Awful TV interviews tainting 7th inning at Wrigley

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: Awful TV interviews tainting 7th inning at Wrigley : Actually, the singing can stay; it's those celebrity TV visits that have to go : July 9, 2009 : BY DAN MCNEIL | Chicago Sun-Times : It took 2½ years, but give Cubs manager Lou Piniella a virtual hug for demoting enigmatic left fielder Alfonso Soriano in the batting order. Now it's time to find a solution for another issue that has vexed Chicago for a decade. : After digesting Erik Estrada's ''Take Me Out to the Ball Game,'' and the subsequent visit with Len Kasper and Bob Brenly in the television booth Monday, I realized that getting Carlos Marmol to throw strikes is not the most pressing concern in Wrigleyville. : Time for a good, old-fashioned town meeting on this heatedly debated guest-conductor thing. : Actually, I'm fine with whomever the Cubs deem worthy of grabbing the microphone to sing. If racer Jeff Gordon incenses the locals for calling the shrine ''Wrigley Stadium,'' so what? : The unpredictability of who sings and what they butcher is part of the attraction for most of us. Therein lies the payoff. : And there is nothing divine about this song. It's a song with double negatives, one that extols the virtues of ballpark fare. It's a fun song and reaches all generations. It is not sacrilegious to scratch or burp when ''Take Me Out'' is being belted. : Matter of fact, overserved former Bears and Blackhawks have been among the well-received crooners. If we truly want to pay homage to Harry Caray, the guy responsible for making ''The Stretch'' so indelibly etched in the culture here, we must continue to throw the party he never wanted to leave. : Bring back as many blurping, incoherent ex-jocks and washed up rock stars as you can find. I want Ozzy Osbourne back. Give me Jim McMahon, beer cup full of chew spit and all. : Lighten up, naysayers. Music is good for the soul. Advocating fun is fun. Let the singing continue. : The bigger problem is fixing the TV visit when the Cubs are hitting in the bottom of the seventh. : While Estrada was praising adult film star Ron Jeremy, oddly intermingled with a pitch for his task force against Internet predators, a Cubs hitter took a count to 3-2 before Kasper could get a word in. I'd tell you which Cub, but I can't recall, as I was learning Jeremy also is a skilled pianist. Oh, by the way, the Cubs were trying to add to a two-run lead. : Awkwardness that morphs into crawling skin seldom rears its head in a baseball broadcast. The tangent on which the motorcycle-driving supercop from the '70s traveled -- the serious and sensitive issue of child pornography -- felt like 30 seconds of a dentist's drill without a gum number. : Solutions aren't that difficult : Too often, fly-by guests have an agenda, and close games get ignored. It's terribly annoying, almost as loathsome as the ''I'm too cool for this, but I'll do it anyway since I'm here'' approach taken annually by Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder. : Enough already. Fix this. And remedies are as plentiful as the ways the Cubs strand runners. : The simplest solution is having the affable and versatile Kasper and Brenly record an interview before the game. Producers then can take the best 10- to 20-second chunks and roll 'em out during mound visits or pitching changes. : No critical at-bats are missed. No exposing an indifferent participant. Everybody wins, right? : Not really. There are those who revel in uncomfortable, pull-the-covers-up-over-the-head television. And sometimes those moments produce instant gold, like in 2001 when McMahon had to inform analyst Joe Carter that former NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle (Mac's adversary) was, in fact, dead (since 1996) and that they hadn't stayed in touch. : I'm good with keeping ''live'' spontaneity, but the interviews should be conducted several innings earlier. The potential for deliciously bad moments still would exist, without the fear of an overzealous guest redirecting the focus from a tight game in the seventh when the Cubs are rallying. : And the Cubs are smart to continue inviting A-listers who get it. We like willing participants -- like Chicago actors William Petersen and Vince Vaughn -- who express an appreciation of the game while not getting in the way of it. Engaging but deferential guests should be the only ones who make the cut. : Let's start with Cubs-Cards : The town is assembled. Motions have been made. These are solutions that make everybody a little happier, and they could be employed Friday when the Cardinals hit town. : Ooh, Cubs and Cardinals. That smacks of the Mayor of Rush Street, doesn't it? : Lemme hear ya. Good and loud. Ahh, one ... ahh, two ... ahh, three. ... : Dan McNeil hosts a sports-talk show from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays on WSCR-AM (670).

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