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Sunday sentences (and occasional thoughts): For one day, couldn’t Vin Scully and Ken “Hawk” Harrelson trade places in the broadcast booth. Let Chicago White Sox fans hear what it’s like for one man to provide the audio backdrop for a baseball game, and let Los Angeles Dodgers fans hear what it’s like to get excited (some might say overly excited) about any and all perceived slights to the team that he is working for.
Ho, ho, ho: Christy Hemme is a seasonal delight, regardless of the season.
For those who think Harrelson, 70, has been around for a long time with the Sox (he was with them from 1982-85 before rejoining them in 1990), consider this: The Sox playing the Dodgers is a rematch of the 1959 World Series. L.A.’s broadcaster that season was Vincent Edward Scully, who will turn 85 in November. Born in the Bronx where the New York Yankees provided a formidable foe for the Dogers in postseason play, Scully has been with the franchise since 1950 when it was in Brooklyn. Harrelson’s big-league career didn’t begin until 1963 with the Kansas City Athletics.
Of course, if the two men did trade places for a day (such as Sunday when the Sox take on Los Angeles in Dodger Stadium), the two also should trade styles, catch-phrases, etc. — at least for an inning. Grab some … microphone.
Speaking of catch-phrases, just once wouldn’t you like to hear Hawk’s “Stay fair!” exhortation on a ball off the bat of a Sox player for a possible home run that isn’t headed down the left- or right-field lines but for one hit to straightaway center? OK, guess we’ll have to wait for the parody of him for that.
And when the day comes for Harrelson to head to that great broadcast booth in the sky (presumably with a golf course nearby), how difficult will it be for headline writers to come up with something other than his patented “He gone” exclamation? That phrase will appear in print and/or on Web site (of whatever media exist when that time comes). You can put it on the board, yes!
Congratulations to figure competitor Chaya Boone of Chicago on winning her IFBB Pro card at the NPC Junior Nationals in Rosemont, Ill.
If Scully is not the perfect baseball broadcaster, he has to be about as close as there has been. Some of us have our own personal preferences. Harry Caray? For sheer excitement, you would be hard-pressed to find a broadcaster more adept in that regard than Caray in his prime (which he wasn’t toward the end of his career). Jack Buck? Jack Brickhouse? Those who grew up listening to either of those two could make a strong case that each is at least on a par with Scully.
Speaking of perfection and Scully, he has been around for his fair share of perfect games, most notably Don Larsen’s for the Yankees agasint Brooklyn in the 1956 World Series. He also called Sandy Koufax’s (1965), Cincinnati Reds left-hander Tom Browning’s vs. the Dodgers (1988) and Montreal Expos right-hander Dennis Martínez’s vs. the Dodgers (1991).
Harrelson has perfection on his resume with Mark Buehrle (2009) but missed out on Philip Humber (2012) because it was on Fox. Mercy!
Overall bikini champ at the 2012 NPC Junior Nationals is Lacey DeLuca.
Because of a previous commitment, your correspondent was unable to attend the NPC Junior Nationals in Rosemont that included bikini, figure and fitness, among other categories. The same commitment also precluded attending PCW’s “Dream Night 11″ wrestling card in Oak Lawn with Christy Hemme among the featured guests.
Which means the video department at elliottharris.com was unable to take footage at either event. Perhaps in the coming days, we will be able to track down some video of the events.
As results filter in, we likely will provide more photos of folks we know who have won. This much is certain: Lariyah Daniels, a favorite around here, did not. To these untrained eyes and juding by photos posted on Facebook, lovely Lariyah looked pretty, pretty, pretty good. Then again, the subject of subjectivity always will be a part of such events.
Overall winner in the bikini division was Floridian Lacey DeLuca.
From the elliottharris.com department of self-promotion (as well as repetitive redundancy because this is the third consecutive day of such self-promotion), let the record show that my first article for Chicagosidesports.com was published Friday. The subject matter is timely (as if that’s a consideration) in that Sunday is Father’s Day, and the writing concerns a Father’s Day from 1994. It also involves baseball. For those of us who enjoy the intersection of life and baseball, it doesn’t get much better than that — at least from my perspective.
This illustration by Mark Ben Harris is part of a Father's Day piece at Chicagosidesports.com.
Because this is my site and I get to do pretty much what I want to do around here, here is the link to the work posted at Chicagosidesports.com for your perusal. As was stated on this site Friday and Saturday, it is a pleasure to join some of the other writers whose work has graced the new site. Among them, Robert Kurson, Jonathan Eig (the site’s co-founder and editor-in-chief), James Finn Garner, Bill Savage and Dan McGrath, to name a few.
Also as noted Friday, the Chicagoside article does not include gratuitous photos. To compensate for that, the editorial staff at elliottharris.com spent considerable time and effort (OK, this is really only a gullibility test; minimal time and effort but no one needs to know that) in search of appropriate photo(s) and/or video to compensate for any lack of gratuitous visuals. Here’s something that hopefully more than a few folks in the audience will enjoy.
Random video of Noemi Olah, who is from Hungary and lives in Texas:
Something says we have not seen the end of Lariyah Daniels as a bikini competitor. As in the end of her bikini career.
For those scoring at home (or anywhere else for that matter) and even for those who are not, let the record show:
* The Chicago Sky actually lost a game. The Indiana Fever ended the WNBA team’s six-game winning streak with an 84-70 decision Saturday (June 16) in Indianapolis. Sky guard Epiphanny Prince left the game in the first quarter with an injury to her right foot. Center Sylvia Fowles had 26 points and six rebounds, forward Swin Cash scored 15 and guard Courtney Vandersloot had 12 points for the Sky (7-2).
The Fever (5-3) has handed the Sky both of its defeats this season.
* The Chicago Bandits defeated the host Carolina Diamonds 8-3 at Kannapolis, N.C. The National Pro Fastpich teams conclude their series Sunday with the Bandits have won two of the first three games.
* The Arena Football League Chicago Rush defeated the visiting Gerogia Force 62-27 at the ALlstate Arena. The Rush (8-5) improved to 7-0 at home this season. Quarterback RUss Michna threw for six touchdowns. “We’ve kind of had an interesting year here,” he said. “Where we’ve had a lot of, you know, turnover on the [defensive side] of the ball and we’ve been pretty stable on the [offensive], so if we can get that thing right in the same direction and get them playing well, get us playing well and hopefully we can make a little run here.”
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