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JohnnyBlaze

Sports Talk Radio

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I find myself searchign for stuff to listen to during the day...any recommendations as to what i should be listening to...streaming preferred.

 

On a side note...i do catch myself listening to mike tirico on espn radio frequently...whats the verdict on him over Dan Patrick...i like him so far...seems to know about all the stuff he talks about...has a little more emotion than DP showed.

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Guest Teal-y Dan

What little Tirico I've heard is competent, and move lively than the pregnant-pause-laden Dan Patrick program. I have no interest in national sports talk, and I don't think anybody should, so I'm not sure what kind of advice I can give you. You're in DC. Don't you have Czaban and Kornheiser? They're both pros.

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Interesting; I go the other way on that... I think that sports talk in general is horrid, but if you're going to listen to it, at least listen to somebody national; local sports meatheads are wretched, probably ninety-nine percent of the time... and, if you're like me, and don't actually care about the sports teams closest to where you live at, one hundred percent of the time. I listened to the first week of Patrick's new show, but found it not to my taste. Rome would be tolerable, if it weren't for the jackoffs that call in and email his show. Tirico's about as good as you're likely to find on ESPN these days; Cowherd, if you don't like football (and I don't), is insufferable.

 

I've been a fan of Kornheiser's show since '99. And I love the fact that, since he left ESPN, he only spends around 15-20 minutes out of a two-hour program actually talking about sports. Of course, I could do without all the Idol chatter (pun intended), but you've got to take the bitter with the sweet, I guess...

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Tirico would be good if he sometimes didn't have Scott Van Pelt trying to be funny and cool on the show. I really hate all those SC anchors.

 

I liked my local sports talk guys in Oklahoma but that's mainly because the topic stayed OU in general.

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Guest Teal-y Dan
Sports talk is horrid, but if you're going to listen to it, at least listen to somebody national; local sports meatheads are wretched, probably ninety-nine percent of the time... and, if you're like me, and don't actually care about the sports teams closest to where you live at, one hundred percent of the time.

National sports talk is a waste of time, especially when it's based in Connecticut. I have no use for their national programming.

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National sports talk is a waste of time, especially when it's based in Connecticut. I have no use for their national programming.

 

Okay, but you live in Chicago, right? And you like the Bulls, Cubs, etc?

 

The nearest pro sports teams to me are in DC, and I could give a rat's ass about all of them. They have minor league baseball and hockey here, and I can't fucking stand either of them. And, of course, the wretched college teams in Hampton Roads that I couldn't care less about.

 

National >>>>> the alternative, at least for me.

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I enjoy Kenny Roda of ESPN 850 here in Cleveland. But that's mostly because he does a sweet John Lucas impression that he'll bust out from time to time.

 

*raspy as shit, ready to lose his voice* We gotta get the bigs like Ildrunas Zygowskas in the game.

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Guest Smues

Kornheiser is all I listen to these days as far as sports talk radio is concerned, and his show is only nominally a sports show. I don't like the Washington Post Radio incarnation of the show as much the Sportstalk 980 show, but at least on 3WT they podcast it everyday making it easier for me to get. And I agree they talk about American Idol way too much, but then again if it were a show I cared about I'd probably be glad for it. Viva la animal revolution.

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National sports talk is a waste of time, especially when it's based in Connecticut. I have no use for their national programming.

 

Okay, but you live in Chicago, right? And you like the Bulls, Cubs, etc?

 

The nearest pro sports teams to me are in DC, and I could give a rat's ass about all of them. They have minor league baseball and hockey here, and I can't fucking stand either of them. And, of course, the wretched college teams in Hampton Roads that I couldn't care less about.

 

National >>>>> the alternative, at least for me.

 

 

You have the most exciting player in hockey in the last 10 years, and you can't stand it?

 

 

There is no help for you.

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I really only listen to WFAN, and that's probably too NYCentric for most people. Mike and the Mad Dog get by far the best guests and can be really, really good when they have something to sink their teeth into, but other times when their isn't a good guest lineup or isn't a couple of hot topics to discuss they can be really, really tedious. Like the other day when they spent an hour speculating over the minutia of tv coverage for the Masters. One thing I like about them is they get into the business/politics of sports from time to time rather than just debating stats and opinions. Sometimes it's wankery, but sometimes it's really interesting.

 

Joe and Evan in the midday is good too, they're the best with the callers I think, but they're really NYCentric.

 

I like Tony Paige in the overnight because he tends to have really wacky guests, like random old ABA/NBA or MLB players that nobody's heard from in years, but that doesn't happen often enough.

 

Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton have a pretty entertaining morning show. That might be the best bet for the non-NY fan.

 

You can listen 24/7 at wfan.com

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I listen to the baseball talk on XM 175. In this area, there really is no terrestrial sports radio except for the station that carries ESPN. Oddly, XM has a sports talk radio channel out of Cincinnati.

 

Local talk is hit or miss. Occasionally you get a real waste of human life like Howard Eskin.

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Precious Roy's post reminds me of something else I hate about sports talk radio: athletes being interviewed. Most of them are utterly insipid, and have nothing whatsoever to say worth listening to. That's one of the main reasons I became a Kornheiser fan: even when he did a mostly sports show, he never interviews athletes because they almost never have anything worthwile to say. And, even when there's something interesting to talk about, they're usually so inarticulate, it's painful to listen to.

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Guest Teal-y Dan

My favorite athlete interview on sports radio was when Josh Beckett got tired of talking to Terry Boers like two minutes into the interview and said "well, gotta go, bye" and hung up.

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Precious Roy's post reminds me of something else I hate about sports talk radio: athletes being interviewed. Most of them are utterly insipid, and have nothing whatsoever to say worth listening to. That's one of the main reasons I became a Kornheiser fan: even when he did a mostly sports show, he never interviews athletes because they almost never have anything worthwile to say. And, even when there's something interesting to talk about, they're usually so inarticulate, it's painful to listen to.

 

The worst part is when they try to buddy up to the athlete and make a bunch of dumb jokes.

 

Here in western Kansas we had a guy from SoCal that was like that. He'd interview HS kids and make a bunch of dumb jokes then start talking about LA and then he'd start name dropping. Before you knew it the kid hadn't said anything in like 2 minutes and he was going on about interviewing Barry Bonds.

 

I hate people in the media that are name droppers:

 

"So I was interviewing Kobe Bryant the other day....."

 

"Yeah we know Rob. We heard the interview. It's your job to talk to these people."

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WEEI in Boston is (supposedly) the most listened to sports radio station in the country (they certainly remind you of that enough in their promos), but it is best served in small doses.

The morning show (Dennis and Callahan) is probably the worst show on the station, featuring two seemingly always angry and crotchety guys and the most annoying update guy (Jon Metaparel, who makes BC football games unlistenable) ever Their political talk (which is a good 50-75% of the show depending on the day) makes me want to throw my radio out the window.

 

The mid-day show (featuring Dale Arnold and Michael Holley) is probably the best since it is usually straightforward sports talk with some pretty good interviews (Terry Francona in baseball season, Pats guys like Bruschi and Harrison in the fall) and both guys are funny and pleasing to listen to.

 

The 2-6PM show (The Big Show with Glenn Ordway) is definitely the most popular show on the station but definitely differs in quality depending on the co-hosts that day. When guys like Sean McAdam and Rob Bradford are on, it's good, but when mouthbreathers and dolts like Butch Stearns and ESPECIALLY Fred Smerlas are on, I only listen to bits and pieces. They also subscribe to (and perhaps invented) the "yelling over the callers and having a bunch of goofy sound effects = ratings" formula of broadcasting.

 

I don't listen to the nighttime show (Planet Mikey) enough to form an opinion.

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Although I live thousands of miles away I've been enjoying Dave Dameshek on LA's ESPN radio station. He was Adam Carolla's sidekick during his radio show in 2006 and the show is only about halfway a sports show, but it's one of the more entertaining shows I've heard coming out of the ESPN radio stations.

 

Mark Madden does a show locally (Pittsburgh) that's sometimes good for a sort of manufactured controversy to stir up his callers and some decent hockey talk. He also gets fairly regular calls from the Disco Inferno under a variety of different aliases.

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Kellerman's is the best. I think they're calling it the Kellerman and Kenny Show now, but Brian Kenny is still more of the sidekick. I like how he isn't afraid to expose the fact that golf isn't a sport.

 

Then there's Dameshek in LA...the show is good at times, but he really has no control over his show. He'll get interuppted by the producers, or cornered by callers, so he's kind of an underdog on his own show. Then he'll rail on pizza toppings, and Kimmel/Simmons/Cousin Sal call in a lot, so there's a lot of humor.

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Kornheiser podcasts.

 

Thank you sir!

 

Yeah, Dameshek is good. That's what I listen to if I'm in my car during the day. I hate "The Loose Cannons." Petros and Money are good, though.

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Here in Houston, 97.5 FM is the only real choice. Mike and Mike are good. Tirico is better than Dan. Cowherd is great durring football season. He is horrible durring mid summer when he doesn't have much to rant about. He had me in tears ripping Rockets fans a new one for thinking their streak wasn't a big deal.

 

As for the local shows:

 

2-4CST: Bottomline with Jerome Solomon is a great show now that Jorge Vargias quit to do CW sports. Jorge killed the show with his ra-ra of the local teams and OVERLY pro Clemens.

 

4-5CST: Carl Dukes is a great show. Should be longer as he is the best on the network.

 

5-7CST: Calvin Murphy is ok, not the best. But his show is good durring basketball season because he talks about the game smartly. Plus has the opinions on topics like Barkley.

 

Thursdays 7-9CST: Scott Sullivan is great with his MMA show. Best part of the show is that all leagues get press on it.

 

Best thing about the whole network: NO SCREAMING-A Smith.

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