RIP Mr. Cope

Bye Now! Myron.

No more yoi's and double yoi's. The man who will always be associated as THE voice of 'r Stillers passed away last week.

Like so many other devoted Steeler fans, I grew up in a household where we turned down the sound on the TV and turned UP the radio play-by-play to hear the fun, funny and someitmes cringe-inducing screeches of the one and only Dr. Cope.

I also grew up listening to his radio call-in show on WTAE. Never got up the nerve to call him, but always enjoyed his opinions on sports 'n 'at.

Perhaps my favorite Cope story is the one he told about meeting Fats Holmes in a hotel hallway as he was returning to his room in the wee hours after a Steeler away game.

Holmes took Myron by the shoulder and said to the diminutive one: "How's about you and me going downstairs for a Corvoursier?" -- you have to imagaine Cope saying the word "Cor - vaz - ee - ae!" to truly appreciate the story... Myron said what any 5'4" sportscaster would say to a 320+ pound behemoth: "Show me the way."

Myron went on to explain that even though he loved his toddies, he was unfamiliar with Fats' favorite cognac. And even though he had already imbibed his share of post-game toddies, he wasn't about to say "no" to the request of someone as large and irascible as Mr. Holmes.

Like all of Cope's stories, this one went on and on. He must have used the word cor-vz-ee-aa at least a dozen times. And the story ultimately ended by doing what Cope was most famous for doing: he gave us a glimpse of a real person we thought we knew, but did so in a way in which we learned more about the person than we could ever imagine -- and did so in a truly amusing and entertaining way.

Hope you are having a toddy or two with the Chief, and a Corvoursier with Mr. Holmes, as you watch down on the Steeler Nation you helped create. Bye now, Mr. Cope.