SB Nation User Blog: 67WMAQ

Kenny Williams, Laff Riot

67WMAQ — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:54:48 -0000

Kenny Williams, Laff Riot

KW does improv comedy for charity. You can't give Gilda's Club $125 if you don't have 50 cents.

"Blame it on Rio." Or "How I learned to stop worrying and love the Olympics for 72 hours."

67WMAQ — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 20:00:34 -0000

Every story must begin with a relatable anecdote: I worked at WTMJ Radio in Milwaukee for 5 years. It is the flagship station of the Green Bay Packers radio network. This happened to be during Favre's glory years, so playoff appearances were pretty much a guarantee.

Every year, fan expectations followed a predictable pattern. They were cautiously optimistic on Monday morning. "We're facing a formidable opponent, we shouldn't take (team) for granted," they would say. By Friday, they were yelling "SUPER BOWL!!! TITLETOWN!!!! LOMBARDI!!!! WOOOOOO!!!" The Packers would then lose on Sunday, and the same people who were cautiously optimistic just seven days before came into work looking like their dog died.

Which brings us to Friday.

The Picasso wore a "medal." Turns out it said "participant" on the other side. I heard there were 20 thousand people in Daley Plaza for the Olympic announcement.

I'm willing to bet most of them were ambivalent about the Olympic bid...until the hype machine cranked up this week.

It wasn't too hard to get caught up in the craziness. Every news story leading up to the Friday's IOC meeting was a sign Chicago had it in the bag.

Oprah was going to Copenhagen! Obama was going to give a speech! The national media will be here to cover the announcement!

Even Charlie Gibson was flying to Chicago to anchor ABC's World News. They must have some inside info!

The rally itself was a combination of screaming Olympians and a halfway-decent cover band. Swimmer Rowdy Gaines was the master of ceremonies. Scottie Pippen pumped up the crowd. The lead singer of the cover band flawlessly copied the vocal styles of Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald, and Robert Plant. Cubs fans brought their "It's Gonna Happen!" signs. Ronnie Woo Woo got kicked out of the press area.

The IOC opened the vote at 10:12. It began with each bid city getting assigned a random number. Chicago got 4, and everyone cheered. The vote closed five minutes later. IOC President Jacque Rogge then said Chicago got the fewest votes, and was out. The four year effort to land the 2016 games was over in two seconds. People at Daley Plaza had no idea what to do next.

I had to do a live shot on WGN, and it wasn't that good. I had no clue what to say. I had to resist the temptation to say "we gone!"

The people who brought the "It's Gonna Happen!" signs took markers and wrote in "It's NOT Gonna Happen!" The signs remained pristine through TWO consecutive playoff three and outs, but the fans break out the markers for a failed Olympic bid?

I didn't see anyone crying. Most said "screw it" and went back to work. Those who did stick around cheered when the IOC picked Rio. Classy.

Rio's Olympic rally was a huge event on Copacabana beach. Made the Daley Plaza rally look like the dog and pony show it really was.

In the end, I got to interview Scottie Pippen (asked him if the IOC members' memories of the original Dream Team could help the Chicago bid), and I have another credential to add to my hall of failure:

There will be a lot of blame to go around in the coming days and weeks. I think it's unfair to pin this on Obama. Daley, of course, will have to wear it.

I, on the other hand, blame Mark Buehrle. We haven't been awarded a single Olympics since his perfect game.

Gordon Beckham: Slumpbuster

67WMAQ — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:54:01 -0000

Gordon Beckham: Slumpbuster

Atlanta's Kelly Johnson changed his at-bat music to The Outfield's "Your Love" to break out of his slump. It worked. Word is getting around.

The Savior apparently owns the MLB rights to the song, so a player needs his permission to play it.

10 Years Ago Tomorrow (tomorrow...tomorrow...tomorrow)

67WMAQ — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:15:42 -0000

A look back at the Summer of '99.

July 6, 1999

"The Kids Can Play" era in full swing. The 11 thousand or so in the stands at Comiskey Park got to see a bunch of future superstars, a World Series MVP, and two Sox broadcasters on the field that night.

The 1999 Sox are viewed, by some, as a nadir for the franchise. That lineup was pretty damn solid. If they had a pitching staff, that team probably would have made some noise.

The White Sox were the second worst draw in the American League that year (1.3 million). Barring some disaster, I'm pretty sure attendance will never be that bad again.

Look at this year. The team got off to a slow start, and there have been some poorly attended ballgames. But at mid-season the Sox are only 300 thousand fans away from outdrawing 1999.

Why? Us. I'm pretty sure most of us on this site are in our late 20's or early 30's. We're out of college and we have the time and money to go to Sox games. And you've got to admit Sox fandom has been all right. We grew up with Frank Thomas, Ozzie, and Robin Ventura. We got to see a World Series championship, several division titles, and a couple of entertaining pennant races.

But back in '99, there were still a lot of hard feelings among the ticket buying public - about Old Comiskey, the design of the new ballpark, the threatened move to Florida, the white flag trade, etc. Those fans took their grudges and never came back...at least until we took their place.

Listen to sports radio or read newspaper comment threads - the relexively pessemistic and pissed off fans are the ones who say they've been following the team for "30/40/50 years."

1999 was the end of a decade, the end of a century, and the beginning of a new era in Sox fandom.

The Fabulous Hawk

67WMAQ — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:59:44 -0000

The Fabulous Hawk

1986 Sports Illustrated profile of Hawk Harrelson, months after taking over as GM.

Everything was all smiles and sunshine as he fired most of the scouts and coaching staff - to replace them with his buddies.