Besides his seven words and decades of legendary comedy, George Carlin, 71

Besides his seven words and decades of legendary comedy, George Carlin, 71 when he died over the weekend, was responsible for keeping alive the spirit of Royal Brougham. There were rumors – I think I pushed them along – that the late Seattle Post-Intelligencer sports editor (kiddies may know him as a street outside Safeco Field) was Carlin’s inspiration for bumbling sports announcer Biff Barff.In addition to editing the P-I sports pages and writing his rah-rah column, Royal also did the sports on KING-TV. Long before Carlin did it, I swear, Brougham was giving “the sports scores: 6-2, 5-4, 7-3…” (without mentioning the teams), and “some partial scores, 1, 5, 3, 4…” Among Brougham’s famous on-air interviews was that of a Japanese women’s bowling team, whom he told “Show them your grips, ladies” as he went to a break, and they all hoisted up their bowling balls. When the shot reopened some minutes later, they were still holding the balls in the air, grunting, sweating and muttering some of those seven words.By the way, the seven were…? (Answer after break; put down your balls, ladies). Shit Piss Fuck Cunt Cocksucker Motherfucker Tits.(No, really. Tits)