Mike Adamle is 61 Years Old?
Forget the erroneous DUI charges. He’s clearly been drinking something else…
If you live in Evanston, you’ve likely heard about WMAQ-Channel 5 sportscaster Mike Adamle’s arrest for DUI, as well as the charge being recently dismissed. Adamle was found to be not intoxicated, though he went through a hell of a lot of bad press over the incident.
That’s all great news, but the most startling fact about the whole situation was learning he’s 61 years old.
WHAT?
If Mike Adamle is 61, that means he’s just a few years younger than my parents. Not only does that mean that Mike Adamle could [theoretically] be my dad, but it also means my kids could call him “Papa.” I used to catch glimpses of him on the news and think he was one of my contemporaries. I was shocked to learn he’s…61.
If memory serves me, I saw Mike Adamle sitting on a fashionable couch at Union Pizzeria earlier this summer. I tried not to stare, but since I’m prone to being star-struck, I pretended to look out at the Chicago Avenue traffic when I was actually trying to catch a glimpse of the big-time Chicago sports anchor. This sort of behavior actually happens to me all the time. I’ve brought my grocery cart to dead standstill when I’ve seen SNL’s Tim Kazurinsky in the meat department at the Jewel on Chicago Avenue. I once saw Mark Giangreco at Foodstuffs on Central Street (and nearly dropped my basket), and I'll proudly note that one of my dry cleaner's customers is WGN TV's Mark Suppelsa. Speaking of dry cleaners, I’m sure there’s a laundry list of other famous Evanstonians walking amongst us. The fact is, not all of them seem to have gone through the ringer (recently) like Mike Adamle has.
Adamle has claimed that one of the hardest parts about his arrest was seeing the DUI charges show up on his Wikipedia page. I hadn’t even thought about an Evanstonian having an entry on Wikipedia… that was fascinating to me. I’ll admit I’ve Googled myself (that sounds so wrong) but I’ve never Wikipedia’d myself; thanks to Mike Adamle’s wrongful arrest, I decided to try it out. According to Wikipedia, Christine Wolf is a German paralympic athlete. The irony is, she excelled in the long jump, which was the only event I failed for the Presidential Physical Fitness test at Winston Churchill Elementary School in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, back in 1980. I’m not bitter. I’m just a 43-year-old, 5’0” tall woman who feels the song “Short People” wasn’t very funny. I’m just fine not having a Wikipedia page…though I did type in “Christine Wolf Evanston” just to be sure. Wikipedia asked if I meant to type “Christine Wolf Evacuation”, at which point I said to myself this exercise is done.
Enough about me. Back to 61-year-old Mike Adamle. Have I mentioned I can’t believe he’s 61? He may have been wrongly accused of a DUI, but he’s clearly been throwing back a few cocktails in the Fountain of Youth.
Clif Brown
12:27 pm on Thursday, August 11, 2011
I have to comment on this article because I am 61 and I worked at WLS-TV for 23 years, including the time when Adamle was hired for the sports department under Tim Weigel (also an Evanstonian, now deceased and likely forgotten by most readers).
On the age topic - time does fly and the only way to face it is to realize we are just like the leaves on the trees - we start out shiny and green and end up crinkled and dry to fall off the tree. All the nipping and tucking and miracle drugs in the world can't stop it. I like to keep the leaf analogy in mind because leaves never feel sorry for themselves and they don't cry for their youth! We are on the top of the heap of life and it is inexcusable that for all that we enjoy being human, we should shed one tear for our plight. Feelings are part of us, but we can torture ourselves with them, and do. As surely as the single leaf will be forgotten, so will each of us. Enjoy what you have, accept the inevitable with grace and courage.
Now - as for the effect of celebrities, see the above only more-so! Oprah, Fahey Flynn, Joel Daly, John Coleman, Mark Giangreco, Mike Adamle all were there with me daily at WLS. They were/are just people. One thing that I found depressing about the TV business was the great value that the public would put on these people without knowing them. Adulation of celebrity, of people who just sit and read news. It goes to the heads of the objects too and I sure saw a parade of them over the years.
victoria smith
7:19 am on Friday, August 12, 2011
I have to laugh when I read" This person is as old as my parents" and the person that is speaking is in their early 40's.I too am a few years younger as well, not 61 for another 5, but my husband is. Your making me show my age Christine. I remember Tim Weigel because he went to our church in Evanston and got married on the same day I did only two hours earlier, his daughter was in the same grade school as my son. I also grew up living next door to
one of th newscasters that was with the group of Fahey Flynn, but his name now eludes me, I want to say Fox but that might not be right, he did the sports. Actually he and my Dad went to several sporting events together. There every where and just like us they have normal family lives, except no one oogles us or asks us for autographs!
Michael
3:24 pm on Monday, August 15, 2011
Two quick comments. First, this column made me laugh Well done Christine. Second, in response to Cliff Brown's comment, I do recall Tim Weigel. He was one of my favorites. Very funny guy and he knew his sports. He is missed.
Lori Keenan
11:27 am on Thursday, August 18, 2011
Christine - Very funny, and well written. One sad thing, though. A friend and I were walking this AM down Lincoln and walked by the house that I think Mike Adamle used to live in, so were talking about the "DUI" incident. It seems that since his bogus arrest and being put through the ringer in the local press, I think he actually was pretty disgusted and moved out of Evanston. Maybe you can find out more about what happened at the end of the story? But agree, he surely has found the secret of youth.