I was kind of torn tonight listening to Matt Bowen call the IHSA state championships.

On one hand, he was far and away a better analyst than the guys who usually call the games.

On the other hand ... we get it. You played pro football. That's where your heart is. You're an NFL analyst for the Score. Bloody good on you mate.

My gripe with his announcing ... do we have to hear you relate every other play to the NFL. Couldn't you talk about some IHSA legends and relate these guys to them (much like the fine job Dave Kaplan did when he called the basketball tournament in the late 90s/early 2000s).

Don't mean to sound too harsh (because outside of the incessant namedropping he was better than everybody else I've heard in recent years) but I'm rewatching some of these games and it's pretty close to every other play we have to hear about Lovie Smith or Aaron Rodgers or Jordy Nelson or Mike Tice. It was painful. Could we forget about the NFL for a couple hours on a Saturday afternoon?

The worst is Lee Hall. I don't know his regular occupation and he may be a great guy but he's just awful on IHSA broadcasts.

Did you know that he played in the NFL for the Rams & Packers? Bowen sucks on the Score & he sucked on the IHSA broadcast.

Couldn't you talk about some IHSA legends and relate these guys to them?

It scares me how wrong you are about this and most things you say.

The best IHSA analyst is Jack Mcinerney.

It scares you?

The regulars treat these near adults with kid gloves too much. .

He probably doesn't know about any. #EricKumerow

You are a cocky fucker now that his Grampa has passed on?

The world should know how close it was to the NFL saying NO to his presence in the league.

And I thought Rodewald did a really nice job on sideline reports during the broadcasts.

[ As I said earlier, go back and watch games Dave Kaplan did in the early 2000s doing IHSA basketball. .

I went to high school with Eric Kumerow. He was a good looking strapping young man with money & girls. Not everyone knew who his Grandfather was. Those of us who did really didn't think much of it considering that we grew up in an area with many many mobsters. I grew up 1 block from Sam Giancana, & 1 block from the Spilotros. When I was a little Scorehead, I always wondered why there were unmarked police cars parked at the end of our block & why there was always a tall older gentleman in an overcoat & hat walking back & forth smoking a huge cigar in front of Giancanas house everyday. They were actually great neighbors.

He was a great high school football player and pretty good at basketball too.

As you say, in certain parts of the city, crime is just another job. Pete's dad is an architect. Nick's dad does something else.

I'm sure I may have related this tale in the past, but as RPB once pointed out, JORR is going into reruns, so I'll tell it again. One Friday night I got to Maywood Park early and I was watching the first race from the Meadowlands on a big screen TV in the Windy City Room. Nobody was there except my friend Jerry and me and a little old guy who was about 5'3", 120 lbs. The old guy walked up right in front of me and changed the channel. Well, I went fucking berserk and started screaming at him to turn the motherfucker back. He kind of shrunk up and switched it back and went to watch one of the many other televisions in the room. Afterward, Jerry said to me, "You should be careful who you yell at like that. That old guy is a stone cold killer. He was Al Capone's driver or something." I said, "Get the fuck outta here." He replied that he wasn't kidding. The next time I saw the old guy he was talking to Joe Andriacchi and Joe was treating this guy like he was King Tut or something. Good thing I don't think the old man could remember his own name let alone that I yelled at him. He had it coming anyway. Walk in front of me and change the channel. There are a hundred fucking TVs in there.