A call-up at The Fan

Godspeed to our Capitol Broadcasting comrade Dave Shore, the Operations Manager of 99.9 The Fan and 620 The Buzz.

Dave joined us three years ago from ESPN radio in Dallas when Capitol introduced sports talk radio to the FM dial at 99.9.

We’ve had our share of heartburn in the local radio wars, but overall, it has been BIG FUN…as we increased the station’s power, acquired 620 The Buzz and 1550 ESPN Deportes, added an HD radio channel and premiered wralSPORTSfan.com and ESPNtriangle.com.

ESPN has "recalled" Dave, not to Dallas, but to their sports station in Los Angeles. He’ll join the Lakers’ broadcast crew, and Dave gets to work with USC and the Angels...as Ops Manager at 710 AM ESPN Radio.

Best wishes to Dave and his wife Reenie on the Left Coast. It’s a great gig - sounds pretty glamorous - but you're gonna miss ACC hoops! The Zen Master and Kobe can't fill that void.

Dave's last free lunch on my expense account. From the left:

Sports Radio GM Brian Maloney, Dave, Capitol CEO Jim Goodmon, your blogger

Revisiting Rockwell

I was fortunate to get a preview of the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the NC Museum of Art a couple of weeks ago. A group from the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce attended thanks to our host, the Association for Corporate Growth.

Art snobs consider Norman Rockwell a kitschy illustrator, but history will likely judge him a great American realist painter. OK, what do I know about art!?! But we boomers (and our parents...and their parents) grew up with Rockwell’s magazine covers.

The NCMA exhibit includes over 300 Saturday Evening Post covers spanning forty-seven years. That’s a lot to take in. To navigate five decades, my wife and I would pick significant family milestones (birthdays & wedding anniversaries) and find the corresponding covers. Those framed covers frame history in a poignant way.

Rockwell took a personal interest in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and that’s another aspect of the exhibit. The night after our museum visit, Katie Couric did a story on one of the Rockwell paintings for the CBS Evening News.

What interested me the most? It should be obvious...



The Rockwell exhibition runs through January 30th. Work it into your calendar over the holidays!

American League MVP - Josh Hamilton

I would say there was a 99 percent chance that this would never happen. I mean, honestly, I think a lot of people would agree with that. Josh Hamilton quoted by the AP


We are big-time happy for Raleigh's Josh Hamilton. A well deserved honor for the Texas Rangers' slugger. The balloting was announced today. As the AP story puts it: This was one of baseball's most inspirational turnarounds. Eight trips to rehab...three lost seasons...and now he's a major force in the Majors. Click here for the story.

I'm a serious believer in second chances. (I've had my share, thankfully.) So, if it's within your power to extend such grace to someone, remember Josh, and do it!

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I was disappointed with the World Series TV ratings. Nationally, they were off 25-30%. Dallas and San Fran apparently weren't as compelling as the Yankees vs. just about anyone. Hard to swallow that. It was even worse in Raleigh-Durham. We were off by 50% over last year. 68,000 households were tuned in, though. I suppose that constitutes the Triangle chapter of the Josh Hamilton Fan Club!

The ratings generated a lot of chatter on sports talk radio. I'm not too concerned about the popularity debates. Sure, the NFL is numero uno, but baseball's real problem is saturation. Pro football is rationed: 16 games over four months. I have to remind myself that there's an awful lot of baseball. Twice as much as the NBA or NHL. There are 162 regular season baseball games. Across 30 teams that's 4,860 games before we get to the playoffs and World Series. Fans probably have baseball fatigue by late October...but after a brief rest...they are perennially psyched for Spring Training! Baseball endures.

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While we are on the subject of the World Series, I should correct the record: Josh Hamilton wasn't our sole connection to the Texas Rangers. Former Bull Jorge Cantu was on the team, too. He helped the Rangers win their division championship with an RBI and homer in the decisive game...but he wasn't in the line-up for the Series.

Way back in 2003, Cantu was a major contributor to the Bulls' championship run. He returned to Durham in '04 earning a spot on the International League's post-season all-star team.


Thanks to blogger Chris Wise of www.watchingdurhambullsbaseball.com for the reminder. Nice save, Chris.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Wolfpack vs. Tar Heels

I try to keep this blog nonpartisan. Occasionally, I slip up and write something less than complimentary about the Yankees or Red Sox. However, I avoid politics and the most incendiary topic of all - college rivalries.

Regarding the latter, it’s time for transparency. I confess that I’m a NC State fan, and Saturday’s 29-25 Wolfpack win over the Tar Heels was fine by me.

Removed from the fanatics (and hot tempers) in Chapel Hill, I snapped this photo at the Streets at Southpoint Saturday evening in Durham. I assume it was unintentional, but this clothing store had marked down its blazers...and the display was predominately Carolina Blue. A little retail humor:

Our company handles NC State's sports broadcasts and marketing for the athletic department - Wolfpack Sports Marketing. That includes apparel. May I suggest this T-shirt...perfect for Holiday gifting!

Shop at gopack.com

Swoosh!

Undoubtedly, you have encountered a Lids, Hat Shack, Hat World or Sports Fan-Attic at a shopping mall. The popular cap shops are all part of the same company found on the web at Lids.com.

Yet another division, LIDS Team Sports, provides team apparel to Minor League Baseball, and they proudly represent Nike.

The Bulls are honored to be featured in their 2011 catalog. The Durham Bulls Athletic Park and the Diamond View I and II buildings received a two-page spread.

Check out our Nike line at the Bulls Ballpark Corner Store. Click here, and type "Nike" in the search box.

Tinker Parnell: "Gotta have baseball."

The Durham Bulls lost their number one devotee last week when Thomas “Tinker” Parnell passed away at seventy-two. (He would not be pleased with devotee, but I needed something stronger than fan to capture his dedication to the ball club.)

I’m assuming he held the record for Bulls games attended by a fan. His father began bringing him to the old Durham Athletic Park when he was ten years old.

Tinker got a mention in Paul Hemphill’s The Heart of the Game. The author noted that he had his nameplate on the aluminum bleachers behind first base and was there in his Bulls cap and shorts and sneakers every night, greeting the players by name as they came out of the clubhouse to the dugout, giving the umpires hell, chain-smoking Winstons, wiping his face with a towel as the proceedings heated up, helping his grandchildren get autographs…

The “Gotta have baseball” line comes from a 1993 Duke Chronicle story. He was quoted in numerous publications as reporters penned features on the charm of the venerable DAP. Tinker was a venerated authority on the Bulls, and he always had a story to share.

In his more senior years at the new ballpark, he was a fixture in our lobby. It was sort of his personal clubhouse. Tinker’s the only fan who had access to our offices. The receptionist would send him back to our break room for a Pepsi, and he would check-up on the front office staff.

At his funeral Sunday the Pastor shared this stat and insight: "Tinker only missed two games at the old ballpark. One was for the birth of his son, and he regretted missing that one. I guess it was a really good game."

Tinker on video in 1994, interviewed for Ghosts in the Ballpark,

a tribute to the Durham Athletic Park

Click here for Tinker's obituary

Thanks to Bulls Assistant GM Jon Bishop for photos and memories.

The View

I noticed that Google has a relatively "fresh" aerial view of downtown Durham. That clearing to the right is the site of the new and improved Durham County courthouse. It's out of the ground now. Aside from the cranes, there are a few visible stories of steel and concrete.

The courthouse will top out at eleven stories. I'm thinking you will be able to see into the ballpark from the upper stories. Does that make the Durham judiciary a robbed version of the knothole gang?

Durham County website