The hockey game swirls in constant motion below them. Pat Foley and Dale Tallon, the Blackhawks` broadcasters for the last eight years, sit among the Stadium fans-well, almost in their laps-while trying to follow the unsteady course of the puck as it is whacked from one end of the ice to another.
Foley and Tallon treat the game with a certain reverence, but with just enough of a jaundiced eye that they see the folly of grown men slapping at each other with sticks.
Foley and Tallon do this for a living. And they do it well, as anyone who watches SportsChannel or listens to WBBM-AM will attest. Perhaps Foley doesn`t get the national recognition of, say, a Marv Albert or a Mike Emrick, and that rankles some people. And Tallon isn`t fawned over the same way as, say, a Bill Clement or a John Davidson.
But they are a pair, Foley and Tallon. They are as much a part of the Blackhawks as the Indian emblem and Wayne Messmer`s singing of the national anthem.
And they love the work. And it is work.
”After 12 years, I`m familiar with most of the players,” says Foley in between periods of this particular game. ”I try to make use of the players around the league. I`ll talk to them before the game. Dale has infinitely more contacts. But between the two of us, we know a lot of people.”
Tallon, when he isn`t on a golf course, spends time off keeping up on tales from around the league.
”I just try to keep updated on new players,” says Tallon, pointing to new Maple Leafs goalie Felix Potvin on this night. ”I get information from different papers. I try to keep fresh. But I rely on the game to give me my material.”
Potvin is playing his first NHL game, but already Tallon knows, for instance, Potvin had dominated the Quebec League, a minor league known for its scoring.
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”Toronto doesn`t have many draft picks,” says Tallon. ”So he (Potvin)
kind of stuck with me from June. You get so much information by accident.”
Getting information is easier for the pair than getting a decent broadcast location. While most arenas, especially the new ones, easily accommodate basketball announcers-just sit them at the scorer`s table-hockey announcers aren`t that easy to please. They can`t be next to the ice. But they can`t be in the rafters, either.
Amazingly, the Stadium and Boston Garden, two of the oldest facilities in the league, are the best broadcast sites, according to Foley.
”In the newer places, the broadcast location always seems to be an afterthought,” says Foley. ”In most locations, we can`t see the sleeve numbers. This”-he points to his Stadium perch-”is great. They found an attachment on the first balcony for us. Other rinks are constructed like big bowls. We can be high if the rows are stacked.”
Tallon, who leaves his Stadium seat for an occasional pretzel, says the Calgary Saddledome is the only new building with decent broadcast facilities. ”But I talked to CTV (a Canadian network) and they said it was because of the (1988 Winter) Olympics,” says Tallon. ”Literally, in some places we have to look around girders.”
But Tallon doesn`t have to look to know when to comment during Foley`s play-by-play monologue.
”When he gets tired,” Tallon says with a laugh. ”We`ve been working so long, I know when to jump in. Tonight, there`s no TV, so the first whistle didn`t come for 4 1/2 minutes. Unless there`s a whistle, there`s really no time to butt in.”
If Tallon sees a disadvantage to his new career, it`s the six or so flights of stairs up the the first balcony at the Stadium. There`s no elevator, and Tallon`s legs have suffered through six operations from his playing days.
And it`s those legs Tallon hopes carry him into a third career-as a player on the PGA Senior Tour.
”Legs mean a lot in golf,” Tallon says during another intermission.
”You get all your power and drive from your legs. Mine are awful.”
In fact, even on this dreadfully dreary day, Tallon put in nine holes. Didn`t he know it was raining?
”Why do you think I stopped?” he replies with a chuckle.
Little else stops him, however. Even at the end of a long night cramped into the tiny radio broadcast booth, Tallon has one thing on his mind. He asks a visitor:
”You play golf?”
– Weekend wanderings: CBS` ”NFL Today” got a jump on the political season with two polls-John Madden finding randomly called John Andersons (seriously) wouldn`t like the Redskins to go unbeaten, and Jim Gray`s poll of owners/GMs finding instant replay isn`t working. . . . Best pregame features: NBC`s O.J. Simpson on Mike (”I try not to be stupid”) Ditka and CBS` Lesley Visser on injured Lions lineman Mike Utley. . . . Best explanation: NBC`s Bill Walsh saying Dolphins RB Sammie Smith fumbles frequently because ”he carries the ball between his body and his shoulder pads.” . . . Do you get the idea by now Walsh compares Bears RB Brad Muster favorably to ex-Bear FB Rick Casares? He only mentioned it about 1,000 times in the first half of Sunday`s telecast. But then he never mentioned the injury that sidelined Muster in the second half. . . . Where did Brent Musburger find that greasy kid stuff he used on his hair Saturday? . . . Best shots: James Howard smiling after a spectacular catch by son Desmond against Ohio State; Mark Clayton`s catch that set up the Dolphins` winning FG. . . . The college basketball season has barely started, but NBC`s Al McGuire named Duke`s Cherokee Parks as his ”freshman of the year” over ”that kid at Michigan” (which one?).