THIS IS MY BLOG! It will contain whatever *I* want to say. Remember, you are a GUEST. If you have some mental problem with my topics, words or personality, I suggest you click off my site and find something better to do on the Web.
Play nicely, or I will advertise your logged IP here for spammers to catch, along with banning it.
Gimmicks
Wednesday, August 28, 2002
OK, so the Detroit Tigers suck, but that puts a great spin on the impending strike because, well, most Michiganders gave up on baseball years ago! So, instead of the bru-ha-ha other baseball towns are going thru, the dismal feelings about their teams, the potential playoffs, etc., we just aren't experiencing it.
Our baseball coverage is focused on retiring play-by-play announcer Ernie Harwell EARLY. Forget the crappy Tigers, we have our own legend in Ernie, who has sat in our broadcast booth for us for 42 seasons. And to think, his career has spanned more than 7 decades! Geez, I feel YOUNG!
I have never been a baseball fan, even when I dated a fanatic and had to watch the games and help sort the collector cards, but everyone here knows and loves Ernie. In all honesty, HE is more the icon than the game or players. When management fired him in 1991, the fans were furious and when the team sold a few years later, Harwell was immediately rehired. Harwell, not the players, has kept the fans, HIS loyal fans, coming back year after year.
Probably few outside Michigan know him, but he has plenty of interesting tidbits, like:
1. He is the ONLY broadcaster to be traded for a player;
2. He was the fifth broadcaster to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame;
3. He has had recorded (by other musicians) many songs he has written;
4. As a child, he had a problem with speaking clearly;
5. His wife's name is Lulu. (YAY!)
He will be missed, far more than the Detroit players. Sunshine - Walking on Sunshine -
8/28/2002 06:50:00 AM
