All things, good or bad, eventually come to an end.

The Beatles with an A. Walter Cronkite on the news. The Cosby Show. Mike Ditka and the Chicago Bears. Jan and Marsha.

Sadly enough, a sports broadcasting icon has reached that end.

The problem is, the man himself - Harry Caray - doesn't realize it.

Do I realize what I'm saying? That what I'm doing is asking WGN or the Chicago Cubs to politely shove a legend out of the TV booth?

Yes and yes.

The Atlanta Braves and Cubs played a doubleheader at Wrigley Field on Tuesday. Here is what I heard and what others told me they heard during those two games:

12:05 p.m. - First game starts. Not 30 minutes into game, Harry calls Doug Glanville "Glavine." Not once, not twice. Says it numerous times. Hmmm, I think, Does Atlanta starting pitcher now roam outfield for Cubs?

Doug Glanville plays left field for Cubs. Tom Glavine pitches for Braves, but not on this day.

3 p.m. - Second game starts. Harry reads off Braves lineup. Says "Aubrey Jones" is batting fifth and playing center field. I wonder. How will Andruw Jones react to 70-something man with big black glasses calling him a girl?

Denny Neagle starts second game for the Braves. Harry calls him "Neegle." This Neagle is pronounced "Nagle."

Still in second game. Ryan Klesko plays first for the Braves, makes a great play. Harry raves about "Kelso's" fancy footwork.

That's only Tuesday, and I'm sure I missed many others.

And no, Tuesday was no off day. Dante (properly pronounced Dontay) Bichette is always "Dan-tee" to Harry.

And no, saying "Glavine" instead of Glanville was not the first time Harry skinned his Cubbies. When Amaury Telemaco returned to the Cubs from the minors several weeks ago, Harry peered through his big black glasses at the field below and declared "Telemaki" was on the mound.

But this is Harry, people say. Watch the middle of the seventh inning of a home game. Every head in Wrigley Field turns to look up at Harry as he hangs out of the booth and wails "Take Me Out To The Ballgame."

He is adored, and rightfully so.

But that is no excuse to keep him if he isn't getting the job done calling a game, which he's not.

Will a boss keep a salesman who doesn't make the company any money but is popular with fellow employees?

No way.

I know I'm not the only one who thinks Harry is embarrassing.

I also know Harry has a big fan club.

You know them, the ones who giggle at Harry's verbal faux pas, give a slight wave of the hand and say, "Oh, that's just Harry being Harry."

They say Harry calling Rafael Palmeiro "Rafael Palermo" is part of his charm.

I don't know. Maybe I'm asking too much.

After all, I'm used to listening to ex-Oriole Jim Palmer on Baltimore broadcasts. He was one of the best when ABC carried baseball in the 1980s, and he still is today.

Or how about the New York Yankees? Former players Jim Kaat and Ken Singleton call their games. They're solid.

So no, I'm not asking too much. If other teams can find articulate, well-informed commentators, the Cubs and WGN should be able to also. I shouldn't be forced to punch the mute button because of some guy with big black glasses who slurs his words and tells us Kevin Tapani's last name backwards is "Inapat," which sounds much better.

When Bo Shembechler joined the Detroit Tigers' front office a few years back, he dumped radio broadcasting legend Ernie Harwell. Harwell is back with the Tigers today, working television broadcasts.

I watch some of Detroit's games every so often. I bet Harwell is older than Harry. But I'll tell you this. Harwell today is still better than Harry three or four years years ago.

I know I'm pulling on Superman's cape and yanking on the Lone Ranger's mask and spitting into the wind and doing all that stuff you're not supposed to do. If WGN or the Cubs or whoever had any intentions of getting rid of Harry, they would have done so by now, based on performance.

I will give them this much credit: Harry's workload has been scaled back. He calls home games only.

But no one's going to completely dump Harry. Who wants to be known as the guy who chased Harry out of town?

So we wait. We wait on Harry to remove himself.

Guess what? That's never going to happen, either. Otherwise, he would have looked at himself in the mirror and decided to hang it up by now. [[In-content Ad]]