http://wgnplus.com/2015/04/21/hoge-doug ... -his-game/POSTED 12:27 AM, APRIL 21, 2015, BY ADAM HOGEThis job has its perks. Some of those perks are more obvious (like going to games for free) and others are not as obvious (like being able to tell your wife you have to watch a game because it’s work).
One of those not-so-obvious perks for me through the years was being able to watch select Chicago Bears games with Doug Buffone and Ed O’Bradovich. Before I covered the Bears as a reporter and columnist, I was a part-time producer for 670 The Score, and among my many assignments was occasionally producing “Doug & O.B.”, the station’s Bears postgame show.
If you’ve heard the show, you know all about the yelling and the screaming and the brutally honest analysis that Doug and O.B. provide each week. But as entertaining as the show is, watching the game with the two former Bears players was even better. It was the postgame show on steroids — the uncensored version devoid of the red “dump” button any Doug & O.B. producer had to keep their finger on during the actual radio production.
Think Twitter is a great venue for instant Bears analysis? Twitter has nothing on spending three hours watching Bears football with Doug Buffone and Ed O’Bradovich.
The first time I met Doug was at one of these broadcasts. It was held at a suburban bar and Doug and O.B. had a private room to watch the game, not so they could avoid the fans, but so they could watch the game closely. After all, it was work, and like everything else Doug did for the station, he took it very seriously.
Doug, of course, greeted me with the kind heart he offered everyone he came across, pulling up a chair for me as we settled in for kickoff. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. The next three hours were exciting, entertaining, enlightening and yes, even a little frightening. But underneath the screaming and the yelling was a man who loved the Bears and knew football, dammit. If you paid attention, you could learn a lot about the game from Doug Buffone.
And the same went for the postgame show. For every knocked over microphone were 10 legitimate football opinions, delivered with passion and brutal honesty. You just happened to laugh your ass off when you heard the delivery.
The day I met Doug was also the day I laughed the hardest at anything I’ve ever heard on the radio. Frequent listeners know and understand that Doug and O.B. aren’t there because they’re radio professionals who have long toiled in the industry and worked their way up. They’re there because they’re former Bears players who know the game and provide damn entertaining reaction to Jay Cutler getting intercepted four times by DeAngelo Hall. Thus, the show isn’t the cleanest when it comes to radio delivery, but that’s part of its unique charm.
As a result, we had frequent issues with Doug reading the call screener. For those who don’t know, a typical call screener has a box for “Name” and a box for “Location” for each caller. The producer who screens the calls types the names and locations on his end and they immediately pop up on the host’s call screener as well. The problem is, the words often show up in different sizes on different screens, and names tend to get cut off on the host’s screener even though they show up just fine on the producer’s screener.
This was an issue every week with a well-known caller who goes by “Black Physicist”. His name NEVER fit properly on Doug’s call screener. So, during the first Doug & O.B. show I ever produced, the producer back at the studio decided to put “Black” in the “Name” box and “Physicist” in the “Location” box so it wouldn’t get cut off. It was a great idea, but it only confused Doug more. As he went to bring the caller on the air, these were his exact words:
“Let’s go out to Black… I don’t know where you’re from Black, but you’re on the air.”
I lost it. To this day, I’ve never laughed harder at anything that has happened on the radio. It remains one of the best pieces of sound in The Score’s audio vault.
Unfortunately, these run-ins with Doug on game days were somewhat limited for me as I went on to cover the team, which meant I was at the games. It also meant I was writing during the postgame shows, but I always found a way to listen, even if it was to the podcast later in the week.
Doug Buffone was appointment radio and an appointment person. Every interaction with him was an absolute treat. It was something you looked forward to and savored as soon as it was over.
For me, the ultimate tribute came last year at 670 The Score’s “Roast of Doug Buffone.” Well, it was supposed to be a “roast,” except no one had anything bad to say about him. Instead, it turned into a night full of unforgettable stories and laughs.
That night was the last time I saw Doug, as I made the move over to WGN Radio a couple months later and didn’t see him during the 2014 season.
But I listened. Of course, I listened. And let’s be honest, Doug & O.B. were always better after a loss, and what could be worse than the disastrous 2014 Bears season?
So while the Bears set new lows last season, as far as I’m concerned, Doug Buffone went out on top.
Rest in peace, 55. The next game won’t be the same without you.
Adam Hoge covers the Chicago Bears for WGN Radio and WGNRadio.com. He also co-hosts The Beat, weekends on 720 WGN. Follow him on Twitter at @AdamHoge.
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