Summer Game v.2005

I was dozing off the other night, half-watching the Cubs-Mariners spring training game on TV. It was comforting _ a new baseball season and the promise of more lazy evenings by the tube. But something is different about the 2005 Cubs experience. I couldn't ignore it, not even in my half-sleep, and it saddened me.

Cubs TV broadcasters Chip Carey and Steve Stone were replaced in the offseason by Len Kasper and former Diamondbacks skipper, Bob Brenly. I'd grown to love the Carey-Stone tandem the past two seasons, so it jarred me to hear two new voices chatting over the game.

Kasper is very similar to Al Michaels. I like Michaels, so that's not all bad. But Brenly _ I don't know if I could ever get used to him. He sounds like an affable fellow, but I've come to associate Cubs TV broadcasts with Stone's voluminous insight.

Sometimes, I feel we can get used to anything with enough exposure _ developing affection for whomever happens to be on the air. It's sad if we're this simple. I'll try to always keep a memory of Chip and Stoney in my heart: of 2003, sitting in the basement on a hot July night; and 2004, laying on the couch, no screens on the windows, bugs getting in, bottom of the fifth, one man out.