Jim O'Donnell: Keen young ears laud the Cooperstown weekend of Pat Hughes
PAT HUGHES WAS HONORED with the Ford C. Frick Award at Cooperstown on Saturday.
For the Cubs radio play-by-play man, his family, friends and fans, it is a weekend to celebrate.
For all others, it's a weekend to merrily roll along, perhaps wondering how far it is from The Royal Liverpool Golf Club to The Cavern Club - the Merseyside spawning ground of the Beatles.
(As the 2023 Open putts out Sunday, Terri Hemmert could undoubtedly inform that it's a little less than 13 miles.)
Of Hughes, a carbon-dating teaser would write: "He's got a marvelous radio voice and calls a solid game."
For a little more huzzah, a fresh voice was summoned. That would be someone who appreciates all of the subtly and audio nuance that Hughes brings to So Many Things Cubs.
ANSWERING THAT CALL was Kathleen Danes, the sports editor of The Daily Herald. She represents an energized sports media generation approaching its primacy.
The charge: Please tell why you like Hughes.
Her response: "Through 100-win seasons and 100-loss seasons, he's been the reliable narrator of the franchise since 1996. He's called many famous moments, like Kerry Wood's 20-K game, several no-hitters and, of course, the Cubs' 2016 World Series win.
"But his strength is making a mundane Thursday afternoon game against Pittsburgh interesting. He's a consummate professional and a meticulous researcher. He never forgets that it's a baseball game not to be taken too seriously.
"He might be best known for his uniform descriptions - right down to the Cubbie blue pinstripes. From anyone else, it might sound corny. But for Hughes, it fits his easygoing style as well as the ancient sweaters fellow broadcasters love to razz him for wearing."
Good enough. Fair enough. Comprehensive enough.
Pat Hughes has a Ford C. Frick Award. They can never take that away from him.
So a doff of the chapeau.
•••
OLIN KREUTZ WILL BE BACK analyzing the Bears for WSCR-AM (670) from studio wraparound on game days this season and that's a pleasant surprise.
A year ago, the Hall of Fame-caliber Hawaiian appeared to be forever consigned to the local broadcast scrap heap because of a pair of well-publicized "Olin being Olin" incidents.
The first involved his putting colleague Adam Hoge in a chokehold, reportedly over a flippant remark Hoge made before the scheduled taping of a podcast for CHGO Sports.
The second happened when Kreutz said he was offered $15 per-hour by the Bears to work as some sort of offensive-line consultant at Halas Hall.
BEARS CHAIRMAN GEORGE MCCASKEY publicly declined to confirm Kreutz's statement. Kreutz took that as an affront. For a while, the possibility of McGarrett, Danno and a forensics team from "Hawaii Five-O" working reports of a chokehold lingered in the Bear air above Lake Forest.
Now, with Audacy sinkmate WBBM-AM (780) failing to retain Bears radio play-by-play rights, "The Score" could sound an "all clear" on Kreutz and he's back.
He is knowledgeable, impassioned and has that dry Oahu surfside wit that has always played well at home-beach hukilaus.
Now if only the keenly sensitive Kreutz can make sure that he and Scott Hagel - the Bears senior vice president of communications and marketing - are on the same wave length.
STREET-BEATIN':
One person watching those hazing lawsuits against Northwestern University mount is Kevin Richardson, a former Stanford LB who is currently radio analyst for San Jose State football. Son Carl Richardson was a 2020 NU enrollee who walked into a crowded quarterbacks room and didn't have his college career play out quite as planned. He's now in the transfer portal. ...
Just when viewers thought ESPN/ABC's Jimmy Pitaro couldn't gum things up much more, now this: Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson are being replaced on the web's NBA A-team by Doc Rivers and Doris Burke. It's hopeful on the Maywood-spawned Rivers, a dreary downer about Burke. (How many synonyms does Roget have for "somber" and "funereal?:) ...
Kevin Cross and his buoyant crew at NBCSCH call in a bevy of reinforcements for the two-game White Sox-Cubs series beginning Tuesday night. Joining mainstays Jason Benetti, Ozzie Guillen and Steve Stone will be Frank Thomas, Leila Rahimi, Ruthie Polinsky and Mike Berman. Spanish-language anchors on NBCSCH+ are Hector Lozano and Raul Delgado. ...
From the great Mike Conklin: "Northwestern athletics should be down on its knees begging alum Joe Girardi to take charge of its baseball program." (Girardi would probably rather be poling for catfish on the East Peoria side of the Illinois River.) ...
And Denver Dickens, on those wee-hour Open TV tee times from Liverpool this past Thursday and Friday: "Kind of remains me of when the Kookaburra III was trying to win the America's Cup down off Australia back in '87." (Yeah, kind of.)
• Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Thursday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.