I’ve been meaning to start this thread for some time. Every morning at 9 am, my blood pressure goes up when our local sports station switches from the morning show to Dan fuckin’ Patrick. I absolutely loathe him and his show. Why, you ask?
[ul]
[li]Using that stupid Cypress Hill song to start the show[/li][li]The fact that he has a team of sycophants with tongues pointed at his sphincters. And they voluntarily call themselves the “Dannettes!”[/li][li]Patrick himself. He loves to talk to athletes like he’s their teammate. Not saying you have to kiss their asses but he’s too “I can talk to you however I want.”[/li][li]That stupid “what did you learn today” thing he does to close.[/li][/ul]
I loved Patrick and Olbermann on SportsCenter - that was a big part of my college days - but both of these guys outside of this format bug the living shit out of me. They’re both so smug and condescending… together it seemed like self-parody or at least bearable. I’ve grown to immensely dislike both of them post-ESPN.
The other sports hosts I occasionally hear - Colin Cowherd? Annoying voice. Scott Van Pelt? Boring.
Now as far as my favorite - Jim Rome, hands down. I know his schtick isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But his show has a great balance of guests, non-sports comedic filler, he has a pretty fun support team, but he’s the main attraction. And his special shows, the Smack-Off and the Hack-Off are the funniest things on radio. I think he does too much horse racing, and his hate of soccer is a little hackneyed, but he’s a great host. It’s hard to believe this is the same guy who got punked by Steve Everett on “The Deuce” back in the day.
Our local guys are good - obviously, the Longhorns are the major sports news in Austin and they have ex-players on. I’m glad they only do two syndicated shows in the day, even if one of them annoys the hell out of me.
Your thoughts? On these, or any other sport radio jocks?
I can’t stand Jim Rome, but what’s worse is people who call in to other sports talk shows and think they’re talking to Rome, giving their 20-second ‘take’, yelling “OUT!”, and hanging up before the host can even say a word.
Jim Rome was never very good, but he just seems totally disinterested these days. Worst of all he spends lots of time ranting why he doesn’t want to take calls because they’re never any good. Then why host a talk show?
BEST:Bob Valvano, the weekend overnight host on ESPN. He actually spends time thinking about the bigger issues of sports instead of just chasing the same old stories.
Tony Bruno, night host on Fox Sports. Goofy show that’s a great mix of comedy and actual sports. Plus he’s based out of the West Coast, which means he recognizes sports teams outside of Boston/NYC.
WORST:Colin Cowherd by a long shot. Loudmouth who refuses to even consider other opinions, has horrible case of Northeastern bias, thinks football is only existing sport. Thank god our local ESPN affiliate no longer broadcasts him.
I don’t like Rome or Cowherd. I used to like Patrick when he was on ESPN radio but he seems to have gotten a really huge head.
I still like Mike & Mike, but I can’t handle the amount of commercials! It seems like five minutes of show, five minutes of ads, SportsCenter Update, repeat.
Lately in the mornings I’ve been listening to MLB Network radio with Rob Dibble - who was with Dan Patrick the last time I liked Patrick, as a matter of fact.
I guess I’m in the minority here cuz I love Cowherd. I think he’s a national host who actually has OPINIONS on expounds on them thoughtfully as opposed to a lot of other guys who just say their opinion and leave it at that without any backup.
I’m fine with Mike and Mike and will agree with the commercials being too many. I know a lot of the sports nerds at my school don’t like M and M cuz they’re too “general and vague” but that’s cuz they’re sports nerds and M and M are more watercooler.
I enjoy Rome the small times I watch him on TV…I’m sure his radio show is the same.
I’m gonna give a lot of props to local Indy (and now on ESPN) guy Dan Dakich (spelling?). His show is always great, he’s entertaining, easy to talk to, and has smart opinions that isn’t just drinking Indy kool aid (like EVERY OTHER INDY SPORTS FAN!!!)
Eh, I like most of them, but my favorite, by far, is Tony Bruno.
Dan Patrick gets guests that wouldn’t stoop to be on Jim Rome’s show. While Rome is interviewing Kyle Farnsworth, Patrick will be interviewing David Stern. But I enjoy Rome more.
I like Mike and Mike a lot. I agree about the commercials and updates taking away from the show, but at it’s core it’s still great. I actually mostly listen to the “Best of” podcasts.
The local ESPN Chicago guys are excellent. Waddle and Silvy and The Afternoon Saloon guy are both top notch and pretty smart. Waddle and Silvy can get a little long winded and the Saloon can get a little zoo-like but I pretty much enjoy all the guys involved and the content is damn solid. Not a ton of call-ins for ether show and I think that’s a plus, most callers are idiots.
Beyond that I’ve kinda quit on terrestrial radio, podcasts are where it’s at.
Echoing the “Mike & Mike” fans (I’m watching right now) and your complaint about the excess commercials. Seems like they’re less since the Mikes are doing SC themselves.
I never actively disliked them, I just love Boers and Bernstein on their rival stations so much better. I really enjoy the balance of the intelligence of Bernstein mixed with the old school thuggery of Boers. They’re the best sports show ever.
Recommend me some more, because with my new phone, I’m having trouble getting B + B. I do Mike and Mike occassionally and like them alot too.
McCown’s the only one I’ll listen to at least semi-regularly (or watch; I get the TV feed.) Occasionally I’ll catch the TV simulcast of NHL Live! on the NHL network.
Rogers Sportsnet is unwatchable to me, except for McCown’s show.
Is Rome still doing the same stuff he did ten years ago? It was getting old then. I don’t think he airs around here anymore.
Best - Can’t argue with Valvano, or you could pick several guys at ESPN radio who did nights or weekends and have left over the years.
Worst - Cowherd. If it gets ratings or makes money then its the best! The whole world is a popularity contest to him. When people say that the NHL really needs to be on ESPN again, I point out this douche. He hates it, won’t talk about it. But if the NFL doesn’t play next fall he just might die. Anybody remember the days of working at ESPN meant you knew all sports? And not just the three that ESPN had a contract to air?
Locally, the station that has become the ESPN affiliate used to have a great staff, but since they affiliated with ESPN and dropped a local programing except for evening drive time its blah at best. Some of the guys are still around but now its a rotation of new guys who try to imitate Cowherd.
One reason I don’t listen to Mike & Mike much this time of year is that they only seem to be talking about basketball. I know it’s the playoffs (isn’t it?) so that’s to be expected, but basketball bores me and I’d rather be listening to Dibble talk about baseball. Once basketball is over I’ll probably listen to more M&M and switch to MLB during the commercials.
My favorite show was the Steve Czaban show. My local affiliate used to play that for my morning commute, then suddenly it was gone, replaced by the Steven A Smith show. You want to talk about bad? Forget Cowherd, Smith is TERRIBLE.
And after that ESPN bought my local station so now I get Mike and Mike, which I like, but it is nowhere near the comedy gold that was the Steve Czaban show.
Indy has great on-air guys. Dan Dakich is really good, but I’m not a basketball fan and he obviously is. So when it’s basketball season, I find myself listening to Mike Patrick over on 1260 more often. He knows his baseball extremely well, and has a great personality. I miss Greg Rakestraw, who got lost in the shuffle after 950 moved to 1070 (in fact, I miss a lot of those guys - Brad Wockamurka was great on the weekends, when he had a show with Will Carroll).
Nationally, I’ll listen to Mike & Mike, reluctantly. They’ve gotten to the point where they’re pretty stale - neither of them knows a damn thing about baseball, and should just stop mentioning it unless they have Buster or Timmy on as guests (and should just shut up when those guys are speaking, come to think about it).
I actually like both Jim Rome and Dan Patrick. I don’t listen to them often enough to have developed any sort of ill-will. I absolutely hate Colin Cowerd. Yeah, he has opinions, but they’re usually incredibly miss-informed, or obviously fake and/or designed to do nothing but generate attention. And when you say “I don’t want to talk about any sports that aren’t in New York or Los Angeles because that’s where the money is”, then I don’t want to waste my time listening to you.
Patrick is fine. But I have the same situation, in that one of the sports stations here (San Fran) switches from Cowherd to Jim Fucking Rome at 9. I despise Rome like I despise being kicked in the throat. Luckily, the other station switches to local Gary Radnich at 9, so it’s not a problem.
ETA : It’s usually irrelevant, as I only listen when Stern is on vacation…
ETA 2 : I completely agree about some of Cowherd’s biases - Football is everything, NE bias. But he’s smart, and he makes excellent points and a lot of sense, usually.
Now that Paul Finebaum has “gone national” by way of satellite radio and web streaming, his show has something for everybody to hate, not just SEC and (predominantly) Alabama talk.
During football season his guests are quite impressive, but during the downtime of summer months it’s a snooze fest unless you’re a fan of his “callers” who may be paid for all I know.
I haven’t listened in several weeks now and I feel cleaner as a human being.
One station in Denver just started carrying the Robert Wuhl show. He’s an actor and comedian who was the assistant coach in Bull Durham and he also wrote some of the Police Squad! episodes in the 80’s. He is very knoedgable about all aspects of sports and very funny as well. He does long interviews with various sports figures that range all over the place, he also covers the business of sports, and occasionally will have actors on. It’s differeent than anything else out there and outstanding.