An Open Booth

If I was asked a week ago, I could've dedicated an entire months worth of blogs taking jabs at Ron Santo. How his broadcast partner, Pat Hughes, was paid in part for his play-by-play on WGN radio, and partly for babysitting a 70-year old mental patient who was a once upon time decent 3rd baseman. I could've peppered this blog with cracks at his borderline midget son, who consistently wailed profanity-laced tirades at the Pulse Man after he intentionally walked him in our monday night softball league, only to call for a courtesy runner and proceed to pound wine coolers in the visiting dugout (believe it or not, that's 100% true). I could ramble on about how he was the spokesman for his own induction into Cooperstown, or how his previews of opposing pitchers included nonsensical tidbits like "this guy's curveball really moves" and "he's got a changeup too, this guy". We could argue a case for Santo as quite honestly the worst color man since Guglielmo (best first name ever) Marconi invented the radio in 1895. This blog could be a lot of things, but in the end, Ron Santo was ultimately more Cub than scrub, except of course for that year he spent on the South Side in '74.

You can question his broadcasting talent, his knowledge of the game, and often times, his sanity; but you could never dispute Ron Santo's allegiance to the north siders. Santo is every much a part of the Cubs tradition as the ivy, the bleachers, John Barleycorn, and never winning. He faithfully stood by the Cubs in the 60's, when they won at about the same percentage as your shot at next week's Powerball. He was the Cub 3rd baseman during the Kennedy assassination, our country's first landing on the moon, the birth of the Beatles, and the entire Vietnam War. He then proceeded to be the Cubs' radio color man for Kerry Wood's 20 K performance, Sammy Sosa's record-shattering season in '98, and (gulp) the Bartman game. Santo lived through more events while affiliated with the Cubs franchise for over 4 decades than Forrest Gump did in a nearly 3 hour biopic. His trademark groaning over the radiowaves made his voice the infamous sound of a tortured team. He was adored by so many for his unyielding allegiance to a team, a uniform, and ultimately, a city. As a figure, Santo embodied the devoted passion, utter hopelessness and miseducation that every Cub fan holds close to their heart.

If you love the Cubs, Santo came as part of the deal. You couldn't escape his wandering stories that spanned across 3 innings without ever achieving an actual premise. After battling baseball, diabetes, and a god damn billy goat for 70 years of his life, Ron Santo's voice will only now live on as an echo in the corridors of the Friendly Confines. Next to Harray Carray's "Holy Cow" and Ernie Banks' "Let's play two" will forever remain Ron Santo's "Ohhhh, NOOOOOO!"

As for Pick of the Day, revealing the actual identity of the Pulse Man resulted in a "brutal brother" defeat Wednesday night. Because of Wednesday's attached picture of the Pulse Man, I was forced to answer questions as to whether that was the actual Pulse Man, or a google image result of the word "helpless". As a result and as a thank you to all of you, the Pulse Man has included his final Saturday 6 Pack of the College Football season.


Saturday 6 Pack

2 Team Parlay:
1. Auburn @ South Carolina- AUBURN, moneyline
2. Washington (-6) @ Washington St.- WASHINGTON

3 Team Parlay:
1. Nebraska (+4.5) @ Oklahoma- NEBRASKA
2. USC @ UCLA, Total Points-54- OVER
3. Florida St. @ Virginia Tech, Total Points-52- UNDER

'Big Ticket' Pick of the Day:
Pittsburgh (+2) @ Cincinatti- CINCY

Record:(36-25-0)

Now I'm done. Rack me

Frost