Herb Score, R.I.P.

When you're a sports fan, you remember the voices that gave a team character. For the Cleveland Indians, that voice belonged to Herb Score.

Herb Score passed away this morning at the age of 75 after being in declining health for several years.

But, for me, Herb wasn't only a great Indians pitcher and even greater broadcaster and play-by-play announcer, he was a good a decent man.

I had the privilege to get to know Herb, his wife Nancy and the rest of his family when I worked for his daughter, Susan, at Our Lady of the Wayside, an agency which provides services to the mentally and physically challenged in Northeast Ohio. Susan had her share of problems. She was born with Down's Syndrome and had the full array of incumbent physical issues that went with that particular diagnosis. Nevertheless, she had an angelic spirit and was a truly beautiful human being.

Many families would allow the circumstance of having a disabled family member tear them apart. This never happened with the Score family and Susan's spirit was evident and transcended her family. But, I'll bet that spirit was a two way street all along. Even after Susan passed in 1994, the Score family was still very involved in the Our Lady of the Wayside community.

But the Herb Score that I knew best was obviously the one that many Clevelanders knew as the voice of the Indians. He was masterful and was a voice of reason in the frenzy commonly known as sports fandom. He was all about the home team, but was never a "homer" and always took great pains to avoid provincialism in his calling of a game. In the Terry Pluto book "The Curse of Rocky Colavito", he discussed his method of calling a game. Calling the home team "we" was verboten. So was second guessing the action on the field or the description of the action from the play-by-play booth. Herb believed in brevity and not adding too much description to the action, allowing the imagination of the scenario of the play on the field to be subject to the listener's discretion.(You can read a more detailed explanation of Herb Score's broadcast career in "The Curse of Rocky Colavito" by Terry Pluto, pages 176 to 188.)

Nevertheless, his description of the game was always engaging and many of Cleveland's finest sportcasters: Bob Neal, Joe Tait, Nev Chandler and Tom Hamilton had the opportunity to work with Herb. For Herb, he was gracious and thankful to work with these talented professionals while they endured his absence of graceful speech.

Herb was a great ambassador for the Indians. Just as the Tigers had Ernie Harwell. Or the Pirates Bob Prince. Or the Reds Joe Nuxhall. Or the Brewers Bob Uecker. The Indians had Herb Score and he was blessed to have the chance to serve in that role.

As we all get older, the distance from our youth grows longer. Today, mine got that much longer with the passing of Herb Score. He was a Cleveland original, a Legend, and a man to whom it will be hard to say goodbye.

Rest In Peace, Herb Score.

The NFL Fining Players For, Well...Playing? Bad Idea

I was sitting with a friend of mine last night at my high school alma mater's football game (Bay High School in Bay Village, Ohio) where his son is a sophomore offensive lineman who gets some varsity playing time at guard and tackle. He had his daughter sitting in his lap and she couldn't quite understand the violent nature of the sport. Her dad said something to the effect of "football is just a very rough sport".

And in that short exchange, my friend and his daughter pretty much summed up the nature of football: it is a violent sport filled with collisions. Sometimes those collisions are so violent that it causes permanent injury, careers to end suddenly and a lifetime of pain that just doesn't go away.

The comments of Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu this week regarding the fines levied against teammate Hines Ward over "unnecessary roughness" spoke volumes and elicited a typically buttoned down response from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. The comments were a clarion call coming from the relatively soft-spoken Polamalu, who looks like he just just stepped of the beach from a day of surfing.

The guys who play in the NFL have to know that...and most do. They accept the fact that their next hit could very well be their last. And they accept that after year upon year of repeated violent contact. And they still suit up and go in...they aren't willing to be pussies about the situation.

Goodell doesn't seem to understand this concept. Now, with all these fines being levied against NFL players for "excessive contact"...or whatever the new buzz words are...you'd think that players would tone it down to avoid further financial "hardship", right? Maybe some would. But that is not the nature of the game.

And the fines are coming on relatively routine plays, many of which cause no injury to any of the players involved. It's the place from where Polamalu's concern rises.

Maybe the commish is on a money grab. Maybe Good Ol' Rog is losing at the track and needs to make good on covering his sloppy betting habits.

But whatever it is, the entire matter of fining players for just playing the game is just plain stupid.

Somewhere, Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Lambert is getting a chuckle out of this...but he still knows that quarterbacks should wear dresses. Most players in the NFL share Lambert's sentiment. It's too bad that sentiment disconnects before it reaches the commissioner's office.

Why Am I Watching This Game On Monday?

As a fan, I have grown accustomed to watching college football on Saturdays. Call me silly for saying that. On the other hand, most college football is still played on Saturdays. Saturdays = College Football. Yeah, that’s how it works.

The grand finale of the college football year happens on Monday night when The Ohio State Buckeyes play the Louisiana State Tigers for the BCS National Championship.

Wait a minute! Monday night?! Am I reading this right? No, no, no!!! College football is to be played on Saturdays. I just mentioned that, did I not? Or at least on a weekend, right?

The NCAA and the BCS, in their blood lust for money and ratings, have pushed this game back to a Monday night start. Never mind that after the usual 5,000 commercials and interruptions that accompany an event like the BCS National Championship (for future reference in this article, please note that this is an event, not a game), the event will probably end at some point around 2 a.m. on Tuesday morning!

Pardon me for being cynical, but couldn't the powers-that-be governing this event have seen to it that it be scheduled on a Saturday night or, short of that, Friday night. Call me unfamiliar with how the logistics work for an event like this, but wouldn't it make more sense to put it on a Saturday or Friday night when they have a greater chance to boost ratings and get casual viewers?

It is also important to note that all fans should want what's best for the NCAA and the BCS. It is the providence of those who pay the bills to always have their way. It makes no difference that they stand to lose money on a Monday night when they would probably make more money on Saturday or Friday night.

Gee, if Monday night works so well for the BCS Championship, let’s move the Super Bowl to Monday night. They play pro football on Mondays, right? Never mind that pro football is played on Sundays, mostly. So is the Super Bowl. Ironically, the Super Bowl actually works on the day when most of their activity happens.

It will never work for college football, or so the NCAA and the BCS will have you believe

The event already has Ohio State and LSU fans in the fold, but why would I care about this game after 10 or 11 p.m. on Monday night if my team weren’t playing? That sound you’ll hear is the pitter-patter of footsteps to the bedroom and that sight you’ll see is lights and televisions being turned off in places other than Ohio and Louisiana.

It could be a much greater event on a weekend. People can sleep in the next day. Fans can celebrate or commiserate without the worry of waking up for work the next day and feeling the after effects.

The event is on Monday night, just to let everyone know. It is not on Saturday or Friday night when it would actually make sense.

Then again, when was the last time the NCAA or college football made sense when scheduling anything?

(Pause)

I thought that would be my answer. Thanks for playing!