Bo from Iowa City e-mailed me with some nice comments Mike Hlas of the Cedar Rapids [and Iowa City] Gazette made about Bob Brooks.
Brooksie is the longtime Cedar Rapids sports broadcaster who is still running around eastern Iowa with his tape recorder and press credentials.
More power to Brooksie [pictured at the right, talking with Eddie Podolak in the Kinnick Stadium press box]. The guy loves his job, and the people he covers think a lot of him.
*
"It's supposed to be 80 today --- DON'T go fishing!" Bo wrote to me.
"Actually, I'm going to my grandson's 6th-grade track meet," I responded. "That'll be about all the excitement I can stand on an 80-degree day. Have a good one."
*
Speaking of veteran broadcasters, I heard from Mark Robinson of Iowa City.
He had Jim Zabel [pictured at the left], who's even older than Brooksie, on his mind.
Here's Robinson's e-mail:
Hello, Ron;
"You've mentioned a few cookbooks on your site in recent days. Those articles reminded me of Mother Podolak's Chili, which was broadcast far and wide by WHO radio about 20 years ago.
"I never managed to get my hands on that stuff, probably because I lived in places such as Tulsa and Dallas. Jim Zabel (get well, 'Z') pimped it as only Jim could. He made it sound like it was a lifesaving elixer.
"I am bothered by the fact that 87-year-old Jim Zabel, having survived pneumonia over the last several months, does not have a tribute site.
"I'm putting it up in the next few weeks. Audio going back to Chuck Long will be featured. And, if I can get it digitized, the entire Iowa/Texas Freedom Bowl game.
"Keep writing,"
Mark Robinson
Iowa City
[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Good idea, Mark. Keep me posted on the 'Z' tribute site. As for Mother Podolak's chili, which was cranked out by Eddie's mother, it was some very tasty stuff--and I'm sure Hayden Fry fed it to his players at their pregame meals in places like Columbus, Ann Arbor and Iowa City. Great hearing from you, Mark].
*
Throughout my writing years, I've used the word panic a lot.
For the benefit of today's essay, I looked up the word in my dictionary, and the first option says panic is "a sudden, overpowering terror, often affecting many people at once."
I guess that's the way I'd describe what's happening in St. Louis these days.
With the baseball Cardinals, I mean.
You know what's happening.
The Cardinals have the world's greatest manager. If you don't believe that comment, just ask the guy.
Tony LaRussa will tell you.
He's got everyone in St. Louis, even in East St. Louis, convinced he knows more about the game than anyone else.
But Tony's ballclub isn't playing well these days. The Cardinals just got swept by Milwaukee in their own park. Gee, Brewers fans -- all five of them -- didn't know they could have brought brooms to Busch Stadium.
Starting tonight, the Cardinals play the hated Chicago Cubs.
I say hated because that's how I think Tony LaRussa feels about the Cubs.
And Tony, I think, is in a state of panic.
He's activating pitcher Chris Carpenter Wednesday for the second game of the series.
Remember what the definition said -- "sudden, overpowering terror."
It's still just May, but Tony feels the season slipping away from him. And the last team he wants it to slip away in front of is the Cubs.
Carpenter will be a pitch limit of 75 to 80 against the Cubs.
Tony needs the guy to make something good happen. Me? I hope the Cubs go on a rampage against him.
*
I'm off to the track meet. Have a great day, everyone. I know I will.
