The self-assured, officious Charlie Pallilo
Until today, I've never heard or read who's responsible for the repeated mispronounciation of Craig Biggio's surname.
Charlie Pallilo, radio sportscaster on ESPN790 ("The Sports Animal," grrrowllll), fixed that today, laying the blame on the late Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray and LA Dodger broadcasting legend Vin Scully -- two of the most famous baseball broadcasters who ever lived. (He also faulted Dan Patrick of ESPN, but to a lesser degree.)
OK, now I know who to blame. And, yes, the mispronunciation of Biggio's name is like fingernails across a blackboard to my ears, but I'll journey on and try not to dwell on it.
But in pontificating on the mangling of Biggio's Italian surname, the officious Pallilo called Harry Caray "the old drunk who couldn't pronounce cat properly."
Whoa, whoa! Wait a damn minute, Charles.
Harry may have drank too much, and he sure as heck mispronounced a lot of names in his day, but, at least in his latter years, that was part of his charm, the way I saw it.
And, to paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen's retort to Dan Quayle way back when, "You're no Harry Caray, Mr. Pallilo."
And, from the looks of his new station's pitiful ratings, he never will be.
(click here to send Charlie Pallilo hate mail. Tell him he's a bonehead.)
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6 comments:
I liked Harry.
Charlie is usually a pretty good guy and is very well informed and knowledgeable. However, since his move to a solo format, he seems to have no one to temper his excesses, one of which is arrogance.
C'mon Harry say "Joe Slusarski" one more time!!
WGN circa 1985:
Steve Stone: Manwaring steps in for the Giants.
Harry: Man wearing what, Stone?
Harry, about that same time:
Cey at the plate. oh-and-two, runners going ... He pops it up again. Good God Stone! How much are they paying this guy.
Anonymous, I think Harry pronounced it "Shtone."
Cacafuego, Charles is very knowledgeable, but there's something about him at times that grates. He's like that smart kid in your 4th grade class who knew all the answers, and when he gave the right answer he had that look on his face that said, "I knew the answer to that in the THIRD grade. Furthermore, most of you won't EVER make more than $19,000 a year, won't ever write a graceful sentence and won't ever get in free to every major sporting event in a large metropolitan city. SO I DON'T CARE THAT I'M ALWAYS THE LAST KID CHOSEN FOR KICKBALL AT RECESS!!"
Harry on Andres Galarraga:
Stepping in for the Expos Andres Gala .. gaala ... garra ... jeez,
shtone his name's like off some eye chart. Foreign someway. What ever happened to players like Jimmy Foxx? Nelson Fox? Names like Foxx?
Palillo would never have said that to Harry's face. Harry was too much like the kid that used to flush his head in the toilet between classes.
Charlie Palillo is a 4'8" dork that couldn't even begin to fill Harry's shoes. He never played any competitive sports but he does like playing with other men's balls. He needs to take his condescending ass back up to New York and stay there!
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