Len Kasper Gets Emotional Talking About Joining White Sox Broadcast
Emotions were obviously weighing heavily on the former Cubs TV man when addressing the media in today's press conference.
There are A LOT of theories floating around today about why Len Kasper gave up his position as TV play-by-play guy to do the same job on radio for the White Sox. Frustrated Cub fans immediately pointed to the Cubs' new Marquee network as one of the driving forces.
The fact that Len and his partner JD switched from wearing polo shirts for the broadcast to 3-piece suits left a bad taste in many fan's mouths. Len publicly said many times that he didn't mind the change and actually thought they looked good.
Marquee Network also consistently tried to force a third voice into the broadcast to play off of Len and JD. Whether it was Ryan Dempster (alright addition) or Mark Grace (it was always aqkward at best with him) it didn't flow the way fans were used to.
It is odd that Len Kasper bailed on the Cubs after just doing 56 games with the new network but Len has always said that radio held a special place in his heart and was always a dream of his.
When you listen to the above video, you can hear how much this job means to him. Growing up a Tigers fan and listening to Ernie Harwell made quite the impact on the young Kasper, he knew doing baseball on the radio was something he wanted to do since the age of 12.
After the White Sox long time (and one of the nicest guys in the world) Ed Farmer passed away last year, Len knew this would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Len would also like to make it VERY clear that this was his decision and fans shouldn't be mad at the Cubs organization or the Marquee network.
We'll never know for sure if the new Marquee Network had anything to do with Len's departure because he is way too nice of a guy to ever say anything publicly disparaging of a former employee.