Len Kasper rules

February 28th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanE

Baseball announcers are a fact of life. For example, if you’re a White Sox fan, and you really really want to watch the White Sox every night, you’re stuck with Hawk Harrelson. You might like Hawk. You might despise Hawk. But for better or worse, if you want to enjoy the crack of the bat and all the other sounds of baseball, you have to listen to Hawk’s twang and Darrin Jackson’s mumbles to do so.

So it goes for the Cubs. Fortunately, the Cubs have one of the cooler, hipper, more listenable, not-a-dinosaur baseball men in the business, one Len Kasper. A day after Sam Zell threatened to destroy all that is good and holy about free Wrigley Gum advertising space, it’s refreshing to be reminded of something the Cubs are doing right. Kasper is all of the following: a self-confessed “fringe sabermetrician,” a guitarist, and an indie rock enthusiast:

Beyond baseball, Kasper and Brenly discovered another mutual love: music. They’ve met up at Lollapalooza. The two would make mix tapes for each other. Kasper introduced Brenly to the Brian Jonestown Massacre and Son Volt; Brenly got Kasper into Ryan Adams, The Black Keys and Cold War Kids.

“You’ve got 2 1/2 hours of airtime and a lot of games during the course of a season,” Brenly said. “We both appreciate it can’t be baseball all the time.”

And now, the two have taken their music appreciation on stage. For the last two years, The Len & Bob Band has performed at the House of Blues for charity. Clips of the show circulate on YouTube, including a punk version of Patsy Cline’s “Crazy,” and “Love Stinks” by the J. Geils Band.

I know what you’re probably thinking: “E, I don’t give a shit if this guy likes The Black Keys. Can he broadcast?” And the answer is yes, he can. But in a world where Joe Morgan and Tim McCarver are considered by most average fans to be the foremost authorities on baseball talk, isn’t it refreshing to have someone who’s even tangentially down with the kids? Even if his voice is nasally from time to time?

I say yes. If you disagree, go listen to the Hawkmeister. He’s got this great Conway Twitty album he’s been meaning to suggest to you …