Toast to Greenspan and other chroniclers

Bud Greenspan, who died Saturday at age 84, did as much to build the Olympic brand and mystique for baby boomers as NFL Films did for pro football.

Universal Sports (Cablevision Channel 110) will honor the famed documentarian beginning Saturday with nine consecutive nights of his Olympic films, starting with Los Angeles '84.

Greenspan is one of many people we lost in 2010 who helped bring the games people play to life for those who enjoy watching them.

They include local baseball announcing institutions such as the Cubs' Ron Santo, the Tigers' Ernie Harwell and the Mariners' Dave Niehaus.

And longtime tabloid sports scribes from our own backyard in Maury Allen and Vic Ziegel.

And Jack Craig of The Boston Globe, the first full-time newspaper sports media critic. (The first telecast he reviewed: The Ice Bowl, 43 years ago Friday.)

And behind-the-scenes figures such as Bill Shannon, a baseball historian and official scorer who wrote a quirky, passionately detailed book about the ethics and history of that art.

Farewell all, and thank you.