Voice has been silent

Andelman missed at a special time

By Bill Griffith, Globe Staff, 2/1/2002

he Patriots' third trip to the Super Bowl in New Orleans just isn't the same. It's like a family reunion without a favorite uncle holding forth in his easy chair.

You have to listen for a minute, but then you realize what's missing from all the news and talk emanating from New Orleans.

It's a voice the national media has come to identify with Boston at this annual frenzy. But this time around it's not part of the cacophony rising along Super Bowl's famed ''Radio Row.''

Instead, as the Boston media were bayou-bound this week, one of the stalwarts of The Hub's hubbub was nowhere to be found.

Calls to his house went unanswered.

So, where is Eddie Andelman? The man who gave us ''Jambalaya'' was nowhere to be found.

While former WEEI ''A Team'' partner Dale Arnold and the rest of the Boston talkers seem bored beyond belief by bayou blah, blah, blah, Eddie is incommunicado.

When Andelman gave notice at WEEI in December and pushed management to let him leave earlier than planned, neither he nor anyone else realized his voice would be missing from the clamor around two major stories: the consummation of the sale of the Red Sox and the Patriots' third trip to the Super Bowl.

Andelman promised himself and wife [The Fabulous] Judi two things this winter: A step back for a fresh perspective on life, and a trip to Tahiti.

Finally tracked down at San Francisco International Airport earlier this week, Andelman was in travel mode.

He and Judi were en route to Maui.

There, they'll spend the weekend, and he'll watch Super Bowl XXXVI with retired WBCN and WZLX DJ Charles Laquidara. ''It will be a 1 p.m. kickoff for us,'' said Andelman. After that: Tahiti, Honolulu, Las Vegas, and then home. ''I want to be the first to put down a bet that the Sox will beat the Yankees,'' he said. ''That should cover the cost of the trip.''

The Andelmans hosted a party for friends at San Francisco's posh Yank Sing restaurant during the Patriots-Steelers AFC Championship game last Sunday.

''There were a whole bunch of Boston people there for a dim sum dinner - actually, a breakfast, given the time difference - and I said I'd pick up the bill because I was sure the Patriots would win,'' said Andelman.

Andelman remains under contract with WEEI through February. The rumor mill says he'll surface at WWZN (1510 AM) on March 4, but neither Andelman nor Zone general manager Mike Kellogg will confirm a thing.

However, Andelman did say, ''Maybe Bob Lobel would like to have me on ''Sports Final'' on March 3 for a little announcement.''

Andelman confesses ''that it's been a little tough'' to be muzzled after 32 years on Boston's airwaves. ''Between the Patriots and the Sox, I think I would have had a lot to offer. But I know I did the right thing [in leaving].''

By all accounts Andelman was miserable at WEEI and wasn't reluctant to spread his feelings around the studios.

''Fear not, I have not been idle,'' he said. ''I've been like a squirrel gathering nuts. I'm busting inside with so much great stuff, original stuff. I'm excited to be thinking of working again.''

Andelman promises to rejoin his career-long jabs at high ticket prices, and also vows to create two events that will be bigger than his annual ''Hot Dog Safari.''

He predicts the new Sox owners will have to look to build a new stadium. ''The numbers do not come out for fixing over Fenway. Look at San Francisco with Pac Bell Park. The whole area has become very expensive real estate. Ballparks are good for cities. They bring people into town at night and on weekends, when the offices are closed. I think we'll see that happen in Boston.''

But those are quests he'll apparently be resuming in March.

For now, he has only one word for Patriots fans:

''Jambalaya.''