![]() She recalled, ''When Bruce was only 5, he used his baseball cards to help his sister, Ferne, who was 3, learn to read. Bruce`s mother, Anne Edwards of Lake Forest, appreciates her son`s lifelong love affair with sports. Not every kid had that much interest in one area either. Not every kid has that much confidence in one area like Bruce did.'' He really thought he was doing a better job than Brickhouse, and we thought so, too. Bruce would turn off the sound, so instead of Jack Brickhouse, we would hear Bruce doing the play-by-plays. ''We would sit in front of the television with our other friends. Schwab, still a close friend of Wolf`s, remembers watching the Cubs games on TV together. He played a little football but only if he could be wide receiver, the farthest thing from getting hit.'' Wolf, does attend an occasional Blackhawks hockey game.Ĭhildhood pal Van Schwab, an attorney from Skokie, remembers Wolf`s excitement for hockey as a boy: ''Bruce liked to skate-not everyone did. Besides, a lot of those games are played week nights, and we sportscasters can`t attend anyway. Wolf, who did get out to Portland to report on the NBA finals with Paul tagging along, countered, ''I prefer to watch all the games on TV. If I were a sportscaster, I would go to all the games. He gets free press passes to every sporting event. Wolf`s oldest son, Paul, 14, shares Weigel`s sentiments. He doesn`t attend a lot of games to get interviews.'' (Chet) Coppock knows how to schmooze with the crowd. My only criticism is that I think he should get out more. Still, I have great admiration for his work. ''Bruce is as clever as any sportscaster in America. ''I was wearing my bright red shirt,'' Brad recalled. Dan told Brad it was okay to sneak ''behind'' me to get to the other side, but Brad walked right through the set. Our weatherman, Dan Dobrowolski, was showing Brad his weather setup at one end of the studio as I was doing the sports in the middle of the studio. Bruce explained: ''My 12-year-old son, Brad, was visiting the studio. ![]() ![]() Miller sees Wolf`s broadcasts as ''more structured on TV'' than on radio, but one spontaneous incident took place on the TV show that they still joke about at the station. We build our whole sportscast around Bruce`s funny lines.'' ''I don`t think Channel 9 even attempts humor at all. ''We target a younger audience,'' Miller said. They try to distinguish themselves from Channel 9`s show. The Fox Network must also go head to head with the ''Channel 9 News,'' also at 9 p.m. ''We have to compete with prime-time TV, and Chicago traditionally is a 10 o`clock news town,'' Miller said. Wolf admitted that the show is behind in the ratings but is optimistic, seeing the show`s audience, now about 300,000, as expanding. Wolf, a comfortable TV presence with boyish good looks and humorous mannerisms, seems well suited to be seen and not just heard. ![]() Like Bruce will say that the Bears will come out for the playoffs but then don`t do much of anything to get further, which is true.''Īlso true is that Channel 32`s newscast is the lowest rated in Chicago. They shy away from reporting certain facts, I think. And he`s not afraid to tell the truth about teams, even if it`s insulting. ''He takes a step back and tries to inject politics into his sportscasts. Wolf has a 4- to 5-minute sports segment nightly on the show. ''Bruce has a completely different perspctive than the other sportscasters,'' said Greg Miller, sports producer for ''Fox News Chicago'' at 9 p.m. It doesn`t take much to look dramatically different from other sportscasters.'' But I will throw in something as simple as a pun or snide comment. I just don`t feel that leaving it out would be in the best interest of the audience. ''It`s not like one day I decide not to show the Bulls highlights that night. `I`ll save you, Nel!` Are they at the end of their rope, dangling like a participle, courting trouble, flirting with disaster?'' Well, they may have been, but they won the series and eventually the championship, yet they also aren`t sacred on ''Chit Chat.'' Nothing is. Here`s a sample of Wolf`s schtick, broadcast from the basement: ''Uh-oh, could it be that the championship trophy that Michael Jordan so lovingly caressed in Los Angeles last year is about to slip from his hands? Are the Bulls on the cusp of the brink of the border of the valley of the shadow of the edge of the precipice? Are they like little Nel on the train tracks. Before the Bulls went on to further glory in the NBA finals, they had some tough times with the New York Knicks. The electronically inspired chants are heard, ''Chet Chit Chat, Chet Chit Chat, Chet Chit Chat,'' then more heavy metal.ĭuring those broadcasts-gone-wild, Wolf is actually transmitting from a 7-by-9-foot room in the basement of his comfortable north suburban home while wife Caryn is busy upstairs making breakfast for Wolf and their five children.
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