Listen to me! (on NPR)

While I’ve been away from blogging, I recorded a commentary for National Public Radio’s All Things Considered about the recent death of Jan Gabriel, the Chicago-area auto racing announcer and promoter. He’s the guy who invented one of the biggest cliches in motorsports hucksterism — excitedly repeating the date of the event. Note for nothing was he known as Mr. Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! Appropriately enough, he died on Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! (Jan. 10), and his memorial service will be, what else, Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! (Jan. 17).

You can find audio to the piece, which ran Wednesday! Wednesday! Wednesday!, here. If you want to know if Jan Gabriel really invented Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!, here is some proof below, from an Aug. 26, 2004 piece on Gabriel on WTTW-TV’s “Chicago Tonight.”

[youtubevid id=”IMqhq67xei0″]

What does this have to do with youth sports? Not a damn thing. But I’m told that, after breaking my six-year absence from the NPR airwaves, I will have the opportunity to do more, and some certainly will have a youth sports bent.

Plus, it would be wrong of me not to pass off this chance for cheap self-promotion.