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Angelo Cataldi Wrote a Book
Published:
If you watched the Phillies game on Tuesday night, you had the unfortunate experience of listening to Angelo Cataldi on the television broadcast. There was a lot of weirdness going on because it also happened to be Star Wars night, so there was a seven-foot tall Chewbacca on the concourse while R2-D2 beep beep and boop booped his way through Ashburn Alley.
Cataldi, of course, is the Jar Jar Binks of Philly sports. He retired from 94 WIP earlier this year but is promoting his new book, LOUD, which is slated for a November release. The Inquirer published an entire column written by Cataldi that notes this, in part:
My goal in writing LOUD – that’s the name of the book, scheduled for release on Nov. 28 – is to melt the snowballs that those fans threw at Santa 55 years ago.
Now, I am no idiot, despite my blowhard radio persona. I know already that my quest is destined to fail. The last thing any national media person wants to hear is how nice Philly fans really are.
…
I really, really hope that my book, in some minuscule way, changes the narrative about the fans of Philadelphia. I would love to believe that the next time a national broadcaster is mentioning the snowballs and Santa Claus that they will add the story of Kenny Justice and his kidney.
Angelo is talking about Kenny from the Dirty 30, a regular caller who got a transplant thanks to the kindness of fellow WIP listeners.
That’s the gist of the book, according to Cataldi, to explain that Philly sports fans aren’t brutes, but good people. The paradox, of course, is that Angelo was one of the driving forces in feeding that notion, evidenced by 33 years of radio Negadelphia and the platforming of absolute imbeciles. Cataldi isn’t wrong when he talks about the truth of Philadelphia sports fandom, but writing a book about this is the equivalent of Motley Crue coming to your kid’s D.A.R.E. program to explain why drugs are bad. “Do as I say, but not as I did on the Dr. Feelgood tour,” or in this case, “I perpetuated the stereotype that I’m now deriding.”
Can’t wait to read it though. Hopefully Howard Eskin wrote the foreword.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com