NBC and CSN Chicago NHL analyst Eddie Olczyk was diagnosed with colon cancer in August, and his partner on those CSN Chicago broadcasts delivered a unique tribute to him in a different venue Saturday. Pat Foley normally is the play-by-play announcer for CSN Chicago and WGN Blackhawks broadcasts alongside Olczyk, and he was invited to lead “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch at Friday’s Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field. Foley took the opportunity to honor his colleague by wearing a Cubs’ jersey with Olczyk’s name and the 16 he wore for much of his NHL career on it, and told the crowd “Let Eddie O hear you all the way in the suburbs!”
"Let Eddie O hear ya all the way in the suburbs!" pic.twitter.com/uzFb0eemBJ
— NBC Sports Chicago (@NBCSChicago) September 29, 2017
That’s a cool move on Foley’s part, and it’s great to see the Wrigley crowd respond that way. It’s good to see yet more support for Olczyk, too, and from a long-time teammate; Foley has been partnered with Olczyk since 2008-09. Foley said during a Blackhawks’ preseason broadcast last week that Olczyk will need six months of chemotherapy following the surgery he had last month, so he’ll likely be out of the NBC and CSN Chicago booths for a while; Mike Milbury is moving to the NBC booth to fill in, CSN Chicago hasn’t announced a replacement yet. The thoughts of many in Chicago and elsewhere will be with Olczyk during his recovery, though, and it was neat to see Foley get the Wrigley crowd to give him this kind of shoutout.
[NHL.com]
