Ode to Rossie

  I just got home and flipped on ESPN to see what was going on in the sports world today. As is my usual custom, I checked out the scroll on the bottom of the screen and the first thing I saw was that former PGA champion Bob Rosburg had died at the age of 82.

  "No, not Rossie." I thought to myself.

  Strange how we feel we know someone we've never met, but that's exactly how I, and I'm guessing many other golfers from my, and older generations, feel about Rossie.

  Truth is I never saw Bob Rosburg hit a single golf shot, but boy could be describe one. Hell, I didn't even know what Rossie looked like for several years, but I sure knew his voice.

  Aside from Ken Venturi, who else would you trust with the correct knowledge of what was about to be attempted by a professional golfer?

  I vividly remember my friend Joe Simpson mimicking Rossie on every shot that he, I, or my cousin John would attempt, that was even remotely difficult while roaming the fairways of Thunderbird Hills in Huron, Ohio as a 13-year-old (the year I took up golf).

  Even if it was something as simple as a punch shot out from underneath a fairly high overhanging branch, Joe would do a spot-on Rossie, declaring "he's got absolutely no shot, Kenny" before we'd miraculously pull it off.

  Of course we took Rossie's famous on-course line and started applying it to ridiculously easy shots like 3-foot putts (oddly prophetic for me these days since I can't seem to make a damn one) as well as other incredibly easy tasks, like passing my driving test. To this day, when the three of us somehow stumble together to actually play a round of golf, we usually utter Rossie's famous phrase right before we tee off on the first hole.

  I guess I'm getting old, because the broadcasters I grew up with, all seem to be falling by the wayside, either through death or retirement. I'll miss Rossie, just like I miss Ken Venturi and Pat Summerall.  One of Rossie's fellow golf broadcasters, and Ann Arbor resident, Mike Tirico, a co-worker of Rossie's for 12 years at ABC, called him "the smartest man I ever worked with."

That's a pretty hefty compliment coming from a broadcaster who has done as much, and covered as many sports as Tirico has over the years.

  That's not saying that there aren't a lot of talented on-course broadcasters out there today. Peter Kostis, Roger Maltbie, David Feherty, Gary McCord, heck, even Bobby Clampett and Dottie Pepper come to mind. But I'm sure if you asked any of them if they could fill the void left behind by Bob Rosburg's death, they'd be the first to quote his famous line -

"there's absolutely no chance."

  What more can you say than that?