I thought an appreciation of obscure statistics was required, at least for baseball.
It is to me… But I majored in Mathematics. 
I love all sports stats, obscure or not.
/slight hijack
Can. I drag into this thread the sports talk shows that are currently on TV? Many of the radio shows we’ve discussed are simulcast (boy is THAT bad TV), so i don’t think it would be a stretch to ask the appeal of those types of shows either.
If I may, can I ask if anyone can explain the appeal of Around the Horn? (ESPN)? You have 4 no or low talent sportswriters, who take the show as serious as they possibly can (with one or two exceptions, that is, Tim Cowlishaw? Being the most likable one).
The show is basically a shouting match, and a couple of the writers are upset when Tony “Stat boy” Reali doesn’t give them the points they think they deserve. Bill Plaschke, the bald, cindy-brady-esque lisper from LA is an absolute cry baby on this show. If he loses a final “showdown”, he always complains and/or makes a face. And if he doesn’t make it that far, he invariably whines about the scoring. I thought there could not be anyone more annoying than Jay Mariotti, but after he was booted (or quit) they filled his shoes with Plaschke. I have stopped watching this show completely, but I realize it may be that i am just too old for these things.
PTI is also turning turning into a shouting match, but i still like the hosts (Wilbon and Kornheiser), so I can watch it. The other ESPN product that is god awful is the scripted shouting match between Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless (another ATH castoff). I honestly don’t know who can and does watch this crap. But people must, because ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNews seem to have nothing but talk on for hours during the day, and they rerun ATH and PTI during the evening.
I also recently realized that Jim Rome has a show on Shotime. How is this possible? Doesn’t anyone listen to the man before they hire him.
PTI is maybe the least offensive show of the genre but even there the short increments granted to each topic means that it doesn’t lend itself very well to thoughtful discussion. Kornheiser’s better medium, by far, is his two-hour radio show from Washington, DC. While it’s admittedly not a classic sports talk show (no coaches or athletes as guests, no calls taken from the public), he and his crew do invite thoughtful people from the world of sports to talk about issues in some depth.
It wasn’t “those” Steelers. Still, the '76 team was the one that somehow started 1-4 before running the table on the rest of the regular season, while surrendering a grand total of about 28 points over those final nine games.
Last summer ESPN mentioned Tebow 127 times. In just 2 hours. For a guy who did not make a NFL team.
I listen to CBS Sports Radio nearly every day, and yes, it’s dominated by NHL football, followed closely by college football. Despite being almost out of season. I’m surprised the NBA doesn’t get more play.
There’s a separate show in the mornings for golf.
Reasons:
Fannish - It’s a good way to participate passively in the local team’s fandom. Excitement, reliving awesome plays, wallowing in unfair calls. The brotherhood that fanning brings. Turning it on after the game, or the next day, is a good place to get reactions. Better than articles or Twitter, in my opinion (which are much better for hockey).
Soothing - Listening to a good radio voice drone on about sports is pretty relaxing. As bobot says.
Communal - It’s very local. The callers are almost always nice and on point. There is no trolling. Can you imagine? And at least here, there’s a wide demographic of callers. White men, black men, little old ladies, occasionally people from halfway across the country who are ex-pats or want to politely slam our team for the upcoming game.
Mine rarely do that, thank goodness. When Jason Collins came out, it was kind of dicey. They’ll try to avoid political ramifications of certain arrests as well.
Mid-30s white liberal lesbian of privilege who loves both watching sports and gossiping about them?
Whatever happened to the Steve Czaban show? That guy was hilarious.
I listen to a lot of sports talk radio, and a lot of it is like a dog worrying a bone. They chew on a completely unimportant topic forever (who should we draft? What’s wrong with our pitching?) and never lose interest or enthusiasm.
/hijack
Best Steeler team of them all and probably the best team in NFL history. Certainly the greatest defense I have ever seen, and that includes the '85 Bears and the '?? Ravens.
For those of you that don’t remember, that was the year that Cleveland Browns “Turkey” Jones spiked Bradshaw on his head into the turf like he was a hammer and Bradshaw was the nail.
Mike Kruczek, the backup QB, came in and lead the Steelers to 6 straight wins until Bradshaw was healthy enough to play and get the Steelers into the playoffs. They won the first playoff game against the Colts, and lost the AFC championship to the Raiders in Oakland. That was John Madden’s ONLY AFC championship win, and that was only because the Steelers had no running game. Both Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier were out.
Ah, memories of my youth.
It is a shame the Steelers didn’t win the SB in '76. That would have been a three-peat, and the defense was unbelievable. 5 shutouts in the last 9 games. They just ran out of steam. 4 of the last 5 games (including both playoff games) were on the road, and that west coast trip to Oakland without the running game was a hurdle they couldn’t overcome.
I believe that ESPN (or someone, i can’t recall who) did one of those great team vs. great team computer simulation tournaments, and the '76 Steelers won it all.
/end hijack