A Word About The Bird

Damn, the "submit" button was barely clicked for the Harry Kalas post when word arrievd about Mark "The Bird" Fidrych, who passed away Monday at the age of 54.

Fidrych arrived on the scene like a flash in the summer of '76. I remember one of my friends enthusiasticaly telling me about this crazy pitcher who talked to the ball. In those pre-Internet, pre-24 hour news cycle days, it was awhile before i got to see him for myself, and i wasn't disappointed. Antics aside (besides talking to the ball, which he later clarified was actually talking to himself, Fidrych groomed the mound with his hands, ran off the mound after retiring the side, and was known to shake hands with players after they made a nice play in the field), the kid could pitch, racking up 19 wins en route to the Rookie of the Year award.

More than that, Fidrych was genuine. By all accounts, he was just a cool guy who happened to have the ability to pitch at the big league level. After fate cruelly intervened with a series of debilitating injuries which forced him from the game by 1980, he remained upbeat and thankful for the time he had. Simply, he was a "character" who was just being himself.

The sports world is a little less cool today. Damn.

Goodnight, Harry

Sad news out of Washington today as Harry Kalas, longtime voice of the Philadelphia Phillies and NFL Films, passed away at the age of 73.

Though not from the Philly area, we grew up with Kalas as the golden throated voice of NFL Films. He had that classic voice which could make even the most mundane 3 yard off tackle play into a battle for the ages, make an awful 4-12 team sound like world beaters, or make a aging veteran quarterback into a warrior headed for one last battle.

Finding out later that he was a baseball play-by-play guy struck us as odd, until we heard him do a game. The man was money, pure and simple, and he will be missed.

Elway Frowns On Your Shenanigans, Jay

The Denver Bronco saga continues to provide endless hours of entertainment, if by "entertainment" you mean "whiny bitching".

Mr. Bronco himself, John Elway, expressed his disappointment over the entire Jay Cutler situation last week, and this was before yesterday's trade to the Bears.

Speaking at a fundraising event in Pueblo, Elway said, "I'm disappointed
for both sides, I look at the Denver Broncos organization as the best in the
NFL, as well as Jay Cutler as (one of) the top five quarterbacks in the
league."

Hmm.....well said John. We can't imagine the unmitigated gall of a Quarterback who gets so frustrated about playing in a certain city that he whines his way into forcing the team to trade him elsewhere. Man, what kind of ungrateful scak of crap would pull a stunt like that?