Call Me!

The Chicago Cubs are getting harder to watch and listen to and not just for their play on the field. Trying to locate them on T.V. is almost impossible. Are they on Channel 9? No? What about WCIU? No? What about Chicago SportsNet? Now listening to them on the radio is getting challenging but in a different way. You can always find the Cubs on WGN-720AM (at least for now) but who are you going to hear?

We need to set up a phone tree. For those of you unfamiliar with phone trees, a group of people agree to call each other when a significant event happens - school closings, massive wave off the North Shore, big sale at Filene’s. We, as Cub fans, need to set up a phone tree for WGN Radio broadcasts of Cub games. We could even have secret codes!

If Ron Santo is on the air, we could call each other and say Code “Believe” as in “Be-lieve me” which is Ron’s favorite phrase that actually is a complete thought, although it usually starts the beginning of a run-on, incomplete sentence as in “Be-lieve (phonetically BUH-leeev) me Patrick and when I say hard throwing, you know, it’s so easy to see them throw hard but to hit and the ball, it comes in . . .”
Pat: Line drive! Down the leftfield line!

So Code “Believe” is “Ron’s on the air today.” I do have to admit, at least the Cubs have Ron doing “color”. He’s not really good at it, but they aren’t making the same mistake they made when Harry was waaaaay past his prime. Everyone kept saying that Harry was a great ambassador for the game. Yes he was, at any age. But he wasn’t a great play-by-play guy towards the end. They should have had him at the gate shaking hands and walking through the bleachers buying beer. With The Pat and Ron Show, at least you still know what’s happening on the field, even if you also know how much of the tuna sandwich Pat spilled on his sweater at lunch.

Dave Otto – Code “Steak”. Steak is Otto’s favorite saying, as in “Derrek Lee needs to get a couple of steaks here.” (Otto’s voice in his head “Okay, pause here so Pat will ask me what a steak is and I can show how clever and ‘inside’ the game I am”)
Pat: Gee, Dave, what do you mean by steak?
Dave: Some steaks are rib-eyes (RBIs) so when a guy has men on base we would say “Get a couple of steaks here!”
Pat: Well, that’s very insightful Dave.

Or stake as in Whenever I Hear Dave Otto On The Radio I Want To Drive A Couple Of Stakes Into My Ears!

Keith Moreland – Code “Pardner”. As in Keith’s a good ol’ boy from Texas where they call each other Pardner. Also as in Pat finally has a decent Radio Pardner.

Bob Dernier – Code “Silk”. As in the way Dernier played centerfield, smooth as Silk. Also the way he delivers in the broadcast booth.

If we call and say Code “Pocketbook” that means the Cubs finally decided that if they can spend $18,750,000 on a set up guy and $19,000,000 on an outfielder to play six innings, they could pay and get the best in the business. Code “Pocketbook” means Steve Stone is back.

Code “Baron” means they couldn’t afford Stone and got the next best guy. Code “Baron” says Rick Sutcliffe is back at Wrigley.

About 140 times this year Ron will be manning the microphone, so maybe we don’t have to call each other and report “Believe”. But for the other 20 games or so, we need to help each other out. We could be missing a really good broadcast, or we could be walking into a train wreck.