OT: Jim McCarthy Of The Sports Huddle Has Died

[FortressX]

 

[CheekyDave]

Thanks for posting this. The Sports Huddle Sunday night at 7 Pm was MUST listening for me in the 70s, wondering 9if any other oldsters out here remember them?

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

Thanks for posting this. The Sports Huddle Sunday night at 7 Pm was MUST listening for me in the 70s, wondering 9if any other oldsters out here remember them?

They were the one shining light of humor and satire when the Patriots were not as successful as they have been recently.. Think Detroit/Cleveland/Tampa level suckiness....
Their satire was great...

 

[Vatahala]

I'm just surprised Eddie Andelman is still alive. I tried searching on line for his age with no luck.

 

[AQPE]

"Jimmy McCarthy, it's supper time!"

Loved those guys, started listening when they were on WEEI AM 590. I think the second or third time I listened they gave away 2 cars for their "ESP" game (Mel Farr, Ralph Garr cost Columbia Pontiac; they never had that game again). They had the song and advertisement parodies ("Jerks Who Talk Sports On TV" was my favorite), the Superfoot and Superkick competitions (soccer style kickers, Australian rule football punters), and the prank calls. Sophomoric to be sure but such a breath of fresh air back then.

All things must pass, G-d Bless and RIP Jimmy, you got to see the Sox win - four times.

 

[FCB02062]

Damn, sad news. I grew up listening to the Huddle with my father. Back when sports talk wasn't all about hot takes, trying to stir schitt up and you could be politically incorrect and make fart jokes without the "good taste" police trying to get people to boycott advertisers.

Who remembers - "jambalaya", "Hockey krishna", "Paul from Woburn" (guy called the huddle every weekend), "Irving Fryar's Driving School", "Coach Coconuts", "Lou, Lou Lou Imbriano"...

RIP Jimmy

 

[captain stone]

Thanks for posting this. The Sports Huddle Sunday night at 7 Pm was MUST listening for me in the 70s, wondering 9if any other oldsters out here remember them?

Absolutely.

My brother & I used to listen to them on Sunday nights as often as we could, usually while doing homework due the following morning. Their opening montage was especially a can't-miss event, because it changed every week...and they ended the show with the man who did the actual voice of Donald Duck saying, as Donald himself would: "WHDH, Boston."

RIP, Jimmy Mac from Mission Hill.

 

[ralmat55]

I strained to hear Eddie,Mark and Jim through a crackling signal on many a Sunday evening up here in Maine. They were fun and informative and didn’t treat the Patriots like red-headed step-children as much as most of the media did back in those days with the contributions of the Football Twins: Ron Hobson and Kevin Mannix.

On the rare occasions I find myself watching hockey, Eddie’s derisive summation of what it takes to have a good hockey team will inevitably come to mind: “hit hard, skate to the left and get good ghoul tending.

RIP Jim

 

[shmessy]

Sunday nights, 7-11pm..........as a kid, THIS was what got me through to having to start another new week of school.

Something tells me there will never be anything like the Sports Huddle ever again - - - God, I wish it still existed and those 3 guys were on every Sunday night.

Rest in peace, Jim McCarthy. You never knew how much you helped a little schoolkid get through Sunday night.

.

 

[shmessy]

I can't even begin to list the schticks those guys did that were comedy and sports wiseass genius.

The fake commercials they made ("Fenway Frankless" complete with someone portraying Luis Tiant singing a jingle to the tune of Anchors Aweigh - - - "...and remember, folks, no man stands so tall as when he stoops to pick a package of Fenway Frankless off the grocery store floor"), to "Paul the Poet" from South Boston, to the fake news (with Eddie screeching out a background fake teletype machine sound). These were guys who still had ingrained NY Giants hatred for always being on TV in Boston in the 60's and 70's shoving the Patriots off from anyone local being able to watch - - Eddie, each week when reading down the results of Sunday football scores, when he got to the Giants score (and pre-Parcells it was usually a loss) he wouldn't just say the usual "Giants lose to Miami 27-21", he would always purposely perk up and say "and the NY Giants endured a vicious beating to the Miami Dolphins 27-21".

And, callers, please, no "whaddaya think about" questions or any "good hawky tawk".......

"In other scores, it was Bob over Sally, Phyliss at Patrick and Julie dominating Marv"

"Hey ho hookey fens, this is Gary Doak fer Doka cola...."

The time they made a trans-Atlantic phone call to the Buckingham Palace switchboard inquiring into a trade of the NE Patriots guards for two of the Queens'.

and always at the end of the program "Happy Trails to you"........

.

 

[tmpg2000]

And Epstein

 

[Bruins29]

I'm just surprised Eddie Andelman is still alive. I tried searching on line for his age with no luck.

83

 

[Spiral]

My memory may be a bit hazy on this but didn't they help find John Smith, the ex-kicker?

 

[Triumph]

The Boston sports scene is not like anywhere else in the country as far as I know. Chicago probably would compare.

Pro sports 24/7 NFL. MLB, NBA ,NHL. In other cities college football and basketball fandom is more visible and on the airwaves. When I lived in Atlanta I went to Falcons training camp and it was a ghost town.

 

[maust]

RIP Jim McCarthy, congrats on a life well lived.


I forget the original 2 watt station The Huddle was on before moving to WBZ (then the Bruins flagship station) but I do remember they were so antagonistic towards the 'Broons' they only got a cup of coffee there before heading to the old WEEI where they became an institution.

@Vatahala Andelman treats his age like it's a state secret, he was born in 1938 but I don't recall the exact date so he's either 81 or 82

 

[shmessy]

RIP Jim McCarthy, congrats on a life well lived.


I forget the original 2 watt station The Huddle was on before moving to WBZ (then the Bruins flagship station) but I do remember they were so antagonistic towards the 'Broons' they only got a cup of coffee there before heading to the old WEEI where they became an institution.

@Vatahala Andelman treats his age like it's a state secret, he was born in 1938 but I don't recall the exact date so he's either 81 or 82

I remember Eddie afterwards always referring to WBZ as "Wyoming Bombing and Zoning" corporation.
.

 

[AQPE]

RIP Jim McCarthy, congrats on a life well lived.


I forget the original 2 watt station The Huddle was on before moving to WBZ (then the Bruins flagship station) but I do remember they were so antagonistic towards the 'Broons' they only got a cup of coffee there before heading to the old WEEI where they became an institution.

@Vatahala Andelman treats his age like it's a state secret, he was born in 1938 but I don't recall the exact date so he's either 81 or 82

WMEX 1510 AM. Later the home of “Clif and Claf” and the launching pad for the sports talk radio career of Glen Ordway (which is where Glen and Eddie’s mutual loathing originated).

Great memories in this thread guys and gals! Was just thinking about Huddle callers I used to enjoy like “Giant Hater 99 3/4” and Violet the Red Sox fan, how they would have loved the past 20 years around here and how fun it would have been to listen to them after our teams won their first championship. So thankful to have a forum like this to share these sentiments!

 

[maust]

I remember Eddie afterwards always referring to WBZ as "Wyoming Bombing and Zoning" corporation.

Eddie at his bombastic best was great. Eddie unchecked by Mark Witkin & Jim became his own worst enemy at times. When things were winding down for him at WEEI he would go from a well informed outraged superfan to a vindictive bully in a cocaine heartbeat. He was his own undoing. Still, I'd gladly take him on his worst day over Squeaky & The Douche on their best without a moment's hesitation and count myself lucky.

 

[captain stone]

I can't even begin to list the schticks those guys did that were comedy and sports wiseass genius...

"Hey ho hookey fens, this is Gary Doak fer Doka cola...."


...and always at the end of the program "Happy Trails to you"........

I remember Doaka-Cola! That was a riot...

And how could I have forgotten Happy Trails?

 

[captain stone]

WMEX 1510 AM. Later the home of “Cliff and Claff” and the launching pad for the sports talk radio career of Glen Ordway (which is where Glen and Eddie’s mutual loathing originated).

Great memories in this thread guys and gals! Was just thinking about Huddle callers I used to enjoy like “Giant Hater 99 3/4” and Violet the Red Sox fan, how they would have loved the past 20 years around here and how fun it would have been to listen to them after our teams won their first championship. So thankful to have a forum like this to share these sentiments!

I remember 'MEX as a rock & roll station in the late 60s-early 70s, with Johnny Dark, Bud Ballou & John H. Garabedian as DJs, IIRC...they were at one end of the AM dial while 680 WRKO, with Dale Dorman as DJ, played rock at the other end...

I also remember Violet the Red Sox fan! Poor lady, she was probably too old to have lived to see 2004 & beyond...