Adding Insult to Injury for Mark Giangreco

So there I am, yesterday in front of the TV, popcorn at hand eagerly looking forward to the broadcast of the local lifetime achievement awards for Mark Giangreco and other newscaster favorites.?Carol Marin is featured in the first honoree segment of Jackie Bange. I had the pleasure of meeting her at the Mike Royko live remote at Chez Goat when he passed away. I am excited thinking that since Carol adores Mark, she will be interviewed about him as well.?

Nope!?Not so fast.? Instead I hear a short 3 sentence statement about Mr. Giangreco.?No Zoom interview, no kind words from Ron Majors or anyone else.?No archival?footage from NBC in place of ABC.?No celbration of 40 stellar years in Chicago. No multiple?images that could be found on the internet. Nothing.

Mickey Mantle had a recurring dream of rushing to the ballpark only to find every door locked.?That is what?took place before my eyes. Really??You announce that he has earned a lifetime award award and you don't even invite him??Somebody dropped the hot potato?that is Mark Giangreco. That you could not look past the man, you ignored the fans who tuned in to watch.??

You not only made him sit the penalty box, you gave all his fans a ten minute misconduct and essently a game misconduct. Nice going. Hello?

And of?all the options before you, surely you could have chosen an outcome befitting of someone earning a life time award.?How would you feel if this had happened to you?? But no. Instead you chose the path of least resistance.?How cowardly. How cruel. How inhumane. How needlessly petty. How rude. How undignified. You gave the presentation a black eye.

Cruel and unusual punishment that does not fit the crime. And why?

On behalf of the fans of Mr. Giangreco who tuned in, shame on you.?"Accepting the award for Mark Giangreco . . ." What is this? A skit from SCTV gone off the rails?

And then to rub salt in the wound and add insult to?injury, Kathy Brock, who worked with Mark for?years, does the introduction for Alan Kreshesky, who I also respect and admire.?This was tantamount to being invited to a college reunion for an award and being told to wait off campus.?I can't be the only one left with bad taste in their mouth.

"We went down to the courthouse and the judge put it all to rest. No wedding day smiles, no walk down the aisle, no flowers, no wedding dress. . . Now those memories come back to haunt me! They haunt me like a curse. Is a dream a lie if it don't come true - or is it something worse?"

When Bruce Springsteen first performed?this unreleased song live at a benefit concert, he dedicated it to his sister and his brother in law.?He was so emotional that he was seen shaking while introducing the song. He choked up perfoming the song, his voice cracking.?When it was over, he put down the microphone, calmly turned his back to the audience, the single spotlight above him faded to black.?

When Mr. Giangreco was taken off the air, I was angry and upset.?I was seething. Time passed and my mood came to terms with reality.?So as I write this today, my mood is instead one of?just hurt and sadness. Thanks for the gut punch.?

"Judy and Johnny just came through the door, like a queen and her king.?Oh what a birthday surprise, Judy is?wearing his ring.?It's my party and I'll cry if I want to.?Cry if I want to, cry if I want to.?You would cry too if it happened to you."

Sorry I called you Shirley.?