Long Gone

Before we get started, I'm going to make one last plea for donations to the Revlon Run/Walk 2010 for women's cancer research and treatment. My wife Fran and I are walking this Saturday for the fourth straight year; it's important to us, both for the charity aspect and as an annual celebration of another year of life. I've been low-key about soliciting donations this year, because I know far too well how tight things are for everyone, but I'm gratified by the donations thus far (and behind on my thank-you messages, but I'll catch up) and I'm hopeful for just a few more from my radio colleagues and friends. https://www.revlonrunwalk.com/la/secure/MyWebPage.cfm?pID=533458 is where you can go to enter your donation. You can give in the weeks after the event, too, but Saturday's the big day, and we'll be carrying your support and good thoughts with us all the way to the finish line. Thank you!

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If you ever heard Ernie Harwell call a baseball game on the radio, you were a fan. The outpouring of emotion in the wake of his passing this week proved that. I was a fan, too, remembering hearing him back east through the skywave static on WJR over the years. The thought I had when I heard the news was pretty standard: They don't make 'em like him anymore.

I wonder whether, if an Ernie Harwell came along today, he'd be hired to call a baseball game. It's not hard to imagine the reasons why he'd run into trouble: that Georgia drawl. Not flashy enough. Sounds like a relic of another era.

Maybe they're right. Maybe an old guy just describing the action in a relaxed manner, telling stories, imparting baseball knowledge gained over the course of several decades is too old-fashioned for 2010, and too dated to attract young audiences. You gotta keep up with the times; fans raised on PS3 and X-Games are looking for faster, harder, louder. Yet take a look at the response to the news of Ernie Harwell's death from young fans who only heard him in his last few comeback years. Look at the reverence among fans of all ages for Vin Scully. Remember the fans, young and old alike, children, teenagers, adults, and seniors, who came out to mourn Harry Kalas last year. Great talent has a way of cutting across demographic lines, and great talent has a way of becoming part of people's lives. In Tiger country, that's what Ernie Harwell did.

Not everything has to be like a video game. Not everything has to be aimed at a short attention span. Perhaps the days of the classic baseball announcers like Ernie Harwell are numbered, but it's been a great ride. They may not make 'em like him anymore; it would be nice if they did.

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I don't have a slick transition in mind from Ernie Harwell to what's on tap this week at All Access News-Talk-Sports' Talk Topics show prep column, so I'm not even gonna try. We'll just stick to running down some of the items you'll find there right now, including candles that smell like White Castle sliders, the strange case of the guy bending over in a mini-skirt, the end of Arizona's speed cameras, the merciful termination of the JaMarcus Russell era in Oakland, an airport security workers' brawl over a penis joke, an alternate explanation for Elvis' death, a striking mom, church services for dogs, haunted government offices, a psychiatrist who needs a psychiatrist, a website your kids may be using that might appall you, a chubby little boy singing Lady Gaga songs, a guy finally getting a first name after 19 years of "hey, you," parents protesting Pampers, the battle to create the World's Strongest Beer, the Great Phillies Fan Tasering Controversy of 2010, and much more, including plenty on the oil leak, the Times Square Terrorist, the economic rollercoaster, the Tennessee floods, and all of that "real news" stuff you'll want to be discussing. Don't miss "10 Questions With..." KDWN/Las Vegas morning host Heidi Harris, and check out the rest of All Access for the usual first/best/most complete industry news coverage, music charts, columns, ratings, job listings, the Industry Directory, and forums, all free. Yeah.

Hey, make sure you follow the Talk Topics Twitter feed at twitter.com/talktopics, where you'll get every item served up in handy headline form for easy reference and access. We have an All Access Net News Twitter feed, too, at twitter.com/allaccess. My own Twitter stuff is at twitter.com/pmsimon. The All Access iPhone app is available here. And pmsimon.com is where I post some of my other writing on forgotten pop culture and whatever else is on my mind.

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One more reminder: This column now has a permanent home on the Web at allaccess.com/the-letter. You'll find archives there, too, and the ability to comment on the column and share it through Twitter, Facebook, Digg, e-mail, whatever works for you. So, if you're reading this via e-mail, stop by and check it out.

And again, thanks for your support of the cancer walk this year.

Perry Michael Simon
Editor
All Access News-Talk-Sports
psimon@allaccess.com
www.facebook.com/pmsimon
www.twitter.com/pmsimon