[NU Sports] Re: White Sox vs. . . . Everyone (fwd)

[Mike Nolan]

> BTW I agree with you that Irv described a bears game like he would describe
> paint drying on the wall.  I never could understand why he got that job.

Kup started out as a sportswriter.  He was originally a Wildcat, too, 
though he transferred to Grand Forks, North Dakota, after getting into a 
fight with coach Dick Hanley's brother.  

Kup was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1935 (as a QB, as I recall), 
though he was injured in his rookie season.  

A good friend of George Halas, Kup worked as an NFL official for several
years and was the referee for the the Bears famous 73-0 dismantling of 
the Redskins in the 1940 NFL championship game.  Kup may have been
single-handedly responsible for the NFL's decision to stop using
sportswriters as officials after he reportedly shouted "We made it!" on
a first down measurement while working a Bears-Packers game.

A bit of a brawler (which was obvious even in his later years if you read
his column closely or watched his Sunday night talking heads show), Kup 
got into a famous fight with Dizzy Dean.  Though Dizzy got the best of 
the fight, Kup belittled him for years, even throwing in a few juicy
comments during those Bears games.

While he certainly had the background to work NFL games, I always thought 
Kup was on those radio broadcasts to make Jack Brickhouse seem exciting 
by comparison.  :-)

For the life of me, I can't remember who used to work the Bears games
instead of Brickhouse in September before the Cubs season ended.  
--
Mike Nolan