O’Donnell: PCA has Cubs fans walking on Wrigley Field sunshine

OH TO BE 23 YEARS OLD, commanding, charismatic and able to flip Major League Baseball games in a single bound.

That would be Pete Crow-Armstrong — the Fresh Prince of Wrigleyville.

The Cubs are winning and he is soaring.

He's so “of the now” that he makes new-angst singer-composer Billie Eilish look old school, positively Adele.

TEN-YEAR-OLD KIDS WANT to be him. Scene-making thirtysomethings want to be in or around Wrigley Field whenever he's set to deliver any of his blink-speed YouTube keepers.

The AARP crowd merely aims to be groovin' on these happy-ivy summer afternoons.

Winning baseball is great.

Winning baseball with a center field generator from Premium SoCal Casting powering theater is even greater.

Crow-Armstrong is pedigreed to the performance arts. Actor-parents Ashley Crow and Matthew John Armstrong — once ferocious All-State linebacker “Matt Armstrong” of Naperville Central High School — propel that lineage.

BUT ABOUT THAT “PCA”:

Dandy, handy and all-so organic — it's almost Village People in its rhythmic convenience:

“It's fun to watch him now, P-C-A play.

“It's fun to watch him, young P-C-A play.”

But crisp alteration straight ahead? Something for the nouveau “in” at Addison and Clark? The kind that top their whipped tallow cream latte with lightning-bug honey?

HOW ABOUT “PECCA?”

“PCA” spun into a midsummer crest's acronym?

(Influence: Dean Martin, after his Rat Pack run at The Sands in Las Vegas was over and he was headlining at the original MGM Grand. His King of Cool verbal shorthand for that play palace: “The Meggum” — M-G-M.)

Pecca peaks. Pecca powers. Pecca streaks. Pecca towers.

“'Pecca' leads Cubs to 2025 world championship.”

FOR NOW, IT'S ALL A BLUE MOON dream in June.

But the potential for free-range showmanship taking place every time No. 4 is on the field for Craig Counsell and his strata-climbing men is enough to make even the most tuned-in fan in The Captive Sports City ask:

Caleb who?

STREET-BEATIN':

More Cubs: Sammy Sosa's re-emergence at The Friendly Confines on Friday was ill-timed and insulting. A hologram of Hack Wilson swilling bathhouse gin would have been more dignified. Sosa's synthetic “home run battle” with Mark McGwire serves as a constant reminder of what months of deflation July-December 1998 were in Chicago sports. Jerry Reinsdorf's unforced breakup of the championship Bulls dynasty remains the greatest self-inflicted major sports op mistake of America's 20th century. …

Oklahoma City is -7½ against visiting Indiana in Game 7 of the NBA Finals Sunday (7 p.m., ABC). The logic of illogic says the Pacers are a lock 'n a shoo. Factors: Rick Carlisle has outcoached OKC's Mark Daigneault in too many key moments. IND's Tyrese Haliburton has dug deep to manufacture too much postseason magic to stop now. And, the Thunder's greenness shows at the worst times for their faithful. …

As expected, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and associates won a short-term battle of chicken with Bunker Bill Carstanjen and Churchill Downs Inc., so racing at Fair Grounds near New Orleans will go on this winter. The best solution for the state is to purchase the historic track and have CDI depart. Main barrier to a similar solution regarding Arlington Park is that too many entities in Illinois had honked off the late Dick Duchossois and he decided to take his race track with him. …

Audience numbers for both the NBA Finals and the Florida-Edmonton Stanley Cup Final have dipped significantly and that was zero surprise. Smallness of markets contributed but so was the fact that both the NBA and NHL seasons are simply too long. Despite the presence of superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the Oilers' 5-1 concluding loss in Game 6 at Panthers was a huge viewing disappointment. …

Fremd High's very own Mike Tauchman had a nice surprise when the first wave of balloting for the 2025 MLB All-Star Game was announced. The White Sox plugger finished fourth as a DH, bumped up to third when the Red Sox traded star Rafael Devers to San Francisco last weekend. Further irony is that Tauchman has appeared in just four games as batter-only for Will Venable and the Slouch Siders. …

Strictly personal: Faithful reader — and dart-boarding column critic — Jon Freier died Thursday. He was old enough to remember forging a lifelong friendship with future Cub Tom Lundstedt at Our Savior Lutheran Sunday school in Arlington Heights back when Ray Kroc was still dreaming his dreams in the suburb's Scarsdale neighborhood. “Jonny” offered a shoulder to laugh on and a psyche to lean against amid the most challenging of foxhole ticks. His infectious even keel was a gift from God.

• Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Wednesday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.