June 16, 2008
CHARLIE Jones, who died of a heart attack last week at 77, was all we could ask for from our weekend national TV sportscasters; he was versatile, reliable and, with that great set of pipes, recognizable.
A pleasant man to listen to and to deal with, he never big-timed anyone, on or off NBC. And he had that big, genuine laugh, not that forced ho-ho-ho modern TV/radio kind.
Jones' only weakness was that he took his NBC blazer for granted and forever.
He figured that after 32 years with NBC, even with its loss of NFL rights in 1997, the network would always have room for him, that he'd earned emeritus status.
He couldn't imagine that after 32 years, he'd be dumped.
Even with a change at the top of NBC Sports - the Arthur Watson/Mike Weisman regime replaced in 1989 with the Dick Ebersol/Terry O'Neil regime - Jones figured he was an NBC lifer. And proud of it.
But he was dumped, and it hurt him terribly. He'd wonder about it. Was it his age? Had his talent eroded? Hadn't he, since 1965, done everything, and well, that NBC had asked of him - AFL, NFL, track and field, bowl games, tennis, golf?
Or was it that one moment in millions when he made a big mistake, that time in 1988, at the Seoul Olympics, when he misidentified the winner of the 800? Was that it? That was his Bill Buckner. And while most of us forgot from Jones what we can't from Buckner, Jones soon was relegated to NBC B and C teams.
Until he was told that he's no longer on the team. Was that it?
Jones was left confused. And plenty hurt.
These days, lots of TV and radio folks are similarly dumped. Occupational hazard. It's no longer unusual. But a dozen years ago, when it happened to Charlie Jones, it seemed cruel and unusual.
The Mets are getting on everyone's nerves. New radio man Wayne Hagin revealed his softly sarcastic side Wednesday when he noted that Carlos Delgado actually ran back to first after he completed a chat on the mound with Mike Pelfrey.
The next day, after Arizona's Miguel Montero bounced a weak chopper past Delgado, Howie Rose said, "Ninety percent of first basemen would have made that play."
