adults after doing it so much when I was younger. We hadn't done that in ages and it was a great bonus I hadn't counted on. He wanted to make sure his arm was loose and he wouldn't embarrass himself out there on the mound, lol. We eventually ended up long tossing, so I knew he was going to be fine when the big day came. The only problem was, it was still cold and snowy out! We'd go outside anyway all during February and March and get some tosses in if it was possible. On the day of the early April game, sadly, I couldn't go with him because of course I was working. In the 90's in particular, I was always working. I loved it but I worked six and seven days a week for years. I worked every single weekend almost 20 straight years, for instance. I was also the number one radio broadcaster for the Kane County Cougars in 1996 and couldn't really miss a game and frankly didn't want to since I was living my life's dream as a pro baseball announcer. My brother and sister did get to go with him to Wrigley that day though. Brooks Kieschnick was behind the plate for his First Pitch. Dad had a blast and threw a strike. He got his name said over the P.A. and they put it up on the scoreboard. He still talks about it every once in a while. He loved it. It's the least I could do for all he's done for me. I'm happy this picture has the rightfield bleachers in the background. That's where Grandpa Vasko used to sit when he went to games on an almost daily basis by himself after Dad went into the Navy in WWII. Grandpa saw multiple World Series in person at Wrigley. Dad was too old to go to Wrigley Field in 2016 so we didn't get to go there together but we did get to watch some of it on TV and so he finally got to see his team win a World Series.
I'm glad I have this picture and glad to still have him around. Happy Father's Day D. (I have always called him D, short for Dad, for some reason)
6/12/2021
Today is the anniversary of Game 5 of the 1998 NBA Finals. I got to cover that entire great final playoff run of the Jordan-era Bulls for 1 on 1 Sports Radio. I was hoping I would get to see my team win that 6th Championship in person and be part of that crazy locker room celebration. Game 4 was tremendous, and as I've said before, I got to even do live national radio updates during that game. No live updates for Game 5 but I was looking forward to champagne on my head when it was over. Karl Malone decided that wasn't going to happen. It was one helluva game and Utah stayed alive with an 83-81 win, denying me my celebration. That would take place after game 6 in Salt Lake City. Malone finished with 39 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. John Stockton fed him the ball and finished with 12 assists. Antoine Carr's 12 points off the bench had him as their only other double digit scorer in that game. On the Bulls side, it was Toni Kukoc who was the story. I've said many times how Toni is one of my all-time favorite Bulls and am thrilled he is now going into the Basketball Hall of Fame. My last game covering the Last Dance, since I didn't travel for Game 6, was the Toni show. Kukoc led the Bulls that night with 30 points! He was magnificent. It just gets sadly forgotten in a losing effort and I am posting here to make sure he gets his due. Jordan finished with 28 that night. Pippen had a rotten shooting effort, hitting just 2 of 16 from the floor, so Toni picked up the slack and did he ever. He hit 4 of 6 three's and hit all 7 of his shots inside the 3-point line, so was 11 of 13 on the night. Even MJ didn't shoot all that well, 9 of 26, so it was Kukoc who really almost got them the Championship in front of the home crowd that night. Scottie finished with only 6 points and no one else did much else and they still almost won thanks to Kukoc. Rodman had a rare rough night as well, since Karl dominated and Dennis only grabbed 3 rebounds in his 24 minutes, fouling Malone 5 times in attempts to slow him down. In fairness to Pippen, he did play tremendous defense that night and did everything else but score, finishing with 11 assists, 11 rebounds and 3 steals. He just could put the ball in the basket that night. It was a wild finish. The Bulls were down by 4 and Toni came through yet again that game and hit a 3-pointer with 5 seconds remaining to make it 82-81. Jeff Hornacek was fouled with just one second left and missed the first free throw. He hit the second, so the Bulls were down 83-81 with just one second remaining. The teams traded timeouts. MJ got the inbounds pass and missed his 26-foot 3-point attempt at the buzzer. Maybe the ball should have gone to Kukoc that night, but obviously that wasn't going to happen. My time with that team came to an end but it was one fun ride. Covering that 6th Bulls Championship team is one of the favorite things of my career and watching Toni have maybe the best game of his time as a Bull in the Finals spotlight made game 5 even better for me and a great way to go out, even if it didn't end with my clothes soaked in beer and champagne. (btw, MJ dominated with 45 points in the clinching game 6 in Utah and Kukoc was the second-leading scorer with 15)
Today is the anniversary of Game 5 of the 1998 NBA Finals. I got to cover that entire great final playoff run of the Jordan-era Bulls for 1 on 1 Sports Radio. I was hoping I would get to see my team win that 6th Championship in person and be part of that crazy locker room celebration. Game 4 was tremendous, and as I've said before, I got to even do live national radio updates during that game. No live updates for Game 5 but I was looking forward to champagne on my head when it was over. Karl Malone decided that wasn't going to happen. It was one helluva game and Utah stayed alive with an 83-81 win, denying me my celebration. That would take place after game 6 in Salt Lake City. Malone finished with 39 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. John Stockton fed him the ball and finished with 12 assists. Antoine Carr's 12 points off the bench had him as their only other double digit scorer in that game. On the Bulls side, it was Toni Kukoc who was the story. I've said many times how Toni is one of my all-time favorite Bulls and am thrilled he is now going into the Basketball Hall of Fame. My last game covering the Last Dance, since I didn't travel for Game 6, was the Toni show. Kukoc led the Bulls that night with 30 points! He was magnificent. It just gets sadly forgotten in a losing effort and I am posting here to make sure he gets his due. Jordan finished with 28 that night. Pippen had a rotten shooting effort, hitting just 2 of 16 from the floor, so Toni picked up the slack and did he ever. He hit 4 of 6 three's and hit all 7 of his shots inside the 3-point line, so was 11 of 13 on the night. Even MJ didn't shoot all that well, 9 of 26, so it was Kukoc who really almost got them the Championship in front of the home crowd that night. Scottie finished with only 6 points and no one else did much else and they still almost won thanks to Kukoc. Rodman had a rare rough night as well, since Karl dominated and Dennis only grabbed 3 rebounds in his 24 minutes, fouling Malone 5 times in attempts to slow him down. In fairness to Pippen, he did play tremendous defense that night and did everything else but score, finishing with 11 assists, 11 rebounds and 3 steals. He just could put the ball in the basket that night. It was a wild finish. The Bulls were down by 4 and Toni came through yet again that game and hit a 3-pointer with 5 seconds remaining to make it 82-81. Jeff Hornacek was fouled with just one second left and missed the first free throw. He hit the second, so the Bulls were down 83-81 with just one second remaining. The teams traded timeouts. MJ got the inbounds pass and missed his 26-foot 3-point attempt at the buzzer. Maybe the ball should have gone to Kukoc that night, but obviously that wasn't going to happen. My time with that team came to an end but it was one fun ride. Covering that 6th Bulls Championship team is one of the favorite things of my career and watching Toni have maybe the best game of his time as a Bull in the Finals spotlight made game 5 even better for me and a great way to go out, even if it didn't end with my clothes soaked in beer and champagne. (btw, MJ dominated with 45 points in the clinching game 6 in Utah and Kukoc was the second-leading scorer with 15)
6/6/2021
I plan on re-posting this every year on this day, my longest one on-air in my 14 years in Minor League Baseball. Jason Guerrette, broadcaster of the Miners, and I will always have this marathon in common and we share a league record for innings in a day that will now never be broken.
Today is the anniversary of my longest day on the air in all my time in baseball. Actually it all started on June 5th of 2014 and ended up early in the morning of June 6th! I was downstate in Marion for the doubleheader between the Joliet Slammers and the Southern Illinois Miners. I ended up doing 24 innings-worth of solo play-by-play that day. Yes, that is a personal record and a league record for innings in one day as well! Memorable doesn't even describe it. Game one was a 7-inning no-hitter by the Miners' Rick Teasley. He needed just 82 pitches. Joliet never even so much as threatened to get a hit and we lost 2-0. It was Teasley's third start of the season and his ERA went down to 0.33 for goodness sake! Then on to game two. The Miners scored first and Joliet tied it up on a Russell Moldenhauer single in the 6th. That 1-1 tie stayed what seemed like forever. 11 different times a lead runner got to 2nd base but no one could knock him in to give either team a lead. In the bottom of the 17th inning of the nightcap...and yes my voice was struggling by then...the Miners had the bases loaded on three walks and Tyler Booth looped a single over the pulled-in infield to end one of the longest days in Frontier League history. Game 2 went 5 hours, 13 minutes...well past midnight...and I could finally say goodnight. Our reward for being no-hit and swept in a long, long doubleheader was not even a good night's sleep. It was back on the bus for 6 hours and head out of town. Ahh, the pampered life in the minors, lol. I did an 18-inning game with the JackHammers back in the day, but it was not part of a doubleheader and Bryan Dolgin was there to do it with me at Silver Cross Field. This was 24 innings all by my lonesome. It was exhausting but fun. The only other thing that even comes close in my memory was a Men's Major Fastpitch game I called for Aurora Allsteel in the ISC World Series in Kimberly, Wisconsin in 1989 when the game itself didn't start until after 2am due to long games before it. I signed off as the sun came up! Another was the Aurora U. Spartans in the 1990 D3 World Series where they played 27 innings in about 40 hours, with their win over N.C. Wesleyan ending at 2:30am and then playing again at 10am before advancing to the National Title game. That was another event where Mountain Dew sustained me just like that marathon in southern Illinois! And by the way, the Slammers then played a 14 inning game on June 8, so it was 54 innings in four days for me in 2014. And I still miss it terribly and would do it again in a minute.
I plan on re-posting this every year on this day, my longest one on-air in my 14 years in Minor League Baseball. Jason Guerrette, broadcaster of the Miners, and I will always have this marathon in common and we share a league record for innings in a day that will now never be broken.
Today is the anniversary of my longest day on the air in all my time in baseball. Actually it all started on June 5th of 2014 and ended up early in the morning of June 6th! I was downstate in Marion for the doubleheader between the Joliet Slammers and the Southern Illinois Miners. I ended up doing 24 innings-worth of solo play-by-play that day. Yes, that is a personal record and a league record for innings in one day as well! Memorable doesn't even describe it. Game one was a 7-inning no-hitter by the Miners' Rick Teasley. He needed just 82 pitches. Joliet never even so much as threatened to get a hit and we lost 2-0. It was Teasley's third start of the season and his ERA went down to 0.33 for goodness sake! Then on to game two. The Miners scored first and Joliet tied it up on a Russell Moldenhauer single in the 6th. That 1-1 tie stayed what seemed like forever. 11 different times a lead runner got to 2nd base but no one could knock him in to give either team a lead. In the bottom of the 17th inning of the nightcap...and yes my voice was struggling by then...the Miners had the bases loaded on three walks and Tyler Booth looped a single over the pulled-in infield to end one of the longest days in Frontier League history. Game 2 went 5 hours, 13 minutes...well past midnight...and I could finally say goodnight. Our reward for being no-hit and swept in a long, long doubleheader was not even a good night's sleep. It was back on the bus for 6 hours and head out of town. Ahh, the pampered life in the minors, lol. I did an 18-inning game with the JackHammers back in the day, but it was not part of a doubleheader and Bryan Dolgin was there to do it with me at Silver Cross Field. This was 24 innings all by my lonesome. It was exhausting but fun. The only other thing that even comes close in my memory was a Men's Major Fastpitch game I called for Aurora Allsteel in the ISC World Series in Kimberly, Wisconsin in 1989 when the game itself didn't start until after 2am due to long games before it. I signed off as the sun came up! Another was the Aurora U. Spartans in the 1990 D3 World Series where they played 27 innings in about 40 hours, with their win over N.C. Wesleyan ending at 2:30am and then playing again at 10am before advancing to the National Title game. That was another event where Mountain Dew sustained me just like that marathon in southern Illinois! And by the way, the Slammers then played a 14 inning game on June 8, so it was 54 innings in four days for me in 2014. And I still miss it terribly and would do it again in a minute.
6/4/2021
I haven't posted in a while and unfortunately the topic once again here is Tony LaRussa, but I just can't help but vent some more about him. The sad conclusion I have come to is that he is just not a White Sox fan at all. The Manager of the team could not give a damn about that team in the end. He can't be a fan of the Sox. If he was, he wouldn't have done the things he has done this season. He is a fan of baseball and of how the game should be played, in his opinion, and he is a fan of Tony LaRussa. Period. That is the end of the list. He is not a fan of his team or his players. He can't be. He never takes their side. Ever. And that is the tragedy of this season for a very good team that is winning despite a Manager that throws them under the bus at every opportunity. The latest example is Lucas Giolito. Yoan Moncada took a third strike on a bad call by the ump and Giolito let the umpire know about it from the dugout. Will Little tossed Lucas from the game. Rather than take his player's side after the game, Tony once again said his player had done something he shouldn't have, took the umpire's side, and said "I talked to (crew chief) Greg Gibson … and said he made a mistake. He was just trying to have fun, and I don't blame him for trying to have some fun. But umpires, they're very careful about listening to complaints."
Meanwhile, Lance Lynn did what Giolito's Manager should have done and took Giolito's side after finding out what that side actually was and by then providing more information to us about it. “When an umpire tells you to go look at (the call) and you do, and then he throws you out for telling him he was wrong after he told you to look at it, that's kind of a slap in the face,” Lynn said. “He kind of brought it on himself and threw a guy out. Sometimes that happens in this game."
So either Tony didn't bother to find out what happened to his player and only talked to the ump, or he didn't care about his player's side of events whatever it would have been. Either is unacceptable. This White Sox season should be an unrelentingly good story. The only negative is Tony LaRussa and how he is doing his job, a job he has no business doing in the first place. My previous blog here has to do with Yermin Mercedes and Tony throwing him under the bus rather than take his side. I don't think it is a coincidence that Mercedes has been in a slump ever since. He knows his Manager doesn't give a damn about him, calling him "clueless" among other things. The list of LaRussa misfires this season is now approaching book length. It is absurd. And his lineups and use of his bullpen are mystifying and subpar to say the least. It is a crime what his players are having to put up with this season. The stories that will come out from those guys when this nonsense is finally over will be very plentiful and very interesting indeed. He is not a White Sox fan. His allegiance is to this weird fascination of the game's old school rules, written and otherwise, and he is probably still just a fan of the Cardinals, if truth be told. It is a damn shame and 2021 didn't have to be this way.
I haven't posted in a while and unfortunately the topic once again here is Tony LaRussa, but I just can't help but vent some more about him. The sad conclusion I have come to is that he is just not a White Sox fan at all. The Manager of the team could not give a damn about that team in the end. He can't be a fan of the Sox. If he was, he wouldn't have done the things he has done this season. He is a fan of baseball and of how the game should be played, in his opinion, and he is a fan of Tony LaRussa. Period. That is the end of the list. He is not a fan of his team or his players. He can't be. He never takes their side. Ever. And that is the tragedy of this season for a very good team that is winning despite a Manager that throws them under the bus at every opportunity. The latest example is Lucas Giolito. Yoan Moncada took a third strike on a bad call by the ump and Giolito let the umpire know about it from the dugout. Will Little tossed Lucas from the game. Rather than take his player's side after the game, Tony once again said his player had done something he shouldn't have, took the umpire's side, and said "I talked to (crew chief) Greg Gibson … and said he made a mistake. He was just trying to have fun, and I don't blame him for trying to have some fun. But umpires, they're very careful about listening to complaints."
Meanwhile, Lance Lynn did what Giolito's Manager should have done and took Giolito's side after finding out what that side actually was and by then providing more information to us about it. “When an umpire tells you to go look at (the call) and you do, and then he throws you out for telling him he was wrong after he told you to look at it, that's kind of a slap in the face,” Lynn said. “He kind of brought it on himself and threw a guy out. Sometimes that happens in this game."
So either Tony didn't bother to find out what happened to his player and only talked to the ump, or he didn't care about his player's side of events whatever it would have been. Either is unacceptable. This White Sox season should be an unrelentingly good story. The only negative is Tony LaRussa and how he is doing his job, a job he has no business doing in the first place. My previous blog here has to do with Yermin Mercedes and Tony throwing him under the bus rather than take his side. I don't think it is a coincidence that Mercedes has been in a slump ever since. He knows his Manager doesn't give a damn about him, calling him "clueless" among other things. The list of LaRussa misfires this season is now approaching book length. It is absurd. And his lineups and use of his bullpen are mystifying and subpar to say the least. It is a crime what his players are having to put up with this season. The stories that will come out from those guys when this nonsense is finally over will be very plentiful and very interesting indeed. He is not a White Sox fan. His allegiance is to this weird fascination of the game's old school rules, written and otherwise, and he is probably still just a fan of the Cardinals, if truth be told. It is a damn shame and 2021 didn't have to be this way.
5/20/2021
I've been giving my opinion is fits and spirts on Facebook and Twitter on the whole Tony LaRussa nonsense, so I thought I'd put it all together here.
And of course Tony takes the wrong side. First of all, there is no excuse for using a position player to pitch in 2021. They carry 13 pitchers for goodness sake! Plus, doubleheaders are now just 7 innings so tired arms from the bullpen shouldn't be much of an issue leading up to blowouts. Batters are not going to stop trying to hit in MLB games, so if said player gives up a homer you get what you deserve, so stop bitching and get better, Minnesota. And if Tony was really worried about unwritten rules, then he should have taken even more starters out but you don't teach or expect players to not try once they are inside the lines. That is just ridiculous. TLR continues to do everything possible to sour this Sox season and prove me right for thinking he was a terrible hire.
p.s. And you are not showing much respect for the game if you put in someone to pitch who CAN'T pitch in the first place!
Again, the Twins disrespected the game by putting that clown on the mound to pitch and lob in soft tosses in the first place. After that all bets are off. They had pitchers to use, they just chose not to. That is not on the Sox.
The next day---
Tony La Russa: "I would be willing to bet there's not anybody in that clubhouse that was upset that I mentioned that's not the way we compete. ... I walked around the clubhouse last night, the day before after the game, and nobody was giving me a Heisman."
Wow. Just wow. I believe he knows the meaning of 'clueless' since he just ridiculously called his best hitter that word for no good reason but it really only applies to Tony himself. Sheesh.
I still haven't figured out how the Sox ever take the field for LaRussa ever again. He apologized for his player trying his best at the plate against a guy who had no business even being on the mound and had no problem with the Twins then throwing at that player on purpose.
5/16/2021
Congrats to Toni Kukoc and it's well past due. He's one of my all-time favorite Bulls and was a joy to deal with and interview. He also happened to be an underrated player while in the NBA (considering he shared the floor with Michael and Scottie here) after one of the best-ever stints as an elite player in Europe.
He was the ultimate team guy here in Chicago. In Europe, he had the ball in his hands and was the guy who made things go on offense, and was a superstar and 5x European Player of the Year. Here, he didn't even really have a open position but they needed him on the floor so he often played an unorthodox 4, where he could hit the three or drive to the basket, finish or dish. Toni could just have easily played the other four spots on the floor. He wasn't selfish when he did have the ball in his hands and didn't immediately shoot it like many would have done. That's why he won a 6th Man of the Year Award for a Bulls Championship team in 1996. With everyone vying for position by Jordan or Pippen's lockers, I would always start off with Kukoc and Kerr, two great guys who were great to talk to. I would then join the crush for the big 2. Toni was a joy to watch. He belongs.
Congrats to Toni Kukoc and it's well past due. He's one of my all-time favorite Bulls and was a joy to deal with and interview. He also happened to be an underrated player while in the NBA (considering he shared the floor with Michael and Scottie here) after one of the best-ever stints as an elite player in Europe.
He was the ultimate team guy here in Chicago. In Europe, he had the ball in his hands and was the guy who made things go on offense, and was a superstar and 5x European Player of the Year. Here, he didn't even really have a open position but they needed him on the floor so he often played an unorthodox 4, where he could hit the three or drive to the basket, finish or dish. Toni could just have easily played the other four spots on the floor. He wasn't selfish when he did have the ball in his hands and didn't immediately shoot it like many would have done. That's why he won a 6th Man of the Year Award for a Bulls Championship team in 1996. With everyone vying for position by Jordan or Pippen's lockers, I would always start off with Kukoc and Kerr, two great guys who were great to talk to. I would then join the crush for the big 2. Toni was a joy to watch. He belongs.
5/16/2021
This the then tenth anniversary of my Championship Summer with the Joliet Slammers and there will be plenty of reminders on my Facebook Memories page all summer long. I will try to keep the re-posts there and here to a minimum but that was about as perfect a baseball season as can be for me and I miss that radio booth in Joliet very badly. I miss absolutely everything about Minor League ball, from the long hours for little pay to the bus rides to the cheap motels to the Waffle Houses to the ballpark hotdogs and more. The people and the baseball made it all worth it and that was a special bunch in 2011 and some great baseball indeed. That it all ended with a ring was a bonus. I spent 14 years in the Minors and was lucky to get that, but 20 would have been a nicer, rounder number! If anyone needs me, they know where to find me, lol.
This the then tenth anniversary of my Championship Summer with the Joliet Slammers and there will be plenty of reminders on my Facebook Memories page all summer long. I will try to keep the re-posts there and here to a minimum but that was about as perfect a baseball season as can be for me and I miss that radio booth in Joliet very badly. I miss absolutely everything about Minor League ball, from the long hours for little pay to the bus rides to the cheap motels to the Waffle Houses to the ballpark hotdogs and more. The people and the baseball made it all worth it and that was a special bunch in 2011 and some great baseball indeed. That it all ended with a ring was a bonus. I spent 14 years in the Minors and was lucky to get that, but 20 would have been a nicer, rounder number! If anyone needs me, they know where to find me, lol.
5/10/2021
As you can imagine, two of my fondest birthday memories have to do with concerts. I've probably told these stories before but such is life. Back in 2005, U2 came to the UC on May 10, which also happens to be Bono's birthday as well. It was a tremendous show and after Mysterious Ways, the sold out show broke into a spontaneous singing of Happy Birthday for Bono and well, me, lol. It was very cool to have 20 thousand people singing Happy Birthday on my birthday, even if it wasn't really for me. It felt like it anyway. And seven years ago, Sammy Llanas played at the tiny Red Line Tap in Rogers Park. He and the guys put on their usual great show and it almost seemed like it was just for us, taking place in our living room or something. It was a tremendous way to end a birthday. Again, it is a reminder of how much I miss seeing live music in this age of the pandemic. No concert to go see tonight, but hopefully soon. Raise your bottles and raise your glasses, my friends, to that possibility.
As you can imagine, two of my fondest birthday memories have to do with concerts. I've probably told these stories before but such is life. Back in 2005, U2 came to the UC on May 10, which also happens to be Bono's birthday as well. It was a tremendous show and after Mysterious Ways, the sold out show broke into a spontaneous singing of Happy Birthday for Bono and well, me, lol. It was very cool to have 20 thousand people singing Happy Birthday on my birthday, even if it wasn't really for me. It felt like it anyway. And seven years ago, Sammy Llanas played at the tiny Red Line Tap in Rogers Park. He and the guys put on their usual great show and it almost seemed like it was just for us, taking place in our living room or something. It was a tremendous way to end a birthday. Again, it is a reminder of how much I miss seeing live music in this age of the pandemic. No concert to go see tonight, but hopefully soon. Raise your bottles and raise your glasses, my friends, to that possibility.
5/3/2021
My friend Bob Burnell's recent birthday brought back memories of all the IHSA State basketball tournaments he and I broadcast together and I thought I would write about them here. We, along with many others over the years, saw more than a decade's worth of boys and girls basketball downstate in Champaign-Urbana and ISU mainly for WKKD radio in Aurora. We would go down every year for all four weekends of action, regardless of whether or not a local team was involved. We loved it and I still miss it to this day. Bob and I would share a room at the Lincoln Lodge Motel every year and an annual tradition was born.
My first trip downstate, as memory serves, actually capped the 1984-1985 season and I was there broadcasting for WMRO in Aurora. The most memorable thing of that first trip to Champaign was the Boys Class-A Tourney since the Hoopeston-East Lynn Cornjerkers with Thad Matta were the big story. Matta scored 34 pts in the 3rd place game to give them that trophy while Providence St-Mel with Lowell Hamilton took the Title easily defeating Chrisman 95-63 that same day. The AA Championship went to Melvin McCants and Chicago Mt. Carmel over Springfield Lanphier and Ed Horton in double overtime. East Aurora had lost by two points to Boylan in the SuperSectional despite Jay Taylor's 25 pts. East Aurora's girls made it downstate but fell in the AA quarterfinals 58-57 to Regina Dominican. Matta, of course, went on the become head basketball coach at Butler, Xavier and Ohio State.
In the 1986 Tourney the Teutopolis Lady Shoes, another one of my all-time favorite team names, easily won the Class-A Girls Title. It was a two-class event for all these seasons for me. T-Town won the rare double that year, as their Boys Class-A team won the Championship as well! The Boys AA Championship was certainly a memorable one. Chicago King with sophomore Marcus Liberty outlasted Rich Central and Junior Kendall Gill 47-40.
Dave Power's Immaculate Heart of Mary team won the Girls AA Title in 1987. That same years AA Boys Title tilt was another fun one as Liberty and his King teammates fell to East St Louis Lincoln and LaPhonso Ellis 79-62. Liberty scored a remarkable 143 pts downstate, easily outdistancing Cliff Scales of St. Joe's who had 90 in that Tourney. It was another heartbreaking loss for East Aurora in that year's SuperSectional as they lost to Elgin in overtime. Troy Smith led the Tomcats with 19 pts and a very young Thomas Wyatt had 6 pts.
Lincoln won the Championship in 1988 behind Ellis and Cuonzo Martin. That weekend also featured the likes of David Booth of Manuel, Eric Anderson of De Sales and Thomas Wyatt of East Aurora as the Tomcats finally got downstate with an overtime win over Fremd but fell in the quarterfinals to Manuel, who beat Rock Island for 3rd Place. Durrell Williams had 30 pts and Wyatt had 23 in the Super, and Wyatt led the way with 22 in the two point loss in the quarters. The 1988 Girls AA was one for the ages. 3rd ranked in the nation and undefeated Marshall had to take on undefeated and 2nd ranked nationally Maine West in the semifinals. West won the game on a buzzer-beater from sophomore Moira Kennelly. She and her six other future D1 players would take the Title over York. The Naperville North girls made it downstate that year and finished fourth after falling to York in overtime in the semis. They topped Lourdes by one in the quarterfinals 40-39 led by Lynda Kukla's 12 pts. Jenny Sovacool had 16 in the OT loss to the Dukes. Jenny would go on to be an soccer All-American and member of the US National Soccer Team.
The 1989 Girls Tourney was just as exciting as the AA 3rd place game went to triple overtime as IHM beat Moline by 3pts. Marshall edged New Trier in a single overtime to take the Title. The craziness continued for the Boys weekend as Lincoln outlasted Peoria in triple overtime for the AA Championship 59-57. East Aurora had an easier time that year in beating Fremd in the SuperSectional behind Wyatt's 32 pts. East lost by just two to Lincoln in the quarterfinals despite 31 more from Wyatt. Martin had 21 for Lincoln and finished with 80 pts in the Tourney that was led by the 100 pts of King's Jamie Brandon. King has to settle for 3rd place that year.
The 1990 Girls A Title went to the Lady Shoes for the 3rd straight year, as they destroyed Nashville by more than 30pts. The AA Championship game saw our West Aurora team fall to Marshall 64-49 despite 23 pts from Melinda Spearman as West High ended their year 30-3. The Class A Boys Title went to Paul Lusk and Trenton Weslin 83-78 in double overtime against Fairbury Prairie Central. Aurora Christian's Marc Davidson led the weekend in scoring at 108 pts as they finished 4th. The AA Title saw King top Gordon Tech by 10. King's Jamie Brandon finished with 106 pts this time but the leading scorer of the Tourney was Tech's Tom Kleinschmidt with 125 pts in his four games. The 3rd Aurora team downstate that year was West Aurora. Behind Billy Taylor they edged Conant in the SuperSectional but their reward was to face King in the quarterfinals. 66-58 was the score as Mario Clark's 21 and Taylor's 18 pts weren't enough. Our Aurora teams were always matched up with the City Champ downstate it seemed. Not much fun and not much chance to advance.
Mother McAuley won the AA Girls Championship in 1991 behind 24 pts from Megan Lucid in the title game vs ESL Lincoln. Proviso East won the AA Boys Title over Manuel behind Sherrell Ford and Michael Finley. Fans of the great documentary Hoop Dreams will note that Arthur Agee scored 45 pts in that tourney for Marshall as they took 3rd place. Also that year, our Waubonsie Valley Warriors made it to the Sweet 16 but lost to Hillcrest 82-71, despite 30 pts from Lance Broderson. The Class A Title went to Pittsfield. Aurora Central lost a heartbreaker in the Class-A SuperSectional that year to Seneca 54-52. Three Chargers finished in double digits but Mark Aubry's 25 pts were too much. His 105 pts led the Class A Tourney despite Seneca's loss in the Championship game.
The 1992 Girls AA Final was another thriller. Marshall won on a buzzer-beater by Yolanda Miller to edge previously unbeaten Limestone 48-46. East Aurora had another great team that year but lost in the Boys AA quarterfinals to Westinghouse and Kiwane Garris. East had defeated Fremd in the Supers yet again. Westinghouse would finish 3rd as Kenny Davis and Proviso East beat Richwooods for the Championship.
The 1993 A Boys Champ was Staunton but the story was Tyrone Nesby of Cairo who scored 104 pts in the four games to help them to 3rd place. Rashard Griffith and Thomas Hamilton paced King to the AA Title over Rockford Guilford. Fremd topped Naperville Central in the Supers that year to earn a trip downstate but they had to get by Anthony Parker and his 28 pts to do so. The Vikings would settle for 4th place. The AA Girls Champ was Marshall with a win over Maine West. Naperville Central's girls also made the Sweet 16 but lost to Buffalo Grove 91-73.
Pinkneyville won the 1994 Boys A Title but St. Martin de Porres taking 3rd place made news thanks to the play of Jerry Gee and Tyron Triplett. The AA Boys Champ was Manuel but it was by just one point against Carbondale who had Troy Hudson and Rashad Tucker. Hudson had 109 pts in that Tourney. Naperville North defeated Naperville Central in triple overtime to make the Sweet 16 where they fell to Conant 69-56. Sean Jones led the Huskies with 17 pts in the loss that also featured future Major Leaguer Jerry Hairston at point guard for North. Glenbrook South dethroned Marshall for the AA Girls crown.
Aurora Christian made it to the Boys A Title game in 1995 but fell 56-54 to Normal U. High. Joe Mann led the way all year for AC. In AA Manuel topped Thorton and Tai Streets 65-53. A certain Kevin Garnett took Farragut downstate but Thornton knocked them off in the quarterfinals. T-town again won the Girls A Title and Stevenson rolled to the AA Championship behind the Catchings sisters. It was Naperville North's turn to lose to Buffalo Grove in the Supers that year.
My final year downstate in 1996 saw Tauja Catchings and Stevenson win in AA for the girls again. Tamika was already starring at Tennesse by then. The AA Boys Final was Manuel over Thornton. Sergio McClain got the better of Melvin Ely in that Title game, although Ely, just a sophomore, led the Tourney in scoring that year. Naperville North lost to Elgin in the SuperSectionals as they continued to fall just short of the Elite 8.
Those are just a few of the things that stick out to me from that special time. WKKD and WJOL, who I would later work for as well, went down every year for all weekends and therefore we both had the best seats on the radio side of the floor. We were basically on either side of center court every year. It was so much fun to see all that basketball talent up close and personal. Between sessions I would go up on the concourse and grab some chocolate chip cookies and Mountain Dew to keep me going for four broadcasts a day, each day, each weekend. Oh to be young again, lol. We would then treat ourselves to one dinner each weekend at the Ribeye Restaurant for you guessed it, Ribeye steaks. Otherwise it was hot dogs and pop. We didn't exactly have big expense accounts! We got to see the usual suspects of other great broadcasters from all around the state each year too. It was a great brotherhood. My streak of 12 straight years downstate ended when WKKD changed their format to Spanish and I got my first radio job in Chicago. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to do all that State Championship Tournament basketball and I miss those days very much.
4/30/2021
So the Bears actually have a franchise quarterback. Wild. This time they traded up to get the correct guy. Last time, not so much, and I thought as much at the time. I was not happy back then, but am very happy now. Right out of the box, Fields has a higher football IQ and frankly a higher IQ in general than Trubisky, which is huge. Fields had a 29 on his ACT. He is also a tremendous athlete as well as quarterback. If this fails it will not likely be on the Bears, it will be on the player. The Bears could, of course, screw him up, but that does not seem likely with the talent Fields has. I harp on accuracy all the time when it comes to quarterbacks. Yes, he has the arm strength but Fields also more importantly has the accuracy and downfield accuracy at that. Foot speed and scrambling is there too. So is balance. His baseball past doesn't hurt either. He was a leadoff hitting college shortstop. Turning double plays from all angles and making long throws from deep in the hole are great experience for all his football throws. So is driving the ball from home plate. His exit velocity as a hitter was special. That takes quick hands and leg drive, all transferable to the football field. Fields gives me reason to hope, a rare thing for a Bears fan. Fields will not start on day one. That is fine. It is still a weird year in Covid time. Dalton can start opening day. He can even still start for a while until Fields is up to speed with enough practice time etc. If the Bears ar 2-5, then it is time for Fields. I think he will be the quarterback for years to come. I can wait a few games for the future to begin. I am just glad that future seems bright for once. Please and thank you.
So the Bears actually have a franchise quarterback. Wild. This time they traded up to get the correct guy. Last time, not so much, and I thought as much at the time. I was not happy back then, but am very happy now. Right out of the box, Fields has a higher football IQ and frankly a higher IQ in general than Trubisky, which is huge. Fields had a 29 on his ACT. He is also a tremendous athlete as well as quarterback. If this fails it will not likely be on the Bears, it will be on the player. The Bears could, of course, screw him up, but that does not seem likely with the talent Fields has. I harp on accuracy all the time when it comes to quarterbacks. Yes, he has the arm strength but Fields also more importantly has the accuracy and downfield accuracy at that. Foot speed and scrambling is there too. So is balance. His baseball past doesn't hurt either. He was a leadoff hitting college shortstop. Turning double plays from all angles and making long throws from deep in the hole are great experience for all his football throws. So is driving the ball from home plate. His exit velocity as a hitter was special. That takes quick hands and leg drive, all transferable to the football field. Fields gives me reason to hope, a rare thing for a Bears fan. Fields will not start on day one. That is fine. It is still a weird year in Covid time. Dalton can start opening day. He can even still start for a while until Fields is up to speed with enough practice time etc. If the Bears ar 2-5, then it is time for Fields. I think he will be the quarterback for years to come. I can wait a few games for the future to begin. I am just glad that future seems bright for once. Please and thank you.
4/28/2021
So Sam is on her way to coach at Division-1 SIU-E. Thank you, coach, for everything. In my 18 years broadcasting Lewis U. Women's basketball, I've had the incredible privilege to work with Brian Michalak, Lynn Plett, Lisa Carlsen, Kristen Gillespie and Sam Quigley Smith. Gee, no pressure on your successor at all Sam, lol.
So Sam is on her way to coach at Division-1 SIU-E. Thank you, coach, for everything. In my 18 years broadcasting Lewis U. Women's basketball, I've had the incredible privilege to work with Brian Michalak, Lynn Plett, Lisa Carlsen, Kristen Gillespie and Sam Quigley Smith. Gee, no pressure on your successor at all Sam, lol.
4/27/2021
I posted this on Facebook four years ago and it is fun reading it again this morning, since I have now gone more than a year without seeing a concert for the first time in my life. It makes me miss shows even more, though. And since then, I've seen Dave Hause play multiple times in tiny bars and seeing Sam Llanas at the tiny Red Line Tap should qualify for this list too. Loud. Loud. And thinking back now, there are a few other shows I can't believe I didn't mention. The Slayer show at the Aragon on Jan. 31 of 1991 tops that list. My buddy Dave Ross got us great tickets and then we drank with them backstage afterwards. Crazy loud and fun. Also he got me into a Danzig show at the Vic in November of '92. Another loud, fun night that definitely qualifies for the list. I've now had both my shots and am good to go, but it will still feel weird going back to a bar to see a band with people so close around me. But live music is one of the joys of my life so damnit I'll just wear a mask after a drink or two to relax me and my hearing will continue to be damned, lol. Enjoy.
So rather than play that concert game, after reminiscing with my buddy Mick Kahler, I thought I would list the top 10 concerts that have contributed to my major hearing loss...lol
1) Summer Jam featuring AC/DC, Foreigner and Aerosmith at Comiskey Park 1978. I was a 17 year old knucklehead who stood 20 feet in front of a huge column of speakers blasting music all day to the back of the ballpark. My ears rang for three days but I couldn't have had more fun. My first experience of AC/DC. It was unforgettable.
2) The Who 1989 at Alpine Valley. Mick got me 2nd row tickets, the best tix for any show of my life. I was ten feet from Pete Townshend and 5 feet from a huge column of speakers blasting music all the way to the back of the lawn. My ears literally hurt during that amazing show and I spent the last hour with my fingers in my ears, happily.
3) The Ramones 1986 at the Metro Smart Bar. Mick and I were about 25 feet from their blitzkrieg as we bopped in 100 degree temps. You can't even imagine how loud it was in that tiny bar. I still can't believe they played there. The ticket lists the Metro. Apparently they did not sell enough tickets somehow and were moved downstairs to the Smart Bar, naturally using the same huge PA. It was bone shaking.
4) Cheap Trick at North Central College gym 1978. Tenth row of folding chairs in the fieldhouse. Crazy. Two guys next to me partied too hard pre-show and somehow slept/passed out through the entire onslaught. lol.
5) Cheap Trick, AC/DC, Molly Hatchett, the Babys, Steve Dahl and Teenage Radiation at Winnebago County Fairgrounds-Pecatonica July 4, 1979. Thirty yards back of right column of speakers and it didn't matter much. Still crazy loud for hours and hours.
6) The Clash 1982 Aragon Ballroom. Another sweat box night of blaring punk wonderment from the middle of floor level. We rang our clothes out back at the car. That cavernous place rumbled.
7) John Eddie in 2004 at Joe's Bar. John used to play the tiny front room at Joe's and it was great. The gathering of his faithful packed in for a Loud night of two long sets. This night I stood right in front of the speaker by bassist Kenny Aaronson and got his rumble going right through me.
8) The Blasters in 1984 at Metro Smart Bar and yes, they blasted away their great roots rock n roll in that small room.
9) Off Broadway 1980 SIU Student Center Ballroom. They put pillows on the floor for some reason instead of chairs. Those became projectiles soon enough. A concert and pillow fight all in one. The full moon turned my head around in that small side-ballroom.
10) REM 1982 SIU Student Center cafeteria. They strapped some lunch tables together as a stage for the band that didn't even have their first album out yet, just the Chronic Town EP. About 50 people in attendance in the corner of the cafeteria. Will never forget it.
My hearing is permanently damaged thanks to those and many other nights and I do not regret a minute of it!
I posted this on Facebook four years ago and it is fun reading it again this morning, since I have now gone more than a year without seeing a concert for the first time in my life. It makes me miss shows even more, though. And since then, I've seen Dave Hause play multiple times in tiny bars and seeing Sam Llanas at the tiny Red Line Tap should qualify for this list too. Loud. Loud. And thinking back now, there are a few other shows I can't believe I didn't mention. The Slayer show at the Aragon on Jan. 31 of 1991 tops that list. My buddy Dave Ross got us great tickets and then we drank with them backstage afterwards. Crazy loud and fun. Also he got me into a Danzig show at the Vic in November of '92. Another loud, fun night that definitely qualifies for the list. I've now had both my shots and am good to go, but it will still feel weird going back to a bar to see a band with people so close around me. But live music is one of the joys of my life so damnit I'll just wear a mask after a drink or two to relax me and my hearing will continue to be damned, lol. Enjoy.
So rather than play that concert game, after reminiscing with my buddy Mick Kahler, I thought I would list the top 10 concerts that have contributed to my major hearing loss...lol
1) Summer Jam featuring AC/DC, Foreigner and Aerosmith at Comiskey Park 1978. I was a 17 year old knucklehead who stood 20 feet in front of a huge column of speakers blasting music all day to the back of the ballpark. My ears rang for three days but I couldn't have had more fun. My first experience of AC/DC. It was unforgettable.
2) The Who 1989 at Alpine Valley. Mick got me 2nd row tickets, the best tix for any show of my life. I was ten feet from Pete Townshend and 5 feet from a huge column of speakers blasting music all the way to the back of the lawn. My ears literally hurt during that amazing show and I spent the last hour with my fingers in my ears, happily.
3) The Ramones 1986 at the Metro Smart Bar. Mick and I were about 25 feet from their blitzkrieg as we bopped in 100 degree temps. You can't even imagine how loud it was in that tiny bar. I still can't believe they played there. The ticket lists the Metro. Apparently they did not sell enough tickets somehow and were moved downstairs to the Smart Bar, naturally using the same huge PA. It was bone shaking.
4) Cheap Trick at North Central College gym 1978. Tenth row of folding chairs in the fieldhouse. Crazy. Two guys next to me partied too hard pre-show and somehow slept/passed out through the entire onslaught. lol.
5) Cheap Trick, AC/DC, Molly Hatchett, the Babys, Steve Dahl and Teenage Radiation at Winnebago County Fairgrounds-Pecatonica July 4, 1979. Thirty yards back of right column of speakers and it didn't matter much. Still crazy loud for hours and hours.
6) The Clash 1982 Aragon Ballroom. Another sweat box night of blaring punk wonderment from the middle of floor level. We rang our clothes out back at the car. That cavernous place rumbled.
7) John Eddie in 2004 at Joe's Bar. John used to play the tiny front room at Joe's and it was great. The gathering of his faithful packed in for a Loud night of two long sets. This night I stood right in front of the speaker by bassist Kenny Aaronson and got his rumble going right through me.
8) The Blasters in 1984 at Metro Smart Bar and yes, they blasted away their great roots rock n roll in that small room.
9) Off Broadway 1980 SIU Student Center Ballroom. They put pillows on the floor for some reason instead of chairs. Those became projectiles soon enough. A concert and pillow fight all in one. The full moon turned my head around in that small side-ballroom.
10) REM 1982 SIU Student Center cafeteria. They strapped some lunch tables together as a stage for the band that didn't even have their first album out yet, just the Chronic Town EP. About 50 people in attendance in the corner of the cafeteria. Will never forget it.
My hearing is permanently damaged thanks to those and many other nights and I do not regret a minute of it!
4/23/2021
Definitely sad news about Steve McMichael and his battle with ALS. He was always great to interview, since he always spoke his mind and was smart and funny each time. I've talked a little about covering the Bears back in the mid '80's and he was a big reason that experience was so much fun. Besides my time spent with Walter Payton, I have also mentioned in the past my getting to cover the 1984 Bears Training Camp in Platteville for WMRO, in particular. The wild thing to realize was that those guys were basically my age, right out of college. So in a way they were my peers even if they seemed larger than life at the time. Mongo certainly was one of those guys to me. Again, I got to sit with Ditka in his golf cart and interview him, talk to Walter and watch him sneak up behind guys to pinch them on the rear, lol, and I have also talked about my conversation with Bob Avellini and how condescending he was towards me and my then joy at his getting cut from the team a short time later! I don't think I have ever told the story of playing pool with Mongo that weekend, though. It was a different time back then. No one reported daily on the Bears in Training Camp in those days. The Bears designated a Media Weekend and even then there were only three radio reporters that showed up for that, so we had the run of the place and could talk to whoever we wanted. We stayed in the dorms for two nights and went home on Sunday. Each night after dinner the players would go to a certain bar downtown for a beer or three. I don't remember the name of it anymore. We reporters went along for the ride. Why not? I had a good interview with Steve earlier in the day and he saw me leaning against the bar and said for me to come play pool with him. He didn't ask, lol, and I didn't protest. He also didn't have any problem with me as I wasn't much competition but the best part was our conversation anyway. I don't remember much about it anymore other than he was a really good guy and not always like his wild character at all. We talked about anything and everything. He was definitely a guy to talk to in the locker room after a game too. I also have always thought that he has never gotten enough credit on that team of stars. You couldn't double team Dan Hampton because if you did, Mongo would kill you. Singletary was open to make all those tackles because Hampton and McMichael took care of all those lineman up the middle. So here's to Steve. I wish him nothing but the best. Thanks for the memories on and off the field, Mongo.
Definitely sad news about Steve McMichael and his battle with ALS. He was always great to interview, since he always spoke his mind and was smart and funny each time. I've talked a little about covering the Bears back in the mid '80's and he was a big reason that experience was so much fun. Besides my time spent with Walter Payton, I have also mentioned in the past my getting to cover the 1984 Bears Training Camp in Platteville for WMRO, in particular. The wild thing to realize was that those guys were basically my age, right out of college. So in a way they were my peers even if they seemed larger than life at the time. Mongo certainly was one of those guys to me. Again, I got to sit with Ditka in his golf cart and interview him, talk to Walter and watch him sneak up behind guys to pinch them on the rear, lol, and I have also talked about my conversation with Bob Avellini and how condescending he was towards me and my then joy at his getting cut from the team a short time later! I don't think I have ever told the story of playing pool with Mongo that weekend, though. It was a different time back then. No one reported daily on the Bears in Training Camp in those days. The Bears designated a Media Weekend and even then there were only three radio reporters that showed up for that, so we had the run of the place and could talk to whoever we wanted. We stayed in the dorms for two nights and went home on Sunday. Each night after dinner the players would go to a certain bar downtown for a beer or three. I don't remember the name of it anymore. We reporters went along for the ride. Why not? I had a good interview with Steve earlier in the day and he saw me leaning against the bar and said for me to come play pool with him. He didn't ask, lol, and I didn't protest. He also didn't have any problem with me as I wasn't much competition but the best part was our conversation anyway. I don't remember much about it anymore other than he was a really good guy and not always like his wild character at all. We talked about anything and everything. He was definitely a guy to talk to in the locker room after a game too. I also have always thought that he has never gotten enough credit on that team of stars. You couldn't double team Dan Hampton because if you did, Mongo would kill you. Singletary was open to make all those tackles because Hampton and McMichael took care of all those lineman up the middle. So here's to Steve. I wish him nothing but the best. Thanks for the memories on and off the field, Mongo.
4/20/2021
Today is the 6th anniversary of the passing of Doug Buffone. A nicer guy you will not find. I was lucky to get to work with him, especially after watching him play in person and on TV as a kid. Here is what I said on first hearing of his death six years ago. He is still missed and I was right. Bears seasons have not been the same without him.
Today is the 6th anniversary of the passing of Doug Buffone. A nicer guy you will not find. I was lucky to get to work with him, especially after watching him play in person and on TV as a kid. Here is what I said on first hearing of his death six years ago. He is still missed and I was right. Bears seasons have not been the same without him.
4/12/2021
I already miss basketball, so I have posted one men's and one women's Lewis game from this season to my YouTube page. It was a weird season indeed thanks to Covid, but fun regardless. The stands were empty and I was broadcasting from up on the balcony for every game, away from everyone, so I could broadcast without a mask. The men started the year with 9 new players and added a 10th at the semester break. Despite all that, they went on to win the GLVC Tournament Championship and advance to the D2 NCAA Tourney. Coach Scott Trost did the best job of his long Hall of Fame career, as far as I'm concerned, getting all those new faces to gel and play together as a team, taking the league title. I always enjoy doing the simulcast on WJOL and the GLVC video website. Already looking forward to doing it again, even if it won't be until November or so.
The women were a very young team and ended with their three leading scorers all being freshman. They still finished with the 3rd most wins in the league. Those freshman all get a free year of eligibility thanks to Covid, if they want it. So the prospect of all those young players still having four more years here is pretty exciting. Again, it was a strange season to be sure, as I broadcast from atop the balcony to distance myself and the atmosphere was a bit different without fans in the stands. It was a fun year though, as both teams were great to watch, as usual. Jenna Badali was named Freshman of the Year and coach Sam Quigley Smith was named Coach of the Year thanks to leading that young team to so much success. Looking forward to my 19th year behind the mic for the Flyers later this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahIZ_QiAYY0 men's game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DnifNT1gvQ women's game
I already miss basketball, so I have posted one men's and one women's Lewis game from this season to my YouTube page. It was a weird season indeed thanks to Covid, but fun regardless. The stands were empty and I was broadcasting from up on the balcony for every game, away from everyone, so I could broadcast without a mask. The men started the year with 9 new players and added a 10th at the semester break. Despite all that, they went on to win the GLVC Tournament Championship and advance to the D2 NCAA Tourney. Coach Scott Trost did the best job of his long Hall of Fame career, as far as I'm concerned, getting all those new faces to gel and play together as a team, taking the league title. I always enjoy doing the simulcast on WJOL and the GLVC video website. Already looking forward to doing it again, even if it won't be until November or so.
The women were a very young team and ended with their three leading scorers all being freshman. They still finished with the 3rd most wins in the league. Those freshman all get a free year of eligibility thanks to Covid, if they want it. So the prospect of all those young players still having four more years here is pretty exciting. Again, it was a strange season to be sure, as I broadcast from atop the balcony to distance myself and the atmosphere was a bit different without fans in the stands. It was a fun year though, as both teams were great to watch, as usual. Jenna Badali was named Freshman of the Year and coach Sam Quigley Smith was named Coach of the Year thanks to leading that young team to so much success. Looking forward to my 19th year behind the mic for the Flyers later this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahIZ_QiAYY0 men's game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DnifNT1gvQ women's game
4/9/2021
Both sides of town are already seeing the benefits of having quality pitching coaches. They are important and it makes a difference. I have complained about Don Cooper in the past many times and am very happy Ethan Katz now has the job. He is already showing his worth, with Carlos Rodon in particular. Katz went right to work in Spring Training and Rodon is now a four-pitch pitcher instead of just relying on the fastball and slider, as good as they both are. Hitters were just sitting on the slider, knowing it was coming soon. Now they cannot. Katz now has Rodon showing curveball and changeup to hitters as well. It has made all the difference in the world. A reliever can just use two good pitches. A starter needs more. We all know how good Rodon can be. He finally can see that potential become a reality because he has a pitching coach who can communicate good ideas and instruct how best to use them. It is vital. Rodon will be huge for the Sox this year, as we can already tell, and Katz is a huge reason why. Tommy Hottovy has done the same already for Jake Arrieta. Yesterday was the perfect example. Arrieta's ERA was over five last year for the Phillies. He is no longer a fireballer. He is a 'pitcher' now that he has lost some velocity. So things like pitch selection and release point are even more important. His release point can vary now that he is trying to pinpoint different off-speed stuff. He struggled at times yesterday without his best stuff but a conversation with Hottovy turned the entire game around. Hottovy noticed the release point slipping and they talked about it several times. Jake managed to correct it in-game and the bleeding stopped. Arrieta managed to go 6 innings and earned the win because of it. His ERA is currently 2.25 and is 2-0. That conversation saved the game for the Cubs. Hottovy has obviously helped Jake in other ways already as well. These coaches matter. They are not there just to be the Manager's traveling buddy. They should not be granted tenure. Times and teams change. We have two good ones in town now and that will be a key factor is 2021 success. Please and thank you.
Both sides of town are already seeing the benefits of having quality pitching coaches. They are important and it makes a difference. I have complained about Don Cooper in the past many times and am very happy Ethan Katz now has the job. He is already showing his worth, with Carlos Rodon in particular. Katz went right to work in Spring Training and Rodon is now a four-pitch pitcher instead of just relying on the fastball and slider, as good as they both are. Hitters were just sitting on the slider, knowing it was coming soon. Now they cannot. Katz now has Rodon showing curveball and changeup to hitters as well. It has made all the difference in the world. A reliever can just use two good pitches. A starter needs more. We all know how good Rodon can be. He finally can see that potential become a reality because he has a pitching coach who can communicate good ideas and instruct how best to use them. It is vital. Rodon will be huge for the Sox this year, as we can already tell, and Katz is a huge reason why. Tommy Hottovy has done the same already for Jake Arrieta. Yesterday was the perfect example. Arrieta's ERA was over five last year for the Phillies. He is no longer a fireballer. He is a 'pitcher' now that he has lost some velocity. So things like pitch selection and release point are even more important. His release point can vary now that he is trying to pinpoint different off-speed stuff. He struggled at times yesterday without his best stuff but a conversation with Hottovy turned the entire game around. Hottovy noticed the release point slipping and they talked about it several times. Jake managed to correct it in-game and the bleeding stopped. Arrieta managed to go 6 innings and earned the win because of it. His ERA is currently 2.25 and is 2-0. That conversation saved the game for the Cubs. Hottovy has obviously helped Jake in other ways already as well. These coaches matter. They are not there just to be the Manager's traveling buddy. They should not be granted tenure. Times and teams change. We have two good ones in town now and that will be a key factor is 2021 success. Please and thank you.
4/7/2021
The Cubs are currently hitting .119 as a team. Nick Castellanos is currently hitting .435 with four home runs for the Reds. I will never not be mad about the Cubs letting him go. It was infuriating at the time, as they did not hit without him last year and they are not hitting without him this year either. No surprise. All he did was bat .321 in Chicago in 2019, hitting 21 doubles in his 51 games here. No reason to keep him around or anything. Infuriating. The Reds say they consider him their emotional leader. Gee, the Cubs don't need anything like that at all, do they? Clown show.
The Cubs are currently hitting .119 as a team. Nick Castellanos is currently hitting .435 with four home runs for the Reds. I will never not be mad about the Cubs letting him go. It was infuriating at the time, as they did not hit without him last year and they are not hitting without him this year either. No surprise. All he did was bat .321 in Chicago in 2019, hitting 21 doubles in his 51 games here. No reason to keep him around or anything. Infuriating. The Reds say they consider him their emotional leader. Gee, the Cubs don't need anything like that at all, do they? Clown show.
4/1/2021
This week is the 35th anniversary of my first Opening Day as a reporter. I went to Comiskey in 1986 to cover the Sox for WKKD in Aurora that day. And with the Cubs home opener being today, here are a couple passes from my first year as baseball beat reporter for the Cubs and Sox at WBBM in 1997. I wish I was in a ballpark press box now, even with Wrigley having a wind chill in the 20's! |
3/31/2021
I'm really missing radio today and Facebook reminded me of this post from a couple years ago where I looked back at pictures of my newsroom at the Illinois Radio Network, the view out the window from my downtown studio at the US Traffic Network and the view of the front of the Sporting News Radio building on Techny Road in Northbrook. I miss those places, those people and doing the work I love. Now that the Lewis basketball season is over, it will a long time until I put the headphones on again unless some luck intervenes. That would be nice. |
3/16/2021
If you thought the Bears GM and Coach were on the hot seat, you have just been proven wrong. You don't sign Andy Dalton if you have to win now to save your jobs. They basically now have another Nick Foles but without the knowledge of the offense and terminology. Yippee. So the Bears are basically trapped in NFL Hell. They have two replacement-level qb's and will likely not trade up to draft a 1st round quarterback to take over down the line. They will take a flyer on a 4th round qb, the 9th taken, and hope he turns into something, which he won't. It is like they don't understand the value of an elite quarterback and they don't have Walter Payton to bail them out on 3rd-and-long either. Hate teams like the Packers all you want but their fans my age have been able to root for ten years of Bart Starr, then had a drought of the Lynn Dickey/Don Majkowski years (which weren't terrible anyway) before getting Brett Favre for 16 years and Aaron Rodgers for 13 years. In other words, that's about 40 years of elite quarterback play to be spoiled by in my lifetime. How many elite seasons of Bears quarterback play have I seen in my lifetime? You can count them on one hand and that is being generous. It is only the most important position in team sports. It is not that big a deal! We have seen plenty of elite seasons at running back, thank goodness, and in linebacker play as well, but sheesh! That is why I am such a fan of the NFL running game. It is all I've been able to enjoy here. It is exciting but it doesn't necessarily lead to long playoff runs or championships as we've seen. An Andy Dalton-Nick Foles qb competition. Ugh. But again, the signing of Dalton himself is almost not the point or the problem. The problem is that desperation and therefore big trades or signings were not apparently needed or even do-able and we are therefore doomed to mediocrity here thanks to a bad choice in Trubisky and no successful move to make up for it since. This signing is just a reminder of that more than anything. Double ugh.
If you thought the Bears GM and Coach were on the hot seat, you have just been proven wrong. You don't sign Andy Dalton if you have to win now to save your jobs. They basically now have another Nick Foles but without the knowledge of the offense and terminology. Yippee. So the Bears are basically trapped in NFL Hell. They have two replacement-level qb's and will likely not trade up to draft a 1st round quarterback to take over down the line. They will take a flyer on a 4th round qb, the 9th taken, and hope he turns into something, which he won't. It is like they don't understand the value of an elite quarterback and they don't have Walter Payton to bail them out on 3rd-and-long either. Hate teams like the Packers all you want but their fans my age have been able to root for ten years of Bart Starr, then had a drought of the Lynn Dickey/Don Majkowski years (which weren't terrible anyway) before getting Brett Favre for 16 years and Aaron Rodgers for 13 years. In other words, that's about 40 years of elite quarterback play to be spoiled by in my lifetime. How many elite seasons of Bears quarterback play have I seen in my lifetime? You can count them on one hand and that is being generous. It is only the most important position in team sports. It is not that big a deal! We have seen plenty of elite seasons at running back, thank goodness, and in linebacker play as well, but sheesh! That is why I am such a fan of the NFL running game. It is all I've been able to enjoy here. It is exciting but it doesn't necessarily lead to long playoff runs or championships as we've seen. An Andy Dalton-Nick Foles qb competition. Ugh. But again, the signing of Dalton himself is almost not the point or the problem. The problem is that desperation and therefore big trades or signings were not apparently needed or even do-able and we are therefore doomed to mediocrity here thanks to a bad choice in Trubisky and no successful move to make up for it since. This signing is just a reminder of that more than anything. Double ugh.
3/15/2021
Just a little venting cuz that what I use this blog for, lol, more often than not. Facebook Memories brings me back each day to some good stuff and some not so good stuff, of course. Today's Facebook memory was my post about getting the bad news that once again I had just finished 2nd in my status as a finalist for a radio job, on this date four years ago. I figured I would expand on that memory here now with some specifics. I was up for the job of beat reporter for the Cleveland Indians and Cavaliers at a Cleveland all-sports station at the time. It was down to me and an in-house young kid. I was told, despite how much they loved my stuff...their words...on-air and written...and how much they liked and respected me and my resume, that they were going with the kid and would attempt to teach him how to do that job, on-the-job, so to speak. It still rankles me to this day. Keep in mind, the Indians had just been to the World Series vs the Cubs and the Cavs were still the "LeBron Cavs" and were in the Finals every year. In other words, it was a big job that needed a pro that those players and coaches could work with and trust on that national stage. It wasn't play time. It was big time stuff as far as the sports world was concerned. Chris and I had both been to Cleveland before, liked the City, and would have enjoyed moving there. I knew it was the wrong decision at the time for them and not just because they didn't pick me. You don't throw someone who hadn't done it before into that kind of pressure filled situation. And guess what, that kid barely lasted more than a year before they replaced him and he isn't even on the air anywhere anymore to my knowledge. I, of course, would still be there doing that job and would be at Spring Training right now. Trying to save money by hiring the kid who hasn't earned his stripes or doesn't yet have the expertise in order to save just a few bucks is just so short sighted and usually wrong. It was again there.
The other one in recent years that I just will never get over is the job I lost downstate in Bloomington a few years ago. This time I was even told I got the job before I was told that I then didn't! I think I've talked about it before on here, but I was going to be the Program Director and mid-day talk show host down there. I was so excited. Bloomington is where my Mom and her sisters grew up and my Grandmother even had her own Sunday morning show at that very radio station singing songs way back in the late '30's or early 1940's! Chris and I went by my Mom's old house as we went looking for houses of our own. I had finally found the station I would end my career at. I just had to jump through one more hoop. The station was owned by a major corporation and I had to have a phone conversation with their Midwest region Program Director. Just a formality, as he had to sign-off on my hiring but it was basically a done deal. That PD kept putting off our phoner and I was getting a bit concerned. Turned out, he was waiting for a buddy of his to become available, as that guy's contract was just about to expire somewhere else. That buddy had expressed interest in coming back to the Midwest and wanted the Bloomington job. He didn't know anything about Bloomington but had relatives he wanted to be within a few hours of and wanted out of the East Coast. I had spent dozens of days in Bloomington broadcasting various sporting events over the years, knew people at the various colleges and sports teams there and knew all about the town and that station's legacy. But the buddy wanted the job and so the Corporate PD never even talked to me at all. He kept stonewalling me and then hired his friend instead, even thought the people in Bloomington didn't know him or want him and hadn't even met him or even talked to him, to my knowledge. Again, he barely lasted more than a year before he quit. He thought Bloomington was too small a town. Well, no shit! It wouldn't have been too small for me and again, I would still be there to this day. I called down there when I heard about that resignation but I think they were too embarrassed to even talk to me.
There are others. I am the 'nearly man' as I have said before. It always seems to come down to me and someone else who gets the gig and then never stays long enough to unpack. Oh well, enough of that. It has been a rough last two years or so mentally for me without a regular radio gig to go to and then toss in a pandemic which has taken away my regular running and access to family and friends as well. Not fun. I will trudge on because that is what I have always done. There really isn't any other option. Memories, good and bad about my lifelong passion of radio, are about all I have at the moment. Please and thank you.
Just a little venting cuz that what I use this blog for, lol, more often than not. Facebook Memories brings me back each day to some good stuff and some not so good stuff, of course. Today's Facebook memory was my post about getting the bad news that once again I had just finished 2nd in my status as a finalist for a radio job, on this date four years ago. I figured I would expand on that memory here now with some specifics. I was up for the job of beat reporter for the Cleveland Indians and Cavaliers at a Cleveland all-sports station at the time. It was down to me and an in-house young kid. I was told, despite how much they loved my stuff...their words...on-air and written...and how much they liked and respected me and my resume, that they were going with the kid and would attempt to teach him how to do that job, on-the-job, so to speak. It still rankles me to this day. Keep in mind, the Indians had just been to the World Series vs the Cubs and the Cavs were still the "LeBron Cavs" and were in the Finals every year. In other words, it was a big job that needed a pro that those players and coaches could work with and trust on that national stage. It wasn't play time. It was big time stuff as far as the sports world was concerned. Chris and I had both been to Cleveland before, liked the City, and would have enjoyed moving there. I knew it was the wrong decision at the time for them and not just because they didn't pick me. You don't throw someone who hadn't done it before into that kind of pressure filled situation. And guess what, that kid barely lasted more than a year before they replaced him and he isn't even on the air anywhere anymore to my knowledge. I, of course, would still be there doing that job and would be at Spring Training right now. Trying to save money by hiring the kid who hasn't earned his stripes or doesn't yet have the expertise in order to save just a few bucks is just so short sighted and usually wrong. It was again there.
The other one in recent years that I just will never get over is the job I lost downstate in Bloomington a few years ago. This time I was even told I got the job before I was told that I then didn't! I think I've talked about it before on here, but I was going to be the Program Director and mid-day talk show host down there. I was so excited. Bloomington is where my Mom and her sisters grew up and my Grandmother even had her own Sunday morning show at that very radio station singing songs way back in the late '30's or early 1940's! Chris and I went by my Mom's old house as we went looking for houses of our own. I had finally found the station I would end my career at. I just had to jump through one more hoop. The station was owned by a major corporation and I had to have a phone conversation with their Midwest region Program Director. Just a formality, as he had to sign-off on my hiring but it was basically a done deal. That PD kept putting off our phoner and I was getting a bit concerned. Turned out, he was waiting for a buddy of his to become available, as that guy's contract was just about to expire somewhere else. That buddy had expressed interest in coming back to the Midwest and wanted the Bloomington job. He didn't know anything about Bloomington but had relatives he wanted to be within a few hours of and wanted out of the East Coast. I had spent dozens of days in Bloomington broadcasting various sporting events over the years, knew people at the various colleges and sports teams there and knew all about the town and that station's legacy. But the buddy wanted the job and so the Corporate PD never even talked to me at all. He kept stonewalling me and then hired his friend instead, even thought the people in Bloomington didn't know him or want him and hadn't even met him or even talked to him, to my knowledge. Again, he barely lasted more than a year before he quit. He thought Bloomington was too small a town. Well, no shit! It wouldn't have been too small for me and again, I would still be there to this day. I called down there when I heard about that resignation but I think they were too embarrassed to even talk to me.
There are others. I am the 'nearly man' as I have said before. It always seems to come down to me and someone else who gets the gig and then never stays long enough to unpack. Oh well, enough of that. It has been a rough last two years or so mentally for me without a regular radio gig to go to and then toss in a pandemic which has taken away my regular running and access to family and friends as well. Not fun. I will trudge on because that is what I have always done. There really isn't any other option. Memories, good and bad about my lifelong passion of radio, are about all I have at the moment. Please and thank you.
3/6/2021
So today is the one year anniversary of the last concert I've been to, meaning I haven't seen live music in 365 days. Unreal and certainly a personal record. A record I did not want to set. One year ago tonight, Chris, Lauren
and I went to see Dave Hause at the Sleeping Village Tavern. At the time, we kind of knew that this was going to be the last for a while and were glad to be there, but who knew it would be a frickin year! And it will be a lot longer now apparently.
The show was outstanding and it's great that the three us all love his music. I can't wait to see Dave and the band again. Hell, I can't wait to see anyone's band again, lol. Of course, a lot of the fun is that it's also an excuse to spend time with these two women. An example of the good times I can have with them is this part of that evening that Lauren put on her Facebook that night. After the show, we stuck around the bar to have a beer and this exchange took place...
Mark: I can't leave you two alone for 1 minute.
Me: (about to ask the bored looking bouncer if he wanted us to cause trouble) *watches mom lean over to talk to him*
Me: "what'd you say to him"
Mom: "that he looked bored. I asked him if he wanted us to cause trouble for the fun of it"
#likemotherlikedaughter
Crazy how you can take for granted just going for a night out. I won't take for granted my next concert opportunity, that's for sure. Weird times living in a chapter of a future history book, isn't it? I would appreciate it if the universe would give me my fun back. Please and thank you.
So today is the one year anniversary of the last concert I've been to, meaning I haven't seen live music in 365 days. Unreal and certainly a personal record. A record I did not want to set. One year ago tonight, Chris, Lauren
and I went to see Dave Hause at the Sleeping Village Tavern. At the time, we kind of knew that this was going to be the last for a while and were glad to be there, but who knew it would be a frickin year! And it will be a lot longer now apparently.
The show was outstanding and it's great that the three us all love his music. I can't wait to see Dave and the band again. Hell, I can't wait to see anyone's band again, lol. Of course, a lot of the fun is that it's also an excuse to spend time with these two women. An example of the good times I can have with them is this part of that evening that Lauren put on her Facebook that night. After the show, we stuck around the bar to have a beer and this exchange took place...
Mark: I can't leave you two alone for 1 minute.
Me: (about to ask the bored looking bouncer if he wanted us to cause trouble) *watches mom lean over to talk to him*
Me: "what'd you say to him"
Mom: "that he looked bored. I asked him if he wanted us to cause trouble for the fun of it"
#likemotherlikedaughter
Crazy how you can take for granted just going for a night out. I won't take for granted my next concert opportunity, that's for sure. Weird times living in a chapter of a future history book, isn't it? I would appreciate it if the universe would give me my fun back. Please and thank you.
2/26/2021
I've never put my thoughts down on paper concerning Tiger Woods and I guess this is as good a time as any. I certainly wish him a speedy recovery and wish him well. I am definitely glad he survived that horrible car crash because after seeing the picture of his car I definitely didn't think that was a foregone conclusion. Having said that, I will say that I am not his biggest fan. I guess mainly because he sort of became the New York Yankees to me. Maybe that is the best way to describe it. Too much success or something, but I got tired of him. Early on, however, I was swept up in the drama and the excellence like everyone else. I was lucky enough to be there at the Motorola Western Open at Cog Hill in 1997 when his coronation basically began. I was there covering the event as a reporter and I was standing inside the ropes at 18 when that swarm of fans followed behind him as they all approached us up the hill. It was thrilling, gave me goosebumps, and I will never forget soaking it all in and how fortunate I felt to be that close to history. I then got to stand next to him on that 18th green amid the excitement to interview him after that marvelous victory, the 4th of his rookie year, the one that cemented him as the next great golfer and best in the sport. He beat Frank Nobilo by three shots on his way to becoming ranked #1 in the world for the very first time that day. He moved in to that top spot, where he would spend 683 weeks in his career. I was a fan. How could you not be. I had been a fan of golf my whole life. I've played it my whole life. When I was a kid, I got a summer pass as a 15 year old, and would peddle my bike to the Palatine Hills golf course and play multiple rounds a week all by myself. I worked odd jobs to pay for the pass and the locker for my clubs. That first day I put the clubs on my handle bars and somehow got there unscathed. Arnold Palmer was my favorite as a kid, like so many others. I liked him because of his personality and because he didn't always win. Sometimes he was spectacular but others not so much. He was a human, not a machine like the colder Jack Nicklaus to me. As time went on, I think maybe Tiger became the man he was chasing. At least it seemed that way to me. He would get angry and slam a club or whatever. His later personal problems did not help. The other thing was that when he was at his height, every tournament became all about him. TV would broadcast his every shot. I was thinking, listen guys, I want to see other people golf too, you know. I was watching golf before Tiger and would watch after. Maybe for so many he brought to the sport, Tiger was the only reason they tuned in at all and he was the only one they wanted to see. I was not that way. Jim Furyk became my favorite as I got older. Maybe because he had that quirky swing and maybe because when it was 'on' he was spectacular. But he wasn't always on. That was fun too. I wanted to see him on TV. I wanted to see others as well. Every big tournament in particular became all about Tiger. I actually enjoyed watching the tournaments he skipped. It was about Golf those weekends, not about Tiger Woods. I don't begrudge him any success and his talent cannot be denied or denigrated. He was spectacular. I just fell out of love with him, so to speak, in a hurry. I still cherish that day at Cog Hill and I am forever grateful to have been that close to a special talent over the years thanks to my job, but I like watching golf when he isn't playing. It becomes about more than just one guy again, not matter how special a talent that one guy has been. I like it better that way. Please and thank you.
I've never put my thoughts down on paper concerning Tiger Woods and I guess this is as good a time as any. I certainly wish him a speedy recovery and wish him well. I am definitely glad he survived that horrible car crash because after seeing the picture of his car I definitely didn't think that was a foregone conclusion. Having said that, I will say that I am not his biggest fan. I guess mainly because he sort of became the New York Yankees to me. Maybe that is the best way to describe it. Too much success or something, but I got tired of him. Early on, however, I was swept up in the drama and the excellence like everyone else. I was lucky enough to be there at the Motorola Western Open at Cog Hill in 1997 when his coronation basically began. I was there covering the event as a reporter and I was standing inside the ropes at 18 when that swarm of fans followed behind him as they all approached us up the hill. It was thrilling, gave me goosebumps, and I will never forget soaking it all in and how fortunate I felt to be that close to history. I then got to stand next to him on that 18th green amid the excitement to interview him after that marvelous victory, the 4th of his rookie year, the one that cemented him as the next great golfer and best in the sport. He beat Frank Nobilo by three shots on his way to becoming ranked #1 in the world for the very first time that day. He moved in to that top spot, where he would spend 683 weeks in his career. I was a fan. How could you not be. I had been a fan of golf my whole life. I've played it my whole life. When I was a kid, I got a summer pass as a 15 year old, and would peddle my bike to the Palatine Hills golf course and play multiple rounds a week all by myself. I worked odd jobs to pay for the pass and the locker for my clubs. That first day I put the clubs on my handle bars and somehow got there unscathed. Arnold Palmer was my favorite as a kid, like so many others. I liked him because of his personality and because he didn't always win. Sometimes he was spectacular but others not so much. He was a human, not a machine like the colder Jack Nicklaus to me. As time went on, I think maybe Tiger became the man he was chasing. At least it seemed that way to me. He would get angry and slam a club or whatever. His later personal problems did not help. The other thing was that when he was at his height, every tournament became all about him. TV would broadcast his every shot. I was thinking, listen guys, I want to see other people golf too, you know. I was watching golf before Tiger and would watch after. Maybe for so many he brought to the sport, Tiger was the only reason they tuned in at all and he was the only one they wanted to see. I was not that way. Jim Furyk became my favorite as I got older. Maybe because he had that quirky swing and maybe because when it was 'on' he was spectacular. But he wasn't always on. That was fun too. I wanted to see him on TV. I wanted to see others as well. Every big tournament in particular became all about Tiger. I actually enjoyed watching the tournaments he skipped. It was about Golf those weekends, not about Tiger Woods. I don't begrudge him any success and his talent cannot be denied or denigrated. He was spectacular. I just fell out of love with him, so to speak, in a hurry. I still cherish that day at Cog Hill and I am forever grateful to have been that close to a special talent over the years thanks to my job, but I like watching golf when he isn't playing. It becomes about more than just one guy again, not matter how special a talent that one guy has been. I like it better that way. Please and thank you.
2/18/2021
I wasn't going to comment on the passing of Rush Limbaugh mainly because I try to adhere to the axiom of 'if you don't have anything nice to say about someone, don't say anything', but then the more I thought about it the more I felt I needed to touch on the radio aspect of all this. Radio is my chosen profession and one that I love and take pride in. I've hosted my own afternoon talk show for almost 20 years during my long career, so I know a bit about what it takes to do one and do it successfully. Radio is a powerful tool and should be used in the public interest. We used to have to prove we were using the public's airwaves in that public interest every year or lose our license. De-regulation came in. Rush might not have started this but he certainly perfected the art of using radio in the exact opposite fashion. He perfected the art of meanness as entertainment. He was just plain mean and apparently meanness and cruelty sells and sells big because it spawned all sorts of imitators that we all know and I don't want to even put their names in print to promote them. Apparently feeling superior to others soothes some people and tearing down others makes them feel better. If some were a different color, religion, sexuality, political party etc. and it made the listener uneasy, Rush would denigrate them and all would be well and order restored. Cruelty is comforting to some, I guess. Rush did that best, sadly. He used the power of radio not for good but for evil. And if evil feels like an overstatement, I beg to differ. He trafficked in every negative imaginable. He was joyful in talking about those that died of AIDS. He called women speaking up for themselves Feminazis. He called 12 year old Chelsea Clinton a Dog. He was a blatant racist, made fun of Michael J Fox and his Parkinson's, and way too many more sins to name so I won't. He stoked hate and fear and told lies every single day on his show that he knew were lies and he did it happily. He is literally one of the main reasons there is a big divide in our nation between people that didn't used to dislike each other. He caused this rift we suffer more than just about any other single human. He misused the public's airwaves for profit, power and influence. He was mean, cruel, intolerant and hypocritical and he laughed all the way to the bank as he ripped people for the fun of it. Radio is supposed to be used to inform, entertain and bring people together, not tear them apart. The idea is to make the lone listener in his car or apartment have a laugh and feel a part of his community, not fear some others in it. On the local level you talk to the football coach, the City Manager, the local charity head, the Police Chief, the celebrity passing through etc. If you have the talent for it, you do that in a fun way. It helps people appreciate their community. That is what I tried to do and I think I did it well. The influence of Rush was such that a boss once told me to stop all that and be 'controversial', to generate calls and tension. I would not. I left. I knew what local neighborhood radio was supposed to be and that was not it. The way I did it made me proud of my profession as a vehicle for good. It worked. There is a way to do the same on the national level, which I also have some experience in. Rush did not do that. To use the power of Radio for the antithesis of all that is offensive to me. Rush might have made his listeners feel superior to those unlike themselves but there is nothing superior about his legacy and there is no peace in his resting. He might have been a 'success' at his job but he was a failure as a human in my opinion. I am not sad he is gone.
I wasn't going to comment on the passing of Rush Limbaugh mainly because I try to adhere to the axiom of 'if you don't have anything nice to say about someone, don't say anything', but then the more I thought about it the more I felt I needed to touch on the radio aspect of all this. Radio is my chosen profession and one that I love and take pride in. I've hosted my own afternoon talk show for almost 20 years during my long career, so I know a bit about what it takes to do one and do it successfully. Radio is a powerful tool and should be used in the public interest. We used to have to prove we were using the public's airwaves in that public interest every year or lose our license. De-regulation came in. Rush might not have started this but he certainly perfected the art of using radio in the exact opposite fashion. He perfected the art of meanness as entertainment. He was just plain mean and apparently meanness and cruelty sells and sells big because it spawned all sorts of imitators that we all know and I don't want to even put their names in print to promote them. Apparently feeling superior to others soothes some people and tearing down others makes them feel better. If some were a different color, religion, sexuality, political party etc. and it made the listener uneasy, Rush would denigrate them and all would be well and order restored. Cruelty is comforting to some, I guess. Rush did that best, sadly. He used the power of radio not for good but for evil. And if evil feels like an overstatement, I beg to differ. He trafficked in every negative imaginable. He was joyful in talking about those that died of AIDS. He called women speaking up for themselves Feminazis. He called 12 year old Chelsea Clinton a Dog. He was a blatant racist, made fun of Michael J Fox and his Parkinson's, and way too many more sins to name so I won't. He stoked hate and fear and told lies every single day on his show that he knew were lies and he did it happily. He is literally one of the main reasons there is a big divide in our nation between people that didn't used to dislike each other. He caused this rift we suffer more than just about any other single human. He misused the public's airwaves for profit, power and influence. He was mean, cruel, intolerant and hypocritical and he laughed all the way to the bank as he ripped people for the fun of it. Radio is supposed to be used to inform, entertain and bring people together, not tear them apart. The idea is to make the lone listener in his car or apartment have a laugh and feel a part of his community, not fear some others in it. On the local level you talk to the football coach, the City Manager, the local charity head, the Police Chief, the celebrity passing through etc. If you have the talent for it, you do that in a fun way. It helps people appreciate their community. That is what I tried to do and I think I did it well. The influence of Rush was such that a boss once told me to stop all that and be 'controversial', to generate calls and tension. I would not. I left. I knew what local neighborhood radio was supposed to be and that was not it. The way I did it made me proud of my profession as a vehicle for good. It worked. There is a way to do the same on the national level, which I also have some experience in. Rush did not do that. To use the power of Radio for the antithesis of all that is offensive to me. Rush might have made his listeners feel superior to those unlike themselves but there is nothing superior about his legacy and there is no peace in his resting. He might have been a 'success' at his job but he was a failure as a human in my opinion. I am not sad he is gone.
2/6/2021
Congrats to John Lynch, the former Kane County Cougars pitcher, on making it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I guess he made the right choice to pick football! He made two starts with us in 1993 and finished 1-0 with an ERA of 3.00. Control was a bit of an issue with 3 strikeouts and 12 walks in 9 total innings. I think that made his choice to quit baseball and concentrate on football a bit easier after being a 3rd round pick in the draft by Tampa Bay, after he starred at Stanford. I don't remember much else about his short stay with us that season, other than it was exciting to have him around, since everyone knew of his two-sport stardom. He was a 2nd round pick of the Marlins and they had high hopes for his arm. He threw hard and struck out a batter per inning in college and started out as a quarterback at Stanford before they moved him to safety as a junior.
Congrats to John Lynch, the former Kane County Cougars pitcher, on making it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I guess he made the right choice to pick football! He made two starts with us in 1993 and finished 1-0 with an ERA of 3.00. Control was a bit of an issue with 3 strikeouts and 12 walks in 9 total innings. I think that made his choice to quit baseball and concentrate on football a bit easier after being a 3rd round pick in the draft by Tampa Bay, after he starred at Stanford. I don't remember much else about his short stay with us that season, other than it was exciting to have him around, since everyone knew of his two-sport stardom. He was a 2nd round pick of the Marlins and they had high hopes for his arm. He threw hard and struck out a batter per inning in college and started out as a quarterback at Stanford before they moved him to safety as a junior.
2/4/2021
Today is the 40th anniversary of the first time I saw Bruce Springsteen in concert. It was at the SIU Arena in Carbondale with my college buddies. I had liked Bruce before then and was looking forward to the show. The show itself, though, was incredible enough to make me a fanatic by the time I left the Arena. And I was a regular concert goer and had seen some of the best rock groups in the world by then, so that is saying something. It was part of the River Tour and that double album became my favorite record and remains, along with Quadrophenia by the Who as my favorite. The show was 28 songs, including a four song encore, that ended with Jungleland, Born to Run and then the Detroit Medley. This is a picture I have from that night. I have sen him in every tour since then, except for the most popular one, lol. I missed the Born in the USA tour because I was always working one job or another throughout that long run and couldn't make it work. I was in the process of moving back from Pennsylvania when Bruce played Soldier Field in 1985 and I just missed that show by a few days. In Carbondale, they played Fire, Who'll Stop the Rain and I Fought the Law, among other relative rarities. It started with Prove it all Night and Two Hearts, two of my all-time favorites, so I knew I was in for a great night. I sure was. Someone forgot their ticket that night and had to run back and get it, lol. I don't remember if it was Bob Ciciora or Larry Bush. I do remember that Mick Kahler went by the Arena earlier in the day for the soundcheck and actually got to meet Bruce and get an autograph. Crazy cool.
Today is the 40th anniversary of the first time I saw Bruce Springsteen in concert. It was at the SIU Arena in Carbondale with my college buddies. I had liked Bruce before then and was looking forward to the show. The show itself, though, was incredible enough to make me a fanatic by the time I left the Arena. And I was a regular concert goer and had seen some of the best rock groups in the world by then, so that is saying something. It was part of the River Tour and that double album became my favorite record and remains, along with Quadrophenia by the Who as my favorite. The show was 28 songs, including a four song encore, that ended with Jungleland, Born to Run and then the Detroit Medley. This is a picture I have from that night. I have sen him in every tour since then, except for the most popular one, lol. I missed the Born in the USA tour because I was always working one job or another throughout that long run and couldn't make it work. I was in the process of moving back from Pennsylvania when Bruce played Soldier Field in 1985 and I just missed that show by a few days. In Carbondale, they played Fire, Who'll Stop the Rain and I Fought the Law, among other relative rarities. It started with Prove it all Night and Two Hearts, two of my all-time favorites, so I knew I was in for a great night. I sure was. Someone forgot their ticket that night and had to run back and get it, lol. I don't remember if it was Bob Ciciora or Larry Bush. I do remember that Mick Kahler went by the Arena earlier in the day for the soundcheck and actually got to meet Bruce and get an autograph. Crazy cool.
2/3/2021
Welcome home. Candace Parker returns to become a member of the Chicago Sky of the WNBA. I got to broadcast Candace and her brother Anthony at Naperville Central. She dominated even as a freshman, as you can imagine. Can't wait to go see her play again here. I remember calling a SuperSectional game for Anthony at NIU vs. Fremd, as the RedHawks came up short. The game before that was an even better memory, though. Anthony scored 25 pts. including the game-winning basket with 6 seconds left in overtime to give Central the 67-66 win over East Aurora in the Sectional Final at West Aurora. It was the first trip to the Sweet 16 for NCHS since 1915! He, of course, went on to star at Bradley and played in the NBA for the 76ers, Raptors, Magic and Cavaliers. Candace, as we know, is one of the best women's basketball players of all-time. I remember the first time I saw her and it was as a freshman for the RedHawks at Hinsdale South and she just destroyed the opposition. In one stretch, Candace blocked a shot, grabbed it out of the air, beat everyone downcourt and laid it in. She then ran back on defense, blocked another shot, sprinted on down and layed it in again, lol! Just extraordinary. And that was as a freshman! She then want on to win two state titles at Naperville Central, two national titles at Tennessee before playing for the Los Angeles in the WNBA where she won both the Rookie of the Year and league MVP in the same season! She has averaged 17 points per game in her 13 seasons with L.A. Again, welcome home!
Welcome home. Candace Parker returns to become a member of the Chicago Sky of the WNBA. I got to broadcast Candace and her brother Anthony at Naperville Central. She dominated even as a freshman, as you can imagine. Can't wait to go see her play again here. I remember calling a SuperSectional game for Anthony at NIU vs. Fremd, as the RedHawks came up short. The game before that was an even better memory, though. Anthony scored 25 pts. including the game-winning basket with 6 seconds left in overtime to give Central the 67-66 win over East Aurora in the Sectional Final at West Aurora. It was the first trip to the Sweet 16 for NCHS since 1915! He, of course, went on to star at Bradley and played in the NBA for the 76ers, Raptors, Magic and Cavaliers. Candace, as we know, is one of the best women's basketball players of all-time. I remember the first time I saw her and it was as a freshman for the RedHawks at Hinsdale South and she just destroyed the opposition. In one stretch, Candace blocked a shot, grabbed it out of the air, beat everyone downcourt and laid it in. She then ran back on defense, blocked another shot, sprinted on down and layed it in again, lol! Just extraordinary. And that was as a freshman! She then want on to win two state titles at Naperville Central, two national titles at Tennessee before playing for the Los Angeles in the WNBA where she won both the Rookie of the Year and league MVP in the same season! She has averaged 17 points per game in her 13 seasons with L.A. Again, welcome home!
1/31/2021
Happy Birthday to the late Ernie Banks. The stats in this picture were posted earlier today and they are amazing. They are also another indictment of how terrible a Manager Leo Durocher was with the Cubs. He played those guys til they dropped. He didn't even give them a game off, let alone a day off. I've talked about Randy Hundley as well. In 1968, Hundley played 1,385 of the teams 1,453 innings! That's 95 percent of the innings played, as he started 156 times and played in 160 games that season. Insane. Hundley caught at least 136 games in each season from 1966 through 1969. He, of course, had to retire early due to terrible knee pain. Imagine that? In the 1969 season, where they should have gone to the World Series for sure but Leo sabotaged them, Randy caught 151 games, the year after his crazy 1968 workload. What about the others on that 1969 team? Well, Billy Williams played in all 163 games, there was a tie in game two of a doubleheader, and logged 708 plate appearances! Don Kessinger was the leadoff man and logged 737 plate appearances in 158 games. Ron Santo had 687 in 160 games. Banks had 629 in 155 games, at age 38. And if you are wondering why Kris Bryant has been struggling the last few seasons, in 2016 the 24 year old Bryant had 699 plate appearances to help them to the World Series championship. Those take their toll to this day and especially on the very young or very old players in the lineup. Bryant was just a couple seasons removed from his college days where teams play about 60 games a season. Those things need to be paid attention to. No surprise, by the way, that Hundley only played in 73 games in 1970 and Banks only played in 72 games that season. They had nothing left in the tank. Leo just wrote out the same lineup every day and sat and watched baseball. Brutal. But hats off to those die hard players of that era.
Happy Birthday to the late Ernie Banks. The stats in this picture were posted earlier today and they are amazing. They are also another indictment of how terrible a Manager Leo Durocher was with the Cubs. He played those guys til they dropped. He didn't even give them a game off, let alone a day off. I've talked about Randy Hundley as well. In 1968, Hundley played 1,385 of the teams 1,453 innings! That's 95 percent of the innings played, as he started 156 times and played in 160 games that season. Insane. Hundley caught at least 136 games in each season from 1966 through 1969. He, of course, had to retire early due to terrible knee pain. Imagine that? In the 1969 season, where they should have gone to the World Series for sure but Leo sabotaged them, Randy caught 151 games, the year after his crazy 1968 workload. What about the others on that 1969 team? Well, Billy Williams played in all 163 games, there was a tie in game two of a doubleheader, and logged 708 plate appearances! Don Kessinger was the leadoff man and logged 737 plate appearances in 158 games. Ron Santo had 687 in 160 games. Banks had 629 in 155 games, at age 38. And if you are wondering why Kris Bryant has been struggling the last few seasons, in 2016 the 24 year old Bryant had 699 plate appearances to help them to the World Series championship. Those take their toll to this day and especially on the very young or very old players in the lineup. Bryant was just a couple seasons removed from his college days where teams play about 60 games a season. Those things need to be paid attention to. No surprise, by the way, that Hundley only played in 73 games in 1970 and Banks only played in 72 games that season. They had nothing left in the tank. Leo just wrote out the same lineup every day and sat and watched baseball. Brutal. But hats off to those die hard players of that era.
1/26/2021
Happy 35th anniversary of the Bears Super Bowl victory. I'm glad I have a video of the game because I don't remember much of the second half thanks to some bad decisions, lol. Dave Ross, Mick Kahler and I were watching the game and figured we would make it interesting. The Bears defense was dominant and our offense was good but not crazy potent so we figured we'd take some shots of Jack Daniels and/or beer for each score. Figured the game would be 14-3 or something. It was 23-3 at halftime and finished 46-10, lol. Mick went to get sliders at halftime to try and sober us up! The second half was kind of a blur as you can imagine but it was a blast, for sure. Here is a picture of Walter Payton in that game, my favorite athlete of all time. It's ridiculous the Bears have not won another since.
Happy 35th anniversary of the Bears Super Bowl victory. I'm glad I have a video of the game because I don't remember much of the second half thanks to some bad decisions, lol. Dave Ross, Mick Kahler and I were watching the game and figured we would make it interesting. The Bears defense was dominant and our offense was good but not crazy potent so we figured we'd take some shots of Jack Daniels and/or beer for each score. Figured the game would be 14-3 or something. It was 23-3 at halftime and finished 46-10, lol. Mick went to get sliders at halftime to try and sober us up! The second half was kind of a blur as you can imagine but it was a blast, for sure. Here is a picture of Walter Payton in that game, my favorite athlete of all time. It's ridiculous the Bears have not won another since.
1/25/2021
I'm glad I found this. The first thing I thought about when I heard of his death was not TV interviews. I miss the column Larry King wrote for USA Today. It was this great shotgun approach of quick takes on all and every. Since he knew everyone and knew a little about everything, it was always such a fun read, even if I didn't agree on some of it. I also loved listening to his late night radio show too. RIP to yet another legend we have lost.
I'm glad I found this. The first thing I thought about when I heard of his death was not TV interviews. I miss the column Larry King wrote for USA Today. It was this great shotgun approach of quick takes on all and every. Since he knew everyone and knew a little about everything, it was always such a fun read, even if I didn't agree on some of it. I also loved listening to his late night radio show too. RIP to yet another legend we have lost.
1/22/2021
RIP Hank Aaron. So sad. Still the true home run king to me. This is not my picture but I wanted one that sort of represents my story here and I found this. I was a kid when we went to visit our former neighbors that had moved to Houston. They got us 2nd row tickets by the Braves dugout for a game at the Astrodome. That place was pretty awe inspiring. Felt weird to be inside watching a game back then. At one point Hank comes out onto the on deck circle just a few feet away. I just kept thinking in my head, all excited, "that's Hank Aaron right here in front of me!" That was more than 40 years ago now and I will never forget it. It was so important to me that it is really the main thing I still remember from that day. He was mythic to me. Still is. Proof that that Aaron kid was pretty good? Well, he won MVP once & finished top 10 in MVP voting 12 other times! In his 20th year in MLB, he finished 12th in the MVP. All-Star appearances can be ceremonial. I would say that only the last of his 21 All-Star games could be judged as so. His 20th All-Star nod saw him hit 20 hrs w only 29 strikeouts that season!
RIP Hank Aaron. So sad. Still the true home run king to me. This is not my picture but I wanted one that sort of represents my story here and I found this. I was a kid when we went to visit our former neighbors that had moved to Houston. They got us 2nd row tickets by the Braves dugout for a game at the Astrodome. That place was pretty awe inspiring. Felt weird to be inside watching a game back then. At one point Hank comes out onto the on deck circle just a few feet away. I just kept thinking in my head, all excited, "that's Hank Aaron right here in front of me!" That was more than 40 years ago now and I will never forget it. It was so important to me that it is really the main thing I still remember from that day. He was mythic to me. Still is. Proof that that Aaron kid was pretty good? Well, he won MVP once & finished top 10 in MVP voting 12 other times! In his 20th year in MLB, he finished 12th in the MVP. All-Star appearances can be ceremonial. I would say that only the last of his 21 All-Star games could be judged as so. His 20th All-Star nod saw him hit 20 hrs w only 29 strikeouts that season!
1/20/2021
Football coaches land jobs because of their supposed creative offensive genius or whatever. Then in games they all revert back to the same scared, safe play. They shouldn't. It's frustrating to watch. They all seem to be suffering from 'playing not to lose' disease. For example, you should always go for the TD on fourth and one, at the one yard line. Always. Always. Always. Why? Simple, really. Even if you don't get in, the opponent starts at the one, likely. You therefore will likely get your three points soon anyway. A field goal is worth the same three points whether the line of scrimmage is the 1 or the 35. The opponent will likely have to punt it back to you, starting that deep. You get it in good field position and get your field goal anyway. Even if they get one first down, you still likely get your field goal after an eventual punt, thanks to good field position. And if you are worried about not getting back in field goal range thanks to your shaky offense, that is even more reason to go for maximum points whenever you can. And by the way, if the opponent's offense is so good, or your defense that bad, that they can move 99 yards against you, you damn well better be trying for seven points every time you get the chance that close to begin with too. Simple math...one touchdown is worth more than two field goals. Getting to the 1 is harder than getting to the 35. Take advantage of chances for touchdowns. It is so incredibly obvious, I can't believe it is even a discussion. Go for the seven, you knuckleheads!
Football coaches land jobs because of their supposed creative offensive genius or whatever. Then in games they all revert back to the same scared, safe play. They shouldn't. It's frustrating to watch. They all seem to be suffering from 'playing not to lose' disease. For example, you should always go for the TD on fourth and one, at the one yard line. Always. Always. Always. Why? Simple, really. Even if you don't get in, the opponent starts at the one, likely. You therefore will likely get your three points soon anyway. A field goal is worth the same three points whether the line of scrimmage is the 1 or the 35. The opponent will likely have to punt it back to you, starting that deep. You get it in good field position and get your field goal anyway. Even if they get one first down, you still likely get your field goal after an eventual punt, thanks to good field position. And if you are worried about not getting back in field goal range thanks to your shaky offense, that is even more reason to go for maximum points whenever you can. And by the way, if the opponent's offense is so good, or your defense that bad, that they can move 99 yards against you, you damn well better be trying for seven points every time you get the chance that close to begin with too. Simple math...one touchdown is worth more than two field goals. Getting to the 1 is harder than getting to the 35. Take advantage of chances for touchdowns. It is so incredibly obvious, I can't believe it is even a discussion. Go for the seven, you knuckleheads!
1/15/2021
In an effort to lighten the mood a bit, here are a few random thoughts on my name, including the fact that I don't really like it, lol. I never thought Mark Vasko flowed at all. It's kinda sharp sounding. It isn't short for Marcus, so I couldn't really use that, even though I like Marcus better and have considered making that my legal name. As far as nicknames are concerned, Marko has basically won out and is the name most people use for me and I am fine with that. But I actually prefer to go by "V". Besides Marko, and because of the old Chicago Blackhawks player from the 1960's, Elmer Moose Vasko, I've been called Moose too, which is also fine. No one really used Moose for me professionally though until the late Papa Joe Chevalier started calling me Moose on the air at the old 1-on-1 Sports Network. It has followed me since and again, I am fine with it. Marko basically became my main nickname starting in my college days but V is what I call myself, so I guess it wins out. When I mess up, in my head I always say "What the hell was that, V?" or when I cross the marathon finish line it's "Nice job V" that I say in my head. In the end, it doesn't really matter what you call me, but all things being equal, I prefer V. And that name, by the way, I believe, gets credited to Steve Moga. Moges started calling me V back in my WKKD days and I'm pretty sure that's what all the Aurora U. people still know me as to this day. It hasn't really followed me around that much since then but if anyone cares, feel free to make it more common now. Please and thank you and peace and love, my friends. V
In an effort to lighten the mood a bit, here are a few random thoughts on my name, including the fact that I don't really like it, lol. I never thought Mark Vasko flowed at all. It's kinda sharp sounding. It isn't short for Marcus, so I couldn't really use that, even though I like Marcus better and have considered making that my legal name. As far as nicknames are concerned, Marko has basically won out and is the name most people use for me and I am fine with that. But I actually prefer to go by "V". Besides Marko, and because of the old Chicago Blackhawks player from the 1960's, Elmer Moose Vasko, I've been called Moose too, which is also fine. No one really used Moose for me professionally though until the late Papa Joe Chevalier started calling me Moose on the air at the old 1-on-1 Sports Network. It has followed me since and again, I am fine with it. Marko basically became my main nickname starting in my college days but V is what I call myself, so I guess it wins out. When I mess up, in my head I always say "What the hell was that, V?" or when I cross the marathon finish line it's "Nice job V" that I say in my head. In the end, it doesn't really matter what you call me, but all things being equal, I prefer V. And that name, by the way, I believe, gets credited to Steve Moga. Moges started calling me V back in my WKKD days and I'm pretty sure that's what all the Aurora U. people still know me as to this day. It hasn't really followed me around that much since then but if anyone cares, feel free to make it more common now. Please and thank you and peace and love, my friends. V
1/12/2021
I wish I could care more about sports at the moment but I just can't. I watched some of that Bears game but wasn't really engaged by it. I should be excited about the Sox season coming up but can't really muster much enthusiasm for that or much of anything frankly. It just isn't important. Our very Democracy is under assault, as are our very lives by a pandemic that not enough of us are taking seriously, prolonging it indefinitely. The only time in the last ten months I've gotten to spend any significant time with my Dad was when I got to be with him for several hours in the hospital last month while he had a procedure to have some kidney and bladder stones removed. It isn't fair to him or us. At 95, who knows how much time he has left. Wearing a mask is not that big a goddamn deal. How common sense and common science got politicized is beyond me. It's hard not to be anxious about everything. Patience is running thin for me while me being thin around the waist is one thing I am no longer. I hate it here.
I wish I could care more about sports at the moment but I just can't. I watched some of that Bears game but wasn't really engaged by it. I should be excited about the Sox season coming up but can't really muster much enthusiasm for that or much of anything frankly. It just isn't important. Our very Democracy is under assault, as are our very lives by a pandemic that not enough of us are taking seriously, prolonging it indefinitely. The only time in the last ten months I've gotten to spend any significant time with my Dad was when I got to be with him for several hours in the hospital last month while he had a procedure to have some kidney and bladder stones removed. It isn't fair to him or us. At 95, who knows how much time he has left. Wearing a mask is not that big a goddamn deal. How common sense and common science got politicized is beyond me. It's hard not to be anxious about everything. Patience is running thin for me while me being thin around the waist is one thing I am no longer. I hate it here.
1/7/2021
The media used to be the watchdog. Now we need to be the watchdog of the media, sadly. The talk show host in me is coming out again, especially since it concerns the media. Trump would have just been a loon tilting at windmills except that Fox News, right-wing radio hosts and newspapers like the Washington Times actually gave credence to his rantings rather than correct them. The result was yesterday. If they had done their job and told the truth that there wasn't any voter fraud and that nobody stole the election from anybody else, this would have all been avoided. But those entities saw dollar signs in riling up the unsophisticated and hatred and anger was fomented. There such a thing as freedom of speech and freedom of the press, so those people can hide behind those pillars even if they don't deserve them. Therefore shunning is the only weapon left for us, the public. We have to shout down and shame these people at every turn for helping to cause unrest in this country and for helping to cause an armed insurrection at our Nation's Capitol. It is unforgivable. The truth matters and always will. Trump is nuts, pure and simple. And he's simple as nuts. He's also a narcissist to the n-th degree. He needed to be corrected by the headlines and the talking heads not encouraged and enabled by them. This has nothing to do with party affiliation on it's face. It just happens to be in this instance that the crazy in the White House is a Republican and the right-wingers in the media liked their ratings, power and money so much that they supported whatever madness came out of Trump's mouth. The media, whoever they are, need to be better than that and we need to call them out at every opportunity if they don't speak the truth to power and to everyone else as well. It's just that obvious but it won't be that easy. Well, our freedom depends on it as it turns out though, so we better get after it no matter what. Please and thank you.
The media used to be the watchdog. Now we need to be the watchdog of the media, sadly. The talk show host in me is coming out again, especially since it concerns the media. Trump would have just been a loon tilting at windmills except that Fox News, right-wing radio hosts and newspapers like the Washington Times actually gave credence to his rantings rather than correct them. The result was yesterday. If they had done their job and told the truth that there wasn't any voter fraud and that nobody stole the election from anybody else, this would have all been avoided. But those entities saw dollar signs in riling up the unsophisticated and hatred and anger was fomented. There such a thing as freedom of speech and freedom of the press, so those people can hide behind those pillars even if they don't deserve them. Therefore shunning is the only weapon left for us, the public. We have to shout down and shame these people at every turn for helping to cause unrest in this country and for helping to cause an armed insurrection at our Nation's Capitol. It is unforgivable. The truth matters and always will. Trump is nuts, pure and simple. And he's simple as nuts. He's also a narcissist to the n-th degree. He needed to be corrected by the headlines and the talking heads not encouraged and enabled by them. This has nothing to do with party affiliation on it's face. It just happens to be in this instance that the crazy in the White House is a Republican and the right-wingers in the media liked their ratings, power and money so much that they supported whatever madness came out of Trump's mouth. The media, whoever they are, need to be better than that and we need to call them out at every opportunity if they don't speak the truth to power and to everyone else as well. It's just that obvious but it won't be that easy. Well, our freedom depends on it as it turns out though, so we better get after it no matter what. Please and thank you.
1/3/2020
So I posted this little note below on this date one year ago, before we knew what 2020 would bring. We did actually decide to go back to D.C. It didn't happen because of the pandemic and because the Mayor shut down the lakefront running path for months making sure we couldn't train like we prefer and enjoy. Marathons all got cancelled eventually anyway and who knows if they will be run this year. All I know is that I need that goal and to get back in shape for a lot of reasons. One lousy year was enough, please.
Trying to decide which marathon to do for 2020. Should we got back to D.C., Grand Rapids, Chicago or try a new one? Gotta decide cuz I need some motivation to get going again...
So I posted this little note below on this date one year ago, before we knew what 2020 would bring. We did actually decide to go back to D.C. It didn't happen because of the pandemic and because the Mayor shut down the lakefront running path for months making sure we couldn't train like we prefer and enjoy. Marathons all got cancelled eventually anyway and who knows if they will be run this year. All I know is that I need that goal and to get back in shape for a lot of reasons. One lousy year was enough, please.
Trying to decide which marathon to do for 2020. Should we got back to D.C., Grand Rapids, Chicago or try a new one? Gotta decide cuz I need some motivation to get going again...
12/30/2020
Courtesy of Patrick Mooney--
Jed Hoyer: “We have not been able to extend a lot of these players to extend that window. That’s a fact. So with that, we know that we’re coming to the end of this group of players. A wildly successful, franchise-changing run with this group of players – we’re coming to the end.”
Courtesy of me--
Good lord. Happ is 26, Bryant, Baez and Contreras are 28. Rizzo and Hendricks are 31. Not wanting to extend players is different than not able to. That's a fact.
Jed also says the Darvish trade is not financially motivated.
Yeah, right. Opponents batting average against him the last two years was .211 with a combined ERA of 3.29. Yeah, nothing to see here. Even if it was a solely baseball decision then it was frickin terrible.
Upon further review and upon further anger, here is an addition to the above post thanks to my unhappiness with the Darvish trade and the direction this team is going. In my opinion, Cub fans have been hoodwinked. It's a complete bait and switch. I am grateful for the World Series but I am not sure it has been worth it at this point anymore. Everything I treasured as a Cubs fan has been bastardized for money. I was only okay with the greed because we were told that money was going to show up on the field. Well, it isn't happening. In my mind the Cubs have ruined the ballpark and the neighborhood. I grudgingly went along with it figuring that it was the price to pay for a consistent competitor. The old park needed an upgrade but it did not need to become a mall. The Ricketts have sold every inch of the inside of Wrigley which had never been done. The outside of the ballpark is all a money grab. The apartment buildings have been bought up and the team is not on free TV anymore at all either. That is not my Wrigley and not my Wrigleyville anymore. Despite that neighborhood windfall, the team is acting like it is the Oakland A's now. Jed now says the window for this team is closing. Well, the window started to head down thanks to not giving Dexter Fowler his money. He was a team leader and a rare spark at the top of a lineup. He was vital to that team. Elite leadoff hitters are incredibly rare. He deserved big money and the team needed to keep him for their championship window to stay wide open. It didn't happen. It was stupid and it was cheapness rearing it's ugly head. I didn't understand it and didn't like it. Another clue to their lies of putting profits on the field was Nick Castellanos. He was a huge addition to re-spark the team's offense. Again, he earned his money and the lineup could not afford to lose him. Yet, they let him go and did not pay him. It infuriated me but I continued to cut them some slack, figuring their had to be some sort of plan. Well, no. Darvish has been one of the best pitchers in baseball the last two years. They did not want to pay him either and sent him on his way for almost nothing. Class-A prospects are not enough for an ace. It's appalling. They let Schwarber walk without even getting one of those low level prospects, even. Really? WTF. This team cannot cry poor. They just cannot. Their owners are billionaires and every inch of that neighborhood makes money for them now and they charge to watch the team on TV. All of it is excusable, if not desirable, if that money goes to player salaries. It is obviously going into owner's pockets. Jed says that the window is closing because they were not able to extend the players' contracts to extend the window. Again, they were able to, they just chose not to. They have the money. They are choosing not to spend it. We are being played for fools. I am done. Thank goodness the White Sox are on the brink. I can leave that unlikable mess on the north side behind and concentrate on the south side now. I live within walking distance of their ballpark anyway and have been a fan regardless. I just resent having to leave the team of my childhood behind due to blind greed. Oh well. It is was it is. Please and thank you.
Courtesy of Patrick Mooney--
Jed Hoyer: “We have not been able to extend a lot of these players to extend that window. That’s a fact. So with that, we know that we’re coming to the end of this group of players. A wildly successful, franchise-changing run with this group of players – we’re coming to the end.”
Courtesy of me--
Good lord. Happ is 26, Bryant, Baez and Contreras are 28. Rizzo and Hendricks are 31. Not wanting to extend players is different than not able to. That's a fact.
Jed also says the Darvish trade is not financially motivated.
Yeah, right. Opponents batting average against him the last two years was .211 with a combined ERA of 3.29. Yeah, nothing to see here. Even if it was a solely baseball decision then it was frickin terrible.
Upon further review and upon further anger, here is an addition to the above post thanks to my unhappiness with the Darvish trade and the direction this team is going. In my opinion, Cub fans have been hoodwinked. It's a complete bait and switch. I am grateful for the World Series but I am not sure it has been worth it at this point anymore. Everything I treasured as a Cubs fan has been bastardized for money. I was only okay with the greed because we were told that money was going to show up on the field. Well, it isn't happening. In my mind the Cubs have ruined the ballpark and the neighborhood. I grudgingly went along with it figuring that it was the price to pay for a consistent competitor. The old park needed an upgrade but it did not need to become a mall. The Ricketts have sold every inch of the inside of Wrigley which had never been done. The outside of the ballpark is all a money grab. The apartment buildings have been bought up and the team is not on free TV anymore at all either. That is not my Wrigley and not my Wrigleyville anymore. Despite that neighborhood windfall, the team is acting like it is the Oakland A's now. Jed now says the window for this team is closing. Well, the window started to head down thanks to not giving Dexter Fowler his money. He was a team leader and a rare spark at the top of a lineup. He was vital to that team. Elite leadoff hitters are incredibly rare. He deserved big money and the team needed to keep him for their championship window to stay wide open. It didn't happen. It was stupid and it was cheapness rearing it's ugly head. I didn't understand it and didn't like it. Another clue to their lies of putting profits on the field was Nick Castellanos. He was a huge addition to re-spark the team's offense. Again, he earned his money and the lineup could not afford to lose him. Yet, they let him go and did not pay him. It infuriated me but I continued to cut them some slack, figuring their had to be some sort of plan. Well, no. Darvish has been one of the best pitchers in baseball the last two years. They did not want to pay him either and sent him on his way for almost nothing. Class-A prospects are not enough for an ace. It's appalling. They let Schwarber walk without even getting one of those low level prospects, even. Really? WTF. This team cannot cry poor. They just cannot. Their owners are billionaires and every inch of that neighborhood makes money for them now and they charge to watch the team on TV. All of it is excusable, if not desirable, if that money goes to player salaries. It is obviously going into owner's pockets. Jed says that the window is closing because they were not able to extend the players' contracts to extend the window. Again, they were able to, they just chose not to. They have the money. They are choosing not to spend it. We are being played for fools. I am done. Thank goodness the White Sox are on the brink. I can leave that unlikable mess on the north side behind and concentrate on the south side now. I live within walking distance of their ballpark anyway and have been a fan regardless. I just resent having to leave the team of my childhood behind due to blind greed. Oh well. It is was it is. Please and thank you.
12/29/2020
I just wanted add my condolences and RIP on the passing of Rich Herrin a few days back. I first crossed paths with Coach Herrin as part of my first ever paid gig in radio while broadcasting the Murphysboro Red Devils games on WINI during my junior and senior years at SIU. Scott Kains and I did the football and basketball broadcasts for the Devils for 10 bucks a game, if I remember correctly, lol. (Hey, cheap labor and we were happy to do it!) He was wrapping up his tremendous career with the Benton Rangers and couldn't have been nicer to two kids trying to figure out what the heck they were doing. I was very happy he went on to SIU and brought the program class and professionalism there for more than a decade.. He will be missed.
I just wanted add my condolences and RIP on the passing of Rich Herrin a few days back. I first crossed paths with Coach Herrin as part of my first ever paid gig in radio while broadcasting the Murphysboro Red Devils games on WINI during my junior and senior years at SIU. Scott Kains and I did the football and basketball broadcasts for the Devils for 10 bucks a game, if I remember correctly, lol. (Hey, cheap labor and we were happy to do it!) He was wrapping up his tremendous career with the Benton Rangers and couldn't have been nicer to two kids trying to figure out what the heck they were doing. I was very happy he went on to SIU and brought the program class and professionalism there for more than a decade.. He will be missed.
12/28/2020
Happy 3rd anniversary to my cohorts at the U.S. Traffic network on our wild day at work on this day in 2017. It was my craziest ever in radio and that is saying something, lol. I was putting in another 14 hour double shift that day and just after it began, it all went haywire. At about 6am, the power and internet went out on the floor of our downtown office building. And just so you know, we were connected to our radio stations via the internet for our updates. Adam Chappelle and I were there by ourselves at that point. He was doing updates for WBEZ and I was doing the same for WCPT and SHE-FM. Feel free, Adam, to correct my memory or add to it about that crazy morning. The same goes for Jim Ryan and Marti Jones. We had no way of connecting to our stations as we sat in the dark and even if we did, our computers were down without power as were our consoles with the microphones etc. He and I called in to our stations with our cellphones to let them in on our situations and did our next updates over the phone. That audio quality was not going to work long term, however. Adam thankfully had his personal laptop with him, albeit without power cord, not that it mattered the time, lol. We turned that on to use it to gather info for our next updates. It occurred to me that maybe we could record our next updates to audio software on that laptop and then email them where they needed to go. So we alternated using his laptop and recorded into it's built-in mic! We then emailed them in and went to work trying to get our power and internet back. It was then that Adam informed me that the USTN network's internet router was located above the drop ceiling outside his studio, lol! The engineer who installed it that way should be flogged by the way. So Adam went about taking out ceiling tiles to access the router while I went outside our main office to the outer hallway to try and find any kind of circuit panel. We also called the building's emergency number and waited for some help. Keep in mind it was a holiday week right after Christmas, of course, so no help was coming any time soon. That it was December 28 did help us though, as it was a light news and traffic day. We needed that slow day because the battery on Adam's laptop was dying and our stations were forced to re-use our most recent updates for the last hour or so of that shift. Crazy. I'll never forget watching Adam repeatedly crawling up into the ceiling to try and re-set the router to get it to work once power came back on. The whole situation was ridiculous. Eventually Jim came in for his mid-day shift and saw our predicament, lol. I think he was the one who went back out with me into the hallway and he was the one who found the right door and got into it to deal with the circuit breaker. It took over six hours for anyone from the building to eventually respond. By then we had basically done it all ourselves. Despite no power or internet Adam and I covered all our updates and all our sponsors got their money's worth. The time crunch of me recording into a laptop then Adam taking his turn with our update times looming just minutes away each time was pretty wild. Luckily for Marti, the crisis had basically passed just as she came in for her shift. Our boss came into town not long after that and gathered us together to thank us for a job well done. It seemed I got most of the credit but Adam was the one who did most of the heavy lifting...ie, crawling around in the ceiling. It was definitely a team effort and one I am proud of it to this day. I am also proud of that team at USTN overall and wish I was still working with every one of them. I miss them all to this day. It was a joy to show up every day and see them and chat etc..
ps. The capper to that day for me was after that crazy stressful 14 hour work day, I walked to the Red Line and sat down exhausted for the ride back towards the 35th St. station. A very drunk guy sat down next to me carrying a lose bag of full beer cans he was trying to sell on the train. He had obviously been sampling his wares, so to speak. At one point he staggered to his feet, turned towards the doors and started to relieve himself in front of an entire train car of people. He then zipped up and sat down as the puddle spread throughout the car and as if that was not any big deal whatsoever. I just dropped my head and tried to avoid the spreading puddle until it was time to exit. I then walked home loaded down with stories to tell, lol. Ah, the magic of radio. Happy Holidays y'all.
Happy 3rd anniversary to my cohorts at the U.S. Traffic network on our wild day at work on this day in 2017. It was my craziest ever in radio and that is saying something, lol. I was putting in another 14 hour double shift that day and just after it began, it all went haywire. At about 6am, the power and internet went out on the floor of our downtown office building. And just so you know, we were connected to our radio stations via the internet for our updates. Adam Chappelle and I were there by ourselves at that point. He was doing updates for WBEZ and I was doing the same for WCPT and SHE-FM. Feel free, Adam, to correct my memory or add to it about that crazy morning. The same goes for Jim Ryan and Marti Jones. We had no way of connecting to our stations as we sat in the dark and even if we did, our computers were down without power as were our consoles with the microphones etc. He and I called in to our stations with our cellphones to let them in on our situations and did our next updates over the phone. That audio quality was not going to work long term, however. Adam thankfully had his personal laptop with him, albeit without power cord, not that it mattered the time, lol. We turned that on to use it to gather info for our next updates. It occurred to me that maybe we could record our next updates to audio software on that laptop and then email them where they needed to go. So we alternated using his laptop and recorded into it's built-in mic! We then emailed them in and went to work trying to get our power and internet back. It was then that Adam informed me that the USTN network's internet router was located above the drop ceiling outside his studio, lol! The engineer who installed it that way should be flogged by the way. So Adam went about taking out ceiling tiles to access the router while I went outside our main office to the outer hallway to try and find any kind of circuit panel. We also called the building's emergency number and waited for some help. Keep in mind it was a holiday week right after Christmas, of course, so no help was coming any time soon. That it was December 28 did help us though, as it was a light news and traffic day. We needed that slow day because the battery on Adam's laptop was dying and our stations were forced to re-use our most recent updates for the last hour or so of that shift. Crazy. I'll never forget watching Adam repeatedly crawling up into the ceiling to try and re-set the router to get it to work once power came back on. The whole situation was ridiculous. Eventually Jim came in for his mid-day shift and saw our predicament, lol. I think he was the one who went back out with me into the hallway and he was the one who found the right door and got into it to deal with the circuit breaker. It took over six hours for anyone from the building to eventually respond. By then we had basically done it all ourselves. Despite no power or internet Adam and I covered all our updates and all our sponsors got their money's worth. The time crunch of me recording into a laptop then Adam taking his turn with our update times looming just minutes away each time was pretty wild. Luckily for Marti, the crisis had basically passed just as she came in for her shift. Our boss came into town not long after that and gathered us together to thank us for a job well done. It seemed I got most of the credit but Adam was the one who did most of the heavy lifting...ie, crawling around in the ceiling. It was definitely a team effort and one I am proud of it to this day. I am also proud of that team at USTN overall and wish I was still working with every one of them. I miss them all to this day. It was a joy to show up every day and see them and chat etc..
ps. The capper to that day for me was after that crazy stressful 14 hour work day, I walked to the Red Line and sat down exhausted for the ride back towards the 35th St. station. A very drunk guy sat down next to me carrying a lose bag of full beer cans he was trying to sell on the train. He had obviously been sampling his wares, so to speak. At one point he staggered to his feet, turned towards the doors and started to relieve himself in front of an entire train car of people. He then zipped up and sat down as the puddle spread throughout the car and as if that was not any big deal whatsoever. I just dropped my head and tried to avoid the spreading puddle until it was time to exit. I then walked home loaded down with stories to tell, lol. Ah, the magic of radio. Happy Holidays y'all.
12/25/2020
Merry Christmas! The girls and I spent Christmas Eve together and brought some treats over to my Dad. We waved at him through the window. Hopefully this craziness will end and we can actually sit together inside with him again soon. Had a fun day though with a trip to the Bookstore, Shepards Pie, Gingerbread cider and Gremlins! Enjoy your day!
Merry Christmas! The girls and I spent Christmas Eve together and brought some treats over to my Dad. We waved at him through the window. Hopefully this craziness will end and we can actually sit together inside with him again soon. Had a fun day though with a trip to the Bookstore, Shepards Pie, Gingerbread cider and Gremlins! Enjoy your day!
12/25/2020
A recommendation from me that this Bee Gees documentary is just great. But I have a few thoughts on the Disco era touched on in this film. Unfortunately, Steve Dahl and his Disco Demolition are a key part of this doc and how much the Disco Sucks movement that blew up here affected the Bee Gees and their careers. One of the main claims here is that that night at Comiskey and therefore by definition the Disco Sucks movement, was racist and homophobic. Well no. Hell no, even. I'm sure there were plenty of young, drunk, racist, homophobes at the ballpark that day to revel in destruction but that was not Disco Sucks. They were morons insinuating themselves into all of it due to Dahl and his equally drunken, childish attempts at attention and promotion. I was 18 at the time and I hated Disco. I did not hate the Bee Gees. I had always liked the Bee Gees. I liked their pre-Disco music and their Disco was the best of that genre. Plus, I would argue that Staying Alive was actually a great funk song anyway. It was just his falsetto that makes it sound Disco. My point is that Disco Sucks was not racism and homophobia but a reaction to 'All Disco All The Time' on the radio at that point and the glorification of the shallow nightlife it encouraged and how non-music it all was. If you loved music and appreciated it's importance to people the all-encompassing blatant cash-grab that Disco became was infuriating. The Bee Gees, Pointer Sisters, Donna Summer etc. were giving us good, fun music and making money. I like them well enough but garbage then followed by the dozens. Therefore the music business lost it's mind and drowned us with dreck of all sorts to capitalize on that genre. My only problem with the Bee Gees was that they were ubiquitous on the radio for multiple years. It was exhausting. The Disco 'scene' had nothing to do with music. It was drugs, beautiful people, the importance of money, fame, expensive clothes, mindless hookups and the most shallow, horrible behavior imaginable, as far as I was concerned. I hated everything that Studio 54 represented and so I hated Disco. Put any synth beat on vinyl so that people can stagger and drug to it on the dance floor and make money off it. Ugh. Therefore Disco Sucks. It was a love of music that meant something and it was all trivialized and bastardized by Dahl for everyone and I will never forgive him for it. The Bee Gees and other genuinely nice, talented people had their careers affected by the intolerance that ballpark promotion promoted, so to speak. Again, I liked the Bee Gees and went to see Saturday Night Fever. To this day it is the only movie I have ever walked out of midway through. I could see it was going to be all about that shallow nightclub scene and I wanted nothing to do with it. And not for nothing, that movie seemed pretty blatantly racist and homophobic itself while being Pro-Disco. Again, to me, the documentary does not mention enough of the genuine reasons for Disco Sucks and I felt I needed to point all that out here. It does mention stupid songs like Disco Duck but that only scratches the surface. I had liked Dahl and had listened to him from the time he came here and started on WDAI. Being a baseball fan and a rock fan, that was not a day I was happy with to say the least. It wasn't fun, it was stupid. Another was when I finally got me meet him when he came to the Score to be on with Boers and Bernstein. I walked into the studio to say hi and he literally didn't even pick his head up to look at me or acknowledge me as I talked to him. I walked out shaking my head. My days of trying to cut him any slack were over. That day of Disco Demolition seems to be celebrated here each year on it's anniversary for some reason. I hope this documentary at least puts an end to that crap. It is nothing to be proud of, no matter how famous it has become. Disco still sucks but the Bee Gees don't and never did. Please and thank you.
A recommendation from me that this Bee Gees documentary is just great. But I have a few thoughts on the Disco era touched on in this film. Unfortunately, Steve Dahl and his Disco Demolition are a key part of this doc and how much the Disco Sucks movement that blew up here affected the Bee Gees and their careers. One of the main claims here is that that night at Comiskey and therefore by definition the Disco Sucks movement, was racist and homophobic. Well no. Hell no, even. I'm sure there were plenty of young, drunk, racist, homophobes at the ballpark that day to revel in destruction but that was not Disco Sucks. They were morons insinuating themselves into all of it due to Dahl and his equally drunken, childish attempts at attention and promotion. I was 18 at the time and I hated Disco. I did not hate the Bee Gees. I had always liked the Bee Gees. I liked their pre-Disco music and their Disco was the best of that genre. Plus, I would argue that Staying Alive was actually a great funk song anyway. It was just his falsetto that makes it sound Disco. My point is that Disco Sucks was not racism and homophobia but a reaction to 'All Disco All The Time' on the radio at that point and the glorification of the shallow nightlife it encouraged and how non-music it all was. If you loved music and appreciated it's importance to people the all-encompassing blatant cash-grab that Disco became was infuriating. The Bee Gees, Pointer Sisters, Donna Summer etc. were giving us good, fun music and making money. I like them well enough but garbage then followed by the dozens. Therefore the music business lost it's mind and drowned us with dreck of all sorts to capitalize on that genre. My only problem with the Bee Gees was that they were ubiquitous on the radio for multiple years. It was exhausting. The Disco 'scene' had nothing to do with music. It was drugs, beautiful people, the importance of money, fame, expensive clothes, mindless hookups and the most shallow, horrible behavior imaginable, as far as I was concerned. I hated everything that Studio 54 represented and so I hated Disco. Put any synth beat on vinyl so that people can stagger and drug to it on the dance floor and make money off it. Ugh. Therefore Disco Sucks. It was a love of music that meant something and it was all trivialized and bastardized by Dahl for everyone and I will never forgive him for it. The Bee Gees and other genuinely nice, talented people had their careers affected by the intolerance that ballpark promotion promoted, so to speak. Again, I liked the Bee Gees and went to see Saturday Night Fever. To this day it is the only movie I have ever walked out of midway through. I could see it was going to be all about that shallow nightclub scene and I wanted nothing to do with it. And not for nothing, that movie seemed pretty blatantly racist and homophobic itself while being Pro-Disco. Again, to me, the documentary does not mention enough of the genuine reasons for Disco Sucks and I felt I needed to point all that out here. It does mention stupid songs like Disco Duck but that only scratches the surface. I had liked Dahl and had listened to him from the time he came here and started on WDAI. Being a baseball fan and a rock fan, that was not a day I was happy with to say the least. It wasn't fun, it was stupid. Another was when I finally got me meet him when he came to the Score to be on with Boers and Bernstein. I walked into the studio to say hi and he literally didn't even pick his head up to look at me or acknowledge me as I talked to him. I walked out shaking my head. My days of trying to cut him any slack were over. That day of Disco Demolition seems to be celebrated here each year on it's anniversary for some reason. I hope this documentary at least puts an end to that crap. It is nothing to be proud of, no matter how famous it has become. Disco still sucks but the Bee Gees don't and never did. Please and thank you.
12/21/2020
I've had some Bears rants over recent weeks, the most recent saying that they were not worth my time and I wasn't going to give them my three hours on a Sunday anymore. The one prior to that railed that they needed to install an actual running game into their offense, not just run the ball on occasion. Those two things aren't the same. And, of course, like most everyone else I've been saying to utilize Mitch using his strenghts for once. Well, over the last few games the team has actually earned back my time and has actually installed a running offense to take the pressure off the passing game, while using Trubisky better on rollouts and using his legs! Imagine that?! Coach was asked today what took so long to do these things and he non-answered with stuff about trusting tight ends, offensive linemen and other diversions from the truth. He did not mention his stubborness and reticence to change, naturally. At least play calling has now improved and the offensive strategy actually matches the talent currently on the roster, which includes a really good running back. Revolutionary. It is not a state law that they pass the ball 55 times per game. And this concentration on the run achieves multiple things, not just first downs. It helps keep the defense off the field, gives them confidence and an identity and you know, scores points! It also helps that the Bears now have a dependable kicker as well. I like Mitch. He is not great but he is a good guy and a good leader and can do enough on the field to be productive, especially now that the coaches are tailoring the offense to suit his talents. It took way too long but at least it has happened. They have earned back my three hours a week. It's a start.
I've had some Bears rants over recent weeks, the most recent saying that they were not worth my time and I wasn't going to give them my three hours on a Sunday anymore. The one prior to that railed that they needed to install an actual running game into their offense, not just run the ball on occasion. Those two things aren't the same. And, of course, like most everyone else I've been saying to utilize Mitch using his strenghts for once. Well, over the last few games the team has actually earned back my time and has actually installed a running offense to take the pressure off the passing game, while using Trubisky better on rollouts and using his legs! Imagine that?! Coach was asked today what took so long to do these things and he non-answered with stuff about trusting tight ends, offensive linemen and other diversions from the truth. He did not mention his stubborness and reticence to change, naturally. At least play calling has now improved and the offensive strategy actually matches the talent currently on the roster, which includes a really good running back. Revolutionary. It is not a state law that they pass the ball 55 times per game. And this concentration on the run achieves multiple things, not just first downs. It helps keep the defense off the field, gives them confidence and an identity and you know, scores points! It also helps that the Bears now have a dependable kicker as well. I like Mitch. He is not great but he is a good guy and a good leader and can do enough on the field to be productive, especially now that the coaches are tailoring the offense to suit his talents. It took way too long but at least it has happened. They have earned back my three hours a week. It's a start.
12/15/2020
I'm reminded that today is the fourth anniversary of the passing of the great Craig Sager. RIP. He was the best. The former Batavia Bulldog went to H.S. in the late '60's at the same time as NBA Hall of Famer Dan Issel and Bengals long-time star quarterback Ken Anderson. Pretty amazing for a tiny school that was in the Little Seven Conference for a reason, lol. They won 58 conference games in a row, which is not hard to believe. That also tells you how good the Tom Kivisto-led (soon to be Kansas Jayhawk) East Aurora teams were, because the Tomcats would stop the Bulldogs from going downstate back in the days when there was only one class for the IHSA Tournament. Sager walked on and played some for Northwestern U., got hurt and became a cheerleader and mascot. Yes, Sager was Willie the Wildcat for a time. He was a class guy and very, very good at his job. He brought fun and personality to sports television. He is definitely still missed. Sager is more proof that nice guys do not finish last.
I'm reminded that today is the fourth anniversary of the passing of the great Craig Sager. RIP. He was the best. The former Batavia Bulldog went to H.S. in the late '60's at the same time as NBA Hall of Famer Dan Issel and Bengals long-time star quarterback Ken Anderson. Pretty amazing for a tiny school that was in the Little Seven Conference for a reason, lol. They won 58 conference games in a row, which is not hard to believe. That also tells you how good the Tom Kivisto-led (soon to be Kansas Jayhawk) East Aurora teams were, because the Tomcats would stop the Bulldogs from going downstate back in the days when there was only one class for the IHSA Tournament. Sager walked on and played some for Northwestern U., got hurt and became a cheerleader and mascot. Yes, Sager was Willie the Wildcat for a time. He was a class guy and very, very good at his job. He brought fun and personality to sports television. He is definitely still missed. Sager is more proof that nice guys do not finish last.
12/14/2020
Good news for Jim Phillips and bad news for Northwestern and the rest of the Big Ten. That conference should not have passed him over for their commissioner's post and will be sad they let him get away. Congrats to him on becoming the commissioner of the ACC. They couldn't have made a better hire. He is the rare combination of a heckuva guy who happens to care about also being great at his job and doing it in a classy way. I loved my time working with him when he was Athletic Director at NIU. I co-hosted the Sunday night NIU Coach's show with him while I was at the Score. I would travel once a week to DeKalb and set up my equipment in an office in the Athletic Department. He would come in with a coach in tow and we would sit down and just have a thirty minute conversation. It was a joy to record and he couldn't have been nicer or better to deal with. There were no marching-orders or steering things a certain way or rules or pressure or anything. He trusted me to do my job and we talked Huskie sports each week and had fun. I think that translated to the show. I was happy for him when he left for Northwestern but sad for NIU. The Wildcats had a great administrator on their campus for the last 13 years and you can tell they loved him by all the testimonials that have come out since this news broke. Again, I celebrate each instance of proof that nice guys do not finish last. Jim continues to succeed and I couldn't be happier for him or more proud of my association with him. Good on ya.
Good news for Jim Phillips and bad news for Northwestern and the rest of the Big Ten. That conference should not have passed him over for their commissioner's post and will be sad they let him get away. Congrats to him on becoming the commissioner of the ACC. They couldn't have made a better hire. He is the rare combination of a heckuva guy who happens to care about also being great at his job and doing it in a classy way. I loved my time working with him when he was Athletic Director at NIU. I co-hosted the Sunday night NIU Coach's show with him while I was at the Score. I would travel once a week to DeKalb and set up my equipment in an office in the Athletic Department. He would come in with a coach in tow and we would sit down and just have a thirty minute conversation. It was a joy to record and he couldn't have been nicer or better to deal with. There were no marching-orders or steering things a certain way or rules or pressure or anything. He trusted me to do my job and we talked Huskie sports each week and had fun. I think that translated to the show. I was happy for him when he left for Northwestern but sad for NIU. The Wildcats had a great administrator on their campus for the last 13 years and you can tell they loved him by all the testimonials that have come out since this news broke. Again, I celebrate each instance of proof that nice guys do not finish last. Jim continues to succeed and I couldn't be happier for him or more proud of my association with him. Good on ya.
12/12/2020
It's about this time every year I remind people just how bad the Bears have been in recent memory. It's safe to say they will finish under .500 again this year. That means it will now be just 7 times in the last 25 seasons that they will have finished over .500. So in 18 of the last 25 seasons the Bears will have finished at or below .500. 18 of 25! Absolutely unbelievable and absolutely unacceptable. Ted Phillips has been team President for 21 of those 25 years and the club has made the playoffs just five times since he took that job! Yes, he is the money side, not the football side theoretically but money decides who is hired and Phillips is the one who hired Jerry Angelo as GM etc. Also, in that time, the team has never figured out that you need to acquire people in this order...GM, Coach, QB. It seems common sense but the Bears never do it that way. Someone always inherits someone else they don't necessarily want. The GM inherits a Coach or the Coach inherits the QB and so on. It's infuriatingly counter productive. We're always waiting for the lame duck portion to end so the GM can get his Coach or the Coach can get his QB. It's insane. It also does not translate into wins. This same sort of thing happened with the Blackhawks to where their continued futility drove me away until the old man died and changes were made. Well, I am now at that point with the Bears. I don't want death, I just want the change part. It's all gotta go. Clean sweep. 25 years of almost complete mediocrity demands it. I am done with this nonsense. I will not waste my time watching any more stupidity. The end.
It's about this time every year I remind people just how bad the Bears have been in recent memory. It's safe to say they will finish under .500 again this year. That means it will now be just 7 times in the last 25 seasons that they will have finished over .500. So in 18 of the last 25 seasons the Bears will have finished at or below .500. 18 of 25! Absolutely unbelievable and absolutely unacceptable. Ted Phillips has been team President for 21 of those 25 years and the club has made the playoffs just five times since he took that job! Yes, he is the money side, not the football side theoretically but money decides who is hired and Phillips is the one who hired Jerry Angelo as GM etc. Also, in that time, the team has never figured out that you need to acquire people in this order...GM, Coach, QB. It seems common sense but the Bears never do it that way. Someone always inherits someone else they don't necessarily want. The GM inherits a Coach or the Coach inherits the QB and so on. It's infuriatingly counter productive. We're always waiting for the lame duck portion to end so the GM can get his Coach or the Coach can get his QB. It's insane. It also does not translate into wins. This same sort of thing happened with the Blackhawks to where their continued futility drove me away until the old man died and changes were made. Well, I am now at that point with the Bears. I don't want death, I just want the change part. It's all gotta go. Clean sweep. 25 years of almost complete mediocrity demands it. I am done with this nonsense. I will not waste my time watching any more stupidity. The end.
12/11/2020
I posted this paragraph below on Facebook two years ago, today. Not much has changed since then other than I'm not recognized anywhere at this point thanks to my mask, lol. The sentiment, however, remains the same. It would be nice to be me again. I get hints of it when I do basketball for Lewis, but it only whets my appetite for more. We didn't run this year thanks to covid and our busy schedules and I'm still not doing what I love for a living since USTN went out of business. I miss distance running. I miss radio. I miss me.-----------
I got recognized at the post office today. 'Hey, are you Moose Vasko?' Yeah, that's me.' lol. He was very nice and complimentary. Truthfully, I kinda feel like I used to be that guy. I very much would like to be again, though. So if any of my industry pals could help, I would appreciate it. I would be happy to work Christmas or New Years or anything, really. That's about the only thing I want for Christmas at this point...is to be me again.
I posted this paragraph below on Facebook two years ago, today. Not much has changed since then other than I'm not recognized anywhere at this point thanks to my mask, lol. The sentiment, however, remains the same. It would be nice to be me again. I get hints of it when I do basketball for Lewis, but it only whets my appetite for more. We didn't run this year thanks to covid and our busy schedules and I'm still not doing what I love for a living since USTN went out of business. I miss distance running. I miss radio. I miss me.-----------
I got recognized at the post office today. 'Hey, are you Moose Vasko?' Yeah, that's me.' lol. He was very nice and complimentary. Truthfully, I kinda feel like I used to be that guy. I very much would like to be again, though. So if any of my industry pals could help, I would appreciate it. I would be happy to work Christmas or New Years or anything, really. That's about the only thing I want for Christmas at this point...is to be me again.
12/8/2020
Anyone want to explain to me what the hell the White Sox are doing? Adam Frickin Eaton?! Jesus. Why are they bringing back a clubhouse cancer and bad guy to mess with this club? What's next, bring back Drake LaRoche and put his locker next to Adam's. Good grief. Eaton took Chris Sale's side when he cut up the jerseys and called a child a clubhouse leader in taking the elder LaRoche's side in that spat. That's the wrong and unpopular-with-teammates side in both of those locker room incidents. Add in the fact he is almost never healthy and hit all of .226 this season. Wow. Just wow. Ozzie Guillen's quote on TV at the time " "Eaton, nobody likes you in the White Sox clubhouse," It's like they are trying to sabotage the season before it even begins. Having said that, he got along better with teammates in Washington, so I guess there's hope he's grown up but how crazy are baseball salaries when one year at 7 million is not seen as much of a gamble for the Sox. I just think there had to be better options with less potential downside for that kind of money. Sheesh.
Anyone want to explain to me what the hell the White Sox are doing? Adam Frickin Eaton?! Jesus. Why are they bringing back a clubhouse cancer and bad guy to mess with this club? What's next, bring back Drake LaRoche and put his locker next to Adam's. Good grief. Eaton took Chris Sale's side when he cut up the jerseys and called a child a clubhouse leader in taking the elder LaRoche's side in that spat. That's the wrong and unpopular-with-teammates side in both of those locker room incidents. Add in the fact he is almost never healthy and hit all of .226 this season. Wow. Just wow. Ozzie Guillen's quote on TV at the time " "Eaton, nobody likes you in the White Sox clubhouse," It's like they are trying to sabotage the season before it even begins. Having said that, he got along better with teammates in Washington, so I guess there's hope he's grown up but how crazy are baseball salaries when one year at 7 million is not seen as much of a gamble for the Sox. I just think there had to be better options with less potential downside for that kind of money. Sheesh.
12/7/2020
The Illinois Basketball Coaches Association announced their latest list of Hall of Fame inductees today. Congrats to coaches Keith Bunkenburg of Benedictine Men's Basketball and Scott Trost of Lewis Men's Basketball. Also, Billy Taylor, the former star at West Aurora and Notre Dame will join the Hall of Fame for his days as a player.
I got to broadcast Taylor who graduated from West High as their all-time leading scorer with over 16 hundred points back in my WKKD days. Neal Ormond, of course, has been the voice of the Blackhawks forever but I got to be there for those battles with East Aurora and the post season as well. Taylor went on to star with the Irish and has now become a very successful college coach at places like Lehigh and Ball State. He is now an assistant at Iowa. He was so skilled on the court and was a leader on the floor.
I've been around long enough to call games for Bunks as a player at Benedictine and then 13 years as their coach. I was doing games for Aurora U. at the time and their battles with Bunkenburg and IBC were intense. 400-plus wins and multiple Conference titles and Coach of the Year awards were well earned at the helm of the Eagles. A berth in a D3 National Championship game a few years ago wasn't too shabby either.
I have been the only Lewis announcer for all 15 years of Trost's tenure in Romeoville. He has won over 260 games with the Flyers and has taken them to the NCAA Tournament five times in the toughest route in the nation though the GLVC. He has been named the IBCA D2 Coach of the Year five times. Trost also won over 100 games at Illinois Wesleyan, 50-plus at Elmhurst and was an assistant at Michigan when they won a Big Ten Title.
Those three guys also happen to really nice human beings as well as great ambassadors for the game of basketball and I have been lucky to be around them as much as I have been. Congratulations again to all three and thanks for making all those hours behind the mic over the years so much fun for me.
The Illinois Basketball Coaches Association announced their latest list of Hall of Fame inductees today. Congrats to coaches Keith Bunkenburg of Benedictine Men's Basketball and Scott Trost of Lewis Men's Basketball. Also, Billy Taylor, the former star at West Aurora and Notre Dame will join the Hall of Fame for his days as a player.
I got to broadcast Taylor who graduated from West High as their all-time leading scorer with over 16 hundred points back in my WKKD days. Neal Ormond, of course, has been the voice of the Blackhawks forever but I got to be there for those battles with East Aurora and the post season as well. Taylor went on to star with the Irish and has now become a very successful college coach at places like Lehigh and Ball State. He is now an assistant at Iowa. He was so skilled on the court and was a leader on the floor.
I've been around long enough to call games for Bunks as a player at Benedictine and then 13 years as their coach. I was doing games for Aurora U. at the time and their battles with Bunkenburg and IBC were intense. 400-plus wins and multiple Conference titles and Coach of the Year awards were well earned at the helm of the Eagles. A berth in a D3 National Championship game a few years ago wasn't too shabby either.
I have been the only Lewis announcer for all 15 years of Trost's tenure in Romeoville. He has won over 260 games with the Flyers and has taken them to the NCAA Tournament five times in the toughest route in the nation though the GLVC. He has been named the IBCA D2 Coach of the Year five times. Trost also won over 100 games at Illinois Wesleyan, 50-plus at Elmhurst and was an assistant at Michigan when they won a Big Ten Title.
Those three guys also happen to really nice human beings as well as great ambassadors for the game of basketball and I have been lucky to be around them as much as I have been. Congratulations again to all three and thanks for making all those hours behind the mic over the years so much fun for me.
12/2/2020
8 years ago today, the NIU football team found out they were going to the Orange Bowl. And yes, Florida State beat them 31-10 on New Years Day of 2013 but the two FSU 4th quarter touchdowns made that score feel worse than the game was for most of the day. Regardless, the Huskies earned the right to be there and all the hand-wringing about the berth was more about money than anything else. It was the big payday the other schools were mad they weren't getting way more than a non major conference school getting the bid they didn't 'deserve'. It was fun to put on my old NIU stuff and cheer on Jordan Lynch and company that day, that's for sure. The Huskies still finished 12-2 and ended up ranked #22 in the nation! Here's what I said 8 years ago...
Very happy for NIU and their Orange Bowl berth against Florida State. Doesn't seem that long ago I was hosting their weekly Coach's show on the Score...or that long ago that I did some sideline reporting for their broadcasts. Of course I go all the way back to Stacey Robinson and LeShon Johnson, let alone Michael Turner and Garrett Wolfe. I still have some NIU gear and definitely will be breaking it out New Years Day!
Love all the angst about NIU going to the Orange Bowl. Makes me even happier. Mid majors make it to the Sweet 16 all the time too. It helps the sport even if they lose once they get there. NIU earned it on the field and beat who they were supposed to beat. To all the teams who think they got screwed...here's an idea...win more football games! The Huskies got in despite all the Big 12 coaches trying to screw them in the coach's poll. Ha!
8 years ago today, the NIU football team found out they were going to the Orange Bowl. And yes, Florida State beat them 31-10 on New Years Day of 2013 but the two FSU 4th quarter touchdowns made that score feel worse than the game was for most of the day. Regardless, the Huskies earned the right to be there and all the hand-wringing about the berth was more about money than anything else. It was the big payday the other schools were mad they weren't getting way more than a non major conference school getting the bid they didn't 'deserve'. It was fun to put on my old NIU stuff and cheer on Jordan Lynch and company that day, that's for sure. The Huskies still finished 12-2 and ended up ranked #22 in the nation! Here's what I said 8 years ago...
Very happy for NIU and their Orange Bowl berth against Florida State. Doesn't seem that long ago I was hosting their weekly Coach's show on the Score...or that long ago that I did some sideline reporting for their broadcasts. Of course I go all the way back to Stacey Robinson and LeShon Johnson, let alone Michael Turner and Garrett Wolfe. I still have some NIU gear and definitely will be breaking it out New Years Day!
Love all the angst about NIU going to the Orange Bowl. Makes me even happier. Mid majors make it to the Sweet 16 all the time too. It helps the sport even if they lose once they get there. NIU earned it on the field and beat who they were supposed to beat. To all the teams who think they got screwed...here's an idea...win more football games! The Huskies got in despite all the Big 12 coaches trying to screw them in the coach's poll. Ha!
11/24/2020
Five years ago today Max Strus put on one heckuva show for the Lewis Flyers basketball team in a wild 99-95 win over Northwood of Michigan. The team hit 17 of 24 three-ponters, while Max himself hit an astonishing 12 of 14 threes, was 12 of 12 from the foul line and finished with 52pts! He also added 12 rebounds in that dominating performance. And for the record, teammate Miles Simelton was brilliant as well that night with 17 points and 11 assists! Max would end up leading the team in scoring at 20 ppg that year. He certainly could have scored more per contest but he had plenty of help that season as Kyle Nelson averaged 13 ppg, while Simelton and Delany Blalock each averaged 12. Capel Henshaw averaged 8 and Frank Vukaj put in 7 per game. That squad finished 24-9, beat Parkside for the Conference Tournament Championship and advanced to the D2 National Tournament where they were beaten by Saginaw Valley in the Regionals, a team they had beaten 85-84 early in the season just prior to this Northwood game. As far as Strus' 52 point effort, "It was the most amazing performance that I have witnessed at any level," coach Scott Trost said afterward. That is saying a lot considering Trost has coached at every collegiate level including the Big Ten as an assistant with Michigan. Strus would parlay the attention from that big night to a move to play for the DePaul Blue Demons for the final two seasons of his college career. He then, of course, moved on to the NBA and played a few games for the Chicago Bulls last season. He tore his ACL playing in the minors for the Bulls last December but is healthy again. We were all happy for Max when he moved to the Demons but I don't think there was any question the Flyers would have won a D2 National Title if he had stayed. Oh well. As it was, I got to announce Marty Strus for four years and then Max for two at Lewis and those brothers from Stagg H.S. were really something to see. That night five years ago against Northwood was something to see as well, all 52 points of it! Here's to you, Max, and here's to seeing you back in the NBA!
In an update to the story, Max has signed on with the Miami Heat! They seriously considered taking him in the 2nd round out of DePaul and are giving him a chance to make their squad this season and have invited him to their training camp.
Five years ago today Max Strus put on one heckuva show for the Lewis Flyers basketball team in a wild 99-95 win over Northwood of Michigan. The team hit 17 of 24 three-ponters, while Max himself hit an astonishing 12 of 14 threes, was 12 of 12 from the foul line and finished with 52pts! He also added 12 rebounds in that dominating performance. And for the record, teammate Miles Simelton was brilliant as well that night with 17 points and 11 assists! Max would end up leading the team in scoring at 20 ppg that year. He certainly could have scored more per contest but he had plenty of help that season as Kyle Nelson averaged 13 ppg, while Simelton and Delany Blalock each averaged 12. Capel Henshaw averaged 8 and Frank Vukaj put in 7 per game. That squad finished 24-9, beat Parkside for the Conference Tournament Championship and advanced to the D2 National Tournament where they were beaten by Saginaw Valley in the Regionals, a team they had beaten 85-84 early in the season just prior to this Northwood game. As far as Strus' 52 point effort, "It was the most amazing performance that I have witnessed at any level," coach Scott Trost said afterward. That is saying a lot considering Trost has coached at every collegiate level including the Big Ten as an assistant with Michigan. Strus would parlay the attention from that big night to a move to play for the DePaul Blue Demons for the final two seasons of his college career. He then, of course, moved on to the NBA and played a few games for the Chicago Bulls last season. He tore his ACL playing in the minors for the Bulls last December but is healthy again. We were all happy for Max when he moved to the Demons but I don't think there was any question the Flyers would have won a D2 National Title if he had stayed. Oh well. As it was, I got to announce Marty Strus for four years and then Max for two at Lewis and those brothers from Stagg H.S. were really something to see. That night five years ago against Northwood was something to see as well, all 52 points of it! Here's to you, Max, and here's to seeing you back in the NBA!
In an update to the story, Max has signed on with the Miami Heat! They seriously considered taking him in the 2nd round out of DePaul and are giving him a chance to make their squad this season and have invited him to their training camp.
11/23/2020
Yesterday was the 50th anniversary, gulp, of the day my Dad took me to my only Bears game at Wrigley Field. Nov. 22, 1970 was also the best day for quarterback Bobby Douglass as a Pro qb in the NFL. He threw for four touchdowns and did it with a broken wrist as the Bears beat the Bills 31-13. Dick Gordon caught two of those TD's. Jim Seymour had a 53 yd TD grab. They needed that because Ronnie Bull only rushed for 19yds and Douglass only ran for 12. The game did not start out well for Douglass though. His first pass of the day was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by George Byrd. As I said, Bobby was great after that and finished the game despite playing the second half with a broken wrist that put him out for the rest of the season. I saw both Dick Butkus and Doug Buffone pick off passes that day. It wasn't just my only Bears game at Wrigley, it was the only Bears regular season game I saw anywhere until I was an adult and got paid to be there. We went to dozens of Cubs games when I was a kid but not much else. We sat in what used to be temporary seats on the concourse behind home plate that day, located just below the first row of reserved grandstand. Seats were nailed into the concrete wall and they flip down for you to sit in them, but you couldn't because people would continuously walk by in front of you! Didn't matter. I was just happy to be there. We went to a couple Bears pre-season games at Soldier Field eventually when I was in high school and we sat in the old end zone bleachers, but saw no in-person Hawks or Bulls games at all. I went to plenty of Sox games at Comiskey with friends but none with family. I am certainly thankful for that one day and all the games as a reporter and fan since.
Yesterday was the 50th anniversary, gulp, of the day my Dad took me to my only Bears game at Wrigley Field. Nov. 22, 1970 was also the best day for quarterback Bobby Douglass as a Pro qb in the NFL. He threw for four touchdowns and did it with a broken wrist as the Bears beat the Bills 31-13. Dick Gordon caught two of those TD's. Jim Seymour had a 53 yd TD grab. They needed that because Ronnie Bull only rushed for 19yds and Douglass only ran for 12. The game did not start out well for Douglass though. His first pass of the day was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by George Byrd. As I said, Bobby was great after that and finished the game despite playing the second half with a broken wrist that put him out for the rest of the season. I saw both Dick Butkus and Doug Buffone pick off passes that day. It wasn't just my only Bears game at Wrigley, it was the only Bears regular season game I saw anywhere until I was an adult and got paid to be there. We went to dozens of Cubs games when I was a kid but not much else. We sat in what used to be temporary seats on the concourse behind home plate that day, located just below the first row of reserved grandstand. Seats were nailed into the concrete wall and they flip down for you to sit in them, but you couldn't because people would continuously walk by in front of you! Didn't matter. I was just happy to be there. We went to a couple Bears pre-season games at Soldier Field eventually when I was in high school and we sat in the old end zone bleachers, but saw no in-person Hawks or Bulls games at all. I went to plenty of Sox games at Comiskey with friends but none with family. I am certainly thankful for that one day and all the games as a reporter and fan since.
11/22/2020
Like this post from three years ago shows, most of my Thanksgivings have been spent working. And truth be told, I liked it that way and miss it. I even miss when I got up before 4am three years ago to go and did traffic updates for WGN all Turkey Day long like this post said, lol. For most of my radio career I've been kind of like the 6th man. I'm not usually the starter that gets that day off but am the utility player off the bench to come in, grab whichever glove...talk show host, update anchor, both, news, sports, music, traffic, etc. ...is required, and fill in for whoever is taking a break on Thanksgiving or Christmas or whenever. I took and take pride in that ability. I wish I was putting it to work this week as well. Thanksgiving of 1999 was my first day at the Score and I worked the next six straight Turkey Days there after that. The list is long because so is the list of jobs I've had, lol. WBBM, 1on1 Sports, Sporting News, Yahoo Sports, USTN and I think I even woke up at 3:30am and did news for IRN on Thanksgiving too. I was a starter for WKKD and WJOL so got to take rare holidays off there on occasion like Thanksgiving but I did do morning shifts to play music from 6am to noon every Christmas at 'KKD for 11 years. If I didn't do it then I would have had to find someone else to do it and couldn't make myself even ask, lol. The thing about me and radio is, I never once in 30-plus years, not want to go to work, not even at 3:30am on Thanksgiving. I wish I was going to some radio station on Thursday. I get to do another year of Lewis U. basketball starting on Friday. I can't wait to put those headsets on again. It's only 11 doubleheaders but it will do until someone else decides they need a utility man that enjoys that role and can't wait to come off the bench. I'll bring all my gloves with me.
11/19/2020
I'm posting this because I really miss concerts and this one was one of the best I ever saw and also because AC/DC having a new album out reminded me of my first time seeing them. I was 17 years old and went with a buddy to this all-day show at Comiskey. It was a perfect summer day for Summer Jam '78 and we got there early. We came for Aerosmith but AC/DC stole the show and made me a fan for life with this set. They were a surprise late addition after playing at the Amphitheater the night before as the opener for Alvin Lee. Foreigner was the other big name on the bill at Comiskey but I was not really all that interested in them. Walter Egan had a hit that summer with Magnet and Steel and was an okay opener. Frank Marino was cool. I had no idea who AC/DC was and nobody around us did either. We were right up front and the day long volume of those huge speakers has caused me hearing damage to this day, lol. Those speakers had to carry the sound all the way to the press box from under the scoreboard and to the other 66,000 fans there that day. My ears rang for literally three full days afterward. It was worth it! Bon and the boys came onstage and launched into Live Wire. To borrow a phrase, I was gobsmacked! The power was astonishing. What followed was Problem Child, Sin City, Gone Shootin, Bad Boy Boogie, Rocker and Dog Eat Dog. My buddy John and I just kept looking at each other in astonishment. When Angus got on Bon's shoulders and went into the crowd, they went right by us. I'm not in this picture, but I looked and can't be too far out of frame. The hair on my arms stood up the whole time. It was wild. Loved it. Foreigner had the bad luck of having to follow that. They were fine but after that, we were all ready for Aerosmith and they weren't Aerosmith. They kept doing the one thing I hate from bands, they kept trying for us to clap along. Listen, nitwits, just play. If we feel the urge we'll clap along we will, otherwise we paid for you to do the work, not us. Aerosmith then closed the show and were very good. I've read some less than glowing reviews of their set that day but I liked it a lot. Again, after the show AC/DC put on, everything paled an they were all anyone talked about on the way out. The next day, I went right out to Fox Valley Mall and bought the High Voltage album. Because I like all sorts of music, I also bought a Marshall Tucker album that day too. I still remember the guy asking me if I really liked both bands as he rang me up, lol. Yes I did and do. I then went on to buy everything else AC/DC put out. It's fun that they have another album out now. The following Fourth of July of 1979, I saw AC/DC in another all day show in Pecatonica, near Rockford, headlined by Cheap Trick, with Molly Hatchet, the Babys and Steve Dahl with Teenage Radiation. But that's another story, although it was the only other time I got to see Bon before he died. I'm lucky to have seen him with the guys twice and will never forget those shows.
I'm posting this because I really miss concerts and this one was one of the best I ever saw and also because AC/DC having a new album out reminded me of my first time seeing them. I was 17 years old and went with a buddy to this all-day show at Comiskey. It was a perfect summer day for Summer Jam '78 and we got there early. We came for Aerosmith but AC/DC stole the show and made me a fan for life with this set. They were a surprise late addition after playing at the Amphitheater the night before as the opener for Alvin Lee. Foreigner was the other big name on the bill at Comiskey but I was not really all that interested in them. Walter Egan had a hit that summer with Magnet and Steel and was an okay opener. Frank Marino was cool. I had no idea who AC/DC was and nobody around us did either. We were right up front and the day long volume of those huge speakers has caused me hearing damage to this day, lol. Those speakers had to carry the sound all the way to the press box from under the scoreboard and to the other 66,000 fans there that day. My ears rang for literally three full days afterward. It was worth it! Bon and the boys came onstage and launched into Live Wire. To borrow a phrase, I was gobsmacked! The power was astonishing. What followed was Problem Child, Sin City, Gone Shootin, Bad Boy Boogie, Rocker and Dog Eat Dog. My buddy John and I just kept looking at each other in astonishment. When Angus got on Bon's shoulders and went into the crowd, they went right by us. I'm not in this picture, but I looked and can't be too far out of frame. The hair on my arms stood up the whole time. It was wild. Loved it. Foreigner had the bad luck of having to follow that. They were fine but after that, we were all ready for Aerosmith and they weren't Aerosmith. They kept doing the one thing I hate from bands, they kept trying for us to clap along. Listen, nitwits, just play. If we feel the urge we'll clap along we will, otherwise we paid for you to do the work, not us. Aerosmith then closed the show and were very good. I've read some less than glowing reviews of their set that day but I liked it a lot. Again, after the show AC/DC put on, everything paled an they were all anyone talked about on the way out. The next day, I went right out to Fox Valley Mall and bought the High Voltage album. Because I like all sorts of music, I also bought a Marshall Tucker album that day too. I still remember the guy asking me if I really liked both bands as he rang me up, lol. Yes I did and do. I then went on to buy everything else AC/DC put out. It's fun that they have another album out now. The following Fourth of July of 1979, I saw AC/DC in another all day show in Pecatonica, near Rockford, headlined by Cheap Trick, with Molly Hatchet, the Babys and Steve Dahl with Teenage Radiation. But that's another story, although it was the only other time I got to see Bon before he died. I'm lucky to have seen him with the guys twice and will never forget those shows.
11/17/2020
Thank you Theo Epstein for bringing professionalism and a professional plan to the Cubs. I got to share a Championship with my then 91 year old Dad. We both grew up going to Wrigley and still talk about the Cubs every time we speak. Means everything. Having said that, nobody and nothing is perfect. I wasn't thrilled having to cheer for Aroldis Chapman or Daniel Murphy but that is and was out of my control. Addison Russell hung around way too long once we knew who he was too. He made other moves I wasn't thrilled with of course. Nobody hits on every move, though. I want Gleybar Torres back and Eloy Jimenez would be nice to have back too! Oh well. Yes, he emptied the farm system but the Championship was worth it. The Cubs are kind of a mess now but it is more on the current lineup that can no longer hit than on Theo. We should have had more time to rebuild the farm system but who would have guessed that an MVP and others would all of the sudden forget how to hit? Now the needs are more immediate than they should have been. That's not really on him. The team had four straight seasons of at least 92 wins here recently. For a guy who lived through a span of nine season's win totals in the 70's over eleven years from 1982 through 1992, I ain't complaining! Again, he came on board whe the team was still in the dark ages and that was not that long ago! The team offices didn't have ethernet when he got there, for goodness sake. He brought in a heckuva resume and respectability and success soon followed. Thanks for a great run.
Thank you Theo Epstein for bringing professionalism and a professional plan to the Cubs. I got to share a Championship with my then 91 year old Dad. We both grew up going to Wrigley and still talk about the Cubs every time we speak. Means everything. Having said that, nobody and nothing is perfect. I wasn't thrilled having to cheer for Aroldis Chapman or Daniel Murphy but that is and was out of my control. Addison Russell hung around way too long once we knew who he was too. He made other moves I wasn't thrilled with of course. Nobody hits on every move, though. I want Gleybar Torres back and Eloy Jimenez would be nice to have back too! Oh well. Yes, he emptied the farm system but the Championship was worth it. The Cubs are kind of a mess now but it is more on the current lineup that can no longer hit than on Theo. We should have had more time to rebuild the farm system but who would have guessed that an MVP and others would all of the sudden forget how to hit? Now the needs are more immediate than they should have been. That's not really on him. The team had four straight seasons of at least 92 wins here recently. For a guy who lived through a span of nine season's win totals in the 70's over eleven years from 1982 through 1992, I ain't complaining! Again, he came on board whe the team was still in the dark ages and that was not that long ago! The team offices didn't have ethernet when he got there, for goodness sake. He brought in a heckuva resume and respectability and success soon followed. Thanks for a great run.
11/17/2020
I originally wrote this three years ago. I have tweaked it and re-posted.
On this date in 1973 the Who's double-album Quadrophenia hit the charts in the U.K. That explains why I have been listening so much to Quadro again lately, 2020 an' all don't ya know. It's in the ether, I guess. This is my Quadrophenia story. It is the most important music of my life and why I went to see the Who twice on their last tour as they performed several Quadro songs with orchestra. Amazing.
I rode my bike to Korvette's in Arlington Heights to buy Quadrophenia. I discovered it a few years after it's release, the more I got into the Who. My buddy John Carroll and I would listen to it over at his house all the time in junior high. It is not an exaggeration to say that this double album saved my life and eventually got me through high school in one piece. (You try moving to a new town and being the new kid in school in the middle of the semester as a shy 15 year old). It really was 'sacred' in that once in college, Bob Ciciora, Mick Kahler and I went to our buddy Kalo's house, where he took out his 'import' version on high quality vinyl out plastic for us to record it onto the most expensive 'metal' cassette you can buy. That is the version I used rather than wear out my own vinyl copy until it came out on those new-fangled CD things. It was then the first CD that I bought. Pretty incredible that the group of friends I made in college and still have to this day also held Quadro up as the Valhala of rock n roll. Teenagers now have Harry Potter or the X-Men. I had Jimmy and his four-sided personality in Quadrophenia. The question at the end of Quadro and the song Love Reign O'er Me is 'Did Jimmy go with his Vespa over the cliff? Well, it depends on the mood of the listener at the time my friends, cuz the listener IS Jimmy. That's why it is left unclear. But by the end of that song, I didn't want to go over the cliff and that's all that matters. Love Reign O'er Me isn't just a great song, it is the end of this double-album journey you go on.
P.S. On the other hand, Springsteen's 'Nebraska' album makes you want to fly off that cliff and was/is not a record to listen to when down in the dumps. Just some friendly advice, lol.
I originally wrote this three years ago. I have tweaked it and re-posted.
On this date in 1973 the Who's double-album Quadrophenia hit the charts in the U.K. That explains why I have been listening so much to Quadro again lately, 2020 an' all don't ya know. It's in the ether, I guess. This is my Quadrophenia story. It is the most important music of my life and why I went to see the Who twice on their last tour as they performed several Quadro songs with orchestra. Amazing.
I rode my bike to Korvette's in Arlington Heights to buy Quadrophenia. I discovered it a few years after it's release, the more I got into the Who. My buddy John Carroll and I would listen to it over at his house all the time in junior high. It is not an exaggeration to say that this double album saved my life and eventually got me through high school in one piece. (You try moving to a new town and being the new kid in school in the middle of the semester as a shy 15 year old). It really was 'sacred' in that once in college, Bob Ciciora, Mick Kahler and I went to our buddy Kalo's house, where he took out his 'import' version on high quality vinyl out plastic for us to record it onto the most expensive 'metal' cassette you can buy. That is the version I used rather than wear out my own vinyl copy until it came out on those new-fangled CD things. It was then the first CD that I bought. Pretty incredible that the group of friends I made in college and still have to this day also held Quadro up as the Valhala of rock n roll. Teenagers now have Harry Potter or the X-Men. I had Jimmy and his four-sided personality in Quadrophenia. The question at the end of Quadro and the song Love Reign O'er Me is 'Did Jimmy go with his Vespa over the cliff? Well, it depends on the mood of the listener at the time my friends, cuz the listener IS Jimmy. That's why it is left unclear. But by the end of that song, I didn't want to go over the cliff and that's all that matters. Love Reign O'er Me isn't just a great song, it is the end of this double-album journey you go on.
P.S. On the other hand, Springsteen's 'Nebraska' album makes you want to fly off that cliff and was/is not a record to listen to when down in the dumps. Just some friendly advice, lol.
11/17/2020
Hear me out. The Bears should put Mitch back in and run the Wishbone. Just kidding. But not by much. How much worse could they be? lol. Defenses haven't seen it in years. Tough to prepare for. At least then they'd be fun bad. Now they're just bad. And btw, the only reason I even say I'm kidding at all is that they would never do it. If they did, believe me, I would be behind it 100 percent.
Hear me out. The Bears should put Mitch back in and run the Wishbone. Just kidding. But not by much. How much worse could they be? lol. Defenses haven't seen it in years. Tough to prepare for. At least then they'd be fun bad. Now they're just bad. And btw, the only reason I even say I'm kidding at all is that they would never do it. If they did, believe me, I would be behind it 100 percent.
11/13/2020
Congrats to Jose Abreu of the White Sox on winning the AL MVP. Abreu finally had a lineup w enough help where he could relax & not have all the pressure of being 'the' offense. Regardless, a full 2020 would have been his 6th yr out of 7 of 100+rbi & would have been his 5th w 30+ hrs. A quiet, dependable superstar if ever there was one. MVP indeed.
Fun fact about Abreu. I know the Cuban League is a different animal but over the course of two seasons combined there...2010 and 2011...playing for Cienfuegos...Abreu...in 153 total games...or about one full MLB season...he hit 68 home runs, drove in 192 runs and his combined batting average was .419. Ludicrous, lol.
Congrats to Jose Abreu of the White Sox on winning the AL MVP. Abreu finally had a lineup w enough help where he could relax & not have all the pressure of being 'the' offense. Regardless, a full 2020 would have been his 6th yr out of 7 of 100+rbi & would have been his 5th w 30+ hrs. A quiet, dependable superstar if ever there was one. MVP indeed.
Fun fact about Abreu. I know the Cuban League is a different animal but over the course of two seasons combined there...2010 and 2011...playing for Cienfuegos...Abreu...in 153 total games...or about one full MLB season...he hit 68 home runs, drove in 192 runs and his combined batting average was .419. Ludicrous, lol.
11/11/2020
A picture of my 17-year old Dad going off to the Navy in World War II...standing next to his sister Anne in front of their house on Harding Ave. Thanks to all Vets on this Veteran's Day...
I thought I would share this here today. My Dad needed his parents signatures to enlist in the Navy, since he was still just 17 after graduating from Schurz H.S. in 1942. My Grandparents both escaped from Slovakia during WWI. It was part of the Austria-Hungary Monarchy at the time and that, of course, is where that War was sparked. Neither spoke English. Grandpa Vasko could only order 'apple-a pie an coffee' from a diner until he learned more of the language. He got a job with a Tool and Die maker and became, as I've said before, a huge Cubs fan, picking up our National Past-time in a hurry. His son, my Dad, worked as a mechanic early on in WWII, repairing Navy fighter planes. Dad still only weighed about 110 lbs soaking wet at the time, so the front lines might not have been such a good idea right off the bat until he finally starting filling out, lol. So on this Veteran's Day, here's to the immigrants who built this country and then sent their sons and daughters off to fight and defend their new nation and preserve the freedom it provided and still does to this day!
A picture of my 17-year old Dad going off to the Navy in World War II...standing next to his sister Anne in front of their house on Harding Ave. Thanks to all Vets on this Veteran's Day...
I thought I would share this here today. My Dad needed his parents signatures to enlist in the Navy, since he was still just 17 after graduating from Schurz H.S. in 1942. My Grandparents both escaped from Slovakia during WWI. It was part of the Austria-Hungary Monarchy at the time and that, of course, is where that War was sparked. Neither spoke English. Grandpa Vasko could only order 'apple-a pie an coffee' from a diner until he learned more of the language. He got a job with a Tool and Die maker and became, as I've said before, a huge Cubs fan, picking up our National Past-time in a hurry. His son, my Dad, worked as a mechanic early on in WWII, repairing Navy fighter planes. Dad still only weighed about 110 lbs soaking wet at the time, so the front lines might not have been such a good idea right off the bat until he finally starting filling out, lol. So on this Veteran's Day, here's to the immigrants who built this country and then sent their sons and daughters off to fight and defend their new nation and preserve the freedom it provided and still does to this day!
11/10/2020
So the new White Sox Manager could be going to jail for multiple DUI's. Jerry knew there was a pending DUI case and hired him anyway, knowing all along that no one but him liked the idea in the first place. Ricky Renteria is laughing somewhere and he should be. We are not however joining in with him because it is really just plain sad. The leaders of this clubhouse should stand up and put an end to this nonsense. There never really was an honest search for a new Manager. Now there should actually be one. Jerry Reinsdorf was going to hire his buddy come hell or high water. Well then, hell it is.
So the new White Sox Manager could be going to jail for multiple DUI's. Jerry knew there was a pending DUI case and hired him anyway, knowing all along that no one but him liked the idea in the first place. Ricky Renteria is laughing somewhere and he should be. We are not however joining in with him because it is really just plain sad. The leaders of this clubhouse should stand up and put an end to this nonsense. There never really was an honest search for a new Manager. Now there should actually be one. Jerry Reinsdorf was going to hire his buddy come hell or high water. Well then, hell it is.
11/9/2020
This is not news but the Bears are a disaster...again. While I am not a student of football the way I am a student of baseball and basketball, a lifetime of watching and broadcasting football at all levels has taught me a few things. The Bears offense, as called, looks to only have a chance for success if their quarterback is elite. Our qb is not elite. He is okay. Therefore, as constructed, it is already a losing proposition. Add in the lack of running game and there you have it. Running the ball occasionally does not mean you have a running game. It means you have a couple running plays. There is a difference. If the passing game needs help, it would only follow that a good running game would do the trick. Nagy does not seem interested. The offensive line was not a strength even when healthy. Now, there are signing guys off the street. Again, you would think that setting up a running offense would help passing productivity. In other words, actually utilize the fullback on the roster, and put him in the backfield to help block or to then pop out into the flat as a safety valve or, ya know, actually run the ball. Or how about putting a tight end as an H-back and use him like a fullback? Or how about putting that tight end in the slot and put him in motion to be in the backfield at the time of the snap to use as a blocker? In other words, how about putting together a game plan to utilize the talent you actually have. And again, put together a running game. Use two backs in the backfield plus one in the slot, anything. The offensive line has run stuff like that their whole life. It shouldn't be a big deal to change on the fly. How about having a running game that the opposition has to prepare for. And how about worrying more about out-executing than out-guessing the other team?! The Bears used a little split backs and a little I-formation yesterday, so they have it. Just utilize it more and better. The defense deserves a rest. It deserves long drives that eat up time of possession. It deserves some damn points on the board. Be a coach and come up with something that works cuz this sure as hell ain't it. Fourth quarter desperation offense is not an offense. Those dump-offs over the middle only work in the 4th when the linebackers are deep to protect the long pass. Earn your money and do something! Please and thank you.
This is not news but the Bears are a disaster...again. While I am not a student of football the way I am a student of baseball and basketball, a lifetime of watching and broadcasting football at all levels has taught me a few things. The Bears offense, as called, looks to only have a chance for success if their quarterback is elite. Our qb is not elite. He is okay. Therefore, as constructed, it is already a losing proposition. Add in the lack of running game and there you have it. Running the ball occasionally does not mean you have a running game. It means you have a couple running plays. There is a difference. If the passing game needs help, it would only follow that a good running game would do the trick. Nagy does not seem interested. The offensive line was not a strength even when healthy. Now, there are signing guys off the street. Again, you would think that setting up a running offense would help passing productivity. In other words, actually utilize the fullback on the roster, and put him in the backfield to help block or to then pop out into the flat as a safety valve or, ya know, actually run the ball. Or how about putting a tight end as an H-back and use him like a fullback? Or how about putting that tight end in the slot and put him in motion to be in the backfield at the time of the snap to use as a blocker? In other words, how about putting together a game plan to utilize the talent you actually have. And again, put together a running game. Use two backs in the backfield plus one in the slot, anything. The offensive line has run stuff like that their whole life. It shouldn't be a big deal to change on the fly. How about having a running game that the opposition has to prepare for. And how about worrying more about out-executing than out-guessing the other team?! The Bears used a little split backs and a little I-formation yesterday, so they have it. Just utilize it more and better. The defense deserves a rest. It deserves long drives that eat up time of possession. It deserves some damn points on the board. Be a coach and come up with something that works cuz this sure as hell ain't it. Fourth quarter desperation offense is not an offense. Those dump-offs over the middle only work in the 4th when the linebackers are deep to protect the long pass. Earn your money and do something! Please and thank you.
11/3/2020
It's a stressful Election Day, so I am choosing to busy my mind with comforting memories. My story the other day was about a great visit to Notre Dame for the Lewis Men's team on a November night 11 years ago. Well, 6 years ago this week, the Lewis Womens' team beat three D1's on the way to a season for the ages that saw them ranked #1 in the Nation and qualifying for the Elite 8. They started that season in early November with exhibition wins over Loyola, NIU and then Marquette, all in the space of a week. Those wins are the ones I want to write about here because they signaled what a special season that was about to be. The Flyers opened exhibition play by routing the Loyola Ramblers 83-61 on November 4 and you got the feeling right away that the Flyers were going to be very good. Jamie Johnson and Mariyah Henley each scored 17 points and Henley only needed to play 17 minutes in a game where the Flyers led by as many as 27 points. Nikkie Nellen dished out 7 assists in just 29 minutes. A better test was against Northern Illinois and they passed that test fairly easily too with a 60-49 win. That was a special game for me, since I had been the radio voice of the NIU Women's teams during their great run of four NCAA appearances under Jane Albright in the late '80's and early '90's. So I knew what elite women's basketball looked like and I knew this Flyers team certainly qualified. My old team didn't have much of a chance against my latest team, since the Flyers shot almost 62 percent from the field in the first half of that game and took early control thanks to an 18-2 run and led 37-24 at halftime. Allowing a D1 squad just 24 first half points was very impressive. Lewis then opened up their lead to 17 points a pair of times in the second half. Jamie Johnson led the way with 20 points and Henley scored 9 points, pulled down 11 rebounds and blocked 4 shots in just 24 minutes. All three D1 opponents, and everyone else for that matter, always keyed on trying to stop Henley so Jess Reinhart was as usual the unsung hero, ending with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Reinhart also played a huge role in the 75-72 win over Marquette a few days later on November 9. That was the game we all were really excited about. Marquette was a very good team that had won 22 games the year before and made it to the second round of the NIT. You knew we had to be for real if we could beat them. It would not by hype. Well, playing in their gym, the Al McGuire Center, in front of a crowd that expected to win was a very fun atmosphere, especially because I knew that they DIDN'T know what was about to hit them. And by the way, Marquette had four players at 6' 3" or taller! The Flyers used their quickness though and a tenacious defense to hold the Golden Eagles to just 29 percent shooting and just 25 percent in the second half, forcing 20 turnovers! There were 11 ties and 11 lead changes in a thriller. That height helped Marquette to 33 offensive rebounds and a chance to stay in the game with enough 2nd chance points to make it interesting. The Flyers were up by just 2 points with 20 seconds remaining. The Eagles missed a layup, Reinhart grabbed the rebound and tossed it to Nikki Nellen who found Henley streaking to the hoop to finish off the play with a layup with 14 seconds left. It was Nellen's 6th and final assist of the night. Marquette was not done though and they quickly came down and hit a 3-pointer to cut it back to just a one point lead with less than 10 seconds remaining. The inbounds pass came to Reinhart, who was fouled and she calmly hit a pair of free throws and a desperation 3 at the buzzer went wide as the Flyers held on for the huge and exciting win. Battling all that size on the defensive end meant that Henley was in foul trouble early and only played 24 minutes, so to beat such a good team with Mariyah only scoring 9 points is even more impressive. Regardless, Henley still got to her usual double-digit rebounding total, finishing with 12 in short duty. Again, it was Reinhart who was the difference. She led the way with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Jamie Johnson was hounded all over the court and was held to 8 points, but 3-point shooter Alexus Grayer picked up the slack, because you can't guard everybody! She added 15 big points and hit 3 treys. Kristin Itschner added 8 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals, while Alyssa Dengler did her usual stellar defensive job guarding the perimeter. The Flyers outscored Marquette 42-35 in the second half. I drove up to Milwaukee that night with Chris and Lauren, so having them there and enjoying that game with me was fun too. We stopped to eat on the way home and it made for one heckuva family day out, to say the least. Lewis would go on to win their first 23 games of that regular season, earning the number 1 ranking in the country, before falling to 17th ranked Drury by 3 points in mid February. So it was really 26 straight wins to open that amazing campaign, factoring in these three exhibition wins over D1's. There were many, many other highlights of that memorable season, too many to mention here, but I will always feel like we were the best team in the nation that year, regardless of their rough shooting night in the national quarterfinals. That evening in Milwaukee on Nov. 9, 2014 in particular foreshadowed what was to come. Thanks for the memories, ladies.
It's a stressful Election Day, so I am choosing to busy my mind with comforting memories. My story the other day was about a great visit to Notre Dame for the Lewis Men's team on a November night 11 years ago. Well, 6 years ago this week, the Lewis Womens' team beat three D1's on the way to a season for the ages that saw them ranked #1 in the Nation and qualifying for the Elite 8. They started that season in early November with exhibition wins over Loyola, NIU and then Marquette, all in the space of a week. Those wins are the ones I want to write about here because they signaled what a special season that was about to be. The Flyers opened exhibition play by routing the Loyola Ramblers 83-61 on November 4 and you got the feeling right away that the Flyers were going to be very good. Jamie Johnson and Mariyah Henley each scored 17 points and Henley only needed to play 17 minutes in a game where the Flyers led by as many as 27 points. Nikkie Nellen dished out 7 assists in just 29 minutes. A better test was against Northern Illinois and they passed that test fairly easily too with a 60-49 win. That was a special game for me, since I had been the radio voice of the NIU Women's teams during their great run of four NCAA appearances under Jane Albright in the late '80's and early '90's. So I knew what elite women's basketball looked like and I knew this Flyers team certainly qualified. My old team didn't have much of a chance against my latest team, since the Flyers shot almost 62 percent from the field in the first half of that game and took early control thanks to an 18-2 run and led 37-24 at halftime. Allowing a D1 squad just 24 first half points was very impressive. Lewis then opened up their lead to 17 points a pair of times in the second half. Jamie Johnson led the way with 20 points and Henley scored 9 points, pulled down 11 rebounds and blocked 4 shots in just 24 minutes. All three D1 opponents, and everyone else for that matter, always keyed on trying to stop Henley so Jess Reinhart was as usual the unsung hero, ending with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Reinhart also played a huge role in the 75-72 win over Marquette a few days later on November 9. That was the game we all were really excited about. Marquette was a very good team that had won 22 games the year before and made it to the second round of the NIT. You knew we had to be for real if we could beat them. It would not by hype. Well, playing in their gym, the Al McGuire Center, in front of a crowd that expected to win was a very fun atmosphere, especially because I knew that they DIDN'T know what was about to hit them. And by the way, Marquette had four players at 6' 3" or taller! The Flyers used their quickness though and a tenacious defense to hold the Golden Eagles to just 29 percent shooting and just 25 percent in the second half, forcing 20 turnovers! There were 11 ties and 11 lead changes in a thriller. That height helped Marquette to 33 offensive rebounds and a chance to stay in the game with enough 2nd chance points to make it interesting. The Flyers were up by just 2 points with 20 seconds remaining. The Eagles missed a layup, Reinhart grabbed the rebound and tossed it to Nikki Nellen who found Henley streaking to the hoop to finish off the play with a layup with 14 seconds left. It was Nellen's 6th and final assist of the night. Marquette was not done though and they quickly came down and hit a 3-pointer to cut it back to just a one point lead with less than 10 seconds remaining. The inbounds pass came to Reinhart, who was fouled and she calmly hit a pair of free throws and a desperation 3 at the buzzer went wide as the Flyers held on for the huge and exciting win. Battling all that size on the defensive end meant that Henley was in foul trouble early and only played 24 minutes, so to beat such a good team with Mariyah only scoring 9 points is even more impressive. Regardless, Henley still got to her usual double-digit rebounding total, finishing with 12 in short duty. Again, it was Reinhart who was the difference. She led the way with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Jamie Johnson was hounded all over the court and was held to 8 points, but 3-point shooter Alexus Grayer picked up the slack, because you can't guard everybody! She added 15 big points and hit 3 treys. Kristin Itschner added 8 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals, while Alyssa Dengler did her usual stellar defensive job guarding the perimeter. The Flyers outscored Marquette 42-35 in the second half. I drove up to Milwaukee that night with Chris and Lauren, so having them there and enjoying that game with me was fun too. We stopped to eat on the way home and it made for one heckuva family day out, to say the least. Lewis would go on to win their first 23 games of that regular season, earning the number 1 ranking in the country, before falling to 17th ranked Drury by 3 points in mid February. So it was really 26 straight wins to open that amazing campaign, factoring in these three exhibition wins over D1's. There were many, many other highlights of that memorable season, too many to mention here, but I will always feel like we were the best team in the nation that year, regardless of their rough shooting night in the national quarterfinals. That evening in Milwaukee on Nov. 9, 2014 in particular foreshadowed what was to come. Thanks for the memories, ladies.
11/1/2020
Eleven years ago today, I broadcast one of my favorite games for the Lewis Flyers in my 18 years behind the mic for them. The Note Dame Fighting Irish beat Lewis 70-54 but the Flyers led the game multiple times in the 2nd half and forced Big East Pre Season Player of the Year Luke Harangody to play 36 minutes to avoid an upset. Luke scored 33pts and took half his team's shots to hold off Lewis. Four Irish starters played at least 35 minutes. I certainly don't think that was their plan for an exhibition game but the Flyers forced their hand with such a good effort. Lewis closed out the first half on a 9-0 run and led 41-40 in the 2nd half on a Dennis Thomas layup. It became a 2pt lead at 44-42 with about 14 minutes to go and the Irish didn't take control for good until about 9 and half minutes remaining. It was one heck of an effort for a team that lost their top 2 scorers from the previous season but Marty Strus and Chris McClellan were outstanding. Strus had 14pts, 11reb, 4asst and 3steals. McClellan led Lewis with 18pts and hit 4 three pointers. Thomas finished with 9pts and 5assts but hit on just 1 of 7 three pointers and the team only hit 37% overall from the field. A few more shots drop and who knows? As it was, they battled the Irish, and as I said, forced them to play their starters the entire game. Harangody took over the contest and scored 18pts in the last 13 minutes to make sure it was an Irish victory. In other words, it took one of the best D1 players in the nation putting his team on his shoulders to hold us off that day. I've been a Notre Dame basketball fan my whole life. Guys like Austin Carr, John Shumate and Kelly Tripucka 'are' college basketball to me, so to walk into that arena and have my team play so well was a thrill. Flyers wins over the likes of DePaul and UIC etc. over the years have proven that elite D2 doesn't have to take a back seat to anyone in D1. This game proved it as well.
Eleven years ago today, I broadcast one of my favorite games for the Lewis Flyers in my 18 years behind the mic for them. The Note Dame Fighting Irish beat Lewis 70-54 but the Flyers led the game multiple times in the 2nd half and forced Big East Pre Season Player of the Year Luke Harangody to play 36 minutes to avoid an upset. Luke scored 33pts and took half his team's shots to hold off Lewis. Four Irish starters played at least 35 minutes. I certainly don't think that was their plan for an exhibition game but the Flyers forced their hand with such a good effort. Lewis closed out the first half on a 9-0 run and led 41-40 in the 2nd half on a Dennis Thomas layup. It became a 2pt lead at 44-42 with about 14 minutes to go and the Irish didn't take control for good until about 9 and half minutes remaining. It was one heck of an effort for a team that lost their top 2 scorers from the previous season but Marty Strus and Chris McClellan were outstanding. Strus had 14pts, 11reb, 4asst and 3steals. McClellan led Lewis with 18pts and hit 4 three pointers. Thomas finished with 9pts and 5assts but hit on just 1 of 7 three pointers and the team only hit 37% overall from the field. A few more shots drop and who knows? As it was, they battled the Irish, and as I said, forced them to play their starters the entire game. Harangody took over the contest and scored 18pts in the last 13 minutes to make sure it was an Irish victory. In other words, it took one of the best D1 players in the nation putting his team on his shoulders to hold us off that day. I've been a Notre Dame basketball fan my whole life. Guys like Austin Carr, John Shumate and Kelly Tripucka 'are' college basketball to me, so to walk into that arena and have my team play so well was a thrill. Flyers wins over the likes of DePaul and UIC etc. over the years have proven that elite D2 doesn't have to take a back seat to anyone in D1. This game proved it as well.
10/30/2020
I posted this on Facebook this morning after listening to sports radio...
So Steve Stone just went on AM1000 and said that if you are vehemently against this hire then you better not celebrate when the White Sox win the World Series. So, Sox fans,apparently you are not entitled to your opinion and therefore can't root for your team if your opinion is differant than his because Stoney loves this move and is certain the infallible LaRussa is the right guy.
This was a response from Lindsey Willhite...
Stoney always has understood who butters his bread. Also always has understood where he stands in the pecking order of an organization (i.e. knowing whether he has more juice than another guy). When he started questioning Renteria's decisions near the end of the season — on broadcasts but more so on radio hits like this — I think it was clear he knew what was coming. And considering this is clearly a Reinsdorf move — and he will never have more juice than Reinsdorf — it's important to him to sound fully on board.
Lindsey is 100% on point but that doesn't make it any easier to hear. Then Bob Nightengale tweeted this morning...
So, you wonder, who would the White Sox have turned to if Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa, 76, had decided to stay retired? Future Hall of Famer Bruce Bochy, 65, was next on their wish list.
Ok. So that almost makes this worse, since every Sox fan would have preferred this move instead. Ugh.
I posted this on Facebook this morning after listening to sports radio...
So Steve Stone just went on AM1000 and said that if you are vehemently against this hire then you better not celebrate when the White Sox win the World Series. So, Sox fans,apparently you are not entitled to your opinion and therefore can't root for your team if your opinion is differant than his because Stoney loves this move and is certain the infallible LaRussa is the right guy.
This was a response from Lindsey Willhite...
Stoney always has understood who butters his bread. Also always has understood where he stands in the pecking order of an organization (i.e. knowing whether he has more juice than another guy). When he started questioning Renteria's decisions near the end of the season — on broadcasts but more so on radio hits like this — I think it was clear he knew what was coming. And considering this is clearly a Reinsdorf move — and he will never have more juice than Reinsdorf — it's important to him to sound fully on board.
Lindsey is 100% on point but that doesn't make it any easier to hear. Then Bob Nightengale tweeted this morning...
So, you wonder, who would the White Sox have turned to if Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa, 76, had decided to stay retired? Future Hall of Famer Bruce Bochy, 65, was next on their wish list.
Ok. So that almost makes this worse, since every Sox fan would have preferred this move instead. Ugh.
10/29/2020
Sam Fels and Jeff Passan have already written very good articles on the insanity, hypocrisy and utter stupidity of the hiring of Tony LaRussa as White Sox Manager. I don't have much to add but will say a few things myself, anyway. Firstly, the team is so good that they will win all sorts of games next year regardless and may even go deep in the playoffs despite the massive ego camping out on the top step of the dugout. The Cubs won a World Series despite their Manager trying desperately to give the last two games away. So who knows but my goodness this is such a middle finger from Jerry to his front office and fans. He knows nobody wants this and he does not care. It is the very definition of the Old Boys Network. The old owner wants to hire his old buddy and by god no one can stop him. Super. Tony says being up in the press box level as a consultant was hard on his heart and he wanted to be back in the dugout. No, it wasn't his heart. It was his ego. He thinks only he has the answers. Lovely. Tim Anderson's bat flips are okay with him as long as they are in the spirit of the game or whatever. The problem is the 'as long as' part. In other words, Tony gets to decide if it's okay. Lovely. That will go over well. Tony has spoken out about kneeling for the anthem, saying he wouldn't allow it. Period. Today he lightened that stance but only a little. Again, he will decide if any player stances are not just words but also followed by deeds and therefore allowed. What? Again, Mr. Big will decide if it's okay for players to speak out if it is to his satisfaction. Lovely. I'm a Sox fan and will root for them anyway but if I was an opposing Manager I would demand the Sox take drug tests before every series, if only just to get under Tony's skin. He was the King of Steroid Using Players back before the latest cheating became sign stealing. And btw, Hahn might as well just quit. He obviously is not in charge. We all know it now. And there is no way Tony can relate to this era of player or baseball. He has no business trying and the the players shouldn't have to put up with him. I honestly wish they would get together as a group and demand this be annulled or they will not show up for Spring Training. I also hope they hire Greg Hibbard as pitching coach. Then I can just pretend it's his team and that all the important pitching moves are made by him and I can root for him and the team and ignore the pompous ass sitting next to him. The end.
Sam Fels and Jeff Passan have already written very good articles on the insanity, hypocrisy and utter stupidity of the hiring of Tony LaRussa as White Sox Manager. I don't have much to add but will say a few things myself, anyway. Firstly, the team is so good that they will win all sorts of games next year regardless and may even go deep in the playoffs despite the massive ego camping out on the top step of the dugout. The Cubs won a World Series despite their Manager trying desperately to give the last two games away. So who knows but my goodness this is such a middle finger from Jerry to his front office and fans. He knows nobody wants this and he does not care. It is the very definition of the Old Boys Network. The old owner wants to hire his old buddy and by god no one can stop him. Super. Tony says being up in the press box level as a consultant was hard on his heart and he wanted to be back in the dugout. No, it wasn't his heart. It was his ego. He thinks only he has the answers. Lovely. Tim Anderson's bat flips are okay with him as long as they are in the spirit of the game or whatever. The problem is the 'as long as' part. In other words, Tony gets to decide if it's okay. Lovely. That will go over well. Tony has spoken out about kneeling for the anthem, saying he wouldn't allow it. Period. Today he lightened that stance but only a little. Again, he will decide if any player stances are not just words but also followed by deeds and therefore allowed. What? Again, Mr. Big will decide if it's okay for players to speak out if it is to his satisfaction. Lovely. I'm a Sox fan and will root for them anyway but if I was an opposing Manager I would demand the Sox take drug tests before every series, if only just to get under Tony's skin. He was the King of Steroid Using Players back before the latest cheating became sign stealing. And btw, Hahn might as well just quit. He obviously is not in charge. We all know it now. And there is no way Tony can relate to this era of player or baseball. He has no business trying and the the players shouldn't have to put up with him. I honestly wish they would get together as a group and demand this be annulled or they will not show up for Spring Training. I also hope they hire Greg Hibbard as pitching coach. Then I can just pretend it's his team and that all the important pitching moves are made by him and I can root for him and the team and ignore the pompous ass sitting next to him. The end.
10/28/2020
As I wait patiently for my next opportunity to host a talk show, you get to read some of my thoughts on sports matters of late. I have to get these things out somewhere, you know.
You know that pitching change last night was stupid because I got mad as it was happening and I didn't even care who won the game! It was so dumb, it affected my baseball sensibilities to the point of incredulity. Kevin Cash pulling Jake Snell in the 6th after just 73 dominant pitches was unforgivable. I don't care what numbers he was looking at but it was nonsense. Snell was rolling along on a two-hitter with 9 strikeouts and no walks. I don't care if was now the third time through the order or his lack of going deep in any other games this season or what. The Rays struck gold with a pitcher throwing his best game of the season with his best stuff in the most important game of the season. You ride out your good fortune. You do not sabotage it or look a gift horse in the mouth, as it were. Especially since the reliever brought in had not been very good at all in recent weeks. You were not pulling him to put in Bruce Sutter to close out the game from there, for goodness sake. It was insane and it cost them the World Series. You just ask a Manager to not lose a game for you and let the players decide it. It was like he couldn't wait to prove he was the smartest guy in the room and pull a dominating pitcher from the game. Aaargh. Not so smart.
And someone needs to explain to me how Justin Turner was allowed to go on the field...WITHOUT A MASK...and celebrate w his teammates when all concerned knew he had covid. Those players are now going to go home to family and friends all over the globe and possibly spread this thing further. Even with a mask it was stupid. Without was unforgivable. Restaurants and bars are closing here and people are altering Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas plans to help stop the spread, sacrifices all, while this clown undoes all that selfishly. Livid. Livid. But there will be no penalty or repercussions by baseball because, hell, cheating doesn't matter so why should this. It's only people's lives after all.
If the White Sox hire Hinch or Cora, I swear to god. You can't tell me there aren't qualified & better human beings out there than 2 blatant cheaters who arrogantly orchestrated cheating. How they are even allowed to be considered is beyond me. Redemption should be a long way off. And speaking of cheaters, if they hire LaRussa I will be just as angry. His Oakland and St. Louis teams were rife with steroid cheats and by the way, he is a million years old and should not be put in charge of such a young team here on the south side. I can't imagine he can relate to them at all.
Can the Bears ever get a Coach who understands or uses clock management to the team's advantage? Nagy just used two timeouts to run one play and then did not use the final timeout of the first half and let the clock run out rather than force a punt that might have been returned or blocked or whatever. Really? And he wanted tight ends. We got him tight ends and then he gets to the goal line and doesn't use them. Really? Maybe it isn't just the starting quarterback. Maybe it's the playcaller who has not run the ball. He didn't use a mobile quarterback's mobility and now forces the pocket qb to throw when they know it's going to be a pass. It's always going to be a pass. And when your offensive line is not exactly stellar, that might not be such a good idea to not keep the defense honest. Honestly!
As I wait patiently for my next opportunity to host a talk show, you get to read some of my thoughts on sports matters of late. I have to get these things out somewhere, you know.
You know that pitching change last night was stupid because I got mad as it was happening and I didn't even care who won the game! It was so dumb, it affected my baseball sensibilities to the point of incredulity. Kevin Cash pulling Jake Snell in the 6th after just 73 dominant pitches was unforgivable. I don't care what numbers he was looking at but it was nonsense. Snell was rolling along on a two-hitter with 9 strikeouts and no walks. I don't care if was now the third time through the order or his lack of going deep in any other games this season or what. The Rays struck gold with a pitcher throwing his best game of the season with his best stuff in the most important game of the season. You ride out your good fortune. You do not sabotage it or look a gift horse in the mouth, as it were. Especially since the reliever brought in had not been very good at all in recent weeks. You were not pulling him to put in Bruce Sutter to close out the game from there, for goodness sake. It was insane and it cost them the World Series. You just ask a Manager to not lose a game for you and let the players decide it. It was like he couldn't wait to prove he was the smartest guy in the room and pull a dominating pitcher from the game. Aaargh. Not so smart.
And someone needs to explain to me how Justin Turner was allowed to go on the field...WITHOUT A MASK...and celebrate w his teammates when all concerned knew he had covid. Those players are now going to go home to family and friends all over the globe and possibly spread this thing further. Even with a mask it was stupid. Without was unforgivable. Restaurants and bars are closing here and people are altering Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas plans to help stop the spread, sacrifices all, while this clown undoes all that selfishly. Livid. Livid. But there will be no penalty or repercussions by baseball because, hell, cheating doesn't matter so why should this. It's only people's lives after all.
If the White Sox hire Hinch or Cora, I swear to god. You can't tell me there aren't qualified & better human beings out there than 2 blatant cheaters who arrogantly orchestrated cheating. How they are even allowed to be considered is beyond me. Redemption should be a long way off. And speaking of cheaters, if they hire LaRussa I will be just as angry. His Oakland and St. Louis teams were rife with steroid cheats and by the way, he is a million years old and should not be put in charge of such a young team here on the south side. I can't imagine he can relate to them at all.
Can the Bears ever get a Coach who understands or uses clock management to the team's advantage? Nagy just used two timeouts to run one play and then did not use the final timeout of the first half and let the clock run out rather than force a punt that might have been returned or blocked or whatever. Really? And he wanted tight ends. We got him tight ends and then he gets to the goal line and doesn't use them. Really? Maybe it isn't just the starting quarterback. Maybe it's the playcaller who has not run the ball. He didn't use a mobile quarterback's mobility and now forces the pocket qb to throw when they know it's going to be a pass. It's always going to be a pass. And when your offensive line is not exactly stellar, that might not be such a good idea to not keep the defense honest. Honestly!
10/27/2020
One year ago today I finished the Marine Corps Marathon. It was a crazy day that started in a downpour, continued with more heavy rains...with one insane monsoon-like downpour that made us all break out in wtf-inspired laughter at about the halfway point... and eventually finished in the hot, humid sunshine. It was a challenge to say the least. It took a while, but I finished and thankfully not in that medical transport vehicle. (I kept my jacket on because I didn't want to carry it, but it was hot!) Chris was amazing in her finishing the 50K race ahead of me. We had a great time in DC and we were going to go back this year and do it again. It was not to be, thanks to Covid. Hopefully 2021 will be kinder and allow us to get back to doing what we enjoy.
One year ago today I finished the Marine Corps Marathon. It was a crazy day that started in a downpour, continued with more heavy rains...with one insane monsoon-like downpour that made us all break out in wtf-inspired laughter at about the halfway point... and eventually finished in the hot, humid sunshine. It was a challenge to say the least. It took a while, but I finished and thankfully not in that medical transport vehicle. (I kept my jacket on because I didn't want to carry it, but it was hot!) Chris was amazing in her finishing the 50K race ahead of me. We had a great time in DC and we were going to go back this year and do it again. It was not to be, thanks to Covid. Hopefully 2021 will be kinder and allow us to get back to doing what we enjoy.
10/26/2020
I originally posted this elsewhere 7 years ago and have decided to bring it back now after watching a very exciting game 4 of the World Series that ended dramatically and held my attention throughout. However, the game still lasted over 4 hours and did not end until almost 11:30pm central time and therefore almost 12:30am eastern time. As exciting as that game was, these contests just can't last 4 hours, they just can't, for the good of the sport. No one has more than 4 hours to give to any event of any kind, no matter how important. If baseball wants to grow it's fan base, it can't have kids going to bed in the 6th inning of good World Series games. Since my original posting, I've gotten some blowback on number 4 from pitchers. That's fine. If that one can't be done it can't be done, but I would like more conversation about it and the others and therefore more about the topic itself. Here it is...
With talk of low baseball ratings, here are a few thoughts from someone who loves the game but still knows ballgames need to be less than 3 1/2 hours. There is no reason for this nonsense to continue. No one has 3 1/2 to four hours to give to any single game.
1)The strike zone has to be the strike zone again. This nibbling nonsense and looking to take a walk is unbelievably boring. A pitch at the belt or two inches over has to be a strike. Has to be. There IS such a thing as a high strike. Honest. The goal of every batter cannot be a nine pitch at-bat. It should be to get a hit.
2)The hitter needs to keep at least one foot in the batters box at all time. Period. No walking around between pitches and undoing and doing your batters gloves etc. Get your ass in there and hit. That's your job. Quit screwing around and just go do it.
3)The pitcher's job is to pitch. No walking around the mound or other silliness. Get the ball, toe the rubber, get the sign and throw the damn ball. Your infielders will appreciate it as much as the fans.
4)There is no need for warm up pitches for relievers. They have just thrown in the bullpen. Walk out there, get the ball and go. There are too many pitching changes as is, so at least speed them up if they happen in the middle of an inning.
5)No more "God Bless America" or "America the Beautiful" during the 7th inning stretch by some semi famous excuse for applause and patriotism pandering. There has already been the National Anthem. That is plenty, thank you. Anything else is crass, fake, has nothing to do with the game and takes too damn long.
I will gladly invest 3 hours for a game. I'm a diehard afterall. Approaching 4 or more though is usally slow, boring and killing the game. Young people will never stand and/or sit for it. The fandom of baseball is growing older and older and will die off completely if something is not done. Basketball continues to make changes to keep up wth the times and fan demands. That is why those games are so entertaining. Football is way too damn long too. But that sport will die due to concussions and lack of insuring teams or schools before the fans ever give up no matter how many commercials are shoe-horned in there or the 90-plus passes per game slowing things to a dying crawl. Baseball will die, however, due to lack of interest and that would be a shame. I have a tape of the 1971 All-Star game. It has the game's best pitchers and hitters doing battle, was exciting, thrilling, action-packed and took two hours and 15 minutes. There were no interminable delays in the action. That is what baseball can and should be. Doubleheaders, back in the day, took 5 hours total, including 30 minutes between games. Total. Now they are over 7 and sometimes 8 hours to complete. Ridiculous.
And a few additional suggestions....fix the DH once and for all. Either get rid of it or make it mandatory in both leagues. Just pick one and do it. Cut the season back to 154 games now that these additional playoff rounds have been added. Baseball should not be played in 33 degree temperatures. Commercial breaks should not be so long between innings either. Money is money so this is probably off the table but maybe some sort of crawl at the bottom of the screen for the first minute of action etc. could be a compromise. Something. Anything.
I know very few if any of these will actually happen but they should. Thank you for your time and attention.
I originally posted this elsewhere 7 years ago and have decided to bring it back now after watching a very exciting game 4 of the World Series that ended dramatically and held my attention throughout. However, the game still lasted over 4 hours and did not end until almost 11:30pm central time and therefore almost 12:30am eastern time. As exciting as that game was, these contests just can't last 4 hours, they just can't, for the good of the sport. No one has more than 4 hours to give to any event of any kind, no matter how important. If baseball wants to grow it's fan base, it can't have kids going to bed in the 6th inning of good World Series games. Since my original posting, I've gotten some blowback on number 4 from pitchers. That's fine. If that one can't be done it can't be done, but I would like more conversation about it and the others and therefore more about the topic itself. Here it is...
With talk of low baseball ratings, here are a few thoughts from someone who loves the game but still knows ballgames need to be less than 3 1/2 hours. There is no reason for this nonsense to continue. No one has 3 1/2 to four hours to give to any single game.
1)The strike zone has to be the strike zone again. This nibbling nonsense and looking to take a walk is unbelievably boring. A pitch at the belt or two inches over has to be a strike. Has to be. There IS such a thing as a high strike. Honest. The goal of every batter cannot be a nine pitch at-bat. It should be to get a hit.
2)The hitter needs to keep at least one foot in the batters box at all time. Period. No walking around between pitches and undoing and doing your batters gloves etc. Get your ass in there and hit. That's your job. Quit screwing around and just go do it.
3)The pitcher's job is to pitch. No walking around the mound or other silliness. Get the ball, toe the rubber, get the sign and throw the damn ball. Your infielders will appreciate it as much as the fans.
4)There is no need for warm up pitches for relievers. They have just thrown in the bullpen. Walk out there, get the ball and go. There are too many pitching changes as is, so at least speed them up if they happen in the middle of an inning.
5)No more "God Bless America" or "America the Beautiful" during the 7th inning stretch by some semi famous excuse for applause and patriotism pandering. There has already been the National Anthem. That is plenty, thank you. Anything else is crass, fake, has nothing to do with the game and takes too damn long.
I will gladly invest 3 hours for a game. I'm a diehard afterall. Approaching 4 or more though is usally slow, boring and killing the game. Young people will never stand and/or sit for it. The fandom of baseball is growing older and older and will die off completely if something is not done. Basketball continues to make changes to keep up wth the times and fan demands. That is why those games are so entertaining. Football is way too damn long too. But that sport will die due to concussions and lack of insuring teams or schools before the fans ever give up no matter how many commercials are shoe-horned in there or the 90-plus passes per game slowing things to a dying crawl. Baseball will die, however, due to lack of interest and that would be a shame. I have a tape of the 1971 All-Star game. It has the game's best pitchers and hitters doing battle, was exciting, thrilling, action-packed and took two hours and 15 minutes. There were no interminable delays in the action. That is what baseball can and should be. Doubleheaders, back in the day, took 5 hours total, including 30 minutes between games. Total. Now they are over 7 and sometimes 8 hours to complete. Ridiculous.
And a few additional suggestions....fix the DH once and for all. Either get rid of it or make it mandatory in both leagues. Just pick one and do it. Cut the season back to 154 games now that these additional playoff rounds have been added. Baseball should not be played in 33 degree temperatures. Commercial breaks should not be so long between innings either. Money is money so this is probably off the table but maybe some sort of crawl at the bottom of the screen for the first minute of action etc. could be a compromise. Something. Anything.
I know very few if any of these will actually happen but they should. Thank you for your time and attention.
10/20/2020
Matthew Trueblood from Baseball Prospectus tweeted this yesterday...
The Theo Epstein Cubs regime, which is either over or functionally over, has been a failure. I know they won a title, but this FO was supposed to turn the Cubs into perennial winners—the heartland's Yankees/Dodgers. They're no closer to that goal than they were in 2011.
That take couldn't be more wrong. As Brad Robinson then pointed out...
A World Series, 3 division titles, 5 playoff appearances, 3 NLCS appearances is hardly a failure. Let’s not forget Friedman took over a Dodgers org that won 95 games the year before. Theo took over an org that didn’t have e-mail.
And I will add this in defense of what Theo has accomplished here...
The Cubs were still in the dark ages when he came here. He needed to redo and add office space and even had to install ethernet in the main offices in 2011! They had no prospects in the pipeline and had just finished 25 games out of 1st when he signed on here. Brett Jackson was their #1 prospect! Trey McNutt was #2 for goodness sake. They were 75-87 in 2010 and 71-91 in 2011. Their top 5 in 2010 included Josh Vitters, Jay Jackson and Hak-Ju Lee. They had Starlin Castro and that was about it. He brought in prospects, quality free agents, expectations and created a team that has been competitive each year since the rebuild took root in 2015. The prospect list is pretty thin again and his hitters didn't hit this year but the latter is not on him. I have no complaints.
Matthew Trueblood from Baseball Prospectus tweeted this yesterday...
The Theo Epstein Cubs regime, which is either over or functionally over, has been a failure. I know they won a title, but this FO was supposed to turn the Cubs into perennial winners—the heartland's Yankees/Dodgers. They're no closer to that goal than they were in 2011.
That take couldn't be more wrong. As Brad Robinson then pointed out...
A World Series, 3 division titles, 5 playoff appearances, 3 NLCS appearances is hardly a failure. Let’s not forget Friedman took over a Dodgers org that won 95 games the year before. Theo took over an org that didn’t have e-mail.
And I will add this in defense of what Theo has accomplished here...
The Cubs were still in the dark ages when he came here. He needed to redo and add office space and even had to install ethernet in the main offices in 2011! They had no prospects in the pipeline and had just finished 25 games out of 1st when he signed on here. Brett Jackson was their #1 prospect! Trey McNutt was #2 for goodness sake. They were 75-87 in 2010 and 71-91 in 2011. Their top 5 in 2010 included Josh Vitters, Jay Jackson and Hak-Ju Lee. They had Starlin Castro and that was about it. He brought in prospects, quality free agents, expectations and created a team that has been competitive each year since the rebuild took root in 2015. The prospect list is pretty thin again and his hitters didn't hit this year but the latter is not on him. I have no complaints.
10/20/2020
So at least 2020 is giving me new rock records from Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen. I actually needed them quite a bit and they do not disappoint. There are some very good songs on the expanded Wildflowers record from Petty, but to me the best part of the 54 song set is the live music at the end. This song linked below is a silly little b-side from Wildflowers but if ever there was a time for silly little songs 2020 is it. There is a live version like this one included in the set. The last 13 songs of it are all from live shows. There is a live version of Walls and you all know by now how much I love that song. You Wreck Me and Honey Bee rock and there are a bunch more. There is also a group of home studio recordings from that time and A Higher Place is a highlight from those. It's just nice to have new Petty record, period.
I also have been able to get an early copy of the Springsteen record from a friend in the business and it is very good. Both songs already available, Letter to You and Ghosts are definitely good but the best rocker on the record is Burnin' Train. That is the song to crank in the car and it shows just how good a drummer Max Weinberg still is at 69 years old. 71 year old Springsteen smokes his guitar in this one too. The new versions of the three old songs on the record are all good too. Bruce gave Jeannie Needs a Shooter to Warren Zevon back in the 70's and Warren changed the song around and changed it to Janey. Here, it becomes Janey too but otherwise it is still the original but kicked in the pants by the E Street Band with great keyboards and piano at the end along with vocal call outs from Bruce. If I Was the Priest starts out like it's acoustic original and the band kicks in with harmonica, background vocals and guitar work. Song For Orphans is a song I have already liked for a long time and this version is another good band song too.
I have already put my faves from both records in an mp3 folder with a bunch of other new rockers from Dropkick Murphys, that Who record, etc. I also included the one rocker called 8 x 10's that John Eddie put on his soundcloud page not that long ago, from his days working with TBone Wolk, along with his covid song Stay Inside and Drink. He can feel free to release more music himself! I put some great new Little Steven songs from his last two recent records, new Pearl Jam, White Buffalo, Waterboys and a few other things in there too. It is making my commutes much more enjoyable. Long Live Rock, my friends.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaWDTPhIq0I
So at least 2020 is giving me new rock records from Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen. I actually needed them quite a bit and they do not disappoint. There are some very good songs on the expanded Wildflowers record from Petty, but to me the best part of the 54 song set is the live music at the end. This song linked below is a silly little b-side from Wildflowers but if ever there was a time for silly little songs 2020 is it. There is a live version like this one included in the set. The last 13 songs of it are all from live shows. There is a live version of Walls and you all know by now how much I love that song. You Wreck Me and Honey Bee rock and there are a bunch more. There is also a group of home studio recordings from that time and A Higher Place is a highlight from those. It's just nice to have new Petty record, period.
I also have been able to get an early copy of the Springsteen record from a friend in the business and it is very good. Both songs already available, Letter to You and Ghosts are definitely good but the best rocker on the record is Burnin' Train. That is the song to crank in the car and it shows just how good a drummer Max Weinberg still is at 69 years old. 71 year old Springsteen smokes his guitar in this one too. The new versions of the three old songs on the record are all good too. Bruce gave Jeannie Needs a Shooter to Warren Zevon back in the 70's and Warren changed the song around and changed it to Janey. Here, it becomes Janey too but otherwise it is still the original but kicked in the pants by the E Street Band with great keyboards and piano at the end along with vocal call outs from Bruce. If I Was the Priest starts out like it's acoustic original and the band kicks in with harmonica, background vocals and guitar work. Song For Orphans is a song I have already liked for a long time and this version is another good band song too.
I have already put my faves from both records in an mp3 folder with a bunch of other new rockers from Dropkick Murphys, that Who record, etc. I also included the one rocker called 8 x 10's that John Eddie put on his soundcloud page not that long ago, from his days working with TBone Wolk, along with his covid song Stay Inside and Drink. He can feel free to release more music himself! I put some great new Little Steven songs from his last two recent records, new Pearl Jam, White Buffalo, Waterboys and a few other things in there too. It is making my commutes much more enjoyable. Long Live Rock, my friends.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaWDTPhIq0I
10/14/2020
It's been 17 years now since Bartman. It is always brought up on this date for some reason and I just want to put it to rest once and for all, if possible. I don't think I've expressed this here, so wanted to make sure I am on record and this is from a previous post elsewhere.
I feel compelled to address this today on the anniversary of the Cubs game that Bartman became a public figure. ESPN continues to ascribe "Public Enemy No. 1" status to him in Chicago and amongst Cubs fans. It is such lazy nonsense and it has got to stop. No serious Cubs fan was mad at Bartman for more than a minute and he never was hated by more than a few knuckleheads. To treat it otherwise is a lie. I was on the edge of my seat when it happened and was mad about it at that moment. Literally minutes later he and it was forgotten however. There was way more bad going on than a fan that touched a foul ball. Moises Alou overreacted. Just go back to your position, moron. Mark Prior couldn't get anybody out all of sudden and the same for Farnsworth and then Remlinger. Two intentional walks scored, so that strategy backfired. Dusty Baker didn't go out to call everybody together to just frickin relax. Alex Gonzalez booted an inning-ending double play ball. Sammy Sosa threw to the wrong base. Also Bernie Mac sang the 7th inning stretch and it went on way too long, pumping up the Marlins as he kept referring to the Cubs as the "Champs". Prior should have warmed up during that long long delay. And of course, there was a-whole-nother game to be played and the Cubs lost that one too as Kerry Wood and Farnsworth were terrible. Only people outside Chicago make a big deal out of Bartman. I have not and will not watch the 30 for 30 on Bartman. That postseason is still painful for me and most Cubs fans but Bartman has nothing to do with it.
It's been 17 years now since Bartman. It is always brought up on this date for some reason and I just want to put it to rest once and for all, if possible. I don't think I've expressed this here, so wanted to make sure I am on record and this is from a previous post elsewhere.
I feel compelled to address this today on the anniversary of the Cubs game that Bartman became a public figure. ESPN continues to ascribe "Public Enemy No. 1" status to him in Chicago and amongst Cubs fans. It is such lazy nonsense and it has got to stop. No serious Cubs fan was mad at Bartman for more than a minute and he never was hated by more than a few knuckleheads. To treat it otherwise is a lie. I was on the edge of my seat when it happened and was mad about it at that moment. Literally minutes later he and it was forgotten however. There was way more bad going on than a fan that touched a foul ball. Moises Alou overreacted. Just go back to your position, moron. Mark Prior couldn't get anybody out all of sudden and the same for Farnsworth and then Remlinger. Two intentional walks scored, so that strategy backfired. Dusty Baker didn't go out to call everybody together to just frickin relax. Alex Gonzalez booted an inning-ending double play ball. Sammy Sosa threw to the wrong base. Also Bernie Mac sang the 7th inning stretch and it went on way too long, pumping up the Marlins as he kept referring to the Cubs as the "Champs". Prior should have warmed up during that long long delay. And of course, there was a-whole-nother game to be played and the Cubs lost that one too as Kerry Wood and Farnsworth were terrible. Only people outside Chicago make a big deal out of Bartman. I have not and will not watch the 30 for 30 on Bartman. That postseason is still painful for me and most Cubs fans but Bartman has nothing to do with it.
10/13/2020
So, I have a suggestion for new White Sox pitching coach...Greg Hibbard. This project is what brought Hibby to mind. I found my old mini discs from the inaugural Joliet JackHammers season in 2002 that have my pre-game and post-game interviews from our WJOL broadcasts. I put them together into one long audio file that sort of takes you through the entire season that ended with a playoff appearance. So I've been listening to my chats with the likes of Manager Matt Nokes, pitching coach Greg Hibbard, catchers Ryan Sienko and Rick Wilkins, pitchers Brian Mazone and Rich Hyde, plus the likes of Derek Kopacz and Bubba Smith and more. I even have a couple chats with Bryan Dolgin included, when he sat in with me on my WJOL afternoon talk show that would lead into our game broadcast together that night. I did my show live from the ballpark on Fridays. It's been incredibly fun to listen back and hear those voices again and think back on that season. I hope you all enjoy it too, especially if you are a JackHammers fan from back in the day. We averaged over 4,000 fans per game back then and were so much fun to watch and Bryan and I had a blast on the air. Anyway, after listening to Hibby's interviews it reminds me how good he was at that job back then and I'm sure he's only better now, after going on to spend 13 years in the Indians organization and then spending the last few with the Rangers as their AAA and AA pitching coach. Considering his past as a pitcher on the South Side and his added experience now as a coach and his great ability to communicate, I would love it if he came back to town with whoever gets the managerial job. It is certainly unlikely, although Reinsdorf loves his former White Sox, but Hibbard gets my vote.
Here's the link to this video on my YouTube page...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnZHkj8TCWQ&t=885s
So, I have a suggestion for new White Sox pitching coach...Greg Hibbard. This project is what brought Hibby to mind. I found my old mini discs from the inaugural Joliet JackHammers season in 2002 that have my pre-game and post-game interviews from our WJOL broadcasts. I put them together into one long audio file that sort of takes you through the entire season that ended with a playoff appearance. So I've been listening to my chats with the likes of Manager Matt Nokes, pitching coach Greg Hibbard, catchers Ryan Sienko and Rick Wilkins, pitchers Brian Mazone and Rich Hyde, plus the likes of Derek Kopacz and Bubba Smith and more. I even have a couple chats with Bryan Dolgin included, when he sat in with me on my WJOL afternoon talk show that would lead into our game broadcast together that night. I did my show live from the ballpark on Fridays. It's been incredibly fun to listen back and hear those voices again and think back on that season. I hope you all enjoy it too, especially if you are a JackHammers fan from back in the day. We averaged over 4,000 fans per game back then and were so much fun to watch and Bryan and I had a blast on the air. Anyway, after listening to Hibby's interviews it reminds me how good he was at that job back then and I'm sure he's only better now, after going on to spend 13 years in the Indians organization and then spending the last few with the Rangers as their AAA and AA pitching coach. Considering his past as a pitcher on the South Side and his added experience now as a coach and his great ability to communicate, I would love it if he came back to town with whoever gets the managerial job. It is certainly unlikely, although Reinsdorf loves his former White Sox, but Hibbard gets my vote.
Here's the link to this video on my YouTube page...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnZHkj8TCWQ&t=885s
10/12/2020
So it's done. Ricky Renteria is out as White Sox manager. I understand the move and am okay with it, but I certainly hope Ricky gets the chance to take a 3rd team from terrible while rebuilding to contender but then gets to see it all the way though to the World Series. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop and thankfully, it has. Don Cooper is out as well, as pitching coach. The last time the Sox were even top 10 in AL ERA was in 2009. It was time to move on from Coop as well, who somehow survived through the regimes of Terry Bevington, Jerry Manuel, Ozzie Guillen, Robin Ventura and Renteria. Plenty of young pitching prospects have fallen by the wayside during that tenure and he has to take some responsibility for it. I eagerly await the news on replacements. Regardless, I definitely take this as a good move and have big hopes for the future of this team with a manager and pitching coach tailored to this roster.
So it's done. Ricky Renteria is out as White Sox manager. I understand the move and am okay with it, but I certainly hope Ricky gets the chance to take a 3rd team from terrible while rebuilding to contender but then gets to see it all the way though to the World Series. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop and thankfully, it has. Don Cooper is out as well, as pitching coach. The last time the Sox were even top 10 in AL ERA was in 2009. It was time to move on from Coop as well, who somehow survived through the regimes of Terry Bevington, Jerry Manuel, Ozzie Guillen, Robin Ventura and Renteria. Plenty of young pitching prospects have fallen by the wayside during that tenure and he has to take some responsibility for it. I eagerly await the news on replacements. Regardless, I definitely take this as a good move and have big hopes for the future of this team with a manager and pitching coach tailored to this roster.
10/12/2020
I have posted this on Facebook in some fashion every Columbus Day and will continue to do so, as long as this stupid holiday exists. I figured it was time to post it here as well. And to any Italian American friends, just know this is not about you. Let's make another holiday. Call it Joe DiMaggio Day or Frank Sinatra Day or whatever. Pick a worthy Italian or Italian American to honor and celebrate your culture and heritage that day. I'm fine with that, but this Columbus thing has got to go. He was a miserable excuse for a human being. Here is my previous post on the topic, with some fresh editing.
I know I am stating the obvious here but as a history buff, I can't help myself. Christopher Columbus did not even set foot on the North American continent, ever. He ended up in the Bahamas. Leif Ericson had already landed on North America and the Polynesians had already landed on South America. And of course, there already were people living there on that island now known as the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic and there were people already living on the North American Continent, so it didn't need 'discovering' in the first place.
The Arawak Indians of that island known as Hispaniola were a kind people with no weapons, criminals or prisons. So naturally Columbus seized their land for Spain, enslaved those kind-hearted natives and made them mine for gold. Within two years over 125 thousand natives were dead. If a miner did not get his gold quota...there was hardly any gold around to be found...his hands were cut off. Columbus also sold girls as young as nine as sex slaves and took thousands of natives back to Spain to be slaves there. On his return trip to the Caribbean, he brought attack dogs to help him rule the island. He fed Arawak babies to the dogs when they ran short of meat for those dogs, since there was not much meat to go around in the first place. I know that sounds crazy and far fetched, but it is a documented fact. He was basically the first slave trader in the Americas. All of this and many more atrocities are well documented in diaries from the time and he and many of his men kept journals describing and bragging of all of this. Within 20 years, the native population went from 3 million to 60 thousand! Columbus is literally one of the worst human beings in recorded history. He and his brothers were eventually arrested for their numerous crimes against humanity and shipped back to Spain. Even for his time, all this was just too much for people to stomach, but the King pardoned them all because of all the riches that were supplied to him by the expeditions. So, he did not discover the American Continent in any way and was a murderous slave trader when he got to the Bahamas, so not exactly worth honoring at all for anything. I am skipping Columbus Day, thank you very much!
I have posted this on Facebook in some fashion every Columbus Day and will continue to do so, as long as this stupid holiday exists. I figured it was time to post it here as well. And to any Italian American friends, just know this is not about you. Let's make another holiday. Call it Joe DiMaggio Day or Frank Sinatra Day or whatever. Pick a worthy Italian or Italian American to honor and celebrate your culture and heritage that day. I'm fine with that, but this Columbus thing has got to go. He was a miserable excuse for a human being. Here is my previous post on the topic, with some fresh editing.
I know I am stating the obvious here but as a history buff, I can't help myself. Christopher Columbus did not even set foot on the North American continent, ever. He ended up in the Bahamas. Leif Ericson had already landed on North America and the Polynesians had already landed on South America. And of course, there already were people living there on that island now known as the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic and there were people already living on the North American Continent, so it didn't need 'discovering' in the first place.
The Arawak Indians of that island known as Hispaniola were a kind people with no weapons, criminals or prisons. So naturally Columbus seized their land for Spain, enslaved those kind-hearted natives and made them mine for gold. Within two years over 125 thousand natives were dead. If a miner did not get his gold quota...there was hardly any gold around to be found...his hands were cut off. Columbus also sold girls as young as nine as sex slaves and took thousands of natives back to Spain to be slaves there. On his return trip to the Caribbean, he brought attack dogs to help him rule the island. He fed Arawak babies to the dogs when they ran short of meat for those dogs, since there was not much meat to go around in the first place. I know that sounds crazy and far fetched, but it is a documented fact. He was basically the first slave trader in the Americas. All of this and many more atrocities are well documented in diaries from the time and he and many of his men kept journals describing and bragging of all of this. Within 20 years, the native population went from 3 million to 60 thousand! Columbus is literally one of the worst human beings in recorded history. He and his brothers were eventually arrested for their numerous crimes against humanity and shipped back to Spain. Even for his time, all this was just too much for people to stomach, but the King pardoned them all because of all the riches that were supplied to him by the expeditions. So, he did not discover the American Continent in any way and was a murderous slave trader when he got to the Bahamas, so not exactly worth honoring at all for anything. I am skipping Columbus Day, thank you very much!
10/9/2020
The GLVC released it's basketball schedule yesterday. I'm excited to finally have an official start date on my 18th season as radio voice of Lewis University basketball on 1340 WJOL. Next month will actually be the 20th anniversary of my first season behind the mic for the Flyers. I was there for the last three seasons under head coach Jim Whitesell, beginning in 2000-2001. I missed the two year stint of Kyle Green as head coach, when I was part of the Boers and Bernstein show on WSCR as their every day sports anchor. After leaving the Score, I then came back to Romeoville for the first of what now will be 15 years of Scott Trost as head coach. That corresponds to the last two years of Brian Michalek as coach on the women's side, three of the five years of Lynn Plett as coach, all eight years of Lisan Carlsen, both years of Kristen Gillespie and now the fourth year for Sam Quigley Smith. What all that means is that I have been fortunate enough to work with some of the best coaches and people around and I have seen a lot of winning and a lot of talent. This season will be a bit weird, with no fans in the stands, of course. Neil Carey Arena is not huge but it is really loud and fun when it is packed. I'm just glad there is going to be a season, such as it is, with no non-conference games and so on.
This is my radio schedule pictured here. Feel free to print it and keep it handy, if such a thing appeals to you. At the moment, Flyers games are my only broadcasts, so are even more precious than usual. I can't wait to talk to you again on the air with Phil Cantu
back at the WJOL studios, turning the dials. Both teams are going to be really good again, by the way. More on that as we get closer. Stay tuned, as they say.
The GLVC released it's basketball schedule yesterday. I'm excited to finally have an official start date on my 18th season as radio voice of Lewis University basketball on 1340 WJOL. Next month will actually be the 20th anniversary of my first season behind the mic for the Flyers. I was there for the last three seasons under head coach Jim Whitesell, beginning in 2000-2001. I missed the two year stint of Kyle Green as head coach, when I was part of the Boers and Bernstein show on WSCR as their every day sports anchor. After leaving the Score, I then came back to Romeoville for the first of what now will be 15 years of Scott Trost as head coach. That corresponds to the last two years of Brian Michalek as coach on the women's side, three of the five years of Lynn Plett as coach, all eight years of Lisan Carlsen, both years of Kristen Gillespie and now the fourth year for Sam Quigley Smith. What all that means is that I have been fortunate enough to work with some of the best coaches and people around and I have seen a lot of winning and a lot of talent. This season will be a bit weird, with no fans in the stands, of course. Neil Carey Arena is not huge but it is really loud and fun when it is packed. I'm just glad there is going to be a season, such as it is, with no non-conference games and so on.
This is my radio schedule pictured here. Feel free to print it and keep it handy, if such a thing appeals to you. At the moment, Flyers games are my only broadcasts, so are even more precious than usual. I can't wait to talk to you again on the air with Phil Cantu
back at the WJOL studios, turning the dials. Both teams are going to be really good again, by the way. More on that as we get closer. Stay tuned, as they say.
10/7/2020
So, October is Marathon Month. Today is the 2nd anniversary of our running the Twin Cities Marathon and Friday is the 4th anniversary of our finishing the Chicago Marathon, our first. Never in a million years would I have thought I would be writing those sentences, lol. We also ran the Grand Rapids Marathon 3 years ago and the Marine Corps Marathon in D.C. last October, so it's weird to not be running one this month. Of course, this entire year has been weird, so what else is new. My wife and I use the Chicago Lakefront path for training. Covid closed that path for the entire Spring months and even when it opened for the Summer, the water fountains and bathrooms did not. Long distance training was not really all that possible, therefore. Our lives have also been taken over by my Dad and her Mom needing multiple hospital stays, working long hours and the other stresses of the pandemic and quarantine. So running just didn't make our list of things we could fit in to our lives in 2020. I miss it. Running gives me a feeling of accomplishment and has made me proud of myself, frankly. The runner's high is real and is missed as well. I like still being an athlete at this time of my life and like staying in shape. I am absolutely not in shape at the moment and can't wait to get back at it when the world calms down again. I finished the Chicago Marathon and the Marine Corps Marathon over this four year span, while doing the Grand Rapids Half Marathon on an injured leg three years ago. At the Twin Cities, I got close to finishing The Marathon but stopped at about mile 19 due to the endless hills and the 100 percent humidity taking it's toll. I could have pushed myself to finish but the impending time limit and my desire to enjoy the rest of our trip made me think better of it. Regardless, that's two Halfs and two Full Marathons I'm giving myself credit for in the last four years, which is not bad for a big guy in his late 50's. Naturally, my wife completed the first three Marathons and amazingly finished the 50k race last year in D.C., while I 'only' did the Marathon, lol. That means she basically ran 32 miles. Unreal. I want to believe we will be lining up to do a long race somewhere next October. Here's hoping.
So, October is Marathon Month. Today is the 2nd anniversary of our running the Twin Cities Marathon and Friday is the 4th anniversary of our finishing the Chicago Marathon, our first. Never in a million years would I have thought I would be writing those sentences, lol. We also ran the Grand Rapids Marathon 3 years ago and the Marine Corps Marathon in D.C. last October, so it's weird to not be running one this month. Of course, this entire year has been weird, so what else is new. My wife and I use the Chicago Lakefront path for training. Covid closed that path for the entire Spring months and even when it opened for the Summer, the water fountains and bathrooms did not. Long distance training was not really all that possible, therefore. Our lives have also been taken over by my Dad and her Mom needing multiple hospital stays, working long hours and the other stresses of the pandemic and quarantine. So running just didn't make our list of things we could fit in to our lives in 2020. I miss it. Running gives me a feeling of accomplishment and has made me proud of myself, frankly. The runner's high is real and is missed as well. I like still being an athlete at this time of my life and like staying in shape. I am absolutely not in shape at the moment and can't wait to get back at it when the world calms down again. I finished the Chicago Marathon and the Marine Corps Marathon over this four year span, while doing the Grand Rapids Half Marathon on an injured leg three years ago. At the Twin Cities, I got close to finishing The Marathon but stopped at about mile 19 due to the endless hills and the 100 percent humidity taking it's toll. I could have pushed myself to finish but the impending time limit and my desire to enjoy the rest of our trip made me think better of it. Regardless, that's two Halfs and two Full Marathons I'm giving myself credit for in the last four years, which is not bad for a big guy in his late 50's. Naturally, my wife completed the first three Marathons and amazingly finished the 50k race last year in D.C., while I 'only' did the Marathon, lol. That means she basically ran 32 miles. Unreal. I want to believe we will be lining up to do a long race somewhere next October. Here's hoping.
10/4/2020
I posted this story on Facebook two years ago, about two of my favorite players I've broadcast for, over the years. They happened to be teammates in high school at Marian Catholic. Thanks to their schedules, I got to announce both for their entire college careers. I'm re-posting this today, because in describing Whitney Young's roster, I originally somehow forgot Janee Thompson and have edited it now to include her. I figured it should be in this blog as well, anyway. I had wondered how a Marian Catholic team with a tremendous point guard like Alanna Ferry and a dominant scorer like Jamie Johnson didn't win a state title. Turns out it took 5 incredible players at Whitney Young to stop them. At least now I have the answer. Here it is.
Having broadcast dozens of basketball games for Jamie Johnson at Lewis U. and Alanna Ferry at Benedictine, I was trying to figure out how the teammates at Marian Catholic didn't win a state title together. I've always wondered why. Johnson, btw, finished as the Flyers all-time leader in scoring, is #2 in all-time free throw percentage and was an All-American and GLVC Player of the Year. Ferry finished as the Eagles #2 in career assists and #7 in free throw percentage, led team in steals twice, (I'm pretty sure she's the career steals leader but that stat is not in their record book) and was their best-ever all-around point guard in my opinion. (Her birthday recently is what reminded me of all this stuff) So with time on my hands, I looked it up. It was Whitney Young that beat Marian Catholic in the Supers three years in a row! They happened to have, it turns out, the likes of Linnae Harper, Janee Thompson, Chanise Jenkins, Kiana Johnson and Sinclair Cunningham. Harper started at Kentucky and finished at Ohio State. She is currently playing in the WNBA for the Chicago Sky. Thompson played at Kentucky as well and started as their point guard as a freshman. She was ranked the #6 point guard in the country as a senior at Whitney Young by ESPN. She went on to play in Germany after suffering numerous injuries with the Wildcats. Jenkins went on to star at DePaul as the Big East Player of the Year and starred for Team USA that won the Gold at the World University Games. She has played in the pro's in Switzerland. Johnson started at Michigan State and finished as the 2016 D2 National Player of the Year at Virginia Union. She is playing professionally in Finland. Cunningham went to Kishwaukee Community College and is their all-time single season scoring leader at 17.2 ppg and was a Junior College All-American. That was a pretty good high school team for Whitney Young in 2011 etc., I would say, and that at least, explains it!
I posted this story on Facebook two years ago, about two of my favorite players I've broadcast for, over the years. They happened to be teammates in high school at Marian Catholic. Thanks to their schedules, I got to announce both for their entire college careers. I'm re-posting this today, because in describing Whitney Young's roster, I originally somehow forgot Janee Thompson and have edited it now to include her. I figured it should be in this blog as well, anyway. I had wondered how a Marian Catholic team with a tremendous point guard like Alanna Ferry and a dominant scorer like Jamie Johnson didn't win a state title. Turns out it took 5 incredible players at Whitney Young to stop them. At least now I have the answer. Here it is.
Having broadcast dozens of basketball games for Jamie Johnson at Lewis U. and Alanna Ferry at Benedictine, I was trying to figure out how the teammates at Marian Catholic didn't win a state title together. I've always wondered why. Johnson, btw, finished as the Flyers all-time leader in scoring, is #2 in all-time free throw percentage and was an All-American and GLVC Player of the Year. Ferry finished as the Eagles #2 in career assists and #7 in free throw percentage, led team in steals twice, (I'm pretty sure she's the career steals leader but that stat is not in their record book) and was their best-ever all-around point guard in my opinion. (Her birthday recently is what reminded me of all this stuff) So with time on my hands, I looked it up. It was Whitney Young that beat Marian Catholic in the Supers three years in a row! They happened to have, it turns out, the likes of Linnae Harper, Janee Thompson, Chanise Jenkins, Kiana Johnson and Sinclair Cunningham. Harper started at Kentucky and finished at Ohio State. She is currently playing in the WNBA for the Chicago Sky. Thompson played at Kentucky as well and started as their point guard as a freshman. She was ranked the #6 point guard in the country as a senior at Whitney Young by ESPN. She went on to play in Germany after suffering numerous injuries with the Wildcats. Jenkins went on to star at DePaul as the Big East Player of the Year and starred for Team USA that won the Gold at the World University Games. She has played in the pro's in Switzerland. Johnson started at Michigan State and finished as the 2016 D2 National Player of the Year at Virginia Union. She is playing professionally in Finland. Cunningham went to Kishwaukee Community College and is their all-time single season scoring leader at 17.2 ppg and was a Junior College All-American. That was a pretty good high school team for Whitney Young in 2011 etc., I would say, and that at least, explains it!
10/2/2020
The scary thing about this Cubs season ending playoff loss was you can't blame the Manager. This is the team. This is it. This is the roster for next year too and they can't hit. They just can't hit. And you can't trade any of them because nobody is going to want them and the money they will be due after next year. Bryant, Rizzo, Baez and Schwarber are all basically free agents after next season. The Cubs are trapped with this lineup. Either they all remember how to hit by next April or it will be a very long year or couple of years, indeed. This was even more frustrating than yesterday's Sox loss. You know the Sox are on the cusp of something special. The Cubs window, however, is closing or is already closed. How does and entire roster forget how to hit? They've all done it before. What the ever-loving fork?
And on a side note, the Cubs third base coach should be fired immediately. Will Venable did absolutely nothing as Contreras comes towards 3rd. Contreras slows, speeds up and then was thrown out by a mile at home plate as Venable has his hands on his knees the whole time. This is a playoff game! You need to be down the line with your hands waving one way or the other. You don't know when Contreras will catch your eye, so you have to be waving emphatically one way or the other the entire time. The season was on the line, for goodness sake. Ridiculous. If this was a road game, I'd have made him catch his own damn flight home.
The scary thing about this Cubs season ending playoff loss was you can't blame the Manager. This is the team. This is it. This is the roster for next year too and they can't hit. They just can't hit. And you can't trade any of them because nobody is going to want them and the money they will be due after next year. Bryant, Rizzo, Baez and Schwarber are all basically free agents after next season. The Cubs are trapped with this lineup. Either they all remember how to hit by next April or it will be a very long year or couple of years, indeed. This was even more frustrating than yesterday's Sox loss. You know the Sox are on the cusp of something special. The Cubs window, however, is closing or is already closed. How does and entire roster forget how to hit? They've all done it before. What the ever-loving fork?
And on a side note, the Cubs third base coach should be fired immediately. Will Venable did absolutely nothing as Contreras comes towards 3rd. Contreras slows, speeds up and then was thrown out by a mile at home plate as Venable has his hands on his knees the whole time. This is a playoff game! You need to be down the line with your hands waving one way or the other. You don't know when Contreras will catch your eye, so you have to be waving emphatically one way or the other the entire time. The season was on the line, for goodness sake. Ridiculous. If this was a road game, I'd have made him catch his own damn flight home.
10/2/2020
A few thoughts on the White Sox season ending playoff loss last night. The Sox are so young. This success was a year ahead of schedule. They will be good for a long time and will play deeper into October next year. Having said that, I know people are not happy with Ricky. Lineups are on him, if they don't work. He never seemed to settle on the best one to put out on a daily basis. But again, this pitching stuff is on Coop. This nonsense of pulling your starter after 15 pitches and using your best arms early is all on Coop. Regardless of what happens to Ricky, it is time for Cooper to go. And if Ricky goes, then by God, Cooper better go with him. If Don survives another Managerial change then there should be some sort of investigation. Personally, I want Ricky to get one more chance with the pitching coach of his choice. Of course, more proof that they were a year ahead of schedule is that they didn't have a reliable starter to trust going deep in just the 3rd game of a series, in the first place. Plus, they only had 60 games with this very young lineup to get ready for a postseason. If these rookies had 162 games to use as seasoning, then the result might have been different as well. Injuries during the season and last night didn't help either. We'll see what happens but the Sox will be in the ALCS next year, I believe, on the strength of talent alone, regardless who is standing on the top step of the dugout.
And by the way, I will never forgive the Twins for losing to the Astros. The A's better go on now and eliminate those clowns. I don't want them in the ALCS, even to root against. I want them gone.
A few thoughts on the White Sox season ending playoff loss last night. The Sox are so young. This success was a year ahead of schedule. They will be good for a long time and will play deeper into October next year. Having said that, I know people are not happy with Ricky. Lineups are on him, if they don't work. He never seemed to settle on the best one to put out on a daily basis. But again, this pitching stuff is on Coop. This nonsense of pulling your starter after 15 pitches and using your best arms early is all on Coop. Regardless of what happens to Ricky, it is time for Cooper to go. And if Ricky goes, then by God, Cooper better go with him. If Don survives another Managerial change then there should be some sort of investigation. Personally, I want Ricky to get one more chance with the pitching coach of his choice. Of course, more proof that they were a year ahead of schedule is that they didn't have a reliable starter to trust going deep in just the 3rd game of a series, in the first place. Plus, they only had 60 games with this very young lineup to get ready for a postseason. If these rookies had 162 games to use as seasoning, then the result might have been different as well. Injuries during the season and last night didn't help either. We'll see what happens but the Sox will be in the ALCS next year, I believe, on the strength of talent alone, regardless who is standing on the top step of the dugout.
And by the way, I will never forgive the Twins for losing to the Astros. The A's better go on now and eliminate those clowns. I don't want them in the ALCS, even to root against. I want them gone.
9/30/2020
Today is the 30th anniversary of the final game at Comiskey. I was lucky enough to be there as a reporter and was at the first game at the Cell as well. This was an emotional day, for sure. Yes, I am a Cubs fan, but as I've said repeatedly, I've always liked the Sox and have attended more Sox than Cubs game over my lifetime. My family is and was all Cubs fans, but almost without exception every one of my close friends has been or is a Sox fan. I would go to Wrigley with family and Comiskey with my buddies. Now that I've married a Sox fan, I've gone to way more Sox games than Cubs games in the last decade or so and have only been to Wrigley for concerts in the last couple years. I am a baseball guy. I enjoyed and watched Harry and Jimmy calling Sox games there and even liked Hawk and Wimpy. The later Hawk, not so much, lol. Hell, I live 6 blocks from the Cell right now. Regardless, the history of that old building on the South Side, from World Series, to Babe Ruth, to Negro League All-Star games, to the Go Go Sox, to the Black Sox to the 1983 season etc. is and was important to me. That legacy was tough to see end. I enjoy the new ballpark, especially after they made the recent improvements, but Comiskey was 'Baseball' if you know what I mean. I got to watch some great players on that field from Dick Allen, to Bill Melton to Ron Kittle, to Harold Baines to Pat Kelly, to Goose Gossage, to Carlos May, to Wilbur Wood and too many more to mention. Time marches on, though. Wrigley is still there but it sure ain't like it used to be. I do miss that old ballyard at 35th and Shields. Here's to ya.
And while I'm talking about the White Sox, just wanted to mention how cool it was to drive home from work yesterday, with a Sox playoff game on the radio and my buddy Andy Masur on the call. Considering he was broadcasting for Peoria when I was doing Kane County Cougars games, it's pretty nice to listen to him do the Sox now and do it so well. Yes, I'm envious, lol, but happy for a guy I've known for about 25 years. Please and thank you.
Today is the 30th anniversary of the final game at Comiskey. I was lucky enough to be there as a reporter and was at the first game at the Cell as well. This was an emotional day, for sure. Yes, I am a Cubs fan, but as I've said repeatedly, I've always liked the Sox and have attended more Sox than Cubs game over my lifetime. My family is and was all Cubs fans, but almost without exception every one of my close friends has been or is a Sox fan. I would go to Wrigley with family and Comiskey with my buddies. Now that I've married a Sox fan, I've gone to way more Sox games than Cubs games in the last decade or so and have only been to Wrigley for concerts in the last couple years. I am a baseball guy. I enjoyed and watched Harry and Jimmy calling Sox games there and even liked Hawk and Wimpy. The later Hawk, not so much, lol. Hell, I live 6 blocks from the Cell right now. Regardless, the history of that old building on the South Side, from World Series, to Babe Ruth, to Negro League All-Star games, to the Go Go Sox, to the Black Sox to the 1983 season etc. is and was important to me. That legacy was tough to see end. I enjoy the new ballpark, especially after they made the recent improvements, but Comiskey was 'Baseball' if you know what I mean. I got to watch some great players on that field from Dick Allen, to Bill Melton to Ron Kittle, to Harold Baines to Pat Kelly, to Goose Gossage, to Carlos May, to Wilbur Wood and too many more to mention. Time marches on, though. Wrigley is still there but it sure ain't like it used to be. I do miss that old ballyard at 35th and Shields. Here's to ya.
And while I'm talking about the White Sox, just wanted to mention how cool it was to drive home from work yesterday, with a Sox playoff game on the radio and my buddy Andy Masur on the call. Considering he was broadcasting for Peoria when I was doing Kane County Cougars games, it's pretty nice to listen to him do the Sox now and do it so well. Yes, I'm envious, lol, but happy for a guy I've known for about 25 years. Please and thank you.
9/29/2020
I posted a little bit about Bob Kipper and Bill Gullickson three years ago and wanted to bring it back and expand on it.
I faced Bill Gullickson of Joliet Catholic in high school but never faced Kip and thank goodness!. Gullickson was the 2nd overall pick in the first round in 1977. Bill was 12-0 as a senior and struck out 158 batters in just 87 innings with a 96 mph fastball for the Hilltoppers. He had 6 no-hitters while at JCA. I have mentioned it before, but I played against Gullickson just after he had been drafted and was pitching to stay sharp for the Joliet American Legion team before he signed his pro contract. Our Naperville North H.S. legion team played them when I was going into my Junior year. A 16 year old facing a 96 mph fastball from a graduated senior was pretty ridiculous. I grounded out to 2nd base and got high fives in the dugout for putting it in play! lol. I might have been the only one to do that, that day, I think. He pitched 14 years in the Majors, was 2nd in the Rookie of the Year voting and finished 8th in the Cy Young voting in 1991 with Detroit, when he was 20-9.
Kipper, out of Aurora Central Catholic, was the 8th overall pick in the first round in 1982. Bob was just as dominating in high school, if not more-so. Bob still has the 4th lowest career earned run average of all-time in IHSA history at 0.48, and that was with all four years on the varsity! Kip threw 4 no-hitters in his senior season of 1982!! I saw him pitch one of those no-hitters, after hearing about him and wanting to see him in person. It was ridiculous how dominating he was, lol. I broadcast ACC Chargers baseball for many years starting in 1984 so just missed out on calling his high school games. He was the Class-A California League pitcher of the year in '84, by the way. He pitched for the Angels, Pirates and Twins in the Majors. After his MLB career, the lefty became a pitching coach and is still in the Red Sox organization and was their bullpen coach for a time. 12 years broadcasting sports in Aurora made me even more of a fan and follower of his. He guested on my old WKKD afternoon show a number of times during his playing career, while with the Pirates. Bill and Bob are two of the best Illinois High School pitchers of all-time and I am happy to have been around both of them to a small degree and see their talent in person at such a young age.
I posted a little bit about Bob Kipper and Bill Gullickson three years ago and wanted to bring it back and expand on it.
I faced Bill Gullickson of Joliet Catholic in high school but never faced Kip and thank goodness!. Gullickson was the 2nd overall pick in the first round in 1977. Bill was 12-0 as a senior and struck out 158 batters in just 87 innings with a 96 mph fastball for the Hilltoppers. He had 6 no-hitters while at JCA. I have mentioned it before, but I played against Gullickson just after he had been drafted and was pitching to stay sharp for the Joliet American Legion team before he signed his pro contract. Our Naperville North H.S. legion team played them when I was going into my Junior year. A 16 year old facing a 96 mph fastball from a graduated senior was pretty ridiculous. I grounded out to 2nd base and got high fives in the dugout for putting it in play! lol. I might have been the only one to do that, that day, I think. He pitched 14 years in the Majors, was 2nd in the Rookie of the Year voting and finished 8th in the Cy Young voting in 1991 with Detroit, when he was 20-9.
Kipper, out of Aurora Central Catholic, was the 8th overall pick in the first round in 1982. Bob was just as dominating in high school, if not more-so. Bob still has the 4th lowest career earned run average of all-time in IHSA history at 0.48, and that was with all four years on the varsity! Kip threw 4 no-hitters in his senior season of 1982!! I saw him pitch one of those no-hitters, after hearing about him and wanting to see him in person. It was ridiculous how dominating he was, lol. I broadcast ACC Chargers baseball for many years starting in 1984 so just missed out on calling his high school games. He was the Class-A California League pitcher of the year in '84, by the way. He pitched for the Angels, Pirates and Twins in the Majors. After his MLB career, the lefty became a pitching coach and is still in the Red Sox organization and was their bullpen coach for a time. 12 years broadcasting sports in Aurora made me even more of a fan and follower of his. He guested on my old WKKD afternoon show a number of times during his playing career, while with the Pirates. Bill and Bob are two of the best Illinois High School pitchers of all-time and I am happy to have been around both of them to a small degree and see their talent in person at such a young age.
9/23/2020
RIP Gale Sayers. Of all his amazing stats, the one that gets lost is that he returned kickoffs better than anyone. His return average in a 3 year stretch was 31.4, 31.2 and then 37.7 yards per attempt in 1967! We have not been blessed with too many elite quarterbacks in Bears history but we have been spoiled in the running back department, for sure. He didn't play for long, thanks to bad knees, but he was electric while he had that uniform on. I got to interview him a few times while he was Athletic Director at SIU. Glad I got the chance. I do wish I knew about CTE and concussions etc. at the time though. I've told this story before but while I was at Southern Illinois, a football player, Mark Hemphill, was paralyzed during a game in 1979. The next year, Hemphill came back in a wheelchair and was honored at halftime in front of the biggest crowed in McAndrew Stadium history. Sayers, as AD, mispronounced his name and then introduced Illinois Governor Jim Thompson as "John" Thompson. I snickered at the time and wondered if Gale was just not that smart. He was incredibly nice to deal with but I wondered about him. Well, now we know he had to have been dealing with brain trauma at the time, considering he died of complications from dementia and alzheimers. I feel bad now that I felt bad about him. But I loved to watch him as a little kid and I bought the book of his life story and the Brian's Song book when I was young. He had the most amazing moves on the football field. He ran differently than Walter Payton. He ran more like Barry Sanders. He moved diagonally between tacklers effortlessly, it seemed. It was the cliche, poetry in motion. It was thrilling. I wish he could have played about ten more years. His numbers would have been staggering. The Kansas Comet was magic.
RIP Gale Sayers. Of all his amazing stats, the one that gets lost is that he returned kickoffs better than anyone. His return average in a 3 year stretch was 31.4, 31.2 and then 37.7 yards per attempt in 1967! We have not been blessed with too many elite quarterbacks in Bears history but we have been spoiled in the running back department, for sure. He didn't play for long, thanks to bad knees, but he was electric while he had that uniform on. I got to interview him a few times while he was Athletic Director at SIU. Glad I got the chance. I do wish I knew about CTE and concussions etc. at the time though. I've told this story before but while I was at Southern Illinois, a football player, Mark Hemphill, was paralyzed during a game in 1979. The next year, Hemphill came back in a wheelchair and was honored at halftime in front of the biggest crowed in McAndrew Stadium history. Sayers, as AD, mispronounced his name and then introduced Illinois Governor Jim Thompson as "John" Thompson. I snickered at the time and wondered if Gale was just not that smart. He was incredibly nice to deal with but I wondered about him. Well, now we know he had to have been dealing with brain trauma at the time, considering he died of complications from dementia and alzheimers. I feel bad now that I felt bad about him. But I loved to watch him as a little kid and I bought the book of his life story and the Brian's Song book when I was young. He had the most amazing moves on the football field. He ran differently than Walter Payton. He ran more like Barry Sanders. He moved diagonally between tacklers effortlessly, it seemed. It was the cliche, poetry in motion. It was thrilling. I wish he could have played about ten more years. His numbers would have been staggering. The Kansas Comet was magic.
9/18/2020
Happy Championship Anniversary to all my fellow 2011 Joliet Slammers! It was an amazing night and a special summer. The Slammers gave me my only Championship ring in all the years and all the sports I've broadcast. They were the epitome of a team and one that played for each other. River City had a better record and better stats in most categories but the Slammers beat them 3-1 in the finals. Relief pitching was a big key to their success. A lead was safe thanks to their bullpen. Ryan Quigley's then-league record 28 saves made all the difference. He gave up just 31 hits in 42 2/3 innings and one home run the entire season. Getting to him with the lead intact was pretty much assured thanks to Brian Smith and Chuck Lukanen. Smith was as effective a reliever as you can possibly be. He finished with a 1.24 era in 40 appearances, allowing just 28 hits in 43 2/3 innings. Smith also allowed just one homer and struck out 31 while only walking 4. Yes, just 4! Lukanen, the lefty, gave up just 2 homers in 44 appearances. He struck-out 48 in 48 1/3 innings. There are many other things to brag about with that team, like the starting pitching from Jake Renshaw who finished 13-4 with 4 complete games. Andrew Moss threw a no-hitter. Offensively, Erik Lis drove in 77 runs in 91 games. He hit 20 homers and added 17 doubles while hitting .302. Josh Flores stole 35 bases. Kyle Maunus added 15 home runs and 56 rbis. The defense turned 91 double plays. The Manager and coaching staff were as good as it gets. Baseball is fun but it was even more fun that season. Thanks guys.
Happy Championship Anniversary to all my fellow 2011 Joliet Slammers! It was an amazing night and a special summer. The Slammers gave me my only Championship ring in all the years and all the sports I've broadcast. They were the epitome of a team and one that played for each other. River City had a better record and better stats in most categories but the Slammers beat them 3-1 in the finals. Relief pitching was a big key to their success. A lead was safe thanks to their bullpen. Ryan Quigley's then-league record 28 saves made all the difference. He gave up just 31 hits in 42 2/3 innings and one home run the entire season. Getting to him with the lead intact was pretty much assured thanks to Brian Smith and Chuck Lukanen. Smith was as effective a reliever as you can possibly be. He finished with a 1.24 era in 40 appearances, allowing just 28 hits in 43 2/3 innings. Smith also allowed just one homer and struck out 31 while only walking 4. Yes, just 4! Lukanen, the lefty, gave up just 2 homers in 44 appearances. He struck-out 48 in 48 1/3 innings. There are many other things to brag about with that team, like the starting pitching from Jake Renshaw who finished 13-4 with 4 complete games. Andrew Moss threw a no-hitter. Offensively, Erik Lis drove in 77 runs in 91 games. He hit 20 homers and added 17 doubles while hitting .302. Josh Flores stole 35 bases. Kyle Maunus added 15 home runs and 56 rbis. The defense turned 91 double plays. The Manager and coaching staff were as good as it gets. Baseball is fun but it was even more fun that season. Thanks guys.
9/13/2020
I put something like this on my Facebook page a few years ago, so figured I would put it here today with the kickoff of NFL Sundays.
I miss being part of 'Around the NFL'. I put that show up against any other show before or since. It was the best of it's kind. For years I did updates during our College Football Saturdays and Around the NFL on Sundays. I loved it and I miss it. It's still weird being at home on NFL Sundays in particular. I should be in the bullpen or the studio, watching all the TV's and scribbling in the just updated scores on my sheet just before I go on the air. Getting to watch Bob Berger do that show so effortlessly and so incredibly well was a thing of beauty. All his partners over the years complimented him beautifully but the Bob and Bruce version was the iconic one for me. '1 on 1' or Sporting News always seemed to be the underdog that didn't get much attention or respect compared to the big 4-letter network or others, but especially with 'Around the NFL' on Sundays I think we were doing work everyone wishes they could do or wishes they were doing. From the producers to the reporters calling in to the shows and getting locker room interviews to the board ops to Bob and Bruce and update guys like me, I think College Football Saturday and Around the NFL were the best shows of that kind or any kind in America, then or now. You will never convince me otherwise. Again, I am proud to have been a part of it, miss it, and would do it again now at the drop of a hat.
While I was at the Score, I became the main anchor for the Doug and O'B Chicago Bears postgame show as well. My time at '1 on 1' and Sporting News overlapped some with my time at the Score, so for well over a decade I was working Sundays on NFL shows. Buffone and O'Bradovich had, by far, the best Bears postgame show for years. Being part of that show brings much pride too. I knew how popular they were and didn't want to let them down. I tried to find things for them to talk about, stats etc. they might not have seen yet and more. My best memories of working Doug and Ed are the times during commercials that I came into the studio with tidbits for their next segment. A few times, Ed would just invite me to stay and pass that info along myself and the three of us would discuss it. It didn't get better than that. I watched them play on the field as a boy and then got to be part of their show decades later. Their passion for that team never wavered. Doug was the nicest guy in the world and Ed is one of a kind. So, it's an NFL Sunday and I should be in a radio studio somewhere. Oh well. Thanks for the good times.
Here's to you all, guys.
I put something like this on my Facebook page a few years ago, so figured I would put it here today with the kickoff of NFL Sundays.
I miss being part of 'Around the NFL'. I put that show up against any other show before or since. It was the best of it's kind. For years I did updates during our College Football Saturdays and Around the NFL on Sundays. I loved it and I miss it. It's still weird being at home on NFL Sundays in particular. I should be in the bullpen or the studio, watching all the TV's and scribbling in the just updated scores on my sheet just before I go on the air. Getting to watch Bob Berger do that show so effortlessly and so incredibly well was a thing of beauty. All his partners over the years complimented him beautifully but the Bob and Bruce version was the iconic one for me. '1 on 1' or Sporting News always seemed to be the underdog that didn't get much attention or respect compared to the big 4-letter network or others, but especially with 'Around the NFL' on Sundays I think we were doing work everyone wishes they could do or wishes they were doing. From the producers to the reporters calling in to the shows and getting locker room interviews to the board ops to Bob and Bruce and update guys like me, I think College Football Saturday and Around the NFL were the best shows of that kind or any kind in America, then or now. You will never convince me otherwise. Again, I am proud to have been a part of it, miss it, and would do it again now at the drop of a hat.
While I was at the Score, I became the main anchor for the Doug and O'B Chicago Bears postgame show as well. My time at '1 on 1' and Sporting News overlapped some with my time at the Score, so for well over a decade I was working Sundays on NFL shows. Buffone and O'Bradovich had, by far, the best Bears postgame show for years. Being part of that show brings much pride too. I knew how popular they were and didn't want to let them down. I tried to find things for them to talk about, stats etc. they might not have seen yet and more. My best memories of working Doug and Ed are the times during commercials that I came into the studio with tidbits for their next segment. A few times, Ed would just invite me to stay and pass that info along myself and the three of us would discuss it. It didn't get better than that. I watched them play on the field as a boy and then got to be part of their show decades later. Their passion for that team never wavered. Doug was the nicest guy in the world and Ed is one of a kind. So, it's an NFL Sunday and I should be in a radio studio somewhere. Oh well. Thanks for the good times.
Here's to you all, guys.
9/9/2020
This is very possibly the stupidest thing I have ever heard. The Orlando Magic will simulcast the TV broadcast on radio and they have fired their radio guys to do it. Radio and TV are two completely jobs. One paints the picture, the other compliments it. Infuriating in it's complete lack of understanding of the fans needs and broadcasters talents and strong-suits. For instance, towards the end of his career, Harry Caray did both TV and Radio for the Cubs. He would do middle three innings on the radio and switch back. When I was in the car listening to those three innings it was a nightmare. You never had any idea what was going on. He was at the point where he was doing the TV job all nine innings. I would literally scream at my radio...I can't see what is happening! lol. He wouldn't tell the score and wouldn't describe the play. They are two different jobs. His personality and schtick was fine for TV. On radio it was useless. I can't see where the ball was going and he wasn't telling me. These jobs aren't transferable. Basketball play-by-play does not tell you where the ball is with every pass and dribble because it does not have to. Doing that for TV is silly but necessary on radio. So they will save a few bucks and ruin the experience for both sets of fans. Absolute garbage. The continued lack of respect for my profession that I care dearly about is just so exasperating. Aargh!!!
And btw, I basically do quite a few simulcasts of my Lewis basketball games on WJOL, with the video available on the conference website at the same time. It is awkward and unwieldy at best. I basically do a radio broadcast on the web. I'd rather have a web viewer ask why I am mentioning where the ball is all time and what the score is when they can already see it on their screen, than have radio people asking what the heck is going on and what is the score! So I know from personal experience it isn't easy and isn't ideal for either viewer or the broadcaster.
This is very possibly the stupidest thing I have ever heard. The Orlando Magic will simulcast the TV broadcast on radio and they have fired their radio guys to do it. Radio and TV are two completely jobs. One paints the picture, the other compliments it. Infuriating in it's complete lack of understanding of the fans needs and broadcasters talents and strong-suits. For instance, towards the end of his career, Harry Caray did both TV and Radio for the Cubs. He would do middle three innings on the radio and switch back. When I was in the car listening to those three innings it was a nightmare. You never had any idea what was going on. He was at the point where he was doing the TV job all nine innings. I would literally scream at my radio...I can't see what is happening! lol. He wouldn't tell the score and wouldn't describe the play. They are two different jobs. His personality and schtick was fine for TV. On radio it was useless. I can't see where the ball was going and he wasn't telling me. These jobs aren't transferable. Basketball play-by-play does not tell you where the ball is with every pass and dribble because it does not have to. Doing that for TV is silly but necessary on radio. So they will save a few bucks and ruin the experience for both sets of fans. Absolute garbage. The continued lack of respect for my profession that I care dearly about is just so exasperating. Aargh!!!
And btw, I basically do quite a few simulcasts of my Lewis basketball games on WJOL, with the video available on the conference website at the same time. It is awkward and unwieldy at best. I basically do a radio broadcast on the web. I'd rather have a web viewer ask why I am mentioning where the ball is all time and what the score is when they can already see it on their screen, than have radio people asking what the heck is going on and what is the score! So I know from personal experience it isn't easy and isn't ideal for either viewer or the broadcaster.
9/9/2020
It is Roberto Clemente Day throughout Major League Baseball today. You might know that he is my favorite non-Chicago ballplayer of all time, so I couldn't be happier he is getting the recognition he deserves. He could do it all. He had amazing arm in right field and could track down any fly ball. He destroyed the Cubs over the years but I didn't mind. He was too much fun to watch go to work. You couldn't hate him. He was class and grace and grit. I would just watch him in awe and appreciation. He helped make me fall in love with baseball. His running style was so unique. I loved to watch him hit a double or triple, as he whipped around the bases with arms and legs seemingly shooting out to all directions as he flew. And he did fly. So many of his highlights were at Wrigley or vs. the Cubs, it seemed. Before I was born, he hit an inside-the-park, walk-off, grand slam against them! It was July of 1956. I wish I could have seen it. In 1970, as I did watch on WGN, he had one heckuva two-day run at Wrigley. On day one, July 3rd, in a typical wind-blowing-out summer day on the lake, he went 3 for 5 with 2 homers, 4 rbis and a walk in a 16-14 win. On July 4th, Roberto had 4 hits, 2 more homers and 3 more runs driven in. Clemente spent 18 years in the Majors and these were his batting averages in his final four seasons... .345, .352, .341 and .312. Amazing. He died tragically, as we know, but those number mean he could have gotten to 20 years in the Bigs without a problem, which is pretty epic. He was NL MVP in 1966 and was top-10 in the MVP race 7 other times! And I still think he was under appreciated then and still is now. If he played in New York, he would have been up there with Mantle and Gehrig in prestige. I believe that. I tip my cap to Roberto, not Bobby, Clemente. Thanks for the show.
9/5/2020
It will always feel weird not broadcasting D3 football this time of year, after 25 years in the booth combined between Aurora and Benedictine U. This year is even more strange, of course, thanks to Covid. Saturdays were for driving all around the Midwest to watch the Spartans or Eagles play. I miss it and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
As an aside, I will say that I don't really miss the early days of climbing up a rickety scaffold at Aurora or being in that old press box at IBC where you always felt like it was going to tip over and topple into the stands, but I do miss watching all those guys play back then, lol.
I came across some homework of mine for my AU vs BenU broadcast of 2017. (I even miss doing all the homework for those games, lol) I will re-print some of it here because seeing those names makes me smile.
Highlights of the rivalry that I have seen from both sidelines....
Ron Griffin 176yds rushing vs Benedictine 10/27/1990
--Griff's amazing career rushing 3691yds, 36tds 1987 to 1990
Fonzie Medina 183yds rushing vs Benedictine 10/24/1994
Derek Tieman 159yds rushing vs Benedictine 10/24/1992
Dan Dixon 76yd run vs Benedictine 10/24/1992
Mark Hancock 80yd run vs Benedictine 10/21/1995
George Monaco 70yd run vs Benedictine 10/23/1993
Kurt Whisenandt 85yd pass to Ken Masters vs IBC 10/28/1989
Brandon Kopf 70yd punt return td vs IBC 10/11/97
Brian Fetterolf 30 tackles vs IBC 11/1/1986
--Fetterolf 1st team all-american DB, Rod Stinson 2nd team all-american kick returner 1990. Chris Ferko 2nd team all-amer LB 1992
Bob Westerkamp 193yds receiving, 3tds vs Aurora 10/31/1987
Eric Green 153yds receiving 10/23/1993
--Green 5tds in a game twice in 1992, 100yd kick return 1992, 373 all purpose yds in a game in 1992
Willy Fajkus 72yd punt vs Aurora 10/27/1990
Rod Lindsay 57yd punt return vs Aurora 10/29/1988
Antoine Lewis 94yd punt return vs Aurora 10/22/1994
other notables--
Bob McMillen all-american TE w IBC, Conference Player of the Year...can't find stats but 1991 game at IBC vs Aurora where Bob was unstoppable and untackle-able if that is a word, lol. Hope to find game story because it is still one of the most remarkable things I have ever seen. No surprise he went on to be the AFL all-time rushing leader and Arena League Hall of Famer. Was 6'4" 245 and led IBC in receiving yds, plus kick and punt return yds that season.
John Borsellino 1,282yds rushing as junior, BenU record, was 2nd in all of D3 in all-purpose yds before playoff loss to Mt. Union. Brothers Anthony and Joe also BenU as well as cousins Mike Borsellino and Al Sarno.
Ryan Sample 48 yd run vs Adrian was D3football.com national play of the week--20th in IHSA in passing w 6,556yds at Manteno.
BenU record for season passing 3,299 and season tds 29 2016
Jarrett Lecas 1st team all american special teams, led nation in blocked kicks w 5, returned 2 for scores including blocked fg vs Olivet returned for td. Returned blocked extra point for 2-pt conversion vs Rockford. Honorable mention all american as safety. Led BenU in tackles. 4x 1st team all conference
Ben Lockton honorable mention all american DL in 2011
That is just some of that game's homework. I did most of my BenU football games by myself and three hours of solo play by play needed plenty of notes! I wish I was headed to a game right now.
It will always feel weird not broadcasting D3 football this time of year, after 25 years in the booth combined between Aurora and Benedictine U. This year is even more strange, of course, thanks to Covid. Saturdays were for driving all around the Midwest to watch the Spartans or Eagles play. I miss it and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
As an aside, I will say that I don't really miss the early days of climbing up a rickety scaffold at Aurora or being in that old press box at IBC where you always felt like it was going to tip over and topple into the stands, but I do miss watching all those guys play back then, lol.
I came across some homework of mine for my AU vs BenU broadcast of 2017. (I even miss doing all the homework for those games, lol) I will re-print some of it here because seeing those names makes me smile.
Highlights of the rivalry that I have seen from both sidelines....
Ron Griffin 176yds rushing vs Benedictine 10/27/1990
--Griff's amazing career rushing 3691yds, 36tds 1987 to 1990
Fonzie Medina 183yds rushing vs Benedictine 10/24/1994
Derek Tieman 159yds rushing vs Benedictine 10/24/1992
Dan Dixon 76yd run vs Benedictine 10/24/1992
Mark Hancock 80yd run vs Benedictine 10/21/1995
George Monaco 70yd run vs Benedictine 10/23/1993
Kurt Whisenandt 85yd pass to Ken Masters vs IBC 10/28/1989
Brandon Kopf 70yd punt return td vs IBC 10/11/97
Brian Fetterolf 30 tackles vs IBC 11/1/1986
--Fetterolf 1st team all-american DB, Rod Stinson 2nd team all-american kick returner 1990. Chris Ferko 2nd team all-amer LB 1992
Bob Westerkamp 193yds receiving, 3tds vs Aurora 10/31/1987
Eric Green 153yds receiving 10/23/1993
--Green 5tds in a game twice in 1992, 100yd kick return 1992, 373 all purpose yds in a game in 1992
Willy Fajkus 72yd punt vs Aurora 10/27/1990
Rod Lindsay 57yd punt return vs Aurora 10/29/1988
Antoine Lewis 94yd punt return vs Aurora 10/22/1994
other notables--
Bob McMillen all-american TE w IBC, Conference Player of the Year...can't find stats but 1991 game at IBC vs Aurora where Bob was unstoppable and untackle-able if that is a word, lol. Hope to find game story because it is still one of the most remarkable things I have ever seen. No surprise he went on to be the AFL all-time rushing leader and Arena League Hall of Famer. Was 6'4" 245 and led IBC in receiving yds, plus kick and punt return yds that season.
John Borsellino 1,282yds rushing as junior, BenU record, was 2nd in all of D3 in all-purpose yds before playoff loss to Mt. Union. Brothers Anthony and Joe also BenU as well as cousins Mike Borsellino and Al Sarno.
Ryan Sample 48 yd run vs Adrian was D3football.com national play of the week--20th in IHSA in passing w 6,556yds at Manteno.
BenU record for season passing 3,299 and season tds 29 2016
Jarrett Lecas 1st team all american special teams, led nation in blocked kicks w 5, returned 2 for scores including blocked fg vs Olivet returned for td. Returned blocked extra point for 2-pt conversion vs Rockford. Honorable mention all american as safety. Led BenU in tackles. 4x 1st team all conference
Ben Lockton honorable mention all american DL in 2011
That is just some of that game's homework. I did most of my BenU football games by myself and three hours of solo play by play needed plenty of notes! I wish I was headed to a game right now.
9/3/2020
This was my facebook post two years ago, today. Funny, I woke up really feeling down and wondered why. Now I know. It says here that being laid off from the US Traffic Network hurts and will take a while to recover. Well, I can tell you two years later I am still not recovered. 2020 being all 2020 hasn't helped either. I miss my profession. No one is hiring anyone my age to do anything apparently and jobs are hard to find in this dismal state of Radio broadcasting anyway. Recently I applied for a part-time weekend position here in town. I personally think I would be perfect for it and would be the best qualified. Yes, I miss broadcasting so much I am willing to work on my two days off from my non-radio job and therefore work 7 days a week. Crickets. Nothing. Haven't heard a word one way or the other. Depressing like you can't imagine. My Lewis U. basketball play-by-play starts in November. Thank goodness I have a few games to broadcast coming up if Covid doesn't take those away. We'll see. I am so envious of those in my profession who have been able to stay in one place for decades without the station being sold, moved, format changed etc. Must be nice. I was not that lucky. I am updating the post after re-doing the math. I have been laid off due to bad luck 12 times, not 11. Here it is.
It has happened again and Labor Day seems the right time to tell you. I have been laid off yet again. This marks the 12th time I have lost a job that has nothing to do with me. Twelve. The US Traffic Network is closing it's radio division. I have been there for about 16 months and have been close to full-time for the majority thanks to my shifts and being a fill-in for others. Unbelievably, I was about to finally start a regular full-time afternoon shift of my own, but the company announced it was completely shutting down just days before that was to begin. Ugh.
Let me say how much I enjoyed my time there. Andi was a great boss to work for. One of the best. The afternoon hosts at WSHE were so much fun to work with. My time with the people at WCPT was great too. Same with the WBEZ hosts and the others I spent time with. I literally have no complaints about that job or my time there. My co-workers are some of the nicest people I have ever been around and I have made some good friends. That is the other reason this is so tough on me. I honestly wanted to spend the rest of my career there and thought I had found a good home. I enjoyed working in the Loop and feeling part of the big City again. It will take a while to recover from this one. It will be a sad final week. Any help with my finding a new job, radio or otherwise, would be appreciated.
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Just in case you think I am exaggerating about TWELVE, here is the rundown in reverse order....
US Traffic Network...they are closing their radio division, all anchors let go
Illinois Radio Network...company sold and moved to a radio station in Springfield with those anchors taking over my duties. All laid off.
Joliet Slammers 2015...I return with new ownership. After one year, they decide to take games off of radio and an unpaid intern does my job.
Joliet Slammers 2011...they decide that they do not have the budget for a professional announcer. Intern did job with small stipend.
Yahoo Sports Radio...did part-time sportscasts on weekends there and was told their sportscasts were being phased out all together..
Sporting News Network...new owners move the network to California and an entire office is let go at once, including me and my dream job, after I had worked my way into 45 hours per week.
Joliet JackHammers 2005...After four years as color commentator was told there was no longer money for my minimum wage position.
WSCR...am technically counting the Score here, because of the circumstances. I worked there for seven years. The last two of which I was working 45 hours a week without salary or benefits. I complained that was illegal and was told to quit if I did not like it. Eventually, I was just no longer put on the schedule, other than hosting the NIU Coaches' Show.
1 on 1 Sports Network...New boss laid off ten people. I was the tenth and final layoff. Told it had nothing to do with me or my performance. Last cut to get under budget? He didn't last long and I was hired back by new management when it became Sporting News.
WBBM/Metro Networks...Metro bought by Shadow. Shadow is a union shop but refused to create another union member, since I would have to join the union in order to stay at the station. WBBM wanted to keep me but were told no.
Kane County Cougars...decide to make the announcer a salesman/announcer combo after my five years there. I say I will give it a try. They say no, that they want a salesman first, announcer second. Fans send in a petition to keep me upon hearing the news. Makes no difference.
WKKD...after 11 years of helping make them THE station in town, I and my staff are all laid off as they make decision to change format to Spanish language music. The thriving station then loses every sponsor and goes out of business within a year.
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Yes, this a a bit self serving and self pitying but hey, that's my mood at the moment, lol. Please and thank you.
This was my facebook post two years ago, today. Funny, I woke up really feeling down and wondered why. Now I know. It says here that being laid off from the US Traffic Network hurts and will take a while to recover. Well, I can tell you two years later I am still not recovered. 2020 being all 2020 hasn't helped either. I miss my profession. No one is hiring anyone my age to do anything apparently and jobs are hard to find in this dismal state of Radio broadcasting anyway. Recently I applied for a part-time weekend position here in town. I personally think I would be perfect for it and would be the best qualified. Yes, I miss broadcasting so much I am willing to work on my two days off from my non-radio job and therefore work 7 days a week. Crickets. Nothing. Haven't heard a word one way or the other. Depressing like you can't imagine. My Lewis U. basketball play-by-play starts in November. Thank goodness I have a few games to broadcast coming up if Covid doesn't take those away. We'll see. I am so envious of those in my profession who have been able to stay in one place for decades without the station being sold, moved, format changed etc. Must be nice. I was not that lucky. I am updating the post after re-doing the math. I have been laid off due to bad luck 12 times, not 11. Here it is.
It has happened again and Labor Day seems the right time to tell you. I have been laid off yet again. This marks the 12th time I have lost a job that has nothing to do with me. Twelve. The US Traffic Network is closing it's radio division. I have been there for about 16 months and have been close to full-time for the majority thanks to my shifts and being a fill-in for others. Unbelievably, I was about to finally start a regular full-time afternoon shift of my own, but the company announced it was completely shutting down just days before that was to begin. Ugh.
Let me say how much I enjoyed my time there. Andi was a great boss to work for. One of the best. The afternoon hosts at WSHE were so much fun to work with. My time with the people at WCPT was great too. Same with the WBEZ hosts and the others I spent time with. I literally have no complaints about that job or my time there. My co-workers are some of the nicest people I have ever been around and I have made some good friends. That is the other reason this is so tough on me. I honestly wanted to spend the rest of my career there and thought I had found a good home. I enjoyed working in the Loop and feeling part of the big City again. It will take a while to recover from this one. It will be a sad final week. Any help with my finding a new job, radio or otherwise, would be appreciated.
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Just in case you think I am exaggerating about TWELVE, here is the rundown in reverse order....
US Traffic Network...they are closing their radio division, all anchors let go
Illinois Radio Network...company sold and moved to a radio station in Springfield with those anchors taking over my duties. All laid off.
Joliet Slammers 2015...I return with new ownership. After one year, they decide to take games off of radio and an unpaid intern does my job.
Joliet Slammers 2011...they decide that they do not have the budget for a professional announcer. Intern did job with small stipend.
Yahoo Sports Radio...did part-time sportscasts on weekends there and was told their sportscasts were being phased out all together..
Sporting News Network...new owners move the network to California and an entire office is let go at once, including me and my dream job, after I had worked my way into 45 hours per week.
Joliet JackHammers 2005...After four years as color commentator was told there was no longer money for my minimum wage position.
WSCR...am technically counting the Score here, because of the circumstances. I worked there for seven years. The last two of which I was working 45 hours a week without salary or benefits. I complained that was illegal and was told to quit if I did not like it. Eventually, I was just no longer put on the schedule, other than hosting the NIU Coaches' Show.
1 on 1 Sports Network...New boss laid off ten people. I was the tenth and final layoff. Told it had nothing to do with me or my performance. Last cut to get under budget? He didn't last long and I was hired back by new management when it became Sporting News.
WBBM/Metro Networks...Metro bought by Shadow. Shadow is a union shop but refused to create another union member, since I would have to join the union in order to stay at the station. WBBM wanted to keep me but were told no.
Kane County Cougars...decide to make the announcer a salesman/announcer combo after my five years there. I say I will give it a try. They say no, that they want a salesman first, announcer second. Fans send in a petition to keep me upon hearing the news. Makes no difference.
WKKD...after 11 years of helping make them THE station in town, I and my staff are all laid off as they make decision to change format to Spanish language music. The thriving station then loses every sponsor and goes out of business within a year.
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Yes, this a a bit self serving and self pitying but hey, that's my mood at the moment, lol. Please and thank you.
8/27/2020
another Facebook post from 4 years ago
August 27, 2016
A 12 hour day on Chicago Med just ended at 1:30am. Fun again though. I was a cardiologist. Would've made Mom proud, lol.
This was a screenshot picture from that night's shooting. I was on the roof of the hospital, that they made into a little outdoor cafe, for hours as they shot this concert scene and rain came and went, delaying things and pushing us inside and then back out. It was cool to be right up front though, where the action was. I'm posting this cuz I actually want to rant about Kenosha but am making myself think about better things. I really enjoyed my days working on Chicago Med and then Chicago Justice. The behind-the-scenes of how those shows are made was really interesting.
another Facebook post from 4 years ago
August 27, 2016
A 12 hour day on Chicago Med just ended at 1:30am. Fun again though. I was a cardiologist. Would've made Mom proud, lol.
This was a screenshot picture from that night's shooting. I was on the roof of the hospital, that they made into a little outdoor cafe, for hours as they shot this concert scene and rain came and went, delaying things and pushing us inside and then back out. It was cool to be right up front though, where the action was. I'm posting this cuz I actually want to rant about Kenosha but am making myself think about better things. I really enjoyed my days working on Chicago Med and then Chicago Justice. The behind-the-scenes of how those shows are made was really interesting.
8/25/2020
Happy 45th anniversary to the Born to Run record. Backstreets was on that amazing disc and this is the most emotional version of it or any other song...ever. It gives me chills every time I listen to it, to this day. The story he tells at around the 9:30 mark, about waiting to leave town with his girlfriend, only for her not to show up, culminates in the most pain filled, emotional scream in Rock n Roll history. If you've ever had your heart broken, well this is how it feels...vocally. The screams after it, only heighten it. You can hear the crowd react in stunned silence, then with muted, amazed applause. If you've ever wondered why Springsteen is my favorite, this version of this song is example number one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5zcvl1HocA
Happy 45th anniversary to the Born to Run record. Backstreets was on that amazing disc and this is the most emotional version of it or any other song...ever. It gives me chills every time I listen to it, to this day. The story he tells at around the 9:30 mark, about waiting to leave town with his girlfriend, only for her not to show up, culminates in the most pain filled, emotional scream in Rock n Roll history. If you've ever had your heart broken, well this is how it feels...vocally. The screams after it, only heighten it. You can hear the crowd react in stunned silence, then with muted, amazed applause. If you've ever wondered why Springsteen is my favorite, this version of this song is example number one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5zcvl1HocA
8/24/2020
From a facebook post four years ago...
I had fun today as an extra on Chicago Med. It was typecasting. I was sitting at Molly's Bar, drinking a beer and watching the Hawks game on the tv. lol. And I got paid for it.
Here is a pic from that episode. I enjoyed my summer as an extra four years ago, but it meant I was unemployed thanks to yet another radio layoff and was looking for something to do. It will be nice to be able to be in a bar again someday, whether for fiction or real life!
From a facebook post four years ago...
I had fun today as an extra on Chicago Med. It was typecasting. I was sitting at Molly's Bar, drinking a beer and watching the Hawks game on the tv. lol. And I got paid for it.
Here is a pic from that episode. I enjoyed my summer as an extra four years ago, but it meant I was unemployed thanks to yet another radio layoff and was looking for something to do. It will be nice to be able to be in a bar again someday, whether for fiction or real life!
8/21/2020
I'm sure this is the talk show host in me...without a talk show to use...coming out, but I need to weigh in again on broadcasters in the news. And besides, as these feelings are trapped inside and need to come out, I do actually care about my chosen profession and where it stands at the moment. So I've vented about Thom Brennaman and now it's time to comment on others making headlines lately like Mike Milbury and Mark Grace. Both are involved for the same reason basically and that's for treating women like nothing other than playthings and scenery. I loved Grace as a player and I've always said he was one of the best to deal with as a beat-reporter. That does not mean, however, that I am all that much of a fan of his as a broadcaster and/or human being. That is not to say he belongs in prison or anything, he just doesn't belong on the air. I don't think his off-field shenanigans rise to illegal, as far as I know, but I am not a fan of his treatment of women as 'game' to be pursued and conquered. It is not exactly a rare trait among male athletes or athletes-turned-broadcasters either, but I am not a fan of that crap. I am not a perfect person, but the stories of Grace, off the field, are pretty gross to me. The term 'dingbat' isn't the issue, but it's the disrespect towards women it represents that matters. He lived with a radio producer in his playing days here and stories of his skirt-chasing, for lack of a more graphic term, made the sports radio studio rounds in this city at that time. The only one I will relay now is that he told people that in order to make sure you would definitely 'close' with a girl on the first date, make sure to take her for fondue. "They love fondue". Well, isn't that lovely. Maybe I'm a prude or it's that I was raised by a polite, kind, gentlemanly Dad, but I never did like that neanderthal conversation that sometimes went around sports radio studios or bars or wherever. It is 2020 for goodness sake, can we please be better? That is why that stuff from Grace or Milbury is just not acceptable anymore. Milbury has never, to my recollection, given any hockey insight of any significance on the air. But he has shared his idea that women are for seeing, but not hearing. Why does he still have a job? I just don't need it on my TV or anywhere else. There has to be someone with something more interesting and informative to say than that. Has to be.
I have never talked about it here or anywhere, but we need to treat everyone better and not tolerate any work place nonsense on the air or in the office. In my time in radio, I have been sexually harassed twice by women who had the power to have me fired, and was verbally abused multiple times by multiple male bosses. I have not been assaulted, so I am not equating my situation to what some women have had to deal with necessarily, but it still was not right. Both sexual harassments occurred at Christmas parties...what the hell is it with Christmas parties anyway?...where each woman said 'let's leave right now and go to a hotel'. Both were engaged at the time interestingly, but that is not why I turned each down. It helped, but I just didn't want anything to do with any of that. Neither was happy about my response and I was put in a weird situation two different times of thinking that I might actually lose my job because I didn't leave a radio station function with an engaged woman working in the company and go to a hotel. I have also worked for two men, both likely legally, clinically mentally ill, who mistreated me and others for the shear pleasure of it. My one boss is Pennsylvania had a pad of paper that literally had 'shit list' printed at the top and he would gather us together each week to tell us who made the list. I worked 7 days a week there and did not have a single day off in four months. One Sunday at 8am, as I was typing news for the crawl at the bottom of the local cable channel, he came up behind me and put his hands on my shoulders to tell me that he didn't see me around the radio station enough! I was there on a Sunday at 8am, for goodness sake! He once called up a female DJ while she was on the air and while calling her the "C" word, continued screaming and fired her on the spot for some ridiculous infraction. He was then mad when she did not show up for work the next day. Crazy, I tell you. I love my job but some of the places I have worked were pretty damn toxic. Mistreatment can happen to anyone, male or female, and it is time to set an example on the air of the way things should be.
I bring all this up because as a society it is indeed way past time for us to start treating each other as people and not as prey of one sort or another. The 'Me Too' movement has been good for everybody and it is high-time we start projecting that attitude of mutual respect on the air as well as off of it. There is no place for the anti-gay sentiments of Brennaman or the disrespectful attitudes of Grace or Milbury or Jeremy Roenick for that matter, towards women. J.R. is another of my favorite athletes here in Chicago but his firing was justified and his disrespect towards women has no place on sports broadcasts anymore either. If I never get another sports job, so be it. But I will always care about my profession and it's place in society. It matters and it is important. And it's time we grow up and start putting forth the desired kindness towards others this society desperately needs. Let's hire competent, nice people who are good humans on the air and also in the workplace. What a concept? They are out there. I know it. Please and thank you.
I'm sure this is the talk show host in me...without a talk show to use...coming out, but I need to weigh in again on broadcasters in the news. And besides, as these feelings are trapped inside and need to come out, I do actually care about my chosen profession and where it stands at the moment. So I've vented about Thom Brennaman and now it's time to comment on others making headlines lately like Mike Milbury and Mark Grace. Both are involved for the same reason basically and that's for treating women like nothing other than playthings and scenery. I loved Grace as a player and I've always said he was one of the best to deal with as a beat-reporter. That does not mean, however, that I am all that much of a fan of his as a broadcaster and/or human being. That is not to say he belongs in prison or anything, he just doesn't belong on the air. I don't think his off-field shenanigans rise to illegal, as far as I know, but I am not a fan of his treatment of women as 'game' to be pursued and conquered. It is not exactly a rare trait among male athletes or athletes-turned-broadcasters either, but I am not a fan of that crap. I am not a perfect person, but the stories of Grace, off the field, are pretty gross to me. The term 'dingbat' isn't the issue, but it's the disrespect towards women it represents that matters. He lived with a radio producer in his playing days here and stories of his skirt-chasing, for lack of a more graphic term, made the sports radio studio rounds in this city at that time. The only one I will relay now is that he told people that in order to make sure you would definitely 'close' with a girl on the first date, make sure to take her for fondue. "They love fondue". Well, isn't that lovely. Maybe I'm a prude or it's that I was raised by a polite, kind, gentlemanly Dad, but I never did like that neanderthal conversation that sometimes went around sports radio studios or bars or wherever. It is 2020 for goodness sake, can we please be better? That is why that stuff from Grace or Milbury is just not acceptable anymore. Milbury has never, to my recollection, given any hockey insight of any significance on the air. But he has shared his idea that women are for seeing, but not hearing. Why does he still have a job? I just don't need it on my TV or anywhere else. There has to be someone with something more interesting and informative to say than that. Has to be.
I have never talked about it here or anywhere, but we need to treat everyone better and not tolerate any work place nonsense on the air or in the office. In my time in radio, I have been sexually harassed twice by women who had the power to have me fired, and was verbally abused multiple times by multiple male bosses. I have not been assaulted, so I am not equating my situation to what some women have had to deal with necessarily, but it still was not right. Both sexual harassments occurred at Christmas parties...what the hell is it with Christmas parties anyway?...where each woman said 'let's leave right now and go to a hotel'. Both were engaged at the time interestingly, but that is not why I turned each down. It helped, but I just didn't want anything to do with any of that. Neither was happy about my response and I was put in a weird situation two different times of thinking that I might actually lose my job because I didn't leave a radio station function with an engaged woman working in the company and go to a hotel. I have also worked for two men, both likely legally, clinically mentally ill, who mistreated me and others for the shear pleasure of it. My one boss is Pennsylvania had a pad of paper that literally had 'shit list' printed at the top and he would gather us together each week to tell us who made the list. I worked 7 days a week there and did not have a single day off in four months. One Sunday at 8am, as I was typing news for the crawl at the bottom of the local cable channel, he came up behind me and put his hands on my shoulders to tell me that he didn't see me around the radio station enough! I was there on a Sunday at 8am, for goodness sake! He once called up a female DJ while she was on the air and while calling her the "C" word, continued screaming and fired her on the spot for some ridiculous infraction. He was then mad when she did not show up for work the next day. Crazy, I tell you. I love my job but some of the places I have worked were pretty damn toxic. Mistreatment can happen to anyone, male or female, and it is time to set an example on the air of the way things should be.
I bring all this up because as a society it is indeed way past time for us to start treating each other as people and not as prey of one sort or another. The 'Me Too' movement has been good for everybody and it is high-time we start projecting that attitude of mutual respect on the air as well as off of it. There is no place for the anti-gay sentiments of Brennaman or the disrespectful attitudes of Grace or Milbury or Jeremy Roenick for that matter, towards women. J.R. is another of my favorite athletes here in Chicago but his firing was justified and his disrespect towards women has no place on sports broadcasts anymore either. If I never get another sports job, so be it. But I will always care about my profession and it's place in society. It matters and it is important. And it's time we grow up and start putting forth the desired kindness towards others this society desperately needs. Let's hire competent, nice people who are good humans on the air and also in the workplace. What a concept? They are out there. I know it. Please and thank you.
8/20/2020
Happy National Radio Day. I have loved every day I have been blessed to be the air a radio personality. This SIU radio station, where we broadcast from the basement of a Dorm building, got me started. I was hooked immediately, even when I had an overnight DJ shift from midnight to 6am. I didn't make many 8am classes that semester, lol. I got to work with long-time WXRT jock Rich Milne there and of course, Bob Odenkirk. He and I worked on a comedy show there together...Thursday Night Live, lol. Who knew where he would go but I am certainly proud of him, to say the least. I was involved in the first-ever sports talk show there too and became Sports Director in the summer before my senior year. Classes were important but the actual on-air experience meant everything. It gave me the confidence that I actually had some aptitude for it and that I could go out and really do it. Radio is still an important part of people's lives. I am glad to still be involved in it.
Happy National Radio Day. I have loved every day I have been blessed to be the air a radio personality. This SIU radio station, where we broadcast from the basement of a Dorm building, got me started. I was hooked immediately, even when I had an overnight DJ shift from midnight to 6am. I didn't make many 8am classes that semester, lol. I got to work with long-time WXRT jock Rich Milne there and of course, Bob Odenkirk. He and I worked on a comedy show there together...Thursday Night Live, lol. Who knew where he would go but I am certainly proud of him, to say the least. I was involved in the first-ever sports talk show there too and became Sports Director in the summer before my senior year. Classes were important but the actual on-air experience meant everything. It gave me the confidence that I actually had some aptitude for it and that I could go out and really do it. Radio is still an important part of people's lives. I am glad to still be involved in it.
8/20/2020
So it's 2am and I'm awake for some reason, so I'm going to get these Thom Brennaman thoughts down on paper, so to speak. His apology is almost more galling to me than the drivel spewed in the first place. We all know damn well he was being himself. He just got caught being himself, that's all. Brennaman is obviously not sorry for what he said but that it was heard and he is not homophobic, by the way. That misses the point. It is not a phobia. He is disdainful, dismissive and hateful. There's a difference. I have only ever really disliked two Cubs announcers in my entire life and he is one of them. Josh Lewin is the other. I have nothing against Lewin, I just didn't connect with his style. I'm sure he's a nice guy, I just didn't ever 'get' him, but I couldn't ever tell you exactly why. With Brennaman I can tell you exactly why and that's because he comes across as a pompous, condescending ass. So this little incident does not surprise me in the least. The thing about baseball broadcasters is that you spend three hours a day, potentially, every day all summer, each summer with them. They become that friend you pass the time with. The thing I am most proud of in my baseball career is when the Kane County Cougars fans petitioned the team and the station to have me stay on as announcer when they found out I was being replaced by a salesman-first/broadcaster-second at the end of my fifth year. They liked spending time with me all summer and liked how I did my job and they let people know it. That is not a common thing to do and it still means a lot to me all these years later. Money is money and they weren't listened to, but I know I did my part of the bargain. Brennaman was not my friend and I knew almost immediately that I didn't want him to be. You can't hide who you are with hours of extemporaneous daily talk spread over months. The real you comes out. Brennaman has always come across as looking down at the listener and not just because he was up in the press box. I was happy he didn't last here and am never happy when he is the announcer of a game I want to watch and it has nothing to do with technique. It has to do with an ability to tell when someone is not a nice person. My only quarrel with Hawk Harrelson was technique. I enjoyed quite a few Hawkisms etc. but didn't like his 'I am such a homer' that I am going to pout about that grand slam and sit in silence for a minute rather than do my job and describe the scene of that exciting play. I knew I would enjoy sitting in a bar and talking about baseball with him given the chance and would certainly want to do it. I wouldn't want to sit anywhere with Brennaman and talk about anything. In a weird way it is nice to have that instinct about him confirmed by all this. I would not be surprised if this sparks people to come forward to say they were mistreated by him as producers etc. over the years. Good riddance. Please and thank you.
So it's 2am and I'm awake for some reason, so I'm going to get these Thom Brennaman thoughts down on paper, so to speak. His apology is almost more galling to me than the drivel spewed in the first place. We all know damn well he was being himself. He just got caught being himself, that's all. Brennaman is obviously not sorry for what he said but that it was heard and he is not homophobic, by the way. That misses the point. It is not a phobia. He is disdainful, dismissive and hateful. There's a difference. I have only ever really disliked two Cubs announcers in my entire life and he is one of them. Josh Lewin is the other. I have nothing against Lewin, I just didn't connect with his style. I'm sure he's a nice guy, I just didn't ever 'get' him, but I couldn't ever tell you exactly why. With Brennaman I can tell you exactly why and that's because he comes across as a pompous, condescending ass. So this little incident does not surprise me in the least. The thing about baseball broadcasters is that you spend three hours a day, potentially, every day all summer, each summer with them. They become that friend you pass the time with. The thing I am most proud of in my baseball career is when the Kane County Cougars fans petitioned the team and the station to have me stay on as announcer when they found out I was being replaced by a salesman-first/broadcaster-second at the end of my fifth year. They liked spending time with me all summer and liked how I did my job and they let people know it. That is not a common thing to do and it still means a lot to me all these years later. Money is money and they weren't listened to, but I know I did my part of the bargain. Brennaman was not my friend and I knew almost immediately that I didn't want him to be. You can't hide who you are with hours of extemporaneous daily talk spread over months. The real you comes out. Brennaman has always come across as looking down at the listener and not just because he was up in the press box. I was happy he didn't last here and am never happy when he is the announcer of a game I want to watch and it has nothing to do with technique. It has to do with an ability to tell when someone is not a nice person. My only quarrel with Hawk Harrelson was technique. I enjoyed quite a few Hawkisms etc. but didn't like his 'I am such a homer' that I am going to pout about that grand slam and sit in silence for a minute rather than do my job and describe the scene of that exciting play. I knew I would enjoy sitting in a bar and talking about baseball with him given the chance and would certainly want to do it. I wouldn't want to sit anywhere with Brennaman and talk about anything. In a weird way it is nice to have that instinct about him confirmed by all this. I would not be surprised if this sparks people to come forward to say they were mistreated by him as producers etc. over the years. Good riddance. Please and thank you.
8/19/2020
I have had some Sox thoughts ruminating and here goes...
It's a very weird baseball summer for many obvious reasons but in an equally weird way, this is a pretty painless season for the White Sox rebuild to turn the corner to competitiveness. It is a short sprint with finally a hope of playoffs but it seems like the pressure is less, thanks to all the uncertainty if this thing even getting to a World Series. It's just fun to see this lineup take shape for what should be a good batting order for a very long time. The wait for these guys to make MLB together is over and this audition features plenty of strikeouts and streaky performances but the homers and glimpses of greatness are making the wait worth it. This lineup is going to be so loaded that Yoan Moncada isn't even thought of as a big part of it anymore. Another good part of this summer fling is that Luis Robert, who I think is going to be the best of the bunch, has this time to mature while in the Bigs without that spotlight and/or big crowds glaring down on him. That lineup should also score enough runs more often than not to help the pitchers along without a ton of pressure either. Giolito, it seems, will be dominant and then not so for a while longer. It is nice that these innings in 2020 are there for him until it all clicks. The rotation as a whole gets to coalesce in these same circumstances. It can be hard to not force things for this group after the long, tough slog of sub par baseball the last few years. Patience can be tough. I certainly lacked that for the end of the Cubs rebuild, but I am doing my best to ride this Sox summer out and enjoy the home-run fest regardless of the eventual outcome. It's all about the three hours each day and they are much more enjoyable on both sides of town this crazy summer than the last one. Please and thank you.
I have had some Sox thoughts ruminating and here goes...
It's a very weird baseball summer for many obvious reasons but in an equally weird way, this is a pretty painless season for the White Sox rebuild to turn the corner to competitiveness. It is a short sprint with finally a hope of playoffs but it seems like the pressure is less, thanks to all the uncertainty if this thing even getting to a World Series. It's just fun to see this lineup take shape for what should be a good batting order for a very long time. The wait for these guys to make MLB together is over and this audition features plenty of strikeouts and streaky performances but the homers and glimpses of greatness are making the wait worth it. This lineup is going to be so loaded that Yoan Moncada isn't even thought of as a big part of it anymore. Another good part of this summer fling is that Luis Robert, who I think is going to be the best of the bunch, has this time to mature while in the Bigs without that spotlight and/or big crowds glaring down on him. That lineup should also score enough runs more often than not to help the pitchers along without a ton of pressure either. Giolito, it seems, will be dominant and then not so for a while longer. It is nice that these innings in 2020 are there for him until it all clicks. The rotation as a whole gets to coalesce in these same circumstances. It can be hard to not force things for this group after the long, tough slog of sub par baseball the last few years. Patience can be tough. I certainly lacked that for the end of the Cubs rebuild, but I am doing my best to ride this Sox summer out and enjoy the home-run fest regardless of the eventual outcome. It's all about the three hours each day and they are much more enjoyable on both sides of town this crazy summer than the last one. Please and thank you.
8/19/2020
Pete Rose joined me on WJOL during my Slammers vs. Florence broadcast five years ago tonight. It was a fun time, for sure. Also, six years ago, on this date, Randy Hundley joined me on the air. Sadly, I don't have the Hundley interview but I do have Pete. Of course, Pete Rose Jr. played for the Joliet Jackhammers in 2003 and Pete Sr. stopped in multiple times to watch him, but kept to himself that season while in Joliet. He coached the bases for a couple innings, signed autographs and couldn't have been nicer. He is a flawed human being, to be sure, but he was a helluva player and I think he served his time and deserves the Hall of Fame. Fun to listen back.
ps. My favorite part is when I ask him about facing Sandy Koufax and he said he couldn't hit Koufax if he used this whole radio booth! lol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owenxDSBS-Y
8/16/2020
I talk a lot on here about my five years with the Kane County Cougars. Those were special times for me, since I wanted to be a pro baseball announcer since I was eight years old. Well here comes another trip back in time because I came across this team picture of my 1996 Cougars. That club featured an amazing 9 future Major Leaguers. Not pictured with the other 7 are Ryan Dempster and Roosevelt Brown who we acquired later in the season. The 7 here are Alex Gonzalez, Randy Winn, Josh Booty, Mark Kotsay, Amaury Garcia, Nate Rolison and Mike Duvall. Another 6 made it to AAA like Jaime Jones and fan favorite Joe Funaro. Kotsay, Booty and Jones were all millionaire 1st round bonus babies who lived together and all great guys. I loved that summer and that team. Only the Championship summer of the 2011 Joliet Slammers is it's equal in my 14 minor league seasons. Their record was actually just 65-68 in 1996. We finished 2nd in homers but just 11th in runs. We also struck out more than any other, so those hitters had a way to go. But they were not boring! They did finish 3rd in ERA but 9th in strikeouts.
Booty led the team in rbi's with 87, homers with 21 and strikeouts with 197. Funaro led the team in batting average at .309. Winn struckout 115 times, but hit .270 with 30 steals. Garcia led with 37 steals and 7 triples. Rolison was second with 14 homers and 75 rbi's. He led with 28 doubles. Booty had 25. Utility man Steve Goodell was a big part of that team despite eventually never going higher than AA. He hit .280 with 17 doubles and 9 home runs. Kotsay only played 17 games after signing his deal and hit .283 with five ringing doubles to the opposite field and smacked 2 homers. You could tell he was special in the month he spent with us. Dempster came with Brown from the Braves in a trade and was great. He allowed just 18 hits in 26 1/3 innings. Dempster made only four starts with us but one was a complete game shutout. Duvall was the best reliever, thanks to a 2.06 era and just 43 hits in 48 innings. Victor Hurtado was the best overall starter with a 15-7 record and 3.27 era, allowing just 167 hits in 176 innings. Hard to believe he never graduated above High-A Brevard County. Dan Vardijan was very good with just 128 hits in 145 innings. He struck out 92 while walking just 55, but managed just a 7-7 record with a nice 3.35 era. The Glenbrook South and DePaul grad never made it above AA Portland. He pitched for the Schaumburg Flyers in 2001.
The best record that 1996 season belonged to Peoria with Cliff Politte, Britt Reames and not much else, lol. Politte was incredible, though. He allowed just 108 hits in 149.2 innings, while striking out 151. Politte was never treated like a top prospect by the Cardinals though, because he didn't throw a 95 mph fastball. Silly. All he did was get guys out. Kerry Robinson was the only Peoria position player to make MLB. That is also the summer David Ortiz had 93 rbis for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and Jeff Liefer hit the longest home run I ever saw in my life for South Bend. How he didn't become a star for the White Sox I will never know. He looked like a 'can't miss'. One last thing...after almost every game, the coaching staff and I would go out for a burger and beer at the local Applebee's or wherever. I thought I knew baseball pretty well by then, but talking to those guys every night for five months taught me more about the game then I can ever measure or repay. Those hours were as enjoyable as the broadcasts. I loved that job and I will miss doing baseball games for the rest of my life, if I never get another chance. I tip my cap to my time at the old Elfstrom Stadium and the Midwest League.
I talk a lot on here about my five years with the Kane County Cougars. Those were special times for me, since I wanted to be a pro baseball announcer since I was eight years old. Well here comes another trip back in time because I came across this team picture of my 1996 Cougars. That club featured an amazing 9 future Major Leaguers. Not pictured with the other 7 are Ryan Dempster and Roosevelt Brown who we acquired later in the season. The 7 here are Alex Gonzalez, Randy Winn, Josh Booty, Mark Kotsay, Amaury Garcia, Nate Rolison and Mike Duvall. Another 6 made it to AAA like Jaime Jones and fan favorite Joe Funaro. Kotsay, Booty and Jones were all millionaire 1st round bonus babies who lived together and all great guys. I loved that summer and that team. Only the Championship summer of the 2011 Joliet Slammers is it's equal in my 14 minor league seasons. Their record was actually just 65-68 in 1996. We finished 2nd in homers but just 11th in runs. We also struck out more than any other, so those hitters had a way to go. But they were not boring! They did finish 3rd in ERA but 9th in strikeouts.
Booty led the team in rbi's with 87, homers with 21 and strikeouts with 197. Funaro led the team in batting average at .309. Winn struckout 115 times, but hit .270 with 30 steals. Garcia led with 37 steals and 7 triples. Rolison was second with 14 homers and 75 rbi's. He led with 28 doubles. Booty had 25. Utility man Steve Goodell was a big part of that team despite eventually never going higher than AA. He hit .280 with 17 doubles and 9 home runs. Kotsay only played 17 games after signing his deal and hit .283 with five ringing doubles to the opposite field and smacked 2 homers. You could tell he was special in the month he spent with us. Dempster came with Brown from the Braves in a trade and was great. He allowed just 18 hits in 26 1/3 innings. Dempster made only four starts with us but one was a complete game shutout. Duvall was the best reliever, thanks to a 2.06 era and just 43 hits in 48 innings. Victor Hurtado was the best overall starter with a 15-7 record and 3.27 era, allowing just 167 hits in 176 innings. Hard to believe he never graduated above High-A Brevard County. Dan Vardijan was very good with just 128 hits in 145 innings. He struck out 92 while walking just 55, but managed just a 7-7 record with a nice 3.35 era. The Glenbrook South and DePaul grad never made it above AA Portland. He pitched for the Schaumburg Flyers in 2001.
The best record that 1996 season belonged to Peoria with Cliff Politte, Britt Reames and not much else, lol. Politte was incredible, though. He allowed just 108 hits in 149.2 innings, while striking out 151. Politte was never treated like a top prospect by the Cardinals though, because he didn't throw a 95 mph fastball. Silly. All he did was get guys out. Kerry Robinson was the only Peoria position player to make MLB. That is also the summer David Ortiz had 93 rbis for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and Jeff Liefer hit the longest home run I ever saw in my life for South Bend. How he didn't become a star for the White Sox I will never know. He looked like a 'can't miss'. One last thing...after almost every game, the coaching staff and I would go out for a burger and beer at the local Applebee's or wherever. I thought I knew baseball pretty well by then, but talking to those guys every night for five months taught me more about the game then I can ever measure or repay. Those hours were as enjoyable as the broadcasts. I loved that job and I will miss doing baseball games for the rest of my life, if I never get another chance. I tip my cap to my time at the old Elfstrom Stadium and the Midwest League.
8/15/2020
I'm surprised I let this go last year at this time without a mention but it occurs to me that this week is the now 26th anniversary of my favorite work related road-trip of my broadcasting career. While broadcasting for WKKD in Aurora, I got to travel to Summerside, a little town on Prince Edward Island in Canada for the 1994 ISC Major Men's World Fastpitch Tournament. I got to spend ten days in one of the most beautiful places on planet earth and get paid for it. I was there to broadcast the games for the Aurora team, perennially one of the best in the country. I wish we had cellphone cameras back then, because I would have dozens of pictures of that time. Now, I don't have any, and that saddens me. It was a town of about 10,000 people and about 60,000 fans showed up for the event, won by All-Car out of Green Bay, with former Aurora pitcher Paul Algar leading the way. (I remember his no-hitter that week and him telling me he liked Green Bay because it was more like his native New Zealand) Aurora's Dolan and Murphy team qualified that year to start an amazing streak of ISC qualifications. We were so far off the continent (well northeast of Maine and on top of Nova Scotia) that we were two time zones east of Chicagoland! I remember having to take the ferry to get to the island and seeing nothing but trees and hills. It was incredible. We were housed in apartments by the water and I would walk downhill to the beach, between games, and just sit at the beach and look out on the water. One day, in particular, will always stick out. One of the guys talked to local fishermen and acquired freshly caught salmon for the team and we cooked out and ate it right off the grill with a few beers, while on that beautiful beach. That's about the best dinner I ever had. That beach also gave me the view of the night sky that I will never forget. Being a Chicago kid, I had never really seen many stars in the sky with all this light around. I was on a tiny wooded island, miles off the east coast of Canada, and I got to see millions of stars in the sky. It was breathtaking and will always stick with me. I did not know there could be that many stars. The softball was pretty damn good too, lol. I got to take a few other great tournament trips with Aurora fastpitch in my short time as their announcer, like to Salt Lake City and many others. This one trip topped them all.
I'm surprised I let this go last year at this time without a mention but it occurs to me that this week is the now 26th anniversary of my favorite work related road-trip of my broadcasting career. While broadcasting for WKKD in Aurora, I got to travel to Summerside, a little town on Prince Edward Island in Canada for the 1994 ISC Major Men's World Fastpitch Tournament. I got to spend ten days in one of the most beautiful places on planet earth and get paid for it. I was there to broadcast the games for the Aurora team, perennially one of the best in the country. I wish we had cellphone cameras back then, because I would have dozens of pictures of that time. Now, I don't have any, and that saddens me. It was a town of about 10,000 people and about 60,000 fans showed up for the event, won by All-Car out of Green Bay, with former Aurora pitcher Paul Algar leading the way. (I remember his no-hitter that week and him telling me he liked Green Bay because it was more like his native New Zealand) Aurora's Dolan and Murphy team qualified that year to start an amazing streak of ISC qualifications. We were so far off the continent (well northeast of Maine and on top of Nova Scotia) that we were two time zones east of Chicagoland! I remember having to take the ferry to get to the island and seeing nothing but trees and hills. It was incredible. We were housed in apartments by the water and I would walk downhill to the beach, between games, and just sit at the beach and look out on the water. One day, in particular, will always stick out. One of the guys talked to local fishermen and acquired freshly caught salmon for the team and we cooked out and ate it right off the grill with a few beers, while on that beautiful beach. That's about the best dinner I ever had. That beach also gave me the view of the night sky that I will never forget. Being a Chicago kid, I had never really seen many stars in the sky with all this light around. I was on a tiny wooded island, miles off the east coast of Canada, and I got to see millions of stars in the sky. It was breathtaking and will always stick with me. I did not know there could be that many stars. The softball was pretty damn good too, lol. I got to take a few other great tournament trips with Aurora fastpitch in my short time as their announcer, like to Salt Lake City and many others. This one trip topped them all.
8/6/2020
Tonight sees the final edition of Sports Talk Live. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed my appearances on that show, first hosted by Dan Jiggetts and then David Kaplan, when it was known as Chicago Tribune Live on Comcast Sportsnet Chicago. So sad to see it go. Because of that show, I got to spend time with the likes of Norm Van Lier, Johnny Bach, Dan Plesac, Robin Earl and way too many more to mention. It was a joy being on air or in the green room with them, talking sports and soaking up stories. I was pretty green myself, as far as TV was concerned early on, and having Jiggs there to break me in was great. No one is nicer. I got to be on a couple different times with NBA commissioner David Stern and some other very cool guests as well. I think I counted over 100 appearances for me on CTL and it's successors. I will always miss it. This picture is from one of my first appearances on Chicago Tribune Live, when I was young, skinny and still at the Score. I did love doing that program, and not just because they paid me with free dinner certificates from restaurants like Ditka's etc, lol. It was the only way I could take Chris out to someplace nice! It was also a fun little adventure. I would take the blue line to the brown line and do some homework on my way to the show, so I had something semi-intelligent to say! I'm quite a bit greyer now, but I miss being a sportscaster so much. You have no idea. It was a heckuva show and I am proud to have been a small part of it. Hail and farewell. Raise your bottles and raise your glasses, my friends.
Tonight sees the final edition of Sports Talk Live. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed my appearances on that show, first hosted by Dan Jiggetts and then David Kaplan, when it was known as Chicago Tribune Live on Comcast Sportsnet Chicago. So sad to see it go. Because of that show, I got to spend time with the likes of Norm Van Lier, Johnny Bach, Dan Plesac, Robin Earl and way too many more to mention. It was a joy being on air or in the green room with them, talking sports and soaking up stories. I was pretty green myself, as far as TV was concerned early on, and having Jiggs there to break me in was great. No one is nicer. I got to be on a couple different times with NBA commissioner David Stern and some other very cool guests as well. I think I counted over 100 appearances for me on CTL and it's successors. I will always miss it. This picture is from one of my first appearances on Chicago Tribune Live, when I was young, skinny and still at the Score. I did love doing that program, and not just because they paid me with free dinner certificates from restaurants like Ditka's etc, lol. It was the only way I could take Chris out to someplace nice! It was also a fun little adventure. I would take the blue line to the brown line and do some homework on my way to the show, so I had something semi-intelligent to say! I'm quite a bit greyer now, but I miss being a sportscaster so much. You have no idea. It was a heckuva show and I am proud to have been a small part of it. Hail and farewell. Raise your bottles and raise your glasses, my friends.
8/3/2020
Happy 95th birthday to coaching legend Marv Levy. He's another of the real good guys I've been lucky enough to deal with in my radio career. Before his great years with Buffalo, he was head coach of the USFL's Chicago Blitz for one year in 1984. I was doing the afternoon show on WMRO on a semi-regular basis by then, as a kid fresh out of college, and he was nice enough to be a weekly guest on my show that season. Keep in mind, he had already been in the NFL for forever with the likes of the Eagles, Rams, Redskins and Chiefs. He even had a stint in the CFL with Montreal. He definitely did not need to come on our little show each week in Aurora but he did and he couldn't have been nicer. The team was not very good however. They did have Vince Evans at quarterback but not much else. They did have a certain Dan Jiggetts on the offensive line though. Other former Bears like Virgil Livers and Doug Plank were on the team in 1984 but they were not enough to prevent them from allowing the second most points in the league. Larry Canada was a good running back and they had the best punter in the USFL in Jeff Gossett, but they needed him! Levy, a Chicago guy, was doing everything he could to promote a team that surprisingly didn't draw. They averaged a paltry 7,500 fans a game that season but starting out 0-5 was a killer and the club was about the fold. Levy, though, was class personified and was so much fun to talk to and I learned a lot about the game and about my job just talking to him. He went from the floundering Blitz to his glory years with Buffalo and I couldn't have been happier for him. From 1988 through 1997, his Bills were first in the AFC in winning percentage and second only to the San Francisco 49ers in the entire NFL. Say what you want about 0-4 in Super Bowls, but he got them there and that in itself is extraordinary. So I tip my cap to the great Marv Levy today. Thanks for everything coach!
Happy 95th birthday to coaching legend Marv Levy. He's another of the real good guys I've been lucky enough to deal with in my radio career. Before his great years with Buffalo, he was head coach of the USFL's Chicago Blitz for one year in 1984. I was doing the afternoon show on WMRO on a semi-regular basis by then, as a kid fresh out of college, and he was nice enough to be a weekly guest on my show that season. Keep in mind, he had already been in the NFL for forever with the likes of the Eagles, Rams, Redskins and Chiefs. He even had a stint in the CFL with Montreal. He definitely did not need to come on our little show each week in Aurora but he did and he couldn't have been nicer. The team was not very good however. They did have Vince Evans at quarterback but not much else. They did have a certain Dan Jiggetts on the offensive line though. Other former Bears like Virgil Livers and Doug Plank were on the team in 1984 but they were not enough to prevent them from allowing the second most points in the league. Larry Canada was a good running back and they had the best punter in the USFL in Jeff Gossett, but they needed him! Levy, a Chicago guy, was doing everything he could to promote a team that surprisingly didn't draw. They averaged a paltry 7,500 fans a game that season but starting out 0-5 was a killer and the club was about the fold. Levy, though, was class personified and was so much fun to talk to and I learned a lot about the game and about my job just talking to him. He went from the floundering Blitz to his glory years with Buffalo and I couldn't have been happier for him. From 1988 through 1997, his Bills were first in the AFC in winning percentage and second only to the San Francisco 49ers in the entire NFL. Say what you want about 0-4 in Super Bowls, but he got them there and that in itself is extraordinary. So I tip my cap to the great Marv Levy today. Thanks for everything coach!
7/27/2020
Today is the anniversary of Andrew Moss' no-hitter vs Lake Erie for the Joliet Slammers in their 2011 Championship season. It is one of three no-hitters I have called in my over 1000 professional games broadcast. I have recently talked about the 7 inning no-hitter from Rick Teasley of the Southern Illinois Miners vs. the Slammers in 2014 as part of a doubleheader that saw the other game go 17 innings! The third was from the Joliet JackHammers' Luis Villareal vs. the Kansas City T-Bones in August of 2005. He threw 127 pitches in that one thanks to 13 strikeouts and four walks! For Moss, it was not the prettiest no-hitter but it got the job done too. Moss struck out seven while walking six in a 10-1 win. He allowed the run in the 7th as he walked the bases loaded and allowed a sac fly. Bobby Leeper made a diving catch in CF in the 1st and Brad Netzel made a leaping grab at short in the 6th to help preserve the no-hitter. Here is the montage of the final three outs with some pictures from the night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPeclGIOraE
Today is the anniversary of Andrew Moss' no-hitter vs Lake Erie for the Joliet Slammers in their 2011 Championship season. It is one of three no-hitters I have called in my over 1000 professional games broadcast. I have recently talked about the 7 inning no-hitter from Rick Teasley of the Southern Illinois Miners vs. the Slammers in 2014 as part of a doubleheader that saw the other game go 17 innings! The third was from the Joliet JackHammers' Luis Villareal vs. the Kansas City T-Bones in August of 2005. He threw 127 pitches in that one thanks to 13 strikeouts and four walks! For Moss, it was not the prettiest no-hitter but it got the job done too. Moss struck out seven while walking six in a 10-1 win. He allowed the run in the 7th as he walked the bases loaded and allowed a sac fly. Bobby Leeper made a diving catch in CF in the 1st and Brad Netzel made a leaping grab at short in the 6th to help preserve the no-hitter. Here is the montage of the final three outs with some pictures from the night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPeclGIOraE
7/23/2020
Joe Locke sent me this pic of his Dad interviewing the late Glenn Beckert. It's a great picture for a lot of reasons but mainly because there wasn't anyone I ever worked with nicer than Bob Locke. Bob, Joe and I worked together in our days at 1580 WKKD in Aurora. (The list of great people I got to work with there is endless, so I won't tag you all but you know who you are and I miss you all) We all worked at 1280 WMRO in Aurora as well and that is where Bob was working at the time of this picture. This photo is also cool because it is from late in 1971 and I know that because of Glenn's thumb injury. 1971 happens to be Beckert's best year and that injury in August came at the worst time. If I remember correctly, he was leading the league in hitting at the time at an amazing .359. He then dove for a pop up and fractured that thumb and ruptured tendons as well, missing a month of the season. He finished 3rd in the batting race with a still tremendous .342 average and was 11th in the 1971 MVP voting. Joe Torre won that batting title with a ridiculous .363 and Ralph Garr was next at .343. Interestingly, Beckert's teammate Billy Williams won the NL batting title the next summer at 'only' .333, so timing is everything, I guess! I'm also guessing that thumb never really got better as Glenn's numbers tailed off after that and he never again hit better than .270. The four-time all-star and gold glove winner finished 9th in the MVP in 1969, though. He gets overshadowed by his Hall of Fame teammates from that era, Banks, Williams, Santo, Jenkins but he was a heckuva ballplayer and as I said when he passed away back in April, one of my favorites. Thanks for the picture Joe!
Joe Locke sent me this pic of his Dad interviewing the late Glenn Beckert. It's a great picture for a lot of reasons but mainly because there wasn't anyone I ever worked with nicer than Bob Locke. Bob, Joe and I worked together in our days at 1580 WKKD in Aurora. (The list of great people I got to work with there is endless, so I won't tag you all but you know who you are and I miss you all) We all worked at 1280 WMRO in Aurora as well and that is where Bob was working at the time of this picture. This photo is also cool because it is from late in 1971 and I know that because of Glenn's thumb injury. 1971 happens to be Beckert's best year and that injury in August came at the worst time. If I remember correctly, he was leading the league in hitting at the time at an amazing .359. He then dove for a pop up and fractured that thumb and ruptured tendons as well, missing a month of the season. He finished 3rd in the batting race with a still tremendous .342 average and was 11th in the 1971 MVP voting. Joe Torre won that batting title with a ridiculous .363 and Ralph Garr was next at .343. Interestingly, Beckert's teammate Billy Williams won the NL batting title the next summer at 'only' .333, so timing is everything, I guess! I'm also guessing that thumb never really got better as Glenn's numbers tailed off after that and he never again hit better than .270. The four-time all-star and gold glove winner finished 9th in the MVP in 1969, though. He gets overshadowed by his Hall of Fame teammates from that era, Banks, Williams, Santo, Jenkins but he was a heckuva ballplayer and as I said when he passed away back in April, one of my favorites. Thanks for the picture Joe!
7/18/2020
It's July 18, so time to post this. It's my recap of the game that day in 2011 that I wrote for the 2014 Slammers game program. Considering it is so hot and humid again today, it is appropriate. It was even hotter 9 years ago, though. Roy Halladay could not hack that heat at Wrigley that day in 2011 but Jake Renshaw battled through it vs. Windy City in a complete game win a few miles down the road that was a key to making that Joliet team believe it could win it all that season. It is genuinely one the the most amazing pitching performances I have ever seen at any level and one of the best memories of the 2011 Championship Slammers season.
It's July 18, so time to post this. It's my recap of the game that day in 2011 that I wrote for the 2014 Slammers game program. Considering it is so hot and humid again today, it is appropriate. It was even hotter 9 years ago, though. Roy Halladay could not hack that heat at Wrigley that day in 2011 but Jake Renshaw battled through it vs. Windy City in a complete game win a few miles down the road that was a key to making that Joliet team believe it could win it all that season. It is genuinely one the the most amazing pitching performances I have ever seen at any level and one of the best memories of the 2011 Championship Slammers season.
7/16/2020
So the Beloit Snappers are about to get a snappy new ballpark and I am happy for them. They deserve a state of the art facility. At the same time, I must say I loved that tiny old neighborhood ballpark so much. And I mean 'neighborhood'. You drove down a residential street and turned into the park. There was something so friendly and nostalgic about Pohlman Field. It was kinda like Evansville but with less brick and more bleacher. I loved walking down the line to where they were cooking out brats and getting one with a beer and settling in for the broadcast. Granted, it was a minuscule press box but it did the job. I remember sitting right next to the Beloit broadcaster Brett Dolan many a game and both doing our thing. I was happy for him when he made it all the way to the Majors with the Astros. There is no one nicer. Both they and Rockford had nice little old family ballparks back in the day. Rockford's was great too, although the corrugated metal roof in the summer made the press box sizzle! lol. In my time with Kane County I'm glad I got to see the old parks like those and the one in Appleton too. The Appleton Foxes became the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers with that new park just outside of town which is beautiful but the old one had charm and tradition. Time marches on though so welcome in the new but I tip my cap to old Pohlman Field and the times I had there.
So the Beloit Snappers are about to get a snappy new ballpark and I am happy for them. They deserve a state of the art facility. At the same time, I must say I loved that tiny old neighborhood ballpark so much. And I mean 'neighborhood'. You drove down a residential street and turned into the park. There was something so friendly and nostalgic about Pohlman Field. It was kinda like Evansville but with less brick and more bleacher. I loved walking down the line to where they were cooking out brats and getting one with a beer and settling in for the broadcast. Granted, it was a minuscule press box but it did the job. I remember sitting right next to the Beloit broadcaster Brett Dolan many a game and both doing our thing. I was happy for him when he made it all the way to the Majors with the Astros. There is no one nicer. Both they and Rockford had nice little old family ballparks back in the day. Rockford's was great too, although the corrugated metal roof in the summer made the press box sizzle! lol. In my time with Kane County I'm glad I got to see the old parks like those and the one in Appleton too. The Appleton Foxes became the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers with that new park just outside of town which is beautiful but the old one had charm and tradition. Time marches on though so welcome in the new but I tip my cap to old Pohlman Field and the times I had there.
7/14/2020
So I just finished Moneyball for the fourth time, lol. Love that book. I wondered about that draft class and looked it up. Yes, there were some misses etc. but 14 of the A's drafts that year made the Majors. Pretty damn good. And Jeremy Brown would have been a solid MLB player for a long time if not for the pressure and attention from that book and movie. His numbers were good everywhere he went and he even hit .300 in the Bigs...3 for 10, but still. He just let it all get to him and he retired as AAA numbers slipped along with the fun of it all. He ended up as a fine body catcher, not a bad body one, by the time he hit Oakland. By comparison, by the way, in researching that 2002 draft I came up with this little gem. The Cubs had four of the top 38 selections themselves and used them all on pitchers...Bobby Brownlie of Rutgers, Luke Hagerty of Ball State, Chadd Blasko from Purdue and Orange Coast College's Matt Clanton. None of the four ever even pitched a single inning in the Majors! Not one! In doing so, they skipped over the likes of Joey Votto etc. So any criticism of that A's draft and their approach should be taken with a grain of salt. Swisher, Blanton, Teahen etc. did just fine if guys like John McCurdy and Ben Fritz did not. Teams all have misses. 14 in MLB, even for a bit, is a number I would take every year.
So I just finished Moneyball for the fourth time, lol. Love that book. I wondered about that draft class and looked it up. Yes, there were some misses etc. but 14 of the A's drafts that year made the Majors. Pretty damn good. And Jeremy Brown would have been a solid MLB player for a long time if not for the pressure and attention from that book and movie. His numbers were good everywhere he went and he even hit .300 in the Bigs...3 for 10, but still. He just let it all get to him and he retired as AAA numbers slipped along with the fun of it all. He ended up as a fine body catcher, not a bad body one, by the time he hit Oakland. By comparison, by the way, in researching that 2002 draft I came up with this little gem. The Cubs had four of the top 38 selections themselves and used them all on pitchers...Bobby Brownlie of Rutgers, Luke Hagerty of Ball State, Chadd Blasko from Purdue and Orange Coast College's Matt Clanton. None of the four ever even pitched a single inning in the Majors! Not one! In doing so, they skipped over the likes of Joey Votto etc. So any criticism of that A's draft and their approach should be taken with a grain of salt. Swisher, Blanton, Teahen etc. did just fine if guys like John McCurdy and Ben Fritz did not. Teams all have misses. 14 in MLB, even for a bit, is a number I would take every year.
7/13/2020
Tonight is the 25th anniversary of this night at Elfstrom Stadium. I've mentioned it before but this was the home-stand of games with temps all in the triple digits. This night it was still 106 at 7pm and the heat index was 126. This was the night that ESPN 2 was there for the Minor League Game of the Week that they did for a short time that summer. I was broadcasting the game on WKKD FM and set my VCR to tape the TV side of that game back home. I felt so bad for Matt Vasgersian and Steve Lyons. They had to be all dressed up for TV in that heat in a press box that did not have air conditioning! I was in shorts, t-shirt and had a fan directed at me and a towel around me neck, lol. They had long pants, long sleeves and a tie. Ugh. They were miserable. There was a window between our booths and I could see and hear them. Each commercial break was a cuss fest and I didn't blame them! I posted this on my YouTube page about five years ago but thought I would re-post it today. Luis Castillo and so many other favorites were on that Kane County team. The Michigan Battle Cats of Battle Creek are no longer around but it's nice to see them again and nice to see the cameras go around the old Elfstrom all game long for side segments with Gus Johnson. That place has had so many additions in the last 25 years that it looks almost nothing like that anymore. They did finally put air conditioning in but there was none to be seen in the clubhouses, suites or press box back then. I loved those teams of mine and that place so much. I'm glad I still have this to look back on. Here are the links to my page that have the first and then last hour of the broadcast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7CPMiXtqRk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqv-IO_ousk&t=256s
Tonight is the 25th anniversary of this night at Elfstrom Stadium. I've mentioned it before but this was the home-stand of games with temps all in the triple digits. This night it was still 106 at 7pm and the heat index was 126. This was the night that ESPN 2 was there for the Minor League Game of the Week that they did for a short time that summer. I was broadcasting the game on WKKD FM and set my VCR to tape the TV side of that game back home. I felt so bad for Matt Vasgersian and Steve Lyons. They had to be all dressed up for TV in that heat in a press box that did not have air conditioning! I was in shorts, t-shirt and had a fan directed at me and a towel around me neck, lol. They had long pants, long sleeves and a tie. Ugh. They were miserable. There was a window between our booths and I could see and hear them. Each commercial break was a cuss fest and I didn't blame them! I posted this on my YouTube page about five years ago but thought I would re-post it today. Luis Castillo and so many other favorites were on that Kane County team. The Michigan Battle Cats of Battle Creek are no longer around but it's nice to see them again and nice to see the cameras go around the old Elfstrom all game long for side segments with Gus Johnson. That place has had so many additions in the last 25 years that it looks almost nothing like that anymore. They did finally put air conditioning in but there was none to be seen in the clubhouses, suites or press box back then. I loved those teams of mine and that place so much. I'm glad I still have this to look back on. Here are the links to my page that have the first and then last hour of the broadcast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7CPMiXtqRk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqv-IO_ousk&t=256s
7/12/2020
Lou Holtz on Fox News, the other day..."There's just no way in this world you can do anything without a risk. People stormed Normandy, They knew there was going to be casualties, they knew there was gonna be risk."
Umm, Lou, 19 year olds risking their lives to save Democracy and hopefully the lives of millions of others is a bit different than those same kids risking their lives and those of their coaches to save Saturday afternoon entertainment!
Some college football people are not taking any cut to the season or adjustments or threat of cancellation very well. It's important to them so if people die, they die, apparently. Craziness. Absolute craziness. It also just happens to be four years ago today that I posted my Facebook rant about Joe Paterno and the short time I spent working at Penn State and having to deal with him and his sycophants. It is no wonder what was allowed to go on there continued to happen. If Lord Joe said it was okay, then it was okay there, damnit. Kids' safety? Move on. It was nuts there and he was a joyless lout. A re-post of my story...
I don't think I have talked about Joe Paterno on here yet, so here goes. There is no longer any doubt about his knowledge of the abuse that went on during his watch and he is a guy I never understood. I was only around him for a short time, but I never liked him. All this gives me another reason not to change that opinion. My first full-time radio job was in State College, PA. in the mid 80's. Sports in that town WAS Penn State Football! That's about all it was. It was such a weird place to work for a Chicago kid. Plus, I have always loved baseball and basketball. Those sports were completely ignored in State College. I was THE sports guy at WRSC. I was the morning sports anchor and then covered Penn State sports. My boss told me to cover PSU football and wrestling and that was it. Period. Nothing else mattered. I was told to cover PSU spring football practice every day. So every afternoon I would go to practice and then get my daily Joe Paterno quotes for the next morning's sportscasts. After a while, there was only so much to can ask about the fourth string tight end etc. Being a baseball guy, I decided 'screw this', I am going to cover an actual PSU home baseball game since it was actually 'in season'. It counts, and everything lol. By then I had tons of stored up inane Paterno quotes anyway. After the game, the head baseball coach told me that I was the only media person he had talked to the entire season!! That is how insane those people were for their Nittany Lions football. Nothing else existed. Therefore, I made it a habit to cover every other spring sport. Every other coach could not have been nicer and more appreciative. Meanwhile, Paterno was for ever and always a complete ass! He was a God in that place. Full size cardboard cutouts of his ugly mug were in the storefront of almost every building in town. The media never asked him anything but softball questions and treated him with unbelievable deference. Every answer of his came with a snarl, regardless. I was appalled at all this communal ass-kissing. Everywhere he went, every single person threw metaphorical rose petals in front of him as he walked. Yet he was miserable. I never saw him smile and he was never in a good mood. How could that be? If people genuflect for you, treat you with kid gloves and let you do whatever you want and you are not enjoying yourself, then what more do you want? To tell you more about how and why those people just can't seem to let go of their Paterno hero-worship, the spring intrasquad football game was broadcast on regional television and was a sellout of almost 100,000 people! It was a practice game, for goodness sake! Also, every radio station in town broadcasts PSU football. Honest. Every one. You can't be a station in town and be out of the action. That football team was and probably still is their whole lives. I will never understand it. All that weirdness, plus the fact that my boss was a genuine crazy person made me want to come back home. That and I was working seven days a week for $14,000 a year meant it was time to leave. I spent four months there without a single day off. Maybe it was the pressure to win for all those fanatics, but Paterno was a gruff and humorless man. I never did witness any pressure applied though with all the fawning that went on. I will never know why he was so unhappy. Maybe he knew the price he was paying for the continued success that enabled his loftly status. Perhaps it was allowing kids to be harmed. Who knows? I just know the train had to be kept on the tracks for jobs to be kept and the masses to be kept fawning and the money kept flowing. State College is a beautiful town and the locals were very nice to me. They were just PSU football obsessed. The other coaches couldn't have been nicer. I just wasn't going to be another of the Paterno zombies and as every day goes by, I am more and more happy with that decision. By the way, I never had any real interaction with Sandusky that I can remember and I am glad I did not. Please and thank you.
Lou Holtz on Fox News, the other day..."There's just no way in this world you can do anything without a risk. People stormed Normandy, They knew there was going to be casualties, they knew there was gonna be risk."
Umm, Lou, 19 year olds risking their lives to save Democracy and hopefully the lives of millions of others is a bit different than those same kids risking their lives and those of their coaches to save Saturday afternoon entertainment!
Some college football people are not taking any cut to the season or adjustments or threat of cancellation very well. It's important to them so if people die, they die, apparently. Craziness. Absolute craziness. It also just happens to be four years ago today that I posted my Facebook rant about Joe Paterno and the short time I spent working at Penn State and having to deal with him and his sycophants. It is no wonder what was allowed to go on there continued to happen. If Lord Joe said it was okay, then it was okay there, damnit. Kids' safety? Move on. It was nuts there and he was a joyless lout. A re-post of my story...
I don't think I have talked about Joe Paterno on here yet, so here goes. There is no longer any doubt about his knowledge of the abuse that went on during his watch and he is a guy I never understood. I was only around him for a short time, but I never liked him. All this gives me another reason not to change that opinion. My first full-time radio job was in State College, PA. in the mid 80's. Sports in that town WAS Penn State Football! That's about all it was. It was such a weird place to work for a Chicago kid. Plus, I have always loved baseball and basketball. Those sports were completely ignored in State College. I was THE sports guy at WRSC. I was the morning sports anchor and then covered Penn State sports. My boss told me to cover PSU football and wrestling and that was it. Period. Nothing else mattered. I was told to cover PSU spring football practice every day. So every afternoon I would go to practice and then get my daily Joe Paterno quotes for the next morning's sportscasts. After a while, there was only so much to can ask about the fourth string tight end etc. Being a baseball guy, I decided 'screw this', I am going to cover an actual PSU home baseball game since it was actually 'in season'. It counts, and everything lol. By then I had tons of stored up inane Paterno quotes anyway. After the game, the head baseball coach told me that I was the only media person he had talked to the entire season!! That is how insane those people were for their Nittany Lions football. Nothing else existed. Therefore, I made it a habit to cover every other spring sport. Every other coach could not have been nicer and more appreciative. Meanwhile, Paterno was for ever and always a complete ass! He was a God in that place. Full size cardboard cutouts of his ugly mug were in the storefront of almost every building in town. The media never asked him anything but softball questions and treated him with unbelievable deference. Every answer of his came with a snarl, regardless. I was appalled at all this communal ass-kissing. Everywhere he went, every single person threw metaphorical rose petals in front of him as he walked. Yet he was miserable. I never saw him smile and he was never in a good mood. How could that be? If people genuflect for you, treat you with kid gloves and let you do whatever you want and you are not enjoying yourself, then what more do you want? To tell you more about how and why those people just can't seem to let go of their Paterno hero-worship, the spring intrasquad football game was broadcast on regional television and was a sellout of almost 100,000 people! It was a practice game, for goodness sake! Also, every radio station in town broadcasts PSU football. Honest. Every one. You can't be a station in town and be out of the action. That football team was and probably still is their whole lives. I will never understand it. All that weirdness, plus the fact that my boss was a genuine crazy person made me want to come back home. That and I was working seven days a week for $14,000 a year meant it was time to leave. I spent four months there without a single day off. Maybe it was the pressure to win for all those fanatics, but Paterno was a gruff and humorless man. I never did witness any pressure applied though with all the fawning that went on. I will never know why he was so unhappy. Maybe he knew the price he was paying for the continued success that enabled his loftly status. Perhaps it was allowing kids to be harmed. Who knows? I just know the train had to be kept on the tracks for jobs to be kept and the masses to be kept fawning and the money kept flowing. State College is a beautiful town and the locals were very nice to me. They were just PSU football obsessed. The other coaches couldn't have been nicer. I just wasn't going to be another of the Paterno zombies and as every day goes by, I am more and more happy with that decision. By the way, I never had any real interaction with Sandusky that I can remember and I am glad I did not. Please and thank you.
7/9/2020
I came across some pictures and posts of mine from the 2014 Joliet Slammers baseball season. We finished 40-56 that summer but it was still a lot of fun broadcasting baseball at Silver Cross Field. This is my story on our 3 all-stars from that season that I wrote for our second-half game program. I also found the video I put together at the end of that season featuring pictures and play-by-play highlights. It is 5 minutes long and was fun to go back and check out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=HrTd4sYYyr8&feature=emb_logo
Blair Walters was signed by the Braves around the time of that all-star game and played in A-ball for them the rest of that season and then again in 2015. He played for the White Sox AA team in Birmingham in 2016. DeBruin was signed by the Nationals after the 2014 Joliet season in which he hit .355 with 12 homers and 67 rbis and then played two years in A-ball for Washington. Moldenhauer finished 2014 hitting .298 for Joliet with nine homers and 62 rbis. He came back and played 42 games for the Slammers in 2015 and then retired.
It was seven years for me broadcasting at Silver Cross Field between the Jackhammers and Slammers. I miss it.
I came across some pictures and posts of mine from the 2014 Joliet Slammers baseball season. We finished 40-56 that summer but it was still a lot of fun broadcasting baseball at Silver Cross Field. This is my story on our 3 all-stars from that season that I wrote for our second-half game program. I also found the video I put together at the end of that season featuring pictures and play-by-play highlights. It is 5 minutes long and was fun to go back and check out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=HrTd4sYYyr8&feature=emb_logo
Blair Walters was signed by the Braves around the time of that all-star game and played in A-ball for them the rest of that season and then again in 2015. He played for the White Sox AA team in Birmingham in 2016. DeBruin was signed by the Nationals after the 2014 Joliet season in which he hit .355 with 12 homers and 67 rbis and then played two years in A-ball for Washington. Moldenhauer finished 2014 hitting .298 for Joliet with nine homers and 62 rbis. He came back and played 42 games for the Slammers in 2015 and then retired.
It was seven years for me broadcasting at Silver Cross Field between the Jackhammers and Slammers. I miss it.
7/5/2020
Today is the 10th anniversary of the passing of Bob Probert. A nicer guy you will never find. Among the fun things I got to do in my time at WSCR was do between periods sportscasts for Blackhawks broadcasts. As a lifelong Hawks fan, to be part of their radio broadcasts, even a little part, was so much fun. Another bonus was during the 2002-2003 season, Probie was part of the between periods show as well. He would analyze the previous period after my sportscast each time. Bob would come into the studio each night, watch the game on the TV and then do that radio work. He had struggles with alcohol and the Hawks were doing what they could to keep him busy and involved in the game while he tried to straighten himself out. He had his best years with the Red Wings but was still a quality player here until a torn rotator cuff and off-ice issues decreased his productivity. Getting to meet him and talk to him was a thrill. Again, he was such a nice guy. He didn't do that between periods show for long though, sadly. Some nights he would come in looking great and sharp and then some nights he would come in looking all kinds of haggard. The one night that sticks out was the night where the game started and he put his head down on the desk and promptly went to sleep. I went into the producers studio and asked "is he sleeping?!' Yes, was the answer. The period ended. I did my sportscast as they woke him up. They opened the mic for him and he proceeded to talk exactly like he had seen the action! He knew hockey and those teams and players so well that he just talked hockey for the allotted time and was really, really good. I just shook my head in amazement. The second period started and he went back to sleep. He then duplicated that feat in his segment after period 2. It was really something. It was also impossible to be mad at him. He was such a sweet soul. I was just frankly worried for him more than anything. Another night, his wife and one of his kids came in with him. They were such a nice family and he was so cute with them. He went back into rehab not long after, so did not last on-air through February. It was not as much fun without him. I was really sad to hear of his death but was not surprised. We didn't know about CTE back then. He battled alcohol and that brain disease after years of on-ice fighting. He was so good as an enforcer but was also a very good hockey player. He didn't seem to have a mean bone in his body so it always amazed me how good he was as a fighter. His later tussles with police etc. I blame on CTE. I didn't know him well but those things weren't Probie. To show how much he was loved and respected his funeral was attended my many teammates and even the enforcers he fought against in his career. It was a heart attack that got him, but he had a big heart while it lasted. I was lucky to know him even a little. Like Doug Buffone, another great guy I got to work with at WSCR who passed too soon, I miss Bob as well.
Today is the 10th anniversary of the passing of Bob Probert. A nicer guy you will never find. Among the fun things I got to do in my time at WSCR was do between periods sportscasts for Blackhawks broadcasts. As a lifelong Hawks fan, to be part of their radio broadcasts, even a little part, was so much fun. Another bonus was during the 2002-2003 season, Probie was part of the between periods show as well. He would analyze the previous period after my sportscast each time. Bob would come into the studio each night, watch the game on the TV and then do that radio work. He had struggles with alcohol and the Hawks were doing what they could to keep him busy and involved in the game while he tried to straighten himself out. He had his best years with the Red Wings but was still a quality player here until a torn rotator cuff and off-ice issues decreased his productivity. Getting to meet him and talk to him was a thrill. Again, he was such a nice guy. He didn't do that between periods show for long though, sadly. Some nights he would come in looking great and sharp and then some nights he would come in looking all kinds of haggard. The one night that sticks out was the night where the game started and he put his head down on the desk and promptly went to sleep. I went into the producers studio and asked "is he sleeping?!' Yes, was the answer. The period ended. I did my sportscast as they woke him up. They opened the mic for him and he proceeded to talk exactly like he had seen the action! He knew hockey and those teams and players so well that he just talked hockey for the allotted time and was really, really good. I just shook my head in amazement. The second period started and he went back to sleep. He then duplicated that feat in his segment after period 2. It was really something. It was also impossible to be mad at him. He was such a sweet soul. I was just frankly worried for him more than anything. Another night, his wife and one of his kids came in with him. They were such a nice family and he was so cute with them. He went back into rehab not long after, so did not last on-air through February. It was not as much fun without him. I was really sad to hear of his death but was not surprised. We didn't know about CTE back then. He battled alcohol and that brain disease after years of on-ice fighting. He was so good as an enforcer but was also a very good hockey player. He didn't seem to have a mean bone in his body so it always amazed me how good he was as a fighter. His later tussles with police etc. I blame on CTE. I didn't know him well but those things weren't Probie. To show how much he was loved and respected his funeral was attended my many teammates and even the enforcers he fought against in his career. It was a heart attack that got him, but he had a big heart while it lasted. I was lucky to know him even a little. Like Doug Buffone, another great guy I got to work with at WSCR who passed too soon, I miss Bob as well.
7/2/2020
Black Lives Matter too. Yes they do. I've told this story a few times on various talk shows of mine over the years but I don't think I've told it on social media. It is the first time I experienced someone's bold racial hatred in broad daylight and it came in the context of college baseball, of all places. I broadcast sports for Aurora University from the mid 1980's though the mid '90's. I got to go with the AU baseball team each year on their Spring Trip as they were a D3 power and went to two College World Series in my time there, including a berth in the National Title game in 1990. One year on our way south, we stopped in Mississippi to play a doubleheader. In Jackson, their head coach took our coaches and myself on a trip to see the field and facilities we would be playing at the next day. So it's four white guys in a school van and he must have felt pretty confident that his mindset would be ours too, because he then proceeded to tell the most horrible, racist, prejudiced stories we'd ever heard, with N-words peppering the screed. We just looked at each others with jaws dropped in shock. I guess I was a fairly sheltered kid from the northwest suburbs but I had never heard anyone use that word with venom behind it. Ignorance, maybe, but not hatred. Ever. Even while at 'Southern' Illinois University, or anywhere else for that matter, had I had heard anyone use it with anger. How common that feeling must be around here for that guy to not even worry we might not agree with him? Very, apparently. I am a history buff and know something about Jackson's racist past but I figured that was decades ago. It didn't feel like it that day, I assure you. We got back to the hotel and just shook our heads in disgust at that guy. We then vowed to never come back there and made sure our minority players never went anywhere in that town by themselves. We were on 'high alert'. I certainly want the teams I broadcast for to win, but I had extra vigor in my heart during that doubleheader, for sure. We won and got the heck outta there and never looked back. I still remember that van trip like it was yesterday. It was 30 years ago. It was the day I woke up to some peoples' reality. It still scares me to think of it and I do think of that guy when I hear stories of the deaths of people like Elijah McClain and others. We are our brother's keepers and some still need to be looked after more than others even in 2020 for some reason. We need to stay on high alert even to this day. Lives depend on it.
Black Lives Matter too. Yes they do. I've told this story a few times on various talk shows of mine over the years but I don't think I've told it on social media. It is the first time I experienced someone's bold racial hatred in broad daylight and it came in the context of college baseball, of all places. I broadcast sports for Aurora University from the mid 1980's though the mid '90's. I got to go with the AU baseball team each year on their Spring Trip as they were a D3 power and went to two College World Series in my time there, including a berth in the National Title game in 1990. One year on our way south, we stopped in Mississippi to play a doubleheader. In Jackson, their head coach took our coaches and myself on a trip to see the field and facilities we would be playing at the next day. So it's four white guys in a school van and he must have felt pretty confident that his mindset would be ours too, because he then proceeded to tell the most horrible, racist, prejudiced stories we'd ever heard, with N-words peppering the screed. We just looked at each others with jaws dropped in shock. I guess I was a fairly sheltered kid from the northwest suburbs but I had never heard anyone use that word with venom behind it. Ignorance, maybe, but not hatred. Ever. Even while at 'Southern' Illinois University, or anywhere else for that matter, had I had heard anyone use it with anger. How common that feeling must be around here for that guy to not even worry we might not agree with him? Very, apparently. I am a history buff and know something about Jackson's racist past but I figured that was decades ago. It didn't feel like it that day, I assure you. We got back to the hotel and just shook our heads in disgust at that guy. We then vowed to never come back there and made sure our minority players never went anywhere in that town by themselves. We were on 'high alert'. I certainly want the teams I broadcast for to win, but I had extra vigor in my heart during that doubleheader, for sure. We won and got the heck outta there and never looked back. I still remember that van trip like it was yesterday. It was 30 years ago. It was the day I woke up to some peoples' reality. It still scares me to think of it and I do think of that guy when I hear stories of the deaths of people like Elijah McClain and others. We are our brother's keepers and some still need to be looked after more than others even in 2020 for some reason. We need to stay on high alert even to this day. Lives depend on it.
6/30/2020
No surprise, I've been thinking about baseball quite a bit lately and today especially. With the news that the Minor League baseball season has been cancelled for affiliated teams and the news that Andy Masur is the new radio guy for the White Sox, my baseball-sense has been tingling big time. I don't know what will happen when or if MLB gets going. I hope a certain amount of fans can see the action inside ballparks. If so, I will be at Sox Park quite a bit if at all possible. With all that 2020 has brought, I need my baseball security blanket maybe more than ever for my own mental well being. This is a picture of my Bo Jackson White Sox jersey. I'm, of course, married to a Sox fan and have lived six blocks from that Park for quite a while now and have been going to a lot of Sox games, so needed to finally get the garb. Bo was just the most amazing athlete and was a natural for my pick for a jersey. Now that I am immersed in that team I want more jerseys. Ken Griffey Jr. was not a Sox player for long but is also a natural choice because of his legendary talent and the same for Michael Jordan, of course. He wore an MLB jersey at Wrigley vs. the Cubs and that's good enough for me. He is Chicago sports. The other jersey I want someday is of Bill Melton, since we worked in the booth together with Kane County and he is just the best guy and a helluva player. I loved being on the air with him. I grew up a Cub fan and will always follow that team. They are in my blood but they have priced me out of going to Wrigley and I am not working as a reporter at the moment, so games on the north side are very rare for me now. Not so, the White Sox. Plus, I'm not going to pay extra to have a Cubs channel on TV, that's for sure. The White Sox are rapidly becoming my main team more and more. The fact they are now going to be very good for a long time doesn't hurt either. Adding my friend Andy to their radio booth can only push that along, as well. Hoping the virus does not sidetrack MLB at this point. I want to walk those six blocks to Sox Park, ticket in hand, soon.
No surprise, I've been thinking about baseball quite a bit lately and today especially. With the news that the Minor League baseball season has been cancelled for affiliated teams and the news that Andy Masur is the new radio guy for the White Sox, my baseball-sense has been tingling big time. I don't know what will happen when or if MLB gets going. I hope a certain amount of fans can see the action inside ballparks. If so, I will be at Sox Park quite a bit if at all possible. With all that 2020 has brought, I need my baseball security blanket maybe more than ever for my own mental well being. This is a picture of my Bo Jackson White Sox jersey. I'm, of course, married to a Sox fan and have lived six blocks from that Park for quite a while now and have been going to a lot of Sox games, so needed to finally get the garb. Bo was just the most amazing athlete and was a natural for my pick for a jersey. Now that I am immersed in that team I want more jerseys. Ken Griffey Jr. was not a Sox player for long but is also a natural choice because of his legendary talent and the same for Michael Jordan, of course. He wore an MLB jersey at Wrigley vs. the Cubs and that's good enough for me. He is Chicago sports. The other jersey I want someday is of Bill Melton, since we worked in the booth together with Kane County and he is just the best guy and a helluva player. I loved being on the air with him. I grew up a Cub fan and will always follow that team. They are in my blood but they have priced me out of going to Wrigley and I am not working as a reporter at the moment, so games on the north side are very rare for me now. Not so, the White Sox. Plus, I'm not going to pay extra to have a Cubs channel on TV, that's for sure. The White Sox are rapidly becoming my main team more and more. The fact they are now going to be very good for a long time doesn't hurt either. Adding my friend Andy to their radio booth can only push that along, as well. Hoping the virus does not sidetrack MLB at this point. I want to walk those six blocks to Sox Park, ticket in hand, soon.
6/30/2020
Congrats to Andy Masur on taking over for Farmio on White Sox games. He and I not only share a birthday but we were in the Midwest League together when I was broadcasting for Kane County and he was with Peoria. We then worked together at Sporting News Radio etc. A great guy and will be a fun listen. Looking forward to turning on the games.
Congrats to Andy Masur on taking over for Farmio on White Sox games. He and I not only share a birthday but we were in the Midwest League together when I was broadcasting for Kane County and he was with Peoria. We then worked together at Sporting News Radio etc. A great guy and will be a fun listen. Looking forward to turning on the games.
6/30/2020
I came across this picture and it reminded me of another fun day, thanks to my profession. Every year, the Cubs would come to Joliet for the Cubs Caravan to promote the upcoming season, right before they reported to Spring Training. I was working in Aurora at WKKD and would come every year to interview whoever the team sent along and use those interviews on my afternoon show. It was always a good time and I got to talk to some promising rookie or ambassadors like Billy Williams and so on. They would always have door prizes and raffles etc. too. In 1996, my last in Aurora, one of the raffles was for the opportunity to throw out a first pitch at an early April Cubs game. I wanted to do something nice for my Dad, a lifelong Cub fan, and managed to win that prize that day. It was really cool to see him so excited about it and we started to throw the ball around to each other every chance we got, so it was a good excuse to play catch with my Dad as adults. We hadn't done that in ages. He wanted to make sure his arm was loose and he wouldn't embarrass himself, lol. We ended up long tossing, so I knew he was going to be fine. On the day, sadly, I couldn't go with him because of course I was working. I was broadcaster for the Kane County Cougars then. My brother and sister did go with him to Wrigley though. Brooks Kieschnick was behind the plate for his First Pitch. My Dad is now almost 95 years old, but we still talk about that day in 1996 every once in a while. He had a blast. I'm happy this picture has the rightfield bleachers in the background. That's where his Dad, my Grandpa, used to sit when he went to games on an almost daily basis, back in the day. He saw multiple World Series at Wrigley if that is any indication of how long ago we are talking about. I'm glad I have this picture.
I came across this picture and it reminded me of another fun day, thanks to my profession. Every year, the Cubs would come to Joliet for the Cubs Caravan to promote the upcoming season, right before they reported to Spring Training. I was working in Aurora at WKKD and would come every year to interview whoever the team sent along and use those interviews on my afternoon show. It was always a good time and I got to talk to some promising rookie or ambassadors like Billy Williams and so on. They would always have door prizes and raffles etc. too. In 1996, my last in Aurora, one of the raffles was for the opportunity to throw out a first pitch at an early April Cubs game. I wanted to do something nice for my Dad, a lifelong Cub fan, and managed to win that prize that day. It was really cool to see him so excited about it and we started to throw the ball around to each other every chance we got, so it was a good excuse to play catch with my Dad as adults. We hadn't done that in ages. He wanted to make sure his arm was loose and he wouldn't embarrass himself, lol. We ended up long tossing, so I knew he was going to be fine. On the day, sadly, I couldn't go with him because of course I was working. I was broadcaster for the Kane County Cougars then. My brother and sister did go with him to Wrigley though. Brooks Kieschnick was behind the plate for his First Pitch. My Dad is now almost 95 years old, but we still talk about that day in 1996 every once in a while. He had a blast. I'm happy this picture has the rightfield bleachers in the background. That's where his Dad, my Grandpa, used to sit when he went to games on an almost daily basis, back in the day. He saw multiple World Series at Wrigley if that is any indication of how long ago we are talking about. I'm glad I have this picture.
6/26/2020
Tuesday was the anniversary of the Sandberg Game. I've said before that I was there that day at Wrigley with my Dad and my brother. It was one of the most exciting games I've ever been witness to. 1984 is still one of the most fun summers for me as a Cub fan, maybe the most. There is a new documentary out on the Sandberg game and I just watched it today. It brought back a bunch of great memories of that day and that season. Give it a try. It is a reminder of how much joy baseball has given me over the years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LANE2TzVuLQ
Tuesday was the anniversary of the Sandberg Game. I've said before that I was there that day at Wrigley with my Dad and my brother. It was one of the most exciting games I've ever been witness to. 1984 is still one of the most fun summers for me as a Cub fan, maybe the most. There is a new documentary out on the Sandberg game and I just watched it today. It brought back a bunch of great memories of that day and that season. Give it a try. It is a reminder of how much joy baseball has given me over the years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LANE2TzVuLQ
6/24/2020
Congrats to Marian Hossa and Doug Wilson making the Hockey Hall of Fame! They are two of my favorites of all-time and of course I have a story about each of them, lol. Wilson was such a great two-way player, winning the Norris trophy once and top 5 in voting four times. He was one of the best ever on the power play as well. I first starting covering the Blackhawks fresh out of SIU and was excited to be in the Hawks locker room for the first time. One of the first players I wanted to talk to was Doug. I grew up watching him and was a huge fan. The problem was, I was so nervous that I froze, lol. I thought of one question, blanked, and then just walked away! A few minutes later, I calmed down enough to go back and he was nice enough to talk some more! Hossa also wasn't just a great player but great person too. I think of him as the Jim Thome of hockey. No one has a bad word to say about him and he was a pleasure to deal with, let alone watch play. Amazingly enough, his little daughter's Kindercare facility was in the same building as my US Traffic Network studios. I found that out as I walked in the front door of the building one day. I looked behind me and held the door open for the two people coming in behind me. I did a double take and thought 'is that Hossa?' lol. It took me a second and yes it was. By then they walked into the Kindercare front door and were gone. I was bummed I missed my chance to say hi. I had interviewed him before and he was great, of course, but I never had a chance to tell him I was a Slovak too. Maybe this wouldn't be that chance either but I was bummed. A few days later it happened again, though. It was so cute. Marian holding a hand down to his tiny little girl walking into the building at just about the same time as I was. I got my chance to say hi and that's about it. I knew he would only remember who I was if I re-introduced myself and a long talk while with his daughter probably wouldn't have been the right move either, so I let it go, but it was just nice to sort of share this private life moment with him. I never really got another chance since shortly after that USTN moved to a different building a few blocks away. Oh well. At least our studios were much nicer there, as long as it lasted, anyway.
Congrats to Marian Hossa and Doug Wilson making the Hockey Hall of Fame! They are two of my favorites of all-time and of course I have a story about each of them, lol. Wilson was such a great two-way player, winning the Norris trophy once and top 5 in voting four times. He was one of the best ever on the power play as well. I first starting covering the Blackhawks fresh out of SIU and was excited to be in the Hawks locker room for the first time. One of the first players I wanted to talk to was Doug. I grew up watching him and was a huge fan. The problem was, I was so nervous that I froze, lol. I thought of one question, blanked, and then just walked away! A few minutes later, I calmed down enough to go back and he was nice enough to talk some more! Hossa also wasn't just a great player but great person too. I think of him as the Jim Thome of hockey. No one has a bad word to say about him and he was a pleasure to deal with, let alone watch play. Amazingly enough, his little daughter's Kindercare facility was in the same building as my US Traffic Network studios. I found that out as I walked in the front door of the building one day. I looked behind me and held the door open for the two people coming in behind me. I did a double take and thought 'is that Hossa?' lol. It took me a second and yes it was. By then they walked into the Kindercare front door and were gone. I was bummed I missed my chance to say hi. I had interviewed him before and he was great, of course, but I never had a chance to tell him I was a Slovak too. Maybe this wouldn't be that chance either but I was bummed. A few days later it happened again, though. It was so cute. Marian holding a hand down to his tiny little girl walking into the building at just about the same time as I was. I got my chance to say hi and that's about it. I knew he would only remember who I was if I re-introduced myself and a long talk while with his daughter probably wouldn't have been the right move either, so I let it go, but it was just nice to sort of share this private life moment with him. I never really got another chance since shortly after that USTN moved to a different building a few blocks away. Oh well. At least our studios were much nicer there, as long as it lasted, anyway.
6/20/2020
This picture was posted on the Men's Fastpitch Facebook Group page here today. Considering tomorrow is Father's Day this is also pretty appropriate. This was back when I was the radio man for the Aurora team and my Dad went with me for this tournament back in 1991. We spent the week together and went golfing when I had a break from the ballpark. He came with me for a bunch of Aurora U. football games back then as well. We had a bunch of fun adventures together over the years. He would drop me off at a game, since I would get there early to set up, and then he would find a local diner for lunch before coming back to watch the game. After my Mom died, he and I spent quite a bit of time together. We would have Sunday brunch together every Sunday for about 10 straight years. I am happy to finally get to see him tomorrow. I haven't sat with him in months, thanks to Covid. His Assisted Living facility will finally allow us to be together outside, six feet apart.
Aurora finished in 4th place that year at the Sioux City ISC World Tournament. I like this game story, even though Whitey beat us, because it mentions that crowds as much as 8,000 strong were on hand for the action, including that game. Our catcher, Greg Stockton, was first team all-tourney. Mike Cork and Paul Algar were 2nd team. I just put up that cover picture of the caps from my four professional baseball teams on my Facebook page. I still would like to find a cap from my time broadcasting fastpitch for the Aurora team that was AllSteel and then Colonial Baking in my era. (I lost a lot of keepsakes and old tapes when a pipe burst and flooded my apartment closet about 15 years ago). I missed out on the Home Savings era of sponsorship but will never forget my time broadcasting at S-A Field, not only for that Major Men's team but for the Aurora U. softball team. I loved that place. I got to travel to Salt Lake City, Prince Edward Island and many more cool places to broadcast those Men's games in major tournaments. I loved every minute of it.
This picture was posted on the Men's Fastpitch Facebook Group page here today. Considering tomorrow is Father's Day this is also pretty appropriate. This was back when I was the radio man for the Aurora team and my Dad went with me for this tournament back in 1991. We spent the week together and went golfing when I had a break from the ballpark. He came with me for a bunch of Aurora U. football games back then as well. We had a bunch of fun adventures together over the years. He would drop me off at a game, since I would get there early to set up, and then he would find a local diner for lunch before coming back to watch the game. After my Mom died, he and I spent quite a bit of time together. We would have Sunday brunch together every Sunday for about 10 straight years. I am happy to finally get to see him tomorrow. I haven't sat with him in months, thanks to Covid. His Assisted Living facility will finally allow us to be together outside, six feet apart.
Aurora finished in 4th place that year at the Sioux City ISC World Tournament. I like this game story, even though Whitey beat us, because it mentions that crowds as much as 8,000 strong were on hand for the action, including that game. Our catcher, Greg Stockton, was first team all-tourney. Mike Cork and Paul Algar were 2nd team. I just put up that cover picture of the caps from my four professional baseball teams on my Facebook page. I still would like to find a cap from my time broadcasting fastpitch for the Aurora team that was AllSteel and then Colonial Baking in my era. (I lost a lot of keepsakes and old tapes when a pipe burst and flooded my apartment closet about 15 years ago). I missed out on the Home Savings era of sponsorship but will never forget my time broadcasting at S-A Field, not only for that Major Men's team but for the Aurora U. softball team. I loved that place. I got to travel to Salt Lake City, Prince Edward Island and many more cool places to broadcast those Men's games in major tournaments. I loved every minute of it.
6/15/2020
Great article by Barry Rozner, who will not watch this 30 for 30. I had originally looked forward to watching but the reviews make me completely uninterested. I thought it would be a look at that season in the context of cheating. Apparently not, so I will take a pass. 1998 was a rare Cubs pennant race so hugging the opposition and making it about just 2 guys didn't sit well with me at the time, even in the press box. It was an exciting run for me as a reporter but as a fan it was weird. I was more excited by the standings than the home run race. That's why I always enjoyed talking to Grace more than Sosa that season. Mark was a ballplayer. Sosa was a sideshow. And as a fan I was looking forward to that jheri-curled all-around player we got from the White Sox. His 1990 Sox season was really something...doubles, triples, homers, steals. Yes, those Cubs homers of his were exciting but the corked bat was cheating and soured things and he was obviously all about himself as I saw in person. Knowing what we know now especially, I don't want him welcomed back and if this show is an attempt to rehab cheaters and celebrate their past, then I am definitely out.
https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20200615/rozner-revisiting-the-sammy-sosa-years-unappealing?fbclid=IwAR2mPGkgGZgdJ6ewj0ga3uHCSM3fTp97EYt_YCS1wBRMx44-VFH9_SUKmgo
Great article by Barry Rozner, who will not watch this 30 for 30. I had originally looked forward to watching but the reviews make me completely uninterested. I thought it would be a look at that season in the context of cheating. Apparently not, so I will take a pass. 1998 was a rare Cubs pennant race so hugging the opposition and making it about just 2 guys didn't sit well with me at the time, even in the press box. It was an exciting run for me as a reporter but as a fan it was weird. I was more excited by the standings than the home run race. That's why I always enjoyed talking to Grace more than Sosa that season. Mark was a ballplayer. Sosa was a sideshow. And as a fan I was looking forward to that jheri-curled all-around player we got from the White Sox. His 1990 Sox season was really something...doubles, triples, homers, steals. Yes, those Cubs homers of his were exciting but the corked bat was cheating and soured things and he was obviously all about himself as I saw in person. Knowing what we know now especially, I don't want him welcomed back and if this show is an attempt to rehab cheaters and celebrate their past, then I am definitely out.
https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20200615/rozner-revisiting-the-sammy-sosa-years-unappealing?fbclid=IwAR2mPGkgGZgdJ6ewj0ga3uHCSM3fTp97EYt_YCS1wBRMx44-VFH9_SUKmgo
6/6/2020
I'm bringing back a story I told four years ago here and adding to it. My Dad and I had been talking about how tough it would be to face someone who throws in the upper 90's. I said I did it once and it was ridiculous. In American Legion ball, our Naperville North team played the Joliet team with Bill Gullickson. (This was before Summer Varsity was a thing) Gullickson had just been the 2nd overall pick in the MLB Draft a few weeks earlier out of Joliet Catholic but hadn't signed yet. He threw his fastball at about 96 mph. As I remember it, I grounded out to 2nd base in one at-bat and got high-fives back at the dugout for actually putting the ball in play, lol! The other at-bats, I didn't even touch the thing. I'm not sure if we put more than another one or two other pitches in fair territory all day or even hit a loud foul. Keep in mind, most of us were only 16 years old and about to enter our Junior year. We were a very good team, about to win the Conference Championship as Juniors the following Spring, but Gullickson was an 18 year old graduate and a very special athlete with untouchable stuff. We were all just laughing at the impossibility of it all that day. It was a Man against boys. Hitting at the elite level is the toughest thing in all of sports to do. Gullickson, of course, went on to have an impressive 14 year MLB career. He won 20 games for the Tigers in 1991. He struck out almost 1300 in his career, so we were not alone in our struggles. But reading this today it also reminded me of an earlier time I was completely overmatched and this one was for an entire summer. I was in Little League and it was the one season I got to play on my older brother's team. My Dad coached us, Mike was 12 and I had just turned 10 and I mean just. The season started when I was actually only 9 years old. I had no business even being in the Majors at that age and was completely overmatched at the plate but we all got to all be together for one summer season so I didn't care. Mike played first and I played second. I didn't matter to me that I barely got a hit at all against so many 12 year olds that entire summer as I had a blast with my brother next to me on the field and my Dad in the dugout. That's the thing about baseball. As long as you're on the field with that glove on your hand and the sun in your face, all is right with the world. I miss that feeling.
I'm bringing back a story I told four years ago here and adding to it. My Dad and I had been talking about how tough it would be to face someone who throws in the upper 90's. I said I did it once and it was ridiculous. In American Legion ball, our Naperville North team played the Joliet team with Bill Gullickson. (This was before Summer Varsity was a thing) Gullickson had just been the 2nd overall pick in the MLB Draft a few weeks earlier out of Joliet Catholic but hadn't signed yet. He threw his fastball at about 96 mph. As I remember it, I grounded out to 2nd base in one at-bat and got high-fives back at the dugout for actually putting the ball in play, lol! The other at-bats, I didn't even touch the thing. I'm not sure if we put more than another one or two other pitches in fair territory all day or even hit a loud foul. Keep in mind, most of us were only 16 years old and about to enter our Junior year. We were a very good team, about to win the Conference Championship as Juniors the following Spring, but Gullickson was an 18 year old graduate and a very special athlete with untouchable stuff. We were all just laughing at the impossibility of it all that day. It was a Man against boys. Hitting at the elite level is the toughest thing in all of sports to do. Gullickson, of course, went on to have an impressive 14 year MLB career. He won 20 games for the Tigers in 1991. He struck out almost 1300 in his career, so we were not alone in our struggles. But reading this today it also reminded me of an earlier time I was completely overmatched and this one was for an entire summer. I was in Little League and it was the one season I got to play on my older brother's team. My Dad coached us, Mike was 12 and I had just turned 10 and I mean just. The season started when I was actually only 9 years old. I had no business even being in the Majors at that age and was completely overmatched at the plate but we all got to all be together for one summer season so I didn't care. Mike played first and I played second. I didn't matter to me that I barely got a hit at all against so many 12 year olds that entire summer as I had a blast with my brother next to me on the field and my Dad in the dugout. That's the thing about baseball. As long as you're on the field with that glove on your hand and the sun in your face, all is right with the world. I miss that feeling.
6/5/2020
There are a few memorable days of baseball play-by-play that I will post about every year on it's anniversary. This is one of them. Jason Guerette and I each post about this one thanks to our shared experience of broadcasting each side of the longest broadcast day of our careers.
Today is the anniversary of my longest day on the air in all my time in baseball. Actually it all started on June 5th of 2014 and ended up early in the morning of June 6th! I was downstate in Marion for the doubleheader between the Joliet Slammers and the Southern Illinois Miners. I ended up doing 24 innings-worth of solo play-by-play that day. Yes, that is a personal record and a league record for innings in one day as well! Memorable doesn't even describe it. Game one was a 7-inning no-hitter by the Miners' Rick Teasley. He needed just 82 pitches. Joliet never even so much as threatened to get a hit and we lost 2-0. It was Teasley's third start of the season and his ERA went down to 0.33 for goodness sake! Then on to game two. The Miners scored first and Joliet tied it up on a Russell Moldenhauer single in the 6th. That 1-1 tie stayed what seemed like forever. 11 different times a lead runner got to 2nd base but no one could knock him in to give either team a lead. In the bottom of the 17th inning of the nightcap...and yes my voice was struggling by then...the Miners had the bases loaded on three walks and Tyler Booth looped a single over the pulled-in infield to end one of the longest days in Frontier League history. Game 2 went 5 hours, 13 minutes...well past midnight...1:07am to be exact...and I could finally say goodnight. Our reward for being no-hit and swept in a long, long doubleheader was not even a good night's sleep. It was back on the bus and out of town. Ahh, the pampered life in the minors, lol. I did an 18-inning game with the JackHammers back in the day, but it was not part of a doubleheader and Bryan Dolgin was there to do it with me at Silver Cross Field. This was 24 innings all by my lonesome. It was exhausting but fun. The only other thing that even comes close in my memory was a Men's Major Fastpitch game I called for Aurora Allsteel in the ISC World Tournament in Kimberly, Wisconsin in 1989 when the game itself didn't even start until after 2am due to long games before it. I signed off as the sun came up! That was another day where Mountain Dew sustained me!
We got right on the bus for a 5 hour ride back as we started a six game homestand and somehow beat River City 4-1 that night after getting home at around 7am. Moldenhauer hit a 3-run 1st inning homer and that was about all the energy we could muster, lol. Kody McFarland pitched a good game and we somehow hung on.
There are a few memorable days of baseball play-by-play that I will post about every year on it's anniversary. This is one of them. Jason Guerette and I each post about this one thanks to our shared experience of broadcasting each side of the longest broadcast day of our careers.
Today is the anniversary of my longest day on the air in all my time in baseball. Actually it all started on June 5th of 2014 and ended up early in the morning of June 6th! I was downstate in Marion for the doubleheader between the Joliet Slammers and the Southern Illinois Miners. I ended up doing 24 innings-worth of solo play-by-play that day. Yes, that is a personal record and a league record for innings in one day as well! Memorable doesn't even describe it. Game one was a 7-inning no-hitter by the Miners' Rick Teasley. He needed just 82 pitches. Joliet never even so much as threatened to get a hit and we lost 2-0. It was Teasley's third start of the season and his ERA went down to 0.33 for goodness sake! Then on to game two. The Miners scored first and Joliet tied it up on a Russell Moldenhauer single in the 6th. That 1-1 tie stayed what seemed like forever. 11 different times a lead runner got to 2nd base but no one could knock him in to give either team a lead. In the bottom of the 17th inning of the nightcap...and yes my voice was struggling by then...the Miners had the bases loaded on three walks and Tyler Booth looped a single over the pulled-in infield to end one of the longest days in Frontier League history. Game 2 went 5 hours, 13 minutes...well past midnight...1:07am to be exact...and I could finally say goodnight. Our reward for being no-hit and swept in a long, long doubleheader was not even a good night's sleep. It was back on the bus and out of town. Ahh, the pampered life in the minors, lol. I did an 18-inning game with the JackHammers back in the day, but it was not part of a doubleheader and Bryan Dolgin was there to do it with me at Silver Cross Field. This was 24 innings all by my lonesome. It was exhausting but fun. The only other thing that even comes close in my memory was a Men's Major Fastpitch game I called for Aurora Allsteel in the ISC World Tournament in Kimberly, Wisconsin in 1989 when the game itself didn't even start until after 2am due to long games before it. I signed off as the sun came up! That was another day where Mountain Dew sustained me!
We got right on the bus for a 5 hour ride back as we started a six game homestand and somehow beat River City 4-1 that night after getting home at around 7am. Moldenhauer hit a 3-run 1st inning homer and that was about all the energy we could muster, lol. Kody McFarland pitched a good game and we somehow hung on.
6/1/2020
So sad to see this sort of thing once again in this beautiful City. I had just been talking about how it seemed like we were starting to re-live the tumult of the late 60's all over again. I was 7 years old when MLK was assassinated. The day after, I was supposed to go on a field trip to the Shedd Aquarium and I did not go because my parents were worried about safety. Well, protests and destruction ensued in parts of town that day. Sadly, that sort of thing is happening again and it's very depressing that we have not progressed much as a society in the last 50 years to prevent the necessity of those kinds of protests and anger in the first place.
So sad to see this sort of thing once again in this beautiful City. I had just been talking about how it seemed like we were starting to re-live the tumult of the late 60's all over again. I was 7 years old when MLK was assassinated. The day after, I was supposed to go on a field trip to the Shedd Aquarium and I did not go because my parents were worried about safety. Well, protests and destruction ensued in parts of town that day. Sadly, that sort of thing is happening again and it's very depressing that we have not progressed much as a society in the last 50 years to prevent the necessity of those kinds of protests and anger in the first place.
5/21/2020
I could care less about the negative reactions to the Last Dance. Scottie, Horace, Reinsdorf, Gary Payton...whoever. So what. I loved that thing. Is it slanted towards Michael somewhat? I'm sure it is but again, so what? He didn't exactly come out of that thing unscathed anyway. He was not a fun guy to have around, especially in practice. We found that out for sure. And Scottie? He brought all that on himself. He did that stuff. He can't wish it away. 'Beyond livid'? Please. Michael also said Pip was his favorite teammate and wouldn't have won without him. 1.8 was on Scottie. Surgery during the season was on him too. My only quibble concerning Pip was that his first team without Michael, while he was playing baseball, almost made the Finals and that was glossed over. Hue Hollins and that horrible foul call turned that Knicks series around and was not mentioned. That call was later admitted to be "terrible" by Darell Garretson, who was also officiating that night. That should have been talked about in the Last Dance and was not. The Bulls could have and maybe should have made the Finals that year without Michael. MJ was the focus, so I guess that is why it wasn't talked about. That is my only critique of the Last Dance. But people being mad about the Last Dance. Sorry. Don't care.
I could care less about the negative reactions to the Last Dance. Scottie, Horace, Reinsdorf, Gary Payton...whoever. So what. I loved that thing. Is it slanted towards Michael somewhat? I'm sure it is but again, so what? He didn't exactly come out of that thing unscathed anyway. He was not a fun guy to have around, especially in practice. We found that out for sure. And Scottie? He brought all that on himself. He did that stuff. He can't wish it away. 'Beyond livid'? Please. Michael also said Pip was his favorite teammate and wouldn't have won without him. 1.8 was on Scottie. Surgery during the season was on him too. My only quibble concerning Pip was that his first team without Michael, while he was playing baseball, almost made the Finals and that was glossed over. Hue Hollins and that horrible foul call turned that Knicks series around and was not mentioned. That call was later admitted to be "terrible" by Darell Garretson, who was also officiating that night. That should have been talked about in the Last Dance and was not. The Bulls could have and maybe should have made the Finals that year without Michael. MJ was the focus, so I guess that is why it wasn't talked about. That is my only critique of the Last Dance. But people being mad about the Last Dance. Sorry. Don't care.
5/18/2020
The Last Dance was so much fun. Before the 30 for 30 on the Sosa-McGwire home run chase there will be a 2-parter on Lance Armstrong apparently. Looking forward to both. As most of you know, I have been a big Cycling fan for a long time. The Lance shows should be interesting. My buddies and I were fans of Lance well before he became a household name thanks to the Tour de France. He looked to be the heir apparent to Greg LeMond, my all-time favorite and the one who got me interested in Cycling in the first place. It took me a long time to believe in his guilt because he was so good, so young. Why would he need to dope now? Lance dominated here in the States early in his career with Motorola. In 1993, he won the Million Dollar Triple by taking all three races of the Thrift Drug Triple Crown series, capped by winning the U.S. National Championship road race in Philadelphia. He then went on to win the 1993 World Road Race Championship in Norway. Greg LeMond had won the World Title 10 years earlier and Americans just did not win that thing! It was thrilling. I still remember watching him win the World Championship in lousy weather that day. I was hooked as a Lance fan. To challenge my fandom of LeMond, by the way, was no easy feat. Of all the major sports figures I've been lucky enough to talk to or interview, Greg is the only one I've even been nervous about. Not Jordan, Tiger, Payton, anybody, lol, just LeMond. His poster was the only athlete poster I've ever had on my wall and the only autograph I've ever pursued while not working. Anyway, Lance proved he was no fluke by finishing second in two of the most important one-day Classics the following year at Liege-Bastogne-Liege and San Sebastian. He won San Sebastian in 1995 and won a stage of that year's Tour de France. It was wild. He was on the map and now THE American to watch in Europe. The thing was though, that he was a ONE DAY racer. Winning one overall championship of the major 3 week races seemed out of the question. He was a big, strong racer. Very few can win one day races and 3 week marathons that include pulling those big legs over mountains alongside tiny waif like specialists. LeMond is one of a very select group to ever be able to win both style races. Once cancer hit Lance, it was definitely out of the question for him to join a very small number of elite champions. When he attempted a comeback it was fun to cheer for him again but there were no expectations he would do anything. He came back from cancer with a different body type though. Now he was lean like a mountain climber. I and most others figured it was muscular loss from the illness. For him to climb with the best seemed crazy though. In 1998, Lance finished fourth in the 3 week Tour of Spain. It was nuts. I should have suspected something then but didn't want to admit it. I kept telling myself 'there is no way he would risk his life with blood doping or chemicals after just barely surviving cancer'. It seemed a reasonable position to take. I didn't realize how ruthless and goal driven he had somehow become or how much those traits already there had come to the forefront. The won his first Tour de France the following year. Crazy. I still didn't want to believe he was cheating and believed his lies. Eventually finding out about his deceit and the cheating of his Motorola teammates I so admired still affects me to this day. Floyd Landis in 2006 was the final straw and that was the day that I could no longer deny the obvious. Doping had consumed the sport and my American favorites in particular. State 17 of the Tour that year saw the most extraordinary day in the saddle for Floyd or anybody. After a terrible ride the day before, his chances for overall success were done. He bounced back though to destroy the field and win by an unheard of six minutes atop a tough mountain finish the next day, crossing the finish line barely breathing hard and looking like had just biked around the block. At that point, even I had to just accept that this win was impossible without cheating. If he barely finished and collapsed at the finish line, then maybe, but finishing by pumping his fist in the air and not even looking tired or sweaty told me everything. My sport was dirty, period. Denials or not. I have had a hard time coming back to Cycling since. I have tried but can't do it. I would see guys like Alberto Contador still racing and it turned my stomach. I told myself I would come back to it after Contador retired. Well, now it's Chris Froome. I don't believe he is clean. Maybe I will come back to Cycling when he is finally gone too. I don't know. The steroid cheats in baseball and then the EPO and steroid cheats in Cycling were and are too much for me. I will watch the Lance episodes with interest but I don't know if I will learn anything new. But unlike the Last Dance. the Lance 30 for 30 will not bring back many happy memories. Those have been tainted now.
The Last Dance was so much fun. Before the 30 for 30 on the Sosa-McGwire home run chase there will be a 2-parter on Lance Armstrong apparently. Looking forward to both. As most of you know, I have been a big Cycling fan for a long time. The Lance shows should be interesting. My buddies and I were fans of Lance well before he became a household name thanks to the Tour de France. He looked to be the heir apparent to Greg LeMond, my all-time favorite and the one who got me interested in Cycling in the first place. It took me a long time to believe in his guilt because he was so good, so young. Why would he need to dope now? Lance dominated here in the States early in his career with Motorola. In 1993, he won the Million Dollar Triple by taking all three races of the Thrift Drug Triple Crown series, capped by winning the U.S. National Championship road race in Philadelphia. He then went on to win the 1993 World Road Race Championship in Norway. Greg LeMond had won the World Title 10 years earlier and Americans just did not win that thing! It was thrilling. I still remember watching him win the World Championship in lousy weather that day. I was hooked as a Lance fan. To challenge my fandom of LeMond, by the way, was no easy feat. Of all the major sports figures I've been lucky enough to talk to or interview, Greg is the only one I've even been nervous about. Not Jordan, Tiger, Payton, anybody, lol, just LeMond. His poster was the only athlete poster I've ever had on my wall and the only autograph I've ever pursued while not working. Anyway, Lance proved he was no fluke by finishing second in two of the most important one-day Classics the following year at Liege-Bastogne-Liege and San Sebastian. He won San Sebastian in 1995 and won a stage of that year's Tour de France. It was wild. He was on the map and now THE American to watch in Europe. The thing was though, that he was a ONE DAY racer. Winning one overall championship of the major 3 week races seemed out of the question. He was a big, strong racer. Very few can win one day races and 3 week marathons that include pulling those big legs over mountains alongside tiny waif like specialists. LeMond is one of a very select group to ever be able to win both style races. Once cancer hit Lance, it was definitely out of the question for him to join a very small number of elite champions. When he attempted a comeback it was fun to cheer for him again but there were no expectations he would do anything. He came back from cancer with a different body type though. Now he was lean like a mountain climber. I and most others figured it was muscular loss from the illness. For him to climb with the best seemed crazy though. In 1998, Lance finished fourth in the 3 week Tour of Spain. It was nuts. I should have suspected something then but didn't want to admit it. I kept telling myself 'there is no way he would risk his life with blood doping or chemicals after just barely surviving cancer'. It seemed a reasonable position to take. I didn't realize how ruthless and goal driven he had somehow become or how much those traits already there had come to the forefront. The won his first Tour de France the following year. Crazy. I still didn't want to believe he was cheating and believed his lies. Eventually finding out about his deceit and the cheating of his Motorola teammates I so admired still affects me to this day. Floyd Landis in 2006 was the final straw and that was the day that I could no longer deny the obvious. Doping had consumed the sport and my American favorites in particular. State 17 of the Tour that year saw the most extraordinary day in the saddle for Floyd or anybody. After a terrible ride the day before, his chances for overall success were done. He bounced back though to destroy the field and win by an unheard of six minutes atop a tough mountain finish the next day, crossing the finish line barely breathing hard and looking like had just biked around the block. At that point, even I had to just accept that this win was impossible without cheating. If he barely finished and collapsed at the finish line, then maybe, but finishing by pumping his fist in the air and not even looking tired or sweaty told me everything. My sport was dirty, period. Denials or not. I have had a hard time coming back to Cycling since. I have tried but can't do it. I would see guys like Alberto Contador still racing and it turned my stomach. I told myself I would come back to it after Contador retired. Well, now it's Chris Froome. I don't believe he is clean. Maybe I will come back to Cycling when he is finally gone too. I don't know. The steroid cheats in baseball and then the EPO and steroid cheats in Cycling were and are too much for me. I will watch the Lance episodes with interest but I don't know if I will learn anything new. But unlike the Last Dance. the Lance 30 for 30 will not bring back many happy memories. Those have been tainted now.
5/18/2020
A few final thoughts on the Last Dance. I'm glad people like Paxson, Kerr, Kukoc and Rodman got their due. They were all deserving. It's funny that I mentioned Scottie Burrell in my thoughts before the series started, since he was pretty prominent in some episodes, lol. Some are criticizing it for being too easy on Jordan or some such nonsense. I wanted to re-live the fun of those seasons and that series captured that perfectly. It was so well done. Too heck with the cynical people that are always negative. He wasn't perfect. We saw that. How much more negative did they want? It was a magical run and he was a magical player. I'm glad so many got to see that who missed it the first go 'round. I'm also glad Pippen got credit for gutting out game 6 and contributing when he could barely walk. His warts were shown but he deserved a ton of credit too for that run. I was lucky to not just watch it on TV but be there in person for some of it too. Those Pacers games were fun to be at too. So intense. Do I wish they got the chance to go for number 7? Sure. Do I wish they all went in to Reinsdorf's office together and said 'give us all one year deals to do it one more time'? Sure. Oh well. It sure was fun while it lasted. As for 'Organizations win Championships', well the Bulls organization hasn't won squat without Michael and Scottie. We're still waiting. I hope this new organization has a better way to go about it. I hope so.
A few final thoughts on the Last Dance. I'm glad people like Paxson, Kerr, Kukoc and Rodman got their due. They were all deserving. It's funny that I mentioned Scottie Burrell in my thoughts before the series started, since he was pretty prominent in some episodes, lol. Some are criticizing it for being too easy on Jordan or some such nonsense. I wanted to re-live the fun of those seasons and that series captured that perfectly. It was so well done. Too heck with the cynical people that are always negative. He wasn't perfect. We saw that. How much more negative did they want? It was a magical run and he was a magical player. I'm glad so many got to see that who missed it the first go 'round. I'm also glad Pippen got credit for gutting out game 6 and contributing when he could barely walk. His warts were shown but he deserved a ton of credit too for that run. I was lucky to not just watch it on TV but be there in person for some of it too. Those Pacers games were fun to be at too. So intense. Do I wish they got the chance to go for number 7? Sure. Do I wish they all went in to Reinsdorf's office together and said 'give us all one year deals to do it one more time'? Sure. Oh well. It sure was fun while it lasted. As for 'Organizations win Championships', well the Bulls organization hasn't won squat without Michael and Scottie. We're still waiting. I hope this new organization has a better way to go about it. I hope so.
5/6/2020
Looking forward to this one too. I got to cover the home run chase for WBBM as their baseball beat reporter. It was really something. It has all soured now that we know what we know, but at the time it was pretty fun and exciting. I might have told this before, but Wrigley was still the 'old' Wrigley back then. It did not have an interview room or anything and could not really hold all the national media that flocked in towards the end of the season. I remember the Cubs-Cardinals games were crazy. They had to create an interview room out of an old storage room, that I think normally held beer kegs or something. It was just beyond the visiting dugout underneath the first base side box seats. The roof of that room sloped down towards the field like the seats up above it and was only about 6 feet high at the back and maybe four feet high where they put the table for Sammy and Mark to sit! I literally had to stand at the back with my head pitched forward scraping the ceiling, lol. There were no seats for the press. When the game was over, the media would go down onto the field and mill around until they were ready to take us through the first base dugout into this 'media' room. Those two guys would then hunch down to sit at the table, lol. But earlier in the season, before things got too crazy, I got to talk to them in their clubhouses. McGwire was got much better as the season went on. Sosa loosened him up. He was uptight and not very talkative early on that season but I think having Sosa along for the ride to break the record took some of the pressure off. They could share it, basically. Mark started to enjoy it more. That whole summer was fun. The White Sox games I got to cover that season were enjoyable too. That 1998 Sox team had Big Frank, Mags, Albert Belle, Ventura, Durham, Parque, Bere, Baldwin, Karchner and others. They were a .500 team, but entertaining. So every day, I got to either go watch them or Sosa in the home run chase with Grace, Kerry Wood, Trachsel, Mulholland, Rod Beck etc. They won 90 games. Sammy's numbers are tarnished now but at the time, .308, 20 doubles, 66 homers, 158 rbis...crazy. Sosa was easy to work with and as I've said, Grace was one of my favorites to talk to. Trachsel was my least favorite Cub to deal with but there were so many others to go to that it was fine. I wish Frank Thomas would have been easier to deal with. I just don't think he enjoyed his success as much as he could have. He always seemed unhappy. Looking back now, his numbers are just as remarkable, because you know he didn't need the steroids. In 1998 Thomas hit just .265 but had 35 doubles, 29 homers and 109 rbis. And that was a 'down' year for him. Those numbers were overshadowed not just by Sosa but by his own teammate's too. Albert Belle was not much of a joy to deal with either but how about a .328 average, 49 homers and 152 rbis. So the power baseball I got to see that summer on both sides of town was insane. Belle was never proven to have used steroids but he corked his bat like Sosa and I think he roided too, considering his nasty temper etc. If you are okay with cheating one way, why not cheat using an even better way? I am still more impressed with Frank's overall numbers than Albert's really. Those six months were just about as much fun as I've ever had. I love doing play-by-play as you know, but being the WBBM baseball beat reporter for a few years was pretty damn good too, especially in 1998.
Looking forward to this one too. I got to cover the home run chase for WBBM as their baseball beat reporter. It was really something. It has all soured now that we know what we know, but at the time it was pretty fun and exciting. I might have told this before, but Wrigley was still the 'old' Wrigley back then. It did not have an interview room or anything and could not really hold all the national media that flocked in towards the end of the season. I remember the Cubs-Cardinals games were crazy. They had to create an interview room out of an old storage room, that I think normally held beer kegs or something. It was just beyond the visiting dugout underneath the first base side box seats. The roof of that room sloped down towards the field like the seats up above it and was only about 6 feet high at the back and maybe four feet high where they put the table for Sammy and Mark to sit! I literally had to stand at the back with my head pitched forward scraping the ceiling, lol. There were no seats for the press. When the game was over, the media would go down onto the field and mill around until they were ready to take us through the first base dugout into this 'media' room. Those two guys would then hunch down to sit at the table, lol. But earlier in the season, before things got too crazy, I got to talk to them in their clubhouses. McGwire was got much better as the season went on. Sosa loosened him up. He was uptight and not very talkative early on that season but I think having Sosa along for the ride to break the record took some of the pressure off. They could share it, basically. Mark started to enjoy it more. That whole summer was fun. The White Sox games I got to cover that season were enjoyable too. That 1998 Sox team had Big Frank, Mags, Albert Belle, Ventura, Durham, Parque, Bere, Baldwin, Karchner and others. They were a .500 team, but entertaining. So every day, I got to either go watch them or Sosa in the home run chase with Grace, Kerry Wood, Trachsel, Mulholland, Rod Beck etc. They won 90 games. Sammy's numbers are tarnished now but at the time, .308, 20 doubles, 66 homers, 158 rbis...crazy. Sosa was easy to work with and as I've said, Grace was one of my favorites to talk to. Trachsel was my least favorite Cub to deal with but there were so many others to go to that it was fine. I wish Frank Thomas would have been easier to deal with. I just don't think he enjoyed his success as much as he could have. He always seemed unhappy. Looking back now, his numbers are just as remarkable, because you know he didn't need the steroids. In 1998 Thomas hit just .265 but had 35 doubles, 29 homers and 109 rbis. And that was a 'down' year for him. Those numbers were overshadowed not just by Sosa but by his own teammate's too. Albert Belle was not much of a joy to deal with either but how about a .328 average, 49 homers and 152 rbis. So the power baseball I got to see that summer on both sides of town was insane. Belle was never proven to have used steroids but he corked his bat like Sosa and I think he roided too, considering his nasty temper etc. If you are okay with cheating one way, why not cheat using an even better way? I am still more impressed with Frank's overall numbers than Albert's really. Those six months were just about as much fun as I've ever had. I love doing play-by-play as you know, but being the WBBM baseball beat reporter for a few years was pretty damn good too, especially in 1998.
5/5/2020
https://www.youtube.com/user/markov700/videos
I made another nice find while searching thru my old mini-discs. I found my middle three innings of play-by-play from another 2004 Joliet JackHammers game. Joliet won this one 8-3 over the Kansas City T-Bones. I was also glad to find that this is a game pitched by Brian Mazone, which is mostly why I am posting it. He was outstanding. My post-game interview with him is at the end of this video, as well. Mazone and Rich Hyde were an incredible 1-2 punch in that Joliet rotation. This game happened to be the conclusion of the best pitching stretch of Brian's career. The lefty threw 8+ innings in this one and his scoreless innings streak ended at 26 straight, as he allowed one earned run in the 9th inning, just missing out on a 3rd straight complete game shutout! It was a streak where he walked only 2 in 33 1/3 innings! He led the Northern League in strikeouts that season. All that excellence helped him get signed by the SF Giants and he ended 2004 with their AAA team. In 2006, he was promoted to the Majors from the Phillies AAA team for a September start, filling in for an injured Randy Wolf. He never got to take the mound as his only chance for an MLB appearance was rained out. Such bad luck. He was sent back to AAA and never got another opportunity with the Phillies for 3 more years. He would also pitch for the Dodgers AAA team and in Mexico and Korea. His phenomenal JackHammers numbers for 2004...a 9-2 record, 1.73 era, 77 hits allowed in 104 1/3 innnings, 95 strikeouts and 15 walks. This was also Bubba Smith's first Joliet game in 2004. He would join them each season at the conclusion of his season in Mexico. Attendance that Thursday night was 3,591. And again, I'll put the radio combo of Bryan Dolgin and myself up against anybody in the Minors in that era. Sorry for the brag, but that's how I feel. Again, I'm glad he made it to the Majors. I just wish we could have been in an MLB booth together somewhere. I also wish I had this entire game or more games from other JackHammer seasons but I think this is it. Oh well. Good times. Enjoy. I did.
https://www.youtube.com/user/markov700/videos
I made another nice find while searching thru my old mini-discs. I found my middle three innings of play-by-play from another 2004 Joliet JackHammers game. Joliet won this one 8-3 over the Kansas City T-Bones. I was also glad to find that this is a game pitched by Brian Mazone, which is mostly why I am posting it. He was outstanding. My post-game interview with him is at the end of this video, as well. Mazone and Rich Hyde were an incredible 1-2 punch in that Joliet rotation. This game happened to be the conclusion of the best pitching stretch of Brian's career. The lefty threw 8+ innings in this one and his scoreless innings streak ended at 26 straight, as he allowed one earned run in the 9th inning, just missing out on a 3rd straight complete game shutout! It was a streak where he walked only 2 in 33 1/3 innings! He led the Northern League in strikeouts that season. All that excellence helped him get signed by the SF Giants and he ended 2004 with their AAA team. In 2006, he was promoted to the Majors from the Phillies AAA team for a September start, filling in for an injured Randy Wolf. He never got to take the mound as his only chance for an MLB appearance was rained out. Such bad luck. He was sent back to AAA and never got another opportunity with the Phillies for 3 more years. He would also pitch for the Dodgers AAA team and in Mexico and Korea. His phenomenal JackHammers numbers for 2004...a 9-2 record, 1.73 era, 77 hits allowed in 104 1/3 innnings, 95 strikeouts and 15 walks. This was also Bubba Smith's first Joliet game in 2004. He would join them each season at the conclusion of his season in Mexico. Attendance that Thursday night was 3,591. And again, I'll put the radio combo of Bryan Dolgin and myself up against anybody in the Minors in that era. Sorry for the brag, but that's how I feel. Again, I'm glad he made it to the Majors. I just wish we could have been in an MLB booth together somewhere. I also wish I had this entire game or more games from other JackHammer seasons but I think this is it. Oh well. Good times. Enjoy. I did.
5/2/2020
Len Kasper put up a random thought on Twitter today about how underrated Rick Reuschel is.
"The dude was a stud. One quickie--avg HOF pitcher accrued 73.5 WAR. Big Daddy finished w/69.5. Not HOF material, but oh so close. Carry on."
I'm going to add in that Reuschel was the ace of the staff on some terrible Cubs teams. His lowest start total was 35 between 1973-1980. His 20 win season's numbers of 1977 on a .500 team were phenomenal, to the point where he was 3rd in the Cy Young that year. He would be 3rd in the Cy Young ten years later for Pittsburgh when he had 12 complete games! I specifically went into the Pirates clubhouse in 1985 while working at WRSC in State College, Pa. to tell Reuschel and Bill Madlock what big fans of theirs I was and how I wish they never left the Cubs.I didn't know anyone in town, had nothing to do when not working and I would drive the 2 1/2 hours to Pittsburgh every weekend that spring and summer to cover the Pirates when they were in town. That 1985 Pirates team was absolutely terrible...57-104...and neither Reuschel or Madlock wanted to talk to me or anyone else that first day until I told them I was from Chicago, lol, then I got to sit down with both of them. That was also the summer that my opinion of Chuck Tanner solidified of him being my favorite manager to deal with. Again, that team was dreadful but you would never know it, talking to him. He was always smiling, telling stories, smoking his cigar and enjoying life. That team had not much else besides those two guys and even Madlock hit only .251. An aging George Hendrick hit just .230 and Marvell Wynne hit all of .205. Reuschel's era in 1985 was an amazing 2.27. That was the season Jose DeLeon finished with an astonishing record of 2-19, although he deserved a better fate, allowing only 138 hits in 162 2/3 innings, which tells you how few runs that team scored for him. Tanner never let any of that get to him. He had a great job and he knew it. If they don't hit, there isn't much he could do about it and he didn't berate the team or lose his cool. He would just lean back in the chair in his office and say 'Boys, that's just the way the game goes sometimes." He was the best. That clubhouse was not that much fun though, for sure!
Len Kasper put up a random thought on Twitter today about how underrated Rick Reuschel is.
"The dude was a stud. One quickie--avg HOF pitcher accrued 73.5 WAR. Big Daddy finished w/69.5. Not HOF material, but oh so close. Carry on."
I'm going to add in that Reuschel was the ace of the staff on some terrible Cubs teams. His lowest start total was 35 between 1973-1980. His 20 win season's numbers of 1977 on a .500 team were phenomenal, to the point where he was 3rd in the Cy Young that year. He would be 3rd in the Cy Young ten years later for Pittsburgh when he had 12 complete games! I specifically went into the Pirates clubhouse in 1985 while working at WRSC in State College, Pa. to tell Reuschel and Bill Madlock what big fans of theirs I was and how I wish they never left the Cubs.I didn't know anyone in town, had nothing to do when not working and I would drive the 2 1/2 hours to Pittsburgh every weekend that spring and summer to cover the Pirates when they were in town. That 1985 Pirates team was absolutely terrible...57-104...and neither Reuschel or Madlock wanted to talk to me or anyone else that first day until I told them I was from Chicago, lol, then I got to sit down with both of them. That was also the summer that my opinion of Chuck Tanner solidified of him being my favorite manager to deal with. Again, that team was dreadful but you would never know it, talking to him. He was always smiling, telling stories, smoking his cigar and enjoying life. That team had not much else besides those two guys and even Madlock hit only .251. An aging George Hendrick hit just .230 and Marvell Wynne hit all of .205. Reuschel's era in 1985 was an amazing 2.27. That was the season Jose DeLeon finished with an astonishing record of 2-19, although he deserved a better fate, allowing only 138 hits in 162 2/3 innings, which tells you how few runs that team scored for him. Tanner never let any of that get to him. He had a great job and he knew it. If they don't hit, there isn't much he could do about it and he didn't berate the team or lose his cool. He would just lean back in the chair in his office and say 'Boys, that's just the way the game goes sometimes." He was the best. That clubhouse was not that much fun though, for sure!
5/1/2020
https://www.youtube.com/user/markov700/videos
My need for a baseball fix produced this today. I had posted my middle three innings of play-by-play of this game a couple years ago. I found the rest of the game yesterday and listened to all of it. It was so much fun to hear Bryan Dolgin and I work together again. We had such a good time at Silver Cross Field. The park was filled most nights and the Northern League was such a good level of baseball. I am also happy that this game is one pitched by Rich Hyde. He was my favorite JackHammer player and watching him pitch was like watching Greg Maddox. He was an artist. This game turned out to be the final win of his great, long minor league career. This is almost, but not quite, the entire game. It also includes my post-game interview with Hyde. I would leave the booth during the final half inning and run down to the dugout with my mini-disc recorder. I would grab a player, do a quick interview while Bryan would do a game recap, then run back up to the booth, plug in the recorder and play back the interview to rap up the post game show. It is also fun to hear Bubba Smith back at the plate, plus guys like Josh Loggins, who hit .305 that season with 20 homers. Former Cub Kevin Roberson and former Pirate Jermaine Allensworth were on that team too. Allensworth hit .321 in 2004 with Joliet. This was a fun season too because the JackHammers were the best defensive team in the league. It was pretty basball to watch. And, by the way, it was no surprise Bryan became a Major League radio announcer right after this season. He got to be the pre and post game radio host for the White Sox and then did play-by-play for the Texas Rangers during their trips to the World Series in 2010 and 2011. I never quite got to make it to that level but take pride in the many comments I've received over the years from MLB people and others who told me they couldn't believe I never did got there. Regardless, I'll put our broadcasts up against anyone else's in the Minors during our years together with the JackHammers. You have no idea how much I miss that ballpark.
https://www.youtube.com/user/markov700/videos
My need for a baseball fix produced this today. I had posted my middle three innings of play-by-play of this game a couple years ago. I found the rest of the game yesterday and listened to all of it. It was so much fun to hear Bryan Dolgin and I work together again. We had such a good time at Silver Cross Field. The park was filled most nights and the Northern League was such a good level of baseball. I am also happy that this game is one pitched by Rich Hyde. He was my favorite JackHammer player and watching him pitch was like watching Greg Maddox. He was an artist. This game turned out to be the final win of his great, long minor league career. This is almost, but not quite, the entire game. It also includes my post-game interview with Hyde. I would leave the booth during the final half inning and run down to the dugout with my mini-disc recorder. I would grab a player, do a quick interview while Bryan would do a game recap, then run back up to the booth, plug in the recorder and play back the interview to rap up the post game show. It is also fun to hear Bubba Smith back at the plate, plus guys like Josh Loggins, who hit .305 that season with 20 homers. Former Cub Kevin Roberson and former Pirate Jermaine Allensworth were on that team too. Allensworth hit .321 in 2004 with Joliet. This was a fun season too because the JackHammers were the best defensive team in the league. It was pretty basball to watch. And, by the way, it was no surprise Bryan became a Major League radio announcer right after this season. He got to be the pre and post game radio host for the White Sox and then did play-by-play for the Texas Rangers during their trips to the World Series in 2010 and 2011. I never quite got to make it to that level but take pride in the many comments I've received over the years from MLB people and others who told me they couldn't believe I never did got there. Regardless, I'll put our broadcasts up against anyone else's in the Minors during our years together with the JackHammers. You have no idea how much I miss that ballpark.
4/29/2020
Every year about this time it seems to hit me how much I miss broadcasting pro baseball and it does seem to be an annual affliction this time of year. Well, it has hit again. The weather is gloomy too and I'm feeling crappy so that isn't helping, and I'm feeling nostalgic. Five of my 14 years in a pro booth were spent with the Kane County Cougars, from 1992 thru 1996. I have a lot of favorites from those days, but the 3 millionaire 1st rounders--Josh Booty, Jaime Jones and Mark Kotsay, plus Charles Johnson, Edgar Renteria and Ryan Dempster top the list. Others on that long list are guys like Alex Ochoa, Ralph Milliard, Billy McMillon, Kevin Millar, Mike Redmond, Marc Valdes, Joe Funaro, Scott McClain, Amaury Garcia, Randy Winn and more. Some of my favorite time on air were when Dave Dombrowski and John Boles would join me in the booth for an inning or two. They were both so nice and so much fun to talk to. I remember when Dombrowski came on right after the Marlins drafted Kotsay and him telling me what kind of player and guy he was and that he was likely to come right away to play with us. That both Dombrowski and Boles are Chicago guys helped too. They were really happy to have a Marlins team near where they both grew up.
And by the way, talking about how much I loved broadcasting minor league ball, I will never forget the final week of the 1996 Cougars season. I was still working at WKKD while I was at that point the play-by-play man for the team as well. So I would work all day at the station and then come do the games at night, then travel on the road as well. So on that one day off a week the team had, I would still have to work at the radio station. In other words, I went a solid six straight months without a single day off from work, between the two. I was out at the park even before the season officially started, to meet the team and watch workouts and scrimmages etc. and that made my season even longer. During that final 1996 homestand, people at the park were talking about how much they were looking forward to the season ending and so on. A minor league season is exhausting for everyone in the organization. It is long hours for little pay, day in and day out. I was nodding my head in agreement with everyone, because I was certainly tired too. Six months without a day off made it hard to even do all the little things besides rest, like laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning...everything. I nodded my head yes, but inside I was sad. I was having the time of my life and I didn't want it to end. I didn't even care about days off at that point. I was doing what I loved. I still loved WKKD and I was living a life-long dream broadcasting pro baseball. I thought to myself, 'how would anyone want this to end?" lol. Oh, to be young again! I could do that long haul while I was still that age. Now, probably not so much! But I loved every minute of it. That's why I then basically did the same thing with the Joliet Jackhammers. The first two years, I would do my WJOL talk show, then drive to the park to do the games as color man. When I then became the sports anchor for Boers/Bernstein for my last two seasons with the Jackhammers, I would work all day at WSCR, run to my car and drive like crazy from the NBC Tower to Joliet to get there just barely in time for the pre-game show each day. I would get home at midnight, wake up at 7am to make the 8am Metra into the City and do it all over again. I loved it. Of course, I have a family now and I'm no kid, so days off are kinda nice, lol. But I would still find a way to fit in a baseball gig, believe me!
Every year about this time it seems to hit me how much I miss broadcasting pro baseball and it does seem to be an annual affliction this time of year. Well, it has hit again. The weather is gloomy too and I'm feeling crappy so that isn't helping, and I'm feeling nostalgic. Five of my 14 years in a pro booth were spent with the Kane County Cougars, from 1992 thru 1996. I have a lot of favorites from those days, but the 3 millionaire 1st rounders--Josh Booty, Jaime Jones and Mark Kotsay, plus Charles Johnson, Edgar Renteria and Ryan Dempster top the list. Others on that long list are guys like Alex Ochoa, Ralph Milliard, Billy McMillon, Kevin Millar, Mike Redmond, Marc Valdes, Joe Funaro, Scott McClain, Amaury Garcia, Randy Winn and more. Some of my favorite time on air were when Dave Dombrowski and John Boles would join me in the booth for an inning or two. They were both so nice and so much fun to talk to. I remember when Dombrowski came on right after the Marlins drafted Kotsay and him telling me what kind of player and guy he was and that he was likely to come right away to play with us. That both Dombrowski and Boles are Chicago guys helped too. They were really happy to have a Marlins team near where they both grew up.
And by the way, talking about how much I loved broadcasting minor league ball, I will never forget the final week of the 1996 Cougars season. I was still working at WKKD while I was at that point the play-by-play man for the team as well. So I would work all day at the station and then come do the games at night, then travel on the road as well. So on that one day off a week the team had, I would still have to work at the radio station. In other words, I went a solid six straight months without a single day off from work, between the two. I was out at the park even before the season officially started, to meet the team and watch workouts and scrimmages etc. and that made my season even longer. During that final 1996 homestand, people at the park were talking about how much they were looking forward to the season ending and so on. A minor league season is exhausting for everyone in the organization. It is long hours for little pay, day in and day out. I was nodding my head in agreement with everyone, because I was certainly tired too. Six months without a day off made it hard to even do all the little things besides rest, like laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning...everything. I nodded my head yes, but inside I was sad. I was having the time of my life and I didn't want it to end. I didn't even care about days off at that point. I was doing what I loved. I still loved WKKD and I was living a life-long dream broadcasting pro baseball. I thought to myself, 'how would anyone want this to end?" lol. Oh, to be young again! I could do that long haul while I was still that age. Now, probably not so much! But I loved every minute of it. That's why I then basically did the same thing with the Joliet Jackhammers. The first two years, I would do my WJOL talk show, then drive to the park to do the games as color man. When I then became the sports anchor for Boers/Bernstein for my last two seasons with the Jackhammers, I would work all day at WSCR, run to my car and drive like crazy from the NBC Tower to Joliet to get there just barely in time for the pre-game show each day. I would get home at midnight, wake up at 7am to make the 8am Metra into the City and do it all over again. I loved it. Of course, I have a family now and I'm no kid, so days off are kinda nice, lol. But I would still find a way to fit in a baseball gig, believe me!
4/20/2020
The most galling thing about Jerry Krause was his willingness and frankly enthusiasm for breaking up a championship team. He didn't live here and live through the many terrible Bulls teams we had to put up with before Michael and Scottie got here. We all knew it wouldn't be as easy as he seemed to think it would be to re-create a championship team from the ground up. We knew better and we were right. It was all about him. It wasn't about MJ or Phil or the customers. The Bulls were not a draw before Michael came to town. I think I've told the story before but my college friends and I got together and went to a Bulls game at the Stadium in 1983, just before MJ got here. That team finished 27-55 and was 21st out of 23 teams in attendance. They drew just over 250 thousand for the season! Attendance for the Last Dance season was just under 1 million to lead the league! When we went to that game in 1983, it was not to see the Bulls, but to see Dr. J. He was close to the end of his career and the 76ers were in town. We decide to go to the game to see him before he retired. We go up to the ticket window and were asked what section we wanted. We had our pick. We get to our seats and we were literally the only people sitting in that entire section! The place was virtually empty. We got our wish too. Erving got a breakaway opportunity, sprinted down, took off from the free throw line and jammed it home. It was amazing. That Bulls team had Reggie Theus and Orlando Woolridge but team basketball was not exactly their strong suit. They were about as low as you could go before Jordan got here. So for Krause to arrogantly think he could just throw all that success away and for Reinsdorf to let him, is still painful to think about. Hell, there were no championships here with Love, Walker, Sloan and Van Lier for goodness sake. It ain't that easy. And to think Tim Floyd could just slide in and be as good as Phil Jackson was just ridiculous. Phil Jackson's ego wasn't tiny either but to me if you're Krause, since everyone gets credit for a title, just bit your lip, deal with it, ride it out and lift the trophies while they last. If Scottie, or Phil or Krause were unhappy, then Reinsdorf needed to get everyone together and keep them on the same page until they were knocked off the throne. Championships are not to be taken for granted, damnit. The whole thing is still galling to this day. But the ride was incredible while it did last, that's for sure.
The most galling thing about Jerry Krause was his willingness and frankly enthusiasm for breaking up a championship team. He didn't live here and live through the many terrible Bulls teams we had to put up with before Michael and Scottie got here. We all knew it wouldn't be as easy as he seemed to think it would be to re-create a championship team from the ground up. We knew better and we were right. It was all about him. It wasn't about MJ or Phil or the customers. The Bulls were not a draw before Michael came to town. I think I've told the story before but my college friends and I got together and went to a Bulls game at the Stadium in 1983, just before MJ got here. That team finished 27-55 and was 21st out of 23 teams in attendance. They drew just over 250 thousand for the season! Attendance for the Last Dance season was just under 1 million to lead the league! When we went to that game in 1983, it was not to see the Bulls, but to see Dr. J. He was close to the end of his career and the 76ers were in town. We decide to go to the game to see him before he retired. We go up to the ticket window and were asked what section we wanted. We had our pick. We get to our seats and we were literally the only people sitting in that entire section! The place was virtually empty. We got our wish too. Erving got a breakaway opportunity, sprinted down, took off from the free throw line and jammed it home. It was amazing. That Bulls team had Reggie Theus and Orlando Woolridge but team basketball was not exactly their strong suit. They were about as low as you could go before Jordan got here. So for Krause to arrogantly think he could just throw all that success away and for Reinsdorf to let him, is still painful to think about. Hell, there were no championships here with Love, Walker, Sloan and Van Lier for goodness sake. It ain't that easy. And to think Tim Floyd could just slide in and be as good as Phil Jackson was just ridiculous. Phil Jackson's ego wasn't tiny either but to me if you're Krause, since everyone gets credit for a title, just bit your lip, deal with it, ride it out and lift the trophies while they last. If Scottie, or Phil or Krause were unhappy, then Reinsdorf needed to get everyone together and keep them on the same page until they were knocked off the throne. Championships are not to be taken for granted, damnit. The whole thing is still galling to this day. But the ride was incredible while it did last, that's for sure.
4/19/2020
I was fortunate enough to cover the Chicago Bulls "Last Dance" for national radio. I've been asked about that season today so here are some memories of that 6th title run for MJ and company. There were many who were around that team more than I was, but I got to see a lot of that final run covering them for the 1 on 1 Sports Network, soon to be Sporting News Radio. And for a lifelong Bulls fan, it was thrilling. I got to cover a little of previous Title seasons but this was something. Getting paid to see that team in person is one of the favorite things I've done in this business. By then the Jordan statue was up and the media parking was right next to it. Even that was cool! They weren't 72-10 but 62-20 was still amazing. They were a joy to cover. Such good guys. There really wasn't a jerk in the bunch. Not even Rodman. The main pain was that Jordan didn't like the interview room thing, so he talked by his locker until the Finals. Being a big guy paid off. Others would sprint to his locker to get good position. I would use that time to talk to Kerr or Kukoc etc. then go to his locker, stand my ground, stretch my arm over the heads of others and get my mic close to him. It was a pain, but still a thrill, as MJ would answer every question. He was such a pro, even at that part of the job.
Rodman was really something else. Nobody played harder. Defense and rebounding is about effort and he gave it all. That's why his nuttiness was tolerated. Watching him and his entourage enter the UC in the playoffs is unforgettable. He would stroll in with a feather boa or some other crazy outfit, accompanied by Carmen Electra and several other hangers-on, and fill the entire hallway leading to the locker room. I would just stand there slack-jawed. He was all business once the uniform was on though.
But they were all pro's. That's why they won. Add in Pippen, Harper, Longley and company and they got after it. Phil was great too. An easy interview and another pro's pro. A forgotten cog in that season was Scottie Burrell. It's not like he was irreplaceable but he played in almost every game, gave good minutes and averaged 5ppg. Spread that over an average of 36 minutes per game and he would have averaged 14 ppg. The bench on that team produced for them.
My best memory is game 4 of the Finals. I got to do live radio updates of the game during Arnie Spanier's show. So here I am, a huge Bulls fan, getting paid to go on national radio and give live reports in the NBA Finals of my team. The Bulls would win that game 86-82 despite Karl Malone's 21pts and 14rebs. John Stockton had 13 assists. Getting to watch those two up close was another thrill. MJ has 34pts, 8rebs and Pippen had 21pts and 9 rebs. Rodman finished with 14 rebounds and hassled Malone into a 10 of 21 shooting night, not exactly typical. Karl got his points but had to work for them. Reporting on that live, as the Bulls got to within one more win of a another Championship was really cool. I remember walking back to my car after that and I couldn't stop smiling. This profession has smacked me around quite a bit but working with those great people in Northbrook and doing what I got to do there is something no one can take away from me. I just wish it would have lasted longer. Please and thank you.
I was fortunate enough to cover the Chicago Bulls "Last Dance" for national radio. I've been asked about that season today so here are some memories of that 6th title run for MJ and company. There were many who were around that team more than I was, but I got to see a lot of that final run covering them for the 1 on 1 Sports Network, soon to be Sporting News Radio. And for a lifelong Bulls fan, it was thrilling. I got to cover a little of previous Title seasons but this was something. Getting paid to see that team in person is one of the favorite things I've done in this business. By then the Jordan statue was up and the media parking was right next to it. Even that was cool! They weren't 72-10 but 62-20 was still amazing. They were a joy to cover. Such good guys. There really wasn't a jerk in the bunch. Not even Rodman. The main pain was that Jordan didn't like the interview room thing, so he talked by his locker until the Finals. Being a big guy paid off. Others would sprint to his locker to get good position. I would use that time to talk to Kerr or Kukoc etc. then go to his locker, stand my ground, stretch my arm over the heads of others and get my mic close to him. It was a pain, but still a thrill, as MJ would answer every question. He was such a pro, even at that part of the job.
Rodman was really something else. Nobody played harder. Defense and rebounding is about effort and he gave it all. That's why his nuttiness was tolerated. Watching him and his entourage enter the UC in the playoffs is unforgettable. He would stroll in with a feather boa or some other crazy outfit, accompanied by Carmen Electra and several other hangers-on, and fill the entire hallway leading to the locker room. I would just stand there slack-jawed. He was all business once the uniform was on though.
But they were all pro's. That's why they won. Add in Pippen, Harper, Longley and company and they got after it. Phil was great too. An easy interview and another pro's pro. A forgotten cog in that season was Scottie Burrell. It's not like he was irreplaceable but he played in almost every game, gave good minutes and averaged 5ppg. Spread that over an average of 36 minutes per game and he would have averaged 14 ppg. The bench on that team produced for them.
My best memory is game 4 of the Finals. I got to do live radio updates of the game during Arnie Spanier's show. So here I am, a huge Bulls fan, getting paid to go on national radio and give live reports in the NBA Finals of my team. The Bulls would win that game 86-82 despite Karl Malone's 21pts and 14rebs. John Stockton had 13 assists. Getting to watch those two up close was another thrill. MJ has 34pts, 8rebs and Pippen had 21pts and 9 rebs. Rodman finished with 14 rebounds and hassled Malone into a 10 of 21 shooting night, not exactly typical. Karl got his points but had to work for them. Reporting on that live, as the Bulls got to within one more win of a another Championship was really cool. I remember walking back to my car after that and I couldn't stop smiling. This profession has smacked me around quite a bit but working with those great people in Northbrook and doing what I got to do there is something no one can take away from me. I just wish it would have lasted longer. Please and thank you.
4/19/2020
I like looking at my Facebook Memories each day but sometimes they are bittersweet. I was reminded that 5 years ago today, we went to see Dave Hause play at Fizz Bar. 8 years ago we saw John Eddie play at Joe's Bar. Reminds me that I miss going to shows. Four years ago today we lost Milt Pappas. I bought this hat online not too long ago. I was looking for a Cook County Cheetahs hat, since I didn't have mine any longer for some reason. The bonus was that this one was signed by Milt. I was glad to find one from back in the day, before the team became the Windy City Thunderbolts. As I said below at the time of his death, he was my broadcast partner for my two years broadcasting Cheetahs games before I moved to doing the JackHammers. Milt would bring up that near-perfect game on the air a couple times a season, without me even having to ask him about it, lol. So Memories is a cool feature but now I miss seeing live music and miss broadcasting baseball just a bit more today. Here are my words on Milt from four years ago.
RIP Milt Pappas. He just passed away from natural causes at 76 years of age. The former Cubs pitcher was a really good guy. I was fortunate enough to have worked with him for two years, when he was my partner on Cook County Cheetahs broadcasts in 1999 and 2000, in the Frontier League. I enjoyed those games very much. He really did never get over just missing out on that perfect game as a Cub. He made that plain multiple times on the air! lol. He also told many other fun baseball stories and definitely knew pitching and loved the game. I have been really lucky having partners like Pappas and Bill Melton in the booth with me as partners over the years. Melton was my color man in 1995 and 1996 with the Kane County Cougars. I rooted for those two in person at Wrigley and Comiskey and then got to talk baseball with them every day in my job. To have those guys in the booth with me for four of my 14 years in Pro Baseball was a blessing. Milt was certainly a character and will be missed.
I like looking at my Facebook Memories each day but sometimes they are bittersweet. I was reminded that 5 years ago today, we went to see Dave Hause play at Fizz Bar. 8 years ago we saw John Eddie play at Joe's Bar. Reminds me that I miss going to shows. Four years ago today we lost Milt Pappas. I bought this hat online not too long ago. I was looking for a Cook County Cheetahs hat, since I didn't have mine any longer for some reason. The bonus was that this one was signed by Milt. I was glad to find one from back in the day, before the team became the Windy City Thunderbolts. As I said below at the time of his death, he was my broadcast partner for my two years broadcasting Cheetahs games before I moved to doing the JackHammers. Milt would bring up that near-perfect game on the air a couple times a season, without me even having to ask him about it, lol. So Memories is a cool feature but now I miss seeing live music and miss broadcasting baseball just a bit more today. Here are my words on Milt from four years ago.
RIP Milt Pappas. He just passed away from natural causes at 76 years of age. The former Cubs pitcher was a really good guy. I was fortunate enough to have worked with him for two years, when he was my partner on Cook County Cheetahs broadcasts in 1999 and 2000, in the Frontier League. I enjoyed those games very much. He really did never get over just missing out on that perfect game as a Cub. He made that plain multiple times on the air! lol. He also told many other fun baseball stories and definitely knew pitching and loved the game. I have been really lucky having partners like Pappas and Bill Melton in the booth with me as partners over the years. Melton was my color man in 1995 and 1996 with the Kane County Cougars. I rooted for those two in person at Wrigley and Comiskey and then got to talk baseball with them every day in my job. To have those guys in the booth with me for four of my 14 years in Pro Baseball was a blessing. Milt was certainly a character and will be missed.
4/15/2020
So I need to say a few words about the state of Pro sports here. I posted this three years ago concerning the death of former Steelers President Dan Rooney. I read it again and it reminded me of how much I miss those days, and not just because they were 'the good ole days.' Pro sports were still a family business and not too Big Time to be friendly. Money has ruined everything, as always. Money has always run the show but back in the '80's it wasn't BIG MONEY. Tickets to games were affordable for most people. Players earned hundreds of thousands but not hundreds of millions. Teams were worth millions but not billions. The Cubs were sold to the Tribune Company for 20.5 million dollars in 1981. The team is now worth over 3 BILLION dollars, for instance. Everything about the way this nation does it's business needs to change after this crisis is over and sports should be right at the forefront. We cannot let it continue as is. People who work at grocery stores for near minimum wage are literally risking their lives every day to make ends meet and keep this country going. It shines a spotlight on how out of whack we let our priorities get. We cannot go back to business as usual! The NBA says they are keeping their players paychecks coming. Well, good for them (sarcasm). It's nice to see the billionaires are taking care of the millionaires. Meanwhile I see some other sports teams laying off their stadium and other workers etc. who don't have huge bank accounts to fall back on. I'm sure it won't happen but we need to tear this shit down. Ballplayers are now definitely not essential and should never be paid hundreds of millions and owners should never be worth billions. Ever again! I would like to be able to afford a Blackhawks ticket when this shit is over. And if that means players and owners make less, well then so be it! That's the way it once was and should be again. Their income is obscene and now, frankly, sinful, considering what is going on in this country. I want a player's one million dollar per year signing to be big news, not below the goddamn minimum. They don't fucking matter. They just don't. I love sports and baseball has meant the world to me my whole life but reality has set in. I'm too worried about my family surviving this calendar year, not the Cubs or Sox pennant race. I'm sure the horse has left the barn and this is all just wishful thinking but I just had to get this off my chest. Please and thank you.
April 14, 2017
RIP Dan Rooney. And as usual, I have a story, lol. So, I was a 24 year old kid at my first full-time job in State College, Pa. working at WRSC radio as the morning sports anchor/sports director in 1985. I go to cover Steelers training camp in Latrobe. I am all wide-eyed and enjoying standing on the sidelines watching practice. And to show you what a different era this was, there were only a handful of fans and a couple of other media types around. I look over to my right and Dan Rooney is standing by himself, just about 20 feet from me. I decide to just go over and say hi, cuz why not? lol. I introduce myself and he starts asking ME questions and we have this really amazing, friendly chat. I am this anonymous kid and he is the guy running the show by then. Art Rooney was still around but Dan was in charge. At the end, I take out my tape recorder and he gives me a couple minutes of an interview. He walked away and I just stood there, stunned at what just happened. The President of the Steelers took 15 minutes to have this nice conversation with me just because that's who he was. I've had a soft spot for the Steelers ever since. I miss that NFL, the one before it became this uber success and too big for it's britches. It was still a family business kind of thing and there weren't billion dollar stadiums or practice facilities. The camp in Latrobe was almost a glorified high school field back then. When I think of the NFL now, I don't think of 'friendly'. I think of that when I think of Dan Rooney, though.
So I need to say a few words about the state of Pro sports here. I posted this three years ago concerning the death of former Steelers President Dan Rooney. I read it again and it reminded me of how much I miss those days, and not just because they were 'the good ole days.' Pro sports were still a family business and not too Big Time to be friendly. Money has ruined everything, as always. Money has always run the show but back in the '80's it wasn't BIG MONEY. Tickets to games were affordable for most people. Players earned hundreds of thousands but not hundreds of millions. Teams were worth millions but not billions. The Cubs were sold to the Tribune Company for 20.5 million dollars in 1981. The team is now worth over 3 BILLION dollars, for instance. Everything about the way this nation does it's business needs to change after this crisis is over and sports should be right at the forefront. We cannot let it continue as is. People who work at grocery stores for near minimum wage are literally risking their lives every day to make ends meet and keep this country going. It shines a spotlight on how out of whack we let our priorities get. We cannot go back to business as usual! The NBA says they are keeping their players paychecks coming. Well, good for them (sarcasm). It's nice to see the billionaires are taking care of the millionaires. Meanwhile I see some other sports teams laying off their stadium and other workers etc. who don't have huge bank accounts to fall back on. I'm sure it won't happen but we need to tear this shit down. Ballplayers are now definitely not essential and should never be paid hundreds of millions and owners should never be worth billions. Ever again! I would like to be able to afford a Blackhawks ticket when this shit is over. And if that means players and owners make less, well then so be it! That's the way it once was and should be again. Their income is obscene and now, frankly, sinful, considering what is going on in this country. I want a player's one million dollar per year signing to be big news, not below the goddamn minimum. They don't fucking matter. They just don't. I love sports and baseball has meant the world to me my whole life but reality has set in. I'm too worried about my family surviving this calendar year, not the Cubs or Sox pennant race. I'm sure the horse has left the barn and this is all just wishful thinking but I just had to get this off my chest. Please and thank you.
April 14, 2017
RIP Dan Rooney. And as usual, I have a story, lol. So, I was a 24 year old kid at my first full-time job in State College, Pa. working at WRSC radio as the morning sports anchor/sports director in 1985. I go to cover Steelers training camp in Latrobe. I am all wide-eyed and enjoying standing on the sidelines watching practice. And to show you what a different era this was, there were only a handful of fans and a couple of other media types around. I look over to my right and Dan Rooney is standing by himself, just about 20 feet from me. I decide to just go over and say hi, cuz why not? lol. I introduce myself and he starts asking ME questions and we have this really amazing, friendly chat. I am this anonymous kid and he is the guy running the show by then. Art Rooney was still around but Dan was in charge. At the end, I take out my tape recorder and he gives me a couple minutes of an interview. He walked away and I just stood there, stunned at what just happened. The President of the Steelers took 15 minutes to have this nice conversation with me just because that's who he was. I've had a soft spot for the Steelers ever since. I miss that NFL, the one before it became this uber success and too big for it's britches. It was still a family business kind of thing and there weren't billion dollar stadiums or practice facilities. The camp in Latrobe was almost a glorified high school field back then. When I think of the NFL now, I don't think of 'friendly'. I think of that when I think of Dan Rooney, though.
4/14/2020
So now Jim Frey. I've talked recently how important the 1984 Cubs were to me. Frey is one of my favorite Cubs managers. Frey and Zimmer were one heckuva team of baseball guys and friends. Frey was also a great interview. Chuck Tanner will always be my favorite manager I interviewed, but Frey is right up there. Always friendly and gave actual information. RIP.
So now Jim Frey. I've talked recently how important the 1984 Cubs were to me. Frey is one of my favorite Cubs managers. Frey and Zimmer were one heckuva team of baseball guys and friends. Frey was also a great interview. Chuck Tanner will always be my favorite manager I interviewed, but Frey is right up there. Always friendly and gave actual information. RIP.
4/12/2020
RIP Glenn Beckert. Another sad day. Glenn was a tremendous second baseman and THE 2b of my childhood. He led the league in assists as a rookie and was a 4x all-star. He led the NL in fewest strikeouts per at-bat five times and won a Gold Glove. In 1971, he hit an amazing .342, losing the batting title to Joe Torre. He and Don Kessinger played 9 years together as a great double-play combination. Glenn is tremendously overlooked and underrated thanks to being on a team with the likes of Banks, Jenkins, Williams, Santo and so on. He also lived in Palatine, like I did, so he was a definite favorite of mine. I will never forget when he built a new house in town. I literally got to tour his house while it was being built, lol. I was amazed. It had two fireplaces! Wow. Time is taking it's toll, damnit.
RIP Glenn Beckert. Another sad day. Glenn was a tremendous second baseman and THE 2b of my childhood. He led the league in assists as a rookie and was a 4x all-star. He led the NL in fewest strikeouts per at-bat five times and won a Gold Glove. In 1971, he hit an amazing .342, losing the batting title to Joe Torre. He and Don Kessinger played 9 years together as a great double-play combination. Glenn is tremendously overlooked and underrated thanks to being on a team with the likes of Banks, Jenkins, Williams, Santo and so on. He also lived in Palatine, like I did, so he was a definite favorite of mine. I will never forget when he built a new house in town. I literally got to tour his house while it was being built, lol. I was amazed. It had two fireplaces! Wow. Time is taking it's toll, damnit.
4/9/2016
You have no idea how happy I am to have found these. I am taking the opportunity during quarantine to look through recently discovered picture albums and am doing some spring cleaning. I have talked about this first picture but did not know it still existed. It is a picture of my Grandpa Vasko sitting in the bleachers at Wrigley in 1958. He took the streetcar many times each season to watch his Cubs after his heart condition kept him from working. He always sat in that same spot in the right-field bleachers. I thought this picture from an old Chicago Tribune had been lost. Also, the next picture is the only one I have ever found with me and my grandpa. He died when I was a little boy, when I was not much older than this. I didn't think any of the two of us together existed at all until today. We hadn't lived in our house in Palatine for long when it was taken with my older brother Mike by his other leg. Mike and I are wearing our Cubs helmets in the next one. I figured I would include it since the date for the Cubs home opener has now come and gone as well and baseball is on my mind. The last one is from high school. I was on the freshman team at Palatine H.S. and Mike was on the Varsity. Gotta love the 70's, lol. I was not thrilled I had to wear the old hand-me-down wool button-downs at the time while he got to wear the new cool polyester pull-overs! Now I am really happy I got to wear the good old fashioned real baseball uniforms for a season, at least. I hope there gets to be a baseball season. I need it.
You have no idea how happy I am to have found these. I am taking the opportunity during quarantine to look through recently discovered picture albums and am doing some spring cleaning. I have talked about this first picture but did not know it still existed. It is a picture of my Grandpa Vasko sitting in the bleachers at Wrigley in 1958. He took the streetcar many times each season to watch his Cubs after his heart condition kept him from working. He always sat in that same spot in the right-field bleachers. I thought this picture from an old Chicago Tribune had been lost. Also, the next picture is the only one I have ever found with me and my grandpa. He died when I was a little boy, when I was not much older than this. I didn't think any of the two of us together existed at all until today. We hadn't lived in our house in Palatine for long when it was taken with my older brother Mike by his other leg. Mike and I are wearing our Cubs helmets in the next one. I figured I would include it since the date for the Cubs home opener has now come and gone as well and baseball is on my mind. The last one is from high school. I was on the freshman team at Palatine H.S. and Mike was on the Varsity. Gotta love the 70's, lol. I was not thrilled I had to wear the old hand-me-down wool button-downs at the time while he got to wear the new cool polyester pull-overs! Now I am really happy I got to wear the good old fashioned real baseball uniforms for a season, at least. I hope there gets to be a baseball season. I need it.
3/27/2020
I'm a day late with this but yesterday was kinda tough for a baseball guy like yours truly. This press pass happens to be my first as a reporter. Thankfully there were many more to come. This game wasn't just home opener but season opener as well in 1986 for the Sox. I had become sports director at WKKD in the middle of 1985. The nice thing about the old Comiskey was there was room for me in the press box. Wrigley openers always found me shivering on a folding chair on the 3rd base side catwalk with a freezing lake breeze hitting me in the face all day. That 1986 team only won 72 games but was fun to watch anyway with Fisk, Baines, Ron Kittle, Greg Walker, Ozzie Guillen, Jerry Hairston and more. It even had Steve Carlton and Tom Seaver for a bit. Fun stuff. I hope I get to cover another some day.
I'm a day late with this but yesterday was kinda tough for a baseball guy like yours truly. This press pass happens to be my first as a reporter. Thankfully there were many more to come. This game wasn't just home opener but season opener as well in 1986 for the Sox. I had become sports director at WKKD in the middle of 1985. The nice thing about the old Comiskey was there was room for me in the press box. Wrigley openers always found me shivering on a folding chair on the 3rd base side catwalk with a freezing lake breeze hitting me in the face all day. That 1986 team only won 72 games but was fun to watch anyway with Fisk, Baines, Ron Kittle, Greg Walker, Ozzie Guillen, Jerry Hairston and more. It even had Steve Carlton and Tom Seaver for a bit. Fun stuff. I hope I get to cover another some day.
3/25/2020
I mentioned this team in a facebook post and it reminded me that this is the 30th anniversary of that incredible 1990 Aurora University baseball season. Wow. And since I have nothing else to do thanks to the quarantine, I thought I would put down some memories of that D3 World Series in particular. The Spartans finished 2nd in the nation that year in a crazy trip through the playoffs, making it to the World Series in Battle Creek, Michigan and surviving through the loser's bracket in wild fashion. There are a ton of stories surrounding this team but I want to concentrate on the fact that this team is one that is the epitome of never giving up and battling as a TEAM. Just making it to the World Series was a surprise to pretty much everyone and we didn't really get any respect once we were there either. It was a rain-filled stay in Battle Creek and one rain delay saved the day for the Spartans in particular, letting them come back refreshed the next day and rally to stay alive, knocking off Montclair St. Lose that game and we go home, but that win set the stage for the excitement to come. Each game in Battle Creek was a endurance test for the team and for me too, lol. I did all the games solo and lost my voice during the Championship game! For instance, Aurora rallied...as they did continuously...to then defeat North Carolina Wesleyan twice to keep their miracle run going. The first one finished 8-7, after four hours and more rain, ending at 2am. The next night was a 12-9 Spartans heart-stopping win, lasting 4 1/2 hours and ending at 1:30am in front of exactly ONE fan in the stands, propelling AU to the title game. All those long, draining games also drained the pitching staff however. Facing Eastern Connecticut State, needing to beat them twice was just too much for a weary AU squad. ECSU topped them 8-1, with MVP Brian Mercado starring yet again. The power hitter played in the minors eventually for the Texas Rangers and he was just part of a team also featuring Basilio Ortiz...who played for the Kane County Cougars the next year, eventually reaching AA for the Angels...that was the favorite coming in and did not disappoint. It was pitching by committee for Aurora as Bubba LeVault, Russ Voelz, Bob Stacey and Jason Whitmyer tried to keep AU in it. Dave Cave's pinch single in the 7th provided our only run. Our All-American, Bob Guajardo was All-Tourney, as well as pitcher John Bachio. I kept thinking during that last game that 'I hope we don't come back to win because I don't have a voice for game 2 and we don't have anyone left to pitch anyway!' lol. Eastern Connecticut was the best team but AU definitely deserved to play them for the title. I have told many people over the years, despite the other fun things I have been fortunate enough to do in this business, that two week postseason run was the most dramatic and enjoyable time of my career in radio. Here's to Coach Schmid, Coach Walsh, Steve Moga and crew. Happy Anniversary, guys. I'll never forget being part of that group.
ps --Keep in mind, this team beat #1 in nation Marietta, Ohio on the road at their field to advance to the World Series in the first place. They edged Marietta in the regional opener 6-5, continued on undefeated until playing them again in the regional final and 10-run ruled them 15-5 to advance to the World Series, where the Spartans still did not get any respect. Mike Bachio's long 3-run homer put that game out of reach and stunned the home crowd into silence. In the Series, that Monclair State game saw us trailing as the rain delay sent everyone back to the hotel until the next day. Once there we saw the Monclair coaches already partying and celebrating what they thought was going to be a sure victory until the resumption saw Steve Michaelson striking out their all-american with the bases loaded to end a jam and turn the game around for us the next morning. And that 'no respect' saw us put in a crappy hotel down the block while every other team was in the nice hotel headquarters for the Series. The Spartans played 3 games in the span of 25 hours to reach the Championship game. Bob Guajardo completely re-wrote the record books thanks to that season. His career batting average was .442, by the way! And how about Mike Foote's 20 doubles from 1990 that led the nation! Jon Puklin stole a school record 28 bases in that season, as well. The dimensions of their old on-campus field were tiny. I don't care how small that field was, it was still a fun place to be, all that netting included! The neighbors might have complained about foul balls in their front yard but students got to walk down to watch the games and it really felt like the place to be on a nice Spring afternoon. The sad truth about Bobby Guajardo and a few of our others back then is that Independent Baseball was still a few years away in Chicagoland. If the Affiliates want to ignore D3, unless you could throw in the mid 90's like Mike Trimarco did for instance, at least Joliet and Schaumburg are now around to give guys a chance in pro ball and to prove their worth. Back then, there was no where to go if you were not drafted. Many of that era deserved their chance too and did not get it.
I mentioned this team in a facebook post and it reminded me that this is the 30th anniversary of that incredible 1990 Aurora University baseball season. Wow. And since I have nothing else to do thanks to the quarantine, I thought I would put down some memories of that D3 World Series in particular. The Spartans finished 2nd in the nation that year in a crazy trip through the playoffs, making it to the World Series in Battle Creek, Michigan and surviving through the loser's bracket in wild fashion. There are a ton of stories surrounding this team but I want to concentrate on the fact that this team is one that is the epitome of never giving up and battling as a TEAM. Just making it to the World Series was a surprise to pretty much everyone and we didn't really get any respect once we were there either. It was a rain-filled stay in Battle Creek and one rain delay saved the day for the Spartans in particular, letting them come back refreshed the next day and rally to stay alive, knocking off Montclair St. Lose that game and we go home, but that win set the stage for the excitement to come. Each game in Battle Creek was a endurance test for the team and for me too, lol. I did all the games solo and lost my voice during the Championship game! For instance, Aurora rallied...as they did continuously...to then defeat North Carolina Wesleyan twice to keep their miracle run going. The first one finished 8-7, after four hours and more rain, ending at 2am. The next night was a 12-9 Spartans heart-stopping win, lasting 4 1/2 hours and ending at 1:30am in front of exactly ONE fan in the stands, propelling AU to the title game. All those long, draining games also drained the pitching staff however. Facing Eastern Connecticut State, needing to beat them twice was just too much for a weary AU squad. ECSU topped them 8-1, with MVP Brian Mercado starring yet again. The power hitter played in the minors eventually for the Texas Rangers and he was just part of a team also featuring Basilio Ortiz...who played for the Kane County Cougars the next year, eventually reaching AA for the Angels...that was the favorite coming in and did not disappoint. It was pitching by committee for Aurora as Bubba LeVault, Russ Voelz, Bob Stacey and Jason Whitmyer tried to keep AU in it. Dave Cave's pinch single in the 7th provided our only run. Our All-American, Bob Guajardo was All-Tourney, as well as pitcher John Bachio. I kept thinking during that last game that 'I hope we don't come back to win because I don't have a voice for game 2 and we don't have anyone left to pitch anyway!' lol. Eastern Connecticut was the best team but AU definitely deserved to play them for the title. I have told many people over the years, despite the other fun things I have been fortunate enough to do in this business, that two week postseason run was the most dramatic and enjoyable time of my career in radio. Here's to Coach Schmid, Coach Walsh, Steve Moga and crew. Happy Anniversary, guys. I'll never forget being part of that group.
ps --Keep in mind, this team beat #1 in nation Marietta, Ohio on the road at their field to advance to the World Series in the first place. They edged Marietta in the regional opener 6-5, continued on undefeated until playing them again in the regional final and 10-run ruled them 15-5 to advance to the World Series, where the Spartans still did not get any respect. Mike Bachio's long 3-run homer put that game out of reach and stunned the home crowd into silence. In the Series, that Monclair State game saw us trailing as the rain delay sent everyone back to the hotel until the next day. Once there we saw the Monclair coaches already partying and celebrating what they thought was going to be a sure victory until the resumption saw Steve Michaelson striking out their all-american with the bases loaded to end a jam and turn the game around for us the next morning. And that 'no respect' saw us put in a crappy hotel down the block while every other team was in the nice hotel headquarters for the Series. The Spartans played 3 games in the span of 25 hours to reach the Championship game. Bob Guajardo completely re-wrote the record books thanks to that season. His career batting average was .442, by the way! And how about Mike Foote's 20 doubles from 1990 that led the nation! Jon Puklin stole a school record 28 bases in that season, as well. The dimensions of their old on-campus field were tiny. I don't care how small that field was, it was still a fun place to be, all that netting included! The neighbors might have complained about foul balls in their front yard but students got to walk down to watch the games and it really felt like the place to be on a nice Spring afternoon. The sad truth about Bobby Guajardo and a few of our others back then is that Independent Baseball was still a few years away in Chicagoland. If the Affiliates want to ignore D3, unless you could throw in the mid 90's like Mike Trimarco did for instance, at least Joliet and Schaumburg are now around to give guys a chance in pro ball and to prove their worth. Back then, there was no where to go if you were not drafted. Many of that era deserved their chance too and did not get it.
3/25/2020
Here's my last installment of a look back at my favorite seasons as a Chicago sports fan. I need to lose myself in this fun right about now. The 2010 Chicago Blackhawks rescued Hawks fans after years of misery. The team had failed to even make the playoffs for 9 of 10 seasons until a trip to the conference finals in 2009. Going to games was easy with a half filled United Center. A title was a pipe dream. Losing Marty Havlat was tough but acquiring Marian Hossa made all the difference for their championship. San Jose finished one point ahead in the conference standings. Kane led the way with 88 points. Hossa missed the first quarter of the season with a bad shoulder and still had 51 points. Antti Niemi was brilliant in goal all the way throughout. The fun of that season is hard to capture after a decade or so of nothing. Toews, Kane, Sharp, Keith, Hossa and Seabrook were outstanding. Dustin Byfuglien had 8 goals and 8 assists in the postseason. The Hawks won 7 straight road playoff games on their way to the title. More proof of their dominance is not needed. The likes of Ladd, Kopecky, Hjalmarsson and Versteeg will also go down in team history. The six game playoff win over Nashville got it started thanks to two shutouts by Niemi. Game 5 had that thrilling finish with a shorty by Kane late to tie it and then the game winner by Hossa in OT. The six game win over Vancouver was highlighted by a late goal from Versteeg to take game two. Byfuglien's hat trick helped the Hawks game three. It was so much fun to have a team capable of that much excitement again. I remember going to bars in Carbondale to watch Blackhawks postseason games in college. It had been a long time since people could pack places to cheer them on. Toews then had a hat trick of his own, all on the power play, in game four on the way to a 7-4 win. A three goal 2nd period propelled the Hawks to a game 6 win and an appointment in the conference finals vs the Sharks. Amazingly, it turned into the only series sweep of the entire postseason. The overtime win in game three was just incredible. I don't remember when it began exactly, but at one point early on in the playoffs, my wife and I had decided to enjoy one of the games with a pitcher of mai-tais, lol. We had had them at the United Center one game and they had won that day. We won that day while watching at home as well, so did it again and we won again etc. Each time we did not have mai-tais the Hawks would lose! That was because either or both of us were working and couldn't watch the game together and so on. It was amazing. Mai tais equaled wins in the postseason. It still does to this day, lol. Anyway, the sweep meant that it was on to the Cup Finals vs. Philly. The Hawks hadn't played in a Final since 1992 and had lost five straight Finals overall. They had not won a Cup in my lifetime. This was the season of a different hero every night. In game one it was Troy Brouwer with a pair of goals, while Kopecky notched the game winner in the 3rd period to help the Blackhawks to a 6-5 victory. Game two saw Ben Eager get the game winner for the Hawks as Niemmi had 32 saves. Game three was even exciting despite an overtime loss. Dave Bolland and Brian Campbell's 3rd period goals gave us hope for a comeback in game 4 but it was not to be. The Hawks tallied seven times in game 5 though to right the ship. Seven goals in a Cup final game. Amazing. Game six, of course, will never be forgotten with Kane's game winner in overtime that no one was really sure even went in! I remember jumping up, pretty sure that it was a goal but had to wait with everyone else to be sure the Hawks had won the Cup.
Here's my last installment of a look back at my favorite seasons as a Chicago sports fan. I need to lose myself in this fun right about now. The 2010 Chicago Blackhawks rescued Hawks fans after years of misery. The team had failed to even make the playoffs for 9 of 10 seasons until a trip to the conference finals in 2009. Going to games was easy with a half filled United Center. A title was a pipe dream. Losing Marty Havlat was tough but acquiring Marian Hossa made all the difference for their championship. San Jose finished one point ahead in the conference standings. Kane led the way with 88 points. Hossa missed the first quarter of the season with a bad shoulder and still had 51 points. Antti Niemi was brilliant in goal all the way throughout. The fun of that season is hard to capture after a decade or so of nothing. Toews, Kane, Sharp, Keith, Hossa and Seabrook were outstanding. Dustin Byfuglien had 8 goals and 8 assists in the postseason. The Hawks won 7 straight road playoff games on their way to the title. More proof of their dominance is not needed. The likes of Ladd, Kopecky, Hjalmarsson and Versteeg will also go down in team history. The six game playoff win over Nashville got it started thanks to two shutouts by Niemi. Game 5 had that thrilling finish with a shorty by Kane late to tie it and then the game winner by Hossa in OT. The six game win over Vancouver was highlighted by a late goal from Versteeg to take game two. Byfuglien's hat trick helped the Hawks game three. It was so much fun to have a team capable of that much excitement again. I remember going to bars in Carbondale to watch Blackhawks postseason games in college. It had been a long time since people could pack places to cheer them on. Toews then had a hat trick of his own, all on the power play, in game four on the way to a 7-4 win. A three goal 2nd period propelled the Hawks to a game 6 win and an appointment in the conference finals vs the Sharks. Amazingly, it turned into the only series sweep of the entire postseason. The overtime win in game three was just incredible. I don't remember when it began exactly, but at one point early on in the playoffs, my wife and I had decided to enjoy one of the games with a pitcher of mai-tais, lol. We had had them at the United Center one game and they had won that day. We won that day while watching at home as well, so did it again and we won again etc. Each time we did not have mai-tais the Hawks would lose! That was because either or both of us were working and couldn't watch the game together and so on. It was amazing. Mai tais equaled wins in the postseason. It still does to this day, lol. Anyway, the sweep meant that it was on to the Cup Finals vs. Philly. The Hawks hadn't played in a Final since 1992 and had lost five straight Finals overall. They had not won a Cup in my lifetime. This was the season of a different hero every night. In game one it was Troy Brouwer with a pair of goals, while Kopecky notched the game winner in the 3rd period to help the Blackhawks to a 6-5 victory. Game two saw Ben Eager get the game winner for the Hawks as Niemmi had 32 saves. Game three was even exciting despite an overtime loss. Dave Bolland and Brian Campbell's 3rd period goals gave us hope for a comeback in game 4 but it was not to be. The Hawks tallied seven times in game 5 though to right the ship. Seven goals in a Cup final game. Amazing. Game six, of course, will never be forgotten with Kane's game winner in overtime that no one was really sure even went in! I remember jumping up, pretty sure that it was a goal but had to wait with everyone else to be sure the Hawks had won the Cup.
3/23/2020
Here is part two of my quarantine inspired story on my favorite Chicago sports seasons. I just want to think back on the fun and re-live the joy these seasons brought home. I need it about now. Feel free to join me, if you wish.
Next up is the 72-10, 1996 Bulls. Like the '85 Bears, you just knew the Bulls were going to win each game. You just knew. And you were rarely disappointed. That team started off 37-0 at home and was 41-3, the best start in NBA history! They were so dominant that the second place team in the division, the Pacers, finished 20 games back, at a still impressive 52-30. Jordan averaged 30ppg that season but I still think Scottie Pippen does not get enough credit to this day. Besides several double-doubles, he had a triple-double of 18pts, 13rebs, 12assts vs Cleveland and averaged 19-6-6 in the regular season along with 18-8-6 in that postseason with another triple-double and earned his 5th straight first-team all-defense honor. The Bulls, now with Dennis Rodman throwing his body all over the floor, went undefeated in the entire month of January. It was extraordinary fun to tune in and watch that dominance. In the opening round of the postseason, the Bulls routed Miami by 31 points in one game. Pippen's 22pts, 18rebs and 10assts helped them advance in the clincher. They faced the Knicks and beat them in the conference semifinals 4-1. Watching the Jordan era Bulls regularly defeat the Knicks in the postseason in the main reason why I think Patrick Ewing is the most overrated player in NBA history. He never dominated a game vs. the Bulls despite playing against the likes of Bill Cartwright, Jack Haley, Bill Wennington, Stacey King, Will Perdue and Luc Longley. Nothing against them, but they were not exactly all-star caliber other than Cartwright, who was a defensive beast, elbows and all. Rodman helped defend the paint against the Knicks and everyone else that season, though. He was a joy to watch and Dennis even logged a double-double of his own vs. Miami. His temper got him in trouble but you never doubted his effort. Jordan was just amazing that postseason in particular. He had a 35pt effort vs. the Heat, a 44pt game vs the Knicks and a 45pt game vs Orlando in the conference finals. That Bulls team was so good, they destroyed the Magic in a series sweep, even though that team had Shaq and Penny Hardaway. One of those games was a 38 point win! People forget how good the Sonics were that season. The Bulls beat them in six games, after they had a 64 win year of their own. Chicago won game one by 17 points! Rodman pulled down 20 rebounds in game two! The Bulls took game three behind Jordan's 36 points. The Sonics woke up and won two straight before the Bulls put them away by 12pts to win it all. I've already talked about how much I loved watching Toni Kukoc play and he was also an underrated key to that team. He averaged 13ppg that year and hit 40% of his 3pters. Those six title years were all fun, but this team was special and I will always feel that that squad is the best NBA team of all time. More to come.
Here is part two of my quarantine inspired story on my favorite Chicago sports seasons. I just want to think back on the fun and re-live the joy these seasons brought home. I need it about now. Feel free to join me, if you wish.
Next up is the 72-10, 1996 Bulls. Like the '85 Bears, you just knew the Bulls were going to win each game. You just knew. And you were rarely disappointed. That team started off 37-0 at home and was 41-3, the best start in NBA history! They were so dominant that the second place team in the division, the Pacers, finished 20 games back, at a still impressive 52-30. Jordan averaged 30ppg that season but I still think Scottie Pippen does not get enough credit to this day. Besides several double-doubles, he had a triple-double of 18pts, 13rebs, 12assts vs Cleveland and averaged 19-6-6 in the regular season along with 18-8-6 in that postseason with another triple-double and earned his 5th straight first-team all-defense honor. The Bulls, now with Dennis Rodman throwing his body all over the floor, went undefeated in the entire month of January. It was extraordinary fun to tune in and watch that dominance. In the opening round of the postseason, the Bulls routed Miami by 31 points in one game. Pippen's 22pts, 18rebs and 10assts helped them advance in the clincher. They faced the Knicks and beat them in the conference semifinals 4-1. Watching the Jordan era Bulls regularly defeat the Knicks in the postseason in the main reason why I think Patrick Ewing is the most overrated player in NBA history. He never dominated a game vs. the Bulls despite playing against the likes of Bill Cartwright, Jack Haley, Bill Wennington, Stacey King, Will Perdue and Luc Longley. Nothing against them, but they were not exactly all-star caliber other than Cartwright, who was a defensive beast, elbows and all. Rodman helped defend the paint against the Knicks and everyone else that season, though. He was a joy to watch and Dennis even logged a double-double of his own vs. Miami. His temper got him in trouble but you never doubted his effort. Jordan was just amazing that postseason in particular. He had a 35pt effort vs. the Heat, a 44pt game vs the Knicks and a 45pt game vs Orlando in the conference finals. That Bulls team was so good, they destroyed the Magic in a series sweep, even though that team had Shaq and Penny Hardaway. One of those games was a 38 point win! People forget how good the Sonics were that season. The Bulls beat them in six games, after they had a 64 win year of their own. Chicago won game one by 17 points! Rodman pulled down 20 rebounds in game two! The Bulls took game three behind Jordan's 36 points. The Sonics woke up and won two straight before the Bulls put them away by 12pts to win it all. I've already talked about how much I loved watching Toni Kukoc play and he was also an underrated key to that team. He averaged 13ppg that year and hit 40% of his 3pters. Those six title years were all fun, but this team was special and I will always feel that that squad is the best NBA team of all time. More to come.
3/22/2020
Here is a quarantine inspired story about my favorite seasons as a Chicago sports fan and broadcaster. It is also inspired by just watching the 30 for 30 documentary on the 1985 Bears. That season was one for the books and made me think of other special times I had watching Chicago sports. In no particular order therefore are some recollections of the '85 Bears, the 1996 Bulls, the 1984 Cubs and the 2010 Blackhawks. No offense to the White Sox and years like 1983 or obviously 2005 but as much as I enjoyed watching those teams and as much as I have liked and rooted for the Sox, I have never been as emotionally invested in them as others. I'm writing this because I know what sports can mean to people. I have always resented that sportscasting has been given very little respect in my profession. It has always been seen as the toy department of broadcasting and that is ridiculous. I know what sports can do. It can give you an escape from your problems for a few hours and can bring communities together. I have been on both sides of that now and seen it and experienced it in person. As an example, I will never forget Al Michaels during the 1989 World Series that experienced an earthquake at Candlestick Park. He was asked to do take off his play-by-play hat and then do live commentary on the situation at the park during what had become a news story now on the network news broadcasts cut-ins. He got raves the next day from the media for how well he described that scene on the fly. I was incensed and will never forget how mad I was. Of course he did great! His job is to think on his feet and describe what he sees. That's what sportscasters do! Watching news readers try to improvise and talk without reading is embarrassing most of the time in those situations, but they somehow get all the respect while sportscasters are just waved off in total disrespect. Sports and there communicators are important and vital. Period.
Anyhow, let's start with the '85 Bears. Those Sundays were extraordinary. The Bears had been terrible for most of my childhood with very few exceptions. We watched for players, not wins. Watching for Sayers or Payton or Butkus highlights was the thing. Wins were not very likely. Things started to change in the early '80's. Wins became more plentiful and hope became more reasonable. I was thrilled to cover training camp and then games at Soldier Field in 1984, which was a great season in and of itself. The 1985 Bears were then 'appointment tv' like no other. It was apparent very early on that those games were going to be fun to watch. The defense was dominant and the offense finally had some help with Jim McMahon at quarterback. Those games were rarities in that you just knew they were going to win as opposed to knowing they were going to lose for so long. And it wasn't just that they were going to win but they were likely going to shutout opponents and knock out quarterbacks. There were hits on qb's like Eric Hipple, Phil Simms, Lynn Dickey and more that will never leave my mind. The excitement of Payton, McMahon to Willie Gault, and even kicker Kevin Butler's heroics is unforgettable. Butler is often overlooked on that team because they had so many other standouts. He was just a rookie but hit on what would be a career-high 31 field goals that season. Maury Buford had a great season as a punter and Gault was tremendous as a kick returner. He averaged over 26 yards per return with a td. They were dominant of special teams too and that is always forgotten. The Super Bowl itself was such a blowout that it was a letdown in a way. It was too easy. It was over by halftime. Tony Eason was destroyed and then so was his replacement Steve Grogan. Gault averaged 21 yards per catch that year. McMahon did not throw an interception in those playoffs. Payton rushed for over 15 hundred yards at age 31. That defense forced 64 total turnovers and had 64 sacks! Unbelievable.
Now on to the Cubs. I watched game two of the 1984 Cubs NLCS vs the Padres on YouTube just yesterday. Even though the Cubs won the World Series in 2016, the summer of 1984 will always be my personal favorite. I was just out of college and working part-time at WMRO in Aurora. That part-time job allowed me to be at the ballpark all season long as either a fan or reporter. I was a regular left-field bleacher bum that summer. Tickets were just 8 bucks apiece! I was there opening day as a reporter and many other times as well, when I wasn't in the bleachers. Wrigley was where I spent that summer. I would salute the Sarge, along with the others when Gary Matthews would take his position in left field. I was even out there the day he gave out cycling caps featuring the sergeant symbol on the brim one day late in the year. I was so into that team that I had a calendar that I turned into a Cubs keepsake. I cut out the standings from the Tribune starting in late May, when they won 8 of 9 to take the division lead. I would then cut out and paste the standings continuously throughout the season. I was that into it. The acquisition of Rick Sutcliffe in June kept them in first place. All he did was go 16-1 and win the Cy Young. Jim Frey made all the right moves and Ryne Sandberg had his MVP season. Three others finished with at least 94 rbis. After years of heartbreak, the Cubs had finished either 5th or 6th in the division in each of the five previous seasons, there was finally a summer of fun. That team stole 154 bases, led by Bob Dernier's 45. Cubs teams don't run, lol. They are always slow and station to station. Not that year. Lee Smith finished with 33 saves and was a sure thing late in games. Steve Trout is always forgotten when talking about that season. He won 13 games, had an ERA of 3.41 and led the team with 190 innings pitched, 30 more than anyone else. Dennis Eckersley and Ron Cey had their best seasons as Cubs. Winning their division that year, after decades of winning absolutely nothing, was thrilling. I was lucky enough to be at that Game 2 of the NLCS as a reporter and walking to my car after that win, I remember thinking to myself 'wow, my team is going to the World Series'. That didn't happen but it doesn't dampen the fun of that summer. The Championship season of 2016 was certainly great and fulfilling, but was so nerve-wracking that it actually wasn't as fun for me as 1984.
More to come on those other teams. Stay tuned and stay safe my friends.
Here is a quarantine inspired story about my favorite seasons as a Chicago sports fan and broadcaster. It is also inspired by just watching the 30 for 30 documentary on the 1985 Bears. That season was one for the books and made me think of other special times I had watching Chicago sports. In no particular order therefore are some recollections of the '85 Bears, the 1996 Bulls, the 1984 Cubs and the 2010 Blackhawks. No offense to the White Sox and years like 1983 or obviously 2005 but as much as I enjoyed watching those teams and as much as I have liked and rooted for the Sox, I have never been as emotionally invested in them as others. I'm writing this because I know what sports can mean to people. I have always resented that sportscasting has been given very little respect in my profession. It has always been seen as the toy department of broadcasting and that is ridiculous. I know what sports can do. It can give you an escape from your problems for a few hours and can bring communities together. I have been on both sides of that now and seen it and experienced it in person. As an example, I will never forget Al Michaels during the 1989 World Series that experienced an earthquake at Candlestick Park. He was asked to do take off his play-by-play hat and then do live commentary on the situation at the park during what had become a news story now on the network news broadcasts cut-ins. He got raves the next day from the media for how well he described that scene on the fly. I was incensed and will never forget how mad I was. Of course he did great! His job is to think on his feet and describe what he sees. That's what sportscasters do! Watching news readers try to improvise and talk without reading is embarrassing most of the time in those situations, but they somehow get all the respect while sportscasters are just waved off in total disrespect. Sports and there communicators are important and vital. Period.
Anyhow, let's start with the '85 Bears. Those Sundays were extraordinary. The Bears had been terrible for most of my childhood with very few exceptions. We watched for players, not wins. Watching for Sayers or Payton or Butkus highlights was the thing. Wins were not very likely. Things started to change in the early '80's. Wins became more plentiful and hope became more reasonable. I was thrilled to cover training camp and then games at Soldier Field in 1984, which was a great season in and of itself. The 1985 Bears were then 'appointment tv' like no other. It was apparent very early on that those games were going to be fun to watch. The defense was dominant and the offense finally had some help with Jim McMahon at quarterback. Those games were rarities in that you just knew they were going to win as opposed to knowing they were going to lose for so long. And it wasn't just that they were going to win but they were likely going to shutout opponents and knock out quarterbacks. There were hits on qb's like Eric Hipple, Phil Simms, Lynn Dickey and more that will never leave my mind. The excitement of Payton, McMahon to Willie Gault, and even kicker Kevin Butler's heroics is unforgettable. Butler is often overlooked on that team because they had so many other standouts. He was just a rookie but hit on what would be a career-high 31 field goals that season. Maury Buford had a great season as a punter and Gault was tremendous as a kick returner. He averaged over 26 yards per return with a td. They were dominant of special teams too and that is always forgotten. The Super Bowl itself was such a blowout that it was a letdown in a way. It was too easy. It was over by halftime. Tony Eason was destroyed and then so was his replacement Steve Grogan. Gault averaged 21 yards per catch that year. McMahon did not throw an interception in those playoffs. Payton rushed for over 15 hundred yards at age 31. That defense forced 64 total turnovers and had 64 sacks! Unbelievable.
Now on to the Cubs. I watched game two of the 1984 Cubs NLCS vs the Padres on YouTube just yesterday. Even though the Cubs won the World Series in 2016, the summer of 1984 will always be my personal favorite. I was just out of college and working part-time at WMRO in Aurora. That part-time job allowed me to be at the ballpark all season long as either a fan or reporter. I was a regular left-field bleacher bum that summer. Tickets were just 8 bucks apiece! I was there opening day as a reporter and many other times as well, when I wasn't in the bleachers. Wrigley was where I spent that summer. I would salute the Sarge, along with the others when Gary Matthews would take his position in left field. I was even out there the day he gave out cycling caps featuring the sergeant symbol on the brim one day late in the year. I was so into that team that I had a calendar that I turned into a Cubs keepsake. I cut out the standings from the Tribune starting in late May, when they won 8 of 9 to take the division lead. I would then cut out and paste the standings continuously throughout the season. I was that into it. The acquisition of Rick Sutcliffe in June kept them in first place. All he did was go 16-1 and win the Cy Young. Jim Frey made all the right moves and Ryne Sandberg had his MVP season. Three others finished with at least 94 rbis. After years of heartbreak, the Cubs had finished either 5th or 6th in the division in each of the five previous seasons, there was finally a summer of fun. That team stole 154 bases, led by Bob Dernier's 45. Cubs teams don't run, lol. They are always slow and station to station. Not that year. Lee Smith finished with 33 saves and was a sure thing late in games. Steve Trout is always forgotten when talking about that season. He won 13 games, had an ERA of 3.41 and led the team with 190 innings pitched, 30 more than anyone else. Dennis Eckersley and Ron Cey had their best seasons as Cubs. Winning their division that year, after decades of winning absolutely nothing, was thrilling. I was lucky enough to be at that Game 2 of the NLCS as a reporter and walking to my car after that win, I remember thinking to myself 'wow, my team is going to the World Series'. That didn't happen but it doesn't dampen the fun of that summer. The Championship season of 2016 was certainly great and fulfilling, but was so nerve-wracking that it actually wasn't as fun for me as 1984.
More to come on those other teams. Stay tuned and stay safe my friends.
3/18/2020
Because I need to think of something good, four years ago today the Benedictine Men's Basketball team defeated Amherst 63-60 to advance to the D3 National Championship game with an undefeated record of 31-0. It was just the third team in all my years broadcasting to advance to a Championship game. The Aurora U. baseball team played for the D3 National Title in 1990 but lost to Eastern Connecticut State and the Joliet Slammers gave me my only Championship ring with the Frontier League Title in 2011. Amherst was appearing in their 7th Final Four but the Eagles took care of business to get to within one victory of a Championship. Mike Blasczyk led the way with 15pts, Tahron Harvey had 13pts , Adam Reynolds 12 pts and Luke Johnson finished with 12pts and 10 rebounds. The Eagles, who led the nation that year in rebound margin, won that battle 50-30 on that day and held them to their worst 3-point shooting day of the season. Yes, the Eagles lost the next day to St. Thomas to finish second in the nation while suffering their only loss, but I choose to remember this great game, the biggest win in school history, that extraordinary group of guys and those seniors I got to announce for their entire careers. Here's to Coach Bunkenburg and crew for a very memorable season.
Because I need to think of something good, four years ago today the Benedictine Men's Basketball team defeated Amherst 63-60 to advance to the D3 National Championship game with an undefeated record of 31-0. It was just the third team in all my years broadcasting to advance to a Championship game. The Aurora U. baseball team played for the D3 National Title in 1990 but lost to Eastern Connecticut State and the Joliet Slammers gave me my only Championship ring with the Frontier League Title in 2011. Amherst was appearing in their 7th Final Four but the Eagles took care of business to get to within one victory of a Championship. Mike Blasczyk led the way with 15pts, Tahron Harvey had 13pts , Adam Reynolds 12 pts and Luke Johnson finished with 12pts and 10 rebounds. The Eagles, who led the nation that year in rebound margin, won that battle 50-30 on that day and held them to their worst 3-point shooting day of the season. Yes, the Eagles lost the next day to St. Thomas to finish second in the nation while suffering their only loss, but I choose to remember this great game, the biggest win in school history, that extraordinary group of guys and those seniors I got to announce for their entire careers. Here's to Coach Bunkenburg and crew for a very memorable season.
3/17/2020
Today is the 25th anniversary of the Farragut vs Thornton game in Champaign in the IHSA AA quarterfinals, where Kevin Garnett scored 17 points and had 16 rebounds and 7 blocks but still lost to Melvin Ely, Tai Streets and company 46-43. Ronnie Fields was also on that Farragut team that fell, as Garnett's 3-pointer at the buzzer hit off the rim. I was there courtside, broadcasting for WKKD. I remember going to see Garnett earlier play a game, at DePaul's Alumni Hall, if memory serves. The word had gone out that he was not to be missed. They were right. Those 17 pts vs Thornton were still 8 below his average, though, and that would be his final high school game. Thornton almost gave it away that day, however. I think they hit on just 1 of their first 8 free throws in that game before hitting a couple of clutch ones late. I'm glad I got to see Garnett play that season. He was really something. And Tai Streets, by the way, might be the best all-around high schooler Chicago ever produced. He is certainly in the team picture. He was the best player in that tourney other than Garnett, was a state long jump champion, elite sprinter and all-american football player. And the talent on the floor for that game was unprecedented. Farragut had Garnett of the NBA, Fields of the CBA, Michael Wright of Arizona and a Knicks draft pick. Thornton had Streets of the NFL with the 49ers, Antwan Randle-El (NFL), Napoleon Harris (NFL) Melvin Ely (Fresno St. and NBA), Chauncey Jones (Alabama) and Erik Herring (George Mason). Unreal.
Today is the 25th anniversary of the Farragut vs Thornton game in Champaign in the IHSA AA quarterfinals, where Kevin Garnett scored 17 points and had 16 rebounds and 7 blocks but still lost to Melvin Ely, Tai Streets and company 46-43. Ronnie Fields was also on that Farragut team that fell, as Garnett's 3-pointer at the buzzer hit off the rim. I was there courtside, broadcasting for WKKD. I remember going to see Garnett earlier play a game, at DePaul's Alumni Hall, if memory serves. The word had gone out that he was not to be missed. They were right. Those 17 pts vs Thornton were still 8 below his average, though, and that would be his final high school game. Thornton almost gave it away that day, however. I think they hit on just 1 of their first 8 free throws in that game before hitting a couple of clutch ones late. I'm glad I got to see Garnett play that season. He was really something. And Tai Streets, by the way, might be the best all-around high schooler Chicago ever produced. He is certainly in the team picture. He was the best player in that tourney other than Garnett, was a state long jump champion, elite sprinter and all-american football player. And the talent on the floor for that game was unprecedented. Farragut had Garnett of the NBA, Fields of the CBA, Michael Wright of Arizona and a Knicks draft pick. Thornton had Streets of the NFL with the 49ers, Antwan Randle-El (NFL), Napoleon Harris (NFL) Melvin Ely (Fresno St. and NBA), Chauncey Jones (Alabama) and Erik Herring (George Mason). Unreal.
3/10/2020
3/7/2020
I was watching a show about the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead and it reminded me of another 'what if' of my crazy radio career. I hadn't thought about my old Las Vegas job opportunity in a long time. It was another thing that could have changed my life entirely, back in the day. When I was still in my late 20's, working at WKKD in Aurora, I had a chance to apply for a job at a national sports network that was starting up in Las Vegas. I sent off a cassette of my work in the mail...yes, that's how we used to do it...and waited. Luckily, I got a call telling me they really liked my tape, we talked, and they decided to fly me out to finalize things. I was extremely excited. I was taken for a drive around Vegas to show me the area, what parts of town I might want to live, and was shown the brand new studios that were being put together. Before the weekend was over, I was formally offered a full-time job to host a talk show on a new national sports network! I hadn't even worked in Chicago at that point, so it was very cool and a huge step for me. I couldn't tell anyone yet though, because I was told the financing was still being completed, and therefore a start date had yet to be set. I sweated out the next few weeks and eventually got the bad news. The financing fell through completely and there would be no new network at all. I was so disappointed. I would have loved to live in Las Vegas. I have always loved the desert. And maybe that could have been the stable, rewarding job I could have stayed at a long time. Who knows? I even think how weird it would have been to maybe be living in Vegas eventually at the same time as Chris and Lauren were and if we ever would have crossed paths. I, of course, eventually got to work for the the related national networks of 1 on 1 Sports, Sporting News Radio and Yahoo Sports but it was never a settled full-time talk show opportunity and bad luck ended each of those stints anyway. The mix of good and bad luck seems to be the story of my career, frankly. Maybe I could have avoided all the latter bad luck if that one Vegas job had come through. Who knows? That's why it is another but very important and kinda painful radio 'what if' to think about. Now I wonder all the time about a 'what's next' and if there will be one. We'll see, I guess.
I was watching a show about the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead and it reminded me of another 'what if' of my crazy radio career. I hadn't thought about my old Las Vegas job opportunity in a long time. It was another thing that could have changed my life entirely, back in the day. When I was still in my late 20's, working at WKKD in Aurora, I had a chance to apply for a job at a national sports network that was starting up in Las Vegas. I sent off a cassette of my work in the mail...yes, that's how we used to do it...and waited. Luckily, I got a call telling me they really liked my tape, we talked, and they decided to fly me out to finalize things. I was extremely excited. I was taken for a drive around Vegas to show me the area, what parts of town I might want to live, and was shown the brand new studios that were being put together. Before the weekend was over, I was formally offered a full-time job to host a talk show on a new national sports network! I hadn't even worked in Chicago at that point, so it was very cool and a huge step for me. I couldn't tell anyone yet though, because I was told the financing was still being completed, and therefore a start date had yet to be set. I sweated out the next few weeks and eventually got the bad news. The financing fell through completely and there would be no new network at all. I was so disappointed. I would have loved to live in Las Vegas. I have always loved the desert. And maybe that could have been the stable, rewarding job I could have stayed at a long time. Who knows? I even think how weird it would have been to maybe be living in Vegas eventually at the same time as Chris and Lauren were and if we ever would have crossed paths. I, of course, eventually got to work for the the related national networks of 1 on 1 Sports, Sporting News Radio and Yahoo Sports but it was never a settled full-time talk show opportunity and bad luck ended each of those stints anyway. The mix of good and bad luck seems to be the story of my career, frankly. Maybe I could have avoided all the latter bad luck if that one Vegas job had come through. Who knows? That's why it is another but very important and kinda painful radio 'what if' to think about. Now I wonder all the time about a 'what's next' and if there will be one. We'll see, I guess.
2/25/2020
So once again it’s the baseball fans that have to safeguard the sport, since the Commissioner’s Office will not do it’s job. Remember when, at least in theory, the baseball Commissioner was supposed to protect the integrity of the sport? Yeah, me too. Well, that is a distant memory and it is not even pretended anymore to be in the job description. Judge Landis was an egomaniacal autocrat but at least he understood his job, back in the day. The last two Commissioners profited from cheating and worried not a whit about the harm to baseball itself. So the fans have to do the job for them. It doesn’t matter what it says in the record books, to most fans the all-time home run kings are still Henry Aaron and Roger Maris. It actually does matter what it says in the record books though, just not to the Commissioner apparently, so there has to be an understood unofficial fans record book. Baseball has a few unwritten rules and now it has a few unwritten records because the custodian of the game is out to lunch, worrying only about profits for the owners and not caring about the fans, the game, it’s history or integrity. Steroids did not just alter the records, they altered special moments. Dave Kingman’s 540 foot home run that hit the front stoop three houses down Kenmore avenue in 1976 should be the most memorable homer in Wrigley Field history. That Glenallen Hill’s shot that landed across the street onto a left field rooftop is even in my brain is an insult to Kingman, the Cubs and baseball. Hill is in the Mitchell report as using HGH at the very least and should not even be in the same sentence as Dave Kingman, let alone my memory. Since it’s up to us to guard the integrity of the game though, it’s Aaron, Maris and Kingman for me.
We can nitpick about other things in baseball’s past like amphetamines etc. until the cows come home I suppose, but for me those were used more for survival of long train rides, numerous doubleheaders and so on. I don’t think they improved performance more than the norm so much as helped them reach the norm in a long exhausting season. For me, steroids and this sign stealing is way worse than any other. This sign stealing by the Astros is infinitely worse than the Black Sox and to me is the worst scandal of all time. The Commissioner doesn’t even think it’s a big deal, so once again the fans have to step to the fore. I don’t care what it says in the record book, the Astros have not won a World Championship. That trophy, not just a hunk of metal, is left un-awarded. The Black Sox threw a couple of games, affecting just one other team in one World Series. While heinous, it pales in comparison to the Astros cheating every team they played for numerous seasons and cheating players from MVP’s, jobs and playoff bonuses etc. They are also unrepentant and only apologized because they have to and only stopped cheating because they were caught. They should be stripped of a title and all involved should be punished. Players should serve rotating suspensions of five at a time for 25 games for each of the next two seasons at least and feel luck they still have jobs at all. Banning them for life would be just fine with me but the suspensions will do. It probably won’t happen but any further sanctions only will occur if the fans step up and demand it. Once again it is on us. The Astros should also be made to pay the bonuses back and be banned from the postseason for at least two seasons. That punishes their fans, sadly, but to me it has to be done. They knew it was cheating while they were doing it and were proud of it, frankly. Everyone on the team benefited, cheating or not. If the batter in front of you cheated and is on base for you to add to your RBI total, you benefited even if you didn’t cheat. You cashed your playoff bonus check because your teammates cheated. You all have to pay the price for knowing, benefiting and doing nothing.
Sign stealing has never been sanctioned, even the old fashioned way. If a batter was caught looking back at the catcher, he was drilled in the ribs. It was never right. More has to be done to punish the blatant cheaters and the fans must demand it. We are the caretakers of the sport now. Those in charge only care about profit and I am not even sure the Commissioner is a fan of baseball. We are the ones left now to look after the integrity of the game because the Commissioner is not interested in doing that at all. Please and thank you.
So once again it’s the baseball fans that have to safeguard the sport, since the Commissioner’s Office will not do it’s job. Remember when, at least in theory, the baseball Commissioner was supposed to protect the integrity of the sport? Yeah, me too. Well, that is a distant memory and it is not even pretended anymore to be in the job description. Judge Landis was an egomaniacal autocrat but at least he understood his job, back in the day. The last two Commissioners profited from cheating and worried not a whit about the harm to baseball itself. So the fans have to do the job for them. It doesn’t matter what it says in the record books, to most fans the all-time home run kings are still Henry Aaron and Roger Maris. It actually does matter what it says in the record books though, just not to the Commissioner apparently, so there has to be an understood unofficial fans record book. Baseball has a few unwritten rules and now it has a few unwritten records because the custodian of the game is out to lunch, worrying only about profits for the owners and not caring about the fans, the game, it’s history or integrity. Steroids did not just alter the records, they altered special moments. Dave Kingman’s 540 foot home run that hit the front stoop three houses down Kenmore avenue in 1976 should be the most memorable homer in Wrigley Field history. That Glenallen Hill’s shot that landed across the street onto a left field rooftop is even in my brain is an insult to Kingman, the Cubs and baseball. Hill is in the Mitchell report as using HGH at the very least and should not even be in the same sentence as Dave Kingman, let alone my memory. Since it’s up to us to guard the integrity of the game though, it’s Aaron, Maris and Kingman for me.
We can nitpick about other things in baseball’s past like amphetamines etc. until the cows come home I suppose, but for me those were used more for survival of long train rides, numerous doubleheaders and so on. I don’t think they improved performance more than the norm so much as helped them reach the norm in a long exhausting season. For me, steroids and this sign stealing is way worse than any other. This sign stealing by the Astros is infinitely worse than the Black Sox and to me is the worst scandal of all time. The Commissioner doesn’t even think it’s a big deal, so once again the fans have to step to the fore. I don’t care what it says in the record book, the Astros have not won a World Championship. That trophy, not just a hunk of metal, is left un-awarded. The Black Sox threw a couple of games, affecting just one other team in one World Series. While heinous, it pales in comparison to the Astros cheating every team they played for numerous seasons and cheating players from MVP’s, jobs and playoff bonuses etc. They are also unrepentant and only apologized because they have to and only stopped cheating because they were caught. They should be stripped of a title and all involved should be punished. Players should serve rotating suspensions of five at a time for 25 games for each of the next two seasons at least and feel luck they still have jobs at all. Banning them for life would be just fine with me but the suspensions will do. It probably won’t happen but any further sanctions only will occur if the fans step up and demand it. Once again it is on us. The Astros should also be made to pay the bonuses back and be banned from the postseason for at least two seasons. That punishes their fans, sadly, but to me it has to be done. They knew it was cheating while they were doing it and were proud of it, frankly. Everyone on the team benefited, cheating or not. If the batter in front of you cheated and is on base for you to add to your RBI total, you benefited even if you didn’t cheat. You cashed your playoff bonus check because your teammates cheated. You all have to pay the price for knowing, benefiting and doing nothing.
Sign stealing has never been sanctioned, even the old fashioned way. If a batter was caught looking back at the catcher, he was drilled in the ribs. It was never right. More has to be done to punish the blatant cheaters and the fans must demand it. We are the caretakers of the sport now. Those in charge only care about profit and I am not even sure the Commissioner is a fan of baseball. We are the ones left now to look after the integrity of the game because the Commissioner is not interested in doing that at all. Please and thank you.
2/10/2020
Why is it a forgone, accepted situation that the Cubs will not go over the luxury tax this season. They should and frankly had better. That was the deal they made with Cubs fans and they are reneging on the deal. So, I am so done with the Cubs. Seriously. This summer, more than any other since my time with the Slammers ended, do I wish I was the voice of a minor league baseball team. That way I could put all my time and attention on them to fill my baseball passion and thereby ignore the Cubs all together. They do not deserve my money or my time. For someone who has loved the Cubs his entire life, as a third-generation fan from both sides of my family, it will not be pleasant but it is necessary. I am grateful for the World Series win but everything since is an abomination. Say what you will about the White Sox but Jerry is in the baseball business and treats it as such. The Cubs are now the profit business and that business is only about money and it just happens to be baseball that provides it. There is a big difference between the two. The Cubs are solely in the money making business now, period. Wrigley Field is not Wrigley Field anymore. Wrigleyville is not Wrigleyville anymore. Everything is now designed to maximize profit, profit, profit. It is all sanitized, gentrified, branded, suburban blandness. I want the 7-11 back. I want the McDonalds back. I want the City neighborhood back. I want the advertising signs gone. All that stuff would be at least tolerated if that meant the product on the field was the beneficiary, as we were told it was going to be. It is not. Their bankbook is. We were told the increased income would translate to salaries. We put up with those five terrible years of the rebuild with the promise of sustained success. So we swallowed successive win totals of 75, 71, 61, 66 and 73, while paying full price etc. for that product. 2016 was a nice reward but with profits and the value of the franchise at an all-time high, they are now taking all games off free TV and making a Cubs-only channel that some will not even get to see at all, but will pay extra for if they can. And bringing Lou-frickin-Piniella back to be on that channel is insane and totally tone deaf to the situation. Piniella stole their money as a do-nothing Manager and is welcomed back...well not by me. I understand the intricacies of the luxury tax. I know it will cost them a lot more to be over the limit again this year and can even affect draft picks. So what?! They have the money and this window for World Championships is closing and this window is what we suffered five full years for. They have drafted poorly of late anyway. They need to win now before they really do have to start spending even more money re-signing everyone. Letting Castellanos get away was a disgrace. Pay the man. Not doing much of anything else is inexcusable. Trading away your MVP is now more likely than ever and is also absolutely ridiculous. Pay the man. Pay the increased luxury tax and take the penalty. Your fans deserve it. We earned it. We suffered for it. You have the money. Starting your own channel while cutting salary is a slap in the face. I like Ross as the Manager but he is not a miracle worker. They will not win more than 85 games in 2020. The Cubs have already priced me out of attending in person regardless. Their prices are nuts. Even a slight reduction in season-ticket pricing this year doesn't make much difference. You can still get a decent Dodgers ticket for $15 most every game when tickets go on sale at the start of the season. A normal Wrigley bleachers ticket for most days is $45 or $59 with their tiered pricing and can be as much as $88. No thanks. This shrugging acceptance of not improving the team, or even keeping it where it is for 2020, is not shared by me. I will be following and watching baseball, just not the Cubs. Please and thank you.
Why is it a forgone, accepted situation that the Cubs will not go over the luxury tax this season. They should and frankly had better. That was the deal they made with Cubs fans and they are reneging on the deal. So, I am so done with the Cubs. Seriously. This summer, more than any other since my time with the Slammers ended, do I wish I was the voice of a minor league baseball team. That way I could put all my time and attention on them to fill my baseball passion and thereby ignore the Cubs all together. They do not deserve my money or my time. For someone who has loved the Cubs his entire life, as a third-generation fan from both sides of my family, it will not be pleasant but it is necessary. I am grateful for the World Series win but everything since is an abomination. Say what you will about the White Sox but Jerry is in the baseball business and treats it as such. The Cubs are now the profit business and that business is only about money and it just happens to be baseball that provides it. There is a big difference between the two. The Cubs are solely in the money making business now, period. Wrigley Field is not Wrigley Field anymore. Wrigleyville is not Wrigleyville anymore. Everything is now designed to maximize profit, profit, profit. It is all sanitized, gentrified, branded, suburban blandness. I want the 7-11 back. I want the McDonalds back. I want the City neighborhood back. I want the advertising signs gone. All that stuff would be at least tolerated if that meant the product on the field was the beneficiary, as we were told it was going to be. It is not. Their bankbook is. We were told the increased income would translate to salaries. We put up with those five terrible years of the rebuild with the promise of sustained success. So we swallowed successive win totals of 75, 71, 61, 66 and 73, while paying full price etc. for that product. 2016 was a nice reward but with profits and the value of the franchise at an all-time high, they are now taking all games off free TV and making a Cubs-only channel that some will not even get to see at all, but will pay extra for if they can. And bringing Lou-frickin-Piniella back to be on that channel is insane and totally tone deaf to the situation. Piniella stole their money as a do-nothing Manager and is welcomed back...well not by me. I understand the intricacies of the luxury tax. I know it will cost them a lot more to be over the limit again this year and can even affect draft picks. So what?! They have the money and this window for World Championships is closing and this window is what we suffered five full years for. They have drafted poorly of late anyway. They need to win now before they really do have to start spending even more money re-signing everyone. Letting Castellanos get away was a disgrace. Pay the man. Not doing much of anything else is inexcusable. Trading away your MVP is now more likely than ever and is also absolutely ridiculous. Pay the man. Pay the increased luxury tax and take the penalty. Your fans deserve it. We earned it. We suffered for it. You have the money. Starting your own channel while cutting salary is a slap in the face. I like Ross as the Manager but he is not a miracle worker. They will not win more than 85 games in 2020. The Cubs have already priced me out of attending in person regardless. Their prices are nuts. Even a slight reduction in season-ticket pricing this year doesn't make much difference. You can still get a decent Dodgers ticket for $15 most every game when tickets go on sale at the start of the season. A normal Wrigley bleachers ticket for most days is $45 or $59 with their tiered pricing and can be as much as $88. No thanks. This shrugging acceptance of not improving the team, or even keeping it where it is for 2020, is not shared by me. I will be following and watching baseball, just not the Cubs. Please and thank you.
2/6/2020
John Andretti passed away from cancer a few days ago. He was a great driver and a great guy. So sad and so young, younger than me. I might have told this story before, but yes, I do indeed have a story for just about everyone in the world of sports, lol. When I was the afternoon host on WJOL, they had a ride-around at the Joliet racetrack. They brought in stock Dodge Intrepids as a promotion for the tour around the track. John was the driver in one and Scott Sharp drove the other. They were to go out about a half lap behind each other with members of the media inside each and they were supposed to go slowly at about 55 mph. I was in with Sharp. They got bored, after a while and their competitive juices took over. Andretti caught up to us and they looked at each other, nodded, and started to race! Andretti came up within an inch of my door handle in the backseat and we members of each car stared in disbelief at each other. They floored it. We zoomed around the track as fast as those Intrepids could go. It was thrilling and scary to say the least. You could feel the banking and the 'g' forces as they flew along, again just inches from each other. The promoters were freaking out apparently, since those tires etc. were not made necessarily to go flying around a racetrack repeatedly. We loved it, however. I gained a new respect for those guys. We were probably 'only' going about 110 mph, way below what they really go in a race but it was stomach churning and their steering skills were extraordinary. I will never forget it. We got to interview both after it was over and they could not have been nicer. I got to interview just about every big name in racing in my couple years at WJOL, broadcasting my show live from the track on race days. It was a blast. John, obviously, comes from racing royalty but you would never have known it. RIP John. Thanks for the ride of a lifetime.
John Andretti passed away from cancer a few days ago. He was a great driver and a great guy. So sad and so young, younger than me. I might have told this story before, but yes, I do indeed have a story for just about everyone in the world of sports, lol. When I was the afternoon host on WJOL, they had a ride-around at the Joliet racetrack. They brought in stock Dodge Intrepids as a promotion for the tour around the track. John was the driver in one and Scott Sharp drove the other. They were to go out about a half lap behind each other with members of the media inside each and they were supposed to go slowly at about 55 mph. I was in with Sharp. They got bored, after a while and their competitive juices took over. Andretti caught up to us and they looked at each other, nodded, and started to race! Andretti came up within an inch of my door handle in the backseat and we members of each car stared in disbelief at each other. They floored it. We zoomed around the track as fast as those Intrepids could go. It was thrilling and scary to say the least. You could feel the banking and the 'g' forces as they flew along, again just inches from each other. The promoters were freaking out apparently, since those tires etc. were not made necessarily to go flying around a racetrack repeatedly. We loved it, however. I gained a new respect for those guys. We were probably 'only' going about 110 mph, way below what they really go in a race but it was stomach churning and their steering skills were extraordinary. I will never forget it. We got to interview both after it was over and they could not have been nicer. I got to interview just about every big name in racing in my couple years at WJOL, broadcasting my show live from the track on race days. It was a blast. John, obviously, comes from racing royalty but you would never have known it. RIP John. Thanks for the ride of a lifetime.
2/5/2020
Happy ‘National Girls and Women in Sports Day’. I’ve been able to announce some great female athletes over the years and figured today is a good day to look back at all that. I’ve talked about some of this before but thought I would expand on it and add a few more memories to the story here. There are quite a few guys in my profession that couldn’t care less about women’s athletics. Well, I am not on that list. Some of my favorite broadcasting memories have to do with play-by-play of girls’ and womens’ sports. Yes, I’ve interviewed and covered most of the big names in sports from Tiger to Michael to Walter to Ryne to Frank and dozens more. And yes, I’ve been to a Super Bowl, MLB playoffs, NBA Finals and more as well. These memories are some of my fondest too. I can’t get to all of them but here are a few that readily come to mind. First off, let’s begin with NIU women’s basketball. I was the voice of the Huskies women’s teams during their heyday of the early ‘90’s. Jane Albright took them to 4 NCAA Tourneys in 5 years. I was there to broadcast on WKKD and the NIU Network their Fed. 15, 1990 matchup vs. DePaul in Chick Evans Fieldhouse in front of a standing room only 6,118. They won that day and that team led the nation in scoring at 94.5 ppg. They beat Texas Tech in the 1st round of the Tourney before losing in front of over 3,000 at Purdue, because the Boilermakers shot 76% to squeak out an 86-81 win. Asst. Coach Sue Semrau left to become the head coach of Florida State and has taken them to 15 NCAA’s and three Elite 8’s. Announcing the likes of Carol Owens and E.C. Hill for the Huskies was incredible fun.
My time at WKKD afforded me years of broadcasting girls’ high school sports as well. A few teams stick out like the Naperville Central softball team of 1988-89 that lost to Belleville East 2-0 in AA State Title game. Andy Nussbaum took that team to a record of 33-4. I went downstate to Champaign for both A and AA weekends for boys and girls basketball for more than ten years and saw some great talent. The Naperville North team of 1987-88 finished 4th under Dale Shymkewich and finished 27-5. They lost to York 47-45 in overtime in the semifinal and then fell to Marshall in the 3rd place game 59-43. Jenny Sovacool was all-tourney as a sophomore and was amazing.
I was also the voice of Aurora U. athletics for ten years, while at WKKD and the Spartans 1994 women’s basketball team was outstanding. Under James Lancaster, they finished 22-5 and were knocked out of the NCAA Tourney down in St. Louis at Wash. U. James took them to the postseason twice while I was there. I will always miss broadcasting AU softball at the old S.A. Field. Loved that place and those battles with BenU.
In the 2000’s I have broadcast countless memorable teams and players for Benedictine and Lewis U. Of course, for Lewis, their 2015 team made it all the way to the Elite 8 and frankly were the best team in the nation that year. I’ve talked about it before, but that might be the best team of any sport, male or female, that I ever announced for. They lost in the quarterfinal game 61-58 because the ball just wouldn’t go in the net. The Flyers shot 34%, missed 21 3’s and still had the ball with just a few seconds to go. Again, the ball wouldn’t go in. Mariyah Henley, the best player in the nation, frankly, was in foul trouble thanks to some terrible calls and only played 23 minutes, which didn’t help either. It still hurts to think about because watching the other seven teams there left me with no doubt that the Flyers were the best team. And boy were they fun to watch and be around with players like Henley, Nikki Nellen and Jamie Johnson, who in that Elite 8 game had a rough shooting night but still managed 4 blocks, 3 steals and 4 assists as the shooting guard. Henley and Johnson were first team all-americans. That team could do everything. Announcing for a team that is ranked #1 in the nation is pretty cool. And, of course, in recent years getting to see National Player of the Year Jessica Kelliher play for the Flyers was more than just a bit enjoyable. She had a 42 point, 17 rebound effort vs. Maryville as a senior as just one example of her domination. Coaches like Lisa Carlsen, Kristen Gillespie and Samantha Quigley Smith have been a joy to work with.
The Benedictine U. softball team, under Kate Heidkamp, was dominant for basically all of the 13 years I was there. Particularly memorable were the 2015 and 2016 teams. In 2015, they made it the Regional Title game at U of C before getting the knocked out. The next year they made it to the Super Regional with a team batting average of .322, as Holly Haberkorn won 23 games in the circle and they finished 38-17. Courtney Grasz led them at .398, Shannon Fritsche was a perfect 32 of 32 in steals and Kailee Cable, other than maybe Charles Johnson of the Kane County Cougars and eventually the White Sox, is the best all-around catcher I ever saw play at any level. She hit .345 as a senior with 43 rbi’s. I still miss that team, as well, to this day.
There are many other teams and athletes worth mentioning, and I miss the BenU women's volleyball team in particular, but these will do for now. My 17th year broadcasting the Lewis women’s basketball team continues on WJOL in Joliet and am looking forward to the next one too. Please and thank you.
Happy ‘National Girls and Women in Sports Day’. I’ve been able to announce some great female athletes over the years and figured today is a good day to look back at all that. I’ve talked about some of this before but thought I would expand on it and add a few more memories to the story here. There are quite a few guys in my profession that couldn’t care less about women’s athletics. Well, I am not on that list. Some of my favorite broadcasting memories have to do with play-by-play of girls’ and womens’ sports. Yes, I’ve interviewed and covered most of the big names in sports from Tiger to Michael to Walter to Ryne to Frank and dozens more. And yes, I’ve been to a Super Bowl, MLB playoffs, NBA Finals and more as well. These memories are some of my fondest too. I can’t get to all of them but here are a few that readily come to mind. First off, let’s begin with NIU women’s basketball. I was the voice of the Huskies women’s teams during their heyday of the early ‘90’s. Jane Albright took them to 4 NCAA Tourneys in 5 years. I was there to broadcast on WKKD and the NIU Network their Fed. 15, 1990 matchup vs. DePaul in Chick Evans Fieldhouse in front of a standing room only 6,118. They won that day and that team led the nation in scoring at 94.5 ppg. They beat Texas Tech in the 1st round of the Tourney before losing in front of over 3,000 at Purdue, because the Boilermakers shot 76% to squeak out an 86-81 win. Asst. Coach Sue Semrau left to become the head coach of Florida State and has taken them to 15 NCAA’s and three Elite 8’s. Announcing the likes of Carol Owens and E.C. Hill for the Huskies was incredible fun.
My time at WKKD afforded me years of broadcasting girls’ high school sports as well. A few teams stick out like the Naperville Central softball team of 1988-89 that lost to Belleville East 2-0 in AA State Title game. Andy Nussbaum took that team to a record of 33-4. I went downstate to Champaign for both A and AA weekends for boys and girls basketball for more than ten years and saw some great talent. The Naperville North team of 1987-88 finished 4th under Dale Shymkewich and finished 27-5. They lost to York 47-45 in overtime in the semifinal and then fell to Marshall in the 3rd place game 59-43. Jenny Sovacool was all-tourney as a sophomore and was amazing.
I was also the voice of Aurora U. athletics for ten years, while at WKKD and the Spartans 1994 women’s basketball team was outstanding. Under James Lancaster, they finished 22-5 and were knocked out of the NCAA Tourney down in St. Louis at Wash. U. James took them to the postseason twice while I was there. I will always miss broadcasting AU softball at the old S.A. Field. Loved that place and those battles with BenU.
In the 2000’s I have broadcast countless memorable teams and players for Benedictine and Lewis U. Of course, for Lewis, their 2015 team made it all the way to the Elite 8 and frankly were the best team in the nation that year. I’ve talked about it before, but that might be the best team of any sport, male or female, that I ever announced for. They lost in the quarterfinal game 61-58 because the ball just wouldn’t go in the net. The Flyers shot 34%, missed 21 3’s and still had the ball with just a few seconds to go. Again, the ball wouldn’t go in. Mariyah Henley, the best player in the nation, frankly, was in foul trouble thanks to some terrible calls and only played 23 minutes, which didn’t help either. It still hurts to think about because watching the other seven teams there left me with no doubt that the Flyers were the best team. And boy were they fun to watch and be around with players like Henley, Nikki Nellen and Jamie Johnson, who in that Elite 8 game had a rough shooting night but still managed 4 blocks, 3 steals and 4 assists as the shooting guard. Henley and Johnson were first team all-americans. That team could do everything. Announcing for a team that is ranked #1 in the nation is pretty cool. And, of course, in recent years getting to see National Player of the Year Jessica Kelliher play for the Flyers was more than just a bit enjoyable. She had a 42 point, 17 rebound effort vs. Maryville as a senior as just one example of her domination. Coaches like Lisa Carlsen, Kristen Gillespie and Samantha Quigley Smith have been a joy to work with.
The Benedictine U. softball team, under Kate Heidkamp, was dominant for basically all of the 13 years I was there. Particularly memorable were the 2015 and 2016 teams. In 2015, they made it the Regional Title game at U of C before getting the knocked out. The next year they made it to the Super Regional with a team batting average of .322, as Holly Haberkorn won 23 games in the circle and they finished 38-17. Courtney Grasz led them at .398, Shannon Fritsche was a perfect 32 of 32 in steals and Kailee Cable, other than maybe Charles Johnson of the Kane County Cougars and eventually the White Sox, is the best all-around catcher I ever saw play at any level. She hit .345 as a senior with 43 rbi’s. I still miss that team, as well, to this day.
There are many other teams and athletes worth mentioning, and I miss the BenU women's volleyball team in particular, but these will do for now. My 17th year broadcasting the Lewis women’s basketball team continues on WJOL in Joliet and am looking forward to the next one too. Please and thank you.
1/30/2020
I am re-posting the story of how I met and got to have a long conversation and spend time with Walter Payton, my favorite athlete of all-time. I've told it before but it bears re-telling as I understand the reaction to the death of Kobe because I cried the day Walter died and I still tear up when I think about it. I was so glad he was as nice in person as I wanted him to be. I was covering the Blitz vs. Express for WMRO in Aurora and Walter was there for channel 7. I was just out of SIU and had my WIDB sticker on my notebook. He started the conversation by asking if that was college radio because he did the same at Jackson State. He was there working in the off-season, something big time athletes don't need to do anymore and he was even working while on crutches, thanks to arthroscopic knee surgery. (His signing bonus out of college was all of 129 thousand dollars) Walter also didn't have an entourage or anyone at all with him for that matter, so I became his bodyguard/assistant for the rest of that day and I was thankful for the opportunity. We had talked in the press box and then were waiting for the old slow single Soldier Field elevator to take us downstairs. I could have squeezed in and left him behind. But I thought, what the heck are you doing, lol, stand here and wait for the next one with your idol! He did not big-time anyone and surprisingly no one made room for him in that elevator. It was Walter, for goodness sake! That's how I became his helper. We took the next one by ourselves and when we eventually got down to the locker room, I held his mic for him while he interviewed the athletes as he balanced on his crutches and I made sure he did not got knocked into. I will never forget how covering a USFL game gave me the opportunity to spend time with Payton, what a great guy he was, and memories like that one make this ridiculous business I'm in worth all the nonsense and heartbreak.
I am re-posting the story of how I met and got to have a long conversation and spend time with Walter Payton, my favorite athlete of all-time. I've told it before but it bears re-telling as I understand the reaction to the death of Kobe because I cried the day Walter died and I still tear up when I think about it. I was so glad he was as nice in person as I wanted him to be. I was covering the Blitz vs. Express for WMRO in Aurora and Walter was there for channel 7. I was just out of SIU and had my WIDB sticker on my notebook. He started the conversation by asking if that was college radio because he did the same at Jackson State. He was there working in the off-season, something big time athletes don't need to do anymore and he was even working while on crutches, thanks to arthroscopic knee surgery. (His signing bonus out of college was all of 129 thousand dollars) Walter also didn't have an entourage or anyone at all with him for that matter, so I became his bodyguard/assistant for the rest of that day and I was thankful for the opportunity. We had talked in the press box and then were waiting for the old slow single Soldier Field elevator to take us downstairs. I could have squeezed in and left him behind. But I thought, what the heck are you doing, lol, stand here and wait for the next one with your idol! He did not big-time anyone and surprisingly no one made room for him in that elevator. It was Walter, for goodness sake! That's how I became his helper. We took the next one by ourselves and when we eventually got down to the locker room, I held his mic for him while he interviewed the athletes as he balanced on his crutches and I made sure he did not got knocked into. I will never forget how covering a USFL game gave me the opportunity to spend time with Payton, what a great guy he was, and memories like that one make this ridiculous business I'm in worth all the nonsense and heartbreak.
1/12/2020
I keep seeing old posts of mine in my facebook history looking back on my five years as radio announcer for the Kane County Cougars. I've decided to combine them here in this one long collection.
These are a few of my fondest memories including an entire series flooded out in Davenport, broadcasting in 106 degree weather, seeing ARod play as an 18 year old, seeing Edgar Renteria as a 16 year old, and more on the 1996 squad...
Seeing 'Mission Impossible' on HBO, of all things, spurred these memories coming forth. That movie on TV reminded me of going to see it in the theater in the summer of 1996 when I was the voice of the Cougars. We were trapped in Davenport, Iowa for a three game series with the Quad Cities River Bandits that got entirely rained out. There was terrible flooding that summer. We would show up at the park each day and wait out the rain for hours and eventually head back to the hotel. One day the coaches and I went to see that movie with nothing else to do after rainout number two. Davenport was not exactly a hot bed of entertainment and going to the Riverboat Casino once was enough of a contribution to the local economy, thank you very much. The flooding got so bad that the Mississippi River came right up to the outfield wall of the ballpark and from the pressbox I could see huge logs and debris floating quickly down the river just outside the fence. The dugouts were flooded completely up the top of the stairs and benches were put out along the right field line for players to use. We would take batting practice each day in the cages by the bullpen in the rain and wait to see if the game would be played. The parking lots were flooded and there was only one slim strip of land you could walk on to get to the the front gate. It was crazy that we would even consider playing those games but they didn't want to wash out the whole series if they could possibly avoid it. The River Bandits eventually had no choice because the entire field flooded shortly after we left town and they had to move their home games elsewhere for the rest of that season. By the way, that Cougars team included several players that would make the Majors including Mark Kotsay, Ryan Dempster, Josh Booty and Randy Winn. Joe Funaro was probably the fan favorite on that team though and a great great guy. Roosevelt Brown, who would play for the Cubs eventually, was one of the biggest tools I ever met in the minors. He came over in a mid-season deal from Atlanta and thought he was too big-time to carry his own bags in "A" ball! Nitwit.
1995 was the summer of unbelievable heat with temps over 100 for a long stretch of time. Elfstrom Stadium didn't have air conditioning at the time either. ESPN 2 was doing a minor league game of the week that season and came out to do one of ours with the game time temperature of 106 and humidity in the 90's. It was the third straight day of actual temps over 105. Matt Vasgersian and Steve Psycho Lyons came out to do the game in the booth next to mine. There was never a more miserable pair of guys in suit and tie than those two that day. I was in flip flops, shorts and a t-shirt with a fan pointing at me and a towel around my neck, thanks to only having to be on the radio. I was still miserable. I can't imagine their day but I did hear their curses through the wall during every commercial break! I will never forget it, lol. Ah, the glamor of minor league baseball. I still wouldn't trade it for the world. The 1995 Cougars team included Booty, Luis Castillo, Todd Dunwoody, Brian Meadows and Amaury Garcia.
I have told this story before, but it bears repeating after the terrible incident with a little girl getting hit by a batted ball. I was broadcasting a Cougars game in 1995 at Beloit. They played in a great old small neighborhood ballpark. Small, however, was the key. The foul territories were skinny to fit that park into that neighborhood, so the front rows over the dugouts were very close to the action. A Cougar play hit a screaming liner foul to the first row just behind the third base dugout, one day. As soon as it was hit, I cringed because you just knew immediately that it was going to be trouble. Sure enough, a middle aged lady with glasses got hit with that liner right between the eyes. We didn't know about exit velocity back then, but I can tell you that ball was hit like it was shot out of a canon. The netting only went to the start of the dugouts. She was in the front row in the middle of that dugout. It was horrific. Her glasses shattered and went flying, blood went everywhere and she slumped down. I honestly thought she was dead. It didn't know how she couldn't be. Play stopped and as people rushed to her aid and ambulance drove onto the field, as the quickest way to get to her. They lifted her over the dugout and into the ambulance to the hospital. There was a delay of about half an hour and nothing was the same when the game resumed. Everyone, me included, was a zombie going through the motions. Thankfully, and unbelievably, she turned out to be relatively okay. She suffered a broken eye socket and had a concussion but otherwise would recover to be fine. It was a miracle really. Netting should be all the way well past the dugouts everywhere. I have spent a lifetime and career broadcasting games behind the backstop or netting. It does not hinder my enjoyment one bit. After a while each day you don't even notice it. More importantly, there isn't much of a chance then of having a terrible accident ruin your or your child's health or day at the ballpark. That was not the only incident but one of many I have witnessed over the years. It was, though, the scariest. They should not be as frequent as the still are.
In defense of Josh Booty...Bleacher Report has an article on the 50 worst MLB Draft busts of all time and they list Booty as #1. Complete and utter nonsense. He was the 5th pick overall for the Marlins in 1994. Was he a bust? I don't even think you can call him that, let alone number one? Please. To me a bust does not even make the Majors. The biggest bust better not have even made it to AAA. I suppose I am biased. I spent 2 years with him at Kane County with the Cougars and I liked him a lot. He could hit the ball a country mile...or should I say he could hit a "fastball" a country mile. His homers were some of the longest I have ever seen in my 14 years in the Minors. Booty never did master the breaking ball, I suppose, but nobody worked harder and nobody was more humble as a millionaire bonus baby. I watched him hit off the tee and take extra, early, pre-game batting practice more times than you can imagine. Booty did set the Midwest League record for strikeouts as he worked and worked on the curveball. He also hit 21 home runs, ripped 25 doubles and drove in 87 runs in 1996. Not bust-like numbers to me. And he did work his way up to the Majors and even hit .269 in his short time there. He was the opening day starter at 3b for the Marlins in 1998, due to another's injury, but regardless, Booty got the call. (Sorry, I couldn't resist, lol) Yes, he did eventually leave to play qb at LSU and even spent a short time in the NFL, so he did not have a long MLB career, He is one of the few, though, to have ever played in MLB and the NLF. A baseball bust...no. Again, several "Number One" picks didn't even play in the Majors at all, so how is a #5 pick who was a starter at 3b for a short time in MLB the biggest ever bust? Not a chance.
And as long as I'm reminiscing about my time with the Kane County Cougars, I will tell this story about Alex Rodriguez...with him in the news today for his year long suspension from the Yankees. Rodriguez played against Kane County with Appleton in 1994 as a skinny 18 year old. He was an amazing player with tremendous speed. One day in that old ballpark in Wisconsin, he hit a gapper into right-center that most would have to hustle into a double. He ended by sliding safely into third. I remember telling people to come out and see him as soon as possible because he wasn't going to be in "A" ball very long. A-Rod would end that season all the way up in the Majors. He was also incredibly nice and would stay an hour after games to sign autographs. I remember leaving the stadium in Appleton after my postgame show, writing the postgame story and packing up the equipment to find him standing by the fence still signing things for kids all by himself. I was very impressed with him, so am very disappointed with what happened to him since. He obviously couldn't handle fame or money or expectations or whatever. Like Bonds, he had no need to cheat or take steroids or anything. He was tremendous without it. After being the number one overall draft pick, the 18 year old hit .319 in 65 games with 14 homers, 6 triples and 16 stolen bases for the Foxes. He has thrown away his legacy. It makes me sad. That 1994 Cougars team featured Kevin Millar, Antonio Alfonseca, Billy McMillion, Felix Heredia, Mike Redmond and Marc Valdes.
The 1993 team included a few players that fans of defense would love. A 16-year old Edgar Renteria started at shortstop and Charles Johnson was the catcher. I used to tell fans to come early just to watch infield practice. It was a thing of beauty for baseball lovers and well worth it. I have never seen a catcher like Johnson before or since. Besides being able to mash a fastball over 400 feet, he was a defensive machine, even in "A" ball. Every throw to second was identical...two inches off the ground and right at the bag. Every one. It was awe inspiring, if you are into that sorta thing :). And Renteria was already one of the best shortstops around. His bat wasn't really ready yet, as his .203 average would attest but his glove was already golden. A throw from Johnson to Renteria to first was a lot of fun to watch. Mike Redmond, who went on to be the Marlins manager, was Johnson's backup catcher. In other words, Mike didn't play much. My memory had Luis Castillo at 2b that year but a double check says it was Chris Clapinski. Chris made it to the Marlins for a cup of coffee but was no Castillo, who was also a magician with the glove for the '95 team as it turns out and fun to watch take infield too. The '93 team also included Hector Carrasco. His fastball hit 99 mph even if it didn't always hit Johnson's mitt. He struckout 127, walked 76 and hit 11 that summer. I assume those bruises are now just about healed. I do want to mention Lynn Jones, the manager for most of my time there. A better man you will not find and was a pretty fair outfielder for the Royals and Tigers in his day. The thing about being an announcer is that the games are not the only enjoyable part.
The summer of 1992 was my first with the team and just their second of existence. WKKD brought them aboard and I jumped into the booth as color man. I was the one who pushed for them to brought to the station in the first place and was very excited when it happened. It was their last year affiliated with the Orioles before moving to the Marlins. Alex Ochoa was their best player. He hit .295 that year with 22 doubles and 31 stolen bases. Curtis Goodwin stole 52 that season, hitting .282. Scott McClain was also on that team and B.J. Waszgis was the catcher. Pitching was the main story for that team. Rick Krivda won 12 games and only allowed 108 hits in 121 2/3 innings. Rick Forney, Bobby Chouinard, Jimmy Haynes and Scott Klingenbeck also starred on the hill. Chris Lemp saved 26 games for a team that somehow only finished 61-76 for Manager Joel Youngblood. He takes a little bit of that blame for me as you could tell he did not want to be in "A" ball at all and was only clocking time until he could be back in the Majors as a coach. Another factor was the entire team hit only 43 homers for the season. They had to steal all those bases to try to generate runs. Waszgis led the team with all of 11 long balls. They still were a very enjoyable team to watch. I was doing the games for free, just because I loved it. I would do my afternoon talk show on WKKD-AM until 6pm and then race to the ballpark to do the color for the 7pm games on WKKD-FM. Steve Gibralter of Cedar Rapids was the league MVP that season. Who? I know. He only managed a cup of coffee, six whole games in MLB, with the Reds a few years later. Nothing is a certainty in the the Minors.
More on the 1996 squad, as I found this team picture. That team did indeed feature an amazing 9 future Major Leaguers. Not pictured with the other 7 are Ryan Dempster and Roosevelt Brown who we acquired later in the season. The 7 here are Alex Gonzalez, Randy Winn, Josh Booty, Mark Kotsay, Amaury Garcia, Nate Rolison and Mike Duvall. Another 6 made it to AAA like Jaime Jones and fan favorite Joe Funaro. Kotsay, Booty and Jones were all millionaire 1st round bonus babies who lived together and all great guys. I loved that summer and that team. Only the Championship summer of the 2011 Joliet Slammers is it's equal in my 14 minor league seasons. Their record was actually just 65-68 in 1996. We finished 2nd in homers but just 11th in runs. We also struck out more than any other, so those hitters had a way to go. But they were not boring! They did finish 3rd in ERA but 9th in strikeouts. The best record that season belonged to Peoria with Cliff Politte, Britt Reames and not much else, lol. Politte was incredible, though. He allowed just 108 hits in 149.2 innings, while striking out 151. Kerry Robinson was their only position player to make MLB. That is also the summer David Ortiz had 93 rbis for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and Jeff Liefer hit the longest home run I ever saw in my life for South Bend. How he didn't become a star for the White Sox I will never know. Another great thing was 1996 was the second summer of having former White Sox star 3b Bill Melton as my color man. He left during this summer though to become the Sox pre and post-game TV host. He was a joy to work with. For the rest of this summer, my friends Steve J Moga and Mark Lindo filled in for Melton, so I had the best of both worlds.
One last thing, in 1996 in particular, after almost every game, the coaching staff and I would go out for a burger and beer at the local Applebee's or wherever. I would drive me car on road trips, instead of take the bus, so my car was the transportation around each roadtrip town. I thought I knew baseball pretty well by then, but talking to those guys every night for five months taught me more about the game then I can ever measure or repay. Those hours were as enjoyable as the broadcasts. I loved that job and I will miss doing baseball games for the rest of my life, if I never get another chance. I tip my cap to my time at the old Elfstrom Stadium and the Midwest League.
12/19/2019
Another trip down radio memory lane since I have some time on my hands--
I saw that my friend, and fellow Frontier League baseball announcer, Greg Halbleig, was let go by WJBC in Bloomington a few days ago. I just wanted to tell him that if I was the PD there, he would still have a job. As a matter of fact, I was supposed to be the Program Director there. Yes, here is another of my tough luck radio stories for you. I was hired to be the PD and talk show host in Bloomington a few years ago but never got started. Imagine that, lol. I was then, just a short time later, about to be hired as the PD and talk show host at WRMN in Elgin. That didn't happen either! I have said that I am the 'Nearly Man' of Radio. Here is more proof. Ray Poulidor was known as the Nearly Man of Cycling for his 8 podium finishes at the Tour de France but never stood on the top step. Well, I keep finishing second in my attempts to get radio jobs. Here is another chapter for my book.
First off, the Bloomington story. My Mom grew up in Bloomington. I have been there many, many times in my broadcasting career and really enjoyed it there. WJBC, the WJOL or WKKD of Bloomington if you will, advertised for a new Program Director and talk show host a few years ago. I would love that job, I thought. I never wanted to leave WKKD in Aurora in the 90's and would still be their PD/talk show host to this day but bad luck took that from me in 1996 after 11 years. I became a finalist at WJBC and Chris and I even started looking for houses down there. We drove by my Mom's old house on Mulberry St. and enjoyed the thought of finding a house of our own. We never told anybody, because we wanted to wait until it was a sure thing. Good thing, I guess. I had a meeting at WJBC and toured the station, met just about everyone and was told I had the job. I was very excited. WJBC is one of the legendary stations in Illinois. My grandmother, Mabel Foley, even had her own 15 minute radio show on Sundays in the 1930's singing songs while her friend played piano on WJBC. Mabel even recorded a few 78 rpm records back in the day. So to be a part of a station that Mabel was on 80 years earlier was a kick. I just had one more hurdle to clear but was told it was just a formality. The station was owned by one of the big conglomerates and I had to talk to their regional PD on the phone and get his okay. He would give me a call the next week. The call never happened. I kept asking why I hadn't heard from him. Well, after about three weeks, I learned that regional PD decided to hire his friend to be WJBC's PD instead, without even consulting the station. His buddy wanted to return to the 'Midwest' and got the job, even though he knew nothing of Bloomington or WJBC. I knew all the sports guys there and had broadcast Bloomington Hearts fastpitch games, ISU, Illinois Wesleyan, Normal pro baseball, state tournament football games and more there over the years. I was crushed. So, of course, he didn't even last 12 months on the job and left. Infuriating. I would still be there, believe me. They have since hired someone else, but I was not interested.
Now on to WRMN in Elgin. After that Bloomington episode, I see the job opening in Elgin. I had two interviews and am told I am one of two finalists and get another interview that includes the owner. I tell him I want to be there because it is like WMRO, WKKD and WJOL, places I have worked. I have been screwed by networks and conglomerates and appreciate local ownership. He tells me that he is not going anywhere. I leave that meeting with the understanding that I have the job. The chief engineer even takes me on another tour, talking specifics this time and even put my number in his phone. He is not doing that if I am not the guy. They said they had the meeting with the other finalist to do but that also was just a formality. A week goes by and I don't hear anything. WTF. Then I read they hired the other guy. Really? They never told me either way. I read it in the paper. Then a few days after that, I read that the owner sold the radio station! That's why I didn't get the job. The owner had looked me in the eye and said he was never selling and then sold it. I guess he didn't want to then have that conversation with me. Aargh. So since then I have gotten and lost my jobs at IRN and USTN. This is a profession I love and it is in my blood but it keeps breaking my heart. Who knows if there will be any more opportunities for heartbreak. We'll see. Please and thank you.
Another trip down radio memory lane since I have some time on my hands--
I saw that my friend, and fellow Frontier League baseball announcer, Greg Halbleig, was let go by WJBC in Bloomington a few days ago. I just wanted to tell him that if I was the PD there, he would still have a job. As a matter of fact, I was supposed to be the Program Director there. Yes, here is another of my tough luck radio stories for you. I was hired to be the PD and talk show host in Bloomington a few years ago but never got started. Imagine that, lol. I was then, just a short time later, about to be hired as the PD and talk show host at WRMN in Elgin. That didn't happen either! I have said that I am the 'Nearly Man' of Radio. Here is more proof. Ray Poulidor was known as the Nearly Man of Cycling for his 8 podium finishes at the Tour de France but never stood on the top step. Well, I keep finishing second in my attempts to get radio jobs. Here is another chapter for my book.
First off, the Bloomington story. My Mom grew up in Bloomington. I have been there many, many times in my broadcasting career and really enjoyed it there. WJBC, the WJOL or WKKD of Bloomington if you will, advertised for a new Program Director and talk show host a few years ago. I would love that job, I thought. I never wanted to leave WKKD in Aurora in the 90's and would still be their PD/talk show host to this day but bad luck took that from me in 1996 after 11 years. I became a finalist at WJBC and Chris and I even started looking for houses down there. We drove by my Mom's old house on Mulberry St. and enjoyed the thought of finding a house of our own. We never told anybody, because we wanted to wait until it was a sure thing. Good thing, I guess. I had a meeting at WJBC and toured the station, met just about everyone and was told I had the job. I was very excited. WJBC is one of the legendary stations in Illinois. My grandmother, Mabel Foley, even had her own 15 minute radio show on Sundays in the 1930's singing songs while her friend played piano on WJBC. Mabel even recorded a few 78 rpm records back in the day. So to be a part of a station that Mabel was on 80 years earlier was a kick. I just had one more hurdle to clear but was told it was just a formality. The station was owned by one of the big conglomerates and I had to talk to their regional PD on the phone and get his okay. He would give me a call the next week. The call never happened. I kept asking why I hadn't heard from him. Well, after about three weeks, I learned that regional PD decided to hire his friend to be WJBC's PD instead, without even consulting the station. His buddy wanted to return to the 'Midwest' and got the job, even though he knew nothing of Bloomington or WJBC. I knew all the sports guys there and had broadcast Bloomington Hearts fastpitch games, ISU, Illinois Wesleyan, Normal pro baseball, state tournament football games and more there over the years. I was crushed. So, of course, he didn't even last 12 months on the job and left. Infuriating. I would still be there, believe me. They have since hired someone else, but I was not interested.
Now on to WRMN in Elgin. After that Bloomington episode, I see the job opening in Elgin. I had two interviews and am told I am one of two finalists and get another interview that includes the owner. I tell him I want to be there because it is like WMRO, WKKD and WJOL, places I have worked. I have been screwed by networks and conglomerates and appreciate local ownership. He tells me that he is not going anywhere. I leave that meeting with the understanding that I have the job. The chief engineer even takes me on another tour, talking specifics this time and even put my number in his phone. He is not doing that if I am not the guy. They said they had the meeting with the other finalist to do but that also was just a formality. A week goes by and I don't hear anything. WTF. Then I read they hired the other guy. Really? They never told me either way. I read it in the paper. Then a few days after that, I read that the owner sold the radio station! That's why I didn't get the job. The owner had looked me in the eye and said he was never selling and then sold it. I guess he didn't want to then have that conversation with me. Aargh. So since then I have gotten and lost my jobs at IRN and USTN. This is a profession I love and it is in my blood but it keeps breaking my heart. Who knows if there will be any more opportunities for heartbreak. We'll see. Please and thank you.
12/7/2019
Billy Buck passed away in May. For some reason the story of his death popped up online today. It reminds me that I haven't really posted much about my favorite Cub. Here are a few words from that day...
It's been a tough day for a number of reasons but this definitely isn't helping. RIP Bill Buckner. Included is a picture I took of him at the old Milwaukee County Stadium, when he was White Sox hitting coach. Buck is my favorite Cub of all time. Ernie Banks was my favorite when I was a little kid, but Buckner is my all-timer. He was recently a hitting coach for the Cubs minor league team in Boise. Then Lewy Body Dementia set in. Aargh. He was the epitome of a gamer. I have sung his praises before on here, but will again because he was a 'ballplayer' and that is the best compliment I can give. He won a batting title as a Cub, was an All-Star here and had a .289 average for his career. He was a good young outfielder for the Dodgers and his bad knees turned him into a tough, gritty, very good first baseman in Chicago. He played for 22 years, most while icing his creaky knees before and after games, finishing with 2,715 hits. I won't even mention his time in Boston. Fuck those people. Excuse my French. They didn't deserve him. He did not cost them a World Series and neither did Bartman here. His uniform was always dirty before the first inning was over. He threw his body all over the field and hit like a demon. He played for eight years here while twice finishing in the top ten in MVP voting. Buck hit 306, .311, .323 and .324 here as a Cub. That .324 won him his batting title in 1980, when he also had 41 doubles. He almost never struck out either. He led the league in at-bats per strikeout four times. In 1982, Buck struck out just 26 times in 709 plate appearances. He won two league doubles titles with 35 and 38, while those 41 did not win the title in 1980. Pete Rose had 42 that season. I went down on the field before that Brewers-Sox game that day in 1997 not just to take his picture but to stand at the cage during batting practice and talk to my favorite player. Getting to do that is one of my favorite things I ever did as a baseball reporter. I literally carried his baseball card in my wallet for years. He will be missed by this baseball fanatic.
Billy Buck passed away in May. For some reason the story of his death popped up online today. It reminds me that I haven't really posted much about my favorite Cub. Here are a few words from that day...
It's been a tough day for a number of reasons but this definitely isn't helping. RIP Bill Buckner. Included is a picture I took of him at the old Milwaukee County Stadium, when he was White Sox hitting coach. Buck is my favorite Cub of all time. Ernie Banks was my favorite when I was a little kid, but Buckner is my all-timer. He was recently a hitting coach for the Cubs minor league team in Boise. Then Lewy Body Dementia set in. Aargh. He was the epitome of a gamer. I have sung his praises before on here, but will again because he was a 'ballplayer' and that is the best compliment I can give. He won a batting title as a Cub, was an All-Star here and had a .289 average for his career. He was a good young outfielder for the Dodgers and his bad knees turned him into a tough, gritty, very good first baseman in Chicago. He played for 22 years, most while icing his creaky knees before and after games, finishing with 2,715 hits. I won't even mention his time in Boston. Fuck those people. Excuse my French. They didn't deserve him. He did not cost them a World Series and neither did Bartman here. His uniform was always dirty before the first inning was over. He threw his body all over the field and hit like a demon. He played for eight years here while twice finishing in the top ten in MVP voting. Buck hit 306, .311, .323 and .324 here as a Cub. That .324 won him his batting title in 1980, when he also had 41 doubles. He almost never struck out either. He led the league in at-bats per strikeout four times. In 1982, Buck struck out just 26 times in 709 plate appearances. He won two league doubles titles with 35 and 38, while those 41 did not win the title in 1980. Pete Rose had 42 that season. I went down on the field before that Brewers-Sox game that day in 1997 not just to take his picture but to stand at the cage during batting practice and talk to my favorite player. Getting to do that is one of my favorite things I ever did as a baseball reporter. I literally carried his baseball card in my wallet for years. He will be missed by this baseball fanatic.
11/24/2019
Thanksgiving week is always weird for me, thanks to my good/bad luck with radio jobs. This time of year is when I have gotten some great jobs but my bad luck means I don't get to keep them for very long. This week is the 5th anniversary of my starting my job at IRN, a job I loved and wanted to do for the rest of my career. Naturally, the network shut it's doors here less than a year later, lol. My job at USTN kicked into high gear a couple years ago when I did a double-shift of traffic for WGN radio and spent that entire Thanksgiving on the air for them. That company went out of business less than a year later, and so it goes. I would always do a double-shift at 1on1 Sports/Sporting News Radio on Thanksgiving. And just as I settled into 45 hours a week for them a short time later 11 years ago or so, they moved to California. This Thursday will also mark the 20th anniversary of my beginning at WSCR. My first shift at the Score was Thanksgiving of 1999. Thankfully that job lasted a little longer and I spent 7 years there, but the way that job ended still hurts and wouldn't have happened at all if that station was a union shop. I was forced to work 45 hours per week for the last two years without full-time salary or any benefits. I'd still be there if that wasn't allowed to happen and I still think about that. Re-posting a couple of these notes below is more for me and my emotional, sentimental self than for anyone else, but feel free to read these old Facebook notes about my starting at IRN and the Score. Please and thank you.
November 24, 2014
I wanted to share some good news. I am the new morning-drive news anchor at the Illinois Radio Network. My first day on the air is tomorrow. IRN is carried on more than 40 stations across Illinois. The majority of affiliates are downstate, but the network is based here in the Loop. It is an honor to take over for Jan Coleman. I will remain the broadcaster for Lewis University Flyers Athletics and Benedictine Eagle Athletics though, so it is the best of both worlds. The sad part is that I will not be able to stay on as the voice of the Joliet Slammers baseball team. I just wouldn't be able to go on those road trips with my daily newscasts back here in Chicago. I want to thank the ballclub for a great summer of 2014. They are a hard-working and classy bunch and I wish them much future success. I am so glad I got to go back to Silver Cross Field and broadcast one more season. This is just an opportunity I could not pass up for me and my family. I also get to be re-united with my old pals from Sporting News Radio. The sports side of IRN includes Jason Goch, Jim Talamonti and Brad Robinson. I am looking forward to getting started.
November 26, 2014
So I drove by the old Belmont Ave. address of WSCR/the Score the other day. It reminded me that the 15th anniversary of my first day there is coming up. I started at the old building there on Thanksgiving Day of 1999. It wasn't just a thrill because it was the Score but also because that was my and my Dad's old neighborhood. My grandmother lived just a few blocks down at the corner of Kostner and Belmont, and I spent my first year of existence living there. Even when my parents moved out of my Grandma's 2-flat to Palatine, we came back all the time to see her. To get to work just down the street from where I cut Grandma Vasko's grass as a kid was very cool. I spent 7 years total at WSCR and miss it to this day. The old building on Belmont was something else. The sports production room was a converted coat closet. Really. We shared the building with WXRT and space was tight to say the least. The 'parking lot' so to speak held a total of 3 cars, if I remember correctly. The move to the NBC Tower was definitely a move to the big time and from reel-to-reel tapes to digital as well. No more grease pencils and razor blades to 'cut up' tape and interviews. I ended up as the anchor for the the Boers and Bernstein show for my last two years there and was also the between-periods update anchor for BlackHawks games and the Buffone/O'B Bears post-game shows. All memorable to say the least. Despite all that, I was always 'part-time, full-time' so to speak and eventually got a better deal with Sporting News Radio, then based in Northbrook. I loved my time there too and that is another story entirely. But for now, I am thinking back to my time spent with a bunch of characters and good guys and gals that I bump into occasionally and still talk to here on Facebook etc. as well. Radio certainly hasn't made me rich money-wise, but memories and friends I have plenty of.
Thanksgiving week is always weird for me, thanks to my good/bad luck with radio jobs. This time of year is when I have gotten some great jobs but my bad luck means I don't get to keep them for very long. This week is the 5th anniversary of my starting my job at IRN, a job I loved and wanted to do for the rest of my career. Naturally, the network shut it's doors here less than a year later, lol. My job at USTN kicked into high gear a couple years ago when I did a double-shift of traffic for WGN radio and spent that entire Thanksgiving on the air for them. That company went out of business less than a year later, and so it goes. I would always do a double-shift at 1on1 Sports/Sporting News Radio on Thanksgiving. And just as I settled into 45 hours a week for them a short time later 11 years ago or so, they moved to California. This Thursday will also mark the 20th anniversary of my beginning at WSCR. My first shift at the Score was Thanksgiving of 1999. Thankfully that job lasted a little longer and I spent 7 years there, but the way that job ended still hurts and wouldn't have happened at all if that station was a union shop. I was forced to work 45 hours per week for the last two years without full-time salary or any benefits. I'd still be there if that wasn't allowed to happen and I still think about that. Re-posting a couple of these notes below is more for me and my emotional, sentimental self than for anyone else, but feel free to read these old Facebook notes about my starting at IRN and the Score. Please and thank you.
November 24, 2014
I wanted to share some good news. I am the new morning-drive news anchor at the Illinois Radio Network. My first day on the air is tomorrow. IRN is carried on more than 40 stations across Illinois. The majority of affiliates are downstate, but the network is based here in the Loop. It is an honor to take over for Jan Coleman. I will remain the broadcaster for Lewis University Flyers Athletics and Benedictine Eagle Athletics though, so it is the best of both worlds. The sad part is that I will not be able to stay on as the voice of the Joliet Slammers baseball team. I just wouldn't be able to go on those road trips with my daily newscasts back here in Chicago. I want to thank the ballclub for a great summer of 2014. They are a hard-working and classy bunch and I wish them much future success. I am so glad I got to go back to Silver Cross Field and broadcast one more season. This is just an opportunity I could not pass up for me and my family. I also get to be re-united with my old pals from Sporting News Radio. The sports side of IRN includes Jason Goch, Jim Talamonti and Brad Robinson. I am looking forward to getting started.
November 26, 2014
So I drove by the old Belmont Ave. address of WSCR/the Score the other day. It reminded me that the 15th anniversary of my first day there is coming up. I started at the old building there on Thanksgiving Day of 1999. It wasn't just a thrill because it was the Score but also because that was my and my Dad's old neighborhood. My grandmother lived just a few blocks down at the corner of Kostner and Belmont, and I spent my first year of existence living there. Even when my parents moved out of my Grandma's 2-flat to Palatine, we came back all the time to see her. To get to work just down the street from where I cut Grandma Vasko's grass as a kid was very cool. I spent 7 years total at WSCR and miss it to this day. The old building on Belmont was something else. The sports production room was a converted coat closet. Really. We shared the building with WXRT and space was tight to say the least. The 'parking lot' so to speak held a total of 3 cars, if I remember correctly. The move to the NBC Tower was definitely a move to the big time and from reel-to-reel tapes to digital as well. No more grease pencils and razor blades to 'cut up' tape and interviews. I ended up as the anchor for the the Boers and Bernstein show for my last two years there and was also the between-periods update anchor for BlackHawks games and the Buffone/O'B Bears post-game shows. All memorable to say the least. Despite all that, I was always 'part-time, full-time' so to speak and eventually got a better deal with Sporting News Radio, then based in Northbrook. I loved my time there too and that is another story entirely. But for now, I am thinking back to my time spent with a bunch of characters and good guys and gals that I bump into occasionally and still talk to here on Facebook etc. as well. Radio certainly hasn't made me rich money-wise, but memories and friends I have plenty of.
11/18/2019
I laugh way too often at the Chicago Bears. And no, it isn't really better than crying. And I'm going to just keep saying Robbie Gould over and over because it is just unforgivable. Also it has been pointed out as a reminder by Brad Robinson that Ryan Pace traded away 6 draft picks and used an additional 2 draft picks because he couldn't live without a Mitch Trubisky/Anthony Miller combo.
And btw, that was the worst option play I've ever seen. Not that it would have worked anyway. Mitch is not a threat to run anymore since he is never called to, even if it is what he does best. This team is an embarrassment.
I laugh way too often at the Chicago Bears. And no, it isn't really better than crying. And I'm going to just keep saying Robbie Gould over and over because it is just unforgivable. Also it has been pointed out as a reminder by Brad Robinson that Ryan Pace traded away 6 draft picks and used an additional 2 draft picks because he couldn't live without a Mitch Trubisky/Anthony Miller combo.
And btw, that was the worst option play I've ever seen. Not that it would have worked anyway. Mitch is not a threat to run anymore since he is never called to, even if it is what he does best. This team is an embarrassment.
11/4/2019
Yesterday was the Hot Chocolate 15k run and it reminded me that the 2015 version was my first real distance run of any kind. I was very proud of my 9 miles and was pretty damn tired when it was over. I never would have guessed I was going to finish my first marathon less than a year later. So since the 2015 Hot Chocolate, I have finished two marathons and two half marathons. Pretty proud these old legs have accomplished that. I might be slow but I can call myself a runner. I'll take it. And I am not stopping any time soon. I will be back for the Marine Corps Marathon again next year and the 8k Turkey Trot is up next.
Yesterday was the Hot Chocolate 15k run and it reminded me that the 2015 version was my first real distance run of any kind. I was very proud of my 9 miles and was pretty damn tired when it was over. I never would have guessed I was going to finish my first marathon less than a year later. So since the 2015 Hot Chocolate, I have finished two marathons and two half marathons. Pretty proud these old legs have accomplished that. I might be slow but I can call myself a runner. I'll take it. And I am not stopping any time soon. I will be back for the Marine Corps Marathon again next year and the 8k Turkey Trot is up next.
11/4/2019
So with another Bears quarterback draft pick wasted, it is time once again for me to call out football people on their almost universal misunderstanding of the most important position in sports. For the love of God, stop picking quarterbacks because of height, arm strength and athleticism and actually pick them for what matters most...accuracy, leadership and instincts. Those other things are important, they are just 3, 4 and 5, not 1, 2 and 3. Accuracy matters most of all. You know, can he actually play quarterback?! Arm strength is the most overrated thing in all of sports. How many times does he have to throw the ball 60 yards? Almost never. He does, however, have to hit a moving target, closely covered about 13 yards downfield dozens of times a season. He obviously has the arm strength to do that or wouldn't have been good in college in the first place. Can he lead his team? Will they run through a wall and believe in him. That is number two. Again, all that other stuff is nice if he has 1 and 2. If not, as we see time and time again here in Chicago, it means a wasted pick. Trubisky is mobile. So what? He doesn't use it because they don't want him to get hurt, so who cares if he has it in the first place. Does he have instincts? Can he think on his feet? Does he have a feel for the game? Those are number 3. Again, all that athleticism doesn't do anybody any good if he can't think his way out of a paper bag and know the game inside and out. Play the 5'11" kid who can throw the ball through the tire, not the 6'4" kid who can throw it 40 yards over the tire, damnit! How do people whose life is football not know this stuff? They don't, or they wouldn't keep screwing up. Tom Brady is not mobile. He was unimpressive at the combine. But he's a leader who hits his target. He was also a 6th round draft pick. Screw the damn combine! Can he play football? Did he play good football in college?! Qbs picked ahead of him in 2000...Chad Pennington, Giovanni Carmazzi (no, I'm not making that up), Chris Redman, Tee Martin and Spergon Wynn. Smart football people supposedly made those picks. Good lord. As successful as Brady has been, nobody has learned the lesson. Peyton Manning was an accurate leader. Worked out pretty well, I would say. How is it that there are not more of those types. Kurt Warner was undrafted? How is that possible? Why do GM's fall in love with size and athleticism over accuracy. I will never know as long as I live. But they are bad at their jobs if they do, period. Knock it the hell off and get my team a genuine quarterback for frick's sake!
11/3/2019
So this was the morning-after the Cubs World Series game 7 win three years ago. Looking at my Facebook history, it was all Cubs as you can imagine. It still means as much to me now, thinking about that night and how much the Cubs mean to me and have meant to me. The majority of conversations my Dad and I have had in our lives have to do with the Cubs, lol. And thanks to the Cubs, my Grandma Foley and I always had something to talk about. No one was a bigger Cubs fan than she was. Here is a re-post of my shout-out to her and my Grandpa Vasko, another huge Cubs fan, from three years ago today. I still miss Mabel and wish I had gotten to know Grandpa Mike.
My sentimental shout-out goes to a grandparent on each side of the family. I've mentioned my Grandma Foley here recently. She was a diehard Cubs fan who lived at Clark and Irving when I was a kid. You could see inside Wrigley's upper deck from her window. My Grandpa Vasko was a huge Cubs fan too. He died when I was five so I don't remember much but I do know he was a regular at Wrigley dating all the way back to the 1930's. I thought of them both last night. I still wish I could find that copy of the Tribune sports-page we had stored in a box somewhere. It dated back to about 1958. It was a pic of the Cubs rightfielder, Lee Walls perhaps, making a catch. You can also see the right field bleachers in the picture. A lone figure sits halfway up, with no one around in a mostly empty ballpark. It was Grandpa Vasko. He would hop the streetcar and go to many many games according to my Dad. Grandpa was never all that healthy as he got older and an afternoon at the ballpark was good therapy. I got the Cubs disease from both sides of the family. This Championship is the kind of thing that makes you a little kid again, just for a while.
So this was the morning-after the Cubs World Series game 7 win three years ago. Looking at my Facebook history, it was all Cubs as you can imagine. It still means as much to me now, thinking about that night and how much the Cubs mean to me and have meant to me. The majority of conversations my Dad and I have had in our lives have to do with the Cubs, lol. And thanks to the Cubs, my Grandma Foley and I always had something to talk about. No one was a bigger Cubs fan than she was. Here is a re-post of my shout-out to her and my Grandpa Vasko, another huge Cubs fan, from three years ago today. I still miss Mabel and wish I had gotten to know Grandpa Mike.
My sentimental shout-out goes to a grandparent on each side of the family. I've mentioned my Grandma Foley here recently. She was a diehard Cubs fan who lived at Clark and Irving when I was a kid. You could see inside Wrigley's upper deck from her window. My Grandpa Vasko was a huge Cubs fan too. He died when I was five so I don't remember much but I do know he was a regular at Wrigley dating all the way back to the 1930's. I thought of them both last night. I still wish I could find that copy of the Tribune sports-page we had stored in a box somewhere. It dated back to about 1958. It was a pic of the Cubs rightfielder, Lee Walls perhaps, making a catch. You can also see the right field bleachers in the picture. A lone figure sits halfway up, with no one around in a mostly empty ballpark. It was Grandpa Vasko. He would hop the streetcar and go to many many games according to my Dad. Grandpa was never all that healthy as he got older and an afternoon at the ballpark was good therapy. I got the Cubs disease from both sides of the family. This Championship is the kind of thing that makes you a little kid again, just for a while.
10/24/2019
I am very happy about David Ross becoming Cubs Manager. He was a vocal leader in the clubhouse on their World Series team and left a void in that department when he left. They had no vocal leader the last couple seasons and it showed. Rizzo is not a vocal leader and never will be. Ross will hold them accountable again. Plus, catchers can definitely make good managers since they are leaders on the field as players and have to know where everybody is at all times, as well as call pitches and therefore know their staffs strengths and weaknesses etc. So he already knows the pitching staff he will be working with on this club and knows their stuff and their work habits. He will get help from the coaches that he needs. He has been around the game forever and is a good guy and good with the media. The team already knows him and respects him. Good stuff.
And good lord. The cynicism cascading from some of the haters of this hire says more about them than Theo, Jed or Ross. Nothing is a guarantee but they know Ross, worked with him, interviewed him. It isn't capricious or lazy. Every concern mentioned I'm sure occurred to them too. Hiring him anyway actually should be encouraging then. They know their job. I swear, some people are just negative to be negative. It is their automatic response to everything. Lighten up Francis.
I am very happy about David Ross becoming Cubs Manager. He was a vocal leader in the clubhouse on their World Series team and left a void in that department when he left. They had no vocal leader the last couple seasons and it showed. Rizzo is not a vocal leader and never will be. Ross will hold them accountable again. Plus, catchers can definitely make good managers since they are leaders on the field as players and have to know where everybody is at all times, as well as call pitches and therefore know their staffs strengths and weaknesses etc. So he already knows the pitching staff he will be working with on this club and knows their stuff and their work habits. He will get help from the coaches that he needs. He has been around the game forever and is a good guy and good with the media. The team already knows him and respects him. Good stuff.
And good lord. The cynicism cascading from some of the haters of this hire says more about them than Theo, Jed or Ross. Nothing is a guarantee but they know Ross, worked with him, interviewed him. It isn't capricious or lazy. Every concern mentioned I'm sure occurred to them too. Hiring him anyway actually should be encouraging then. They know their job. I swear, some people are just negative to be negative. It is their automatic response to everything. Lighten up Francis.
9/30/2019
It was time. Nothing against Maddon as a manager or a guy but like Lovie and Coach Q, despite earlier success, it had run it's course. Laissez-faire wasn't working anymore.
And a few more thoughts on the Cubs and Maddon, since I don't have a talk show to vent all this. There are a lot of reasons they are not in the post season. Blame is a team effort in this case, but the Manager is part of that too. There has been a lot of talk about Jed and Theo today as well. I will acknowledge they are not above criticism but they saw holes and tried to fill them. They should have not entered the season without a genuine leadoff hitter, certainly. They saw the need for offense and brought in Castellanos, though. They thought they had a closer in either C.J. Edwards or Pedro Strop etc. That obviously did not work, so went out and acquired Craig Kimbrel. His failure and injuries are not on them. Mike Montgomery's implosion is not on them either. Those players are part of the pitching woes of this team. Maddon does not get the blame for their failures either. I have issues with Maddon in 2019 but pitching is not one of them. Picking the wrong reliever goes to the Manager often but what was he to do? I am not thrilled he kept trotting out the usual suspects but there weren't many hot hands to rely on. Jed, Theo and McLeod are also getting grief for their unproductive drafts of late. While that is certainly true, nobody would even be thinking about that if Jorge Soler and Eloy Jimenez were still on the team. Players have been produced. Besides leadoff man, their main shortcoming is the lack of young pitching depth in the system. Now to Maddon. His 2019 team was bad at defense, a prior strength, and bad at baserunning. There was not accountability for shoddy play. No players apparently stepped up to take a leadership role either but that means it is even more important for the Manager to do more than just make out the lineup. The lineup is my other problem with Maddon. While he was not given a true leadoff hitter, Rizzo was the best of the rest and he would just not put him there enough. Almora was not the answer but neither was Jason Heyward. Maddon let that experiment go on way too long. Also, it seemed his lineups never allowed for any reward for good play or the hot hand. It became a joke between me and my Dad that whoever had a good day would definitely not play the next day. A two-homer day was a guarantee to sit the following game! Why? If Baez etc.had a double and homer, he would not be in the lineup for the next one and so on. It was almost without fail. Maddon was even asked about it, since it was so obvious. His response was that he made out the lineups prior to an entire series before it started. So what? They couldn't be amended? Ridiculous. Also, your MVP third baseman should not have to worry about playing multiple positions and neither should your all-star catcher. Injuries certainly did not help and the one to Baez in crunch time was a terrible blow but this roster had enough talent to be in the post-season. The bullpen woes could have then been circumvented with starters in certain spots in short series and so on. But they did not do it. Lack of leadership from the roster also is to blame. Rizzo is a great, great guy but he needed to be someone to hold mental mistakes as unacceptable in that clubhouse. Others too. There did not ever seem to be a sense of urgency from them. That terrible late losing streak was a signal of a tight team. Being swept by the Cardinals when it mattered and then beating them when it did not, goes to the locker room and mental approach or lack thereof. The Cardinals and Brewers were two of the hottest teams in baseball in the second half, but the Cubs should have been able to hold them off. They all need to look in the mirror. Maddon is one of the main reasons they have a Championship ring but teams and times change. A new message from the top step of the dugout will hopefully get that sense of urgency and accountability back.
It was time. Nothing against Maddon as a manager or a guy but like Lovie and Coach Q, despite earlier success, it had run it's course. Laissez-faire wasn't working anymore.
And a few more thoughts on the Cubs and Maddon, since I don't have a talk show to vent all this. There are a lot of reasons they are not in the post season. Blame is a team effort in this case, but the Manager is part of that too. There has been a lot of talk about Jed and Theo today as well. I will acknowledge they are not above criticism but they saw holes and tried to fill them. They should have not entered the season without a genuine leadoff hitter, certainly. They saw the need for offense and brought in Castellanos, though. They thought they had a closer in either C.J. Edwards or Pedro Strop etc. That obviously did not work, so went out and acquired Craig Kimbrel. His failure and injuries are not on them. Mike Montgomery's implosion is not on them either. Those players are part of the pitching woes of this team. Maddon does not get the blame for their failures either. I have issues with Maddon in 2019 but pitching is not one of them. Picking the wrong reliever goes to the Manager often but what was he to do? I am not thrilled he kept trotting out the usual suspects but there weren't many hot hands to rely on. Jed, Theo and McLeod are also getting grief for their unproductive drafts of late. While that is certainly true, nobody would even be thinking about that if Jorge Soler and Eloy Jimenez were still on the team. Players have been produced. Besides leadoff man, their main shortcoming is the lack of young pitching depth in the system. Now to Maddon. His 2019 team was bad at defense, a prior strength, and bad at baserunning. There was not accountability for shoddy play. No players apparently stepped up to take a leadership role either but that means it is even more important for the Manager to do more than just make out the lineup. The lineup is my other problem with Maddon. While he was not given a true leadoff hitter, Rizzo was the best of the rest and he would just not put him there enough. Almora was not the answer but neither was Jason Heyward. Maddon let that experiment go on way too long. Also, it seemed his lineups never allowed for any reward for good play or the hot hand. It became a joke between me and my Dad that whoever had a good day would definitely not play the next day. A two-homer day was a guarantee to sit the following game! Why? If Baez etc.had a double and homer, he would not be in the lineup for the next one and so on. It was almost without fail. Maddon was even asked about it, since it was so obvious. His response was that he made out the lineups prior to an entire series before it started. So what? They couldn't be amended? Ridiculous. Also, your MVP third baseman should not have to worry about playing multiple positions and neither should your all-star catcher. Injuries certainly did not help and the one to Baez in crunch time was a terrible blow but this roster had enough talent to be in the post-season. The bullpen woes could have then been circumvented with starters in certain spots in short series and so on. But they did not do it. Lack of leadership from the roster also is to blame. Rizzo is a great, great guy but he needed to be someone to hold mental mistakes as unacceptable in that clubhouse. Others too. There did not ever seem to be a sense of urgency from them. That terrible late losing streak was a signal of a tight team. Being swept by the Cardinals when it mattered and then beating them when it did not, goes to the locker room and mental approach or lack thereof. The Cardinals and Brewers were two of the hottest teams in baseball in the second half, but the Cubs should have been able to hold them off. They all need to look in the mirror. Maddon is one of the main reasons they have a Championship ring but teams and times change. A new message from the top step of the dugout will hopefully get that sense of urgency and accountability back.
9/17/2019
Dear Chicago Bears, Mitchell Trubisky is 6 of 25 in passes of 10-plus yards. So acquire a fullback so the ground game can succeed and roll Mitch out of the pocket so he can run the ball too. Your defense will thank you, and so will we.
Also, it's 40 days until the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D. C. I guess I better get going, lol. Crunch-time kids. And of course the forecast is for 75% humidity every day for the foreseeable future here in Chicago. Thanks a lot. Humidity is this Slovak's Kryptonite.
Dear Chicago Bears, Mitchell Trubisky is 6 of 25 in passes of 10-plus yards. So acquire a fullback so the ground game can succeed and roll Mitch out of the pocket so he can run the ball too. Your defense will thank you, and so will we.
Also, it's 40 days until the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D. C. I guess I better get going, lol. Crunch-time kids. And of course the forecast is for 75% humidity every day for the foreseeable future here in Chicago. Thanks a lot. Humidity is this Slovak's Kryptonite.
9/12/2019
I came across a story on Purdue women's basketball and that reminded me of the NIU women's teams that kept coming up against them in the NCAA Tournament in the early 90's when I was their broadcaster. Jane Albright had the Huskies rolling back then, but always seemed to run up against Purdue and play at their place in round 2 each time. For instance, in 1990 the Huskies won the North Star Conference undefeated at 12-0 and went into the NCAA Tourney as the 5th seed. We pummeled 12th seed Texas Tech 84-63 in round one. Our reward was a trip to Purdue in round 2. Playing in that incredibly tough concrete box, NIU fell in a tough one to the #4 seed home team 86-81 to finish the year a great 26-5. A neutral site might have made the difference. That team started a string of 6 straight NCAA appearances and is now in the NIU Hall of Fame. They led the nation in scoring at 94.5 ppg and finished #17 in the nation. To say they were fun to announce is an understatement. Carol Owens, Denish Dove, Tammy Hinchee, Lisa Foss, Tracey Mondek, Dee Dee Jeske and Kris Weiss. What a crew. Owens scored 41pts vs U of I that season! In 1992, the Huskies entered as the #11 seed and stunned 6th seed and perennial national power Louisiana Tech 77-70 in overtime. Our reward, another trip to West Lafayette and an even stronger Purdue squad! The Huskies fell 98-62 to the #3 seed at their place. The next two seasons saw them win 24 games each, win the Mid-Con Title each time, but bow out in the 1st round each season. They wouldn't go down without a fight however. In 1993, as the #11 seed they fell to 6th seed Georgetown 76-74. 6th seed NW Missouri St would knock them out in the opening round the following year and the Albright era came to a close, but what a ride it was! I will never forget it.
I came across a story on Purdue women's basketball and that reminded me of the NIU women's teams that kept coming up against them in the NCAA Tournament in the early 90's when I was their broadcaster. Jane Albright had the Huskies rolling back then, but always seemed to run up against Purdue and play at their place in round 2 each time. For instance, in 1990 the Huskies won the North Star Conference undefeated at 12-0 and went into the NCAA Tourney as the 5th seed. We pummeled 12th seed Texas Tech 84-63 in round one. Our reward was a trip to Purdue in round 2. Playing in that incredibly tough concrete box, NIU fell in a tough one to the #4 seed home team 86-81 to finish the year a great 26-5. A neutral site might have made the difference. That team started a string of 6 straight NCAA appearances and is now in the NIU Hall of Fame. They led the nation in scoring at 94.5 ppg and finished #17 in the nation. To say they were fun to announce is an understatement. Carol Owens, Denish Dove, Tammy Hinchee, Lisa Foss, Tracey Mondek, Dee Dee Jeske and Kris Weiss. What a crew. Owens scored 41pts vs U of I that season! In 1992, the Huskies entered as the #11 seed and stunned 6th seed and perennial national power Louisiana Tech 77-70 in overtime. Our reward, another trip to West Lafayette and an even stronger Purdue squad! The Huskies fell 98-62 to the #3 seed at their place. The next two seasons saw them win 24 games each, win the Mid-Con Title each time, but bow out in the 1st round each season. They wouldn't go down without a fight however. In 1993, as the #11 seed they fell to 6th seed Georgetown 76-74. 6th seed NW Missouri St would knock them out in the opening round the following year and the Albright era came to a close, but what a ride it was! I will never forget it.
9/12/2019
I miss the old NFL when running backs were King. Watching Payton, Dorsett, Campbell, Bo Jackson, Barry Sanders WAS the NFL to me. I miss the days when running backs and fullbacks were the top picks in the draft. A dazzling run is way more entertaining to me than the 50th pass that might also be pass interference like all the others. Now running backs aren't even taken in the 1st round. In the 1977 Draft, Ricky Bell went #1 and Tony Dorsett #2. The top qb taken was Steve Pisarkiewicz at #19 to St. Louis. The 3rd qb wasn't taken until the end of the 3rd round. In the 1986 Draft, Bo Jackson was #1 and fullbacks Keith Byars and John L. Williams were taken in the top 15. Fullback is barely even a position any more. Neal Anderson was taken at the end of the 1st round that year by the Bears and he was incredible to watch. Only two qb's were taken in the 1st round in 1986, while six runners were taken. Of course, I was spoiled growing up in Chicago with Sayers and Payton and Anderson, but I would also rather watch Barry Sanders carry the ball than just about anything. The fact that the Bears don't even pretend to care about running the ball now saddens me. Of course, I also miss the hit and run in baseball, hitting behind the runner, the double steal, choking up and putting the ball in play with two strikes and so on, so maybe I am just pining for a sports-world that will never return. Oh well. C'est la vie.
I miss the old NFL when running backs were King. Watching Payton, Dorsett, Campbell, Bo Jackson, Barry Sanders WAS the NFL to me. I miss the days when running backs and fullbacks were the top picks in the draft. A dazzling run is way more entertaining to me than the 50th pass that might also be pass interference like all the others. Now running backs aren't even taken in the 1st round. In the 1977 Draft, Ricky Bell went #1 and Tony Dorsett #2. The top qb taken was Steve Pisarkiewicz at #19 to St. Louis. The 3rd qb wasn't taken until the end of the 3rd round. In the 1986 Draft, Bo Jackson was #1 and fullbacks Keith Byars and John L. Williams were taken in the top 15. Fullback is barely even a position any more. Neal Anderson was taken at the end of the 1st round that year by the Bears and he was incredible to watch. Only two qb's were taken in the 1st round in 1986, while six runners were taken. Of course, I was spoiled growing up in Chicago with Sayers and Payton and Anderson, but I would also rather watch Barry Sanders carry the ball than just about anything. The fact that the Bears don't even pretend to care about running the ball now saddens me. Of course, I also miss the hit and run in baseball, hitting behind the runner, the double steal, choking up and putting the ball in play with two strikes and so on, so maybe I am just pining for a sports-world that will never return. Oh well. C'est la vie.
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8/23/2019
In case you missed it, the new class going into the College Baseball Hall of Fame was announced. Former Cub Andre Dawson, former Kane County Cougars and White Sox outfielder Mark Kotsay, and D3 star Billy Wagner were among those honored. Dawson starred at Florida A&M, where he made himself into a ballplayer. He was undrafted out of high school and didn't even have any scholarship offers so walked on with the Rattlers, where he was 3rd in the nation in doubles and 10th in slugging percentage, among 'small' schools, as a senior. His teams dominated their big-time neighbor, the Miami Hurricanes, in his time there. He is one of my favorite Cubs. Kotsay is one of my favorite Cougars. I loved watching him play in his short stint there. I can still see him lining double after double into the opposite field gap. Kotsay starred at Cal-State Fullerton and became a 1st round bonus baby thanks to his National Player of the Year award in 1995 as a two-time All American. His three year career batting average there was an astounding .404. He only played 17 games with us in 1996 but had 5 doubles...all as described...,two homers, three steals and an on-base percentage of .436, thanks to 16 walks in just those 17 games. He debuted with the Marlins the following year. And I wanted to mention Wagner, out of Ferrum College, since I spent so much time in D3. The Astros star closer still holds the D3 record for career strikeouts, an amazing 327, in 182.1 innings. He had a single season strikeouts per nine innings of 19.2 in 1992! Congrats to all! |
8/10/2019
This is worth re-visiting. On this date three years ago, the Cubs reached 30 games over .500. At the time, I pointed out that Jack Brickhouse never really got to enjoy broadcast such talented Cubs teams in his long tenure in the TV booth. Brickhouse announced Cubs games for 33 years and only the 1969 team ever got to 30 games over for him. It's easy to get cranky about the Cubs and how they are doing but overall this era of Cubs games is just so much better. Jack never talked about how many games the Cubs were out of first place. First place was just not ever really an option other than the Cubs teams of 1967-1972. He got that one nice five year window in 33 years. Normally he would talk about the .500 mark. "With this win, the Cubs are back to within 15 games of .500." Broadcasting games, solo, of that many bad teams sainted that man, really. Just a sampling of Cubs records back in the day...
1957 62-92
1960 60-94
1962 59-103
1966 59-103
1974 66-96
and on and on....Brick saw more bad baseball than just about any human imaginable but still managed to make those games fun to watch on channel 9. He was something special.
This is worth re-visiting. On this date three years ago, the Cubs reached 30 games over .500. At the time, I pointed out that Jack Brickhouse never really got to enjoy broadcast such talented Cubs teams in his long tenure in the TV booth. Brickhouse announced Cubs games for 33 years and only the 1969 team ever got to 30 games over for him. It's easy to get cranky about the Cubs and how they are doing but overall this era of Cubs games is just so much better. Jack never talked about how many games the Cubs were out of first place. First place was just not ever really an option other than the Cubs teams of 1967-1972. He got that one nice five year window in 33 years. Normally he would talk about the .500 mark. "With this win, the Cubs are back to within 15 games of .500." Broadcasting games, solo, of that many bad teams sainted that man, really. Just a sampling of Cubs records back in the day...
1957 62-92
1960 60-94
1962 59-103
1966 59-103
1974 66-96
and on and on....Brick saw more bad baseball than just about any human imaginable but still managed to make those games fun to watch on channel 9. He was something special.
7/22/2019
On this date 22 years ago, I witnessed one of the most amazing performances by a pitcher. That was the day Greg Maddux used just 76 pitches to shut out the Cubs at Wrigley Field. I was there covering the game in the press box as WBBM's baseball beat-reporter while Maddux hurled his masterpiece against his old team. I will never forget turning to David Shuster late in the game and asking, "has he really used just over 70 pitches so far?!" lol. It was astonishing and agonizing, since we all knew he should be doing that in the home team's uniform instead. I will never forgive Larry Himes for letting that happen...ever. That day, Maddux only got to a 2-ball count on a batter twice all day and had no three-ball counts. Hell, he only threw 13 pitches out of the strike zone the whole day. The game lasted just 2 hours and 7 minutes. Greg achieved what is now called 'the Maddux'.(throwing a complete game shutout in less than 100 pitches) 13 times! He had four 7 pitch innings that day. It was a masterful performance and a joy to watch, even for the opposition.
On this date 22 years ago, I witnessed one of the most amazing performances by a pitcher. That was the day Greg Maddux used just 76 pitches to shut out the Cubs at Wrigley Field. I was there covering the game in the press box as WBBM's baseball beat-reporter while Maddux hurled his masterpiece against his old team. I will never forget turning to David Shuster late in the game and asking, "has he really used just over 70 pitches so far?!" lol. It was astonishing and agonizing, since we all knew he should be doing that in the home team's uniform instead. I will never forgive Larry Himes for letting that happen...ever. That day, Maddux only got to a 2-ball count on a batter twice all day and had no three-ball counts. Hell, he only threw 13 pitches out of the strike zone the whole day. The game lasted just 2 hours and 7 minutes. Greg achieved what is now called 'the Maddux'.(throwing a complete game shutout in less than 100 pitches) 13 times! He had four 7 pitch innings that day. It was a masterful performance and a joy to watch, even for the opposition.
7/19/2019
I wanted to bring this amazing statistic back as I was thinking about playing in this ridiculous heat. Len Kasper talked last season about how many times Ernie Banks played in both ends of doubleheaders. I asked him on Twitter how many times Randy Hundley caught both ends of DH's. Mark Potash answered my tweet with this amazing note...
"On Sept. 1-4 of 1967, the Cubs played four consecutive doubleheaders (!) and Randy Hundley caught both ends of three of them, started 7-of-8 games and caught in all eight — he caught 68 innings in four days."
Absolutely incredible. btw, Hundley caught in 152 games that season and an extraordinary 160 games in 1968 and then 151 in 1969. You will never see anything like that ever again!
I wanted to bring this amazing statistic back as I was thinking about playing in this ridiculous heat. Len Kasper talked last season about how many times Ernie Banks played in both ends of doubleheaders. I asked him on Twitter how many times Randy Hundley caught both ends of DH's. Mark Potash answered my tweet with this amazing note...
"On Sept. 1-4 of 1967, the Cubs played four consecutive doubleheaders (!) and Randy Hundley caught both ends of three of them, started 7-of-8 games and caught in all eight — he caught 68 innings in four days."
Absolutely incredible. btw, Hundley caught in 152 games that season and an extraordinary 160 games in 1968 and then 151 in 1969. You will never see anything like that ever again!
6/23/2019
This is the 35th anniversary of the Sandberg game. I've mentioned it before, but I was there with my Dad and brother. It was my brother's bachelor party. We went with a few of his friends to the game that day and sat way up in the second to last row in the first base side upper deck, surrounded by Cardinals fans. We had a blast during that wild game and had some great good-natured back and forth with those Cards fans. Until it became known as the Sandberg game, we called it the mustard game, lol. After Ryno's first homer, my Dad jumped up and when he sat down, he plopped down on a mustard packet, spraying it on the people behind us in the back row, lol. Ryno drove in an early run but it was 7-1 St. Louis. His rbi grounder and a double from Gary Matthews made it 7-3. It moved to 9-3 until a Richie Hebner single and a Bob Dernier 2-run double made it 9-6. Sandberg added a 2-run single to make it 9-8, so he already had a great day at that point. With the incredible Bruce Sutter on the mound in the 9th, Ryno led off with a game-tying homer, cuing the mustard! St. Louis tallied twice more in the top of the 10th and Sutter had another chance to nail down the save. Dernier coaxed a 2-out walk and Sandberg made it 2 homers and 7 rbi's with another game tying home run! We went berserk after baiting the surrounding fans that he would do it again. We knew he surely wouldn't, so when he actually did, we were as shocked as the Cardinals fans nearby as the whole place went crazy. Davey Owen then capped that wild day with a game-winning pinch single and the whole nation now knew Sandberg was on his way to MVP, thanks to the NBC Game of the Week. It obviously made for a memorable day out for the Vasko boys.
This is the 35th anniversary of the Sandberg game. I've mentioned it before, but I was there with my Dad and brother. It was my brother's bachelor party. We went with a few of his friends to the game that day and sat way up in the second to last row in the first base side upper deck, surrounded by Cardinals fans. We had a blast during that wild game and had some great good-natured back and forth with those Cards fans. Until it became known as the Sandberg game, we called it the mustard game, lol. After Ryno's first homer, my Dad jumped up and when he sat down, he plopped down on a mustard packet, spraying it on the people behind us in the back row, lol. Ryno drove in an early run but it was 7-1 St. Louis. His rbi grounder and a double from Gary Matthews made it 7-3. It moved to 9-3 until a Richie Hebner single and a Bob Dernier 2-run double made it 9-6. Sandberg added a 2-run single to make it 9-8, so he already had a great day at that point. With the incredible Bruce Sutter on the mound in the 9th, Ryno led off with a game-tying homer, cuing the mustard! St. Louis tallied twice more in the top of the 10th and Sutter had another chance to nail down the save. Dernier coaxed a 2-out walk and Sandberg made it 2 homers and 7 rbi's with another game tying home run! We went berserk after baiting the surrounding fans that he would do it again. We knew he surely wouldn't, so when he actually did, we were as shocked as the Cardinals fans nearby as the whole place went crazy. Davey Owen then capped that wild day with a game-winning pinch single and the whole nation now knew Sandberg was on his way to MVP, thanks to the NBC Game of the Week. It obviously made for a memorable day out for the Vasko boys.
6/13/2019
Congrats to all the St. Louis Blues fans. I am very happy for you. Chicago and St. Louis fans have always been good to each other and friendly rivals until Tony LaRussa came along, as far as I'm concerned. I am still going to cheer for St. Louis when I can, but Tony ruined what was always a friendly Cubs-Cards rivalry for me and it will take a while to get over. Every time the Cardinals came to Wrigley, both sides got along great for years and years and vice versa. I was at the 'Sandberg' game and sat with St. Louis fans all around me. We had a great time together in that crazy back and forth game. It was typical. Then Tony came along...arrogant, argumentative, condescending, superior Tony and his teams took on his persona as well. Never mind that he knowingly used steroid cheats in both Oakland and St. Louis, his denials to the contrary. That he was good buddies with Bobby Knight should tell you all you need to know about this also mean-spirited guy. He alone ruined that friendly-rivalry for me and I am sure I am not alone. I have always liked the Blues and always will. I cheered for the Rams when they were in St. Louis too, when not playing the Bears. I still have my old hockey cards of the Plager brothers for goodness sake. It's hard not to like and respect guys like Pronger, Hull, Demitra, Liut and more. I wish Gretzky could have played in St. Louis longer. I'm glad you have your trophy. I hope the baseball side of this rivalry returns to normal sometime soon too. That would be nice.
Congrats to all the St. Louis Blues fans. I am very happy for you. Chicago and St. Louis fans have always been good to each other and friendly rivals until Tony LaRussa came along, as far as I'm concerned. I am still going to cheer for St. Louis when I can, but Tony ruined what was always a friendly Cubs-Cards rivalry for me and it will take a while to get over. Every time the Cardinals came to Wrigley, both sides got along great for years and years and vice versa. I was at the 'Sandberg' game and sat with St. Louis fans all around me. We had a great time together in that crazy back and forth game. It was typical. Then Tony came along...arrogant, argumentative, condescending, superior Tony and his teams took on his persona as well. Never mind that he knowingly used steroid cheats in both Oakland and St. Louis, his denials to the contrary. That he was good buddies with Bobby Knight should tell you all you need to know about this also mean-spirited guy. He alone ruined that friendly-rivalry for me and I am sure I am not alone. I have always liked the Blues and always will. I cheered for the Rams when they were in St. Louis too, when not playing the Bears. I still have my old hockey cards of the Plager brothers for goodness sake. It's hard not to like and respect guys like Pronger, Hull, Demitra, Liut and more. I wish Gretzky could have played in St. Louis longer. I'm glad you have your trophy. I hope the baseball side of this rivalry returns to normal sometime soon too. That would be nice.
6/6/2019
Re-posting on this day since Jason Guerette, who shared this experience in the home broadcast booth, points out our record will never be broken now. They changed the rules so that long extra inning games are almost impossible thanks to starting frames with a runner at second base.
Today is the anniversary of my longest day on the air in all my time in baseball. Actually it all started on June 5th of 2014 and ended up early in the morning of June 6th! I was downstate in Marion for the doubleheader between the Joliet Slammers and the Southern Illinois Miners. I ended up doing 24 innings-worth of solo play-by-play that day. Yes, that is a personal record and a league record for innings in one day as well! Memorable doesn't even describe it. Game one was a 7-inning no-hitter by the Miners' Rick Teasley. He needed just 82 pitches. Joliet never even so much as threatened to get a hit and we lost 2-0. It was Teasley's third start of the season and his ERA went down to 0.33 for goodness sake! Then on to game two. The Miners scored first and Joliet tied it up on a Russell Moldenhauer single in the 6th. That 1-1 tie stayed what seemed like forever. 11 different times a lead runner got to 2nd base but no one could knock him in to give either team a lead. In the bottom of the 17th inning of the nightcap...and yes my voice was struggling by then...the Miners had the bases loaded on three walks and Tyler Booth looped a single over the pulled-in infield to end one of the longest days in Frontier League history. Game 2 went 5 hours, 13 minutes...well past midnight...and I could finally say goodnight. Our reward for being no-hit and swept in a long, long doubleheader was not even a good night's sleep. It was back on the bus and out of town. Ahh, the pampered life in the minors, lol. I did an 18-inning game with the JackHammers back in the day, but it was not part of a doubleheader and Bryan Dolgin was there to do it with me at Silver Cross Field. This was 24 innings all by my lonesome. It was exhausting but fun. The only other thing that even comes close in my memory was a Men's Major Fastpitch game I called for Aurora Allsteel in the ISC World Series in Kimberly, Wisconsin in 1989 when the game itself didn't start until after 2am due to long games before it. I signed off as the sun came up! That was another day where Mountain Dew sustained me! Next.....
Re-posting on this day since Jason Guerette, who shared this experience in the home broadcast booth, points out our record will never be broken now. They changed the rules so that long extra inning games are almost impossible thanks to starting frames with a runner at second base.
Today is the anniversary of my longest day on the air in all my time in baseball. Actually it all started on June 5th of 2014 and ended up early in the morning of June 6th! I was downstate in Marion for the doubleheader between the Joliet Slammers and the Southern Illinois Miners. I ended up doing 24 innings-worth of solo play-by-play that day. Yes, that is a personal record and a league record for innings in one day as well! Memorable doesn't even describe it. Game one was a 7-inning no-hitter by the Miners' Rick Teasley. He needed just 82 pitches. Joliet never even so much as threatened to get a hit and we lost 2-0. It was Teasley's third start of the season and his ERA went down to 0.33 for goodness sake! Then on to game two. The Miners scored first and Joliet tied it up on a Russell Moldenhauer single in the 6th. That 1-1 tie stayed what seemed like forever. 11 different times a lead runner got to 2nd base but no one could knock him in to give either team a lead. In the bottom of the 17th inning of the nightcap...and yes my voice was struggling by then...the Miners had the bases loaded on three walks and Tyler Booth looped a single over the pulled-in infield to end one of the longest days in Frontier League history. Game 2 went 5 hours, 13 minutes...well past midnight...and I could finally say goodnight. Our reward for being no-hit and swept in a long, long doubleheader was not even a good night's sleep. It was back on the bus and out of town. Ahh, the pampered life in the minors, lol. I did an 18-inning game with the JackHammers back in the day, but it was not part of a doubleheader and Bryan Dolgin was there to do it with me at Silver Cross Field. This was 24 innings all by my lonesome. It was exhausting but fun. The only other thing that even comes close in my memory was a Men's Major Fastpitch game I called for Aurora Allsteel in the ISC World Series in Kimberly, Wisconsin in 1989 when the game itself didn't start until after 2am due to long games before it. I signed off as the sun came up! That was another day where Mountain Dew sustained me! Next.....
5/30/2019
I have told this story before, but it bears repeating after last night's terrible incident with a little girl getting hit by a batted ball. I was broadcasting a Kane County Cougars game in 1995 at Beloit. They played in a great old small neighborhood ballpark. Small, however, was the key. The foul territories were skinny to fit that park into that neighborhood, so the front rows over the dugouts were very close to the action. A Cougar play hit a screaming liner foul to the first row just behind the third base dugout, one day. As soon as it was hit, I cringed because you just knew immediately that it was going to be trouble. Sure enough, a middle aged lady with glasses got hit with that liner right between the eyes. We didn't know about exit velocity back then, but I can tell you that ball was hit like it was shot out of a canon. The netting only went to the start of the dugouts. She was in the front row in the middle of that dugout. It was horrific. Her glasses shattered and went flying, blood went everywhere and she slumped down. I honestly thought she was dead. It didn't know how she couldn't be. Play stopped and as people rushed to her aid and ambulance drove onto the field, as the quickest way to get to her. They lifted her over the dugout and into the ambulance to the hospital. There was a delay of about half an hour and nothing was the same when the game resumed. Everyone, me included, was a zombie going through the motions. Thankfully, and unbelievably, she turned out to be relatively okay. She suffered a broken eye socket and had a concussion but otherwise would recover to be fine. It was a miracle really. Netting should be all the way well past the dugouts everywhere. I have spent a lifetime and career broadcasting games behind the backstop or netting. It does not hinder my enjoyment one bit. After a while each day you don't even notice it. More importantly, there isn't much of a chance then of having a terrible accident ruin your or your child's health or day at the ballpark. That was not the only incident but one of many I have witnessed over the years. It was, though, the scariest. They should not be as frequent as the still are.
I have told this story before, but it bears repeating after last night's terrible incident with a little girl getting hit by a batted ball. I was broadcasting a Kane County Cougars game in 1995 at Beloit. They played in a great old small neighborhood ballpark. Small, however, was the key. The foul territories were skinny to fit that park into that neighborhood, so the front rows over the dugouts were very close to the action. A Cougar play hit a screaming liner foul to the first row just behind the third base dugout, one day. As soon as it was hit, I cringed because you just knew immediately that it was going to be trouble. Sure enough, a middle aged lady with glasses got hit with that liner right between the eyes. We didn't know about exit velocity back then, but I can tell you that ball was hit like it was shot out of a canon. The netting only went to the start of the dugouts. She was in the front row in the middle of that dugout. It was horrific. Her glasses shattered and went flying, blood went everywhere and she slumped down. I honestly thought she was dead. It didn't know how she couldn't be. Play stopped and as people rushed to her aid and ambulance drove onto the field, as the quickest way to get to her. They lifted her over the dugout and into the ambulance to the hospital. There was a delay of about half an hour and nothing was the same when the game resumed. Everyone, me included, was a zombie going through the motions. Thankfully, and unbelievably, she turned out to be relatively okay. She suffered a broken eye socket and had a concussion but otherwise would recover to be fine. It was a miracle really. Netting should be all the way well past the dugouts everywhere. I have spent a lifetime and career broadcasting games behind the backstop or netting. It does not hinder my enjoyment one bit. After a while each day you don't even notice it. More importantly, there isn't much of a chance then of having a terrible accident ruin your or your child's health or day at the ballpark. That was not the only incident but one of many I have witnessed over the years. It was, though, the scariest. They should not be as frequent as the still are.
5/28/2019
The MLB Draft is coming up in a few days. 7 years ago on Facebook, I put this up in response to a ridiculous article about Josh Booty...It is worth debunking again...
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1197239-mlb-draft-2012-power-ranking-50-worst-draft-busts-of-all-time#slide50
In defense of Josh Booty...Bleacher Report has an article on the 50 worst MLB Draft busts of all time and they list Booty as #1. Complete and utter nonsense. He was the 5th pick overall for the Marlins in 1994. Was he a bust? I don't even think you can call him that, let alone number one? Please. To me a bust does not even make the Majors. The biggest bust better not have even made it to AAA. I suppose I am biased. I spent 2 years with him at Kane County with the Cougars and I liked him a lot. He could hit the ball a country mile...or should I say he could hit a "fastball" a country mile. His homers were some of the longest I have ever seen in my 14 years in the Minors. Booty never did master the breaking ball, I suppose, but nobody worked harder and nobody was more humble as a millionaire bonus baby. I watched him hit off the tee and take extra, early, pre-game batting practice more times than you can imagine. Booty did set the Midwest League record for strikeouts as he worked and worked on the curveball. He also hit 21 home runs, ripped 25 doubles and drove in 87 runs in 1996. Not bust-like numbers to me. And he did work his way up to the Majors and even hit .269 in his short time there. He was the opening day starter at 3b for the Marlins in 1998, due to another's injury, but regardless, Booty got the call. (Sorry, I couldn't resist, lol) Yes, he did eventually leave to play qb at LSU and even spent a short time in the NFL, so he did not have a long MLB career, He is one of the few, though, to have ever played in MLB and the NLF. A baseball bust...no. Again, several "Number One" picks didn't even play in the Majors at all, so how is a #5 pick who was a starter at 3b for a short time in MLB the biggest ever bust? Not a chance.
The MLB Draft is coming up in a few days. 7 years ago on Facebook, I put this up in response to a ridiculous article about Josh Booty...It is worth debunking again...
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1197239-mlb-draft-2012-power-ranking-50-worst-draft-busts-of-all-time#slide50
In defense of Josh Booty...Bleacher Report has an article on the 50 worst MLB Draft busts of all time and they list Booty as #1. Complete and utter nonsense. He was the 5th pick overall for the Marlins in 1994. Was he a bust? I don't even think you can call him that, let alone number one? Please. To me a bust does not even make the Majors. The biggest bust better not have even made it to AAA. I suppose I am biased. I spent 2 years with him at Kane County with the Cougars and I liked him a lot. He could hit the ball a country mile...or should I say he could hit a "fastball" a country mile. His homers were some of the longest I have ever seen in my 14 years in the Minors. Booty never did master the breaking ball, I suppose, but nobody worked harder and nobody was more humble as a millionaire bonus baby. I watched him hit off the tee and take extra, early, pre-game batting practice more times than you can imagine. Booty did set the Midwest League record for strikeouts as he worked and worked on the curveball. He also hit 21 home runs, ripped 25 doubles and drove in 87 runs in 1996. Not bust-like numbers to me. And he did work his way up to the Majors and even hit .269 in his short time there. He was the opening day starter at 3b for the Marlins in 1998, due to another's injury, but regardless, Booty got the call. (Sorry, I couldn't resist, lol) Yes, he did eventually leave to play qb at LSU and even spent a short time in the NFL, so he did not have a long MLB career, He is one of the few, though, to have ever played in MLB and the NLF. A baseball bust...no. Again, several "Number One" picks didn't even play in the Majors at all, so how is a #5 pick who was a starter at 3b for a short time in MLB the biggest ever bust? Not a chance.
5/24/2019
https://theathletic.com/992091/2019/05/23/pompei-how-did-we-put-together-the-bears-100-list-youre-arguing-about/?fbclid=IwAR0IM3p4AjKXivcLSziqg0murED8MO_rKIGFxQ-AWXwRKZ4gptWHi51CWvY
A few thoughts on the fun Bears Top 100. Of course Walter Payton is #1. He is the best all-around football player I ever saw. #2 Dick Butkus also right. #9 Doug Atkins is also top 10. #11 Dan Hampton should be a little higher. #6 Mike Ditka should be lower and maybe swapped with Danimal. #31 Charles Tillman isn't high enough. And nothing against #34 Matt Forte but #41 Neal Anderson should be top 30. I think he is the most underrated Bear of all-time. His only sin was following Payton. Anderson was outstanding. I'm glad #46 Doug Buffone made the top 50. He is also underrated because he played next to Butkus. I'm also happy #65 Dick Gordon and #67 Ed O'Bradovich made the list. My only other quibble is #53 Jim McMahon should be higher. It's just nice to look at all these guys in one place.
https://theathletic.com/992091/2019/05/23/pompei-how-did-we-put-together-the-bears-100-list-youre-arguing-about/?fbclid=IwAR0IM3p4AjKXivcLSziqg0murED8MO_rKIGFxQ-AWXwRKZ4gptWHi51CWvY
A few thoughts on the fun Bears Top 100. Of course Walter Payton is #1. He is the best all-around football player I ever saw. #2 Dick Butkus also right. #9 Doug Atkins is also top 10. #11 Dan Hampton should be a little higher. #6 Mike Ditka should be lower and maybe swapped with Danimal. #31 Charles Tillman isn't high enough. And nothing against #34 Matt Forte but #41 Neal Anderson should be top 30. I think he is the most underrated Bear of all-time. His only sin was following Payton. Anderson was outstanding. I'm glad #46 Doug Buffone made the top 50. He is also underrated because he played next to Butkus. I'm also happy #65 Dick Gordon and #67 Ed O'Bradovich made the list. My only other quibble is #53 Jim McMahon should be higher. It's just nice to look at all these guys in one place.
5/23/2019
I posted these thoughts on my facebook page three years ago, today. I still feel the same way about the value of baseball on the radio, so here it is...................
I was prompted to write these long thoughts thanks to two tweets posted within minutes of each other, a few days ago. Baseball broadcasting as an art-form and a public service is under attack from a few different fronts. Here are my thoughts on the profession I love and live.
Scott Montesano tweeted in response to an article stating that today's game would have no room for a young Vin Scully...
"Very accurate...except even in "Class A" most every young announcer sound the same. All robots, no storytelling."
Then Greg Halbleib tweeted this in response to the same article.
"Most teams don't even understand a broadcast's purpose. They also believe anyone can do it. Undervaluing is folly."
Both tweets are very painfully true. You probably know my situation but I will talk in generalities of teams taking their games off radio and using free talent. There are many, many examples. Obviously, Greg's comment is in full evidence here. Some current regimes have no idea about baseball broadcasts and their value to their team and fans.
First of all, these decisions make plain the idea that the only people they are interested in are paying customers. Everybody else can get lost. If you are a local sports fan and support your team, likely playing in a publicly funded stadium by the way, but are elderly, infirm or blind etc., then they are not interested in you. I will never forget one of the first and best compliments my play-by-play ever received. It came from my blind Uncle Flavin. He called me at WMRO to tell me how much he enjoyed my call. It was so descriptive that he could 'see' the action in his mind's eye, he said. I smiled for days. That's the job. It is not just a promotional arm for the team...more on that later...it is also a public service for the people who cannot attend the games for whatever reason but still want to experience them. If you are in your 80's or 90's and have a lot of trouble walking up stairs or for a great distance, game attendance is not really an option. If the games are no longer on the radio or no longer done by a competent pro, that team has been effectively taken away from you. Stupid and short-sighted. Games are important daily entertainment for people. It takes their minds off their troubles and keeps the lonely company. The announcer becomes the friendly voice they turn to. My Grandmother Foley loved the Cubs. She sat alone in her apartment and listened every single day to Vince Lloyd and Lou Boudreau. Those Cubs were her family as much as I was, long after she stopped going to games in person. Her fandom still counted and still mattered. She still bought merchandise too, by the way. Ignoring her would be the height of ignoring the customer.
The other part of that equation is indeed that the broadcast is an important promotional arm for the team. Ignoring that is folly as well. The game is a three-hour commercial for the upcoming home-stand etc. What are the eating/drinking/ticket specials coming up? When is Princess Night or Star Wars Night? Who are the exciting players you might want to see in person? What are the new features at the ballpark and so on. Road broadcasts also help keep the fans invested in the team, it's players and the pennant race when fans cannot attend and just might help make them want to attend in the future.
The other aspect of this piece is the broadcast itself. Personality is in short supply. Vin Scully is the best ever because he understands his job. If the game is slow or a blowout, then he has to work harder. It's story time. Time to make the listener smile. That is why Hawk Harrelson makes me crazy. I am a homer-style announcer but only to a point. A great play by the opposition is still a great play and worth getting excited about. A late rally by the opposition is still thrilling, even if the home team loses. Not sharing that excitement is the wrong choice. His prolonged silence is a wrong choice. A broadcast of all X's and O's is also a wrong choice. Paint the picture. Share the excitement. Share the fun. My friend and first boss, Steve Klauke, has been doing broadcasts for AAA Salt Lake for more than 20 years now. He is one of the best in the business because he is not just a baseball guy. He is also very funny. Always have something in your back pocket. Part of that of course is repetition. Get your 10,000 hours any way you can. I got mine in my room well before I ever had a mic in my hand.
Broadcasters have to understand all parts of the job but so do their bosses. Baseball broadcasts have value. Even more so than other sports because of the everyday aspect of it all. A good broadcast entertains, informs, provides comfort and friendship, sells tickets and t-shirts and is a tradition I am proud to be a part of. The number of people in general, and in the Baseball business in particular, who understand all of that should not be shrinking.
Money also counts, of course, and games give a station a way to make money from 7-10pm they would otherwise not have. What spots are they running then? Nothing extra, that is for sure. Regular listeners are home watching television so you are not losing listeners but gaining new ones and new revenue streams. You become more a part of the community and have a large gathering place in the neighborhood to put advertising and promote your station, garnering goodwill. It is a win for the baseball fan and for the station if done right.
Please and thank you.
I posted these thoughts on my facebook page three years ago, today. I still feel the same way about the value of baseball on the radio, so here it is...................
I was prompted to write these long thoughts thanks to two tweets posted within minutes of each other, a few days ago. Baseball broadcasting as an art-form and a public service is under attack from a few different fronts. Here are my thoughts on the profession I love and live.
Scott Montesano tweeted in response to an article stating that today's game would have no room for a young Vin Scully...
"Very accurate...except even in "Class A" most every young announcer sound the same. All robots, no storytelling."
Then Greg Halbleib tweeted this in response to the same article.
"Most teams don't even understand a broadcast's purpose. They also believe anyone can do it. Undervaluing is folly."
Both tweets are very painfully true. You probably know my situation but I will talk in generalities of teams taking their games off radio and using free talent. There are many, many examples. Obviously, Greg's comment is in full evidence here. Some current regimes have no idea about baseball broadcasts and their value to their team and fans.
First of all, these decisions make plain the idea that the only people they are interested in are paying customers. Everybody else can get lost. If you are a local sports fan and support your team, likely playing in a publicly funded stadium by the way, but are elderly, infirm or blind etc., then they are not interested in you. I will never forget one of the first and best compliments my play-by-play ever received. It came from my blind Uncle Flavin. He called me at WMRO to tell me how much he enjoyed my call. It was so descriptive that he could 'see' the action in his mind's eye, he said. I smiled for days. That's the job. It is not just a promotional arm for the team...more on that later...it is also a public service for the people who cannot attend the games for whatever reason but still want to experience them. If you are in your 80's or 90's and have a lot of trouble walking up stairs or for a great distance, game attendance is not really an option. If the games are no longer on the radio or no longer done by a competent pro, that team has been effectively taken away from you. Stupid and short-sighted. Games are important daily entertainment for people. It takes their minds off their troubles and keeps the lonely company. The announcer becomes the friendly voice they turn to. My Grandmother Foley loved the Cubs. She sat alone in her apartment and listened every single day to Vince Lloyd and Lou Boudreau. Those Cubs were her family as much as I was, long after she stopped going to games in person. Her fandom still counted and still mattered. She still bought merchandise too, by the way. Ignoring her would be the height of ignoring the customer.
The other part of that equation is indeed that the broadcast is an important promotional arm for the team. Ignoring that is folly as well. The game is a three-hour commercial for the upcoming home-stand etc. What are the eating/drinking/ticket specials coming up? When is Princess Night or Star Wars Night? Who are the exciting players you might want to see in person? What are the new features at the ballpark and so on. Road broadcasts also help keep the fans invested in the team, it's players and the pennant race when fans cannot attend and just might help make them want to attend in the future.
The other aspect of this piece is the broadcast itself. Personality is in short supply. Vin Scully is the best ever because he understands his job. If the game is slow or a blowout, then he has to work harder. It's story time. Time to make the listener smile. That is why Hawk Harrelson makes me crazy. I am a homer-style announcer but only to a point. A great play by the opposition is still a great play and worth getting excited about. A late rally by the opposition is still thrilling, even if the home team loses. Not sharing that excitement is the wrong choice. His prolonged silence is a wrong choice. A broadcast of all X's and O's is also a wrong choice. Paint the picture. Share the excitement. Share the fun. My friend and first boss, Steve Klauke, has been doing broadcasts for AAA Salt Lake for more than 20 years now. He is one of the best in the business because he is not just a baseball guy. He is also very funny. Always have something in your back pocket. Part of that of course is repetition. Get your 10,000 hours any way you can. I got mine in my room well before I ever had a mic in my hand.
Broadcasters have to understand all parts of the job but so do their bosses. Baseball broadcasts have value. Even more so than other sports because of the everyday aspect of it all. A good broadcast entertains, informs, provides comfort and friendship, sells tickets and t-shirts and is a tradition I am proud to be a part of. The number of people in general, and in the Baseball business in particular, who understand all of that should not be shrinking.
Money also counts, of course, and games give a station a way to make money from 7-10pm they would otherwise not have. What spots are they running then? Nothing extra, that is for sure. Regular listeners are home watching television so you are not losing listeners but gaining new ones and new revenue streams. You become more a part of the community and have a large gathering place in the neighborhood to put advertising and promote your station, garnering goodwill. It is a win for the baseball fan and for the station if done right.
Please and thank you.
5/15/2019
I miss being paid to be at a ballpark so much. 14 years and more than 1000 minor league broadcasts at these 3 fields are added in to all the high school and college parks I visited. I also covered hundreds of Cubs and Sox games over the years. It feels so weird to be just sitting here, watching games on television. (Silver Cross Field-Joliet, Hawkinson Ford Field-Crestwood, Elfstrom Stadium-Geneva) |
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5/8/2016
https://ballparkdigest.com/2019/05/08/flooding-forces-cancellation-of-river-bandits-series/
This is such a shame. Reminds me of the mid-90's when I was broadcasting for the Kane County Cougars. We went in for a three game series in Davenport with flooding already very bad. It never stopped raining. We waited out game one with the dugouts already under water. I watched huge trees and logs etc. float by quickly in a rapid river just outside the outfield fence. It was called off. We showed up for day 2 and could barely even enter the ballpark due to an almost completely flooded parking lot. The river was right up against the outfield fence. The rain continued and again the game was cancelled. Day three saw the entire field now under water and part of the Mississippi River. We couldn't even get near the park and left Davenport without playing any of the three games. They never played on that field for the entire rest of that season due to the flooding. So sad to basically see history repeating itself.
https://ballparkdigest.com/2019/05/08/flooding-forces-cancellation-of-river-bandits-series/
This is such a shame. Reminds me of the mid-90's when I was broadcasting for the Kane County Cougars. We went in for a three game series in Davenport with flooding already very bad. It never stopped raining. We waited out game one with the dugouts already under water. I watched huge trees and logs etc. float by quickly in a rapid river just outside the outfield fence. It was called off. We showed up for day 2 and could barely even enter the ballpark due to an almost completely flooded parking lot. The river was right up against the outfield fence. The rain continued and again the game was cancelled. Day three saw the entire field now under water and part of the Mississippi River. We couldn't even get near the park and left Davenport without playing any of the three games. They never played on that field for the entire rest of that season due to the flooding. So sad to basically see history repeating itself.
5/6/2019
As a fan of Cycling, that finish of the Kentucky Derby is actually no big deal and completely expected and correct. Those type of disqualifications happen all the time in Cycling in sprint finishes...and for good reason. You have to keep your line down the stretch. The leader did not do so and almost caused a crash that could have injured or killed another horse or jockey, veering in the way of another competitor that does not have the time or space to always avoid that collision in the blink of an eye at top speed. If you veer out of your straight line down the stretch, impede another and cause or almost cause catastrophe, you are DQ'd, plain and simple. It was the right call. It doesn't matter if it was a 'big' event. It happens at the Tour de France all the time and rightly so. It is dangerous and unfair to make the one next to you slow down and veer as well.
As a fan of Cycling, that finish of the Kentucky Derby is actually no big deal and completely expected and correct. Those type of disqualifications happen all the time in Cycling in sprint finishes...and for good reason. You have to keep your line down the stretch. The leader did not do so and almost caused a crash that could have injured or killed another horse or jockey, veering in the way of another competitor that does not have the time or space to always avoid that collision in the blink of an eye at top speed. If you veer out of your straight line down the stretch, impede another and cause or almost cause catastrophe, you are DQ'd, plain and simple. It was the right call. It doesn't matter if it was a 'big' event. It happens at the Tour de France all the time and rightly so. It is dangerous and unfair to make the one next to you slow down and veer as well.
4/19/2019
The stupidity of a Tim Anderson one-game suspension for 'offensive language' is beyond comprehension. That being said, this means Ozzie Guillen should be retroactively suspended for life, lol. He couldn't complete a full sentence while in uniform without at least three swear words and I have the audio to prove it! lol. He was the one who got hit and he gets suspended. Unreal.
The stupidity of a Tim Anderson one-game suspension for 'offensive language' is beyond comprehension. That being said, this means Ozzie Guillen should be retroactively suspended for life, lol. He couldn't complete a full sentence while in uniform without at least three swear words and I have the audio to prove it! lol. He was the one who got hit and he gets suspended. Unreal.
4/18/2019
People have been asking me all day about Chet Coppock, after his passing. My colleagues at 1on1 Sports/Sporting News Radio have been telling stories all day and I can't really add to all that. I wasn't really part of his show in my time there. I will tell you that multiple times while covering Bears games at Soldier Field, Chet would make his fashionably late entrance into the press box sometime well into the 1st quarter and he would bellow to no one in particular...'The game can start, I'm here now!' lol. What I will say is that as a sports fan growing up, I listened to his sports show on WMAQ all the time because he had the best guests. He was aware that hearing them talk was much better than talking about them. He would get big name after big name and that made it much easier to put up with his long winded questions, lol. He was a trailblazer. Yes, he had a big ego, but that is not exactly rare in my business! He was, though, one of a kind.
People have been asking me all day about Chet Coppock, after his passing. My colleagues at 1on1 Sports/Sporting News Radio have been telling stories all day and I can't really add to all that. I wasn't really part of his show in my time there. I will tell you that multiple times while covering Bears games at Soldier Field, Chet would make his fashionably late entrance into the press box sometime well into the 1st quarter and he would bellow to no one in particular...'The game can start, I'm here now!' lol. What I will say is that as a sports fan growing up, I listened to his sports show on WMAQ all the time because he had the best guests. He was aware that hearing them talk was much better than talking about them. He would get big name after big name and that made it much easier to put up with his long winded questions, lol. He was a trailblazer. Yes, he had a big ego, but that is not exactly rare in my business! He was, though, one of a kind.
4/8/2019
Grandma Mabel, or Mom Foley as we called her, brought me back this Cubs Spring Training program in 1987. She and her sisters drove to AZ every spring to watch the Cubs. The autographs she got for me were Jody Davis, Scott Sanderson, Keith Moreland, Shawon Dunston and Rick Sutcliffe. Happy Cubs home opener!
Grandma Mabel, or Mom Foley as we called her, brought me back this Cubs Spring Training program in 1987. She and her sisters drove to AZ every spring to watch the Cubs. The autographs she got for me were Jody Davis, Scott Sanderson, Keith Moreland, Shawon Dunston and Rick Sutcliffe. Happy Cubs home opener!
3/31/2019
I realize I am having a hard time letting all this radio layoff stuff go, but Facebook Memories isn't helping any, lol. I keep being reminded of previous posts from radio jobs I've loved and lost for stupid reasons like the company moves or goes out of business. I've seen posts in the last two days from my news studio at the Illinois Radio Network, looking out the window of my studio at the US Traffic Network and looking at the building where the Sporting News Radio Network used to be. The karma wheel owes me big time, damnit.
I realize I am having a hard time letting all this radio layoff stuff go, but Facebook Memories isn't helping any, lol. I keep being reminded of previous posts from radio jobs I've loved and lost for stupid reasons like the company moves or goes out of business. I've seen posts in the last two days from my news studio at the Illinois Radio Network, looking out the window of my studio at the US Traffic Network and looking at the building where the Sporting News Radio Network used to be. The karma wheel owes me big time, damnit.
2/28/2019
I mentioned yesterday that the Lewis men’s basketball team has the opportunity to be the best in program history, currently ranked 1st in the region and 11th in the nation. The same certainly applies to the Lewis women’s program as well, ranked 2nd in the region and 9th in the country. The best ever was just a few years ago, the 2015 team that made it to the Elite 8. This team could advance there as well, but #1 in the nation, Drury…also from the GLVC…stands in their way. The 2014-2015 squad finished an amazing 31-3. They also picked the wrong time to have a bad shooting day. Watching all Elite 8 teams in Sioux Falls, there was no doubt in my mind that the Flyers were the best team there and would have won it all, if they would have gotten by that quarterfinal match-up. They lost to Limestone 61-58, hitting on just 34% of their shots, 30% from 3-point land…even missing two 3’s in their last possession before the final buzzer. That team averaged 46% from the field for the season and 80.5ppg. The shots just didn’t fall that day. It was heartbreaking. I still remember us all clustered on the floor after the game in disbelief. I will never forget it. The positives, though, of that season far outweigh that night in my memory. All-Americans Jamie Johnson and Mariyah Henley each averaged 18ppg. Henley also happened to average 12 rebounds per game and finished with 72 career double-doubles…2nd most in D2 history. Johnson graduated as the top scorer and best free throw shooter in school history. Jess Reinhart averaged 13ppg and was also a perennial 1st-team all-conference selection. Nikki Nellen’s all-time assist record is safe for a long, long time and Henley’s rebound record is likely etched in stone. Alyssa Siwek is 2nd all-time in 3-pt percentage, while Alexus Grayer is 7th all-time in 3-pointers made. Johnson is 2nd, by the way. Alyssa Dengler got the toughest defensive assignment every game and Kristin Itchner was to that team what Rachel Hinders is to this years’ team…the blue collar worker that does everything well, outside the spotlight. How good is this years’ team, though? Well, a quick indication is that Jessica Kelleher is now tops in all-time points and Hinders is now tops in free throw percentage. Tierney Lockett is having her best season by far, Gabby Green is the hustle and effort, Morgan Glatczak is a shot-blocking machine and Katie Gardner would start for any other team in America. Kelleher will be a First-team All-American this year and I hope this team gets to the Elite 8, because she deserves the attention and the chance to be National Player of the Year. She will be, if everyone gets the chance to see her play. I hope they can overtake Drury for #1 in the region and I can announce them again this season too.
I mentioned yesterday that the Lewis men’s basketball team has the opportunity to be the best in program history, currently ranked 1st in the region and 11th in the nation. The same certainly applies to the Lewis women’s program as well, ranked 2nd in the region and 9th in the country. The best ever was just a few years ago, the 2015 team that made it to the Elite 8. This team could advance there as well, but #1 in the nation, Drury…also from the GLVC…stands in their way. The 2014-2015 squad finished an amazing 31-3. They also picked the wrong time to have a bad shooting day. Watching all Elite 8 teams in Sioux Falls, there was no doubt in my mind that the Flyers were the best team there and would have won it all, if they would have gotten by that quarterfinal match-up. They lost to Limestone 61-58, hitting on just 34% of their shots, 30% from 3-point land…even missing two 3’s in their last possession before the final buzzer. That team averaged 46% from the field for the season and 80.5ppg. The shots just didn’t fall that day. It was heartbreaking. I still remember us all clustered on the floor after the game in disbelief. I will never forget it. The positives, though, of that season far outweigh that night in my memory. All-Americans Jamie Johnson and Mariyah Henley each averaged 18ppg. Henley also happened to average 12 rebounds per game and finished with 72 career double-doubles…2nd most in D2 history. Johnson graduated as the top scorer and best free throw shooter in school history. Jess Reinhart averaged 13ppg and was also a perennial 1st-team all-conference selection. Nikki Nellen’s all-time assist record is safe for a long, long time and Henley’s rebound record is likely etched in stone. Alyssa Siwek is 2nd all-time in 3-pt percentage, while Alexus Grayer is 7th all-time in 3-pointers made. Johnson is 2nd, by the way. Alyssa Dengler got the toughest defensive assignment every game and Kristin Itchner was to that team what Rachel Hinders is to this years’ team…the blue collar worker that does everything well, outside the spotlight. How good is this years’ team, though? Well, a quick indication is that Jessica Kelleher is now tops in all-time points and Hinders is now tops in free throw percentage. Tierney Lockett is having her best season by far, Gabby Green is the hustle and effort, Morgan Glatczak is a shot-blocking machine and Katie Gardner would start for any other team in America. Kelleher will be a First-team All-American this year and I hope this team gets to the Elite 8, because she deserves the attention and the chance to be National Player of the Year. She will be, if everyone gets the chance to see her play. I hope they can overtake Drury for #1 in the region and I can announce them again this season too.
2/27/2019
It's been the best combined season for me announcing Lewis University Men's and Women's basketball. Right now, the men are ranked 11th in the nation and #1 in the region. The women are ranked 9th in the nation and #2 in the region, behind #1 in the nation, Drury. I thought early that this could be the best men's team since the 2002 team that made the Division-2 'Sweet 16' and maybe of all-time. I wanted to look back at that 2001-2002 season here. The crazy thing is that didn't finish nationally ranked despite that 'Sweet 16' and a 25-7 record. I guess it was those seven defeats, but they had to play national champion Kentucky Wesleyan four times that season. The Flyers beat them once and lost once in overtime. Wesleyan was the team that beat them in that 'Sweet 16' game 80-75. So no one else had to play the best team in the county four times and so three of those seven defeats were courtesy of #1 in the nation. No credit for that I guess and that still rankles me to this day. The 1982 Lewis team finished ranked #17 with all-time great Larry Tucker. They have also finished 20th and 25th. Their best-ever team finished un-ranked. Ugh. That 2002 team was my second year behind the mic. This year is my 16th. I skipped the two years with Kyle Green as head coach, while I was working full-time at WSCR...2003 to 2004...doing updates for Boers & Bernstein. The Jim Whitesell-coached 2002 squad was led by Sammy Bacino's 15ppg. That was their strength. No one was dominant. Their top 5 players all scored between 9-15ppg. They averaged 73ppg and allowed just 65. What they had was Demetrius Hunter at point guard. He is the all-time assist leader in school history at 528. He ran the show and the team ran a great unselfish half-court offense. Stan Strong is 10th all-time in 3pters which didn't hurt either. That team also played great defense. Hunter is 2nd all-time in steals and Austin Real is 2nd all-time in blocked shots and 6th in rebounds. This year's team...the 13th under Scott Trost... has 21 wins with two more regular season games, the conference tourney and nation tourney to come. If they stay #1 in the region, they will host that NCAA Regional and I will get to announce their first games in the national tournament on WJOL. I hope I get the chance and they definitely have the chance to top that team from 17 years ago.
It's been the best combined season for me announcing Lewis University Men's and Women's basketball. Right now, the men are ranked 11th in the nation and #1 in the region. The women are ranked 9th in the nation and #2 in the region, behind #1 in the nation, Drury. I thought early that this could be the best men's team since the 2002 team that made the Division-2 'Sweet 16' and maybe of all-time. I wanted to look back at that 2001-2002 season here. The crazy thing is that didn't finish nationally ranked despite that 'Sweet 16' and a 25-7 record. I guess it was those seven defeats, but they had to play national champion Kentucky Wesleyan four times that season. The Flyers beat them once and lost once in overtime. Wesleyan was the team that beat them in that 'Sweet 16' game 80-75. So no one else had to play the best team in the county four times and so three of those seven defeats were courtesy of #1 in the nation. No credit for that I guess and that still rankles me to this day. The 1982 Lewis team finished ranked #17 with all-time great Larry Tucker. They have also finished 20th and 25th. Their best-ever team finished un-ranked. Ugh. That 2002 team was my second year behind the mic. This year is my 16th. I skipped the two years with Kyle Green as head coach, while I was working full-time at WSCR...2003 to 2004...doing updates for Boers & Bernstein. The Jim Whitesell-coached 2002 squad was led by Sammy Bacino's 15ppg. That was their strength. No one was dominant. Their top 5 players all scored between 9-15ppg. They averaged 73ppg and allowed just 65. What they had was Demetrius Hunter at point guard. He is the all-time assist leader in school history at 528. He ran the show and the team ran a great unselfish half-court offense. Stan Strong is 10th all-time in 3pters which didn't hurt either. That team also played great defense. Hunter is 2nd all-time in steals and Austin Real is 2nd all-time in blocked shots and 6th in rebounds. This year's team...the 13th under Scott Trost... has 21 wins with two more regular season games, the conference tourney and nation tourney to come. If they stay #1 in the region, they will host that NCAA Regional and I will get to announce their first games in the national tournament on WJOL. I hope I get the chance and they definitely have the chance to top that team from 17 years ago.
2/26/2019
Hard to believe we lost Red and Norm ten years ago, now. Also hard to believe I got to meet and know Norm, a guy I watched on TV as a kid and loved to watch play. I didn't know him well, but it was weird that he eventually knew who I was, after being on TV with him several times on Chicago Tribune Live. One time we saw each other at Ditka's at the bar and he called me over to buy me a drink. I'm thinking 'Wow, Norm Van Lier knows who I am and wants to hang' lol. He was such a fun guy. I will never forget that night or that guy. His Bulls were 'my' Bulls growing up. Van Lier, Sloan, Love, Walker, Boerwinkle. Those were my guys. And there also wasn't a nicer guy than Red. I only got to talk to him a couple times, but what a great guy too. I still think of Stormin' Normin' quite a bit. What a character. Here's to you two....
Hard to believe we lost Red and Norm ten years ago, now. Also hard to believe I got to meet and know Norm, a guy I watched on TV as a kid and loved to watch play. I didn't know him well, but it was weird that he eventually knew who I was, after being on TV with him several times on Chicago Tribune Live. One time we saw each other at Ditka's at the bar and he called me over to buy me a drink. I'm thinking 'Wow, Norm Van Lier knows who I am and wants to hang' lol. He was such a fun guy. I will never forget that night or that guy. His Bulls were 'my' Bulls growing up. Van Lier, Sloan, Love, Walker, Boerwinkle. Those were my guys. And there also wasn't a nicer guy than Red. I only got to talk to him a couple times, but what a great guy too. I still think of Stormin' Normin' quite a bit. What a character. Here's to you two....
2/20/2019
A few thoughts on a bad last few days for Chicago baseball. As far as Machado goes, it is too bad the Sox didn't get him but I am not going to do the hand-wringing of some. He is not a great guy and I do not agree with the premise of... that is what he wanted, so give it to him. Since when? What if he wanted 400 million? Give it to him? Ridiculous. They offered what they thought they could afford and what they thought he was worth. If that makes you mad, I can't help you. They did all the other stuff...John Jay...because they knew they were not going to be the highest offer and wanted to try and get him anyway. They don't think they can afford to be the highest bidder. Attendance matters. It just does. I'm not blaming anyone. Sox fans are not to blame. They support winners and there is nothing wrong with that, but to say that Machado would have paid for himself, even at 300 million, I don't buy it and obviously neither did the front office. The Sox are not ready to win yet in this rebuild, even with Machado. Would they have a big uptick in attendance with him on a 3rd place team this year and/or next? They didn't think so. If they did, he would be on the team right now. They aren't cheap, but they are in the business to not lose money. I think the offer they did make was more than fair. He didn't take it. All that means is that the Padres were willing to lose money down the line on him for excitement now. There is no way he will be worth that money at the end of that deal. That was what the Sox were trying to guard against with those incentives. I don't blame them for that. The Padres are willing to do something dumb out of desperation. The Sox were not, and are not desperate, anyway. They are confident they are on the right track for continued success when this rebuild bears fruit. That is not a bad thing, just frustrating for now.
As far as the Cubs go...ugh. lol. It has been a bad few days for them too. The emails are bad and so was the response. The handling of their shortstop has been bad all along and so were his recent comments to the media. I don't want him on my team and he will be. I don't like the elder Ricketts and wish he wasn't attached to the team. He is. I don't like who the team has partnered with in this new TV deal. I wish it hadn't happened. It did. I haven't been able to afford to go to games lately anyway, but all of these recent events make me not want to give them any of my money any time soon, regardless. I don't mind that they haven't signed any free agents. I think they will be just fine on the field and I will be rooting for them, but all of this recent nonsense definitely has left a bad taste in my mouth. It will take a while to lose it.
A few thoughts on a bad last few days for Chicago baseball. As far as Machado goes, it is too bad the Sox didn't get him but I am not going to do the hand-wringing of some. He is not a great guy and I do not agree with the premise of... that is what he wanted, so give it to him. Since when? What if he wanted 400 million? Give it to him? Ridiculous. They offered what they thought they could afford and what they thought he was worth. If that makes you mad, I can't help you. They did all the other stuff...John Jay...because they knew they were not going to be the highest offer and wanted to try and get him anyway. They don't think they can afford to be the highest bidder. Attendance matters. It just does. I'm not blaming anyone. Sox fans are not to blame. They support winners and there is nothing wrong with that, but to say that Machado would have paid for himself, even at 300 million, I don't buy it and obviously neither did the front office. The Sox are not ready to win yet in this rebuild, even with Machado. Would they have a big uptick in attendance with him on a 3rd place team this year and/or next? They didn't think so. If they did, he would be on the team right now. They aren't cheap, but they are in the business to not lose money. I think the offer they did make was more than fair. He didn't take it. All that means is that the Padres were willing to lose money down the line on him for excitement now. There is no way he will be worth that money at the end of that deal. That was what the Sox were trying to guard against with those incentives. I don't blame them for that. The Padres are willing to do something dumb out of desperation. The Sox were not, and are not desperate, anyway. They are confident they are on the right track for continued success when this rebuild bears fruit. That is not a bad thing, just frustrating for now.
As far as the Cubs go...ugh. lol. It has been a bad few days for them too. The emails are bad and so was the response. The handling of their shortstop has been bad all along and so were his recent comments to the media. I don't want him on my team and he will be. I don't like the elder Ricketts and wish he wasn't attached to the team. He is. I don't like who the team has partnered with in this new TV deal. I wish it hadn't happened. It did. I haven't been able to afford to go to games lately anyway, but all of these recent events make me not want to give them any of my money any time soon, regardless. I don't mind that they haven't signed any free agents. I think they will be just fine on the field and I will be rooting for them, but all of this recent nonsense definitely has left a bad taste in my mouth. It will take a while to lose it.
2/17/2019
This mass-shooting story in Aurora makes me so sad. That will always be my town, after spending a dozen years there at WMRO and WKKD. I would still be on the air there on AM 1580, if it was up to me. I never would have left that afternoon talk show that I started back in the summer of 1985. Yes, I then got to work at some other great places but I never needed to do any of that. Only ownership madness that put WKKD out of business entirely made us all leave there. We were a great team doing great work in a great City. I wish I was still there to talk about this tragedy on Monday. If I ever won the lottery, I wouldn't retire. I would buy that license, put that station back on the air and give that City back the local news, sports, weather, traffic and local conversation it deserves. Those people deserve a place to come together and help each other get through this. That's what neighborhood radio does best. I wish they had it and I wish I was part of it.
This mass-shooting story in Aurora makes me so sad. That will always be my town, after spending a dozen years there at WMRO and WKKD. I would still be on the air there on AM 1580, if it was up to me. I never would have left that afternoon talk show that I started back in the summer of 1985. Yes, I then got to work at some other great places but I never needed to do any of that. Only ownership madness that put WKKD out of business entirely made us all leave there. We were a great team doing great work in a great City. I wish I was still there to talk about this tragedy on Monday. If I ever won the lottery, I wouldn't retire. I would buy that license, put that station back on the air and give that City back the local news, sports, weather, traffic and local conversation it deserves. Those people deserve a place to come together and help each other get through this. That's what neighborhood radio does best. I wish they had it and I wish I was part of it.
1/17/2019
I need a little baseball fix again, so here is a look back at my last season as radio man for the Cook County Cheetahs...now the Windy City Thunderbolts. This is the pocket schedule from that 2001 summer. We were not very good that year, finishing at 28-53. We finished last in the Western Division. Dubois County finished in first. The Richmond Roosters won the Title. It was still a fun season though, with Milt Pappas as my color man again. James Rinne, out of Illinois Wesleyan, was our only .300 hitter at .304. Jason Shelley was the only notable pitcher, as he eventually played for the Joliet JackHammers, when I was there too. To tell you how little support Shelley got in 2001, he finished at 2-8 but only allowed 86 hits in 92 innings. We did not have a single hitter finish in double digits in home runs. Chad Epperson was the Manager. A really good guy, he would go on to join the Red Sox organization and I believe he still is their roving catching instructor. I love that little ballpark to this day and it was always fun to go back to that press box as the visiting announcer with the Joliet Slammers.
I need a little baseball fix again, so here is a look back at my last season as radio man for the Cook County Cheetahs...now the Windy City Thunderbolts. This is the pocket schedule from that 2001 summer. We were not very good that year, finishing at 28-53. We finished last in the Western Division. Dubois County finished in first. The Richmond Roosters won the Title. It was still a fun season though, with Milt Pappas as my color man again. James Rinne, out of Illinois Wesleyan, was our only .300 hitter at .304. Jason Shelley was the only notable pitcher, as he eventually played for the Joliet JackHammers, when I was there too. To tell you how little support Shelley got in 2001, he finished at 2-8 but only allowed 86 hits in 92 innings. We did not have a single hitter finish in double digits in home runs. Chad Epperson was the Manager. A really good guy, he would go on to join the Red Sox organization and I believe he still is their roving catching instructor. I love that little ballpark to this day and it was always fun to go back to that press box as the visiting announcer with the Joliet Slammers.
12/29/2018
I just finished watching the 30for30 on the '85 Bears again. Love that thing and I loved that season so much. Got me thinking about how amazing that year was, as well as the Bulls 72-10 championship season, the Hawks 2010 Stanley Cup and naturally, the Cubs World Series season. I even got emotionally pulled into the White Sox 2005 Championship summer too, of course. The one that gets overlooked and forgotten, but got it all started though, was the 1981 Chicago Sting championship season. I know for some, soccer is no big deal, but Chicago hadn't had a title of any kind since the 1963 Bears and that Sting summer was special. I have always loved soccer and I will always love that team. I want to give them their due. People forget how popular that team was here. They drew over 30,000 at Wrigley Field when they beat the N.Y. Cosmos that season. I would go and sit in the right field bleachers. They also played Indoor Soccer and after winning the NASL outdoor title, drew over 19,000 vs.Tampa at Chicago Stadium that winter. I saw them play everywhere. They played at Wrigley, Comiskey, Solder Field, the Stadium and the Rosemont Horizon. I will never forget those names...Willy Roy, Pato Margetic, Karl Heinz-Granitza, Rudy Glenn, Davey Huson, Bret Hall, Charlie Fajkus, Paul Hahn, Frantz Mathieu, Arno Steffenhagen, Dieter Ferner and more. They went to Toronto for the Soccer Bowl...my brother went there to watch in person...and brought back a championship for Chicago with a win over the Cosmos. They need to do a 30for30 about that team and that season as well. It was incredible and it paved the way for all the titles that were to follow here.
I just finished watching the 30for30 on the '85 Bears again. Love that thing and I loved that season so much. Got me thinking about how amazing that year was, as well as the Bulls 72-10 championship season, the Hawks 2010 Stanley Cup and naturally, the Cubs World Series season. I even got emotionally pulled into the White Sox 2005 Championship summer too, of course. The one that gets overlooked and forgotten, but got it all started though, was the 1981 Chicago Sting championship season. I know for some, soccer is no big deal, but Chicago hadn't had a title of any kind since the 1963 Bears and that Sting summer was special. I have always loved soccer and I will always love that team. I want to give them their due. People forget how popular that team was here. They drew over 30,000 at Wrigley Field when they beat the N.Y. Cosmos that season. I would go and sit in the right field bleachers. They also played Indoor Soccer and after winning the NASL outdoor title, drew over 19,000 vs.Tampa at Chicago Stadium that winter. I saw them play everywhere. They played at Wrigley, Comiskey, Solder Field, the Stadium and the Rosemont Horizon. I will never forget those names...Willy Roy, Pato Margetic, Karl Heinz-Granitza, Rudy Glenn, Davey Huson, Bret Hall, Charlie Fajkus, Paul Hahn, Frantz Mathieu, Arno Steffenhagen, Dieter Ferner and more. They went to Toronto for the Soccer Bowl...my brother went there to watch in person...and brought back a championship for Chicago with a win over the Cosmos. They need to do a 30for30 about that team and that season as well. It was incredible and it paved the way for all the titles that were to follow here.
12/09/2018
I'm interested that so many White Sox fans do not think Harold Baines belongs in the Hall of Fame. For anyone unimpressed or bitchin' about Harold, here are some numbers...2,830 games, 2,866 hits. 6 all-star games. In 1985, he hit .309 with 113 rbis. It seems like so many people only think about home runs. Consistency and dependability for years is enough. Power isn't everything. It is just like the fact that Mark Grace does not get anywhere near enough respect for his career. Singles, doubles and great defense for years was enough for him too. Meanwhile, there certainly shouldn't be any doubts about Lee Smith's unduction. In 1983, he allowed just 70 hits in 103.1 innings while striking out 91 and an era of 1.65. In 1989, he struck out 112 in 97.2 innings. Done.
I'm interested that so many White Sox fans do not think Harold Baines belongs in the Hall of Fame. For anyone unimpressed or bitchin' about Harold, here are some numbers...2,830 games, 2,866 hits. 6 all-star games. In 1985, he hit .309 with 113 rbis. It seems like so many people only think about home runs. Consistency and dependability for years is enough. Power isn't everything. It is just like the fact that Mark Grace does not get anywhere near enough respect for his career. Singles, doubles and great defense for years was enough for him too. Meanwhile, there certainly shouldn't be any doubts about Lee Smith's unduction. In 1983, he allowed just 70 hits in 103.1 innings while striking out 91 and an era of 1.65. In 1989, he struck out 112 in 97.2 innings. Done.
12/06/2018
This info is just one reason why Barry Sanders is my favorite non Chicago football player. He was extraordinary to watch. Roberto Clemente is my favorite non Chicago baseball player. It's Gretzky for Hockey and Pete Maravich for basketball. For women's sports, I am not worried about Chicago ties. Softball...Jennie Finch (that's us as teammates). Even though Cat Osterman and Lisa Fernandez might be a bit better, I got to play charity games with Finch and she is great. Candace Parker for basketball. I got to broadcast her as a high school freshman completely dominate varsity games for Naperville Central. She would block a shot, grab it, dribble all the way down for a layup at the other end and then do it again. This is just a short list of some of my favorites...
This info is just one reason why Barry Sanders is my favorite non Chicago football player. He was extraordinary to watch. Roberto Clemente is my favorite non Chicago baseball player. It's Gretzky for Hockey and Pete Maravich for basketball. For women's sports, I am not worried about Chicago ties. Softball...Jennie Finch (that's us as teammates). Even though Cat Osterman and Lisa Fernandez might be a bit better, I got to play charity games with Finch and she is great. Candace Parker for basketball. I got to broadcast her as a high school freshman completely dominate varsity games for Naperville Central. She would block a shot, grab it, dribble all the way down for a layup at the other end and then do it again. This is just a short list of some of my favorites...
12/03/2018
This death of Paul Sherwen does hurt. Phil and Paul 'were' pro cycling for me, for more than 30 years. Greg LeMond got me hooked on bike racing but it was the broadcast team of Phil and Paul that brought the excitement of the sport to my ears and they were how I learned the the history of cycling and learned how to appreciate the suffering that 'is' cycling. Phil is well past his prime at this point, as much as I admire him, so Paul was the one who, in recent years, was even more so the fun of cycling broadcasts. He was a cyclist, knew the sport inside and out, and was such a friendly, laid back, listen. As much of a baseball guy and play-by-play snob as I am, those two are my favorite broadcast team of any sport of all-time...especially during the 80's and 90's. I am still in shock on what this loss means. I have been put in a spot of bother and have come to grief, as Paul would say, over all of this.
This death of Paul Sherwen does hurt. Phil and Paul 'were' pro cycling for me, for more than 30 years. Greg LeMond got me hooked on bike racing but it was the broadcast team of Phil and Paul that brought the excitement of the sport to my ears and they were how I learned the the history of cycling and learned how to appreciate the suffering that 'is' cycling. Phil is well past his prime at this point, as much as I admire him, so Paul was the one who, in recent years, was even more so the fun of cycling broadcasts. He was a cyclist, knew the sport inside and out, and was such a friendly, laid back, listen. As much of a baseball guy and play-by-play snob as I am, those two are my favorite broadcast team of any sport of all-time...especially during the 80's and 90's. I am still in shock on what this loss means. I have been put in a spot of bother and have come to grief, as Paul would say, over all of this.
11/08/2018
I did not comment at the time but with talk now that it is a possibility that the White Sox 'might' get Manny Machado, I have to say a few words. His lack of hustle is evident and he spiked those guys on purpose. Absolutely. So do you want him around a young nucleus? Do you want problems like that? No, thank you. And yes, he spiked them on purpose. It is impossible to spike a Major League first baseman otherwise. The only way anyone gets spiked at first base in the Majors is if a pitcher runs over to cover and accidentally puts his foot on top of the bag while reaching for it, looking to catch the baseball. An MLB first baseman does not put his foot on top of the base, so no one who knows how to run the bases should ever spike him. My dad, my brother and I were all first basemen. I was never spiked after Little League. Not once. Neither were they. It doesn't happen unless someone wants it to. Machado is a very talented mess. I don't want it in my clubhouse. Please and thank you.
I did not comment at the time but with talk now that it is a possibility that the White Sox 'might' get Manny Machado, I have to say a few words. His lack of hustle is evident and he spiked those guys on purpose. Absolutely. So do you want him around a young nucleus? Do you want problems like that? No, thank you. And yes, he spiked them on purpose. It is impossible to spike a Major League first baseman otherwise. The only way anyone gets spiked at first base in the Majors is if a pitcher runs over to cover and accidentally puts his foot on top of the bag while reaching for it, looking to catch the baseball. An MLB first baseman does not put his foot on top of the base, so no one who knows how to run the bases should ever spike him. My dad, my brother and I were all first basemen. I was never spiked after Little League. Not once. Neither were they. It doesn't happen unless someone wants it to. Machado is a very talented mess. I don't want it in my clubhouse. Please and thank you.
11/07/2018
About the only good thing that comes from losing my radio job recently is that I get to do a 16th season of broadcasting Lewis Flyers basketball on WJOL. I still haven't gotten over that latest bit of bad news but my first games of the season on Saturday Dec. 1st should help, I hope. I would not have been able to fit the Flyers in otherwise. The 5th ranked women's team gets things underway that day vs Indy at 12:45pm followed by the men at 3pm. I will be doing all the home conference double headers plus the games vs. St. Francis. Both teams will be very good and this could be one for the books. Can't wait to get going and get back behind the mic.
About the only good thing that comes from losing my radio job recently is that I get to do a 16th season of broadcasting Lewis Flyers basketball on WJOL. I still haven't gotten over that latest bit of bad news but my first games of the season on Saturday Dec. 1st should help, I hope. I would not have been able to fit the Flyers in otherwise. The 5th ranked women's team gets things underway that day vs Indy at 12:45pm followed by the men at 3pm. I will be doing all the home conference double headers plus the games vs. St. Francis. Both teams will be very good and this could be one for the books. Can't wait to get going and get back behind the mic.
10/31/2018
RIP Willie McCovey, one of the most under appreciated players ever in MLB. He was top ten in MVP voting 4x, won it once. All-star only 6x because his era also had Ernie Banks, Orlando Cepeda, Dick Allen, Lee May and more at IB. Someone also needs to explain to me how Ed Kranepool of the Mets made the all-star team instead of him in 1965. Kranepool hit all of .253 that year with 53 rbis. Meanwhile, McCovey hit 39 homers with 92 rbis and finished 10th in the MVP voting but was not an all-star! McCovey was also not an all-star in 1967 despite 31 homers and 91 rbis. Banks and Cepeda edged him out. McCovey also played some outfield early in his career but all that did was get him overshadowed by the likes of Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Pete Rose, Lou Brock etc.
RIP Willie McCovey, one of the most under appreciated players ever in MLB. He was top ten in MVP voting 4x, won it once. All-star only 6x because his era also had Ernie Banks, Orlando Cepeda, Dick Allen, Lee May and more at IB. Someone also needs to explain to me how Ed Kranepool of the Mets made the all-star team instead of him in 1965. Kranepool hit all of .253 that year with 53 rbis. Meanwhile, McCovey hit 39 homers with 92 rbis and finished 10th in the MVP voting but was not an all-star! McCovey was also not an all-star in 1967 despite 31 homers and 91 rbis. Banks and Cepeda edged him out. McCovey also played some outfield early in his career but all that did was get him overshadowed by the likes of Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Pete Rose, Lou Brock etc.
09/29/2018
Re-posting this story from March, so all these related looks-back are grouped close together.
I wanted to find confirmation for posterity. So here it is. It is an article about the 5 worse managing blunders of all-time in MLB. My story concerns former White Sox skipper Terry Bevington. This event makes number four on their list and I was there to witness it. lol
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/847238
Bevington once was forced to take out his pitcher thanks to a second trip to the mound, while no one was warming up. I will never forget sitting in the front row of the press box, next to Julie Swieca and saying "Hey, there's no one warming up! He HAS to take him out now, anyway!" lol. I was the beat-reporter for WBBM, thru Metro Traffic, back then and Jules was there for WSCR... and we had to cover Bev every day. Ugh. What a moron. The whole 8th inning was ridiculous. It was Sept. 1997 vs Cleveland. Tony Castillo faced the first three hitters and allowed two runs. Jeff Darwin then came in for one pitch, which also turned into a run. Tom Fordham then faced two hitters and that included a mound visit after the first hitter and then after the second. No one was warming up though, so the recently acquired Keith Foulke had to be brought in to intentionally walk a batter to buy time so Matt Karchner could warm up! He came in and allowed two more runs to end one of the the worst managed innings ever. I will also never forget, after the game, Bevington...after slamming his two mandatory pre-interview beers...saying that he did it on purpose. He wanted to do it that way. Uh, just no. Nitwit. Julie and I also stuck to our vow, other than after this game, of never asking him a single question, post-all-star-break that season. We let visiting media do it. We got tired of his condescending nonsense. Thank goodness the Sox have Ricky now and all that silliness is in the past. Julie just reminded me that the cherry on the Bevington sundae was that slamming those beers also meant he would then constantly belch through each and every post-game press conference! Again, Keith Foulke was the pitcher who went in for the intentional walk to buy time for Karchner to come in. She says Foulke told her that he was dumbfounded afterward. Of course, he was. lol. We all were.
Re-posting this story from March, so all these related looks-back are grouped close together.
I wanted to find confirmation for posterity. So here it is. It is an article about the 5 worse managing blunders of all-time in MLB. My story concerns former White Sox skipper Terry Bevington. This event makes number four on their list and I was there to witness it. lol
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/847238
Bevington once was forced to take out his pitcher thanks to a second trip to the mound, while no one was warming up. I will never forget sitting in the front row of the press box, next to Julie Swieca and saying "Hey, there's no one warming up! He HAS to take him out now, anyway!" lol. I was the beat-reporter for WBBM, thru Metro Traffic, back then and Jules was there for WSCR... and we had to cover Bev every day. Ugh. What a moron. The whole 8th inning was ridiculous. It was Sept. 1997 vs Cleveland. Tony Castillo faced the first three hitters and allowed two runs. Jeff Darwin then came in for one pitch, which also turned into a run. Tom Fordham then faced two hitters and that included a mound visit after the first hitter and then after the second. No one was warming up though, so the recently acquired Keith Foulke had to be brought in to intentionally walk a batter to buy time so Matt Karchner could warm up! He came in and allowed two more runs to end one of the the worst managed innings ever. I will also never forget, after the game, Bevington...after slamming his two mandatory pre-interview beers...saying that he did it on purpose. He wanted to do it that way. Uh, just no. Nitwit. Julie and I also stuck to our vow, other than after this game, of never asking him a single question, post-all-star-break that season. We let visiting media do it. We got tired of his condescending nonsense. Thank goodness the Sox have Ricky now and all that silliness is in the past. Julie just reminded me that the cherry on the Bevington sundae was that slamming those beers also meant he would then constantly belch through each and every post-game press conference! Again, Keith Foulke was the pitcher who went in for the intentional walk to buy time for Karchner to come in. She says Foulke told her that he was dumbfounded afterward. Of course, he was. lol. We all were.
09/28/2018
So this the will be my last story for a while, but they have been therapeutic, so thanks. Even though misfortune has affected my career again, I have been around, done some stuff and still can.-- This is about my time covering the final Chicago Bulls/Jordan championship team. I was working at "One on One Sports Radio" and was getting paid to watch the Bulls and talk to Michael Jordan, Phil Jackson and crew. It didn't get much better for a kid who grew up watching and loving Jerry Sloan, Norm Van Lier, Bob Love, Chet Walker and Tom Boerwinkle etc. By then, of course, MJ had retired, come back and won a few more titles. His statue was already there outside the U.C. The media parking lot was right there by the statue. I remember coming in to that Lot for the 1998 NBA Finals and shaking my head at my good fortune as I walked by that statue on my way in to where the action was. As a reminder, the Bulls were working on their 2nd 3-peat and had to play without Scottie Pippen for the first half of the season. When he returned, they reeled off a 13 game win streak to pull away and win the division at 62-20. Little did I know, but it was going to be the end of a great era. It was MJ's last season as a Bull, last for Phil Jackson, last for Dennis Rodman and last for Pippen. I'm still amazed I got paid to be there. They closed out their Bulls careers with a thriller against Utah to win their 6th title in 6 games. Covering that group was wild to say the least. Rodman was certainly a character. I would watch him walk down the corridor towards the locker room wrapped in a feather boa, with a posse of sycophants trailing behind him. But once the game started, no one gave more effort. Covering MJ was certainly not boring. He did not like an interview room, so everyone had to crowd around his locker after games. In the postseason, with dozens of extra media, that was a nightmare. Again, my size was my saving grace. I could muscle in by his locker, stand my ground in the crush and reach my arm out to get it close enough to get a microphone near him. Others were not so lucky. There were times I just didn't want to deal with it and could always count on great guys like Steve Kerr and Toni Kukuc to give me their time and their quotes. Kukoc will always be one of my all-time favorite Bulls. I loved how he played and appreciated the type of guy he was and is. Phil Jackson, at least, would use the interview room after playoff games. He was always good for a quote or seven. I loved that series because I also really admired the Jazz, with Stockton, Malone, Hornacek and Russell. Jordan and Pippen had to each play about 46 minutes to hold them off with help from Ron Harper, Luc Longley, Rodman, Kukoc, Kerr, Judd Buechler etc. I will never forget Game 4. That was the game that not only did I get to cover it, but I also got to call in Live updates during Arnie Spanier's show. I was on Live national radio doing reports on the NBA Finals in my hometown for my hometown team. With so much media, they put some of us in the stands in a section roped off for the press. So I was keeping score and doing reports on my cellphone from a seat halfway up the lower level, behind one of the backboards, with a clipboard in my lap! The Bulls took a huge 3-1 series lead in that game thanks to an 86-82 win. The Bulls led by just 2 at the half and by 4 after the 3rd. They hung on despite 21pts and 14rebs from Malone. Stockton had 13assts. Jordan came up big with 34pts, while Pippen was his usual great all-around self, with 28pts, 9rebs, 5assts and great defense. Rodman pulled down 14rebs of his own. Kukoc added 8pts and 4assts. Two days later at the U.C., it was Kukoc who led the Bulls with 30pts but the Jazz stayed alive thanks to 39pts from Malone. MJ had a bad shooting night and finished with 28pts. I did not travel sadly, so was not there when Jordan rebounded with 45pts as the Bulls clinched their 6th and final title with a 1pt win in Salt Lake City, but I can still say I was witness to the end of a historic run by an amazing dynasty. (Malone, btw, finished Game 6 with 31pts, 11reb and 7assts, in a herculean effort trying to avoid elimination. There aren't many more non-Chicago athletes I respect and admire more than Karl Malone.) Thanks for your time. I enjoy looking back.
So this the will be my last story for a while, but they have been therapeutic, so thanks. Even though misfortune has affected my career again, I have been around, done some stuff and still can.-- This is about my time covering the final Chicago Bulls/Jordan championship team. I was working at "One on One Sports Radio" and was getting paid to watch the Bulls and talk to Michael Jordan, Phil Jackson and crew. It didn't get much better for a kid who grew up watching and loving Jerry Sloan, Norm Van Lier, Bob Love, Chet Walker and Tom Boerwinkle etc. By then, of course, MJ had retired, come back and won a few more titles. His statue was already there outside the U.C. The media parking lot was right there by the statue. I remember coming in to that Lot for the 1998 NBA Finals and shaking my head at my good fortune as I walked by that statue on my way in to where the action was. As a reminder, the Bulls were working on their 2nd 3-peat and had to play without Scottie Pippen for the first half of the season. When he returned, they reeled off a 13 game win streak to pull away and win the division at 62-20. Little did I know, but it was going to be the end of a great era. It was MJ's last season as a Bull, last for Phil Jackson, last for Dennis Rodman and last for Pippen. I'm still amazed I got paid to be there. They closed out their Bulls careers with a thriller against Utah to win their 6th title in 6 games. Covering that group was wild to say the least. Rodman was certainly a character. I would watch him walk down the corridor towards the locker room wrapped in a feather boa, with a posse of sycophants trailing behind him. But once the game started, no one gave more effort. Covering MJ was certainly not boring. He did not like an interview room, so everyone had to crowd around his locker after games. In the postseason, with dozens of extra media, that was a nightmare. Again, my size was my saving grace. I could muscle in by his locker, stand my ground in the crush and reach my arm out to get it close enough to get a microphone near him. Others were not so lucky. There were times I just didn't want to deal with it and could always count on great guys like Steve Kerr and Toni Kukuc to give me their time and their quotes. Kukoc will always be one of my all-time favorite Bulls. I loved how he played and appreciated the type of guy he was and is. Phil Jackson, at least, would use the interview room after playoff games. He was always good for a quote or seven. I loved that series because I also really admired the Jazz, with Stockton, Malone, Hornacek and Russell. Jordan and Pippen had to each play about 46 minutes to hold them off with help from Ron Harper, Luc Longley, Rodman, Kukoc, Kerr, Judd Buechler etc. I will never forget Game 4. That was the game that not only did I get to cover it, but I also got to call in Live updates during Arnie Spanier's show. I was on Live national radio doing reports on the NBA Finals in my hometown for my hometown team. With so much media, they put some of us in the stands in a section roped off for the press. So I was keeping score and doing reports on my cellphone from a seat halfway up the lower level, behind one of the backboards, with a clipboard in my lap! The Bulls took a huge 3-1 series lead in that game thanks to an 86-82 win. The Bulls led by just 2 at the half and by 4 after the 3rd. They hung on despite 21pts and 14rebs from Malone. Stockton had 13assts. Jordan came up big with 34pts, while Pippen was his usual great all-around self, with 28pts, 9rebs, 5assts and great defense. Rodman pulled down 14rebs of his own. Kukoc added 8pts and 4assts. Two days later at the U.C., it was Kukoc who led the Bulls with 30pts but the Jazz stayed alive thanks to 39pts from Malone. MJ had a bad shooting night and finished with 28pts. I did not travel sadly, so was not there when Jordan rebounded with 45pts as the Bulls clinched their 6th and final title with a 1pt win in Salt Lake City, but I can still say I was witness to the end of a historic run by an amazing dynasty. (Malone, btw, finished Game 6 with 31pts, 11reb and 7assts, in a herculean effort trying to avoid elimination. There aren't many more non-Chicago athletes I respect and admire more than Karl Malone.) Thanks for your time. I enjoy looking back.
09/27/2018
Thanks to relentlessly depressing social media today and a need to divert my attention in general, I am going to tell another story. It is more for me than anything, so feel free to skip it, but it is the story of my first reporting assignment in Platteville covering Bears training camp. It is another 1984 story from before they were the SUPER BOWL BEARS and before they became a big deal. I've talked a bit about it before but it is still a bit hard to believe for people who only know the continuous 24 hours a day coverage of the team that did not used to exist. Continuous coverage of training camp did not exist then either. They had a Media Day/Weekend for that sort of thing. So I went up to Platteville on Media Day from WMRO in Aurora. The Bears put the media up in the dorms there. Radio and TV didn't go up there otherwise and didn't really go that weekend either, believe it or not. There was a total of three radio people there that weekend. Myself, Brian Davis and Les Grobstein. Period. That's it. The team put the players on the field grouped by position. So the quarterbacks were in a huddle on the 5 yard line with linebackers at the 20 etc. So you would go from group to group and talk to whoever you wanted. With only a handful of media total, you had as long as you wanted to talk to whoever you wanted, basically. I will never forget going up to Coach Ditka, sitting by himself in his golf cart...by himself. No media in sight. I asked to talk to him. He said sure. I sat in his golf cart and proceeded to talk to him for a good 15 minutes with no one else even approaching. Hilarious to look back at this much simpler, innocent time now. I started to walk away and remembered one more question...sat back down and asked him about Brian Baschnagel, lol. He was not just the wide receiver but was also the holder and with his hands, I thought he was the best in the business. Ditka agreed. I then walked over to the quarterbacks. Again, I am the only one talking to the Bears quarterbacks at the time. Imagine that?! I saw five others besides Bob Avellini and remember asking him if he was worried about the competition in camp. (I knew how underwhelming he was as a qb, of course) He proceeded to chide me and call me out as a dumb kid who didn't know how things work. They always brought in a lot of quarterbacks. He was not worried. Well, they cut him after one game, so I was not so dumb afterall! By the way, while I was talking to Avellini, I looked over at the offensive linemen and Walter Payton had snuck up behind them and was pinching them all on the butt and then hiding, lol. That night everyone, players and media alike, went to the usual bar hangout in Platteville and played pool and had a beer or two. It was again, a much simpler time with no adversarial relationship at all. That 1984 team, by the way, was a tremendous group and was the team that began their great run and led to their title. They finished 10-6 and got all the way to the NFC Championship game. Sadly, that was the last year of the innocence. Media attention exploded with their success and all of the sudden, that little radio station in Aurora was no longer given a press pass. I covered that team all season but for the Super Bowl 1985 season, WMRO was no longer allowed in the press box. The old stadium had no more room, apparently. Being in that locker room in 1984 though, with basically the same roster as the Super Bowl champs was a thrill for a young kid just out of college. I'm pretty damn sure no one got 15 minutes alone with Ditka in his golf cart in 1985 or ever again.
Thanks to relentlessly depressing social media today and a need to divert my attention in general, I am going to tell another story. It is more for me than anything, so feel free to skip it, but it is the story of my first reporting assignment in Platteville covering Bears training camp. It is another 1984 story from before they were the SUPER BOWL BEARS and before they became a big deal. I've talked a bit about it before but it is still a bit hard to believe for people who only know the continuous 24 hours a day coverage of the team that did not used to exist. Continuous coverage of training camp did not exist then either. They had a Media Day/Weekend for that sort of thing. So I went up to Platteville on Media Day from WMRO in Aurora. The Bears put the media up in the dorms there. Radio and TV didn't go up there otherwise and didn't really go that weekend either, believe it or not. There was a total of three radio people there that weekend. Myself, Brian Davis and Les Grobstein. Period. That's it. The team put the players on the field grouped by position. So the quarterbacks were in a huddle on the 5 yard line with linebackers at the 20 etc. So you would go from group to group and talk to whoever you wanted. With only a handful of media total, you had as long as you wanted to talk to whoever you wanted, basically. I will never forget going up to Coach Ditka, sitting by himself in his golf cart...by himself. No media in sight. I asked to talk to him. He said sure. I sat in his golf cart and proceeded to talk to him for a good 15 minutes with no one else even approaching. Hilarious to look back at this much simpler, innocent time now. I started to walk away and remembered one more question...sat back down and asked him about Brian Baschnagel, lol. He was not just the wide receiver but was also the holder and with his hands, I thought he was the best in the business. Ditka agreed. I then walked over to the quarterbacks. Again, I am the only one talking to the Bears quarterbacks at the time. Imagine that?! I saw five others besides Bob Avellini and remember asking him if he was worried about the competition in camp. (I knew how underwhelming he was as a qb, of course) He proceeded to chide me and call me out as a dumb kid who didn't know how things work. They always brought in a lot of quarterbacks. He was not worried. Well, they cut him after one game, so I was not so dumb afterall! By the way, while I was talking to Avellini, I looked over at the offensive linemen and Walter Payton had snuck up behind them and was pinching them all on the butt and then hiding, lol. That night everyone, players and media alike, went to the usual bar hangout in Platteville and played pool and had a beer or two. It was again, a much simpler time with no adversarial relationship at all. That 1984 team, by the way, was a tremendous group and was the team that began their great run and led to their title. They finished 10-6 and got all the way to the NFC Championship game. Sadly, that was the last year of the innocence. Media attention exploded with their success and all of the sudden, that little radio station in Aurora was no longer given a press pass. I covered that team all season but for the Super Bowl 1985 season, WMRO was no longer allowed in the press box. The old stadium had no more room, apparently. Being in that locker room in 1984 though, with basically the same roster as the Super Bowl champs was a thrill for a young kid just out of college. I'm pretty damn sure no one got 15 minutes alone with Ditka in his golf cart in 1985 or ever again.
09/26/2018
So, with time on my hands other than looking for work, I will tell you another story. Sorry, I have to do something or I will go crazy, lol. I was very happy to get to tell this story to Jarrett Payton between segments during my recent appearance on CLTV Sports Feed. Walter Payton is my favorite athlete of all-time. I still think he is the best overall football player to ever put on a uniform in the NFL. I have put forth my argument for that opinion before, but a thumbnail would be that he was the Bears backup punter, their emergency quarterback who threw and caught td passes, a fierce blocker and he became the all-time leading rusher in the NFL while everybody in the stadium knew he was going to get the ball on almost every one of his carries. They weren't worried Bob Avellini was going to beat them with his passing arm, for instance! Anyway, this is the story of my meeting with my favorite athlete. It was in June of 1984 in the press box of the old Soldier Field. I was covering the USFL Chicago Blitz for WMRO in Aurora. I was just out of college and thrilled to be there. Payton was there, coincidentally, as a media member too. He was there covering the game for Channel 7. Yes, he worked in the off-season. His rookie signing bonus, for example, was just 129 thousand dollars coming out of Jackson State. Mitchell Trubisky's signing bonus was about 19 million dollars, lol. Payton had just had arthroscopic knee surgery, so was on crutches. The game ended...(I'm glad I kept my roster card from that game with all my notes)...and everyone went to the lone slow old elevator going down to the locker-room for interviews. Everyone crowded in with Payton and I the last two trying to squeeze in. He decided, thanks to his crutches, it wasn't going to work so he was going to wait for the next one. I looked to my left and recognized him and made the smart snap decision to wait with him! I said to myself...Oh my God, it's Walter Payton! So we looked at each other as the elevator door closed. He noticed my WIDB sticker on my work folder and asked if that was my college radio station. I said yes and he said that he worked for his college station at Jackson State too. I'm thinking...holy crap, Walter is starting a conversation with me...an absolute nobody, kid reporter! So we ended up talking like old friends for about ten minutes waiting for that ancient elevator to come back for us. It was the luckiest and best decision I ever made to stay there with him. Payton was such a regular guy, that he was holding a bag with his own equipment while on crutches. He did not have an assistant or intern or anything. So I offered to help and basically became his assistant for the rest of the night. I held his bag and gave him his microphone as he balanced on his crutches while talking to players. I'm sure I was grinning like an idiot the whole time, lol. I just held my mic up at the same time to get what I needed too. Payton could not have been any nicer and was just the best guy. He was the best player in the NFL and a sure Hall of Famer but he had absolutely no Big-Time, Big-Shot attitude in him at all. It only made me like him more, if that was possible. I know Jarrett hears nice stuff about his Dad all the time, but he told me that it was very cool to hear all that. It was definitely one of my all-time highlights as a sportscaster, that's for sure.
So, with time on my hands other than looking for work, I will tell you another story. Sorry, I have to do something or I will go crazy, lol. I was very happy to get to tell this story to Jarrett Payton between segments during my recent appearance on CLTV Sports Feed. Walter Payton is my favorite athlete of all-time. I still think he is the best overall football player to ever put on a uniform in the NFL. I have put forth my argument for that opinion before, but a thumbnail would be that he was the Bears backup punter, their emergency quarterback who threw and caught td passes, a fierce blocker and he became the all-time leading rusher in the NFL while everybody in the stadium knew he was going to get the ball on almost every one of his carries. They weren't worried Bob Avellini was going to beat them with his passing arm, for instance! Anyway, this is the story of my meeting with my favorite athlete. It was in June of 1984 in the press box of the old Soldier Field. I was covering the USFL Chicago Blitz for WMRO in Aurora. I was just out of college and thrilled to be there. Payton was there, coincidentally, as a media member too. He was there covering the game for Channel 7. Yes, he worked in the off-season. His rookie signing bonus, for example, was just 129 thousand dollars coming out of Jackson State. Mitchell Trubisky's signing bonus was about 19 million dollars, lol. Payton had just had arthroscopic knee surgery, so was on crutches. The game ended...(I'm glad I kept my roster card from that game with all my notes)...and everyone went to the lone slow old elevator going down to the locker-room for interviews. Everyone crowded in with Payton and I the last two trying to squeeze in. He decided, thanks to his crutches, it wasn't going to work so he was going to wait for the next one. I looked to my left and recognized him and made the smart snap decision to wait with him! I said to myself...Oh my God, it's Walter Payton! So we looked at each other as the elevator door closed. He noticed my WIDB sticker on my work folder and asked if that was my college radio station. I said yes and he said that he worked for his college station at Jackson State too. I'm thinking...holy crap, Walter is starting a conversation with me...an absolute nobody, kid reporter! So we ended up talking like old friends for about ten minutes waiting for that ancient elevator to come back for us. It was the luckiest and best decision I ever made to stay there with him. Payton was such a regular guy, that he was holding a bag with his own equipment while on crutches. He did not have an assistant or intern or anything. So I offered to help and basically became his assistant for the rest of the night. I held his bag and gave him his microphone as he balanced on his crutches while talking to players. I'm sure I was grinning like an idiot the whole time, lol. I just held my mic up at the same time to get what I needed too. Payton could not have been any nicer and was just the best guy. He was the best player in the NFL and a sure Hall of Famer but he had absolutely no Big-Time, Big-Shot attitude in him at all. It only made me like him more, if that was possible. I know Jarrett hears nice stuff about his Dad all the time, but he told me that it was very cool to hear all that. It was definitely one of my all-time highlights as a sportscaster, that's for sure.
09/25/2018
I thought I would share a few memories of covering the Sosa-McGwire home run chase for the One on One Sports Network twenty years ago. The main thing is that Wrigley was still years away from any rehab at that point. Media from all over flooded in during the last few weeks of the season, so the Cubs had to come up with a way to accommodate them. They had to come up with an interview room that did not exist and they did not have room for. The clubhouses were way too small for post game interviews by their lockers. When the Cardinals came to town, the Cubs cleared out a storage room next to the first base dugout, under the stands. When games ended, the media marched all the way down the walkways from the press box, down onto the field, and through the first base dugout to get to this room. It probably used to hold beer kegs for all I know, lol. The problem was, the ceiling was six feet high. They set up lunch tables at one end for Sosa and McGwire, and the media stood, or hunched, as they asked questions. I am about 6'2", so I had to literally lean my head forward to even fit. It was also about 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity in there, with no air coming in from anywhere. Regardless, it was still exciting to be a part of all that. We were blissfully, relatively, ignorant of the cheating at that point, and weren't really digging to find out more, frankly. I liken it to back in the day when newspaper reporters traveled with the teams on the train from city to city. They lived with those guys and looked the other way at their off-field transgressions. It might not be best, but I think we all wanted this feel-good story to continue to feel good, although it felt a bit fishy. We knew McGwire was taking Creatine and Andro but we didn't really know what it all was and didn't really want to know more. It wasn't steroids, so move on. To be there in person and witness that show and then to get to talk to them about it every day is something I will never forget. I covered Sammy every day for a few years back then as the baseball beat-reporter for WBBM and One on One and it was a heck of a ride. Sammy was all for Sammy, but he was always nice to me. Sammy's smile softened McGwire too, who was pretty gruff and standoffish until you could see him lower the shield and smile a bit too, through all that attention in 1998. Eventually, we all came to realize it was a sham. Sosa would hit 60 or more homers three times and never led the league! Cmon! At the time, though, we all thought we were seeing a once-in-a-lifetime power surge. It was thrilling. Remember, I grew up at Wrigley, and the only question each game was, will they need to open the upper deck or not? They almost never needed to open the upper deck. I never attended anything close to a sellout as a kid. They never happened. The 1984 season was great but this atmosphere was wild. As a reminder, the attendance to see Sosa hit his 14th on June 1st was 25,000. His extraordinary June ended with his 33rd homer on June 30 in front of 39,000 fans at Wrigley. To see that old park packed and rocking was pretty amazing and fun to be a part of.
I thought I would share a few memories of covering the Sosa-McGwire home run chase for the One on One Sports Network twenty years ago. The main thing is that Wrigley was still years away from any rehab at that point. Media from all over flooded in during the last few weeks of the season, so the Cubs had to come up with a way to accommodate them. They had to come up with an interview room that did not exist and they did not have room for. The clubhouses were way too small for post game interviews by their lockers. When the Cardinals came to town, the Cubs cleared out a storage room next to the first base dugout, under the stands. When games ended, the media marched all the way down the walkways from the press box, down onto the field, and through the first base dugout to get to this room. It probably used to hold beer kegs for all I know, lol. The problem was, the ceiling was six feet high. They set up lunch tables at one end for Sosa and McGwire, and the media stood, or hunched, as they asked questions. I am about 6'2", so I had to literally lean my head forward to even fit. It was also about 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity in there, with no air coming in from anywhere. Regardless, it was still exciting to be a part of all that. We were blissfully, relatively, ignorant of the cheating at that point, and weren't really digging to find out more, frankly. I liken it to back in the day when newspaper reporters traveled with the teams on the train from city to city. They lived with those guys and looked the other way at their off-field transgressions. It might not be best, but I think we all wanted this feel-good story to continue to feel good, although it felt a bit fishy. We knew McGwire was taking Creatine and Andro but we didn't really know what it all was and didn't really want to know more. It wasn't steroids, so move on. To be there in person and witness that show and then to get to talk to them about it every day is something I will never forget. I covered Sammy every day for a few years back then as the baseball beat-reporter for WBBM and One on One and it was a heck of a ride. Sammy was all for Sammy, but he was always nice to me. Sammy's smile softened McGwire too, who was pretty gruff and standoffish until you could see him lower the shield and smile a bit too, through all that attention in 1998. Eventually, we all came to realize it was a sham. Sosa would hit 60 or more homers three times and never led the league! Cmon! At the time, though, we all thought we were seeing a once-in-a-lifetime power surge. It was thrilling. Remember, I grew up at Wrigley, and the only question each game was, will they need to open the upper deck or not? They almost never needed to open the upper deck. I never attended anything close to a sellout as a kid. They never happened. The 1984 season was great but this atmosphere was wild. As a reminder, the attendance to see Sosa hit his 14th on June 1st was 25,000. His extraordinary June ended with his 33rd homer on June 30 in front of 39,000 fans at Wrigley. To see that old park packed and rocking was pretty amazing and fun to be a part of.
09/23/2018
Here are my thoughts on Hawk's last broadcast...I start with a reminder that I love baseball and Chicago baseball and am passionate about the art of broadcasting baseball. I have watched and listened to both the Cubs and Sox all my life. I enjoyed Harry Caray as the Sox announcer teamed with Jimmy Piersall. I thought they were great together. I did not enjoy Harry at the end with the Cubs. His talents had waned too much for me. Being a personality is nice but that job requires some attention to detail and information that needs to be imparted. I enjoyed Hawk teamed with Wimpy (Tom Paciorek). I really liked those games back in the day. They were great together. I have not enjoyed Hawk as much in recent years for the same type of reasons. But I respect his love of the game and the time he has put into it and his passion for playing the game the right way, but it is time for him to pass the torch. So I tip my cap and am also happy his replacement is so capable. (As an aside, my favorite Sox broadcast crew of all time was the radio teaming of John Rooney with Wayne Hagin from 1989-1991. I wish they were still there to this day. There haven't been many in this industry better than John Rooney at play-by-play)
Here are my thoughts on Hawk's last broadcast...I start with a reminder that I love baseball and Chicago baseball and am passionate about the art of broadcasting baseball. I have watched and listened to both the Cubs and Sox all my life. I enjoyed Harry Caray as the Sox announcer teamed with Jimmy Piersall. I thought they were great together. I did not enjoy Harry at the end with the Cubs. His talents had waned too much for me. Being a personality is nice but that job requires some attention to detail and information that needs to be imparted. I enjoyed Hawk teamed with Wimpy (Tom Paciorek). I really liked those games back in the day. They were great together. I have not enjoyed Hawk as much in recent years for the same type of reasons. But I respect his love of the game and the time he has put into it and his passion for playing the game the right way, but it is time for him to pass the torch. So I tip my cap and am also happy his replacement is so capable. (As an aside, my favorite Sox broadcast crew of all time was the radio teaming of John Rooney with Wayne Hagin from 1989-1991. I wish they were still there to this day. There haven't been many in this industry better than John Rooney at play-by-play)
09/21/2018
I don't want Addison Russell in a Cubs uniform ever again. If you read the blog post, that reaction is natural.
I'm going to share a story now. Back in the day, I used to go to Elmhurst often after working in Aurora to meet up with buddies Mick and Dave at the old Oscar's bar. One night we were at a table next to a co-worker of mine and her sister. At one point the boyfriend of the sister slapped the sister full on and hard in the face, right in front of a full bar. I saw it and went up to the guy and pulled him up by his collar out of his chair and off the floor. I got in his face and said if I ever see him hit either of them again he would end up in the hospital. That is the good thing about me being kind of a big guy. I am not really intimated by any one. The girls reaction however was to both yell at me to leave him alone, mind my own business, and go back to my buddies. I just looked at them in disbelief. Okay then. I put the POS down and went back to my table. Maybe it was okay or normal to hit a girl in their house growing up, but not in mine. To me it showed just how pervasive and accepted this thing still is and how it isn't going to stop unless there are repercussions. Their reaction made me so sad that I still think about it to this day. These stories, like with Russell, make the opportunities for reflection more frequent than I would like.
I don't want Addison Russell in a Cubs uniform ever again. If you read the blog post, that reaction is natural.
I'm going to share a story now. Back in the day, I used to go to Elmhurst often after working in Aurora to meet up with buddies Mick and Dave at the old Oscar's bar. One night we were at a table next to a co-worker of mine and her sister. At one point the boyfriend of the sister slapped the sister full on and hard in the face, right in front of a full bar. I saw it and went up to the guy and pulled him up by his collar out of his chair and off the floor. I got in his face and said if I ever see him hit either of them again he would end up in the hospital. That is the good thing about me being kind of a big guy. I am not really intimated by any one. The girls reaction however was to both yell at me to leave him alone, mind my own business, and go back to my buddies. I just looked at them in disbelief. Okay then. I put the POS down and went back to my table. Maybe it was okay or normal to hit a girl in their house growing up, but not in mine. To me it showed just how pervasive and accepted this thing still is and how it isn't going to stop unless there are repercussions. Their reaction made me so sad that I still think about it to this day. These stories, like with Russell, make the opportunities for reflection more frequent than I would like.
6/08/2018Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst dies at 95; he was 'Mr. Cardinal'
My Red Schoendienst story...I was just out of college and working for WMRO in Aurora and got my first ever press pass to see the Cubs. I was beyond excited to go places in Wrigley I had never been before. I was going to get to go into the dugouts, locker rooms and press box! lol. Big stuff for a life long fan. It was Cubs vs. Cardinals. I was wandering around before the game wide eyed. I figured I would go into the visitors clubhouse first. Red was a coach with the Cards at the time and I certainly knew who he was. I had many of his baseball cards as Manager of the Cardinals. I put my first foot inside, all excited, and the very first sight in my first ever MLB locker room was a completely naked Red, from behind, bent completely over drying his feet with a towel! lol. I almost yelled out, AHH!. You can only imagine the wrinkly sight, now forever, burned into my brain, lol. I quickly turned to look at absolutely anything else and look somewhat professional. It took a bit to regain my footing. So much for the glamor and prestige of being in a big league clubhouse. All that aside, Red is a great story. Played, coached, managed in the Bigs, served in the Army in WWII, and the downstate Illinois native is in the Hall of Fame. I tip my cap to him.
My Red Schoendienst story...I was just out of college and working for WMRO in Aurora and got my first ever press pass to see the Cubs. I was beyond excited to go places in Wrigley I had never been before. I was going to get to go into the dugouts, locker rooms and press box! lol. Big stuff for a life long fan. It was Cubs vs. Cardinals. I was wandering around before the game wide eyed. I figured I would go into the visitors clubhouse first. Red was a coach with the Cards at the time and I certainly knew who he was. I had many of his baseball cards as Manager of the Cardinals. I put my first foot inside, all excited, and the very first sight in my first ever MLB locker room was a completely naked Red, from behind, bent completely over drying his feet with a towel! lol. I almost yelled out, AHH!. You can only imagine the wrinkly sight, now forever, burned into my brain, lol. I quickly turned to look at absolutely anything else and look somewhat professional. It took a bit to regain my footing. So much for the glamor and prestige of being in a big league clubhouse. All that aside, Red is a great story. Played, coached, managed in the Bigs, served in the Army in WWII, and the downstate Illinois native is in the Hall of Fame. I tip my cap to him.
5/06/2018
On this date, five years ago, my Dad and I went to see the Kane County Cougars play for the last time together. Since he coming up on his 93rd birthday, our days golfing and going to games together are pretty much in the past. I do remember how much we enjoyed that day at my old stomping grounds, though. Willson Contreras was catching. He threw two runners out, walked and had a hit. I was really impressed with him. Imagine that! lol. I will never forget my five years at the old Elfstrom Stadium. The number of future Major Leaguers I announced is too big to count. Working with Bill Melton was a kick. I couldn't have had a better color man. I get nostalgic at this time of the year when another minor league season gets going. 14 years broadcasting in the minors is nothing to complain about, but I will always think about climbing into the bus for a 15th.
On this date, five years ago, my Dad and I went to see the Kane County Cougars play for the last time together. Since he coming up on his 93rd birthday, our days golfing and going to games together are pretty much in the past. I do remember how much we enjoyed that day at my old stomping grounds, though. Willson Contreras was catching. He threw two runners out, walked and had a hit. I was really impressed with him. Imagine that! lol. I will never forget my five years at the old Elfstrom Stadium. The number of future Major Leaguers I announced is too big to count. Working with Bill Melton was a kick. I couldn't have had a better color man. I get nostalgic at this time of the year when another minor league season gets going. 14 years broadcasting in the minors is nothing to complain about, but I will always think about climbing into the bus for a 15th.
5/06/2018
Today is the 50th anniversary of WBBM Newsradio 780. Happy Anniversary to them! I loved my time there. It ended way too soon. It was another painful layoff that had nothing to do with me. I was loving being the WBBM baseball beat reporter through Metro Traffic for two years. Dream job getting paid to go to Wrigley Field and Sox Park every day. Metro was then bought by Shadow Traffic. Shadow was a union shop and refused to create another union employee out of a non-union one. So even though 'BBM wanted to keep me and I wanted to stay, tough luck...out of another job I loved. The current count, as I have said, is nine times that has happened to me for one reason or another. Well, my motto, thanks to Sir Ernest Shackleton is "By Endurance We Conquer", so I ain't ever giving up....
Today is the 50th anniversary of WBBM Newsradio 780. Happy Anniversary to them! I loved my time there. It ended way too soon. It was another painful layoff that had nothing to do with me. I was loving being the WBBM baseball beat reporter through Metro Traffic for two years. Dream job getting paid to go to Wrigley Field and Sox Park every day. Metro was then bought by Shadow Traffic. Shadow was a union shop and refused to create another union employee out of a non-union one. So even though 'BBM wanted to keep me and I wanted to stay, tough luck...out of another job I loved. The current count, as I have said, is nine times that has happened to me for one reason or another. Well, my motto, thanks to Sir Ernest Shackleton is "By Endurance We Conquer", so I ain't ever giving up....
5/03/2018
My busy rollercoaster 2018 continues but I wanted to add this here. Below, Teddy Greenstein calls Sammy Sosa "literally the most egotistical athlete or coach I’ve ever covered", after Sam claims to be Mr. Humble in a TV interview. I told Teddy I can't argue with that, myself. I covered the Cubs and White Sox as the WBBM baseball beat reporter daily for two years, as well as for years regularly then for WSCR. Teddy references Frank Thomas in the article too, as not comparing to Sam's ego. True as well. I have often said Big Frank was my least favorite athlete to interview in my long career, but he was not a bad teammate. The same cannot be said of Sam. With Frank, you knew where you stood. He did not like that part of his job, period. Frank would be in a bad mood even after a two homer game. Well, okay. I don't didn't like it much but I respected him and his immense talent. Sammy was much more disingenuous. He could be mister gregarious but when the tough got going, so did he, right out the side door. Sam was long gone or a glare told you to stay away. Sammy was always about Sammy. That is why I respected Mark Grace so much. No matter how tough things got on the field, Gracey was always in his locker ready to give honest answers. I felt bad that Grace got overlooked with Sosa and Sandberg on that team. When another of his Gold Gloves arrived at his locker, I was the only reporter to come talk to him. I watched him unbox it and interviewed him all by my self, while Sammy attracted a crowd. Sam cannot rewrite history now.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-cubs-sammy-sosa-greenstein-20180503-story.html
My busy rollercoaster 2018 continues but I wanted to add this here. Below, Teddy Greenstein calls Sammy Sosa "literally the most egotistical athlete or coach I’ve ever covered", after Sam claims to be Mr. Humble in a TV interview. I told Teddy I can't argue with that, myself. I covered the Cubs and White Sox as the WBBM baseball beat reporter daily for two years, as well as for years regularly then for WSCR. Teddy references Frank Thomas in the article too, as not comparing to Sam's ego. True as well. I have often said Big Frank was my least favorite athlete to interview in my long career, but he was not a bad teammate. The same cannot be said of Sam. With Frank, you knew where you stood. He did not like that part of his job, period. Frank would be in a bad mood even after a two homer game. Well, okay. I don't didn't like it much but I respected him and his immense talent. Sammy was much more disingenuous. He could be mister gregarious but when the tough got going, so did he, right out the side door. Sam was long gone or a glare told you to stay away. Sammy was always about Sammy. That is why I respected Mark Grace so much. No matter how tough things got on the field, Gracey was always in his locker ready to give honest answers. I felt bad that Grace got overlooked with Sosa and Sandberg on that team. When another of his Gold Gloves arrived at his locker, I was the only reporter to come talk to him. I watched him unbox it and interviewed him all by my self, while Sammy attracted a crowd. Sam cannot rewrite history now.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-cubs-sammy-sosa-greenstein-20180503-story.html
3/30/2018
I realize I have not blogged in a long, long time. It has been a busy and roller-coaster of a winter in every sense of the word. I figured it was time to add something and this is as good a reason as any, since I was telling Jim Ryan this very story today. I wanted to find confirmation for posterity. So here it is. It is an article about the 5 worse managing blunders of all-time in MLB. My story concerns former White Sox skipper Terry Bevington. This event makes number four on their list and I was there to witness it. lol
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/847238
Bevington once was forced to take out his pitcher thanks to a second trip to the mound, while no one was warming up. I will never forget sitting in the front row of the press box, next to Julie Swieca and saying "Hey, there's no one warming up! He HAS to take him out now, anyway!" lol. I was the beat-reporter for WBBM, thru Metro Traffic, back then and Jules was there for WSCR... and we had to cover Bev every day. Ugh. What a moron. The whole 8th inning was ridiculous. It was Sept. 1997 vs Cleveland. Tony Castillo faced the first three hitters and allowed two runs. Jeff Darwin then came in for one pitch, which also turned into a run. Tom Fordham then faced two hitters and that included a mound visit after the first hitter and then after the second. No one was warming up though, so the recently acquired Keith Foulke had to be brought in to intentionally walk a batter to buy time so Matt Karchner could warm up! He came in and allowed two more runs to end one of the the worst managed innings ever. I will also never forget, after the game, Bevington...after slamming his two mandatory pre-interview beers...saying that he did it on purpose. He wanted to do it that way. Uh, just no. Nitwit. Julie and I also stuck to our vow, other than after this game, of never asking him a single question, post-all-star-break that season. We let visiting media do it. We got tired of his condescending nonsense. Thank goodness the Sox have Ricky now and all that silliness is in the past. Julie just reminded me that the cherry on the Bevington sundae was that slamming those beers also meant he would then constantly belch through each and every post-game press conference! Again, Keith Foulke was the pitcher who went in for the intentional walk to buy time for Karchner to come in. She says Foulke told her that he was dumbfounded afterward. Of course, he was. lol. We all were.
I realize I have not blogged in a long, long time. It has been a busy and roller-coaster of a winter in every sense of the word. I figured it was time to add something and this is as good a reason as any, since I was telling Jim Ryan this very story today. I wanted to find confirmation for posterity. So here it is. It is an article about the 5 worse managing blunders of all-time in MLB. My story concerns former White Sox skipper Terry Bevington. This event makes number four on their list and I was there to witness it. lol
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/847238
Bevington once was forced to take out his pitcher thanks to a second trip to the mound, while no one was warming up. I will never forget sitting in the front row of the press box, next to Julie Swieca and saying "Hey, there's no one warming up! He HAS to take him out now, anyway!" lol. I was the beat-reporter for WBBM, thru Metro Traffic, back then and Jules was there for WSCR... and we had to cover Bev every day. Ugh. What a moron. The whole 8th inning was ridiculous. It was Sept. 1997 vs Cleveland. Tony Castillo faced the first three hitters and allowed two runs. Jeff Darwin then came in for one pitch, which also turned into a run. Tom Fordham then faced two hitters and that included a mound visit after the first hitter and then after the second. No one was warming up though, so the recently acquired Keith Foulke had to be brought in to intentionally walk a batter to buy time so Matt Karchner could warm up! He came in and allowed two more runs to end one of the the worst managed innings ever. I will also never forget, after the game, Bevington...after slamming his two mandatory pre-interview beers...saying that he did it on purpose. He wanted to do it that way. Uh, just no. Nitwit. Julie and I also stuck to our vow, other than after this game, of never asking him a single question, post-all-star-break that season. We let visiting media do it. We got tired of his condescending nonsense. Thank goodness the Sox have Ricky now and all that silliness is in the past. Julie just reminded me that the cherry on the Bevington sundae was that slamming those beers also meant he would then constantly belch through each and every post-game press conference! Again, Keith Foulke was the pitcher who went in for the intentional walk to buy time for Karchner to come in. She says Foulke told her that he was dumbfounded afterward. Of course, he was. lol. We all were.
12/02/2017
Every time another guy gets a Major League managerial job with absolutely no experience as a manager, I get mad for Ryne Sandberg all over again. So the Yankees made Aaron Boone their skipper in place of Joe Girardi. Besides that being is a very dumb move, it is another guy with no experience. Somebody apparently waived a magic wand and no previous experience is now needed to manage in the Big Leagues. Why? Ryne Sandberg said he wanted to manage the Cubs and they told him he had to earn his stripes in the Minors. So he did. He won the Midwest League Championship in his very first year as a manager with Peoria. In his 4th year as a manager he wins Triple-A PCL manager of the year award with Iowa. The Cubs job opens up right after that and he is passed over for Mike Quade. Really?! A Hall of Famer rode the bus for four years and won all you can win and still can't get the job. He takes the Phillies' Triple-A job instead and takes that team to their 1st ever playoff and wins the Baseball America Minor League manager of the year award. All that gets him is a job as 3rd base coach for the Phils. He eventually gets his only MLB managing job with a terrible Phillies team. His only full season as manager saw the team hit .230 in May, the worst in baseball. Their big signing was AJ Burnett, who finished 8-18. In April of 2015 the team hit just .233, the worst in baseball. Chase Utley hit .114 that month. I am not exactly sure how any of that is Ryno's fault and his only stint as an MLB manager ends. He never gets another chance. Meanwhile, now guys like Ventura and Boone get jobs without any thought to riding buses again. Ryno got so screwed over. I have a hard time rooting for Boone, and not just because it's the Yankees.
Every time another guy gets a Major League managerial job with absolutely no experience as a manager, I get mad for Ryne Sandberg all over again. So the Yankees made Aaron Boone their skipper in place of Joe Girardi. Besides that being is a very dumb move, it is another guy with no experience. Somebody apparently waived a magic wand and no previous experience is now needed to manage in the Big Leagues. Why? Ryne Sandberg said he wanted to manage the Cubs and they told him he had to earn his stripes in the Minors. So he did. He won the Midwest League Championship in his very first year as a manager with Peoria. In his 4th year as a manager he wins Triple-A PCL manager of the year award with Iowa. The Cubs job opens up right after that and he is passed over for Mike Quade. Really?! A Hall of Famer rode the bus for four years and won all you can win and still can't get the job. He takes the Phillies' Triple-A job instead and takes that team to their 1st ever playoff and wins the Baseball America Minor League manager of the year award. All that gets him is a job as 3rd base coach for the Phils. He eventually gets his only MLB managing job with a terrible Phillies team. His only full season as manager saw the team hit .230 in May, the worst in baseball. Their big signing was AJ Burnett, who finished 8-18. In April of 2015 the team hit just .233, the worst in baseball. Chase Utley hit .114 that month. I am not exactly sure how any of that is Ryno's fault and his only stint as an MLB manager ends. He never gets another chance. Meanwhile, now guys like Ventura and Boone get jobs without any thought to riding buses again. Ryno got so screwed over. I have a hard time rooting for Boone, and not just because it's the Yankees.
11/08/2017
So Saturday's Aurora vs Benedictine football game will be my last broadcast for BenU. I am doing so much work for the U.S. Traffic Network now that I just don't think it makes sense to keep commuting out to Lisle as well. It is not an easy decision but walking to the Red Line is a bit easier than driving on the Stevenson 3 or 4 times a week. The blessing and the curse of doing webcasts for all the Eagles sports has meant a ton of driving back and forth in rush hour traffic etc. Lewis U. only uses me for a handful of home basketball games now and their dates are usually doubleheaders. I will still do those this winter and see how it goes. It is nice to be back on the radio all the time, I must say. I really like USTN and the people there. I am glad to be doing all that I am doing. I have worked every day for the last three weeks and have a double shift on Friday. No complaints here, but night games followed by 5am morning shifts are probably a bit much.
It is certainly appropriate that my last game is a football game vs. Aurora. 12 years with AU and 13 with BenU gives me a nice 25 years in D3. The door isn't closed for more down the road but this certainly could be it for me. I loved my time doing games for the Spartans and it has been great doing all these sports for Benedictine too. Who knew I would be doing lacrosse, for goodness sake! Having almost all weekends off will be a big and nice change, though. I don't do road trips for football now, since everybody has video webcasts themselves and visiting broadcasts are not needed. So this Saturday at 1pm will be my 23rd Aurora vs. Benedictine football broadcast in those 25 years. If you feel the urge to watch/listen, here is the link. And by the way, it should a very good game with two good teams and my last look at the best quarterback the Eagles have ever had. Should be fun.
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/benu/
So Saturday's Aurora vs Benedictine football game will be my last broadcast for BenU. I am doing so much work for the U.S. Traffic Network now that I just don't think it makes sense to keep commuting out to Lisle as well. It is not an easy decision but walking to the Red Line is a bit easier than driving on the Stevenson 3 or 4 times a week. The blessing and the curse of doing webcasts for all the Eagles sports has meant a ton of driving back and forth in rush hour traffic etc. Lewis U. only uses me for a handful of home basketball games now and their dates are usually doubleheaders. I will still do those this winter and see how it goes. It is nice to be back on the radio all the time, I must say. I really like USTN and the people there. I am glad to be doing all that I am doing. I have worked every day for the last three weeks and have a double shift on Friday. No complaints here, but night games followed by 5am morning shifts are probably a bit much.
It is certainly appropriate that my last game is a football game vs. Aurora. 12 years with AU and 13 with BenU gives me a nice 25 years in D3. The door isn't closed for more down the road but this certainly could be it for me. I loved my time doing games for the Spartans and it has been great doing all these sports for Benedictine too. Who knew I would be doing lacrosse, for goodness sake! Having almost all weekends off will be a big and nice change, though. I don't do road trips for football now, since everybody has video webcasts themselves and visiting broadcasts are not needed. So this Saturday at 1pm will be my 23rd Aurora vs. Benedictine football broadcast in those 25 years. If you feel the urge to watch/listen, here is the link. And by the way, it should a very good game with two good teams and my last look at the best quarterback the Eagles have ever had. Should be fun.
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/benu/
10/20/2017 My Cubs thoughts. The end was disappointing since they didn't play all that well but they were still playing on Oct. 19th, so no complaints. The fact my team has played in three straight LCS and won another division title is pretty amazing. I am not taking for granted they were even in the playoffs again, for that matter. I had decades of their season ending while other teams played for another month, so this is pretty cool no matter the outcome. My only Maddon complaint was playing Heyward. The pitching stuff is out of his control. They have to perform and it's not really his fault when they don't. They just didn't hit. They somehow got by Washington and I thought the Nationals were the better team. The Dodgers were certainly the better team as well and they played like it. A memory and some perspective occurred to me. I was at Wrigley Field July 11, 1972 when Billy Williams went 8 for 8 in a doubleheader vs. Houston. He finished with a homer, double, sac fly, 4 rbi and was 5 for 5 in the nightcap. Paid attendance 27,170. We went to quite a few Sunday doubleheaders back in the day. We never even thought about not getting a ticket or worrying about affording one. I never dreamed the Cubs would be a regular postseason contender back then. The .500 mark was always the goal. Jack Brickhouse would always say, "That win puts the Cubs within six games of the .500 mark" etc. The standings weren't even worth mentioning. Now they are. We didn't fly the W last night but we get to do that much more than we used to. Thank goodness.
10/19/2017
Pardon this self promotion but I am posting these just to preserve them. It's a very sweet story, really. I had lunch with my Dad on Tuesday. He gave these to me. He had originally given these to his sister Ann back in the day. She kept them, and my cousin Billy came across them while going through her papers etc. Thanks to Billy for sending them along. I did not have any of them. These are newspaper articles about me over the years. A special thanks to Don Hazen who was always to nice to me. There is an article on my becoming announcer for the Kane County Cougars, joining WJOL as afternoon host, joining Bryan Dolgin in the Joliet JackHammers radio booth, hosting my old Naperville Public TV sports show, and Brad Engel did a very nice article on me as I tried...unsuccessfully lol.. to broadcast high school baseball online about 15 years ago. I was ahead of my time. Now high school sports are online everywhere. Oh well. Anyway, it was touching that my Dad passed these to Aunt Ann and sweet that she kept them. Dad and Ann would get together for lunch all the time. They were very close until Ann passed about ten years ago. A peek at some of my past.
Pardon this self promotion but I am posting these just to preserve them. It's a very sweet story, really. I had lunch with my Dad on Tuesday. He gave these to me. He had originally given these to his sister Ann back in the day. She kept them, and my cousin Billy came across them while going through her papers etc. Thanks to Billy for sending them along. I did not have any of them. These are newspaper articles about me over the years. A special thanks to Don Hazen who was always to nice to me. There is an article on my becoming announcer for the Kane County Cougars, joining WJOL as afternoon host, joining Bryan Dolgin in the Joliet JackHammers radio booth, hosting my old Naperville Public TV sports show, and Brad Engel did a very nice article on me as I tried...unsuccessfully lol.. to broadcast high school baseball online about 15 years ago. I was ahead of my time. Now high school sports are online everywhere. Oh well. Anyway, it was touching that my Dad passed these to Aunt Ann and sweet that she kept them. Dad and Ann would get together for lunch all the time. They were very close until Ann passed about ten years ago. A peek at some of my past.
10/19/2017
This is just heartbreaking news. Mike was the announcer for the Evansville Otters while I was doing Joliet Slammers games. If you asked me who was the nicest guy I met in the Frontier League over the last ten years or so, the answer was Mike Radomski. I'm not sure I ever saw him without a smile. One of the best things about road trips to Evansville, besides being in that great old ballpark was that I would think...Hey, I get to see Mike! Just mind-boggling and terrible. Every time I spent time with him it reminded me that being that unceasingly outgoing and exuberant was something I aspired to be. I wanted to be more like Mike. I wish we all could be. He will be incredibly missed.
From the Tampa Tribune...
TAMPA — He was a sucker for baseball and benevolence. Mike Radomski tracked every gesture, regardless of how noble or benign, as meticulously as pitch counts in his volumes of scorebooks.Co-workers who lent a hand on a project got a handwritten thank-you note. So did his dry cleaners, and the guy who changed his oil. When Mike's wife, Christina, went to an Evansville, Ind., print shop to pick up some scorebooks he had ordered for his new job at USF, the folks at the counter gushed over him.When she turned and glanced at the bulletin board, she saw five thank-you notes from Mike. When she got the books, she noticed the printers had emblazoned a Bulls logo on the front, at no extra cost."It just goes to show, you write a thank-you note and they go above and beyond for you," she said.Michael John Radomski, whose energy seemed as perpetual as his wide grin, died in a car accident on Interstate 75 shortly after 1 a.m. on Oct. 12. A 29-year-old assistant director of communications in USF's athletic department, he had remained in the office late preparing the men's basketball media guide.His sudden loss devastated USF coaches, colleagues and student-athletes. A pregame moment of silence was observed for both Mike and the Las Vegas shooting victims before kickoff of Saturday's football homecoming contest against Cincinnati. ESPNU's announcers also paid tribute during their broadcast.USF co-worker Patrick Puzzo, a fellow New Jersey resident, reached out to the New York Yankees (Mike's favorite team), who obliged with a message of condolence on the Yankee Stadium video board Wednesday night during Game 5 of the American League Championship Series."I'd never seen the guy have a bad day," said Bulls baseball coach Billy Mohl, who worked closely with Mike during the 2016 baseball season. "And if he did have a bad day, you didn't know about it. You could not tell."At the time of the accident, Mike was only a few miles from his apartment in Wildwood, where he lived so Christina — whom he married June 11, 2016, in her native Minnesota — could be closer to her job as an athletic trainer at the University of Florida. Had he made it home, he likely would've slept no more than three hours.Christina said that selflessness stemmed from his philosophical catch phrase: Rock the Planet. Which is to say, shake up the world, one thoughtful act at a time."Whether it was turning someone else's day around, someone's having a bad day and talking to them, or smiling at them or telling them a funny story," she said."Or taking the time to write a thank-you note. I mean, how many handwritten thank-you notes do you see nowadays?"Bean saw her share, but none more touching than two summers ago.It was during Mike and Christina's wedding weekend, less than three years after he took Christina to an Evansville IceMen hockey game on their first date. He was SID for Bulls baseball then, and knew he'd be on his honeymoon in the Bahamas during the Major League Baseball draft.He already had prepared press releases for the USF players likely to get drafted, so that Bean simply would have to insert the team that picked them, and the round in which they were taken. Effortless stuff."When he got back (from his honeymoon) and I walked in, I had a handwritten note that I still have, just thanking me for going above and beyond so that he could be at his wedding, and a $50 Starbucks gift card," Bean said."All because I entered three words into a release that he had already written. That was who he was."Contact Joey Knight at [email protected]. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls.
This is just heartbreaking news. Mike was the announcer for the Evansville Otters while I was doing Joliet Slammers games. If you asked me who was the nicest guy I met in the Frontier League over the last ten years or so, the answer was Mike Radomski. I'm not sure I ever saw him without a smile. One of the best things about road trips to Evansville, besides being in that great old ballpark was that I would think...Hey, I get to see Mike! Just mind-boggling and terrible. Every time I spent time with him it reminded me that being that unceasingly outgoing and exuberant was something I aspired to be. I wanted to be more like Mike. I wish we all could be. He will be incredibly missed.
From the Tampa Tribune...
TAMPA — He was a sucker for baseball and benevolence. Mike Radomski tracked every gesture, regardless of how noble or benign, as meticulously as pitch counts in his volumes of scorebooks.Co-workers who lent a hand on a project got a handwritten thank-you note. So did his dry cleaners, and the guy who changed his oil. When Mike's wife, Christina, went to an Evansville, Ind., print shop to pick up some scorebooks he had ordered for his new job at USF, the folks at the counter gushed over him.When she turned and glanced at the bulletin board, she saw five thank-you notes from Mike. When she got the books, she noticed the printers had emblazoned a Bulls logo on the front, at no extra cost."It just goes to show, you write a thank-you note and they go above and beyond for you," she said.Michael John Radomski, whose energy seemed as perpetual as his wide grin, died in a car accident on Interstate 75 shortly after 1 a.m. on Oct. 12. A 29-year-old assistant director of communications in USF's athletic department, he had remained in the office late preparing the men's basketball media guide.His sudden loss devastated USF coaches, colleagues and student-athletes. A pregame moment of silence was observed for both Mike and the Las Vegas shooting victims before kickoff of Saturday's football homecoming contest against Cincinnati. ESPNU's announcers also paid tribute during their broadcast.USF co-worker Patrick Puzzo, a fellow New Jersey resident, reached out to the New York Yankees (Mike's favorite team), who obliged with a message of condolence on the Yankee Stadium video board Wednesday night during Game 5 of the American League Championship Series."I'd never seen the guy have a bad day," said Bulls baseball coach Billy Mohl, who worked closely with Mike during the 2016 baseball season. "And if he did have a bad day, you didn't know about it. You could not tell."At the time of the accident, Mike was only a few miles from his apartment in Wildwood, where he lived so Christina — whom he married June 11, 2016, in her native Minnesota — could be closer to her job as an athletic trainer at the University of Florida. Had he made it home, he likely would've slept no more than three hours.Christina said that selflessness stemmed from his philosophical catch phrase: Rock the Planet. Which is to say, shake up the world, one thoughtful act at a time."Whether it was turning someone else's day around, someone's having a bad day and talking to them, or smiling at them or telling them a funny story," she said."Or taking the time to write a thank-you note. I mean, how many handwritten thank-you notes do you see nowadays?"Bean saw her share, but none more touching than two summers ago.It was during Mike and Christina's wedding weekend, less than three years after he took Christina to an Evansville IceMen hockey game on their first date. He was SID for Bulls baseball then, and knew he'd be on his honeymoon in the Bahamas during the Major League Baseball draft.He already had prepared press releases for the USF players likely to get drafted, so that Bean simply would have to insert the team that picked them, and the round in which they were taken. Effortless stuff."When he got back (from his honeymoon) and I walked in, I had a handwritten note that I still have, just thanking me for going above and beyond so that he could be at his wedding, and a $50 Starbucks gift card," Bean said."All because I entered three words into a release that he had already written. That was who he was."Contact Joey Knight at [email protected]. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls.
09/28/2017
The Cubs have now made the playoffs three straight years for the first time since 1906, 1907 and 1908. I can still remember 1984, when they made the playoffs for the first time since 1945, so this is kinda surreal. Kinda nice too. I know Sox fans are going to be annoyed by our enjoyment for a while but just be patient. This is the same result you will get soon enough. The Sox are going to be really good. We haven't had a Cubs-Sox World Series since 1906. It's going to happen in 2020 or 2021. We are entering a golden age for baseball in Chicago. I say, support both sides of town, because this is going to be fun. The rest of the country is going to be annoyed with us! lol
For instance, Eloy Jimenez hit .345 for the Sox High-A Winston-Salem team. He hit 8 homers and had 26 rbis in 29 games. Ian Hamilton finished with a 1.71 era there, with just 33 hits allowed and 52 strikeouts in 52 2/3 innings. In Low-A Kannapolis, Kyle Kubat finished with a 1.12 era. He allowed just 26 hits with 48 strikeouts in 40 1/3 innings. In Great Falls Rookie ball, Craig Dedelow hit .321 in 60 games with 12 homes and 54 rbis. Help is on the way.
For the Cubs Low-A South Bend, Vimael Machin hit .320 with 10 homers and 57 rbis in 72 games. Eugenio Palma finished with a 2.40 era in 41 1/3 innings. He allowed just 31 hits with 44 strikeouts. In High-A Myrtle Beach, Pedro Araujo finished with a 1.81 era with just 42 hits allowed and 83 strikeouts in 64 2/3 innings. For AA Tennessee, Daury Torres finished with an era of 1.40 with just 55 hits allowed in 77 1/3 innings. Teammate James Pugliese had an era of 1.84 and allowed just 56 hits in 78 1/3 innings. The Cubs will be good for a while.
The Cubs have now made the playoffs three straight years for the first time since 1906, 1907 and 1908. I can still remember 1984, when they made the playoffs for the first time since 1945, so this is kinda surreal. Kinda nice too. I know Sox fans are going to be annoyed by our enjoyment for a while but just be patient. This is the same result you will get soon enough. The Sox are going to be really good. We haven't had a Cubs-Sox World Series since 1906. It's going to happen in 2020 or 2021. We are entering a golden age for baseball in Chicago. I say, support both sides of town, because this is going to be fun. The rest of the country is going to be annoyed with us! lol
For instance, Eloy Jimenez hit .345 for the Sox High-A Winston-Salem team. He hit 8 homers and had 26 rbis in 29 games. Ian Hamilton finished with a 1.71 era there, with just 33 hits allowed and 52 strikeouts in 52 2/3 innings. In Low-A Kannapolis, Kyle Kubat finished with a 1.12 era. He allowed just 26 hits with 48 strikeouts in 40 1/3 innings. In Great Falls Rookie ball, Craig Dedelow hit .321 in 60 games with 12 homes and 54 rbis. Help is on the way.
For the Cubs Low-A South Bend, Vimael Machin hit .320 with 10 homers and 57 rbis in 72 games. Eugenio Palma finished with a 2.40 era in 41 1/3 innings. He allowed just 31 hits with 44 strikeouts. In High-A Myrtle Beach, Pedro Araujo finished with a 1.81 era with just 42 hits allowed and 83 strikeouts in 64 2/3 innings. For AA Tennessee, Daury Torres finished with an era of 1.40 with just 55 hits allowed in 77 1/3 innings. Teammate James Pugliese had an era of 1.84 and allowed just 56 hits in 78 1/3 innings. The Cubs will be good for a while.
08/31/2017
I know I make a big deal out of this but I was watching The Dark Knight on HBO just now and it reminds me that this week is the 10th anniversary of shooting my scenes as an extra. It was so much fun and I was sure I was going to be in the movie, but it was not to be. Lisa Payne and I were right in front of the camera several times in our hospital scenes together. In one, we were standing right in front of Director Christopher Nolan and his cameraman as the scene began and he yelled "Action". In another, we walk right between Anthony Michael Hall and the camera as he does his lines. We were also there as the Brach's Candy Factory (Gotham Hospital) was blown up. The scene of chaos after the explosion and all of us running to the buses would be great to see some day, as well as the others. I will never forget seeing Heath Ledger walk right by me in his full Joker makeup and nurse outfit. Man did he look creepy! We also got to see the Batmobile/Tumbler drive around the parking lot as we waited for them to put out the Hospital fire. Cool. Maybe someday I will get to see our scenes. Oh well. At least I got this T-shirt! lol.
I know I make a big deal out of this but I was watching The Dark Knight on HBO just now and it reminds me that this week is the 10th anniversary of shooting my scenes as an extra. It was so much fun and I was sure I was going to be in the movie, but it was not to be. Lisa Payne and I were right in front of the camera several times in our hospital scenes together. In one, we were standing right in front of Director Christopher Nolan and his cameraman as the scene began and he yelled "Action". In another, we walk right between Anthony Michael Hall and the camera as he does his lines. We were also there as the Brach's Candy Factory (Gotham Hospital) was blown up. The scene of chaos after the explosion and all of us running to the buses would be great to see some day, as well as the others. I will never forget seeing Heath Ledger walk right by me in his full Joker makeup and nurse outfit. Man did he look creepy! We also got to see the Batmobile/Tumbler drive around the parking lot as we waited for them to put out the Hospital fire. Cool. Maybe someday I will get to see our scenes. Oh well. At least I got this T-shirt! lol.
08/16/2017
Besides Elvis, this is also the anniversary of the death of Babe Ruth. Babe is the best baseball player of all time. You can disagree but your argument will never sway me. This article helps put forth my argument. Here is just a paragraph...
"But let's put that in perspective. In 1919, when Ruth hit 29 home runs, there were only 447 homers hit in all of the Major Leagues. Ruth's 29 dingers were six percent of the MLB total. In 2012 there were 4934 home runs hit in the Majors; six percent of that total, 296, is more than any one team hit (the Yankees hit 245)."
He also, of course, was an amazing pitcher with amazing numbers. He still led the league in homers as a part-time player/pitcher while amassing a career 2.28 ERA. His career batting average was .342, so he wasn't just a slugger either. Unlike current sluggers, he never struck out more than 100 times in a season. Ruth was also not fat until the very end. He played the bulk of his career at 215 pounds...6'2".
I know he didn't get to face my favorite pitcher, Satchel Paige, and other Negro Leaguers, in MLB. Yes, I wish Josh Gibson could have played in MLB too and so on. But he did have their respect and they knew and acknowledged his greatness as well. For me, Babe is and always will be the greatest.
Here is the link.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1508392-major-league-baseball-the-case-for-babe-ruth-as-the-best-ever
Besides Elvis, this is also the anniversary of the death of Babe Ruth. Babe is the best baseball player of all time. You can disagree but your argument will never sway me. This article helps put forth my argument. Here is just a paragraph...
"But let's put that in perspective. In 1919, when Ruth hit 29 home runs, there were only 447 homers hit in all of the Major Leagues. Ruth's 29 dingers were six percent of the MLB total. In 2012 there were 4934 home runs hit in the Majors; six percent of that total, 296, is more than any one team hit (the Yankees hit 245)."
He also, of course, was an amazing pitcher with amazing numbers. He still led the league in homers as a part-time player/pitcher while amassing a career 2.28 ERA. His career batting average was .342, so he wasn't just a slugger either. Unlike current sluggers, he never struck out more than 100 times in a season. Ruth was also not fat until the very end. He played the bulk of his career at 215 pounds...6'2".
I know he didn't get to face my favorite pitcher, Satchel Paige, and other Negro Leaguers, in MLB. Yes, I wish Josh Gibson could have played in MLB too and so on. But he did have their respect and they knew and acknowledged his greatness as well. For me, Babe is and always will be the greatest.
Here is the link.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1508392-major-league-baseball-the-case-for-babe-ruth-as-the-best-ever
08/06/2017
So Hawk Harrelson hates Wrigley Field and will never go back. Good riddance, you spoiled rotten so and so. He rips Wrigley and their old and small press box and broadcast booth. Boo hoo. Entitled much?! I broadcast professional baseball from a storage container dropped onto the concourse with power cords under foot when the River City Rascals opened their then-new stadium after forgetting to build a press box! lol. It had rained and I was standing in water with power cords running under me back to the food stands hoping not to get electrocuted. The Slammers broadcast booth was an afterthought as well. That stadium is beautiful but the booth is about six feet wide and three feet deep. Two people barely fit in at the same time. The old press box of the Clinton LumberKings was hermetically sealed, approximately 100 degrees on a good day, with at least 200 dead flies in it on one occasion. The list of old and small booths I have spent time in is endless. I, however, was grateful for each and every day I got to spend in them. So good riddance, Hawk, and don't let that old press box door hit you on the ass on the way out. It doesn't matter that it's Wrigley. I would feel the same way no matter what broadcast booth he ripped. It's the entitlement that gets me. Retire now.
So Hawk Harrelson hates Wrigley Field and will never go back. Good riddance, you spoiled rotten so and so. He rips Wrigley and their old and small press box and broadcast booth. Boo hoo. Entitled much?! I broadcast professional baseball from a storage container dropped onto the concourse with power cords under foot when the River City Rascals opened their then-new stadium after forgetting to build a press box! lol. It had rained and I was standing in water with power cords running under me back to the food stands hoping not to get electrocuted. The Slammers broadcast booth was an afterthought as well. That stadium is beautiful but the booth is about six feet wide and three feet deep. Two people barely fit in at the same time. The old press box of the Clinton LumberKings was hermetically sealed, approximately 100 degrees on a good day, with at least 200 dead flies in it on one occasion. The list of old and small booths I have spent time in is endless. I, however, was grateful for each and every day I got to spend in them. So good riddance, Hawk, and don't let that old press box door hit you on the ass on the way out. It doesn't matter that it's Wrigley. I would feel the same way no matter what broadcast booth he ripped. It's the entitlement that gets me. Retire now.
08/05/2017
If you wonder why I have such problems with big-time college football and even the NFL for that matter, here it is in a nutshell...and I even like Notre Dame! lol. But self-important dictator's have taken that sport away from the players. Quarterbacks used to call plays and the players used to get to play the game. Now they are just chess pieces and it is now a coach's sport, not a player's one. I don't like it one bit. Coach the players during the week and let them then play the game. I don't like it when pitch-calls come from the dugout in baseball either. Let the players decide the game. Coach them on strategy before the game but let them play it. Football coaches have become so full of themselves that they try to control absolutely everything, now including the media. Sorry, buddy, but you are not my boss. I get to cover the team as I see fit. You win games by blocking and tackling better than the opposition, anyway. All this ridiculous paranoid secrecy is insulting and unnecessary. It's like the Bears' injury updates or lack thereof. Does anybody really think any of that will impact a game? Nonsense. It does not show leadership from a coach, it shows a lack of confidence in his team. Apparently, they can only win if no one knows anything about them, as if that is even possible. Everybody knew the Packers were going to run the power sweep. If executed properly it worked anyway. Everyone knew Walter Payton was going to get the ball. His talent got the first down anyway. There aren't that many surprises in football. Every game is on TV anyway and all plays are known. Just coach them up, instill some confidence and let them play. Sadly, self-important ego from the dictator gets in the way now far too often. Rant over. Please and thank you.
If you wonder why I have such problems with big-time college football and even the NFL for that matter, here it is in a nutshell...and I even like Notre Dame! lol. But self-important dictator's have taken that sport away from the players. Quarterbacks used to call plays and the players used to get to play the game. Now they are just chess pieces and it is now a coach's sport, not a player's one. I don't like it one bit. Coach the players during the week and let them then play the game. I don't like it when pitch-calls come from the dugout in baseball either. Let the players decide the game. Coach them on strategy before the game but let them play it. Football coaches have become so full of themselves that they try to control absolutely everything, now including the media. Sorry, buddy, but you are not my boss. I get to cover the team as I see fit. You win games by blocking and tackling better than the opposition, anyway. All this ridiculous paranoid secrecy is insulting and unnecessary. It's like the Bears' injury updates or lack thereof. Does anybody really think any of that will impact a game? Nonsense. It does not show leadership from a coach, it shows a lack of confidence in his team. Apparently, they can only win if no one knows anything about them, as if that is even possible. Everybody knew the Packers were going to run the power sweep. If executed properly it worked anyway. Everyone knew Walter Payton was going to get the ball. His talent got the first down anyway. There aren't that many surprises in football. Every game is on TV anyway and all plays are known. Just coach them up, instill some confidence and let them play. Sadly, self-important ego from the dictator gets in the way now far too often. Rant over. Please and thank you.
08/02/2017
Just so sad about the passing of Joe Collins. There will be many more of these kinds of comments on him to come in the next few days. I'm adding mine. Most know him for the great work he did as THE voice of traffic on WBBM all those years but I was one of the lucky few who knew him from his WMRO days. I'm glad I got to mention this to him in a facebook post not that long ago, but he was a GREAT talk show host too. Great. I loved listening to his show in Aurora and I always thought he would end up as a 20 year afternoon-drive talk show host on WGN. I certainly thought he should have been. As nice and friendly as he was in person, all that came across on his shows back in the day. He was also a kook in the best sense of the word, lol. I had some great role models on the old 1280 way back when and he was one of them. You could just tell he loved what he did and he was so good at it. I seem to be typing this a lot lately, but it is certainly true of Joe too. He will be missed. Here is the only pic I have of Joe from WMRO. He is on the left with Joe Bartosch on the right at one of our station softball games. Good times indeed.
Just so sad about the passing of Joe Collins. There will be many more of these kinds of comments on him to come in the next few days. I'm adding mine. Most know him for the great work he did as THE voice of traffic on WBBM all those years but I was one of the lucky few who knew him from his WMRO days. I'm glad I got to mention this to him in a facebook post not that long ago, but he was a GREAT talk show host too. Great. I loved listening to his show in Aurora and I always thought he would end up as a 20 year afternoon-drive talk show host on WGN. I certainly thought he should have been. As nice and friendly as he was in person, all that came across on his shows back in the day. He was also a kook in the best sense of the word, lol. I had some great role models on the old 1280 way back when and he was one of them. You could just tell he loved what he did and he was so good at it. I seem to be typing this a lot lately, but it is certainly true of Joe too. He will be missed. Here is the only pic I have of Joe from WMRO. He is on the left with Joe Bartosch on the right at one of our station softball games. Good times indeed.
08/01/2017
I am happy Bartman is getting a ring. It is the least the team can do for him after what he has had to put up with. Now, I just want to never hear about him again. It is wearying and he never had anything to do with the outcome of a game anyway. Here is a recap of my thoughts on everything. I wrote this three years ago and here it is again.
ESPN continues to ascribe "Public Enemy No. 1" status to him in Chicago and amongst Cubs fans. It is such lazy nonsense and it has got to stop. No serious Cubs fan was mad at Bartman for more than a minute and he never was hated by more than a few knuckleheads. To treat it otherwise is a lie. I was on the edge of my seat when it happened and was mad about it at that moment. Literally minutes later he, and it, was forgotten. There was way more bad going on in that game than a fan that touched a foul ball. Moises Alou overreacted. Just go back to your position, moron. Mark Prior couldn't get anybody out all of sudden and the same for Farnsworth and then Remlinger. Two intentional walks scored, so that strategy backfired. Dusty Baker didn't go out to call everybody together to just frickin relax. Alex Gonzalez booted an inning-ending double play ball. Sammy Sosa threw to the wrong base. Also Bernie Mac sang the 7th inning stretch and it went on way too long, pumping up the Marlins as he kept referring to the Cubs as the "Champs". Prior should have warmed up during that long, long delay. And of course, there was a-whole-nother game to be played and the Cubs lost that one too, as Kerry Wood and Farnsworth were terrible. Only people outside Chicago make a big deal out of Bartman. I have not and will not watch the 30 for 30 on Bartman. That postseason is still painful for me and most Cubs fans but Bartman has nothing to do with it.
I am happy Bartman is getting a ring. It is the least the team can do for him after what he has had to put up with. Now, I just want to never hear about him again. It is wearying and he never had anything to do with the outcome of a game anyway. Here is a recap of my thoughts on everything. I wrote this three years ago and here it is again.
ESPN continues to ascribe "Public Enemy No. 1" status to him in Chicago and amongst Cubs fans. It is such lazy nonsense and it has got to stop. No serious Cubs fan was mad at Bartman for more than a minute and he never was hated by more than a few knuckleheads. To treat it otherwise is a lie. I was on the edge of my seat when it happened and was mad about it at that moment. Literally minutes later he, and it, was forgotten. There was way more bad going on in that game than a fan that touched a foul ball. Moises Alou overreacted. Just go back to your position, moron. Mark Prior couldn't get anybody out all of sudden and the same for Farnsworth and then Remlinger. Two intentional walks scored, so that strategy backfired. Dusty Baker didn't go out to call everybody together to just frickin relax. Alex Gonzalez booted an inning-ending double play ball. Sammy Sosa threw to the wrong base. Also Bernie Mac sang the 7th inning stretch and it went on way too long, pumping up the Marlins as he kept referring to the Cubs as the "Champs". Prior should have warmed up during that long, long delay. And of course, there was a-whole-nother game to be played and the Cubs lost that one too, as Kerry Wood and Farnsworth were terrible. Only people outside Chicago make a big deal out of Bartman. I have not and will not watch the 30 for 30 on Bartman. That postseason is still painful for me and most Cubs fans but Bartman has nothing to do with it.
07/25/2017
Happy Birthday to the late Walter Payton, my favorite athlete of all-time. For those who are too young to have seen him play much or at all, here are a few things to keep in mind. He set the all-time rushing record despite the opposition knowing he was going to get the ball each time he carried it. They knew he was getting the ball because Payton had no passing game to take the pressure off him with subpar qbs like Bob Avellini, Gary Huff and Mike Phipps at the helm until a young Jim McMahon took over at the very end. And he played the first ten years of his career without a single all-pro offensive lineman blocking for him. Payton was getting the ball on third-and-six, everybody knew it, and he still found a way to get those six yards more times than you thought possible. He didn't have a touchdown dance, in fact gave the ball to his offensive linemen to spike...just spike. He didn't run out of bounds either. He got every yard possible and delivered a hit at the point of tackle. Payton also happened to be the team's backup punter and emergency quarterback. He was also one of the nicest people I ever met. Professional sports needs more people like him.
Happy Birthday to the late Walter Payton, my favorite athlete of all-time. For those who are too young to have seen him play much or at all, here are a few things to keep in mind. He set the all-time rushing record despite the opposition knowing he was going to get the ball each time he carried it. They knew he was getting the ball because Payton had no passing game to take the pressure off him with subpar qbs like Bob Avellini, Gary Huff and Mike Phipps at the helm until a young Jim McMahon took over at the very end. And he played the first ten years of his career without a single all-pro offensive lineman blocking for him. Payton was getting the ball on third-and-six, everybody knew it, and he still found a way to get those six yards more times than you thought possible. He didn't have a touchdown dance, in fact gave the ball to his offensive linemen to spike...just spike. He didn't run out of bounds either. He got every yard possible and delivered a hit at the point of tackle. Payton also happened to be the team's backup punter and emergency quarterback. He was also one of the nicest people I ever met. Professional sports needs more people like him.
07/13/2017
The nice thing about this Quintana to the White Sox deal is that both sides of town can be excited about it. I was ready to bag this Cubs season. Well, now they are back in play. For the Sox, they get more potential greatness in return, for the future. The Cubs literally did not have room for Eloy Jimenez and he can be tremendous for the Sox and that is fine. I still think Schwarber will be a star but I also think he is a DH. I would be fine with the Cubs sending him to the A.L. for even more pitching, even if he ends up a Hall of Famer. He is a DH and Jay and Happ need to play. Plus, the Cubs still has Mark Zagunis in AAA. Also, catcher Victor Caratini needs to play. He had 54 rbis in AAA before they brought him up. So Contreras needs to play some in the outfield for Caratini to play more. The Cubs still have a glut of position players. Losing Jimenez to get Quintana is fine and Jimenez is the real deal. Jimenez had 40 doubles and 14 homers in just 112 games last year in 'A' ball. In Quintana's 'off' season so far, he is still giving up fewer hits than innings and has been much better of late. He is also still young and under contract. Cease is also a great 'get' for the Sox. He has allowed only 39 hits in 51 innings and has struckout 74. The Cubs need help now on the mound and Cease is only in 'A' ball. The Sox can wait. Both teams will be happy about this.
The nice thing about this Quintana to the White Sox deal is that both sides of town can be excited about it. I was ready to bag this Cubs season. Well, now they are back in play. For the Sox, they get more potential greatness in return, for the future. The Cubs literally did not have room for Eloy Jimenez and he can be tremendous for the Sox and that is fine. I still think Schwarber will be a star but I also think he is a DH. I would be fine with the Cubs sending him to the A.L. for even more pitching, even if he ends up a Hall of Famer. He is a DH and Jay and Happ need to play. Plus, the Cubs still has Mark Zagunis in AAA. Also, catcher Victor Caratini needs to play. He had 54 rbis in AAA before they brought him up. So Contreras needs to play some in the outfield for Caratini to play more. The Cubs still have a glut of position players. Losing Jimenez to get Quintana is fine and Jimenez is the real deal. Jimenez had 40 doubles and 14 homers in just 112 games last year in 'A' ball. In Quintana's 'off' season so far, he is still giving up fewer hits than innings and has been much better of late. He is also still young and under contract. Cease is also a great 'get' for the Sox. He has allowed only 39 hits in 51 innings and has struckout 74. The Cubs need help now on the mound and Cease is only in 'A' ball. The Sox can wait. Both teams will be happy about this.
07/10/2017
As a history geek and baseball nerd, I must say my favorite pitcher is Satchel Paige. Among his many remarkable numbers...At age 51 for AAA Miami, Paige had ERA of 2.95 and WHIP of .991, won 10g and only walked 15 and allowed just 8 hrs in 110 innings. In 1965, at age 58, the K.C. Athletics brought him back to the Majors and he pitched three shutout innings, allowing just one hit with one strikeout and no walks! After spending most of his career in the Negro Leagues, Paige was an All-Star at age 45 for the St. Louis Browns thanks to 12 wins, 10 saves and an ERA of 3.05. He allowed just 116 hits in 138 innings with 91 strikeouts and just 5 home runs allowed all year. He was and All-Star the next season at 46 years of age as well. I wish there were more dependable numbers available for his Negro League days where he was mythic. Remarkable. Just remarkable career.
As a history geek and baseball nerd, I must say my favorite pitcher is Satchel Paige. Among his many remarkable numbers...At age 51 for AAA Miami, Paige had ERA of 2.95 and WHIP of .991, won 10g and only walked 15 and allowed just 8 hrs in 110 innings. In 1965, at age 58, the K.C. Athletics brought him back to the Majors and he pitched three shutout innings, allowing just one hit with one strikeout and no walks! After spending most of his career in the Negro Leagues, Paige was an All-Star at age 45 for the St. Louis Browns thanks to 12 wins, 10 saves and an ERA of 3.05. He allowed just 116 hits in 138 innings with 91 strikeouts and just 5 home runs allowed all year. He was and All-Star the next season at 46 years of age as well. I wish there were more dependable numbers available for his Negro League days where he was mythic. Remarkable. Just remarkable career.
07/09/2017
In honor of birthday boy John Eddie, here is one of his best songs on YouTube and certainly his best unreleased song...Seemed Like a Good Idea...in my humble opinion. He and P.k. Lavengood do a great version here. As some probably know by now, John is the reason I met both my friend Yoli and my wife, Christine. I also have been a fan of his since the very beginning. Mick Kahler and I went to see John at the Poplar Creek outdoor shed back in the mid '80s and we were the only ones up in the aisles and dancing to Jungle Boy! lol. I used to always stand at the side bar in the back room at Joe's, when John played here in town thereafter. After seeing me standing over there for about the 20th show in a row, John motioned me downfront. Yoli Reyes and Chris were always front and center to see him. I came up front and started talking to them...and the rest is history. Sam Llanas and John are the two I have seen perform live more than anyone. I've lost count for both at this point. Happy Birthday John! You and Sammy are a guaranteed smile and that's about as good as it gets.
In honor of birthday boy John Eddie, here is one of his best songs on YouTube and certainly his best unreleased song...Seemed Like a Good Idea...in my humble opinion. He and P.k. Lavengood do a great version here. As some probably know by now, John is the reason I met both my friend Yoli and my wife, Christine. I also have been a fan of his since the very beginning. Mick Kahler and I went to see John at the Poplar Creek outdoor shed back in the mid '80s and we were the only ones up in the aisles and dancing to Jungle Boy! lol. I used to always stand at the side bar in the back room at Joe's, when John played here in town thereafter. After seeing me standing over there for about the 20th show in a row, John motioned me downfront. Yoli Reyes and Chris were always front and center to see him. I came up front and started talking to them...and the rest is history. Sam Llanas and John are the two I have seen perform live more than anyone. I've lost count for both at this point. Happy Birthday John! You and Sammy are a guaranteed smile and that's about as good as it gets.
06/23/2017
Congrats to Tim Calderwood of the Schaumburg Boomers on his 1000th pro broadcast tonight! It got me thinking about my number and not because it's a competition but because my number might not get any bigger! lol. I hope so, but who knows? Anyway, I have 14 years in pro ball. Here's the breakdown I came up with and the current tally for anyone interested besides me :)
Kane County Cougars 5 yrs, with the first few seasons doing mainly home games 452
Cook County Cheetahs 2 full seasons 168
Joliet JackHammers 4 yrs of mostly home games 252
Joliet Slammers 2 full seasons and part of 2015 219
total 1091
So there you go...1091 is the number I came up with. Grateful for the opportunity to get in that many and to work with all the great color guys that I have over the years like Bill Melton and Milt Pappas. I recently mentioned that Jimmy Piersall joined me many, many times as well. Add to that, guys like Bryan Dolgin, Steve Moga, Mark Lindo, Bill Waliewski etc. to name just a few and I have had a great ride in pro ball...and not just on the bus! I hope that ride is not over just yet. I'd like the chance at another ring!
Congrats to Tim Calderwood of the Schaumburg Boomers on his 1000th pro broadcast tonight! It got me thinking about my number and not because it's a competition but because my number might not get any bigger! lol. I hope so, but who knows? Anyway, I have 14 years in pro ball. Here's the breakdown I came up with and the current tally for anyone interested besides me :)
Kane County Cougars 5 yrs, with the first few seasons doing mainly home games 452
Cook County Cheetahs 2 full seasons 168
Joliet JackHammers 4 yrs of mostly home games 252
Joliet Slammers 2 full seasons and part of 2015 219
total 1091
So there you go...1091 is the number I came up with. Grateful for the opportunity to get in that many and to work with all the great color guys that I have over the years like Bill Melton and Milt Pappas. I recently mentioned that Jimmy Piersall joined me many, many times as well. Add to that, guys like Bryan Dolgin, Steve Moga, Mark Lindo, Bill Waliewski etc. to name just a few and I have had a great ride in pro ball...and not just on the bus! I hope that ride is not over just yet. I'd like the chance at another ring!
06/10/2017
Watching the Cubs and for some reason thought of Corey Patterson. It reminded me of my 'day of baseball road trip' back in 1999. So here's a story for ya, if interested, on my day traveling to see Patterson play in Lansing, Mi, and then on to see the old Tigers ballpark before it closed. I had a day off and looked for something to do. Baseball is always my first thought. I was broadcasting games for the Cook County Cheetahs...now Windy City Thunderbolts... back then. Their season was over and the Lansing Lugnuts season was wrapping up as well. It was also coming down to just a few games remaining at old Briggs/Tigers Stadium. I had never been there and wanted to see it before the end. Patterson was tearing it up in Lansing and was one of the Cubs big prospects. That season, at least, he was deserving of the hype. He finished that year .320 w 35 2bs 17 3bs 20 hrs 79 rbis and 33 steals. They also had Hee Seop Choi, Jeff Goldbach and Carlos Zambrano etc. I looked at the schedules and the Lugnuts had an afternoon game and the Tigers were playing that night. No planning, no tickets and no smartphones for directions or anything back then. I just headed north for a baseball adventure. I got to Lansing and lucked out immediately. I bumped into someone in the parking lot giving a ticket away, so in I went. Patterson looked great. He ripped a double and very much looked like the real thing. I enjoyed the ballpark and had a great time. By the way, I still contend the Cubs screwed up Patterson with endless tinkering with his swing and so on. Anyway, then on to Detroit. I got to the neighborhood and found some place on the street to park. I walked a few blocks to the stadium. Just before I got there, I saw someone selling tickets this time. I paid face value for a good seat and went in. I was surprised that it wasn't all that packed with there only being a handful of games left there but regardless, there I was for game two of my day. I will say, the Tigers were pretty terrible that year and got clobbered by the Indians that day, if I remember correctly, lol. I actually wasn't all that impressed with that park as it turns out. I really liked old Comiskey. For an 80 year old park, Comiskey was cool. It was big and roomy and had character. The 87 year old Briggs, however, was tiny, cramped, dirty and stanky, lol. They definitely needed a new ballpark. I left in the 7th cuz I was just too uncomfortable in me seat and headed home to end a long but fun day of baseball on the road. I haven't done that kind of thing since but I have always wanted to. I have time this summer as it turns out, but not the funds, lol. Oh well. That's how it goes.
Watching the Cubs and for some reason thought of Corey Patterson. It reminded me of my 'day of baseball road trip' back in 1999. So here's a story for ya, if interested, on my day traveling to see Patterson play in Lansing, Mi, and then on to see the old Tigers ballpark before it closed. I had a day off and looked for something to do. Baseball is always my first thought. I was broadcasting games for the Cook County Cheetahs...now Windy City Thunderbolts... back then. Their season was over and the Lansing Lugnuts season was wrapping up as well. It was also coming down to just a few games remaining at old Briggs/Tigers Stadium. I had never been there and wanted to see it before the end. Patterson was tearing it up in Lansing and was one of the Cubs big prospects. That season, at least, he was deserving of the hype. He finished that year .320 w 35 2bs 17 3bs 20 hrs 79 rbis and 33 steals. They also had Hee Seop Choi, Jeff Goldbach and Carlos Zambrano etc. I looked at the schedules and the Lugnuts had an afternoon game and the Tigers were playing that night. No planning, no tickets and no smartphones for directions or anything back then. I just headed north for a baseball adventure. I got to Lansing and lucked out immediately. I bumped into someone in the parking lot giving a ticket away, so in I went. Patterson looked great. He ripped a double and very much looked like the real thing. I enjoyed the ballpark and had a great time. By the way, I still contend the Cubs screwed up Patterson with endless tinkering with his swing and so on. Anyway, then on to Detroit. I got to the neighborhood and found some place on the street to park. I walked a few blocks to the stadium. Just before I got there, I saw someone selling tickets this time. I paid face value for a good seat and went in. I was surprised that it wasn't all that packed with there only being a handful of games left there but regardless, there I was for game two of my day. I will say, the Tigers were pretty terrible that year and got clobbered by the Indians that day, if I remember correctly, lol. I actually wasn't all that impressed with that park as it turns out. I really liked old Comiskey. For an 80 year old park, Comiskey was cool. It was big and roomy and had character. The 87 year old Briggs, however, was tiny, cramped, dirty and stanky, lol. They definitely needed a new ballpark. I left in the 7th cuz I was just too uncomfortable in me seat and headed home to end a long but fun day of baseball on the road. I haven't done that kind of thing since but I have always wanted to. I have time this summer as it turns out, but not the funds, lol. Oh well. That's how it goes.
06/04/2017
RIP Jimmy Piersall. So here's my Piersall story. First off, I really enjoyed his days as the color guy for Harry Caray on White Sox games. I thought they were great together. Yes, I am a Cubs fan but I am a Chicago fan and always have been. I have always watched whatever game was on TV, Cubs or Sox. Jimmy was the Cubs roving outfield instructor when I was broadcasting Kane County Cougars games. Whenever the Rockford Cubbies came to town, Jimmy would join me on the air for a few innings each game. He was a real character, that's for sure. He even told me on the air that he hated my name! lol. 'You have a bad name'. Sorry, Jimmy, I had nothing to do with it. lol. Also, he was of the generation that had no political correctness. During commercial breaks he would tell me stories of the Cubbies outfielders, using every racial epithet available! That centerfielder is a lazy so and so...that leftfielder is a dumb whatever. I was always taken aback and worried the commercial would end before he was done and I would get the station and/or me in trouble! lol. There was no 7-second delay or anything and I didn't want that on the air or any of the various F-bombs or other curses! I'm thinking to myself...'he's done this for a living, how does he not know better?!" lol. That's just the way he talked. He did have some great stories though, definitely knew baseball, and I always enjoyed getting to broadcast with him. I just was always a little freaked about his lack of filter. I would always say 'We're back here at Elfstrom Stadium' a few seconds before the end of the commercial so he would stop swearing! lol. That is what made him who he was though. He was himself, all the way. Baseball needs more characters and he certainly was one. Chicago will miss him.
RIP Jimmy Piersall. So here's my Piersall story. First off, I really enjoyed his days as the color guy for Harry Caray on White Sox games. I thought they were great together. Yes, I am a Cubs fan but I am a Chicago fan and always have been. I have always watched whatever game was on TV, Cubs or Sox. Jimmy was the Cubs roving outfield instructor when I was broadcasting Kane County Cougars games. Whenever the Rockford Cubbies came to town, Jimmy would join me on the air for a few innings each game. He was a real character, that's for sure. He even told me on the air that he hated my name! lol. 'You have a bad name'. Sorry, Jimmy, I had nothing to do with it. lol. Also, he was of the generation that had no political correctness. During commercial breaks he would tell me stories of the Cubbies outfielders, using every racial epithet available! That centerfielder is a lazy so and so...that leftfielder is a dumb whatever. I was always taken aback and worried the commercial would end before he was done and I would get the station and/or me in trouble! lol. There was no 7-second delay or anything and I didn't want that on the air or any of the various F-bombs or other curses! I'm thinking to myself...'he's done this for a living, how does he not know better?!" lol. That's just the way he talked. He did have some great stories though, definitely knew baseball, and I always enjoyed getting to broadcast with him. I just was always a little freaked about his lack of filter. I would always say 'We're back here at Elfstrom Stadium' a few seconds before the end of the commercial so he would stop swearing! lol. That is what made him who he was though. He was himself, all the way. Baseball needs more characters and he certainly was one. Chicago will miss him.
05/22/2017
Happy to report some good news on the job front. I have been hired to work part-time for the company that provides news, weather and traffic reports for radio stations like WGN, WBEZ, WCPT, WSHE and WCKG. I'll be appearing at one time or another on all five. I start this Friday morning with traffic reports for WGN and WBEZ. I am back Memorial Day Monday morning on WGN and then on Tuesday afternoon I will be doing traffic for WSHE as well as news, weather and traffic for WCPT. I am happy to be back working in the Loop and back on the radio, doing what I do and what I enjoy. I am also thrilled to be working on those particular stations. I am a regular listener of WBEZ and WCPT, and WCPT is where my old buddy Matt Comings runs the show. Meanwhile, WCKG is run by my old friend Matt Dubiel. WGN, of course, is a station I have listened to my whole life and where I have recently been a frequent guest on Elton Jim Turano's shows. This job will also keep my busy during the summer, now that I am no longer calling games for the Joliet Slammers. It also is a job I can keep doing when I start my 15th year with Lewis University and 13th year with Benedictine U. doing their games again in the fall. The drought has ended, lol.
Happy to report some good news on the job front. I have been hired to work part-time for the company that provides news, weather and traffic reports for radio stations like WGN, WBEZ, WCPT, WSHE and WCKG. I'll be appearing at one time or another on all five. I start this Friday morning with traffic reports for WGN and WBEZ. I am back Memorial Day Monday morning on WGN and then on Tuesday afternoon I will be doing traffic for WSHE as well as news, weather and traffic for WCPT. I am happy to be back working in the Loop and back on the radio, doing what I do and what I enjoy. I am also thrilled to be working on those particular stations. I am a regular listener of WBEZ and WCPT, and WCPT is where my old buddy Matt Comings runs the show. Meanwhile, WCKG is run by my old friend Matt Dubiel. WGN, of course, is a station I have listened to my whole life and where I have recently been a frequent guest on Elton Jim Turano's shows. This job will also keep my busy during the summer, now that I am no longer calling games for the Joliet Slammers. It also is a job I can keep doing when I start my 15th year with Lewis University and 13th year with Benedictine U. doing their games again in the fall. The drought has ended, lol.
05/17/217
Some great stuff from Steve Stone on organizations ruining young pitchers. They mostly draft guys who throw 97mph four seam fastballs, then procede to teach them the two-seamer and a cutter. Both of those are about 91mph. Now he has lost the touch on the 97mph four-seamer, the reason they drafted him in the first place, because he almost never throws it with all the work needed on new pitches. Plus, he is on a pitch count and can't master anything, can't go deep in games and loses velocity on the four-seamer quickly due to lack of consistent work on it. Meanwhile, the guy who throws a consistent lower-speed cutter doesn't get looked at in the first place. That is why Stoney is the best in the business.
I concur. Plus, command and movement beats velocity anyway. And I will go to my grave believing that weight lifting has a direct relationship on arm injuries for pitchers. Throwing gets you in shape for throwing. Fergie Jenkins never lifted a single weight. Satchel Paige never lifted anything heavier than a can of beer and he threw game after game without even thinking of pitch count. They ran and they threw and they completed almost all of their starts. People are bigger, faster, stronger and yet are somehow less able to come even close to the same innings of the past. What has changed? Weight lifting. In my mind, you can either be a weight lifter or a pitcher, not both. Gaining a couple mph on your fastball is not worth it. Just one man's opinion.
Some great stuff from Steve Stone on organizations ruining young pitchers. They mostly draft guys who throw 97mph four seam fastballs, then procede to teach them the two-seamer and a cutter. Both of those are about 91mph. Now he has lost the touch on the 97mph four-seamer, the reason they drafted him in the first place, because he almost never throws it with all the work needed on new pitches. Plus, he is on a pitch count and can't master anything, can't go deep in games and loses velocity on the four-seamer quickly due to lack of consistent work on it. Meanwhile, the guy who throws a consistent lower-speed cutter doesn't get looked at in the first place. That is why Stoney is the best in the business.
I concur. Plus, command and movement beats velocity anyway. And I will go to my grave believing that weight lifting has a direct relationship on arm injuries for pitchers. Throwing gets you in shape for throwing. Fergie Jenkins never lifted a single weight. Satchel Paige never lifted anything heavier than a can of beer and he threw game after game without even thinking of pitch count. They ran and they threw and they completed almost all of their starts. People are bigger, faster, stronger and yet are somehow less able to come even close to the same innings of the past. What has changed? Weight lifting. In my mind, you can either be a weight lifter or a pitcher, not both. Gaining a couple mph on your fastball is not worth it. Just one man's opinion.
04/30/2017
Facebook folks have been playing a certain concert game, but after reminiscing with Mick Kahler, I thought I would list the top 10 concerts that have contributed to my major hearing loss instead...lol
1) Summer Jam featuring AC/DC, Foreigner and Aerosmith at Comiskey Park 1978. I was a 17 year old knucklehead who stood 20 feet in front of a huge column of speakers blasting music all day to the back of the ballpark. My ears rang for three days.
2) The Who 1989 at Alpine Valley. Mick got me 2nd row tickets, the best tix for any show of my life. I was ten feet from Pete Townshend and 5 feet from a huge column of speakers blasting music all the way to the back of the lawn. My ears literally hurt during that amazing show.
3) The Ramones 1986 at the Metro Smart Bar. Mick and I were about 25 feet from their blitzkrieg in 100 degree temps.
4) Cheap Trick at North Central College gym 1978. Tenth row of folding chairs in the fieldhouse. Crazy. Two guys next to me partied too hard pre-show and slept through the entire onslaught. lol.
5) Cheap Trick, AC/DC, Molly Hatchett, the Babys, Steve Dahl and Teenage Radiation at Winnebago County Fairgrounds-Pecatonica 1979. Thirty yards back of right column of speakers and it didn't matter much. Still crazy loud for hours and hours.
6) The Clash 1982 Aragon Ballroom. Another sweat box night of blaring punk wonderment. We rang our clothes out back at the car. That cavernous place rumbled.
7) John Eddie 2004 at Joe's Bar. John used to play the front room at Joe's and it was great. The gathering of his faithful packed in for a Loud night of two long sets. This night I stood right in front of the speaker by bassist Kenny Aaronson and got his rumble going right through me.
8) The Blasters 1984 Metro Smart Bar and yes, they blasted away their great roots rock n roll.
9) Off Broadway 1980 SIU Student Center Ballroom. They put pillows on the floor for some reason instead of chairs. Those became projectiles soon enough. A concert and pillow fight all in one. The full moon turned my head around.
10) REM 1982 SIU Student Center cafeteria. They strapped some lunch tables together as a stage for the band that didn't even have their first album out yet, just the Chronic Town EP. About 50 people in attendance, maybe. Will never forget it.
My hearing is permanently damaged and I do not regret a minute of it!
Facebook folks have been playing a certain concert game, but after reminiscing with Mick Kahler, I thought I would list the top 10 concerts that have contributed to my major hearing loss instead...lol
1) Summer Jam featuring AC/DC, Foreigner and Aerosmith at Comiskey Park 1978. I was a 17 year old knucklehead who stood 20 feet in front of a huge column of speakers blasting music all day to the back of the ballpark. My ears rang for three days.
2) The Who 1989 at Alpine Valley. Mick got me 2nd row tickets, the best tix for any show of my life. I was ten feet from Pete Townshend and 5 feet from a huge column of speakers blasting music all the way to the back of the lawn. My ears literally hurt during that amazing show.
3) The Ramones 1986 at the Metro Smart Bar. Mick and I were about 25 feet from their blitzkrieg in 100 degree temps.
4) Cheap Trick at North Central College gym 1978. Tenth row of folding chairs in the fieldhouse. Crazy. Two guys next to me partied too hard pre-show and slept through the entire onslaught. lol.
5) Cheap Trick, AC/DC, Molly Hatchett, the Babys, Steve Dahl and Teenage Radiation at Winnebago County Fairgrounds-Pecatonica 1979. Thirty yards back of right column of speakers and it didn't matter much. Still crazy loud for hours and hours.
6) The Clash 1982 Aragon Ballroom. Another sweat box night of blaring punk wonderment. We rang our clothes out back at the car. That cavernous place rumbled.
7) John Eddie 2004 at Joe's Bar. John used to play the front room at Joe's and it was great. The gathering of his faithful packed in for a Loud night of two long sets. This night I stood right in front of the speaker by bassist Kenny Aaronson and got his rumble going right through me.
8) The Blasters 1984 Metro Smart Bar and yes, they blasted away their great roots rock n roll.
9) Off Broadway 1980 SIU Student Center Ballroom. They put pillows on the floor for some reason instead of chairs. Those became projectiles soon enough. A concert and pillow fight all in one. The full moon turned my head around.
10) REM 1982 SIU Student Center cafeteria. They strapped some lunch tables together as a stage for the band that didn't even have their first album out yet, just the Chronic Town EP. About 50 people in attendance, maybe. Will never forget it.
My hearing is permanently damaged and I do not regret a minute of it!
04/29/2017
Another terrible couple days in my business with all the layoffs at ESPN and now at Cumulus Chicago too. Local traffic reporters let go today and more. I wish them all the best. I am still looking for work from my layoff from IRN of over a year ago, so I know the feeling. Recommendation letters and a long resume are not enough at the moment with the current state of things and the amount of people looking for work. I hope this thing finds some equilibrium soon. Thank goodness for my play-by-play and the loyalty of the folks and fans at Benedictine and Lewis or I would be in even bigger trouble.
Another terrible couple days in my business with all the layoffs at ESPN and now at Cumulus Chicago too. Local traffic reporters let go today and more. I wish them all the best. I am still looking for work from my layoff from IRN of over a year ago, so I know the feeling. Recommendation letters and a long resume are not enough at the moment with the current state of things and the amount of people looking for work. I hope this thing finds some equilibrium soon. Thank goodness for my play-by-play and the loyalty of the folks and fans at Benedictine and Lewis or I would be in even bigger trouble.
04/28/2017
I am trying to figure out the logic of saying those Bears picks involved in the trade up to #2 wouldn't have been worth much anyway. So you know this qb is going to be great but there is no way those other picks would have been starters. Really? Interesting. If Pace is good at his job then those picks he gave up would have good players. I realize you can cherry-pick different examples but the Bears 1983 draft class was Covert, Gault, Richardson, Thayer, Dent, Bortz etc. That is how you build championship teams. I hope the qb is the guy but I think they got fleeced. This is a rebuilding team that has many many needs. Plus, you signed a starting qb in free agency so you could address other needs in the first round. Now you picked a qb who won't be a starter right away. Huh?
I am trying to figure out the logic of saying those Bears picks involved in the trade up to #2 wouldn't have been worth much anyway. So you know this qb is going to be great but there is no way those other picks would have been starters. Really? Interesting. If Pace is good at his job then those picks he gave up would have good players. I realize you can cherry-pick different examples but the Bears 1983 draft class was Covert, Gault, Richardson, Thayer, Dent, Bortz etc. That is how you build championship teams. I hope the qb is the guy but I think they got fleeced. This is a rebuilding team that has many many needs. Plus, you signed a starting qb in free agency so you could address other needs in the first round. Now you picked a qb who won't be a starter right away. Huh?
04/24/2017
So this was about it for me last night on Chicago Justice. They cast me as a newspaper reporter, gave me a pad, pen, recorder and made a big deal about what I wore. I spent two full days in that tiny courtroom and had the camera pointed right at me a bunch of times. A camera person even told me I gave some great reactions for them to work with. That one second shot is about all I have to show for it, lol. Fine. It was still fun to see how they put all that together. (His elbow is pointing right at me, lol)
So this was about it for me last night on Chicago Justice. They cast me as a newspaper reporter, gave me a pad, pen, recorder and made a big deal about what I wore. I spent two full days in that tiny courtroom and had the camera pointed right at me a bunch of times. A camera person even told me I gave some great reactions for them to work with. That one second shot is about all I have to show for it, lol. Fine. It was still fun to see how they put all that together. (His elbow is pointing right at me, lol)
04/14/2017
RIP Dan Rooney. And as usual, I have a story, lol. So, I was a 24 year old kid at my first full-time job in State College, Pa. working at WRSC radio as the morning sports anchor/sports director in 1985. I go to cover Steelers training camp in Latrobe. I am all wide-eyed and enjoying standing on the sidelines watching practice. And to show you what a different era this was, there were only a handful of fans and a couple of other media types around. I look over to my right and Dan Rooney is standing by himself, just about 20 feet from me. I decide to just go over and say hi, cuz why not? lol. I introduce myself and he starts asking ME questions and we have this really amazing, friendly chat. I am this anonymous kid and he is the guy running the show by then. Art Rooney was still around but Dan was in charge. At the end, I take out my tape recorder and he gives me a couple minutes of an interview. He walked away and I just stood there, stunned at what just happened. The President of the Steelers took 15 minutes to have this nice conversation with me just because that's who he was. I've had a soft spot for the Steelers ever since. I miss that NFL, the one before it became this uber success and too big for it's britches. It was still a family business kind of thing and there weren't billion dollar stadiums or practice facilities. The camp in Latrobe was almost a glorified high school field back then. When I think of the NFL now, I don't think of 'friendly'. I think of that when I think of Dan Rooney, though.
RIP Dan Rooney. And as usual, I have a story, lol. So, I was a 24 year old kid at my first full-time job in State College, Pa. working at WRSC radio as the morning sports anchor/sports director in 1985. I go to cover Steelers training camp in Latrobe. I am all wide-eyed and enjoying standing on the sidelines watching practice. And to show you what a different era this was, there were only a handful of fans and a couple of other media types around. I look over to my right and Dan Rooney is standing by himself, just about 20 feet from me. I decide to just go over and say hi, cuz why not? lol. I introduce myself and he starts asking ME questions and we have this really amazing, friendly chat. I am this anonymous kid and he is the guy running the show by then. Art Rooney was still around but Dan was in charge. At the end, I take out my tape recorder and he gives me a couple minutes of an interview. He walked away and I just stood there, stunned at what just happened. The President of the Steelers took 15 minutes to have this nice conversation with me just because that's who he was. I've had a soft spot for the Steelers ever since. I miss that NFL, the one before it became this uber success and too big for it's britches. It was still a family business kind of thing and there weren't billion dollar stadiums or practice facilities. The camp in Latrobe was almost a glorified high school field back then. When I think of the NFL now, I don't think of 'friendly'. I think of that when I think of Dan Rooney, though.
02/06/2017
I have not posted on here in a while. I blame the winter blues. My endless search for a day job since the Illinois Radio Network moved out of town continues to weigh on me. Anyway, I hear the Double Door music venue is closing and that is a bummer too. I thought I would share this with you. My most memorable show at the DD came on Sept. 29, 1999. Most everyone knows what a fan I am of John Eddie. He headlined the Double Door that night. The problem was, Bruce Springsteen was set to play at the United Center the next night. John and Bruce are friends and have sat in with each other's bands many times over the years. I, of course, am a huge Springsteen fan as well but went to the DD to see John and his band and just them. I was seeing Springsteen the next night anyway, but many Bruce fans figured he would join John onstage during his show and wanted to see Springsteen play in a small venue. John's show sold out because of that and tickets were being scalped for 1000 dollars. I had bought a ticket right away before any Bruce rumors and didn't have an issue. Everyone concerned kept saying Bruce wasn't going to jam with John but no one would listen. The local TV crews even showed up at the Double Door that night, just in case. I was in line to get into the show and Channel 7 was going up and down the line asking people who they were there to see. They were doing a shot for the 10pm news. I was getting more and more angry as all these nitwits were saying they were there to see Bruce. They got to me and I snarled out that I was there to see JOHN EDDIE! Since I wasn't playing along with their agenda, I DID NOT make the 10pm news, lol. Regardless, John came out and stated right up front that the guy a lot of people were there to see wasn't coming but let's have some fun anyway. Maybe because of the packed house and/or pressure to please those new to his music, John, P.k. Lavengood, Kenny Aaronson etc. were about as good as I had ever seen them and I've seen them at least 50 times. It was a great show and I hope John made some lasting fans that night. He must have. I would love to hear from John, Pk or Kenny on what they thought of that night. It was one for the books. The Double Door will be missed.
I have not posted on here in a while. I blame the winter blues. My endless search for a day job since the Illinois Radio Network moved out of town continues to weigh on me. Anyway, I hear the Double Door music venue is closing and that is a bummer too. I thought I would share this with you. My most memorable show at the DD came on Sept. 29, 1999. Most everyone knows what a fan I am of John Eddie. He headlined the Double Door that night. The problem was, Bruce Springsteen was set to play at the United Center the next night. John and Bruce are friends and have sat in with each other's bands many times over the years. I, of course, am a huge Springsteen fan as well but went to the DD to see John and his band and just them. I was seeing Springsteen the next night anyway, but many Bruce fans figured he would join John onstage during his show and wanted to see Springsteen play in a small venue. John's show sold out because of that and tickets were being scalped for 1000 dollars. I had bought a ticket right away before any Bruce rumors and didn't have an issue. Everyone concerned kept saying Bruce wasn't going to jam with John but no one would listen. The local TV crews even showed up at the Double Door that night, just in case. I was in line to get into the show and Channel 7 was going up and down the line asking people who they were there to see. They were doing a shot for the 10pm news. I was getting more and more angry as all these nitwits were saying they were there to see Bruce. They got to me and I snarled out that I was there to see JOHN EDDIE! Since I wasn't playing along with their agenda, I DID NOT make the 10pm news, lol. Regardless, John came out and stated right up front that the guy a lot of people were there to see wasn't coming but let's have some fun anyway. Maybe because of the packed house and/or pressure to please those new to his music, John, P.k. Lavengood, Kenny Aaronson etc. were about as good as I had ever seen them and I've seen them at least 50 times. It was a great show and I hope John made some lasting fans that night. He must have. I would love to hear from John, Pk or Kenny on what they thought of that night. It was one for the books. The Double Door will be missed.
12/30/2016
Saw this 'on this date' in my Facebook history about how I was going to be on 'Chicago Tribune Live' 12/30/2009. Reminds me to mention how much fun I had on that show. I did the math and I was probably on 'Chicago Tribune Live' about 100 times over a five year period. I am grateful and thankful for that opportunity and miss that show very much. First it was Dan Jiggetts as host who had me on and then eventually David Kaplan. The best part of being on those shows was spending time with some great guys I most likely would not have gotten to know much at all otherwise. I got to be on that show often with people like Norm Van Lier and Johnny Bach. Robin Earl was on with me quite a bit as well and couldn't have been nicer. Of course, the local beat-reporters were on all the time like Mark Gonzales, Paul Sullivan, KC Johnson and too many others to mention so I better stop now. I will say that Jiggs is probably the nicest person I know in this business and that Norm was the most fun. There was only one Norm. Bach was the most interesting and the classiest. Maybe my favorite part of my time there was talking basketball with Bach in the Green Room before shows. I wish I could have done that more often. He passed away last January and I will never forget talking to him about his time with the Bulls and the 1972 US Olympic team and more. I'm glad I got the chance. Silly me, I don't have any of those shows anymore. A bunch were on a TIVO that died and I was on so often, after a while, I stopped recording them. Now guys like Norm and John are gone and I wish I could look back at them and have those mementos. Oh well. Please and thank you.
Saw this 'on this date' in my Facebook history about how I was going to be on 'Chicago Tribune Live' 12/30/2009. Reminds me to mention how much fun I had on that show. I did the math and I was probably on 'Chicago Tribune Live' about 100 times over a five year period. I am grateful and thankful for that opportunity and miss that show very much. First it was Dan Jiggetts as host who had me on and then eventually David Kaplan. The best part of being on those shows was spending time with some great guys I most likely would not have gotten to know much at all otherwise. I got to be on that show often with people like Norm Van Lier and Johnny Bach. Robin Earl was on with me quite a bit as well and couldn't have been nicer. Of course, the local beat-reporters were on all the time like Mark Gonzales, Paul Sullivan, KC Johnson and too many others to mention so I better stop now. I will say that Jiggs is probably the nicest person I know in this business and that Norm was the most fun. There was only one Norm. Bach was the most interesting and the classiest. Maybe my favorite part of my time there was talking basketball with Bach in the Green Room before shows. I wish I could have done that more often. He passed away last January and I will never forget talking to him about his time with the Bulls and the 1972 US Olympic team and more. I'm glad I got the chance. Silly me, I don't have any of those shows anymore. A bunch were on a TIVO that died and I was on so often, after a while, I stopped recording them. Now guys like Norm and John are gone and I wish I could look back at them and have those mementos. Oh well. Please and thank you.
12/08/2016
A few thoughts on the Sox and Cubs deals. I think the Sox helped themselves tremendously. They didn't just need to rebuild on the field with young talent but rebuild their clubhouse as well. They can now instill professionalism unimpeded. Sale and Eaton were the knuckleheads that acted knuckleheadedly, so to speak, with that whole LaRoche nonsense. And it was nonsense in which those two took the wrong side. The Sale uniform selfishness also could not stand. He should have actually been arrested for destroying company property. You or I would have been. They both needed to go and they are now gone. Some might think they didn't get enough for Sale, but it was a deal that helps both teams and there is nothing wrong with that. It doesn't have to be seen as a fleecing of the other team for you to win a deal. I wouldn't let the short MLB stint of Moncada put you off. He was brought up too soon and put at a different position. The Red Sox did him no favors there at all. Yes, he struck out a ton, but he shouldn't have been in the Bigs yet and shouldn't have been at 3B either. He will be an All-Star. He is not yet 22 and is big, strong, fast and more. He is also a good switch hitter. Kopech sparkled in the Arizona Fall League and throws 100 mph. Basabe is not a throw-in. He was the 6th best Boston prospect. He is a switch-hitting CF with good speed and good power. I don't view Diaz as a throw-in either. He is a long ways off from the Majors but also throws 100mph. He needs work on location but is a pretty good addition as well. Sale is one of the best pitchers in baseball but they weren't winning with him and it was time to fill their many needs.
The three pitchers for Eaton are all good bets as well. Giolito stuggled of late but that helped get him included in the trade. He is still young and inexperienced with a high ceiling. Lopez will also throw 100mph or close to it and has potential. Dunning is very young and a long ways off but gets ground ball outs. Good deal for pitching depth.
I like the Cubs deals as well. People are saying the Cubs gave up Gleybar Torres for basically nothing, now that Chapman is back with the Yankees. Well, I wish they still had Torres too, but what they got in return was a World Series Championship. I'll take it. I also don't think Chapman ever fit in to that clubhouse and am not sorry to see him go, especially with the acquisition of Wade Davis. His numbers are outstanding. This buys another year for CJ Edwards to become the closer of the future. Soler is a corner outfielder and the Cubs have no room at the inn. There is nowhere to play him. He is also really a DH and he can do that in KC. The Cubs still have other prospects as well. Even if he goes on to be great, it is still not a bad deal for the Cubs. Losing Dexter Fowler is a shame, but again, they have ample replacements in the offing like Eloy Jimenez and have Almora ready to go now. It's been a good few days for Chicago baseball and I hope the Sox keep dealing.
A few thoughts on the Sox and Cubs deals. I think the Sox helped themselves tremendously. They didn't just need to rebuild on the field with young talent but rebuild their clubhouse as well. They can now instill professionalism unimpeded. Sale and Eaton were the knuckleheads that acted knuckleheadedly, so to speak, with that whole LaRoche nonsense. And it was nonsense in which those two took the wrong side. The Sale uniform selfishness also could not stand. He should have actually been arrested for destroying company property. You or I would have been. They both needed to go and they are now gone. Some might think they didn't get enough for Sale, but it was a deal that helps both teams and there is nothing wrong with that. It doesn't have to be seen as a fleecing of the other team for you to win a deal. I wouldn't let the short MLB stint of Moncada put you off. He was brought up too soon and put at a different position. The Red Sox did him no favors there at all. Yes, he struck out a ton, but he shouldn't have been in the Bigs yet and shouldn't have been at 3B either. He will be an All-Star. He is not yet 22 and is big, strong, fast and more. He is also a good switch hitter. Kopech sparkled in the Arizona Fall League and throws 100 mph. Basabe is not a throw-in. He was the 6th best Boston prospect. He is a switch-hitting CF with good speed and good power. I don't view Diaz as a throw-in either. He is a long ways off from the Majors but also throws 100mph. He needs work on location but is a pretty good addition as well. Sale is one of the best pitchers in baseball but they weren't winning with him and it was time to fill their many needs.
The three pitchers for Eaton are all good bets as well. Giolito stuggled of late but that helped get him included in the trade. He is still young and inexperienced with a high ceiling. Lopez will also throw 100mph or close to it and has potential. Dunning is very young and a long ways off but gets ground ball outs. Good deal for pitching depth.
I like the Cubs deals as well. People are saying the Cubs gave up Gleybar Torres for basically nothing, now that Chapman is back with the Yankees. Well, I wish they still had Torres too, but what they got in return was a World Series Championship. I'll take it. I also don't think Chapman ever fit in to that clubhouse and am not sorry to see him go, especially with the acquisition of Wade Davis. His numbers are outstanding. This buys another year for CJ Edwards to become the closer of the future. Soler is a corner outfielder and the Cubs have no room at the inn. There is nowhere to play him. He is also really a DH and he can do that in KC. The Cubs still have other prospects as well. Even if he goes on to be great, it is still not a bad deal for the Cubs. Losing Dexter Fowler is a shame, but again, they have ample replacements in the offing like Eloy Jimenez and have Almora ready to go now. It's been a good few days for Chicago baseball and I hope the Sox keep dealing.
11/29/2016
Word has come down that Terry Boers will step down from WSCR after the first of the year. I am sorry to hear about Terry's retirement and all his health issues of late. It is nice to hear him back on air, though. It's funny, the question I have been asked the most about my seven years on the Score is 'What are Terry and Dan really like?" lol. I was the update anchor for that show for two of my years there and I am really proud to have been a part of that show. Yes, those two guys are rough on callers and can be juvenile etc. but they have tackled the tough issues and are not run of the mill sports radio. The answer to that question, by the way, is that they were nothing but nice to me and everyone else at that station...Murph excluded, lol. And Murph brought a lot of that on himself. I liked Murph. He was nice to me but he was really tough on his producers and that didn't make him very much fun to be around. Terry and Dan are only ever mean to callers, lol, no one else. Why people call in, I have no idea. They know what they were getting in to. Terry and Dan are nothing but pro's. There isn't a whole lot of socializing while they are there but I am that way too. Each would be in their own office before the show, working. I was in the update studio, working. I liked that. There was no goofing around. That came on the air. It is a workplace and they treat it that way. The late, great Papa Joe, at the 1 on 1 Sports Network, was the first one to call me Moose on the air. I liked that Terry added 'the Golden Vasko" and the 'Hooded Vasko" to that. I would wear my Joliet JackHammers hooded sweatshirt to the studio all the time, btw. lol. That is where that came from. I still listen to that show, all the time. I do have to hit the button after a few bad callers in a row, but I would turn them down in the studio when that happened too, lol. Who knows what will happen after Terry steps down, but I hope Barry Rozner is involved in there somewhere. So here's a tip of the cap to Terry and I hope he's around for a long, long time.
Word has come down that Terry Boers will step down from WSCR after the first of the year. I am sorry to hear about Terry's retirement and all his health issues of late. It is nice to hear him back on air, though. It's funny, the question I have been asked the most about my seven years on the Score is 'What are Terry and Dan really like?" lol. I was the update anchor for that show for two of my years there and I am really proud to have been a part of that show. Yes, those two guys are rough on callers and can be juvenile etc. but they have tackled the tough issues and are not run of the mill sports radio. The answer to that question, by the way, is that they were nothing but nice to me and everyone else at that station...Murph excluded, lol. And Murph brought a lot of that on himself. I liked Murph. He was nice to me but he was really tough on his producers and that didn't make him very much fun to be around. Terry and Dan are only ever mean to callers, lol, no one else. Why people call in, I have no idea. They know what they were getting in to. Terry and Dan are nothing but pro's. There isn't a whole lot of socializing while they are there but I am that way too. Each would be in their own office before the show, working. I was in the update studio, working. I liked that. There was no goofing around. That came on the air. It is a workplace and they treat it that way. The late, great Papa Joe, at the 1 on 1 Sports Network, was the first one to call me Moose on the air. I liked that Terry added 'the Golden Vasko" and the 'Hooded Vasko" to that. I would wear my Joliet JackHammers hooded sweatshirt to the studio all the time, btw. lol. That is where that came from. I still listen to that show, all the time. I do have to hit the button after a few bad callers in a row, but I would turn them down in the studio when that happened too, lol. Who knows what will happen after Terry steps down, but I hope Barry Rozner is involved in there somewhere. So here's a tip of the cap to Terry and I hope he's around for a long, long time.
11/29/2016
So the White Sox won't deal with the Cubs, despite the fact the Cubs have the biggest group of quality prospects available. That is the case because the Cubs major league lineup is basically set for a decade and there is nowhere for most of their good prospects to go but elsewhere. The Cubs won't hesitate to wish them well and send them on their way for a piece they need. This 'we can't help the Cubs, even if it helps us' nonsense has now become toxic to the Sox organization. It is also a needless 'us against the world' type thing as well. It explains why so many Sox Managers, Coaches, Broadcasters, Executives all seem to need to have played for the White Sox as well. It's silly and counterproductive. Yes, there has been the various individual deal between the two over the years, like ones that exchanged players like Ron Santo, Steve Stone etc., but none were seen as major or all that important to the other. There are also rare non 'Sox in their past' hires but you notice even Rick Renteria was brought in as a coach for a year to 'Sox' him before he could be made Manager. The fans deserve the best possible team on the field. To outright deny a potential chance to bring in multiple quality prospects is a disservice and bad business. Would a trade of Sale to the Cubs help them possibly repeat as Champs? Very likely. So what. A trade for their available prospects could help the Sox compete for Championships a few years down the line and that is all they should be worried about.
Since I have some time on my hands, I will now share a personal side to this Sox behavior. When the Score acquired the White Sox, I was brought in to talk about hosting the Pre and Postgame shows, as I was the most qualified person for the job among the employees at the time. I had been the baseball beat reporter at WBBM and had spent five years as broadcaster in the Marlins organization etc. It was basically a foregone conclusion that the job was mine among my fellow employees. However, I was told "You are obviously the most qualified, but there is no way I can give this job to a Cubs fan". That is the exact quote to my face. I tried to explain my Sox connections as well...my Mom being Southside Irish and her having attended the now closed Loretto Academy (the all-girls Catholic H.S. on 65th St. in Woodlawn) and all the Sox games in my youth I attended with friends etc. All my friends my whole life have been Sox fans btw. (I have now, of course, married a Sox fan and live six blocks from Sox Park, lol) I have always liked the Sox. I loved watching Sox games broadcast by Harry Caray and Jimmy Piesall. I also explained that I wasn't a lover of the Kane County Cougars or the Marlins when I started there, but after you spend every day with them for six months and then for years, they become family and so on. No dice. I was a Cubs fan. No exceptions. My colleague Chris Rongey, a Cardinals fan, did a great job, of course, but to lose a dream job to that silliness still hurts to this day. This Cubs Championship has meant a lot to me but, interestingly, I am now even more a Sox fan than I have ever been. I am a baseball guy, period.
As an aside, I may as well now tell how close I also came to being the Pre and Post-game radio host of Cubs broadcasts a few years back. I lost that job to a coin flip, lol. Really. When another of my colleagues, Andy Masur got that job back in the day, it had come down to between him and me for the job at WGN. The decision dragged on. I then got a phone call while working a shift at Sporting News Radio. I was told how tough the decision was and how it had gone down to the very last second to when the name had to once and for all be given to the bosses. I was told a decision could not be made between the two of us, so it came down to a coin flip and I lost! I swear! Andy, again a guy like Rongey, someone I like and respect very much, did a great job. I watched however, as he went on to then do MLB play-by-play for the Padres etc., while I now have to continue to deal with the fact I have lost out by a fraction, twice, the realization of my boyhood dream...being part of a Major League Baseball broadcast crew in my hometown. Onward and upward. Please and thank you.
So the White Sox won't deal with the Cubs, despite the fact the Cubs have the biggest group of quality prospects available. That is the case because the Cubs major league lineup is basically set for a decade and there is nowhere for most of their good prospects to go but elsewhere. The Cubs won't hesitate to wish them well and send them on their way for a piece they need. This 'we can't help the Cubs, even if it helps us' nonsense has now become toxic to the Sox organization. It is also a needless 'us against the world' type thing as well. It explains why so many Sox Managers, Coaches, Broadcasters, Executives all seem to need to have played for the White Sox as well. It's silly and counterproductive. Yes, there has been the various individual deal between the two over the years, like ones that exchanged players like Ron Santo, Steve Stone etc., but none were seen as major or all that important to the other. There are also rare non 'Sox in their past' hires but you notice even Rick Renteria was brought in as a coach for a year to 'Sox' him before he could be made Manager. The fans deserve the best possible team on the field. To outright deny a potential chance to bring in multiple quality prospects is a disservice and bad business. Would a trade of Sale to the Cubs help them possibly repeat as Champs? Very likely. So what. A trade for their available prospects could help the Sox compete for Championships a few years down the line and that is all they should be worried about.
Since I have some time on my hands, I will now share a personal side to this Sox behavior. When the Score acquired the White Sox, I was brought in to talk about hosting the Pre and Postgame shows, as I was the most qualified person for the job among the employees at the time. I had been the baseball beat reporter at WBBM and had spent five years as broadcaster in the Marlins organization etc. It was basically a foregone conclusion that the job was mine among my fellow employees. However, I was told "You are obviously the most qualified, but there is no way I can give this job to a Cubs fan". That is the exact quote to my face. I tried to explain my Sox connections as well...my Mom being Southside Irish and her having attended the now closed Loretto Academy (the all-girls Catholic H.S. on 65th St. in Woodlawn) and all the Sox games in my youth I attended with friends etc. All my friends my whole life have been Sox fans btw. (I have now, of course, married a Sox fan and live six blocks from Sox Park, lol) I have always liked the Sox. I loved watching Sox games broadcast by Harry Caray and Jimmy Piesall. I also explained that I wasn't a lover of the Kane County Cougars or the Marlins when I started there, but after you spend every day with them for six months and then for years, they become family and so on. No dice. I was a Cubs fan. No exceptions. My colleague Chris Rongey, a Cardinals fan, did a great job, of course, but to lose a dream job to that silliness still hurts to this day. This Cubs Championship has meant a lot to me but, interestingly, I am now even more a Sox fan than I have ever been. I am a baseball guy, period.
As an aside, I may as well now tell how close I also came to being the Pre and Post-game radio host of Cubs broadcasts a few years back. I lost that job to a coin flip, lol. Really. When another of my colleagues, Andy Masur got that job back in the day, it had come down to between him and me for the job at WGN. The decision dragged on. I then got a phone call while working a shift at Sporting News Radio. I was told how tough the decision was and how it had gone down to the very last second to when the name had to once and for all be given to the bosses. I was told a decision could not be made between the two of us, so it came down to a coin flip and I lost! I swear! Andy, again a guy like Rongey, someone I like and respect very much, did a great job. I watched however, as he went on to then do MLB play-by-play for the Padres etc., while I now have to continue to deal with the fact I have lost out by a fraction, twice, the realization of my boyhood dream...being part of a Major League Baseball broadcast crew in my hometown. Onward and upward. Please and thank you.
11/03/2016
Upon the occasion of an amazing Chicago Cubs World Series Championship...My sentimental shout-out goes to a grandparent on each side of the family. I've mentioned my Grandma Foley here I believe. She was a diehard Cubs fan who lived at Clark and Irving when I was a kid. You could see inside Wrigley's upper deck from her window. My Grandpa Vasko was a huge Cubs fan too. He died when I was five, so I don't remember much but I do know he was a regular at Wrigley dating all the way back to the 1930's. I thought of them both last night. I still wish I could find that copy of the Tribune sports-page we had stored in a box somewhere. It dated back to about 1958. It was a pic of the Cubs rightfielder, Lee Walls perhaps, making a catch. You can also see the right field bleachers in the picture. A lone figure sits halfway up, with no one around in a mostly empty ballpark. It was Grandpa Vasko. He would hop the streetcar and go to many, many games according to my Dad. Grandpa was never all that healthy as he got older and an afternoon at the ballpark was good therapy. I got the Cubs disease from both sides of the family. This Championship is the kind of thing that makes you a little kid again, just for a while.
Upon the occasion of an amazing Chicago Cubs World Series Championship...My sentimental shout-out goes to a grandparent on each side of the family. I've mentioned my Grandma Foley here I believe. She was a diehard Cubs fan who lived at Clark and Irving when I was a kid. You could see inside Wrigley's upper deck from her window. My Grandpa Vasko was a huge Cubs fan too. He died when I was five, so I don't remember much but I do know he was a regular at Wrigley dating all the way back to the 1930's. I thought of them both last night. I still wish I could find that copy of the Tribune sports-page we had stored in a box somewhere. It dated back to about 1958. It was a pic of the Cubs rightfielder, Lee Walls perhaps, making a catch. You can also see the right field bleachers in the picture. A lone figure sits halfway up, with no one around in a mostly empty ballpark. It was Grandpa Vasko. He would hop the streetcar and go to many, many games according to my Dad. Grandpa was never all that healthy as he got older and an afternoon at the ballpark was good therapy. I got the Cubs disease from both sides of the family. This Championship is the kind of thing that makes you a little kid again, just for a while.
10/27/2016
I just wanted to wish all the Aurora area football teams good luck in the IHSA playoffs this weekend. West Aurora is making their second straight playoff appearance. The last time that happened was 1984, my 2nd and last year at WMRO. Aurora Central Catholic is having their best season since 1996, the last of my 11 years at WKKD. Marmion is having a good season. Waubonsie Valley is in the playoffs. Naperville North is good again. Oswego is 9-0, like they always seemed to be. Even Aurora U. is currently in first place. So I'm here missing the days when I used to sit at that console and talk every afternoon about the City of Aurora and about those football teams for all those autumns on 1580AM. The names of Wrenn, Hoinkes, Curry, Murphy, McKeon, Scott and on and on were so much fun to talk to every week during those years on my afternoon show. Sadly, 1580 isn't even an active frequency any more and the studio on Plain Ave. has been torn down. Time moves on. Not all changes are for the better however. Aurora and Naperville deserve more local radio. I wish I could give it to them.
I just wanted to wish all the Aurora area football teams good luck in the IHSA playoffs this weekend. West Aurora is making their second straight playoff appearance. The last time that happened was 1984, my 2nd and last year at WMRO. Aurora Central Catholic is having their best season since 1996, the last of my 11 years at WKKD. Marmion is having a good season. Waubonsie Valley is in the playoffs. Naperville North is good again. Oswego is 9-0, like they always seemed to be. Even Aurora U. is currently in first place. So I'm here missing the days when I used to sit at that console and talk every afternoon about the City of Aurora and about those football teams for all those autumns on 1580AM. The names of Wrenn, Hoinkes, Curry, Murphy, McKeon, Scott and on and on were so much fun to talk to every week during those years on my afternoon show. Sadly, 1580 isn't even an active frequency any more and the studio on Plain Ave. has been torn down. Time moves on. Not all changes are for the better however. Aurora and Naperville deserve more local radio. I wish I could give it to them.
10/20/2016
http://deadspin.com/yelling-is-pointless-1787987918?utm_medium=sharefromsite&utm_source=Deadspin_facebook
I can't begin to tell you how much I love this article from Deadspin, above. If you are a coach who screams at your players, then you are very bad at your job. It doesn't make you a leader. It makes you a bully. Period. You are not a teacher, you are a bully. A few examples from my own little career will suffice. I loved playing baseball and basketball. Loved it. The Varsity coaches at my high school ruined that enjoyment for me because they were screamers not teachers. As sophomores, we practiced next to the Varsity all season in the field house. Our coach was great. I didn't play a ton and I didn't care. In basketball, you play basketball in practice, lol. So I still got to scrimmage and play every day and that was enough. I was learing the game and playing. Meanwhile, on the court next to us, all I heard was screaming. I didn't see much teaching but I certainly heard screaming. That didn't seem like much fun to me. Then on game nights, the sophs played first, followed by the Varsity. I would sit in the bleachers directly behind our bench to watch. Inevitably, during timeouts late in close games, I would hear nothing but more screaming. No instruction, no mapping out a play, just screaming. We would therefore inevitably lose. I was disgusted. I wasn't the only one. Our best Varsity player was a sophomore. He quit after that season and didn't play again. I didn't blame him. In fact, I quit too. I refused to be screamed at for two years while not playing much and not learning anything. I got robbed of two years of playing a sport I loved because my coach was a screaming bully. The same situation happened in baseball as well but I loved baseball so much that I was willing to play through the screaming. It was not much fun and it was a ridiculous situation. The Varsity coach would gather us in a circle almost on a daily basis during practice and scream at us. He was a spitter when he screamed so all that happened was that 20 boys would try not to laugh while he was blue-faced screaming and spitting on us. We never were taught anything. He was a football coach coaching baseball anyway. The only thing we were taught was the exact opposite of how you are supposed to throw the baseball and my throwing arm has never been the same. It was destroyed. We knew more than he did. I literally begged him for two years to work with me in the batting cage to help me out and he never did it once. But he would certainly scream at us to try harder. That made me squeeze the saw dust out of the bat, which is also literally the worst thing a batter can do. Screaming is not leadership, it is a cover up for not having any better ideas. Notre Dame sold their soul to hire that idiot screamer football coach. He is an embarrassment. Sports are supposed to be fun. I can't imagine that screaming is fun. It certainly isn't fun to hear. If your only answer to poor results is to scream, then you are not coaching. You are bullying. It doesn't produce anything but scorn. I became the de facto coach of the team. I coached first base when I wasn't playing. The coach would signal take signs etc. from the dugout. More than once a batter would look to me for a sign that maybe they should do the opposite instead. Sometimes I gave it, since the coach had no idea of baseball strategy. It should never come to the point of mutiny. We didn't really have a choice. I will never forgive those two coaches for ruining my high school athletic years. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.
http://deadspin.com/yelling-is-pointless-1787987918?utm_medium=sharefromsite&utm_source=Deadspin_facebook
I can't begin to tell you how much I love this article from Deadspin, above. If you are a coach who screams at your players, then you are very bad at your job. It doesn't make you a leader. It makes you a bully. Period. You are not a teacher, you are a bully. A few examples from my own little career will suffice. I loved playing baseball and basketball. Loved it. The Varsity coaches at my high school ruined that enjoyment for me because they were screamers not teachers. As sophomores, we practiced next to the Varsity all season in the field house. Our coach was great. I didn't play a ton and I didn't care. In basketball, you play basketball in practice, lol. So I still got to scrimmage and play every day and that was enough. I was learing the game and playing. Meanwhile, on the court next to us, all I heard was screaming. I didn't see much teaching but I certainly heard screaming. That didn't seem like much fun to me. Then on game nights, the sophs played first, followed by the Varsity. I would sit in the bleachers directly behind our bench to watch. Inevitably, during timeouts late in close games, I would hear nothing but more screaming. No instruction, no mapping out a play, just screaming. We would therefore inevitably lose. I was disgusted. I wasn't the only one. Our best Varsity player was a sophomore. He quit after that season and didn't play again. I didn't blame him. In fact, I quit too. I refused to be screamed at for two years while not playing much and not learning anything. I got robbed of two years of playing a sport I loved because my coach was a screaming bully. The same situation happened in baseball as well but I loved baseball so much that I was willing to play through the screaming. It was not much fun and it was a ridiculous situation. The Varsity coach would gather us in a circle almost on a daily basis during practice and scream at us. He was a spitter when he screamed so all that happened was that 20 boys would try not to laugh while he was blue-faced screaming and spitting on us. We never were taught anything. He was a football coach coaching baseball anyway. The only thing we were taught was the exact opposite of how you are supposed to throw the baseball and my throwing arm has never been the same. It was destroyed. We knew more than he did. I literally begged him for two years to work with me in the batting cage to help me out and he never did it once. But he would certainly scream at us to try harder. That made me squeeze the saw dust out of the bat, which is also literally the worst thing a batter can do. Screaming is not leadership, it is a cover up for not having any better ideas. Notre Dame sold their soul to hire that idiot screamer football coach. He is an embarrassment. Sports are supposed to be fun. I can't imagine that screaming is fun. It certainly isn't fun to hear. If your only answer to poor results is to scream, then you are not coaching. You are bullying. It doesn't produce anything but scorn. I became the de facto coach of the team. I coached first base when I wasn't playing. The coach would signal take signs etc. from the dugout. More than once a batter would look to me for a sign that maybe they should do the opposite instead. Sometimes I gave it, since the coach had no idea of baseball strategy. It should never come to the point of mutiny. We didn't really have a choice. I will never forgive those two coaches for ruining my high school athletic years. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.
10/11/2016
So I finished the Bank of Chicago Marathon on Sunday. Yeah, I'm surprised too. I'm pretty happy with how it went, considering I at least finished and got my medal! :) The idea was to go slow and steady. I did that through mile 22 without stopping other than for gatorade. I ran out of gas in mile 23, though, and finally had to start walking a bit. I walked a little of each of the next three miles, then used what I had left to run the last 1.2 miles across the finish line. (That uphill towards the end was not fair!) I had a good time...the crowds were great...some signs were hilarious and it did not seem like I was out there for 6 1/2 hours. I felt fine the whole way. My only complaint was that my overall run time also includes more than ten minutes of port-a-potty time. The lines were ridiculous. I guess I drank too much at the stops since it wasn't 85 degrees like on my training runs, but the waits were crazy and t-p eventually ran out for the ladies. My only other concern was why so many were walking so early. I had to pick my way through walkers in the first two miles! Really?! No injuries and no problems. My quads are still barking two days later but otherwise, just still tired is all. Again, I'll take it. My wife Chris, of course, crushed it in just over 4:40 and is doing just fine. Thanks for all the support.
So I finished the Bank of Chicago Marathon on Sunday. Yeah, I'm surprised too. I'm pretty happy with how it went, considering I at least finished and got my medal! :) The idea was to go slow and steady. I did that through mile 22 without stopping other than for gatorade. I ran out of gas in mile 23, though, and finally had to start walking a bit. I walked a little of each of the next three miles, then used what I had left to run the last 1.2 miles across the finish line. (That uphill towards the end was not fair!) I had a good time...the crowds were great...some signs were hilarious and it did not seem like I was out there for 6 1/2 hours. I felt fine the whole way. My only complaint was that my overall run time also includes more than ten minutes of port-a-potty time. The lines were ridiculous. I guess I drank too much at the stops since it wasn't 85 degrees like on my training runs, but the waits were crazy and t-p eventually ran out for the ladies. My only other concern was why so many were walking so early. I had to pick my way through walkers in the first two miles! Really?! No injuries and no problems. My quads are still barking two days later but otherwise, just still tired is all. Again, I'll take it. My wife Chris, of course, crushed it in just over 4:40 and is doing just fine. Thanks for all the support.
10/06/2016
Some thoughts on the Rick Renteria hiring by the White Sox and why Sox fans will like this move...
Renteria is a baseball guy and an experienced player, coach and manager. He has done every part of the job and done it successfully in multiple places. Ventura had never done any of the coaching part of it. Renteria has done all of it. Ventura was an everyday player. Renteria was a starter and utility man coming off the the bench. He can relate to those players, which is an important part of the job. You need the keep the bench guys interested and happy. He was a coach and Manager in the Marlins organization to start. He was Midwest League Manager of the Year for the Kane County Cougars in 1999. That team finished 83-54. For all the famous players that have played there, the only players you might have ever even heard of are Matt Treanor and Nate Robertson. In other words, he won with no big prospects or future all-stars. He managed a couple other teams for the Marlins and then moved on to the Padres organization. He managed their Triple-A Portland, Oregon team in 2007 and then became the Padres first base coach. So in the minors, he rode the buses in A-ball for multiple seasons, paid his dues, moved up the ladder and went back to the Bigs. Word is that he was a good leader, father figure and strategist. With San Diego, he was their video guy. Renteria spent hours before every series pouring over video to help his outfielders position themselves, figure out pick-off moves and help batters pick up tendencies. He then got his chance to manage the Cubs. He did a good job with the young guys and would still be there if not for Maddon becoming available. It is no shame to lose your job to him, a guy the White Sox would never hire anyway due to his high salary. Renteria is not someone they are settling for. His is a legit MLB Manager. He is bilingual. He is respected and has a resume his players can admire. As a player, Renteria was the Mexican League Player of the Year and was Batting Champ in 1991. He was known as the Secret Weapon by his teammates as a utility man with the Florida Marlins, coming of the bench to hit a combined .347 average with men in scoring position in 1993 and 1994. The Sox will immediately become better fundamentally because he has studied the little things as a coach. Going out on the open market, the Sox would not find anyone any better, in my opinion.
Some thoughts on the Rick Renteria hiring by the White Sox and why Sox fans will like this move...
Renteria is a baseball guy and an experienced player, coach and manager. He has done every part of the job and done it successfully in multiple places. Ventura had never done any of the coaching part of it. Renteria has done all of it. Ventura was an everyday player. Renteria was a starter and utility man coming off the the bench. He can relate to those players, which is an important part of the job. You need the keep the bench guys interested and happy. He was a coach and Manager in the Marlins organization to start. He was Midwest League Manager of the Year for the Kane County Cougars in 1999. That team finished 83-54. For all the famous players that have played there, the only players you might have ever even heard of are Matt Treanor and Nate Robertson. In other words, he won with no big prospects or future all-stars. He managed a couple other teams for the Marlins and then moved on to the Padres organization. He managed their Triple-A Portland, Oregon team in 2007 and then became the Padres first base coach. So in the minors, he rode the buses in A-ball for multiple seasons, paid his dues, moved up the ladder and went back to the Bigs. Word is that he was a good leader, father figure and strategist. With San Diego, he was their video guy. Renteria spent hours before every series pouring over video to help his outfielders position themselves, figure out pick-off moves and help batters pick up tendencies. He then got his chance to manage the Cubs. He did a good job with the young guys and would still be there if not for Maddon becoming available. It is no shame to lose your job to him, a guy the White Sox would never hire anyway due to his high salary. Renteria is not someone they are settling for. His is a legit MLB Manager. He is bilingual. He is respected and has a resume his players can admire. As a player, Renteria was the Mexican League Player of the Year and was Batting Champ in 1991. He was known as the Secret Weapon by his teammates as a utility man with the Florida Marlins, coming of the bench to hit a combined .347 average with men in scoring position in 1993 and 1994. The Sox will immediately become better fundamentally because he has studied the little things as a coach. Going out on the open market, the Sox would not find anyone any better, in my opinion.
09/29/2016
This post is for all those 'World Series Championship or the season is a failure' people. If you feel that way, then you just don't get it. I want a Cubs championship as much as anyone but the postseason will be fun, just like this whole summer has been, no matter the result. No bad October result will negate this 100-plus win year. It has been a blast. Those three hours a day have been a joy, period. The fact these types of seasons have been so rare makes it even more so. Cubs fans pick their ways to enjoy seasons. Wins haven't usually had anything to do with it, lol. My love of this team isn't based on wins. It couldn't be. It's based on trips to Wrigley with my family as a kid. It's based on the individual greatness of players like Banks, Buckner, Maddux, Wood etc. My enjoyment of the Cubs includes trips to Grandma's house. This particular Grandma Mabel lived four blocks from Wrigley. Visits were timed for 'Ladies' Day' and the four block walk to the ballpark for a game. It includes Sunday doubleheaders as a kid that meant five hours of baseball as well as a hotdog and peanuts. I was there the day Billy Williams went 8 for 8 plus a sac fly. I was there for the Sandberg Game. I watched the Holtzman, Hooton and Pappas no-hitters on TV. Pennant races are a bonus not a birth-rite like it is for Yankees fans. This whole summer is a bonus. 1984 is the only summer that comes close for me and that was a long time ago. The best part of this summer is knowing this team is so young and it will not be a 'one off'. They will be good for a long time. Finally. Finally wins can be part of the picture for Cubs fans. It's a bonus, not the point for us. Nothing can erase this summer, only add to it. If you think only a World Series Title makes this year a success, then I actually feel bad for you. The beauty of this game isn't only in the winning. Winning is the icing, it's not the cake. And cake is good.
This post is for all those 'World Series Championship or the season is a failure' people. If you feel that way, then you just don't get it. I want a Cubs championship as much as anyone but the postseason will be fun, just like this whole summer has been, no matter the result. No bad October result will negate this 100-plus win year. It has been a blast. Those three hours a day have been a joy, period. The fact these types of seasons have been so rare makes it even more so. Cubs fans pick their ways to enjoy seasons. Wins haven't usually had anything to do with it, lol. My love of this team isn't based on wins. It couldn't be. It's based on trips to Wrigley with my family as a kid. It's based on the individual greatness of players like Banks, Buckner, Maddux, Wood etc. My enjoyment of the Cubs includes trips to Grandma's house. This particular Grandma Mabel lived four blocks from Wrigley. Visits were timed for 'Ladies' Day' and the four block walk to the ballpark for a game. It includes Sunday doubleheaders as a kid that meant five hours of baseball as well as a hotdog and peanuts. I was there the day Billy Williams went 8 for 8 plus a sac fly. I was there for the Sandberg Game. I watched the Holtzman, Hooton and Pappas no-hitters on TV. Pennant races are a bonus not a birth-rite like it is for Yankees fans. This whole summer is a bonus. 1984 is the only summer that comes close for me and that was a long time ago. The best part of this summer is knowing this team is so young and it will not be a 'one off'. They will be good for a long time. Finally. Finally wins can be part of the picture for Cubs fans. It's a bonus, not the point for us. Nothing can erase this summer, only add to it. If you think only a World Series Title makes this year a success, then I actually feel bad for you. The beauty of this game isn't only in the winning. Winning is the icing, it's not the cake. And cake is good.
09/26/2016
The events of yesterday serve as more proof that Leo Durocher was a moron and nice guys do not finish last. (And yes, the 1969 Cubs collapse was Durocher's fault, and he was an ass.)
Besides being the gold standard of baseball play-by-play, Vin Scully also happens to be a really good guy. Tributes to Vin wouldn't have been so heartfelt and appreciated if he wasn't a really good person as well. David Ross has only spent two seasons with the Cubs. He is having a very good season and is a good leader and teammate and is a very good person above all. That is why fans gave a backup catcher multiple standing ovations and his fellow Cubs honored him repeatedly. The heartbreak over the death of Jose Fernandez wasn't just because he was a young star on the rise, it was because he was such a great guy. His smile and his joy of life were infectious. Arnold Palmer was golf's most popular player for decades not just because he won tournaments but because he was such an open and friendly presence. It takes less effort to be nice to people. It pays off down the road. All of this is proof.
The events of yesterday serve as more proof that Leo Durocher was a moron and nice guys do not finish last. (And yes, the 1969 Cubs collapse was Durocher's fault, and he was an ass.)
Besides being the gold standard of baseball play-by-play, Vin Scully also happens to be a really good guy. Tributes to Vin wouldn't have been so heartfelt and appreciated if he wasn't a really good person as well. David Ross has only spent two seasons with the Cubs. He is having a very good season and is a good leader and teammate and is a very good person above all. That is why fans gave a backup catcher multiple standing ovations and his fellow Cubs honored him repeatedly. The heartbreak over the death of Jose Fernandez wasn't just because he was a young star on the rise, it was because he was such a great guy. His smile and his joy of life were infectious. Arnold Palmer was golf's most popular player for decades not just because he won tournaments but because he was such an open and friendly presence. It takes less effort to be nice to people. It pays off down the road. All of this is proof.
08/02/2016
The main issue with the White Sox is that this regime is not good at player evaluation. I don't mean not good enough. I mean not good. They have to know it too. That has got to be why they were gun shy in pulling the trigger on any big deals. "What if they don't pan out again?". Doing nothing is actually the safer way to save your job then trading Sale or Quintana and coming up empty. A good article in the Athletic brought a lot of this back to mind. The last time the Sox tried to trade for prospects in-season did not turn out well at all. In 2013, in exchange for Jake Peavy, Jesse Crain, Matt Thornton and Alex Rios, the Sox got in return the likes of Leury Garcia, Cleluis Rondon, JB Wendelken, Francellis Montas, Ben Kline, Sean Bierman, Brandon Jacobs and Avi Garcia. How have those acquisitions panned out? They don't appear to know who to trade for, so why risk sending off Sale for some guys? That lack of player evaluation obviously extends to the draft as well. The only White Sox player on the current Baseball America mid-season Top 100 Prospects list is Carson Fulmer. Since he is now on the team, that means no White Sox minor leaguer is currently a top 100 prospect. Really?! They will never get anywhere if they can't figure out who can play and who can't. How many position players have the Sox produced through their system lately? It's not a big number. Big Frank and Robin Ventura were a long time ago. Until they improve scouting and get significantly more hits than misses in players acquired, any 'direction' they go in is doomed to failure.
The main issue with the White Sox is that this regime is not good at player evaluation. I don't mean not good enough. I mean not good. They have to know it too. That has got to be why they were gun shy in pulling the trigger on any big deals. "What if they don't pan out again?". Doing nothing is actually the safer way to save your job then trading Sale or Quintana and coming up empty. A good article in the Athletic brought a lot of this back to mind. The last time the Sox tried to trade for prospects in-season did not turn out well at all. In 2013, in exchange for Jake Peavy, Jesse Crain, Matt Thornton and Alex Rios, the Sox got in return the likes of Leury Garcia, Cleluis Rondon, JB Wendelken, Francellis Montas, Ben Kline, Sean Bierman, Brandon Jacobs and Avi Garcia. How have those acquisitions panned out? They don't appear to know who to trade for, so why risk sending off Sale for some guys? That lack of player evaluation obviously extends to the draft as well. The only White Sox player on the current Baseball America mid-season Top 100 Prospects list is Carson Fulmer. Since he is now on the team, that means no White Sox minor leaguer is currently a top 100 prospect. Really?! They will never get anywhere if they can't figure out who can play and who can't. How many position players have the Sox produced through their system lately? It's not a big number. Big Frank and Robin Ventura were a long time ago. Until they improve scouting and get significantly more hits than misses in players acquired, any 'direction' they go in is doomed to failure.
07/24/2016
Here is Robin's test to be an actual leader. Chris Sale is one of the best pitchers in baseball. He is also a petulant child. Robin needs to step up and say so and Sale has to miss a start for his selfish childishness. Every single White Sox fan on planet Earth would take this deal..."We will pay you millions of dollars but occasionally you will have to wear a jersey you are not crazy about. It might even be a little uncomfortable. Ok? Yes. Ok." None of the baseball uniforms I ever wore in my life were comfortable. None. You just wore them. The uniform I wore freshman year of H.S. was an ancient old wool one like the pro's wore back in the 30's and 40's. It weighed a ton, was way too big and baggy and was an oven when it got hot outside. You would be a puddle when the game was over. But it was the uniform, so we all wore it. We complained about them of course, lol, but we went out and played. Every day. And we were not getting paid! Baseball is a business. They sell tickets and jerseys to earn the money to pay Sale his millions. Chris Sale, grow up! Robin Ventura, take charge!
Here is Robin's test to be an actual leader. Chris Sale is one of the best pitchers in baseball. He is also a petulant child. Robin needs to step up and say so and Sale has to miss a start for his selfish childishness. Every single White Sox fan on planet Earth would take this deal..."We will pay you millions of dollars but occasionally you will have to wear a jersey you are not crazy about. It might even be a little uncomfortable. Ok? Yes. Ok." None of the baseball uniforms I ever wore in my life were comfortable. None. You just wore them. The uniform I wore freshman year of H.S. was an ancient old wool one like the pro's wore back in the 30's and 40's. It weighed a ton, was way too big and baggy and was an oven when it got hot outside. You would be a puddle when the game was over. But it was the uniform, so we all wore it. We complained about them of course, lol, but we went out and played. Every day. And we were not getting paid! Baseball is a business. They sell tickets and jerseys to earn the money to pay Sale his millions. Chris Sale, grow up! Robin Ventura, take charge!
07/06/2016
I once again take the minority opinion and like the Wade signing. I also don't quite understand all this hand-wringing about a Bulls 'plan'. It is the NBA, not baseball. The only 'plan' available to any NBA team is to get better, and that is what they have done. Getting 'younger and more athletic' is certainly a nice and obvious idea but not necessarily easy to do. Multiple trades in the NBA are rare and extremely difficult because the money has to match. So the only 'plan' is to draft well and sign quality free agents. What else is there? Whether or not a young and athletic all-star caliber free agent actually wants to sign with you is kinda out of your control, so you sign who you can. These two quality free agents...albeit older ones... were the ones that actually wanted to play here, so those are the guys you get. They are not younger or more athletic but they are certainly better and the team will certainly be more watchable next season. I now want to watch Bulls basketball. I did not want to watch them last year and didn't do much of it. The offense should actually look like an offense this season. Butler never wanted to pass the ball back to DRose because he knew he would never get the ball back from DRose. Now they have a point guard who will pass the ball and that is why Wade is coming on board as well. Besides, the entire season is a moot point with everyone knowing who will win the title. The Bulls have done what they could do. I like their top draft pick and I like these moves. They are not ideal, but wanting to sign a guy and actually doing it are two different things as we well know by now. You can clear all the cap space you want or tank a season, but that doesn't mean you will get any of your targets to actually sign with you or win the lottery for a top draft pick. You do what you can do.
I once again take the minority opinion and like the Wade signing. I also don't quite understand all this hand-wringing about a Bulls 'plan'. It is the NBA, not baseball. The only 'plan' available to any NBA team is to get better, and that is what they have done. Getting 'younger and more athletic' is certainly a nice and obvious idea but not necessarily easy to do. Multiple trades in the NBA are rare and extremely difficult because the money has to match. So the only 'plan' is to draft well and sign quality free agents. What else is there? Whether or not a young and athletic all-star caliber free agent actually wants to sign with you is kinda out of your control, so you sign who you can. These two quality free agents...albeit older ones... were the ones that actually wanted to play here, so those are the guys you get. They are not younger or more athletic but they are certainly better and the team will certainly be more watchable next season. I now want to watch Bulls basketball. I did not want to watch them last year and didn't do much of it. The offense should actually look like an offense this season. Butler never wanted to pass the ball back to DRose because he knew he would never get the ball back from DRose. Now they have a point guard who will pass the ball and that is why Wade is coming on board as well. Besides, the entire season is a moot point with everyone knowing who will win the title. The Bulls have done what they could do. I like their top draft pick and I like these moves. They are not ideal, but wanting to sign a guy and actually doing it are two different things as we well know by now. You can clear all the cap space you want or tank a season, but that doesn't mean you will get any of your targets to actually sign with you or win the lottery for a top draft pick. You do what you can do.
07/01/2016
I was cleaning the closets and came across this picture. This team features catcher Mike Redmond in the top left. He went on to play for the World Series champion 2003 Marlins and eventually became their manager. Shortstop Edgar Renteria is right next to him. Pitcher Hector Carrasco is in the middle of the top row. Carlos Tosca was the manager in '93 and is on the far left of the middle row. He eventually became manager of the Blue Jays. Former White Sox catcher Charles Johnson is third from the right in the middle row. I was in the booth for the Cougars from '92 through '96, so this was my second KC team.
I was cleaning the closets and came across this picture. This team features catcher Mike Redmond in the top left. He went on to play for the World Series champion 2003 Marlins and eventually became their manager. Shortstop Edgar Renteria is right next to him. Pitcher Hector Carrasco is in the middle of the top row. Carlos Tosca was the manager in '93 and is on the far left of the middle row. He eventually became manager of the Blue Jays. Former White Sox catcher Charles Johnson is third from the right in the middle row. I was in the booth for the Cougars from '92 through '96, so this was my second KC team.
06/28/2016
After watching Kris Bryant's performance, I was thinking about home runs and the longest I have ever seen in person. The longest I ever saw was courtesy of White Sox prospect Jeff Liefer in South Bend in 1996 vs. Kane County. For those who know Coveleski Stadium, there was a storage shed well beyond the right center field wall. His homer went out of the stadium and over the storage shed on the fly. There is now a permanent brown brick building in it's spot, in this photo, to give you an idea of how far it went.
Another was by Josh Booty of the KC Cougars in 1995 that went over the storage shed that used to be beyond the left field wall at Elfstrom Stadium. It cleared it easily. He hit some majestic shots. Former White Sox catcher Charles Johnson also hit a monster shot into the trees beyond center field as well.
The other that comes to mind was by Cliff Floyd. At the time, he was just 16 years old and the homer came in the Summer Varsity State Tournament at North Central College. He was about to be a junior at Thornwood H.S. He demolished a ball to straight away center that cleared everything and just disappeared. Everybody there just stared in disbelief. I just remember thinking to myself "remember this kid's name, because he will be a major leaguer some day." It did not surprise me when that came true.
After watching Kris Bryant's performance, I was thinking about home runs and the longest I have ever seen in person. The longest I ever saw was courtesy of White Sox prospect Jeff Liefer in South Bend in 1996 vs. Kane County. For those who know Coveleski Stadium, there was a storage shed well beyond the right center field wall. His homer went out of the stadium and over the storage shed on the fly. There is now a permanent brown brick building in it's spot, in this photo, to give you an idea of how far it went.
Another was by Josh Booty of the KC Cougars in 1995 that went over the storage shed that used to be beyond the left field wall at Elfstrom Stadium. It cleared it easily. He hit some majestic shots. Former White Sox catcher Charles Johnson also hit a monster shot into the trees beyond center field as well.
The other that comes to mind was by Cliff Floyd. At the time, he was just 16 years old and the homer came in the Summer Varsity State Tournament at North Central College. He was about to be a junior at Thornwood H.S. He demolished a ball to straight away center that cleared everything and just disappeared. Everybody there just stared in disbelief. I just remember thinking to myself "remember this kid's name, because he will be a major leaguer some day." It did not surprise me when that came true.
06/22/2016
The 7th inning stretch singing of Take Me Out To The Ballgame was a White Sox thing. I was reminded of that again today. Bob Odenkirk sang the stretch at Wrigley today and he mentioned he remembers Harry Caray singing that at the old Comiskey. I do too. As a matter of fact, when Harry started singing it at Wrigley, I wanted nothing to do with it. I loved the Harry and Jimmy Piersall duo on the south side. They were great. The singing was a Sox thing. So when Harry replaced Jack Brickhouse, and boy was I unhappy about that, I didn't like singing the stretch. Not out of hatred for the Sox, I don't hate them, but out of respect. It was their thing. The Cubs shouldn't steal it. It took me years to warm up to it. I would go to games and stand, but I wouldn't sing along. It wasn't ours. It was the Sox thing. I was eventually worn down by Harry and by his stretch singing but it took a while. The sad thing for Cubs fans is that Harry was a great play-by-play guy when he was younger. As a Cardinals and Sox announcer, he was really good. By the time he got to the Cubs, he was a quarter of what he once was. Harry and Jimmy were something else.
I will tell my Jimmy story now, lol. I am not the first person to say he was crazy, but boy was he crazy! When I was broadcasting for the Kane County Cougars, he was a roving outfield instructor for the Cubs. He would come to Geneva and work with the kids when the Rockford Cubbies would come to town. He would come on the air with me for a couple innings each time. Keep in mind, he had done this for a living with Harry on the south side, so you think he would know better, lol. No. Between innings, he was cussing like a sailor and saying the most racist, ignorant stuff about the kids he was coaching. I am looking at my watch, hoping he stops swearing before the commercial ends! There was no delay, so he is m-fing this and g-damning that and I am worrying WKKD was going to lose their license! lol. Thank goodness, nothing ever got on the air, but boy did I have to sweat it out every time he would come on with me. He even told me I had a stupid name! lol. He didn't like my name. Sorry, Jimmy. I had nothing to do with that. Who says " I hate your name. That is a stupid name." ? On air and everything. Thanks. Let's play two.
The 7th inning stretch singing of Take Me Out To The Ballgame was a White Sox thing. I was reminded of that again today. Bob Odenkirk sang the stretch at Wrigley today and he mentioned he remembers Harry Caray singing that at the old Comiskey. I do too. As a matter of fact, when Harry started singing it at Wrigley, I wanted nothing to do with it. I loved the Harry and Jimmy Piersall duo on the south side. They were great. The singing was a Sox thing. So when Harry replaced Jack Brickhouse, and boy was I unhappy about that, I didn't like singing the stretch. Not out of hatred for the Sox, I don't hate them, but out of respect. It was their thing. The Cubs shouldn't steal it. It took me years to warm up to it. I would go to games and stand, but I wouldn't sing along. It wasn't ours. It was the Sox thing. I was eventually worn down by Harry and by his stretch singing but it took a while. The sad thing for Cubs fans is that Harry was a great play-by-play guy when he was younger. As a Cardinals and Sox announcer, he was really good. By the time he got to the Cubs, he was a quarter of what he once was. Harry and Jimmy were something else.
I will tell my Jimmy story now, lol. I am not the first person to say he was crazy, but boy was he crazy! When I was broadcasting for the Kane County Cougars, he was a roving outfield instructor for the Cubs. He would come to Geneva and work with the kids when the Rockford Cubbies would come to town. He would come on the air with me for a couple innings each time. Keep in mind, he had done this for a living with Harry on the south side, so you think he would know better, lol. No. Between innings, he was cussing like a sailor and saying the most racist, ignorant stuff about the kids he was coaching. I am looking at my watch, hoping he stops swearing before the commercial ends! There was no delay, so he is m-fing this and g-damning that and I am worrying WKKD was going to lose their license! lol. Thank goodness, nothing ever got on the air, but boy did I have to sweat it out every time he would come on with me. He even told me I had a stupid name! lol. He didn't like my name. Sorry, Jimmy. I had nothing to do with that. Who says " I hate your name. That is a stupid name." ? On air and everything. Thanks. Let's play two.
05/23/2016
I was prompted to write these long thoughts thanks to two tweets posted within minutes of each other, a few days ago. Baseball broadcasting as an art-form and as a public service is under attack from a few different fronts. Here are my thoughts on the profession I love and live.
Scott Montesano tweeted in response to an article stating that today's game would have no room for a young Vin Scully...
"Very accurate...except even in "Class A" most every young announcer sound the same. All robots, no storytelling."
Then Greg Halbrieb tweeted this in response to the same article.
"Most teams don't even understand a broadcast's purpose. They also believe anyone can do it. Undervaluing is folly."
Both tweets are very painfully true. You probably know my situation but I will talk in generalities of teams taking their games off radio and using free talent. There are many, many examples. Obviously, Greg's comment is in full evidence here. Some current regimes have no idea about baseball broadcasts and their value to their team and fans.
First of all, these decisions make plain the idea that the only people they are interested in are paying customers. Everybody else can get lost. If you are a local sports fan and support your team, likely playing in a publicly funded stadium by the way, but are elderly, infirm or blind etc., then they are not interested in you. I will never forget one of the first and best compliments my play-by-play ever received. It came from my blind Uncle Flavin. He called me at WMRO to tell me how much he enjoyed my call. It was so descriptive that he could 'see' the action in his mind's eye, he said. I smiled for days. That's the job. It is not just a promotional arm for the team...more on that later...it is also a public service for the people who cannot attend the games for whatever reason but still want to experience them. If you are in your 80's or 90's and have a lot of trouble walking up stairs or for a great distance, game attendance is not really an option. If the games are no longer on the radio or no longer done by a competent pro, that team has been effectively taken away from you. Stupid and short-sighted. Games are important daily entertainment for people. It takes their minds off their troubles and keeps the lonely company. The announcer becomes the friendly voice they turn to. My Grandmother Foley loved the Cubs. She sat alone in her apartment and listened every single day to Vince Lloyd and Lou Boudreau. Those Cubs were her family as much as I was, long after she stopped going to games in person. Her fandom still counted and still mattered. She still bought merchandise too, by the way. Ignoring her would be the height of ignoring the customer.
The other part of that equation is indeed that the broadcast is an important promotional arm for the team. Ignoring that is folly as well. The game is a three-hour commercial for the upcoming home-stand etc. What are the eating/drinking/ticket specials coming up? When is Princess Night or Star Wars Night? Who are the exciting players you might want to see in person? What are the new features at the ballpark and so on. Road broadcasts also help keep the fans invested in the team, it's players and the pennant race when fans cannot attend and just might help make them want to attend in the future.
The other aspect of this piece is the broadcast itself. Personality is in short supply. Vin Scully is the best ever because he understands his job. If the game is slow or a blowout, then he has to work harder. It's story time. Time to make the listener smile. That is why Hawk makes me crazy. I am a homer-style announcer but only to a point. A great play by the opposition is still a great play and worth getting excited about. A late rally by the opposition is still thrilling, even if the home team loses. Not sharing that excitement is the wrong choice. His silence is a wrong choice. A broadcast of all X's and O's is also a wrong choice. Paint the picture. Share the excitement. Share the fun. My friend and first boss, Steve Klauke, has been doing broadcasts for AAA Salt Lake for more than 20 years now. He is one of the best in the business because he is not just a baseball guy. He is also very funny. Always have something in your back pocket. Part of that of course is repetition. Get your 10,000 hours any way you can. I got mine in my room well before I ever had a mic in my hand.
Broadcasters have to understand all parts of the job but so do their bosses. Baseball broadcasts have value. Even more so than other sports because of the everyday aspect of it all. A good broadcast entertains, informs, provides comfort and friendship, sells tickets and t-shirts and is a tradition I am proud to be a part of. The number of people in general, and in the Baseball business in particular, who understand all of that should not be shrinking but it is.
Please and thank you.
I was prompted to write these long thoughts thanks to two tweets posted within minutes of each other, a few days ago. Baseball broadcasting as an art-form and as a public service is under attack from a few different fronts. Here are my thoughts on the profession I love and live.
Scott Montesano tweeted in response to an article stating that today's game would have no room for a young Vin Scully...
"Very accurate...except even in "Class A" most every young announcer sound the same. All robots, no storytelling."
Then Greg Halbrieb tweeted this in response to the same article.
"Most teams don't even understand a broadcast's purpose. They also believe anyone can do it. Undervaluing is folly."
Both tweets are very painfully true. You probably know my situation but I will talk in generalities of teams taking their games off radio and using free talent. There are many, many examples. Obviously, Greg's comment is in full evidence here. Some current regimes have no idea about baseball broadcasts and their value to their team and fans.
First of all, these decisions make plain the idea that the only people they are interested in are paying customers. Everybody else can get lost. If you are a local sports fan and support your team, likely playing in a publicly funded stadium by the way, but are elderly, infirm or blind etc., then they are not interested in you. I will never forget one of the first and best compliments my play-by-play ever received. It came from my blind Uncle Flavin. He called me at WMRO to tell me how much he enjoyed my call. It was so descriptive that he could 'see' the action in his mind's eye, he said. I smiled for days. That's the job. It is not just a promotional arm for the team...more on that later...it is also a public service for the people who cannot attend the games for whatever reason but still want to experience them. If you are in your 80's or 90's and have a lot of trouble walking up stairs or for a great distance, game attendance is not really an option. If the games are no longer on the radio or no longer done by a competent pro, that team has been effectively taken away from you. Stupid and short-sighted. Games are important daily entertainment for people. It takes their minds off their troubles and keeps the lonely company. The announcer becomes the friendly voice they turn to. My Grandmother Foley loved the Cubs. She sat alone in her apartment and listened every single day to Vince Lloyd and Lou Boudreau. Those Cubs were her family as much as I was, long after she stopped going to games in person. Her fandom still counted and still mattered. She still bought merchandise too, by the way. Ignoring her would be the height of ignoring the customer.
The other part of that equation is indeed that the broadcast is an important promotional arm for the team. Ignoring that is folly as well. The game is a three-hour commercial for the upcoming home-stand etc. What are the eating/drinking/ticket specials coming up? When is Princess Night or Star Wars Night? Who are the exciting players you might want to see in person? What are the new features at the ballpark and so on. Road broadcasts also help keep the fans invested in the team, it's players and the pennant race when fans cannot attend and just might help make them want to attend in the future.
The other aspect of this piece is the broadcast itself. Personality is in short supply. Vin Scully is the best ever because he understands his job. If the game is slow or a blowout, then he has to work harder. It's story time. Time to make the listener smile. That is why Hawk makes me crazy. I am a homer-style announcer but only to a point. A great play by the opposition is still a great play and worth getting excited about. A late rally by the opposition is still thrilling, even if the home team loses. Not sharing that excitement is the wrong choice. His silence is a wrong choice. A broadcast of all X's and O's is also a wrong choice. Paint the picture. Share the excitement. Share the fun. My friend and first boss, Steve Klauke, has been doing broadcasts for AAA Salt Lake for more than 20 years now. He is one of the best in the business because he is not just a baseball guy. He is also very funny. Always have something in your back pocket. Part of that of course is repetition. Get your 10,000 hours any way you can. I got mine in my room well before I ever had a mic in my hand.
Broadcasters have to understand all parts of the job but so do their bosses. Baseball broadcasts have value. Even more so than other sports because of the everyday aspect of it all. A good broadcast entertains, informs, provides comfort and friendship, sells tickets and t-shirts and is a tradition I am proud to be a part of. The number of people in general, and in the Baseball business in particular, who understand all of that should not be shrinking but it is.
Please and thank you.
05/21/2016
A few baseball thoughts...
Ben Zobrist is an absolute joy to watch hit.
Comparing Sale and Arrieta is silly. Why bother? They are two of the best pitchers in baseball and they pitch in our City. Enjoy them. Period. They are both spectacular, okay?!
Raising the strike zone to the top of the knee would be a good thing. I don't care if a ballgame takes four hours. I love baseball. But while patience at the plate is a good thing for a hitter, it is boring for the viewer. A string of five-minute-at-bats is a snore. Make the hitter go up there swinging, not watching.
Cubs outfielders need to stop injuring themselves.
The White Sox will be fine. Their lineup is much improved over last year and this little dip lately is magnified because it's May. They can score in all parts of the lineup, not just the middle. They have three top-tier starters. How many have more? Their catchers can actually catch and hit some now. Eaton has decided to play well early in the season and they will make a deadline deal. They will be fine.
A few baseball thoughts...
Ben Zobrist is an absolute joy to watch hit.
Comparing Sale and Arrieta is silly. Why bother? They are two of the best pitchers in baseball and they pitch in our City. Enjoy them. Period. They are both spectacular, okay?!
Raising the strike zone to the top of the knee would be a good thing. I don't care if a ballgame takes four hours. I love baseball. But while patience at the plate is a good thing for a hitter, it is boring for the viewer. A string of five-minute-at-bats is a snore. Make the hitter go up there swinging, not watching.
Cubs outfielders need to stop injuring themselves.
The White Sox will be fine. Their lineup is much improved over last year and this little dip lately is magnified because it's May. They can score in all parts of the lineup, not just the middle. They have three top-tier starters. How many have more? Their catchers can actually catch and hit some now. Eaton has decided to play well early in the season and they will make a deadline deal. They will be fine.
04/28/2016
As long as I'm in a mood to write....Why do NFL teams continue to draft the wrong quarterbacks every year?! Good NFL quarterbacks are out there but they never get drafted!
ARM STRENGTH, two words that doom every NFL team to draft the wrong quarterbacks every year. When are they going to wake up? There is not a dearth of good quarterbacks. They are just ignored by scouts who should know better. I will never understand how men who watch football for a living don't understand that accuracy is the most important quality an NFL quarterback can have. Arm strength is way down the list and every year qb's will be drafted on the basis of their arm strength and every year they will be relegated to the bench and eventually cut. Every wide receiver gets open in college. They get open by five yards. The 6'5" qb with a great arm whips it downfield and the wr runs to it and it is a long touchdown. That's nice for college. NO ONE gets open in the NFL. NO ONE is ever open by five yards. EVER. NO ONE is ever open by ONE yard. NO NFL wr has the luxury of running to grab the ball far to his right. Almost all college receivers get to do that and make their qb look good. A great NFL qb needs to be able to hit a receiver in the hands on the run 15 yards down the field. If he can heave it 60 yards does not matter if he cannot hit a receiver in the numbers right as he makes his cut for a 12 yard gain and a first down. How many times does an NFL qb need to convert a third-and-16 when everyone knows it is a pass play? All the time. He needs to be accurate to do it. He only needs the arm strength necessary to have enough zip to hit 'that' pass. The 60 yarder is something he needs once a month. The accurate 10-20 yarder is needed twenty times a game. Why are you drafting for the wrong need. And btw, that accurate qb has enough to hit that 60 yarder once a month. He just can't do it ten times a game and that will never be needed. The scouting report for Peyton Manning noted his ordinary arm strength and stated Ryan Leaf has the better arm. How did that turn out? Tom Brady's scouting report noted his ordinary arm strength and it is why he was drafted so late. How did that work out? They are Hall of Famers because of their accuracy. It is like a lineman who looks great in his uniform and can lift a ton of weights. Who cares? Can he play football? Can a quarterback hit a receiver in stride in traffic to move the chains for a ten yard gain? There are plenty of them at every level of college football every year. And every year they get ignored for the pretty 6'5" kid from the big school with the gun for an arm. He throws a ton of interceptions in the NFL and is never heard from again. His twin will continue to get drafted every year regardless. I don't get it.
As long as I'm in a mood to write....Why do NFL teams continue to draft the wrong quarterbacks every year?! Good NFL quarterbacks are out there but they never get drafted!
ARM STRENGTH, two words that doom every NFL team to draft the wrong quarterbacks every year. When are they going to wake up? There is not a dearth of good quarterbacks. They are just ignored by scouts who should know better. I will never understand how men who watch football for a living don't understand that accuracy is the most important quality an NFL quarterback can have. Arm strength is way down the list and every year qb's will be drafted on the basis of their arm strength and every year they will be relegated to the bench and eventually cut. Every wide receiver gets open in college. They get open by five yards. The 6'5" qb with a great arm whips it downfield and the wr runs to it and it is a long touchdown. That's nice for college. NO ONE gets open in the NFL. NO ONE is ever open by five yards. EVER. NO ONE is ever open by ONE yard. NO NFL wr has the luxury of running to grab the ball far to his right. Almost all college receivers get to do that and make their qb look good. A great NFL qb needs to be able to hit a receiver in the hands on the run 15 yards down the field. If he can heave it 60 yards does not matter if he cannot hit a receiver in the numbers right as he makes his cut for a 12 yard gain and a first down. How many times does an NFL qb need to convert a third-and-16 when everyone knows it is a pass play? All the time. He needs to be accurate to do it. He only needs the arm strength necessary to have enough zip to hit 'that' pass. The 60 yarder is something he needs once a month. The accurate 10-20 yarder is needed twenty times a game. Why are you drafting for the wrong need. And btw, that accurate qb has enough to hit that 60 yarder once a month. He just can't do it ten times a game and that will never be needed. The scouting report for Peyton Manning noted his ordinary arm strength and stated Ryan Leaf has the better arm. How did that turn out? Tom Brady's scouting report noted his ordinary arm strength and it is why he was drafted so late. How did that work out? They are Hall of Famers because of their accuracy. It is like a lineman who looks great in his uniform and can lift a ton of weights. Who cares? Can he play football? Can a quarterback hit a receiver in stride in traffic to move the chains for a ten yard gain? There are plenty of them at every level of college football every year. And every year they get ignored for the pretty 6'5" kid from the big school with the gun for an arm. He throws a ton of interceptions in the NFL and is never heard from again. His twin will continue to get drafted every year regardless. I don't get it.
04/28/2016
My story of the ridiculous and scary interview I had with Dennis Hastert....
It all makes sense to me now. I interviewed Hastert for WSCR for their 'Score Values' public affairs show, when he was the Speaker of the House. The idea was to get a coup for the station and talk to this political celebrity and important guy about when he was the wrestling coach for Yorkville H.S. It was the weirdest and most uncomfortable interview I would ever do. At first I was happy to just talk about wrestling with him. I was not a fan of his politics anyway. His 'people' hounded me for the week leading up to the interview. It was surreal. I got THREE different calls to go over exactly what I was going to ask. It was like taking calls from the mafia. It was not subtle. I was not to ask about anything but his time at Yorkville as coach. But I didn't understand why that wasn't enough. They even wanted to know what questions I was going to ask about wrestling! Three different times I took calls basically warning me to not veer off topic and to not veer off any of the acceptable wrestling questions. Really?! By the third threatening phone call I was livid. Who the hell does this guy think he is?! You're just a guy from Yorkville who ended up with a good job and you work for me! This is not the old East Germany. I finally did the interview over the phone with him and hated every minute of it. He didn't say much of anything and I couldn't really make it any better because of the limitations of what I could say. I wrote it off as an interview with a man reveling in his power and enjoying pushing his weight around. Turns out it was even worse. Obviously, talking about his old wrestling coach days could have been even more dangerous for him than talking politics. I suppose he was worried this could have been a 'gotcha' interview and I could have known one of those boys he abused, etc. I worked in Aurora for years, after all, and spent a lot of time in Yorkville and that High School. He was a very powerful man and his people made it known very clearly three different times not to mess with him. Now I wish I would have known what he had to hide. He won't spend as much time in prison as he should but at least he is now known for what and who he is. Horrible.
My story of the ridiculous and scary interview I had with Dennis Hastert....
It all makes sense to me now. I interviewed Hastert for WSCR for their 'Score Values' public affairs show, when he was the Speaker of the House. The idea was to get a coup for the station and talk to this political celebrity and important guy about when he was the wrestling coach for Yorkville H.S. It was the weirdest and most uncomfortable interview I would ever do. At first I was happy to just talk about wrestling with him. I was not a fan of his politics anyway. His 'people' hounded me for the week leading up to the interview. It was surreal. I got THREE different calls to go over exactly what I was going to ask. It was like taking calls from the mafia. It was not subtle. I was not to ask about anything but his time at Yorkville as coach. But I didn't understand why that wasn't enough. They even wanted to know what questions I was going to ask about wrestling! Three different times I took calls basically warning me to not veer off topic and to not veer off any of the acceptable wrestling questions. Really?! By the third threatening phone call I was livid. Who the hell does this guy think he is?! You're just a guy from Yorkville who ended up with a good job and you work for me! This is not the old East Germany. I finally did the interview over the phone with him and hated every minute of it. He didn't say much of anything and I couldn't really make it any better because of the limitations of what I could say. I wrote it off as an interview with a man reveling in his power and enjoying pushing his weight around. Turns out it was even worse. Obviously, talking about his old wrestling coach days could have been even more dangerous for him than talking politics. I suppose he was worried this could have been a 'gotcha' interview and I could have known one of those boys he abused, etc. I worked in Aurora for years, after all, and spent a lot of time in Yorkville and that High School. He was a very powerful man and his people made it known very clearly three different times not to mess with him. Now I wish I would have known what he had to hide. He won't spend as much time in prison as he should but at least he is now known for what and who he is. Horrible.
04/19/2016
RIP Milt Pappas. He just passed away from natural causes at 76 years of age. The former Cubs pitcher was a really good guy. I was fortunate enough to have worked with him for two years, when he was my partner on Cook County Cheetahs broadcasts in 1999 and 2000, in the Frontier League. I enjoyed those games very much. He really did never get over just missing out on that perfect game as a Cub. He made that plain multiple times on the air! lol. He also told many other fun baseball stories and definitely knew pitching and loved the game. I have been really lucky having partners like Pappas and Bill Melton in the booth with me as partners over the years. Melton was my color man in 1995 and 1996 with the Kane County Cougars. I rooted for those two in person at Wrigley and Comiskey and then got to talk baseball with them every day in my job. To have those guys in the booth with me for four of my 14 years in Pro Baseball was a blessing. Milt was certainly a character and will be missed.
RIP Milt Pappas. He just passed away from natural causes at 76 years of age. The former Cubs pitcher was a really good guy. I was fortunate enough to have worked with him for two years, when he was my partner on Cook County Cheetahs broadcasts in 1999 and 2000, in the Frontier League. I enjoyed those games very much. He really did never get over just missing out on that perfect game as a Cub. He made that plain multiple times on the air! lol. He also told many other fun baseball stories and definitely knew pitching and loved the game. I have been really lucky having partners like Pappas and Bill Melton in the booth with me as partners over the years. Melton was my color man in 1995 and 1996 with the Kane County Cougars. I rooted for those two in person at Wrigley and Comiskey and then got to talk baseball with them every day in my job. To have those guys in the booth with me for four of my 14 years in Pro Baseball was a blessing. Milt was certainly a character and will be missed.
04/15/2016
This stub is from when I gave Ron Coomer his big break as a baseball broadcaster! lol. He made his radio debut as a baseball color man with yours truly in 2001 on WJOL during a broadcast of the annual charity winter 'softball/baseball in the snow' game. All the local area pro baseball players/umps would come back home and participate. Guys like Steve Parris, Scott Spiezio etc. would come out to play a charity game for the organization like "Make a Wish". Coomer came up to the booth after he played a few innings and finished off the game with me on air. He was great and I lobbied for him to get the Cubs job because I knew Cub fans would love him. He guested several times with me on my WJOL talk show thereafter. I could not be happier that he and my old WSCR colleague Mark Grote are part of Cubs broadcasts now with the great Pat Hughes.
As an aside, Pat Hughes is the reason I had to stop using my home run call on baseball broadcasts! I didn't want to make one up. If one came about naturally, then fine. Otherwise, I just wouldn't have one. Eventually, one did kind of show up out of nowhere and I liked it and kept using it. At the time, Pat was broadcasting up the road for the Brewers. I knew of him, of course, but had not really heard much of him on the air. Then he got the Cubs radio job and I heard his home run call. It was exactly the same as mine! Needless to say, I could not use it anymore. Everyone would think I was copying Hughes. So I still don't really have another one. It hasn't shown up yet. We'll see if it ever does.
As another aside, I will not be broadcasting Joliet Slammers games this summer after all. I was told this week that they have decided to use an unpaid intern instead of me to save money. Business is business and they can do what they want but it is disappointing. I am sad they are not on WJOL anymore as well. Times change, I guess. Silver Cross Field is like my home and always will be. Seven years as broadcaster there will do that. Life goes on.
This stub is from when I gave Ron Coomer his big break as a baseball broadcaster! lol. He made his radio debut as a baseball color man with yours truly in 2001 on WJOL during a broadcast of the annual charity winter 'softball/baseball in the snow' game. All the local area pro baseball players/umps would come back home and participate. Guys like Steve Parris, Scott Spiezio etc. would come out to play a charity game for the organization like "Make a Wish". Coomer came up to the booth after he played a few innings and finished off the game with me on air. He was great and I lobbied for him to get the Cubs job because I knew Cub fans would love him. He guested several times with me on my WJOL talk show thereafter. I could not be happier that he and my old WSCR colleague Mark Grote are part of Cubs broadcasts now with the great Pat Hughes.
As an aside, Pat Hughes is the reason I had to stop using my home run call on baseball broadcasts! I didn't want to make one up. If one came about naturally, then fine. Otherwise, I just wouldn't have one. Eventually, one did kind of show up out of nowhere and I liked it and kept using it. At the time, Pat was broadcasting up the road for the Brewers. I knew of him, of course, but had not really heard much of him on the air. Then he got the Cubs radio job and I heard his home run call. It was exactly the same as mine! Needless to say, I could not use it anymore. Everyone would think I was copying Hughes. So I still don't really have another one. It hasn't shown up yet. We'll see if it ever does.
As another aside, I will not be broadcasting Joliet Slammers games this summer after all. I was told this week that they have decided to use an unpaid intern instead of me to save money. Business is business and they can do what they want but it is disappointing. I am sad they are not on WJOL anymore as well. Times change, I guess. Silver Cross Field is like my home and always will be. Seven years as broadcaster there will do that. Life goes on.
04/09/2016
Tough news on Schwarber but the Cubs will be fine. And, by the way, no one was to blame on the play and it was nobody's fault. It was baseball. Some of the reaction to that play is so silly. Both players were going flat out to reach a fly ball to the deepest part of the park and both got close to the ball at the same time while going full speed. It doesn't prove Schwarber is a bad outfielder and it isn't the manager's fault for putting him in the outfield in the first place. It was an accident. They happen. Good grief. He was the team's left fielder. He worked all off-season to get better and now sadly will now not get the chance to prove it for a while. Frankly, the fact he got as close to the ball as Fowler is proof of how quickly he got a jump on the ball and that he has the speed necessary to play the position. The ball landed just in front of the 415 sign for goodness sake. Why people need someone or something to lash out and blame for things is something I will never understand. The Cubs have Soler, Baez and Szczur. They will be fine. I wouldn't put Bryant in left. I don't want this injury to affect two positions. Leave Bryant where he is. Even Kawasaki will help for a while. It sucks, but there is no reason to be mad at anybody. Collisions happen all the time in baseball. Deal.
Tough news on Schwarber but the Cubs will be fine. And, by the way, no one was to blame on the play and it was nobody's fault. It was baseball. Some of the reaction to that play is so silly. Both players were going flat out to reach a fly ball to the deepest part of the park and both got close to the ball at the same time while going full speed. It doesn't prove Schwarber is a bad outfielder and it isn't the manager's fault for putting him in the outfield in the first place. It was an accident. They happen. Good grief. He was the team's left fielder. He worked all off-season to get better and now sadly will now not get the chance to prove it for a while. Frankly, the fact he got as close to the ball as Fowler is proof of how quickly he got a jump on the ball and that he has the speed necessary to play the position. The ball landed just in front of the 415 sign for goodness sake. Why people need someone or something to lash out and blame for things is something I will never understand. The Cubs have Soler, Baez and Szczur. They will be fine. I wouldn't put Bryant in left. I don't want this injury to affect two positions. Leave Bryant where he is. Even Kawasaki will help for a while. It sucks, but there is no reason to be mad at anybody. Collisions happen all the time in baseball. Deal.
04/04/2016
And this is why, once again, I will have to watch the Cubs on TV but can actually go and watch a Chicago White Sox game or two in person this season. An average of $157 for two people to see the Cubs or $68 to see the Sox is not a choice I currently have the luxury of considering. Only the Red Sox are more expensive. I understand the economics of baseball have changed but it doesn't make it any less sad. For the amazing playoff run in 1984 I was a left field bleacher bum for dozens of games. I was one of those saluting the Sarge as he come out to left field each game. I could afford to do that on just a part-time radio job at little WMRO, fresh out of college, because each bleacher ticket cost me 3 whole dollars. As an adult with multiple jobs, it will be a miracle if I can afford to go to 'one' Cubs game this summer to see this likely playoff run. I did not go at all last season either. It is disheartening that most fans are priced out of a sport that they kept alive for decades. People forget the Cubs averaged all of 10,672 fans a game as recently as 1981. Even with the playoff run in 1984 they barely averaged 26,000 and you could always get a seat that summer. A good box seat in 1984 was 8 bucks. That same exact seat is now 124 dollars for a 'big' game. That is a main reason why I am happy to promote and be a part of minor league baseball in the area for so long. It is where one can still go and get a ticket, a hot dog and a beer and enjoy the game while not breaking the bank. And still have some money left to do it again the next week. Pardon me for lamenting the past, but I would have liked to go to Wrigley this season and baseball is and has always been my passion. Understand, I know how lucky I have been. I got to work those 1984 playoffs in person and have spent countless games in the press box on both sides of town over the years. But unless someone hires me to be a reporter this season, going to Murphy's for a beer will be as close to Wrigley as I get this summer and that is not a fun prospect with so much for this Cubs fan to genuinely and finally look forward to.
And this is why, once again, I will have to watch the Cubs on TV but can actually go and watch a Chicago White Sox game or two in person this season. An average of $157 for two people to see the Cubs or $68 to see the Sox is not a choice I currently have the luxury of considering. Only the Red Sox are more expensive. I understand the economics of baseball have changed but it doesn't make it any less sad. For the amazing playoff run in 1984 I was a left field bleacher bum for dozens of games. I was one of those saluting the Sarge as he come out to left field each game. I could afford to do that on just a part-time radio job at little WMRO, fresh out of college, because each bleacher ticket cost me 3 whole dollars. As an adult with multiple jobs, it will be a miracle if I can afford to go to 'one' Cubs game this summer to see this likely playoff run. I did not go at all last season either. It is disheartening that most fans are priced out of a sport that they kept alive for decades. People forget the Cubs averaged all of 10,672 fans a game as recently as 1981. Even with the playoff run in 1984 they barely averaged 26,000 and you could always get a seat that summer. A good box seat in 1984 was 8 bucks. That same exact seat is now 124 dollars for a 'big' game. That is a main reason why I am happy to promote and be a part of minor league baseball in the area for so long. It is where one can still go and get a ticket, a hot dog and a beer and enjoy the game while not breaking the bank. And still have some money left to do it again the next week. Pardon me for lamenting the past, but I would have liked to go to Wrigley this season and baseball is and has always been my passion. Understand, I know how lucky I have been. I got to work those 1984 playoffs in person and have spent countless games in the press box on both sides of town over the years. But unless someone hires me to be a reporter this season, going to Murphy's for a beer will be as close to Wrigley as I get this summer and that is not a fun prospect with so much for this Cubs fan to genuinely and finally look forward to.
03/18/2016
So, as I understand it, Chris Sale is the reason this Sox thing has escalated. Some teammates complained to Kenny about this LaRoche nonsense. Kenny acted on their behalf and as I said previously, both Kenny's and Adam's reactions are reasonable. The unreasonable reaction is Sale's. He had no problem with the LaRoche's so cursed out his boss in a selfish shouting match, thereby bullying his unhappy teammates into silence on the matter and creating a huge distraction. Sale is not a leader. I have to believe Paulie would have told him to sit his skinny ass down and shut up if still on the team. Maybe I am wrong about that but I doubt it. Sale needs to grow up. Instead he and Eaton have even dragged the team owner into all of this. Shameful. Baseball players know the deal they make as pros. Make millions on the positive side, but the negative part of the bargain is that means you are away from your family for months at a time. Sorry but that's life. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Nobody can, not even you. Deal with it and be a pro or go home too.
So, as I understand it, Chris Sale is the reason this Sox thing has escalated. Some teammates complained to Kenny about this LaRoche nonsense. Kenny acted on their behalf and as I said previously, both Kenny's and Adam's reactions are reasonable. The unreasonable reaction is Sale's. He had no problem with the LaRoche's so cursed out his boss in a selfish shouting match, thereby bullying his unhappy teammates into silence on the matter and creating a huge distraction. Sale is not a leader. I have to believe Paulie would have told him to sit his skinny ass down and shut up if still on the team. Maybe I am wrong about that but I doubt it. Sale needs to grow up. Instead he and Eaton have even dragged the team owner into all of this. Shameful. Baseball players know the deal they make as pros. Make millions on the positive side, but the negative part of the bargain is that means you are away from your family for months at a time. Sorry but that's life. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Nobody can, not even you. Deal with it and be a pro or go home too.
03/16/2016
The White Sox caught a break with Adam LaRoche retiring, but they certainly are not to blame. No one is. Kenny Williams took the perfectly reasonable position of not wanting to turn his team's locker-room and ballpark into a every-day daycare center. Adam's son was welcome to be with the team but not every single day of the season. Adam then took the reasonable step of a multi-millionaire that does not need to work, to retire and therefore spend every day with his son after-all. It would have been a huge imposition to newcomer veterans like Jimmy Rollins, Todd Frazier, Brett Lawrie, Austin Jackson etc. to have that to deal with that, let alone the players who already put up with it all of last season. He seems to be a great kid, but that isn't the point. It is a place of business and needs to be treated that way. As a reporter or even a team's broadcaster, I don't even like being in the locker-room and try to be in there as little as possible. I have my office and job and the players have theirs. It just so happens the Sox have some extra money to go out and help the offense either now or at the deadline. That can only help, because on the field as LaRoche was not performing. The Sox locker-room needed an upgrade and they get it now with a more veteran presence and more professionalism. Let's hope the roster gets another upgrade as well.
The White Sox caught a break with Adam LaRoche retiring, but they certainly are not to blame. No one is. Kenny Williams took the perfectly reasonable position of not wanting to turn his team's locker-room and ballpark into a every-day daycare center. Adam's son was welcome to be with the team but not every single day of the season. Adam then took the reasonable step of a multi-millionaire that does not need to work, to retire and therefore spend every day with his son after-all. It would have been a huge imposition to newcomer veterans like Jimmy Rollins, Todd Frazier, Brett Lawrie, Austin Jackson etc. to have that to deal with that, let alone the players who already put up with it all of last season. He seems to be a great kid, but that isn't the point. It is a place of business and needs to be treated that way. As a reporter or even a team's broadcaster, I don't even like being in the locker-room and try to be in there as little as possible. I have my office and job and the players have theirs. It just so happens the Sox have some extra money to go out and help the offense either now or at the deadline. That can only help, because on the field as LaRoche was not performing. The Sox locker-room needed an upgrade and they get it now with a more veteran presence and more professionalism. Let's hope the roster gets another upgrade as well.
01/24/2016
Happy 100th Birthday to the late Jack Brickhouse. He is one of the main reasons I got into this business. It was a dream come true when Jack joined me during a Kane County Cougars broadcast in 1995 on the road vs. the Rockford Cubbies. They honored him that day and he sat in with me for an inning. Sadly, by then his health was going downhill and he wasn't quite as sharp as I would have hoped, but I was actually on the air doing professional baseball with my baseball broadcasting idol. I had a smile for days. Jack 'was' Chicago sports when I was a kid. He broadcast the Cubs, Sox and Bears along with national events like the World Series. He also was about as nice as they come. Here's a tip of the cap to Brick! Hey Hey!
Happy 100th Birthday to the late Jack Brickhouse. He is one of the main reasons I got into this business. It was a dream come true when Jack joined me during a Kane County Cougars broadcast in 1995 on the road vs. the Rockford Cubbies. They honored him that day and he sat in with me for an inning. Sadly, by then his health was going downhill and he wasn't quite as sharp as I would have hoped, but I was actually on the air doing professional baseball with my baseball broadcasting idol. I had a smile for days. Jack 'was' Chicago sports when I was a kid. He broadcast the Cubs, Sox and Bears along with national events like the World Series. He also was about as nice as they come. Here's a tip of the cap to Brick! Hey Hey!
01/22/2016
All-Star games have out-lived their usefulness and need to go away. Has anyone watched an all-star game lately? Of course not. Why would you? They used to make sense. Back in the day, the only NBA games on TV were the Sunday 'games of the week' that only involved some combination of the Lakers, Sixers, Celtics and Knicks. An All-Star game was an actual chance to see any other players in the league. The same held for baseball. Other than your local team, your only other chance to see baseball was the Saturday 'game of the week'. An all-star game was a chance to see players from the other league in person or on TV. The NHL All-Star game was about the only other hockey game on TV at all besides you own team's games all season. The Pro Bowl has always, however, been ridiculous and unnecessary. It is even more so now. I haven't watched a minute of a Pro Bowl since Walter Payton retired. The continuous changes to the NHL event are embarrassing and desperate now. Give it up. Having the MLB event actually decide anything for the postseason is crazy. The game is now meaningless on the field, so stop trying to make it mean something to the schedule. Baseball players used to play most of or all of the game and it was one league's pride vs. the other. Inter-league play has killed any of that drama. An NBA final score of 178-174 is not entertaining for anyone. For the good of all concerned just please stop it. Stop it. Please and thank you.
All-Star games have out-lived their usefulness and need to go away. Has anyone watched an all-star game lately? Of course not. Why would you? They used to make sense. Back in the day, the only NBA games on TV were the Sunday 'games of the week' that only involved some combination of the Lakers, Sixers, Celtics and Knicks. An All-Star game was an actual chance to see any other players in the league. The same held for baseball. Other than your local team, your only other chance to see baseball was the Saturday 'game of the week'. An all-star game was a chance to see players from the other league in person or on TV. The NHL All-Star game was about the only other hockey game on TV at all besides you own team's games all season. The Pro Bowl has always, however, been ridiculous and unnecessary. It is even more so now. I haven't watched a minute of a Pro Bowl since Walter Payton retired. The continuous changes to the NHL event are embarrassing and desperate now. Give it up. Having the MLB event actually decide anything for the postseason is crazy. The game is now meaningless on the field, so stop trying to make it mean something to the schedule. Baseball players used to play most of or all of the game and it was one league's pride vs. the other. Inter-league play has killed any of that drama. An NBA final score of 178-174 is not entertaining for anyone. For the good of all concerned just please stop it. Stop it. Please and thank you.
12/10/2015
There are many amazing sports stories in the state of Illinois. Some, though, get lost in the shuffle because of the many Major Leagues here. For instance, one of the best basketball teams in the state is one that you likely have never even heard of. The Lewis University women’s team finished last season with a record of 31-3. Those 31 wins were more than any of the other 34 NCAA Division-1 or Division-2 men’s or women’s basketball teams in the entire state. Who knew? Well, that’s the point of this piece and of many of my upcoming articles. There are many places to spend your sports entertainment dollar besides on the big time teams. They can give you just as much local pride and won’t break the bank. The Flyers are one of those teams.
The Lady Flyers started last season 23-0 and spent five weeks ranked #1 in the nation in Division-2. Yet, that story never really got told in Chicago media. An indication of how they would do came right at the beginning of their season when they defeated Division-1 foes Loyola, Northern Illinois and Marquette all in the span of five days. Really? Honest. What school are we talking about here, again? Lewis. It is mostly known for its airport and Flight School. In WWII, the Navy took over the school to train pilots. Where is it even located? The little private University is in Romeoville with a student population of less than seven thousand. How do I even get there? (My, you ask a lot of questions.) Exit I-55 at Route 53 on your way south towards Joliet and you just might miss their sprawling campus as you go by, but that campus is the sight of a litany of athletic success. Their men’s volleyball team is considered a Division-1 squad and they played for the National Title last season, losing to Loyola in the Championship match to take 2nd place in the country. The Flyers volleyball team regularly plays and defeats such teams as UCLA, USC, Penn State, Ohio State etc. but they do so largely in anonymity, just like their women’s basketball team.
Last year’s Lady Flyers finished ranked 5th in the nation. Lewis U. did it with nine players from Illinois and five of those from Chicagoland. Leading the way were All-Americans Jamie Johnson from Marian Catholic H.S. and Mariyah Brawner-Henley from Nile North. Johnson also happens to have been named Pre-Season National Player of the Year for this season and is a perfect 4.0 student. Their teammates come from Chicago schools like Trinity H.S, De La Salle and Mother McAuley. Lewis U. starts this season ranked #2. Head coach Lisa Carlsen was named the National Coach of the Year and has parlayed that success into becoming the new head coach at Northern Illinois U.
The Flyers remain in good hands though, as their new head coach is Kristen Gillespie. Don’t I know that name from somewhere? Yes you do. She is the granddaughter of the late Gordie Gillespie, who happens to be in just about every coaching Hall of Fame in existence. Gordie represents the best in Chicago sports. He attended Kelvyn Park H.S. and played basketball for Ray Meyer at DePaul. His football teams at Joliet Catholic H.S. won five state titles and he retired with more baseball coaching victories than anyone else at any level of collegiate ball. His 1,893 baseball wins came mostly from Lewis and Joliet-St. Francis, where he won a combined four national titles.
Kristen knows a bit of ball too. She was the starting point guard for North Carolina State, when they appeared in the 1998 Final Four. Isn’t that where legend Kay Yow coached? Geez, yes. Enough already. This year’s Flyers got off to a 5-0 start with Johnson and Henley back for another shot at the title. Full disclosure, I happen to be the radio voice of Lewis hoops and have been for 12 years. That is why I know a bit about that team and how much fun it is to watch them in person. So feel free to check out a broadcast at lewisflyers.com or venture out of the city and take that turn from ‘53’ onto campus in Romeoville and check out a game sometime. You won’t have to mortgage the house for a few tickets.
There are many amazing sports stories in the state of Illinois. Some, though, get lost in the shuffle because of the many Major Leagues here. For instance, one of the best basketball teams in the state is one that you likely have never even heard of. The Lewis University women’s team finished last season with a record of 31-3. Those 31 wins were more than any of the other 34 NCAA Division-1 or Division-2 men’s or women’s basketball teams in the entire state. Who knew? Well, that’s the point of this piece and of many of my upcoming articles. There are many places to spend your sports entertainment dollar besides on the big time teams. They can give you just as much local pride and won’t break the bank. The Flyers are one of those teams.
The Lady Flyers started last season 23-0 and spent five weeks ranked #1 in the nation in Division-2. Yet, that story never really got told in Chicago media. An indication of how they would do came right at the beginning of their season when they defeated Division-1 foes Loyola, Northern Illinois and Marquette all in the span of five days. Really? Honest. What school are we talking about here, again? Lewis. It is mostly known for its airport and Flight School. In WWII, the Navy took over the school to train pilots. Where is it even located? The little private University is in Romeoville with a student population of less than seven thousand. How do I even get there? (My, you ask a lot of questions.) Exit I-55 at Route 53 on your way south towards Joliet and you just might miss their sprawling campus as you go by, but that campus is the sight of a litany of athletic success. Their men’s volleyball team is considered a Division-1 squad and they played for the National Title last season, losing to Loyola in the Championship match to take 2nd place in the country. The Flyers volleyball team regularly plays and defeats such teams as UCLA, USC, Penn State, Ohio State etc. but they do so largely in anonymity, just like their women’s basketball team.
Last year’s Lady Flyers finished ranked 5th in the nation. Lewis U. did it with nine players from Illinois and five of those from Chicagoland. Leading the way were All-Americans Jamie Johnson from Marian Catholic H.S. and Mariyah Brawner-Henley from Nile North. Johnson also happens to have been named Pre-Season National Player of the Year for this season and is a perfect 4.0 student. Their teammates come from Chicago schools like Trinity H.S, De La Salle and Mother McAuley. Lewis U. starts this season ranked #2. Head coach Lisa Carlsen was named the National Coach of the Year and has parlayed that success into becoming the new head coach at Northern Illinois U.
The Flyers remain in good hands though, as their new head coach is Kristen Gillespie. Don’t I know that name from somewhere? Yes you do. She is the granddaughter of the late Gordie Gillespie, who happens to be in just about every coaching Hall of Fame in existence. Gordie represents the best in Chicago sports. He attended Kelvyn Park H.S. and played basketball for Ray Meyer at DePaul. His football teams at Joliet Catholic H.S. won five state titles and he retired with more baseball coaching victories than anyone else at any level of collegiate ball. His 1,893 baseball wins came mostly from Lewis and Joliet-St. Francis, where he won a combined four national titles.
Kristen knows a bit of ball too. She was the starting point guard for North Carolina State, when they appeared in the 1998 Final Four. Isn’t that where legend Kay Yow coached? Geez, yes. Enough already. This year’s Flyers got off to a 5-0 start with Johnson and Henley back for another shot at the title. Full disclosure, I happen to be the radio voice of Lewis hoops and have been for 12 years. That is why I know a bit about that team and how much fun it is to watch them in person. So feel free to check out a broadcast at lewisflyers.com or venture out of the city and take that turn from ‘53’ onto campus in Romeoville and check out a game sometime. You won’t have to mortgage the house for a few tickets.
11/12/2015
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I will never understand the whole White Sox vs. Cubs fans nonsense. If you live in Chicagoland, you will inevitably be asked the ‘important’ question of whether you are a Cubs fan or a Sox fan. You cannot be both apparently. I just don’t get that. I have been told that as a Cubs fan, I am not allowed to like the White Sox. Tough. I love the Cubs and I like the White Sox and I don’t care if you don’t believe me. It is possible. I am living proof. When you are a kid, it is kind of like being asked if you were a fan of Superman or Batman? Do you prefer Chocolate or Strawberry? It wasn’t that big a deal in your youth. For some reason though, that baseball choice as an adult turns into a major life decision with real repercussions. The grief I get in my own city from my own neighbors is extraordinary and beyond silly. Why does anyone need to get hassled for being a fan of a Chicago team in Chicago by a fellow Chicagoan? Why?
I happen to come from a long line of Cubs fans on both sides of my family but every single close friend I have ever had has been a Sox fan. I spent most of my life going to Cubs games with family and also going to Sox games with friends. I have probably been to each ballpark the same amount over the years. As a youngster, my friends and I would go to the schoolyard and play ‘fastpitch’. You bring a bat, a rubber ball and glove. You chalk the strike zone on the school’s brick wall. I batted as the Cubs lineup. My buddy batted as the Sox. There was no hatred, no teasing, no heckling, no snarking. It was baseball and it was fun. It’s a kids’ game after all. How adults then come to treat that kids’ game as life and death and tribal warfare, I will never be able to figure out but I can certainly fight against it. You don’t have to pick just one. You just don’t. I even married a White Sox fan and live in Canaryville. We get along fine, thank you very much and I like it here. I used to be able to walk to Wrigley Field. I can now walk to U.S. Cellular Field for a game and I do.
The Cubs are my team but I have always wanted the White Sox to do well. Why wouldn't I? Why would I want my friends to be unhappy for six months a year? The White Sox success has nothing to do with my team's win-loss record, since they are in the other league. Most Cubs fan I know, myself included, rooted for the White Sox to win the World Series ten years ago. That number should have been 100 percent, though. We wanted our Sox-fan friends to enjoy themselves, since we knew their pain so well, and we wanted Chicago to have something to celebrate. I am disappointed so many Sox fans that I know, with a few notable exceptions, had absolutely no interest in returning that favor in this recent Cubs playoff run. Some have even been outright nasty. Sports are supposed to be fun and goodness knows there is enough ‘nasty’ in the world already. I am certainly not even asking Sox fans to root for the Cubs next summer but giving us relentless garbage while we enjoy our team's long overdue success is just something I will never understand. We are all from the same city and we are enjoying a kid’s game. We should be following baseball with the child-like joy of waiting for that ice cream cone from the Good Humor Man. We love the flavor we choose but your ice cream looks pretty good too.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I will never understand the whole White Sox vs. Cubs fans nonsense. If you live in Chicagoland, you will inevitably be asked the ‘important’ question of whether you are a Cubs fan or a Sox fan. You cannot be both apparently. I just don’t get that. I have been told that as a Cubs fan, I am not allowed to like the White Sox. Tough. I love the Cubs and I like the White Sox and I don’t care if you don’t believe me. It is possible. I am living proof. When you are a kid, it is kind of like being asked if you were a fan of Superman or Batman? Do you prefer Chocolate or Strawberry? It wasn’t that big a deal in your youth. For some reason though, that baseball choice as an adult turns into a major life decision with real repercussions. The grief I get in my own city from my own neighbors is extraordinary and beyond silly. Why does anyone need to get hassled for being a fan of a Chicago team in Chicago by a fellow Chicagoan? Why?
I happen to come from a long line of Cubs fans on both sides of my family but every single close friend I have ever had has been a Sox fan. I spent most of my life going to Cubs games with family and also going to Sox games with friends. I have probably been to each ballpark the same amount over the years. As a youngster, my friends and I would go to the schoolyard and play ‘fastpitch’. You bring a bat, a rubber ball and glove. You chalk the strike zone on the school’s brick wall. I batted as the Cubs lineup. My buddy batted as the Sox. There was no hatred, no teasing, no heckling, no snarking. It was baseball and it was fun. It’s a kids’ game after all. How adults then come to treat that kids’ game as life and death and tribal warfare, I will never be able to figure out but I can certainly fight against it. You don’t have to pick just one. You just don’t. I even married a White Sox fan and live in Canaryville. We get along fine, thank you very much and I like it here. I used to be able to walk to Wrigley Field. I can now walk to U.S. Cellular Field for a game and I do.
The Cubs are my team but I have always wanted the White Sox to do well. Why wouldn't I? Why would I want my friends to be unhappy for six months a year? The White Sox success has nothing to do with my team's win-loss record, since they are in the other league. Most Cubs fan I know, myself included, rooted for the White Sox to win the World Series ten years ago. That number should have been 100 percent, though. We wanted our Sox-fan friends to enjoy themselves, since we knew their pain so well, and we wanted Chicago to have something to celebrate. I am disappointed so many Sox fans that I know, with a few notable exceptions, had absolutely no interest in returning that favor in this recent Cubs playoff run. Some have even been outright nasty. Sports are supposed to be fun and goodness knows there is enough ‘nasty’ in the world already. I am certainly not even asking Sox fans to root for the Cubs next summer but giving us relentless garbage while we enjoy our team's long overdue success is just something I will never understand. We are all from the same city and we are enjoying a kid’s game. We should be following baseball with the child-like joy of waiting for that ice cream cone from the Good Humor Man. We love the flavor we choose but your ice cream looks pretty good too.
11/11/2015
What are my thoughts on WSCR becoming the flagship radio station of the Chicago Cubs? I worked there for seven years and started when the station was located on Belmont Ave., in a tiny building they shared with WXRT. When I started, the sports editing room literally used to be a closet. That was where we recorded interviews and edited actual reel-to-reel tape etc. When I left, the station was in a big set of offices in the NBC Tower. They have even fancier digs now and are now the radio home of the Chicago Cubs. I was there when they became the White Sox radio home ten years ago and that was big and important news for the continued success of the operation, which was never really a sure thing. The station is now assured of further success with the Cubs. I couldn't be happier for all my former colleagues still there. The amount of hard work put in by producers, reporters and interns in particular is something most people will never understand. The blood, sweat and tears long-time Score people have endured is impressive and now so is the payoff. The flat-out truth of it is, The Cubs generate better ratings than the Sox and business is business. The business of AM 670 is going to be good now for quite some time. At the same time, WLS helped themselves with the acquisition of the White Sox too. That is a good move for them as they work to get back to being a success. They have other moves in the pipeline that will help them in the future too. I actually think both teams will prosper where they are now. Pat Hughes is the best in the business and I pushed for Ron Coomer to get the color job. I first met him when he did a ballgame with me for WJOL in Joliet. He is as nice as they come and I knew he would be good in the Cubs booth too. Mark Grote was outstanding last year as pre/post host. That was also no surprise to me. That fact I can turn on my old station and hear not only my old Score buddies but the Cubs too is a very cool thing to me. I am a proud WSCR alum today.
What are my thoughts on WSCR becoming the flagship radio station of the Chicago Cubs? I worked there for seven years and started when the station was located on Belmont Ave., in a tiny building they shared with WXRT. When I started, the sports editing room literally used to be a closet. That was where we recorded interviews and edited actual reel-to-reel tape etc. When I left, the station was in a big set of offices in the NBC Tower. They have even fancier digs now and are now the radio home of the Chicago Cubs. I was there when they became the White Sox radio home ten years ago and that was big and important news for the continued success of the operation, which was never really a sure thing. The station is now assured of further success with the Cubs. I couldn't be happier for all my former colleagues still there. The amount of hard work put in by producers, reporters and interns in particular is something most people will never understand. The blood, sweat and tears long-time Score people have endured is impressive and now so is the payoff. The flat-out truth of it is, The Cubs generate better ratings than the Sox and business is business. The business of AM 670 is going to be good now for quite some time. At the same time, WLS helped themselves with the acquisition of the White Sox too. That is a good move for them as they work to get back to being a success. They have other moves in the pipeline that will help them in the future too. I actually think both teams will prosper where they are now. Pat Hughes is the best in the business and I pushed for Ron Coomer to get the color job. I first met him when he did a ballgame with me for WJOL in Joliet. He is as nice as they come and I knew he would be good in the Cubs booth too. Mark Grote was outstanding last year as pre/post host. That was also no surprise to me. That fact I can turn on my old station and hear not only my old Score buddies but the Cubs too is a very cool thing to me. I am a proud WSCR alum today.
10/15/2015
Add my name to the list of people who think that the national media needs to stop being so lazy and so out of touch about the Chicago National League ballclub. They need to stop talking about the Cubs, their fans and some frickin curse. This storyline no longer exists. It is 2015 and no Cubs fan is worried about black cats, goats, old movies or anything else. Google 'Cubs curse' and all sorts of links will show up from just the last week alone. Here's an idea, write about the players and how well they play baseball and why. One thing that really hasn't been written about is the coaching staff. Players have actually improved. Baez has cut down on his swing. Cahill actually gets people out. Strop is no longer tipping his pitches. Fowler has had a great 2nd half. Castro is a quality 2nd baseman now etc. etc. I am not used to watching Cubs players improve at anything...ever. In the past, they just made players worse. Case in point, Corey Patterson. They messed with his swing in the minors for no reason and he never recovered. Another of the endless examples was Ryan Theriot. He was a singles machine. The team needed more power, so rather than acquire it, they tried to turn a singles hitter into a power hitter and changed his swing too. He then did not hit singles or homers. This organization now actually has coaches that are good at their jobs and are not just the manager's drinking buddy. There. That wasn't so hard and I didn't even mention lifting curses.
Add my name to the list of people who think that the national media needs to stop being so lazy and so out of touch about the Chicago National League ballclub. They need to stop talking about the Cubs, their fans and some frickin curse. This storyline no longer exists. It is 2015 and no Cubs fan is worried about black cats, goats, old movies or anything else. Google 'Cubs curse' and all sorts of links will show up from just the last week alone. Here's an idea, write about the players and how well they play baseball and why. One thing that really hasn't been written about is the coaching staff. Players have actually improved. Baez has cut down on his swing. Cahill actually gets people out. Strop is no longer tipping his pitches. Fowler has had a great 2nd half. Castro is a quality 2nd baseman now etc. etc. I am not used to watching Cubs players improve at anything...ever. In the past, they just made players worse. Case in point, Corey Patterson. They messed with his swing in the minors for no reason and he never recovered. Another of the endless examples was Ryan Theriot. He was a singles machine. The team needed more power, so rather than acquire it, they tried to turn a singles hitter into a power hitter and changed his swing too. He then did not hit singles or homers. This organization now actually has coaches that are good at their jobs and are not just the manager's drinking buddy. There. That wasn't so hard and I didn't even mention lifting curses.
8/11/2015
I haven't weighed in on the Kaner story yet. But having heard/seen way too many nimrods in the last few days offering this gem, has made me post this. Apparently according to these cavemen/jock sniffers, if a woman goes back to a guy's house after a few beers and decides she doesn't want to have sex with this guy...the penance for this decision is that they get to be raped and the rapist gets to not be prosecuted. Really?! Seems just a bit harsh to me. What the hell is wrong with these people? At the very least, apparently these guys have no women in their lives they actually care about. Umm, guys, here is a helpful thought...you have the ability to make decisions and know right from wrong despite having a few drinks. You also get to be disappointed occasionally in this life. Deal with it. I haven't quite figured out why that idea seems so inconceivable to some. It is the year 2015 in the U.S. of A. How is it possible this is still not yet clear? Call her a name if necessary but then call her a cab, moron. You don't get to force her to do anything they don't want to do, no matter what she's wearing, how many beers you've both had or what she said to you in the bar. Grow the F up and join the human race.
I haven't weighed in on the Kaner story yet. But having heard/seen way too many nimrods in the last few days offering this gem, has made me post this. Apparently according to these cavemen/jock sniffers, if a woman goes back to a guy's house after a few beers and decides she doesn't want to have sex with this guy...the penance for this decision is that they get to be raped and the rapist gets to not be prosecuted. Really?! Seems just a bit harsh to me. What the hell is wrong with these people? At the very least, apparently these guys have no women in their lives they actually care about. Umm, guys, here is a helpful thought...you have the ability to make decisions and know right from wrong despite having a few drinks. You also get to be disappointed occasionally in this life. Deal with it. I haven't quite figured out why that idea seems so inconceivable to some. It is the year 2015 in the U.S. of A. How is it possible this is still not yet clear? Call her a name if necessary but then call her a cab, moron. You don't get to force her to do anything they don't want to do, no matter what she's wearing, how many beers you've both had or what she said to you in the bar. Grow the F up and join the human race.
8/4/2015
The Tigers did this why, exactly? Dave Dombrowski should be on the open market for about five minutes. He turned around the Tigers from a woeful 113 losses to two World Series appearances and five trips to the postseason. Before that, he made the Marlins a World Series winner, after inheriting a 6th place team. I was very impressed with how he ran the Marlins organization in my time with Kane County. He also happens to be a great guy and a Chicagoan, who went to Oak Lawn-Richards. He could have done all that winning with the White Sox, by the way, but Hawk blew him out from his Asst. GM job in Harrelson's disastrous short stint as GM on the south side. Dombrowski teamed with another Chicago guy, John Boles, to turn the Marlins into a winner. Boles, from Leo H.S. and Lewis U., was the head of Player Development. Boles is now in the Royals' front office. They are two of the best guys and best baseball guys I have ever been around. I hope they can team up again somewhere and soon. Wins would soon follow.
The Tigers did this why, exactly? Dave Dombrowski should be on the open market for about five minutes. He turned around the Tigers from a woeful 113 losses to two World Series appearances and five trips to the postseason. Before that, he made the Marlins a World Series winner, after inheriting a 6th place team. I was very impressed with how he ran the Marlins organization in my time with Kane County. He also happens to be a great guy and a Chicagoan, who went to Oak Lawn-Richards. He could have done all that winning with the White Sox, by the way, but Hawk blew him out from his Asst. GM job in Harrelson's disastrous short stint as GM on the south side. Dombrowski teamed with another Chicago guy, John Boles, to turn the Marlins into a winner. Boles, from Leo H.S. and Lewis U., was the head of Player Development. Boles is now in the Royals' front office. They are two of the best guys and best baseball guys I have ever been around. I hope they can team up again somewhere and soon. Wins would soon follow.
7/27/2015
So here's kind of a fun announcement. I am back broadcasting minor league baseball! As most of you know, I was not able to broadcast the Joliet Slammers this season because of my morning news job with the Illinois Radio Network. As you may also know, IRN just shut down their Chicago office after my first 8 months there. That meant that I and most of the others here were laid off a couple weeks ago. Well, Ryan Piers, my replacement in the Slammers booth, is leaving the team now to take a radio job in Peoria. So, I am back in the Slammers booth for the rest of the summer, starting this Saturday night. A weird set of circumstances, but I am glad that I am available to go back. The games are now online only and I will only be doing the home games. We will point you to the home team broadcast links when we are on the road, the rest of the way. It was the best solution this late in the season and at the last minute. We use http://www.ustream.tv/channel/slammervision for home broadcasts. My first game back will be Saturday night at 6:05pm vs. the Frontier Greys. Game two will be 5:05pm on Sunday. So year 14 for me in pro baseball gets off to a late start but hey, back to work we go.
So here's kind of a fun announcement. I am back broadcasting minor league baseball! As most of you know, I was not able to broadcast the Joliet Slammers this season because of my morning news job with the Illinois Radio Network. As you may also know, IRN just shut down their Chicago office after my first 8 months there. That meant that I and most of the others here were laid off a couple weeks ago. Well, Ryan Piers, my replacement in the Slammers booth, is leaving the team now to take a radio job in Peoria. So, I am back in the Slammers booth for the rest of the summer, starting this Saturday night. A weird set of circumstances, but I am glad that I am available to go back. The games are now online only and I will only be doing the home games. We will point you to the home team broadcast links when we are on the road, the rest of the way. It was the best solution this late in the season and at the last minute. We use http://www.ustream.tv/channel/slammervision for home broadcasts. My first game back will be Saturday night at 6:05pm vs. the Frontier Greys. Game two will be 5:05pm on Sunday. So year 14 for me in pro baseball gets off to a late start but hey, back to work we go.
7/27/2015
I don't quite get the angst of some Cubs fans after this weekend. The team is finally entertaining to watch this season and they are still in the hunt for a playoff spot as August approaches. If you expected more out of a team with this many players aged 25 and under, then you are way ahead of yourself and them. They are a full year ahead of schedule. I was not expecting a playoff team this season and will not be the least disappointed if they miss the postseason. I was as frustrated as anyone when they were dead last in the standings and in entertainment value. I got the plan but was anxious about it. But this year's team was what I was waiting for. I wanted to see the kids up close and see their progress as they figured out MLB. That is what is happening. They are having growing pains. Of course they are. What I don't want now that I know there are genuine MLB players coming out of the draft picks created by the miserable years, is to go for broke too soon. I don't want some other young talent traded away for a veteran or two now for a short post season appearance, since this team is not yet ready to win a World Series. I am not mad they had a tough series against a team with a bad record. It happens. I am not mad they were no-hit by an elite pitcher. It happens. It was a blip in a long season that has been way more fun to watch then I thought it would be so far. Now that they are no longer the worst team in the league and I can see the talent that is here, I am more patient for the better times to come and the good there has been so far. If you can't see that all these young Cubs are going to be good players for a long long time, then I can't help you. But they will be. They are still so young. I do want Schwarber to be in the lineup every day. Screw that personal catcher nonsense. I do not know about Castro's future here. Russell is learning on the job. He was rushed here and will be very good. It will take time. Bryant is learning how to adjust to pitcher's adjustments. He will be and is very good. Rizzo is having a slump. Everybody does. The rotation is solid. There is plenty of baseball left. It will be entertaining. Expectations start for me in 2016. Not 2015. Relax and enjoy the ride, people. Please and thank you.
I don't quite get the angst of some Cubs fans after this weekend. The team is finally entertaining to watch this season and they are still in the hunt for a playoff spot as August approaches. If you expected more out of a team with this many players aged 25 and under, then you are way ahead of yourself and them. They are a full year ahead of schedule. I was not expecting a playoff team this season and will not be the least disappointed if they miss the postseason. I was as frustrated as anyone when they were dead last in the standings and in entertainment value. I got the plan but was anxious about it. But this year's team was what I was waiting for. I wanted to see the kids up close and see their progress as they figured out MLB. That is what is happening. They are having growing pains. Of course they are. What I don't want now that I know there are genuine MLB players coming out of the draft picks created by the miserable years, is to go for broke too soon. I don't want some other young talent traded away for a veteran or two now for a short post season appearance, since this team is not yet ready to win a World Series. I am not mad they had a tough series against a team with a bad record. It happens. I am not mad they were no-hit by an elite pitcher. It happens. It was a blip in a long season that has been way more fun to watch then I thought it would be so far. Now that they are no longer the worst team in the league and I can see the talent that is here, I am more patient for the better times to come and the good there has been so far. If you can't see that all these young Cubs are going to be good players for a long long time, then I can't help you. But they will be. They are still so young. I do want Schwarber to be in the lineup every day. Screw that personal catcher nonsense. I do not know about Castro's future here. Russell is learning on the job. He was rushed here and will be very good. It will take time. Bryant is learning how to adjust to pitcher's adjustments. He will be and is very good. Rizzo is having a slump. Everybody does. The rotation is solid. There is plenty of baseball left. It will be entertaining. Expectations start for me in 2016. Not 2015. Relax and enjoy the ride, people. Please and thank you.
6/24/2015
Currently, only 7 MLB pitchers have more than one complete game this season. Mark Buehrle (naturally) has three. They are a thing of the past. (Buehrle should still be a member of the Sox, btw) People talk about 'unbreakable records' etc. Well, in July of 1963, the young fireballer Juan Marichal pitched in a game against the crafty veteran Warren Spahn. Willie Mays won the game with a walkoff solo homer in the bottom of the 16th inning as the Giants beat the Milwaukee Braves 1-0 in likely the best pitcher's dual ever, because both pitchers went the distance! Safe to say, you will never see that again. Marichal struck out 10 and walked 4 in the complete game 8-hit shutout. Spahn gave up the 1r on 9h. Historians have Marichal throwing 227 pitches and Spahn 201 that night. Marichal pitched 321 innings that season! He had 30 complete games of his 38 starts in the 1968 season. He had 10 shutouts in 1965. He was always healthy. Fergie Jenkins had five seasons of over 300 innings. That's what they did. Athletes are bigger, faster, stronger. Why can't they do that anymore? I will always believe it is because of weight lifting, in large degree. You will never convince me otherwise. Old timers never lifted a weight. They threw and threw and threw. Period. That is how they strengthened their arm. That and they ran to keep their legs in shape. Baseball is not football. A batter can lift weights, I guess. I don't think a pitcher ever should. The extra mph or two on their fastball isn't worth the injuries. I have absolutely no scientific evidence to back any of that up. It is all on anecdotal analysis. I am sure there are other contributing factors but that's my opinion anyway.
Currently, only 7 MLB pitchers have more than one complete game this season. Mark Buehrle (naturally) has three. They are a thing of the past. (Buehrle should still be a member of the Sox, btw) People talk about 'unbreakable records' etc. Well, in July of 1963, the young fireballer Juan Marichal pitched in a game against the crafty veteran Warren Spahn. Willie Mays won the game with a walkoff solo homer in the bottom of the 16th inning as the Giants beat the Milwaukee Braves 1-0 in likely the best pitcher's dual ever, because both pitchers went the distance! Safe to say, you will never see that again. Marichal struck out 10 and walked 4 in the complete game 8-hit shutout. Spahn gave up the 1r on 9h. Historians have Marichal throwing 227 pitches and Spahn 201 that night. Marichal pitched 321 innings that season! He had 30 complete games of his 38 starts in the 1968 season. He had 10 shutouts in 1965. He was always healthy. Fergie Jenkins had five seasons of over 300 innings. That's what they did. Athletes are bigger, faster, stronger. Why can't they do that anymore? I will always believe it is because of weight lifting, in large degree. You will never convince me otherwise. Old timers never lifted a weight. They threw and threw and threw. Period. That is how they strengthened their arm. That and they ran to keep their legs in shape. Baseball is not football. A batter can lift weights, I guess. I don't think a pitcher ever should. The extra mph or two on their fastball isn't worth the injuries. I have absolutely no scientific evidence to back any of that up. It is all on anecdotal analysis. I am sure there are other contributing factors but that's my opinion anyway.
5/31/2015
I like Joe Maddon more and more as I watch him work and hear him talk. It has taken a long time to find a Cubs manager I like as much as Don Zimmer. I have found him. My all-time favorite manager is Chuck Tanner. Maddon reminds me of Tanner and that is about the best compliment I can give. Tanner played a bit for the Cubs and managed the White Sox for a short time, but is best known for being the Pirates manager when they won the 1979 World Series. I met him in 1985 when the Bucs finished a terrible 57-104. I was working my first full-time job in State College, Pa. I would go cover the Pirates when the Cubs were in town. (I'm not stupid). The Pirates would lose big and I would go into his office after the game to talk and get post-game audio. He would lean back, smoking a big cigar, smiling, laughing and telling great baseball stories. I will never forget that. His team was bad on the field and pretty miserable in the clubhouse too. Curmudgeon was invented to describe pretty much all of them. (My buddy Bob Kipper, not withstanding). But Tanner did not let it get him down. You could tell Chuck loved his job. He was a joy to deal with and he was a great baseball man. He did not become a worse manager with that roster. Maddon has that same thing. He smiles, gives actual answers, doesn't let losses get him down and enjoys his job. He actually does his job of managing too and does it well. Refreshing. Thanks Joe and keep it up.
I like Joe Maddon more and more as I watch him work and hear him talk. It has taken a long time to find a Cubs manager I like as much as Don Zimmer. I have found him. My all-time favorite manager is Chuck Tanner. Maddon reminds me of Tanner and that is about the best compliment I can give. Tanner played a bit for the Cubs and managed the White Sox for a short time, but is best known for being the Pirates manager when they won the 1979 World Series. I met him in 1985 when the Bucs finished a terrible 57-104. I was working my first full-time job in State College, Pa. I would go cover the Pirates when the Cubs were in town. (I'm not stupid). The Pirates would lose big and I would go into his office after the game to talk and get post-game audio. He would lean back, smoking a big cigar, smiling, laughing and telling great baseball stories. I will never forget that. His team was bad on the field and pretty miserable in the clubhouse too. Curmudgeon was invented to describe pretty much all of them. (My buddy Bob Kipper, not withstanding). But Tanner did not let it get him down. You could tell Chuck loved his job. He was a joy to deal with and he was a great baseball man. He did not become a worse manager with that roster. Maddon has that same thing. He smiles, gives actual answers, doesn't let losses get him down and enjoys his job. He actually does his job of managing too and does it well. Refreshing. Thanks Joe and keep it up.
5/18/2015
So the Florida Marlins fire the manager. Ridiculous. Mike Redmond was a Kane County Cougar when I was there in '93 and '94 and I thought he would make a good manager back then. The Marlins improved by 14 games under Redmond last season and at one point this year won 9 of 10. They are currently 16-22. Their closer Steve Cishek had an ERA of 8.78. That is almost impossible. You have to allow the runners on base to score before runs start to count against your own ERA, for goodness sake. So they had to do something else. Matt Latos is bad (5.54 ERA) and Henderson Alvarez is hurt and bad (6.23 ERA). Michael Morse is hitting .210. Christian Yelich is hurt and bad (.178) They fact they managed to win 9 of 10 at one point is amazing. So he gets no credit for that but gets blame for his team almost being no-hit this weekend. I hate it when a manager gets fired because of the 'you can't fire the team, so fire the manager' nonsense. Jeff Loria makes Steinbrenner look patient. He is also a knucklehead. Redmond deserved better.
So the Florida Marlins fire the manager. Ridiculous. Mike Redmond was a Kane County Cougar when I was there in '93 and '94 and I thought he would make a good manager back then. The Marlins improved by 14 games under Redmond last season and at one point this year won 9 of 10. They are currently 16-22. Their closer Steve Cishek had an ERA of 8.78. That is almost impossible. You have to allow the runners on base to score before runs start to count against your own ERA, for goodness sake. So they had to do something else. Matt Latos is bad (5.54 ERA) and Henderson Alvarez is hurt and bad (6.23 ERA). Michael Morse is hitting .210. Christian Yelich is hurt and bad (.178) They fact they managed to win 9 of 10 at one point is amazing. So he gets no credit for that but gets blame for his team almost being no-hit this weekend. I hate it when a manager gets fired because of the 'you can't fire the team, so fire the manager' nonsense. Jeff Loria makes Steinbrenner look patient. He is also a knucklehead. Redmond deserved better.
5/12/2015
I can't believe I have to spell this out to Robin Ventura but you really have to stop bunting, sir. If you have runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs, then you have three chances to get a single that drives in a run. If you choose to bunt then the best case scenario gives you just two chances to get a single to drive in a run. What you have gained in return is just one chance where an out gets you a run, but even that has to be the 'right kind' of out and odds are against that anyway because strikeouts are so much more prevalent now. You have also seriously sabotaged any chance for a big inning...aka multiple hits in the inning. You have not helped yourself, you have given away one of the 27 outs you were spotted when the game began for the sake of maybe scoring one run and those odds weren't really helped in the first place. Add in the fact that most players are lousy bunters and the best case scenario is not that likely to start with. Players don't work on it seriously and have lost the ability to do it consistently because the most successful way to do it is not cool anymore. Nobody completely squares around and totally faces the pitcher like you are supposed to. A good bunt is a surprise now and even a good one is not worth giving up something as important as an out. Once you have made 27 of them the game is over. Knock it off.
I can't believe I have to spell this out to Robin Ventura but you really have to stop bunting, sir. If you have runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs, then you have three chances to get a single that drives in a run. If you choose to bunt then the best case scenario gives you just two chances to get a single to drive in a run. What you have gained in return is just one chance where an out gets you a run, but even that has to be the 'right kind' of out and odds are against that anyway because strikeouts are so much more prevalent now. You have also seriously sabotaged any chance for a big inning...aka multiple hits in the inning. You have not helped yourself, you have given away one of the 27 outs you were spotted when the game began for the sake of maybe scoring one run and those odds weren't really helped in the first place. Add in the fact that most players are lousy bunters and the best case scenario is not that likely to start with. Players don't work on it seriously and have lost the ability to do it consistently because the most successful way to do it is not cool anymore. Nobody completely squares around and totally faces the pitcher like you are supposed to. A good bunt is a surprise now and even a good one is not worth giving up something as important as an out. Once you have made 27 of them the game is over. Knock it off.
4/20/2015
Just found out about the passing of Doug Buffone. I can't tell you how sad that makes me. What a great guy and what an honor it was to have met him and worked with him at the Score. I did updates for the Bears 'Doug and O'B' postgame show for two years. He couldn't have been a nicer guy and you won't find anyone who has a bad word to say about him. I grew up watching those two on TV and then watched them do that show many times. I take pride in giving them some thoughts and ideas during breaks and having them bring me on a couple times to talk about them. That show is not an act. Those two lived and breathed the Bears and take offense when others wearing that jersey don't live up to what it can represent. They hate bad or lazy football. They also know football inside and out. I loved being a part of that show and took every opportunity to sit in the studio with them during commercials just to talk football and life. Doug loved his family and talked about them so much that you couldn't help but feel that. He was only 70 and he deserved more time. He was also a helluva football player. He doesn't get the credit he deserved with Butkus next to him. Doug and O'B helped Butkus because blockers couldn't forget about them and just concentrate and Butkus. O'B has the biggest hands I have ever seen. I have big hands myself but shaking his hand is like putting your hand in a catcher's mitt. Doug was just big in general. He was a big man with a big personality and a big heart. Bears seasons from now on will not be the same.
Just found out about the passing of Doug Buffone. I can't tell you how sad that makes me. What a great guy and what an honor it was to have met him and worked with him at the Score. I did updates for the Bears 'Doug and O'B' postgame show for two years. He couldn't have been a nicer guy and you won't find anyone who has a bad word to say about him. I grew up watching those two on TV and then watched them do that show many times. I take pride in giving them some thoughts and ideas during breaks and having them bring me on a couple times to talk about them. That show is not an act. Those two lived and breathed the Bears and take offense when others wearing that jersey don't live up to what it can represent. They hate bad or lazy football. They also know football inside and out. I loved being a part of that show and took every opportunity to sit in the studio with them during commercials just to talk football and life. Doug loved his family and talked about them so much that you couldn't help but feel that. He was only 70 and he deserved more time. He was also a helluva football player. He doesn't get the credit he deserved with Butkus next to him. Doug and O'B helped Butkus because blockers couldn't forget about them and just concentrate and Butkus. O'B has the biggest hands I have ever seen. I have big hands myself but shaking his hand is like putting your hand in a catcher's mitt. Doug was just big in general. He was a big man with a big personality and a big heart. Bears seasons from now on will not be the same.
1/30/2015
A day late for #tbt# but I thought I would put this up anyway. The cover page of my media notes from the Chicago Blitz USFL game at Soldier Field vs The LA Express. The best thing about that day was my long conversation with my favorite athlete of all-time...Walter Payton. He was there on crutches from off-season arthroscopic knee surgery and was covering the game for Channel 7. I was a kid just out of college. He noticed my WIDB sticker on my note pad and asked if it was from a college radio station. I said it was. He said he worked for his station at Jackson State. I was amazed. He didn't need to start up a conversation with me. He was one of the greatest football players of all-time. I was some green kid. We then had this long great talk. It's nice when your heroes are just as impressive in real life. I went with him in the elevator that day and down into the locker-room as his body guard...lol...so no one would accidentally knock him down. His camera guy was nowhere to be found and he was not a guy who acted like he was a big deal. As sad as I am about the passing of Ernie Banks, I was a complete mess the day Walter died. By the way, the quarterback match-up that day was Steve Young vs. Vince Evans. In other words, it was not much of a match-up at all.
A day late for #tbt# but I thought I would put this up anyway. The cover page of my media notes from the Chicago Blitz USFL game at Soldier Field vs The LA Express. The best thing about that day was my long conversation with my favorite athlete of all-time...Walter Payton. He was there on crutches from off-season arthroscopic knee surgery and was covering the game for Channel 7. I was a kid just out of college. He noticed my WIDB sticker on my note pad and asked if it was from a college radio station. I said it was. He said he worked for his station at Jackson State. I was amazed. He didn't need to start up a conversation with me. He was one of the greatest football players of all-time. I was some green kid. We then had this long great talk. It's nice when your heroes are just as impressive in real life. I went with him in the elevator that day and down into the locker-room as his body guard...lol...so no one would accidentally knock him down. His camera guy was nowhere to be found and he was not a guy who acted like he was a big deal. As sad as I am about the passing of Ernie Banks, I was a complete mess the day Walter died. By the way, the quarterback match-up that day was Steve Young vs. Vince Evans. In other words, it was not much of a match-up at all.
1/23/2015
A picture I took of Ernie while down on the field before Game 2 of the 1984 NLCS. Not sure why he was in uniform but was thrilled he was there. Hell, I was thrilled I was there! I was just out of school and working at my first radio job in Aurora at WMRO. I was a few feet from my idol. I was a kid in a candy store. He was just the nicest man. Also, for much of my early childhood, if Williams and Banks weren't coming to bat that inning, the Cubs weren't going to score. If they were, then you didn't want to leave the TV.
One more thing about Ernie. The time I talked to him the longest was at the Western Open, of all places. I was there for the Score, covering Tiger etc. He hadn't tee'd off yet and I walk into the clubhouse and see Ernie sitting at the bar. The seat next to him is open. Uhhh, no brainer...I sit down and say hi. We proceed to have this long nice talk about everything. My takeaway from that day was not golf, it was my time with Ernie Banks.
Ok, so one more Ernie story. My next door neighbor was nice enough to give me an Ernie Banks signed baseball when I was about 8 years old. The only problem was, as much as I already loved Ernie, I loved actually 'playing' baseball even more. After a while, it was the only baseball I had left and had no choice but to use it. A few years later I realized what a knucklehead I was, as that ball got practically flattened from all the use it got and was eventually lost. Still pains me to this day that I don't have it.
A picture I took of Ernie while down on the field before Game 2 of the 1984 NLCS. Not sure why he was in uniform but was thrilled he was there. Hell, I was thrilled I was there! I was just out of school and working at my first radio job in Aurora at WMRO. I was a few feet from my idol. I was a kid in a candy store. He was just the nicest man. Also, for much of my early childhood, if Williams and Banks weren't coming to bat that inning, the Cubs weren't going to score. If they were, then you didn't want to leave the TV.
One more thing about Ernie. The time I talked to him the longest was at the Western Open, of all places. I was there for the Score, covering Tiger etc. He hadn't tee'd off yet and I walk into the clubhouse and see Ernie sitting at the bar. The seat next to him is open. Uhhh, no brainer...I sit down and say hi. We proceed to have this long nice talk about everything. My takeaway from that day was not golf, it was my time with Ernie Banks.
Ok, so one more Ernie story. My next door neighbor was nice enough to give me an Ernie Banks signed baseball when I was about 8 years old. The only problem was, as much as I already loved Ernie, I loved actually 'playing' baseball even more. After a while, it was the only baseball I had left and had no choice but to use it. A few years later I realized what a knucklehead I was, as that ball got practically flattened from all the use it got and was eventually lost. Still pains me to this day that I don't have it.
1/19/2015
The Packers used the 'Prevent Offense' instead of the 'Prevent Defense' and it was just as successful. It prevented them from winning. They have the best qb in football and tried to run out the clock and never went for it on the goal line. Stupidity and timidity combined for another example why quarterbacks should be calling plays and not coaches. Not sure when or why exactly calling plays was taken away from qb's but it has hurt the game immensely. It is a profession-wide disease for coach's to play 'not to lose' rather than to win. No way Aaron Rodgers would have chosen not to throw. And if you are scared of him throwing, than who else would be allowed to ever throw for a first down late in a game with a lead? Just keep playing the game for goodness sake. When will they ever learn? I am fairly certain if Weeb Ewbank ever told Johnny Unitas to not go for it twice at the one yard line or to never throw to Ray Berry late in a game with a lead, he would have told the coach to go sit on his hat.
The Packers used the 'Prevent Offense' instead of the 'Prevent Defense' and it was just as successful. It prevented them from winning. They have the best qb in football and tried to run out the clock and never went for it on the goal line. Stupidity and timidity combined for another example why quarterbacks should be calling plays and not coaches. Not sure when or why exactly calling plays was taken away from qb's but it has hurt the game immensely. It is a profession-wide disease for coach's to play 'not to lose' rather than to win. No way Aaron Rodgers would have chosen not to throw. And if you are scared of him throwing, than who else would be allowed to ever throw for a first down late in a game with a lead? Just keep playing the game for goodness sake. When will they ever learn? I am fairly certain if Weeb Ewbank ever told Johnny Unitas to not go for it twice at the one yard line or to never throw to Ray Berry late in a game with a lead, he would have told the coach to go sit on his hat.
11/26/2014
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Thanksgiving will be the 15th anniversary of my 1st day at WSCR/the Score. With that being tomorrow, I wanted to mention one more thing about my great 7 years there and it has to do with all the great women I worked with there. Everyone knows the guys, since they are almost all still on the air. Other than the great Julie Swieca Gannon not many are known, with them being mostly behind the scenes. On my list of 'thankfuls' this year, I wanted to thank them for being a main reason my time there was so enjoyable. From Kristin Kipp, to Katie Kijowski, Bree Marie, Joy Southpaw Marie, Melissa Ann and more, they 'were and are' all smart, fun, funny, pretty, classy, talented, hard-working and dedicated. I appreciate their friendship then and now. I also wanted to mention Leslie Bailey, who I met through the Score, when I was at a personal appearance for the station. She was there working that night as well and we became friends before that event was over. Not a nicer person will you find. Sports radio is mostly a 'guy dominated' kinda thing but I wanted to make sure these great girls got their due. I raise my glass to you all this Turkey Day!
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Thanksgiving will be the 15th anniversary of my 1st day at WSCR/the Score. With that being tomorrow, I wanted to mention one more thing about my great 7 years there and it has to do with all the great women I worked with there. Everyone knows the guys, since they are almost all still on the air. Other than the great Julie Swieca Gannon not many are known, with them being mostly behind the scenes. On my list of 'thankfuls' this year, I wanted to thank them for being a main reason my time there was so enjoyable. From Kristin Kipp, to Katie Kijowski, Bree Marie, Joy Southpaw Marie, Melissa Ann and more, they 'were and are' all smart, fun, funny, pretty, classy, talented, hard-working and dedicated. I appreciate their friendship then and now. I also wanted to mention Leslie Bailey, who I met through the Score, when I was at a personal appearance for the station. She was there working that night as well and we became friends before that event was over. Not a nicer person will you find. Sports radio is mostly a 'guy dominated' kinda thing but I wanted to make sure these great girls got their due. I raise my glass to you all this Turkey Day!
11/24/2014
I wanted to share some good news. I am the new morning-drive news anchor at the Illinois Radio Network. My first day on the air is tomorrow. IRN is carried on more than 40 stations across Illinois. The majority of affiliates are downstate, but the network is based here in the Loop. It is an honor to take over for Jan Coleman. I will remain the broadcaster for Lewis University Athletics and Benedictine University Athletics though, so it is the best of both worlds. The sad part is that I will not be able to stay on as the voice of the Joliet Slammers baseball team. I just wouldn't be able to go on those road trips with my daily newscasts back here in Chicago. I want to thank the ballclub for a great summer of 2014. They are a hard-working and classy bunch and I wish them much future success. I am so glad I got to go back to Silver Cross Field and broadcast one more season. This is just an opportunity I could not pass up for me and my family. I also get to be re-united with my old pals from Sporting News Radio. The sports side of IRN includes Jason Goch, Jim Talamonti and Brad Robinson. I am looking forward to getting started.
I wanted to share some good news. I am the new morning-drive news anchor at the Illinois Radio Network. My first day on the air is tomorrow. IRN is carried on more than 40 stations across Illinois. The majority of affiliates are downstate, but the network is based here in the Loop. It is an honor to take over for Jan Coleman. I will remain the broadcaster for Lewis University Athletics and Benedictine University Athletics though, so it is the best of both worlds. The sad part is that I will not be able to stay on as the voice of the Joliet Slammers baseball team. I just wouldn't be able to go on those road trips with my daily newscasts back here in Chicago. I want to thank the ballclub for a great summer of 2014. They are a hard-working and classy bunch and I wish them much future success. I am so glad I got to go back to Silver Cross Field and broadcast one more season. This is just an opportunity I could not pass up for me and my family. I also get to be re-united with my old pals from Sporting News Radio. The sports side of IRN includes Jason Goch, Jim Talamonti and Brad Robinson. I am looking forward to getting started.
11/12/2014
I really hope D-Rose misspoke, because if he really meant it then I am done with him. Nobody can be that dumb. Does he really expect to not be sore once he retires from being a professional athlete? Nobody wants him to sacrifice his body to where he can't walk when he is done, but I have news for him. Everybody is sore!! Every single construction worker, nurse, waitress etc. etc. is sore when they are sitting at their kids graduation. And they aren't millionaires with access to the best medical care on the planet. Do you think there is a 50-year old former football player who isn't sore? They are laughing at him right now, or just plain angry. That's the bargain a pro athlete makes. He is paid millions to use his body in his job and all that money is paid as compensation for the damage done in the performance of that job. Rose needs to just shut up and play. This city has watched Dick Butkus, Michael Jordan, Walter Payton, Jerry Sloan and more give their all. Ask players like Andre Dawson and Bill Buckner how their legs are feeling today. They were walking ice packs before and after every game here. That's the job. If you don't want it then just take your ball and go home.
I really hope D-Rose misspoke, because if he really meant it then I am done with him. Nobody can be that dumb. Does he really expect to not be sore once he retires from being a professional athlete? Nobody wants him to sacrifice his body to where he can't walk when he is done, but I have news for him. Everybody is sore!! Every single construction worker, nurse, waitress etc. etc. is sore when they are sitting at their kids graduation. And they aren't millionaires with access to the best medical care on the planet. Do you think there is a 50-year old former football player who isn't sore? They are laughing at him right now, or just plain angry. That's the bargain a pro athlete makes. He is paid millions to use his body in his job and all that money is paid as compensation for the damage done in the performance of that job. Rose needs to just shut up and play. This city has watched Dick Butkus, Michael Jordan, Walter Payton, Jerry Sloan and more give their all. Ask players like Andre Dawson and Bill Buckner how their legs are feeling today. They were walking ice packs before and after every game here. That's the job. If you don't want it then just take your ball and go home.
10/17/2014
So I drove by the old Belmont Ave. address of WSCR/the Score the other day. It reminded me that the 15th anniversary of my first day there is coming up. I started at the old building there on Thanksgiving Day of 1999. It wasn't just a thrill because it was the Score but also because that was my/my Dad's old neighborhood. My grandmother lived just a few blocks down Belmont at the corner at Kostner and I spent my first year of existence living there. Even when my parents moved out of my Grandma's 2-flat to the burbs, we came back all the time to see her. To get to work just down the street from where I cut Grandma Vasko's grass as a kid was very cool. I spent 7 years total at WSCR and miss it to this day. The old building was something else. The sports production room was a converted coat closet. We shared the building with WXRT and space was tight to say the least. The 'parking lot' so to speak held a total of 3 cars, if I remember correctly. The move to the NBC Tower was definitely a move to the big time and from reel-to-reel tapes to digital as well. No more grease pencils and razor blades to 'cut up' tape and interviews. I ended up as the anchor for the the Boers and Bernstein show for my last two years there and was also the anchor for BlackHawks games and the Buffone/O'B Bears post-game shows. All memorable to say the least. Despite all that, I was always 'part-time, full-time' so to speak and eventually got a better deal with Sporting News Radio, then based in Northbrook. I loved my time there too and that is another story entirely. But for now, I am thinking back to my time spent with a bunch of characters and good guys and gals that I bump into occasionally and still talk to here on facebook etc. as well. Radio certainly hasn't made me rich money-wise, but memories and friends I have plenty of.
So I drove by the old Belmont Ave. address of WSCR/the Score the other day. It reminded me that the 15th anniversary of my first day there is coming up. I started at the old building there on Thanksgiving Day of 1999. It wasn't just a thrill because it was the Score but also because that was my/my Dad's old neighborhood. My grandmother lived just a few blocks down Belmont at the corner at Kostner and I spent my first year of existence living there. Even when my parents moved out of my Grandma's 2-flat to the burbs, we came back all the time to see her. To get to work just down the street from where I cut Grandma Vasko's grass as a kid was very cool. I spent 7 years total at WSCR and miss it to this day. The old building was something else. The sports production room was a converted coat closet. We shared the building with WXRT and space was tight to say the least. The 'parking lot' so to speak held a total of 3 cars, if I remember correctly. The move to the NBC Tower was definitely a move to the big time and from reel-to-reel tapes to digital as well. No more grease pencils and razor blades to 'cut up' tape and interviews. I ended up as the anchor for the the Boers and Bernstein show for my last two years there and was also the anchor for BlackHawks games and the Buffone/O'B Bears post-game shows. All memorable to say the least. Despite all that, I was always 'part-time, full-time' so to speak and eventually got a better deal with Sporting News Radio, then based in Northbrook. I loved my time there too and that is another story entirely. But for now, I am thinking back to my time spent with a bunch of characters and good guys and gals that I bump into occasionally and still talk to here on facebook etc. as well. Radio certainly hasn't made me rich money-wise, but memories and friends I have plenty of.
6/5/2014
It has been a while since I have blogged. It is a busy time broadcasting Joliet Slammers games once again. Don Zimmer's passing is a very good reason to take the time to write this however. Don Zimmer was my favorite Cubs manager of all-time. He was also a great guy and a pleasure to deal with. The 1989 Cubs season is my favorite of all-time. Sandberg, Sutcliffe, Dawson, Maddux, Grace etc. They won the Division by 6 games. Zimmer managed by the seat of his pants and his gut. It was a considerable baseball gut, so to speak. He didn't follow the book. He didn't need to. Every move he made that summer worked...every pinch-hitter and every pitching change, everything. It was so much fun. It ended in the NLCS but isn't thought of as painful like other ones because it was so enjoyable along the way. He made it so. Zim was baseball. He loved it and lived it. It was contagious. It was a pleasure to have met him. My infamous "You're high, shut up!" moment on the Score, was me defending Zim in his tussle with Pedro Martinez. I was happy to take his side. I am sad about his passing. He will be missed.
It has been a while since I have blogged. It is a busy time broadcasting Joliet Slammers games once again. Don Zimmer's passing is a very good reason to take the time to write this however. Don Zimmer was my favorite Cubs manager of all-time. He was also a great guy and a pleasure to deal with. The 1989 Cubs season is my favorite of all-time. Sandberg, Sutcliffe, Dawson, Maddux, Grace etc. They won the Division by 6 games. Zimmer managed by the seat of his pants and his gut. It was a considerable baseball gut, so to speak. He didn't follow the book. He didn't need to. Every move he made that summer worked...every pinch-hitter and every pitching change, everything. It was so much fun. It ended in the NLCS but isn't thought of as painful like other ones because it was so enjoyable along the way. He made it so. Zim was baseball. He loved it and lived it. It was contagious. It was a pleasure to have met him. My infamous "You're high, shut up!" moment on the Score, was me defending Zim in his tussle with Pedro Martinez. I was happy to take his side. I am sad about his passing. He will be missed.
4/2/2014
I am a fan of Jeff Samardzija and I hope he isn't traded. His success in a Cubs uniform has come slowly because of the previous regime's efforts to sabotage his career at every turn with their incompetence. Jim Hendry and company couldn't have been any dumber in this case. Samardzija was still new to the art of pitching having played so much football, and all of that was as a starting pitcher. He joins the organization very green, so do they make him as comfortable as possible in this new venture? Of course not. Not only do they rush him to the Majors way before he is ready but they do so as a reliever. It is a job he has never done before so is even less prepared to do at the Major League level so soon after coming off the football field. Add to that the pressure and expectations of being a bonus baby from a high profile University just down the road. Stupid doesn't even come close to describing that decision. He then gets fan criticism which is completely unjustified and people are ready to give up on him way too soon because they see him struggle at something he as done so little of and at the highest possible level. Samardzija then has to basically beg to become the starting pitcher he should have been all along. He should never have been switched to the bullpen in the first place and should not have been at Wrigley that soon regardless. He should have been left alone to improve his way through the ranks in a sport he was still learning...at the job he was most comfortable with...at a rate he was comfortable with. He is still trying to overcome all that nonsense and I am impressed with how he has done it. He has great stuff and still has a young arm and is still learning the art of pitching. I want him to succeed here. If Samardzija is traded than the Cubs really are still years away from contending apparently and that is very depressing.
I am a fan of Jeff Samardzija and I hope he isn't traded. His success in a Cubs uniform has come slowly because of the previous regime's efforts to sabotage his career at every turn with their incompetence. Jim Hendry and company couldn't have been any dumber in this case. Samardzija was still new to the art of pitching having played so much football, and all of that was as a starting pitcher. He joins the organization very green, so do they make him as comfortable as possible in this new venture? Of course not. Not only do they rush him to the Majors way before he is ready but they do so as a reliever. It is a job he has never done before so is even less prepared to do at the Major League level so soon after coming off the football field. Add to that the pressure and expectations of being a bonus baby from a high profile University just down the road. Stupid doesn't even come close to describing that decision. He then gets fan criticism which is completely unjustified and people are ready to give up on him way too soon because they see him struggle at something he as done so little of and at the highest possible level. Samardzija then has to basically beg to become the starting pitcher he should have been all along. He should never have been switched to the bullpen in the first place and should not have been at Wrigley that soon regardless. He should have been left alone to improve his way through the ranks in a sport he was still learning...at the job he was most comfortable with...at a rate he was comfortable with. He is still trying to overcome all that nonsense and I am impressed with how he has done it. He has great stuff and still has a young arm and is still learning the art of pitching. I want him to succeed here. If Samardzija is traded than the Cubs really are still years away from contending apparently and that is very depressing.
3/21/2014
Here is my response to David Kaplan's article on the CSNChicago website concerning Cubs fans unhappiness in contrast with outsiders' positive impression of the club...
I don't think fans get enough credit, David. Knowledgeable Cubs fans are not mad that tens of millions were not spent on free agents etc. That seems to be the "go to" explanation of fans' unhappiness. Nonsense, incorrect and insulting. They and me understand and are happy with the long term plans and the progress being made by the front office in that regard. We are unhappy however with seemingly no effort whatsoever spent on making 2014 somewhat competitive or at least not completely miserable. Both goals can be met at the same time. The White Sox did not spend tens of millions this off-season but have given fans reason to be encouraged about this season without sacrificing any long term prospects. The same could have been done on the north side but wasn't even attempted apparently. The message is 'be patient' while we continue to suck. How about 'be patient' while we try to give you some semblance of your money's worth in the meantime? I don't think that is too much to ask or unrealistic.
Here is my response to David Kaplan's article on the CSNChicago website concerning Cubs fans unhappiness in contrast with outsiders' positive impression of the club...
I don't think fans get enough credit, David. Knowledgeable Cubs fans are not mad that tens of millions were not spent on free agents etc. That seems to be the "go to" explanation of fans' unhappiness. Nonsense, incorrect and insulting. They and me understand and are happy with the long term plans and the progress being made by the front office in that regard. We are unhappy however with seemingly no effort whatsoever spent on making 2014 somewhat competitive or at least not completely miserable. Both goals can be met at the same time. The White Sox did not spend tens of millions this off-season but have given fans reason to be encouraged about this season without sacrificing any long term prospects. The same could have been done on the north side but wasn't even attempted apparently. The message is 'be patient' while we continue to suck. How about 'be patient' while we try to give you some semblance of your money's worth in the meantime? I don't think that is too much to ask or unrealistic.
3/20/2014
Thanks to Larz for this nice article at chicagolandradioandmedia.com
Mark Vasko Returns To The Joliet Slammers As Broadcasting Director
The Joliet Slammers are returning to south suburban WJOL-AM this spring. More than that, this year marks the return of Mark Vasko as play-by-play broadcaster for the team. Vasko is also taking over as the Slammers' Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations for the 2014 season.
Mark Vasko was previously a play-by-play announcer for the Joliet Slammers in 2011 -- the team's inaugural year, as well as the year the team won the Frontier League Championship.
The Joliet Slammers are the professional baseball team from the independent Frontier League. They play their home games in Joliet's Silver Cross Field.
The entire 96-game season of the Joliet Slammers will heard on WJOL-AM 1340 in Joliet. That news/talk/sports station, owned by Digity, transmits on 1,000 watts of power, heard in the southern half of Chicago and throughout the south and near west suburbs. The games will also stream online at WJOL.com.
The new season begins in mid-May. The Slammers full 2014 schedule can be viewed HERE.
Mark Vasko is a Chicago sports radio veteran, who brings with him a dozen years of professional baseball broadcasting experience. He has called baseball games for the Kane County Cougars, the Cook County Cheetahs (now known as the Windy City Thunderbolts) and four years with the Joliet Jackhammers (the direct predecessor to the Slammers).
Vasko has also called college baseball games for Southern Illinois University and Northern Illinois University.
Mark Vasko spent many years with CBS Radio Chicago, first as the Chicago Cubs beat reporter for WBBM-AM/Newsradio 780 in the late 1990s, and then five years on WSCR-AM/670 The Score as a reporter, host, and Scoreboard Update anchor for the Boers & Bernstein afternoon show. Vasko went on to work with Sporting News Radio (when it was based out of Chicago's north suburbs) as a host/reporter and as a Chicago sports correspondent for Yahoo Sports Radio. He was also a frequent guest on Comcast SportsNet Chicago's daily talk show "Chicago Tribune Live" (now "SportsTalk Live").
Currently, Mark Vasko is the announcer for Lewis University basketball -- something he has been doing for over a decade. He also has been staying busy announcing football and other sports for Benedictine University Athletics.
Regarding the return of Mark Vasko to the team, Joliet Slammers General Manager Chris Franklin said in a statement today: "Mark brings a great knowledge of professional baseball in Joliet to the radio booth and we are thrilled to have him back with the ballclub. His passion for area sports will be a great asset to the Slammers and it only helps strengthen our relationship with everyone involved at WJOL."
"I couldn't be happier to be coming back to the Slammers," said Vasko today. "Silver Cross Field is like home to me and I can't wait to get the season started." He added,"I was there for the very first Opening Day in Joliet and I will be just as excited for this one."
Thanks to Larz for this nice article at chicagolandradioandmedia.com
Mark Vasko Returns To The Joliet Slammers As Broadcasting Director
The Joliet Slammers are returning to south suburban WJOL-AM this spring. More than that, this year marks the return of Mark Vasko as play-by-play broadcaster for the team. Vasko is also taking over as the Slammers' Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations for the 2014 season.
Mark Vasko was previously a play-by-play announcer for the Joliet Slammers in 2011 -- the team's inaugural year, as well as the year the team won the Frontier League Championship.
The Joliet Slammers are the professional baseball team from the independent Frontier League. They play their home games in Joliet's Silver Cross Field.
The entire 96-game season of the Joliet Slammers will heard on WJOL-AM 1340 in Joliet. That news/talk/sports station, owned by Digity, transmits on 1,000 watts of power, heard in the southern half of Chicago and throughout the south and near west suburbs. The games will also stream online at WJOL.com.
The new season begins in mid-May. The Slammers full 2014 schedule can be viewed HERE.
Mark Vasko is a Chicago sports radio veteran, who brings with him a dozen years of professional baseball broadcasting experience. He has called baseball games for the Kane County Cougars, the Cook County Cheetahs (now known as the Windy City Thunderbolts) and four years with the Joliet Jackhammers (the direct predecessor to the Slammers).
Vasko has also called college baseball games for Southern Illinois University and Northern Illinois University.
Mark Vasko spent many years with CBS Radio Chicago, first as the Chicago Cubs beat reporter for WBBM-AM/Newsradio 780 in the late 1990s, and then five years on WSCR-AM/670 The Score as a reporter, host, and Scoreboard Update anchor for the Boers & Bernstein afternoon show. Vasko went on to work with Sporting News Radio (when it was based out of Chicago's north suburbs) as a host/reporter and as a Chicago sports correspondent for Yahoo Sports Radio. He was also a frequent guest on Comcast SportsNet Chicago's daily talk show "Chicago Tribune Live" (now "SportsTalk Live").
Currently, Mark Vasko is the announcer for Lewis University basketball -- something he has been doing for over a decade. He also has been staying busy announcing football and other sports for Benedictine University Athletics.
Regarding the return of Mark Vasko to the team, Joliet Slammers General Manager Chris Franklin said in a statement today: "Mark brings a great knowledge of professional baseball in Joliet to the radio booth and we are thrilled to have him back with the ballclub. His passion for area sports will be a great asset to the Slammers and it only helps strengthen our relationship with everyone involved at WJOL."
"I couldn't be happier to be coming back to the Slammers," said Vasko today. "Silver Cross Field is like home to me and I can't wait to get the season started." He added,"I was there for the very first Opening Day in Joliet and I will be just as excited for this one."
1/22/2014
I saw the story about Pete Rose Jr. becoming the Manager of the White Sox class A Kannapolis Intimidators. Happy for him. And knowing me like you do, that means it's story time...lol. So Rose played for the Joliet JackHammers in 2003 and was a really good guy. He was also one of the hardest workers on the team as I'm sure Mike will attest. Pete Jr. didn't trade on his name. No one took more batting practice than he did. After games, he would drag out the cage and hit until midnight. He set a pretty good example. His Dad would come out to see him play often but we kept it quiet so he could watch in private. In return for all that privacy, Pete Sr. did let us promote his appearance for one of the games he attended. I will never forget him joining us in our tiny radio booth for about an hour. He was great on the air as he stood between Bryan Dolgin and myself, with his arm around me. That booth is too small for three to sit! lol. Pete Jr. eventually left the JackHammers for the Rockies AAA team. I know Pete Jr. had his problems but I never saw anything but a hard working Northern League all-star infielder.
I saw the story about Pete Rose Jr. becoming the Manager of the White Sox class A Kannapolis Intimidators. Happy for him. And knowing me like you do, that means it's story time...lol. So Rose played for the Joliet JackHammers in 2003 and was a really good guy. He was also one of the hardest workers on the team as I'm sure Mike will attest. Pete Jr. didn't trade on his name. No one took more batting practice than he did. After games, he would drag out the cage and hit until midnight. He set a pretty good example. His Dad would come out to see him play often but we kept it quiet so he could watch in private. In return for all that privacy, Pete Sr. did let us promote his appearance for one of the games he attended. I will never forget him joining us in our tiny radio booth for about an hour. He was great on the air as he stood between Bryan Dolgin and myself, with his arm around me. That booth is too small for three to sit! lol. Pete Jr. eventually left the JackHammers for the Rockies AAA team. I know Pete Jr. had his problems but I never saw anything but a hard working Northern League all-star infielder.
1/18/2014
I have had some nice comments regarding my Kane County stories so I will give one last one as I need to think of Spring with this miserable Winter continuing. I broadcast games for the Cougars from 1992 through '96. The 1993 team included a few players that fans of defense would love. A 16-year old Edgar Renteria started at shortstop and Charles Johnson was the catcher. I used to tell fans to come early just to watch infield practice. It was a thing of beauty for baseball lovers and well worth it. I have never seen a catcher like Johnson before or since. Besides being able to mash a fastball over 400 feet, he was a defensive machine, even in "A" ball. Every throw to second was identical...two inches off the ground and right at the bag. Every one. It was awe inspiring, if you are into that sorta thing . And Renteria was already one of the best shortstops around. His bat wasn't really ready yet, as his .203 average would attest but his glove was already golden. A throw from Johnson to Renteria to first was a lot of fun to watch. Mike Redmond, the current Marlins manager, was Johnson's backup catcher. In other words, Mike didn't play much. My memory had Luis Castillo at 2b that year but a double check says it was Chris Clapinski. Chris made it to the Marlins for a cup of coffee but was no Castillo, who was also a magician with the glove for the '95 team as it turns out and fun to watch take infield too. The '93 team also included Hector Carrasco. His fastball hit 99 mph even if it didn't always hit Johnson's mitt. He struckout 127, walked 76 and hit 11 that summer. I assume those bruises are now just about healed. I do want to mention Lynn Jones, the manager for most of my time there. A better man you will not find. He is currently the baserunning coordinator for the Braves and was a pretty fair outfielder for the Royals and Tigers in his day. The thing about being an announcer is that the games are not the only enjoyable part. The time spent talking about the day's game at Applebees around midnight is just as enjoyable. It was also where I have learned more about the game than anywhere else and the reason I gain weight during each season I have been broadcasting. Burgers, fries and a Miller at midnight are not the best things for the waistline. Not that it stops me, of course.
I have had some nice comments regarding my Kane County stories so I will give one last one as I need to think of Spring with this miserable Winter continuing. I broadcast games for the Cougars from 1992 through '96. The 1993 team included a few players that fans of defense would love. A 16-year old Edgar Renteria started at shortstop and Charles Johnson was the catcher. I used to tell fans to come early just to watch infield practice. It was a thing of beauty for baseball lovers and well worth it. I have never seen a catcher like Johnson before or since. Besides being able to mash a fastball over 400 feet, he was a defensive machine, even in "A" ball. Every throw to second was identical...two inches off the ground and right at the bag. Every one. It was awe inspiring, if you are into that sorta thing . And Renteria was already one of the best shortstops around. His bat wasn't really ready yet, as his .203 average would attest but his glove was already golden. A throw from Johnson to Renteria to first was a lot of fun to watch. Mike Redmond, the current Marlins manager, was Johnson's backup catcher. In other words, Mike didn't play much. My memory had Luis Castillo at 2b that year but a double check says it was Chris Clapinski. Chris made it to the Marlins for a cup of coffee but was no Castillo, who was also a magician with the glove for the '95 team as it turns out and fun to watch take infield too. The '93 team also included Hector Carrasco. His fastball hit 99 mph even if it didn't always hit Johnson's mitt. He struckout 127, walked 76 and hit 11 that summer. I assume those bruises are now just about healed. I do want to mention Lynn Jones, the manager for most of my time there. A better man you will not find. He is currently the baserunning coordinator for the Braves and was a pretty fair outfielder for the Royals and Tigers in his day. The thing about being an announcer is that the games are not the only enjoyable part. The time spent talking about the day's game at Applebees around midnight is just as enjoyable. It was also where I have learned more about the game than anywhere else and the reason I gain weight during each season I have been broadcasting. Burgers, fries and a Miller at midnight are not the best things for the waistline. Not that it stops me, of course.
1/12/2014
I realize I haven't posted here for a bit so I thought I'd share a memory or two that my 'baseball' people might appreciate. It was spurred on by seeing 'Mission Impossible' on HBO of all things. It reminded me of going to see it in the theater in the summer of 1996 when I was the voice of the Kane County Cougars. We were trapped in Davenport, Iowa for a three game series with the Quad Cities River Bandits that got entirely rained out. There was terrible flooding that summer. We would show up at the park each day and wait out the rain for hours and eventually head back to the hotel. One day the coaches and I went to see that movie with nothing else to do after rainout number two. Davenport was not exactly a hot bed of entertainment and going to the Riverboat Casino once was enough of a contribution to the local economy, thank you very much. The flooding got so bad that the Mississippi River came right up to the outfield wall of the ballpark and from the pressbox I could see huge logs and debris floating down the river just outside the fence. The dugouts were flooded completely up the top the stairs and benches were put out along the right field line for players to use. We would take batting practice each day in the cages by the bullpen in the rain and wait to see if the game would be played. The parking lots were flooded and there was only one slim strip of land you could walk on the get the the front gate. It was crazy that we would even consider playing those games but they didn't want to wash the whole series if they could possibly avoid it. The River Bandits eventually had no choice because the entire field flooded shortly after we left town and they had to move their home games elsewhere. By the way, that Cougars team included 9 players that would make the Majors including Mark Kotsay, Ryan Dempster, Josh Booty and Randy Winn. Joe Funaro was probably the fan favorite on that team though and a great great guy. Roosevelt Brown, who would play for the Cubs eventually, was one of the biggest tools I ever met in the minors. He came over in a mid-season deal from Atlanta and thought he was too big-time to carry his own bags in "A" ball! Nitwit.
The previous summer had unbelievable heat with temps over 100 for days at a time. Elfstrom Stadium didn't have air conditioning at the time either. ESPN 2 was doing a minor league game of the week that summer of '95 and came out to do one of our contests with the game time temperature of 106 and humidity in the 90's. It was the third straight day of actual temps over 105. Matt Vasgersian and Steve Psycho Lyons came out to do the game in the booth next to mine. There was never a more miserable pair of guys in suit and tie than those two that day. I was in flip flops, shorts and a t-shirt with a fan pointing at me and a towel around my neck, thanks to only having to be on the radio. I was still miserable. I can't imagine their day but I did hear their curses through the wall during every commercial break! I will never forget it, lol. Ah, the glamor of minor league baseball. I still wouldn't trade it for the world :) The 1995 Cougars team included Booty, Luis Castillo, Todd Dunwoody, Brian Meadows and Amaury Garcia.
I realize I haven't posted here for a bit so I thought I'd share a memory or two that my 'baseball' people might appreciate. It was spurred on by seeing 'Mission Impossible' on HBO of all things. It reminded me of going to see it in the theater in the summer of 1996 when I was the voice of the Kane County Cougars. We were trapped in Davenport, Iowa for a three game series with the Quad Cities River Bandits that got entirely rained out. There was terrible flooding that summer. We would show up at the park each day and wait out the rain for hours and eventually head back to the hotel. One day the coaches and I went to see that movie with nothing else to do after rainout number two. Davenport was not exactly a hot bed of entertainment and going to the Riverboat Casino once was enough of a contribution to the local economy, thank you very much. The flooding got so bad that the Mississippi River came right up to the outfield wall of the ballpark and from the pressbox I could see huge logs and debris floating down the river just outside the fence. The dugouts were flooded completely up the top the stairs and benches were put out along the right field line for players to use. We would take batting practice each day in the cages by the bullpen in the rain and wait to see if the game would be played. The parking lots were flooded and there was only one slim strip of land you could walk on the get the the front gate. It was crazy that we would even consider playing those games but they didn't want to wash the whole series if they could possibly avoid it. The River Bandits eventually had no choice because the entire field flooded shortly after we left town and they had to move their home games elsewhere. By the way, that Cougars team included 9 players that would make the Majors including Mark Kotsay, Ryan Dempster, Josh Booty and Randy Winn. Joe Funaro was probably the fan favorite on that team though and a great great guy. Roosevelt Brown, who would play for the Cubs eventually, was one of the biggest tools I ever met in the minors. He came over in a mid-season deal from Atlanta and thought he was too big-time to carry his own bags in "A" ball! Nitwit.
The previous summer had unbelievable heat with temps over 100 for days at a time. Elfstrom Stadium didn't have air conditioning at the time either. ESPN 2 was doing a minor league game of the week that summer of '95 and came out to do one of our contests with the game time temperature of 106 and humidity in the 90's. It was the third straight day of actual temps over 105. Matt Vasgersian and Steve Psycho Lyons came out to do the game in the booth next to mine. There was never a more miserable pair of guys in suit and tie than those two that day. I was in flip flops, shorts and a t-shirt with a fan pointing at me and a towel around my neck, thanks to only having to be on the radio. I was still miserable. I can't imagine their day but I did hear their curses through the wall during every commercial break! I will never forget it, lol. Ah, the glamor of minor league baseball. I still wouldn't trade it for the world :) The 1995 Cougars team included Booty, Luis Castillo, Todd Dunwoody, Brian Meadows and Amaury Garcia.
1/12/2014
As long as I'm reminiscing about my time with the Kane County Cougars, I will tell this story about Alex Rodriguez...with him in the news today for his year long suspension from the Yankees. Rodriguez played against Kane County with Appleton in 1994 as a skinny 18 year old. He was an amazing player with tremendous speed. One day in Wisconsin, he hit a gapper into right-center that most would have to hustle into a double. He ended by sliding safely into third. I remember telling people to come out and see him as soon as possible because he wasn't going to be in "A" ball very long. A-Rod would end that season all the way up in the Majors. He was also incredibly nice and would stay an hour after games to sign autographs. I remember leaving the stadium in Appleton after my postgame show, writing the postgame story and packing up the equipment to find him standing by the fence still signing things for kids all by himself. I was very impressed with him so am very disappointed with what happened to him since. He obviously couldn't handle fame or money or expectations or whatever. Like Bonds, he had no need to cheat or take steroids or anything. He was tremendous without it. After being the number one overall draft pick, the 18 year old hit .319 in 65 games with 14 homers, 6 triples and 16 stolen bases for the Foxes. He has thrown away his legacy. It makes me sad.
As long as I'm reminiscing about my time with the Kane County Cougars, I will tell this story about Alex Rodriguez...with him in the news today for his year long suspension from the Yankees. Rodriguez played against Kane County with Appleton in 1994 as a skinny 18 year old. He was an amazing player with tremendous speed. One day in Wisconsin, he hit a gapper into right-center that most would have to hustle into a double. He ended by sliding safely into third. I remember telling people to come out and see him as soon as possible because he wasn't going to be in "A" ball very long. A-Rod would end that season all the way up in the Majors. He was also incredibly nice and would stay an hour after games to sign autographs. I remember leaving the stadium in Appleton after my postgame show, writing the postgame story and packing up the equipment to find him standing by the fence still signing things for kids all by himself. I was very impressed with him so am very disappointed with what happened to him since. He obviously couldn't handle fame or money or expectations or whatever. Like Bonds, he had no need to cheat or take steroids or anything. He was tremendous without it. After being the number one overall draft pick, the 18 year old hit .319 in 65 games with 14 homers, 6 triples and 16 stolen bases for the Foxes. He has thrown away his legacy. It makes me sad.