Thursday, May 21, 2009

I've Been Meaning to Say...

Today, a few topics from the news recently that I should have tackled sooner.

Paul Grimes died last week at the age of 61. He worked at several local radio stations. I met Paul, briefly, when he was with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. Mutual friends say Paul was a great guy. My sympathy to Paul's family and friends.

Tony Kornheiser has exited from ESPN's Monday Night Football booth. As noted earlier, I like Kornheiser-- a lot. Few do radio better. "Pardon the Interruption" is one of the best shows on television. However, Kornheiser shouldn't work Monday Night Football for the same reason I'm not on "Pennsylvania Outdoor Life." It's not a good fit. Other than a daily walk, I'm not an outdoorsman. Kornheiser was limited to quips, and that's not his thing. Some blogs and message boards speculate Kornheiser will be doing a radio show, somewhere, in the not too distant future. I look forward to it.

ESPN, and before that, ABC, tried to re-capture the 1970's Monday Night Football magic. You can't manufacture that. It doesn't come out of a bottle. It has to happen on its own. Repeated attempts have failed.

I was watching a CBS NFL game from the early 1980's on the NFL Network the other afternoon. It was just Pat Summerall and John Madden-- and it was more than enough. An entertaining color commentator and a solid play-by-play man-- it's all you need, and it will draw a crowd.

ESPN, please stop.

FOX Sports is supposed to start its playoff and World Series coverage before 8:00 PM this fall, and that's a good thing.

It's Memorial Day weekend. It seems like Christmas was yesterday.

Special thanks to the staff at Scranton's Robert Morris Elementary for their Tuesday morning hospitality.

I would occasionally encounter an elderly woman and her little dog while on my morning walk. The little dog, CoCo, recently passed away. The woman got another because she said it helps with occasional bouts of loneliness. I'm glad a dog has a new home. If you need a little friend, the shelters are full of them.

Congratulations to Magic 93's Frankie Warren, who finished first in WNEP's favorite DJ poll. Frankie is one of the good guys in the business.