'Hawk' Harrelson Takes Parting Shots At Wrigley Field
August 9, 2017 at 3:38 p.m.
By Roger Grossman-
He certainly has let everyone know over the years that the league hates the Sox, the umpires are out to get the Sox, and one more thing – he hates the Cubs.
Even more than that, he hates Wrigley Field.
In May, “Hawk” announced the next step in his long, slow farewell from broadcasting would come to end next season.
The Sox, Harrelson and his replacement, Jason Benetti, have been working on a schedule for broadcasting games in 2018, which Harrelson has said would basically include 20 home Sunday games.
That may seem odd to you, but he currently only broadcasts road games. Harrelson lives in Granger, which is east of South Bend, and commuting to the south side of Chicago would be tough for a 75 year old guy – or any of us for that matter. So for him, it’s easier to travel with the team on road trips than do home games, and the Sox have accommodated that.
Who can blame them for that? Harrelson’s broadcast style fits Sox fans style. He speaks their language. They work well together.
So in the midst of hashing out the details of who is doing what in 2018, Harrelson declared that he is not one bit interested in traveling across town to do the White Sox interleague games against the rival Cubs.
"I'll tell you this much, I'll never go back to Wrigley Field again," Harrelson said late last week to anyone who would listen. "Worst press box, worst booths for television. It's a joke. It really is. So Jason is getting ready for those (games) at Wrigley. I will never step foot in that ballpark again. Ever."
Well, OK then.
Harrelson is just singing the last verse of a dirge he started decades ago. It’s a song whose chorus is “no matter what, hate the Cubs for no other reason than it’s the Cubs.” White Sox fans have always felt that way, but it stayed way under the radar until interleague games between the Cubs and Sox started to count in the standings. When those games started to matter, it changed everything.
Harrelson is the pied piper of White Sox Nation, and his legion is following along with baseball bats for torches in-hand.
Harrelson can be very good at broadcasting baseball. He shares a lot of stories about the old days and he does a really good job of making those stories relevant to what is happening on the field at the time. He also, along with Steve Stone, does an excellent job of teaching viewers about the finer points of playing baseball. They don’t just mention how important footwork is for middle infielders, for example, they explain why it’s important and what it should look like.
I always harvest something good from the Sox TV broadcasts.
Unfortunately, you have to sift through a lot of … other stuff … to find those diamonds.
So on his way out, he gave us his declaration that he would no longer set foot in the dump that is Wrigley Field.
Great … stay home then.
I would like to point out a few things, though, in response to Mr. Harrelson’s declaration.
The ball park currently occupied by the White Sox is so beloved by Sox fans that they generally choose to stay home and watch the game on TV, rather than go to the games and surround themselves with empty seats.
There is no atmosphere because there is no joy there. You can bash Cubs fans all you want, but when we go to Wrigley we have fun. We don’t sit around and mope about our lives and how we are treated by others. We enjoy a day at the most beautiful setting in sports.
The White Sox have “ball park envy,” and they only have their ownership to blame. When they tore down Comiskey Park to build a brand new stadium, they had a horrible plan for it. Not nearly enough parking directly adjacent to the stadium, a large majority of the seating is in the upper level – an upper deck that is so steep it makes mountain goats nervous, and it has no personality whatsoever.
As a matter of fact, the Sox have spent every year since it was built making changes to what is now known as Guaranteed Rate Field (whatever the heck that is) to make it more like Wrigley. That includes the installation of ivy in the hitting background in center field.
And I find this whole rant about “never stepping foot inside Wrigley Field again” quite curious from a guy who doesn’t even do his own team’s home games. It’s like a guy who doesn’t like the house he lives in but has no problem complaining about the accommodations in the hotels he stays in.
If Harrelson doesn’t want to be at Wrigley Field anymore, then collectively Cubs fans say “He gone!”
Don’t come back.
He certainly has let everyone know over the years that the league hates the Sox, the umpires are out to get the Sox, and one more thing – he hates the Cubs.
Even more than that, he hates Wrigley Field.
In May, “Hawk” announced the next step in his long, slow farewell from broadcasting would come to end next season.
The Sox, Harrelson and his replacement, Jason Benetti, have been working on a schedule for broadcasting games in 2018, which Harrelson has said would basically include 20 home Sunday games.
That may seem odd to you, but he currently only broadcasts road games. Harrelson lives in Granger, which is east of South Bend, and commuting to the south side of Chicago would be tough for a 75 year old guy – or any of us for that matter. So for him, it’s easier to travel with the team on road trips than do home games, and the Sox have accommodated that.
Who can blame them for that? Harrelson’s broadcast style fits Sox fans style. He speaks their language. They work well together.
So in the midst of hashing out the details of who is doing what in 2018, Harrelson declared that he is not one bit interested in traveling across town to do the White Sox interleague games against the rival Cubs.
"I'll tell you this much, I'll never go back to Wrigley Field again," Harrelson said late last week to anyone who would listen. "Worst press box, worst booths for television. It's a joke. It really is. So Jason is getting ready for those (games) at Wrigley. I will never step foot in that ballpark again. Ever."
Well, OK then.
Harrelson is just singing the last verse of a dirge he started decades ago. It’s a song whose chorus is “no matter what, hate the Cubs for no other reason than it’s the Cubs.” White Sox fans have always felt that way, but it stayed way under the radar until interleague games between the Cubs and Sox started to count in the standings. When those games started to matter, it changed everything.
Harrelson is the pied piper of White Sox Nation, and his legion is following along with baseball bats for torches in-hand.
Harrelson can be very good at broadcasting baseball. He shares a lot of stories about the old days and he does a really good job of making those stories relevant to what is happening on the field at the time. He also, along with Steve Stone, does an excellent job of teaching viewers about the finer points of playing baseball. They don’t just mention how important footwork is for middle infielders, for example, they explain why it’s important and what it should look like.
I always harvest something good from the Sox TV broadcasts.
Unfortunately, you have to sift through a lot of … other stuff … to find those diamonds.
So on his way out, he gave us his declaration that he would no longer set foot in the dump that is Wrigley Field.
Great … stay home then.
I would like to point out a few things, though, in response to Mr. Harrelson’s declaration.
The ball park currently occupied by the White Sox is so beloved by Sox fans that they generally choose to stay home and watch the game on TV, rather than go to the games and surround themselves with empty seats.
There is no atmosphere because there is no joy there. You can bash Cubs fans all you want, but when we go to Wrigley we have fun. We don’t sit around and mope about our lives and how we are treated by others. We enjoy a day at the most beautiful setting in sports.
The White Sox have “ball park envy,” and they only have their ownership to blame. When they tore down Comiskey Park to build a brand new stadium, they had a horrible plan for it. Not nearly enough parking directly adjacent to the stadium, a large majority of the seating is in the upper level – an upper deck that is so steep it makes mountain goats nervous, and it has no personality whatsoever.
As a matter of fact, the Sox have spent every year since it was built making changes to what is now known as Guaranteed Rate Field (whatever the heck that is) to make it more like Wrigley. That includes the installation of ivy in the hitting background in center field.
And I find this whole rant about “never stepping foot inside Wrigley Field again” quite curious from a guy who doesn’t even do his own team’s home games. It’s like a guy who doesn’t like the house he lives in but has no problem complaining about the accommodations in the hotels he stays in.
If Harrelson doesn’t want to be at Wrigley Field anymore, then collectively Cubs fans say “He gone!”
Don’t come back.
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