C'mon, Joe. Pass on the porterhouse. Bag the biscuits. Ease off the sausage and eggs. Mix in a salad. It's your life.

        Stop smoking. You did it once. Remember? Your son Kim shamed you into it. More than 10 years ago, he asked you to remember your own father, who died of a heart attack at 57, too young.

        Kim Nuxhall says Joe Nuxhall and Joe's late father are the same, right down to the cigarettes and the stubbornness. “Twins,” Kim calls them.

        “Do you remember how you felt when your dad died?” Kim asked Joe at least a decade ago. “Do you want me to feel that way?” Joe quit smoking for a year. He needs to quit again. Now. Forever.

        The mild heart attack — if there can be such a thing — Nuxhall suffered Tuesday was a shot across the Ol' Left-hander's too-large bow. It was the wakeup call some 73-year-olds never get.

        C'mon, Joe. Wake up.

        This is a plea from your fans and your friends and from anyone you've ever met. Has anyone who knows Joe Nuxhall ever had a bad thing to say about him?

        Do it for them. For all of us. Reds fans need you more than ever.

        Star of the game

Joe Nuxhall signs autographs before the Reds battled the Cubs at Cinergy Field back in June. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        There were nights last season when the only reason to follow the team was to listen to Nuxhall and Marty Brennaman. There will be more of those nights. The last great radio game has two of its best right here. Marty is respected. But Joe is revered. One inspires admiration. The other is part of who we are.

        Joe sounds like baseball. He has been around it so long, its cadence is in his blood. In the summertime, we move to the easy rhythms of the game, on the porch, on the deck, in the yard, sitting staring at the night sky as Joe Nuxhall moves the games across the evening like a slow train to Memphis. This is Nuxhall's gift.

        He's also the best-loved sports figure this town has ever known.

        Said Brennaman: “I'm always amused by people saying Pete Rose is the No.1 sports icon in this town. In terms of the affection the sporting public has, nobody tops Joe.”

        C'mon, Joe.

        Slow down, slim up. “He eats about as poorly as a human can eat,” Kim said. Stop smoking. Nuxhall pops Nicorette gum now, to keep his mouth busy. Chew more Nicorette, Joe.

        During dinner at a steakhouse Tuesday, Joe started feeling the pain in his chest.

        “What's up?” Kim asked.

        “Indigestion,” Joe said.

        “What did you eat?”

        “Nothing.”

        Then Kim said, “We're not going to mess around with this.” Thirty minutes later, doctors were telling the family Joe had a blocked coronary artery. “His face was purple when he was on the table in the emergency room,” Donzetta Nuxhall said of her husband. “He could hardly bear the pain.”

        Follow the advice

        The doctors came later with the advice pamphlets: What to eat, how to exercise, not to smoke, etc. Kim held them up to Joe. “Should I toss these in the trash?” Kim asked. Joe just smiled.

        C'mon, Joe.

        Shape up. Do it for all who listen. Do it for yourself. Life is better here for your presence.

        I missed him Thursday. Joe was at the golf course, trading lies with friends. When I called back, he was sleeping. Just as well.

        “He's a challenge,” Kim said of his father. “A real challenge.”

        Contact Paul Daugherty at 768-8454; fax: 768-8550; e-mail: pdaugherty@enquirer.com.
       

DAUGHERTY: Ol' Left-hander Reds notebook: Bowden hopes Silva can add pitching depth Diamondbacks close to deal with Wells

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