Harry Caray was considered by many as the greatest play-by-play announcer in the history of baseball. Fans of Mel Allen of the Yankees and Vin Scully of the Dodgers would disagree, but to those of us in the mid-west, Caray was the best. He was still the announcer for the Chicago Cubs when he died February 18, 1998, at the age of 83. His #1 fan, after wife, Dutchie, was Pete Vonachen. The two had been close and dear friends for 48 years.

It was only natural for me to put together a remembrance of Harry Caray with Pete on “Breakfast with Royce and Roger,” our radio show on WOAM. On Friday, February 22, speaking by phone from his home, Pete discussed his long friendship with Harry, recounting a number of very funny stories. I ended the interview with Pete’s memorable eulogy at the February 27 funeral service in Chicago. Pete’s life is filled with many significant achievements, none, however, more significant than his fifteen minute remembrance of his years as Harry’s dearest friend. With notables from all over Chicago, the state, and the nation in attendance, from Sammy Sosa to Mark Grace to the Governor of Illinois to Mike Ditka, as well as members of the Caray family, Pete was the highlight of the service with one humorous anecdote after another, interspersed with emotional and moving descriptions of the character and personality of his friend. I ended the recorded eulogy with Harry singing his familiar 7th inning refrain, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” It was a fitting tribute to not only Harry Caray, but to the kind of friendship few people experience in their lives.

CHEAP SHOT

The headline, Peoria Chiefs in trouble? was nothing but a front page cheap shot at management of the Peoria Chiefs. One could easily say the same about the financial challenges of the Peoria Journal and its publisher GateHouse as reported in this column recently. As explained by Pete Vonachen on “Breakfast with Royce and Roger,” the Chiefs are dealing with the financing of the baseball field, not the operations of the club. Unlike the negative newspaper article, officials are optimistic about reaching a positive solution.

UNDER ATTACK…..AGAIN!

One has to wonder why Congressman Aaron Shock is again under attack by the Jobs and Progress Fund. For the third time the Fund is sponsoring attack ads against the Peoria resident. This time the ad reminds everyone Shock is under investigation for alleged campaign wrong-doing. Again the ads are running only in major cities of the 18th District. The Journal points to a wealthy Chicago businessman, but Erick Erickson, a well-heeled broadcaster and political blogger based in Macon, Georgia, is sponsor of Jobs and Progress Fund, a conservative organization. Supporters of Shock claim the effort is to discourage the former District 150 board member from running for Governor. I don’t think so, although it could have such a benefit. Since the negative TV campaign is taking place only in the 18th District, I think the reason or reasons run deeper. Several attempts to contact Erickson have been unsuccessful. After three years on CNN, Erickson left to go to work at Fox News. He has a popular conservative blog site, RedState.com, though he probably has as many conservatives who dislike him as liberals. Trashing Shock adds to his lengthy list of Republican critics, so one wonders who really cares what he thinks. He can be heard week nights from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. on Atlanta radio, WSB AM-FM, in case you’re interested.

EYE ON MEDIA

They did it again! This time it was MSNBC, the official, unofficial, Democrat cable network featuring such leftists as Ralph Maddhole. This time Fox News exposed MSNBC for editing a news story and videotape falsely claiming that the father of a child killed at Newtown had been heckled during his testimony before a Congressional committee. As shown clearly by Fox News, the father had not been heckled and the MSNBC tape was deliberately edited by the left-wing cable network. One wonders what other lies MSNBC spouts that haven’t been uncovered. Of course, the Fox News exposure was not reported by other liberal news outlets like Associated Press, New York Times, ABC, blah, blah.

BEWARE!

You’ve probably seen the many TV ads promoting the Vonage phone service and how you can call anywhere for next to nothing. Count me in as one who fell for the ads. When all the equipment arrived, I decided to stick to the old method of just picking up the phone and dialing. I sent all of the bulky stuff back and asked for the guaranteed refund. Never got it, but did get billed for a couple of months. Apparently, I wasn’t the only sucker, I mean victim. Vonage recently lost a class action lawsuit for, count the zeros, $4,750,000.00. The settlement came from the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Justice triumphs again! Unfortunately, I didn’t get my refund.

MEDIA NOTES

My life-long friend, Royce Elliott, continues his recovery from a second stroke. He’s making progress and I long for his return to our morning show. I miss his wit, humor, jokes and quips. He’s a master, and unlike most other comedians, he doesn’t have to resort to profanity and obscenity to make people laugh. Never has. Never will. That’s why he never appeared at the Jukebox Comedy Club.

Veteran broadcaster and radio guru, Steve Young, agreed to step in and co-host our morning show, “Breakfast with Royce and Roger.” After three months, Steve got tired of the early morning hours along with the need to get back to his real estate business, and left the show. Alicia Butler, who had been a regular, was recruited and is now co-hosting and doing local news. We’re delighted she was available and adds a perky morning voice to the WOAM morning hours and experienced knowledge of local news. Special thanks to our morning sports announcers Mike Olson, Ed Murphy, Phil Salzer, Bob Sulaski, and Tommy Kahn.

Hats off to WEEK-TV news for the classy way they covered the gay marriage bill in Springfield. They did it tastefully. Can’t say the same for the news folks at WMBD-TV. Seemingly obsessed with the story, the Ch. 31 video was the same ole, same ole stuff. I’ll leave it at that.

POLITICAL TALK

Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy was re-elected president of the 2nd Ward Republican Club in February. McCoy easily defeated by a 2-1 margin, county board member, Brad Harding. Fellow board member Brian Elsasser attempted to unseat McCoy two years earlier without much success. After the loss, Harding announced he would try again in another two years.

Former 18th District Congressman Ray LaHood isn’t winning many Republican friends these days as he stumps for anything and everything for President Obama. As Transportation Secretary, LaHood held a news conference for the purpose of trashing House Republicans. He falsely accused Republicans of failing to offer any solutions to the Sequester debate. However, Republican leadership immediately listed all of the proposals that had been placed on the table for consideration dating as far back as September of last year. Most critical of LaHood was Rand Paul who is mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2016. Meanwhile, the media warns everyone the sky will fall if spending cuts take place with failure to reach any kind of agreement while Republicans maintain cutting 2% from federal spending will not cut teachers, police, fire, traffic controllers and all of the other “strawman” arguments used by Obama.

STRAIGHT NOTES

It appears the new Bel-Wood Nursing Home in West Peoria won’t be opening until sometime this summer. We’re told the county’s public relations employee will be re-located at the new facility to respond to patient/family concerns. That’s a great idea.

I miss Ken Goldin at Bradley since he took retirement last year. Any time I needed information; I could call his office and speak with him immediately.

If he wasn’t available, I would get a “live” voice, not a recording and the person would be pleasant and cheerful. The other day I called a Bradley public relations office, got a recording, left a message which was never returned.

I should have expected as much. The office is occupied by a former newspaper editorialist.

Speaking of Bradley, some basketball folks on the Hilltop bristle when sports people like Dave Reynolds of the Journal refer to the opening night of the

Missouri Valley Conference Tournament as the “play-in round.” As one Bradley official told me, “It’s the opening round of the tournament just like every other basketball tournament in the country.” Some media folks always look at a glass as half-empty rather than half-full.

I commend Chris Kaergard for his well-balanced reporting of Karl Rove’s speech before the crowd at the annual George Washington Banquet. His newspaper story was informative and interesting and devoid of pot-shots. The 32nd annual Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame Banquet will be held at the Peoria Civic Center Sunday, April 14. Tickets are $30.00 and may be obtained by calling 682-4255 or emailing gpshof@gmail.com. No tickets will be sold at the door.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” ——Plato