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Jim O'Donnell: Touché of grades is in for Sox, Cubs broadcasters

THE SOX ARE ALREADY teetering on the brink and the Cubs stumbled out of the gate.

But in a week when much of America wishes it was one, two interruptions and you're out, COVID MLB has only just begun its October stretch run.

Straight, no asterisks, final short-season grades for Chicago's eight primary baseball broadcasters:

(Note: Like Rex Reed on "The Gong Show," decisions of the judge are eminently interruptible; talent is listed in alphabetical order.)

• Jason Benetti, White Sox TV - Sharp and appropriately framing with a tremendous sports and pop cultural vertical. ... Has also handled backstage politics with care. ... Question keeps ticking: How long can Chicago hold him? Grade: A

• Ron Coomer, Cubs radio - No question the man knows the game, the organization and works hard to stay informed. ... Consciously or not, also brings hint of old-style Lou Boudreau/Ron Santo befuddlement to gamecasts. ... Greatly exceeded over/under on anticipated length of stay in team's radio booth. Grade: B

• Jim Deshaies, Cubs TV - Plug him in anywhere and he'd find a way to fit. ... Given the provincialism of Chicago, that's part of the problem. ... Always seems to be tamping down "snark ceiling," an apparent precondition of surviving in Wrigley broadcast scheme. ... With the right bosses and play-by-play guy, might prove to be kind of OK to listen to. Grade: B-

• Pat Hughes, Cubs radio - The man has a mellifluous, ambient radio voice and some take that as a negative. ... Odd. ... He brings an audio comfort to games that sustains an old organization tradition extending back to other "sonic quilters" such as Jack Quinlan and Vince Lloyd. Grade: B+

• Darrin Jackson, White Sox radio - Certainly picked up points with the crisply professional manner in which he handled the sad passing of Ed Farmer and the transition to Andy Masur. ... But, like any Sox announcer, always hard to distinguish what's sincere and what's said to please Jerry Reinsdorf. Grade: B

• Len Kasper, Cubs TV - As colorful as a loading dock full of clear anti-bacterial hand gel. ... The languid lad is a classic example of ambition and opportunity outpacing talent. ... Imagine if the Marquee Sports Network had a theatrical impactor such as Jack Brickhouse or Harry Caray lighting up its inaugural season. Grade: C-

• Andy Masur, White Sox radio - Not fair to score because of his "rookie" status and the shortened MLB season. ... In a normal year, he and Darrin Jackson wouldn't even be at the All-Star break yet. ... Hard-core are already saying his "detached professionalism" is no substitute for Ed Farmer's "sardonic homer-ism." ... Or something like that. Grade: Incomplete

• Steve Stone, White Sox TV - Obviously still the son that Marty Glickman and Gabby Hayes never had. ... Even by the standards of his native suburban Cleveland, the man loves to chatter. ... He remains a knowledgeable communicator and it's a shame that more than three decades in, he'll never completely comprehend the diamond sweetness of punctuating silence. Grade: A-

WHEN HE HAS THE TIME, the multi-tasking Richard Deitsch of The Athletic is the most textured national sports media writer in America.

At the end of each week's column, he spotlights a handful of notable sports and non-sports reads and on Monday, he pointed to a very important one.

It's Barton Gellman's "The Election That Could Break America" in the November issue of The Atlantic.

(Free; Google author and title.)

It's extraordinarily compelling explanatory journalism and not for the shallow of intellect nor the inelastic of judgment.

It's also a slap to the senses about the precarious fragility of the way America designates presidents.

And, it's best read without interruptions.

STREET-BEATIN': ESPN assigning Jessica Mendoza to work second chair on the Sox-A's series was all right - if you don't mind endless banalities. ...

Speaking of the Sox, hard to miss Ozzie Guillen's more voluble criticism of Rick Renteria on NBCSCH during the team's late-season swoon. (Could "The Blizzard of Oz" be sniffing a second go-round as the team's manager? And would the return of Jay Mariotti be part of the package?) ...

Bill Hazen is among the radio hawks predicting that White Sox games will wind up on Entercom's WCFS-FM (105.9) beginning next season. (The station normally simulcasts WBBM-AM (780) programming; Sox games are usually a ratings killer.) ...

Three weeks in, 17 NFL teams - more than half the league - are 2-1 against the spread, including ace reliever Nick Foles and the Bears. That's made possible by the fact that five are 0-3 - the Eagles, the Cowboys, the Titans, the Jets and the Texans. (Only Seattle and Green Bay are 3-0.) ...

The Ken-L-Ration will flow like Milk Bones Thursday night when the NFL Network presents winless Denver at the winless N.Y. Jets. (Joe Buck, Troy Aikman; 7:20 p.m.). Maybe Ryder of "PAW Patrol" can handle the coin toss of this bowser. ...

And NBC sneaks in the 145th Preakness Saturday afternoon, perhaps the most meaningless event from Baltimore since Francis Scott Key's follow-up to "The Star-Spangled Banner."

• Jim O'Donnell's Sports & Media column appears Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.

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