If you’re looking for an amusing exercise this weekend, try flipping back and forth between the Cubs-oriented broadcast on WGN-AM 720 and the White Sox flag-wavers on WMVP-AM 1000. You can gauge how the game is going by the announcers’ tone.
If the Cubs are winning, Pat Hughes and Ron Santo will sound happy. If the Sox are winning, John Rooney and Ed Farmer will have a little extra bounce in their words.
When Carlos Lee hit the grand slam during the final game of the Sox-Cubs series at Wrigley Field earlier this month, Rooney admitted, “I’m falling out of the booth.”
Yet while Rooney is shouting out “GRAND SLAM!,” it’s a lower-case grand slam call for Hughes.
“I don’t know how guys broadcast every game and not pull for the team they’re covering,” Hughes said. “Yes I want the Cubs to win. I want them to win every game, and that includes games against the Sox.”
Still Hughes says he makes sure he gives Sox players their due. It’s no different than the way he raved over a play Reds shortstop Barry Larkin made in Wednesday’s Cubs-Cincinnati game.
“I’m aware that there’s a lot of flipping back and forth, and there might be some Sox fans tuning in,” Hughes said. “If a Sox player makes a good catch, I like to give the guy credit. I’m enough of a baseball fan to appreciate the greatness of a play.”
Of course there are fans in this town who never will give the other side credit. Here’s a fun thing to do: if you’re a Sox fan who takes great pleasure in seeing the Cubs suffer, turn quickly to 720 if the Cubs botch a big play to hear Santo in mid-groan.
Rooney knows Sox fans have more invested in the game’s outcomes. It is reflected in his call.
“Sox fans can tolerate losses to league opponents,” Rooney said. “But when it comes to the Cubs, it’s a different story. Everyone is up for these games.”
For his part Santo says he has nothing against the Sox; he played his final year for them. He maintains his approach is the same as it would be for a Cubs-Cardinals series. If the crowd is buzzing, regardless of who is playing, there is no need to manufacture emotion.
“The electricity and atmosphere feed into the broadcast,” Santo said. “When you get games like this, you just feel like you’re going to get good baseball.”
That’ll be a change of pace for Chicago baseball. Given the way both teams have played this year, this is one time when that old opening line works perfectly:
“When the Cubs and Sox play, you can throw away the records. Please!”
The lineup: On the television side, it’ll be all Sox Friday and Sunday. Ken Harrelson and Darrin Jackson will do Friday’s game on Fox Sports Net and Sunday’s on WGN-Ch. 9. Cubs fans get a reprieve Saturday when Thom Brennamann and Steve Lyons work the game for Fox Sports on WFLD-Ch. 32.
Sunshine: Last year’s Cubs-Sox Friday night game at Comiskey Park did a 9.6 rating, the largest ever for a baseball game on Fox Sports Net; 1 local ratings point is worth in excess of 32,000 homes. Fox Net, however, doesn’t figure to get the same audience because Friday’s game will be played in the afternoon.
According to the Sox, the game was scheduled for 1:05 p.m. because they want to create an Opening Day-like atmosphere. Also it will be easier on the players, as they won’t have to follow a day game after a night game.
Fox Net’s Jim Corno says the network doesn’t get involved in scheduling. He wasn’t overly concerned with the move.
“No matter when it is played, it will be our highest-rated game of the year,” Corno said. “People will find the game.”
If fans can’t see the game live, Fox Net will air a replay at 7 p.m.
Feeling better: Santo continues to make progress in adapting to the prosthesis on his right leg. He rode his horse for the first time the other day. He also hopes to be able to play at his charity golf outing July 9 at the Glen Club in Glenview.
“I’m not going to say I’m completely over the hump but I feel like I’ve done very well,” Santo said.
