Today, I am an in-studio guest on my son's college radio show. Usually, I'm a more shadowy presence; I contribute via Instant Messenger and comment freely on the Cleveland Indians, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the NBA in general. He and his fellow hosts of The Final Score stopped being floored by my knowledge of sports a long time ago (after all, I'm a MOM, fer godsakes!), and invited me into the studio. I accepted because I'm so damn flattered, in the first place, and because I've never ever been in a radio station studio in the second. So, today is the day.
And via email, I get the news that Peter Jennings has died from lung cancer at the age of 67. One of the greatest names in broadcasting and one of television's most trusted newsmen, who publicly admitted that he "was weak" and turned again to smoking due to September 11, had succumbed to a particularly aggressive lung cancer that ravaged his body and ended an exemplary career. Another result of September 11 for Jennings was that he quietly and without fanfare became an American citizen; Jennings was born in Toronto.
Being on-mike and chatting about the Cavs, Cubs, and Indians in a college radio studio is not akin to the contribution of a Peter Jennings...yeah, I know. Nowhere near. But I'll be thinking about him.
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Oh, thank you for joining the fray!