Sid on McCallum

[bigkahunaiii]

Sez Sid:

Ray McCallum of Detroit Country Day School is an outstanding point guard, ranked 36th in the country by some recruiting services. He is being recruited hard by the Gophers and will visit the campus this weekend. McCallum, whose father, Ray, is the coach at Detroit Mercy University, is being recruited by powerhouses UCLA and Arizona. This is an indication how good he is. But he might wind up playing for his father.

 

[RW+RW=Our W's]

Somewhat encouraging I guess if true...I did see this in an article on scout.com a couple of weeks ago though:

"To go with Oklahoma, UCLA, Arizona and Florida, McCallum said that Detroit is still a possibility, as his father is the head coach."

 

[mnboiler]

Sez Sid:

Ray McCallum of Detroit Country Day School is an outstanding point guard, ranked 36th in the country by some recruiting services. He is being recruited hard by the Gophers and will visit the campus this weekend. McCallum, whose father, Ray, is the coach at Detroit Mercy University, is being recruited by powerhouses UCLA and Arizona. This is an indication how good he is. But he might wind up playing for his father.

That might have been the lamest snippet from Sid I have ever read. I could have written that by talking with no except confriming that McCallum is going to the U this weekend. The best part is Sid's speculation of "But he might wind up playing for his father." Really Sid I would have never of guessed that. Come on Sid you're better than that.

 

[Holy Man]

That might have been the lamest snippet from Sid I have ever read. I could have written that by talking with no except confriming that McCallum is going to the U this weekend. The best part is Sid's speculation of "But he might wind up playing for his father." Really Sid I would have never of guessed that. Come on Sid you're better than that.

No, he is not better than that. He is old and his skills, limited as they were from the beginning, are severely diminishing.

 

[burton34]

No, he is not better than that. He is old and his skills, limited as they were from the beginning, are severely diminishing.

Agreed, Sid is absolute junk. He's a complete jerk and is out of touch. Not to mention, he sounds like a complete moron when he talks. He's an embarrassment to the MN sports reporting scene.

 

[Roy Christensen]

For years Sid was basically the only source of information on Gopher recruiting. His column was the most read part of the Tribune. He was the first to report that Michael (later Mychal) Thompson and Osborne Lockhart had committed to play for the U. At the time no one had even heard of them. Sid is very old and past his prime but in his day he was by far the best.

 

[Section201]

RIDICULOUS

Agreed, Sid is absolute junk. He's a complete jerk and is out of touch. Not to mention, he sounds like a complete moron when he talks. He's an embarrassment to the MN sports reporting scene.

"He's an embarrassment to the MN sports reporting scene."

Sid may be alot of things but is also probably the most significant living person in the Minnesota sports scene. To ridicule an 89 year old guy that has done so much to promote pro and college sports in Minnesota is stupid, petty, and small.

 

[WanderingGopher]

Not sure why this story is triggering the usual railing on Sid. If it's true that McCallum is visiting this weekend, that's pretty significant news and I think he's the first to break it. (That said, I wouldn't count on this being true until Rivals or Scout confirms it).

And, all these people railing on Sid must be < 30, i.e. never heard him back in the olden days. Have some respect!

 

[jmag21]

Hey, I'm under 30, and I have to give the guy his props. The man is a legend. Sure, he may be a crabby old fella who doesn't get along with others, has never really been a master of the English language, and doesn't get any of the best scoops anymore, but still, he's been doing what he does for longer than the majority of posters on here have been alive. Plus, I think he's hilarious, albeit unintentionally.

 

[BrewsterBooster]

Agree

"He's an embarrassment to the MN sports reporting scene."

Sid may be alot of things but is also probably the most significant living person in the Minnesota sports scene. To ridicule an 89 year old guy that has done so much to promote pro and college sports in Minnesota is stupid, petty, and small.

Agree completely. Sid has done more to promote the sports scene in Minnesota than possibly any other living person. He is an old bear roaming around with some of his abilities diminished. I love having the guy around with his long perspective of sports history in the area, his goofy ways, his occasional mistakes....he is just fun to have around. Do you hate listening to the old curmudgeon Andy Rooney making his simplistic, error-prone statements at the end of 60 Minutes or do you see him as a unique treasure? Sid writes for a general audience and some of the sports junkies here know more about a certain situation than what Sid chooses to write about it.....well, hooray for you. Big deal. You deserve a gold star. When you are 89, you will in a nursing home pissing down your leg.

 

[akgopher]

"Sid has done more to promote the sports scene in Minnesota than possibly any other living person."

Does anyone else see a problem with Sid's style of journalism with this statement? As far as the railing on people who ridicule him, those defenders forget what kind of a person he was before his age bought him your cover. There won't likely be another person to surpass Sid in breaking stories, but there's a greater body of work to judge him on than the stories he's broken.

 

[Costa Rican Gopher]

I think back fondly to my youth waiting for my mom to wake up so we could get into town and pick up the Sunday paper. I don;t think I ever lasted all the way home without opening Sid's column and then whatever they had on the Vikings. Back then Sid WAS GopherHole, GopherIllustrated and Scout all wrapped up into one.

Minnesota sports is gonna be a worse place when Sid passes on. In an age of cookie cutter haircut announcers and barely intelligible ex-jock talking heads Sid is one of the few originals left out there. He's Minnesota's version of Harry Carey or Bob Euker.

Was Harry Carey past his prime as he butchered and slurred names, numbers, places and times? Sure he was, but the Chicago fans embraced him for it. "Hai guise...Harrey Carey here....I want to send a get-well-soon to Audrey in Beloit, Wisconsin. You know Steve, Shammy Shosha is having a heck of a year. Hey look Steve there's the Goodyear blimp.....we should do a game from the blimp Steve."

All I can say is Sid Hartman is "close personal friends" with Bob Knight, George Steinbrenner and Lou Holtz....Who the hell do you guys know? 'El Sid' has forgotten more about Minnesota sports than most of you "Geniuses" will ever know.

 

[CDH27]

I am way over the 30 mark and enjoyed Sid's column for many years. I agree that he is a legend, but unfortunately he is embarrasing himself nearly every time he appears on radio these days. I would prefer to remember him when he brought sports news and rational thinking to his job.