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Rare is the occasion when Ernie Banks is the leadoff man. He was Thursday (Jan. 24). The occasion was the 25th annual Comcast SportsNet Sports Awards at the Hilton Chicago. He received the Cubs Legend award to begin the evening’s festivities for the televised portion of the program.
Either a photo of these volunteers selling raffle tickets or one of the Comcast SportsNet Sports Awards recipients. Not a difficult decision.
Well, after a cocktail hour with auctions and raffle and a dinner. Because of a scheduling conflict caused by the revamped NHL season, the award-presentation portion of the program was not shown live — in deference to the Chicago Blackhawks’ game at Dallas.
The telecast was shown on tape at 11 p.m. A replay will be shown Sunday after the Blackhawks postgame. It’s recommended viewing (even if it does feature a few seconds of your humble correspondent applauding as part of a standing ovation for Connor McHugh, the final honoree. His category was Inspirational Athlete of the Year). And indeed he is inspirational.
Also honored were Darwin Barney (Cub of the Year), Bob Love (Bulls Legend), Richard “Rip” Hamilton (Bull of the Year), Otis Wilson (Bears Legend), Roberto Garza (Bear of the Year), Frank Thomas (White Sox Legend), Chris Sale (White Sox of Year), Frank Klopas (Fire Legend), Patrick Nyarko (Fire of the Year), Ed Olczyk (Blackahawks Legend) and Dave Bolland (Blackhawk of the Year).
CSN’s Susannah Collins interviews event chair Bill Barry.
Thursday’s event, which benefitted the March of Dimes, raised $890,000 from a record crowd of 1,200-plus.
As television viewers could tell, the evening’s festivities went off without a problem. As those attending the event could tell you, the evening’s festivities went off without a problem — with the exception of Susannah Collins introducing Frank Klopas as Fire Legend. Not that it was her fault. Technical troubles caused her to do it a second time. And a third time, too.
While some in the audience (OK, maybe merely yours truly) expected her to crack up during her third effort, she pulled off her duties like a pro so that TV viewers would never know.
The event marked the 25th together for the terrific trio of Jim Corno (president of Comcast SportsNet), Bill Barry (event chair) and Mike Leiderman (event producer). Here’s hoping there will be a 26th annual event with the three dynamic forces in place.
And, if the editorial department at elliottharris.com might offer a suggestion (well, it’s going to regardless): FOr the 2014 seating, put Mr. Cub Ernie Banks at table No. 14 (after all, it was his uniform number) rather than at table No. 13.
For more videos from the event, you can go to csnchicago.com.
For those who might have missed Thursday’s “Sports & Torts” on talkzone.com with co-hosts David Spada and Elliott Harris, the Jan. 24 show features interviews with former Minnesota Vikings stars Paul Krause and Chris Doleman. In case you missed the show (or in case you want to replay it), you can access it by clicking here.
OK, some non-gratuitous video (mainly because the video department at elliottharris.com finds little, if anything, that qualifies as gratuitous):
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