RIP Les Grobstein

R

Rockfish

EOG Addicted
The greatest and most entertaining pissed off rant in all of sports was by Lee Elia of the cubs in 1983. Nothing comes close to it. The only reason we get to hear it is because of Grobstein. The Grobber was the only one who had it on tape. RIP.
 
winkyduck

winkyduck

TYVM Morgan William!!!
Rockfish said:
The greatest and most entertaining pissed off rant in all of sports was by Lee Elia of the cubs in 1983. Nothing comes close to it. The only reason we get to hear it is because of Grobstein. The Grobber was the only one who had it on tape. RIP.
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Lots of F-bombs

 
Heim

Heim

EOG Master
Lasorda's Bevacqua and Kingman rants are my favorites.

'Bevacqua couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat' lol
 
John Kelly

John Kelly

Born Gambler
Staff member
I played softball and basketball on a team called the "Chicago Radio All-Stars" with Les Grobstein in the early 1980's.

"Grobber" was one-of-a-kind.

Great radio voice and friendly personality.

His listeners loved him.

Traveled a lot to Chicago sporting events outside the city.

Of course, he attended all the games in the city.

Great memory of Chicago sports and good at remembering the slightest details.

Loved the MLB All-Star Game as an annual event and he covered the game for many, many consecutive years for ABC Radio.

I was a guest of Les's on WLS-AM 890 in my senior year at Northwestern University.

Quite a thrill for a 22-year-old.

RIP Les.
 
John Kelly

John Kelly

Born Gambler
Staff member
Les's time at SportsPhone pre-dated my time there.

But he was on to bigger and better adventures with the boys at WLS-AM 890.

Chicago sports radio lost a legendary voice today.

Sad.
 
S

skinny

EOG Addicted
Rockfish said:
The greatest and most entertaining pissed off rant in all of sports was by Lee Elia of the cubs in 1983. Nothing comes close to it. The only reason we get to hear it is because of Grobstein. The Grobber was the only one who had it on tape. RIP.
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Greatest rant of all time, how did Elia not get fired the next day.
 
blueline

blueline

EOG Master
I would listen to a little of his show every once in a while...listened to a little last week.
He had lost a little off of his fast ball....making more and more mistakes like saying Redwings when he meant Lions etc
He also had become a little prickly.
His overnight show was a safe-haven for callers who would never be let on the air during daytime/evening shows.
Lately he had become slightly confrontational with them when in the past he would just let them say their piece.
He was truly one of a kind.
 
FairWarning

FairWarning

Bells Beer Connoisseur
I’ve listened to him for the majority of the last 50 years, mainly overnights. He was the sports guy for Larry Lujack at the Big 89 WLS. I’ll have to ask Fred Winston about him. Fred has a house about 10 min from me, super nice guy and we have some mutual friends.
 
FairWarning

FairWarning

Bells Beer Connoisseur
blueline said:
I would listen to a little of his show every once in a while...listened to a little last week.
He had lost a little off of his fast ball....making more and more mistakes like saying Redwings when he meant Lions etc
He also had become a little prickly.
His overnight show was a safe-haven for callers who would never be let on the air during daytime/evening shows.
Lately he had become slightly confrontational with them when in the past he would just let them say their piece.
He was truly one of a kind.
Click to expand...
I thought the same thing, a lot more mistakes recently.
 
John Kelly

John Kelly

Born Gambler
Staff member
blueline said:
I would listen to a little of his show every once in a while...listened to a little last week.
He had lost a little off of his fast ball....making more and more mistakes like saying Redwings when he meant Lions etc
He also had become a little prickly.
His overnight show was a safe-haven for callers who would never be let on the air during daytime/evening shows.
Lately he had become slightly confrontational with them when in the past he would just let them say their piece.
He was truly one of a kind.
Click to expand...

FairWarning said:
I thought the same thing, a lot more mistakes recently.
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I was not going to say it today, but there's no doubt Les was failing in recent years.

To me, that made him all the more loveable.

BLUE mentioned the word "prickly" and I agree.

He could be stubborn with his opinions and he was sometimes short with the listeners.

The lesson I learned from Les: Local sports talk guys know everything about their teams (Cubs, Sox, Bears, Bulls and Hawks) and almost nothing about the rest of the league.

Sports bettors have a much wider range of knowledge than sports talk guys.

We know every team in the league like the local sports talk guy knows his team.
 
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John Kelly

John Kelly

Born Gambler
Staff member
Les was a kid at heart.

Loved the movie "Home Alone" and quoted "The Three Stooges" a lot.
 
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blueline

blueline

EOG Master
Mark Grote told a story about how Grote and GF ran into Les and his wife/partner? at a Lady Gaga concert.......Les upon meeting the GF broke into a whole thing about how and why he prefers Madonna and went on and on........when they went their separate ways the GF asks Grtoe. "....ok what was that all about?".....it was just Les being Les
 
blueline

blueline

EOG Master
Les was the sports guy during Dahl and Meier.
Dahl was constantly mocking Les.
Dahl and Meier were on air when Lujack came into the studio and threatened them.
Dahl and Meier left.
Lujack finished Dahl's show with Les.
 
John Kelly

John Kelly

Born Gambler
Staff member
blueline said:
Les was the sports guy during Dahl and Meier.
Dahl was constantly mocking Les.
Dahl and Meier were on air when Lujack came into the studio and threatened them.
Dahl and Meier left.
Lujack finished Dahl's show with Les.
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I was unaware of that story.

Thanks for sharing, BLUE.
 
John Kelly

John Kelly

Born Gambler
Staff member
blueline said:
Mark Grote told a story about how Grote and GF ran into Les and his wife/partner? at a Lady Gaga concert.......Les upon meeting the GF broke into a whole thing about how and why he prefers Madonna and went on and on........when they went their separate ways the GF asks Grtoe. "....ok what was that all about?".....it was just Les being Les
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Grote is a funny guy, great personality.
 
R

Rockfish

EOG Addicted
skinny said:
Greatest rant of all time, how did Elia not get fired the next day.
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Different time back then. I have told people the last few years with the current craziness in the country could you imagine a manager doing the Elia rant today? Probably get arrested after he was fired.
 
R

Rockfish

EOG Addicted
Was there any other radio station in the country doing live sports over nights? Maybe NY city? Wonder if the score will put a live person to replace Les on the over nights.
 
FairWarning

FairWarning

Bells Beer Connoisseur
John Kelly said:
I was not going to say it today, but there's no doubt Les was failing in recent years.

To me, that made him all the more loveable.

BLUE mentioned the word "prickly" and I agree.

He could be stubborn with his opinions and he was sometimes short with the listeners.

The lesson I learned from Les: Local sports talk guys know everything about their teams (Cubs, Sox, Bears, Bulls and Hawks) and almost nothing about the rest of the league.

Sports bettors have a much wider range of knowledge than sports talk guys.

We know every team in the league like the local sports talk guy knows his team.
Click to expand...
He was right, the packers suck ;)

he knew a lot about his teams, and that was better than betting the league - If you can control that
 
Arnold Zwiffel

Arnold Zwiffel

EOG Enthusiast
Elia should have gotten a raise and a contract extension after that rant. Still the greatest sports rant in history. Thanks to Les for preserving it for history. RIP.
 
howid

howid

EOG Dedicated
Another anecdote involving McMahon during the Super Bowl anticipation involved WDSU sports anchor Buddy Diliberto reporting a quote attributed to McMahon, where he had allegedly referred to the women of New Orleans as "sluts" on a local morning sports talk show. This caused wide controversy among the women of New Orleans and McMahon began receiving calls from irate fans in his hotel. A groggy McMahon, who had not been able to sleep well because of all the calls he had gotten, was confronted by Mike Ditka later that morning and denied making the statement, saying he would not have even been awake to make the comment when he was said to have done so. He was supported in his claim by WLS reporter Les Grobstein, who was present when the alleged statements were made.[9] WDSU would later retract the statement, have an on-air apology read by the station's general manager during the noon newscast on January 23, and suspended Diliberto.[10]
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howid

howid

EOG Dedicated
Chicago Bruisers
Chicago Winds
Chicago Sky
Chicago Hustle
Chicago Horizons - indoor soccer
Chicago Cheetahs - roller hockey
UIC Flames
Chicago Rush
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play by play or p a announcing
 
blueline

blueline

EOG Master
I didnt hear it but apparently Grote said Les had some insurance "issues"
For his overnight show he was a considered freelance/contractor
people were urging Les to see a doctor shortly before he died...he refused
 
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