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August 6, 2002
Goodbye, Chick
Chick Hearn died last night. I grew up in LA listening to Chick calling Lakers games. Heck, he'd already done every game for a decade by the time I was born. He was one of the all-time greats, not just for his durability but for the quality of his witty, intense, engaging, fast-paced game commentary.
We Angelenos were privileged to have two such giants. Over at Dodger Stadium, Vin Scully is still turning baseball into poetry after half a century at the mike. The funny thing is, LA isn't a sports town. Some five years ago, both football teams packed up and left... and no one seemed to mind much. Sure, everyone roots for a winner. And the Lakers have managed to turn themselves into an entertainment product, which LA can relate to. But LA has never had the intense identification with a team you see in places like New York, Boston and Philadelphia.
Furthermore, Hearn and Scully are legends for that most un-LA of virtues: longevity. LA is a city without a history. (The closest thing it has, appropriately enough, is the movie Chinatown.) It's the first post-industrial metropolis. How we wound up with two guys who epitomized everything LA transcends, I'll never know. I'm just thankful for it.
Goodbye, Chick. This one's in the refrigerator.
Posted by Kevin Werbach at August 6, 2002 8:35 AM
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