HE'S OUTTA HERE!!

What good news in the morning paper. At least the on-line edition of St. Louis Today where I get my bi-daily dosage of Midwest sports that I can't seem to wean myself from. Even in lean Rams and Cardinals seasons, like 2007.

And I'm talking baseball, not the free agent signings of Brown and Bell by the Rams. Good start Blue and Gold, but pick it up before all the decent ones are signed with other teams.

No, my bit of good news, in fact great news, is that Joe Buck will not be announcing Cardinal games this season! For the first time since 1960 there will be no Buck in the booth. But I'd say since Jack's passing, there's been no bang for the Buck. Or the Buck stopped there.

Joe has long been a resentment to me. I won't belabor my dislike for him, but I will explain. He got too big for St. Louis. And what he did was go East Coast. When the Cardinals were playing a game where the viewers weren't Midwesterners, Joe went Broadway Joe. He'd favor the other team, selling out his own Redbirds. Time after time. While I understand the necessity of not being a homer on a national broadcast, you don't have to run down your team and never, ever say anything unfavorable about your opponent.

That's what Joe was to me. A redcoat instead of a died in the red wool Cardinal fan. His father was a class act in every sense. He announced national games; he wasn't a homer; but he never forgot his roots.

Little Joe must have taken after the other side of the family. I knew Jack Buck: Joe was no Jack.