Media Savvy
Mac-n-Myron
By John McIntire

The late, great Myron Cope was a cranky old cuss. The much beloved cantankerous crab and inventor of the Terrible Towel was a genius at developing his kooky color commentator character.

But I had the bad fortune to be on the wrong side of Myron's terrible temper, all because I was too naïve to realize how much some local sport reporters despise one another. In 1997, I was hosting the NightTalk television show on cable channel PCNC, and I was struggling to find quality guests. I spotted Myron mugging like a frenzied fiend on a Subway Sandwich commercial.

"Who the hell is that crazy little dude?" I asked myself.

After Myron agreed to come on the show I asked WPXI sportscaster Sam Nover (PCNC shares studios with WPXI) what I should ask Myron. Much later I learned that Nover and Cope despise one another. Nover, I believe, resented Cope's success based on becoming somewhat of a cartoon character. So making a classic rookie mistake, I absorbed Nover's suggested question without being properly skeptical of his possible motivation.

"Why don't you ask him about being born Myron Kopelman?" suggested Sam. I assumed Cope had shortened his name for show business reasons. So it seemed like a fair and legitimate question.

Cope arrived at the studios, his halitosis lending evidence to the notion he perpetuated that he often enjoyed a toddy or two.

"So I understand you were born Myron Kopelman?" I queried.

He seemed a little stunned but kept up the Cope patter, sprinkling sentences with an occasional hmm-ha, which I believe is a nervous tick that developed into shtick.

He explained to me that the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, for whom he used to write, frowned upon Jewish surnames, fearing anti-Semitism would lower circulation.

I asked, "Why Cope?"

He said, "Hmm ha, just picked it out of a phone book."

That's when I knew something weird was happening, because he obviously just shortened the name, rather than searching local directories.

We went to commercial and the terrible temper reared its ugly head.

"Do you know what it is to have to tell your parents you can't use your God given name on the byline? You set me up! You set me up! Who gave you that question, Nover? He's the kind of guy who'll smile to your face and stick a shiv in your back!"

Myron finished the interview as if nothing had ever happened, but proceeded to call my boss the next day and demand my head on a platter. While that did not endear me to Mr. Kopelman, I tried and failed a few times over the years to arrange a return to the show.

Flash forward ahead to the year 2006.

I was hosting a nighttime radio show on KDKA, and Myron was being inducted in the Broadcasters Hall of Fame in Chicago. He agreed to a phone interview, which was harmless and predictable. At the end of the interview I said, "Thanks Myron, have fun tonight, and have a toddy for me."

"A toddy," he exclaimed. "You must be a drunk!"

I allowed as how I was but that the FCC prohibited me from drinking on the air "as you know," I said.

"Or maybe you wouldn't know that," I continued.

"Hmm thanks for that," said he.

The last time we spoke he told me to never call him again because I had allowed radio host Mark Madden to say horrible things about him. Like the Towel and the temper, my relationship with Myron was forever Terrible.

Hmm-ha.