IMHO Sunday: Vin and Tom, L.A.’s voices of summer and fall

In my humble opinion, cardinal and gold thoughts on what I see, what I hear, and what I think from Los Angeles: The voices: I was planning on talking to you this Sunday regarding my thoughts regarding the start of Lincoln Riley’s first USC training camp and the beginning, thankfully, of a new era of USC football. However, while watching last Tuesday night’s Dodgers/San Francisco game from San Francisco, a part of me died with the announcement that the Dodgers' legendary announcer Vin Scully had passed. I just sat on my couch numb staring at my 75-inch TV. I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t. I wanted to scream out “No!”, but my lips could only silently mouth that word from my mouth. So much of me, both as a boy and a man, died when Vinny did. If you grew up in southern California, it was crushing, a moment that reminded all of us of our mortality, but please not Vin Scully. I know he was 94, but not now. He was my fountain of youth, my forever baby boomer self, the voice of baseball in the summer and the playoffs in the fall. The voices – Part 2: The passing of a broadcasting baseball immortal Vin Scully also brought back memories of the greatest football and basketball announcer in USC history, the late Tom Kelly. Also having a distinct style yet a somewhat different following, Kelly was – like Scully – an original and when you mentioned Vin, you immediately thought Dodgers. When you mentioned USC football, you once associated it on radio with the unique and colorful Tom Kelly.