(if there’s a better forum for this, feel free to suggest it)
I was wondering about the Rome/Kornheiser rivalry. Apparently there is such a rivalry, but it predates my listening to either guy. Now Rome is coming back to ESPN, and Kornheiser is still on, and I can tell from some stuff Tony says that he really can’t stand the type of emailer/caller/fan that Rome encourages to talk on his radio show.
Does anyone know the origin of this rivalry between the two sportsradio broadcasters?
I wouldn’t say that Rome encourages typical sportsradio calls on his show. The takes called in by the clones are really scripted mini-monologues (and some are very cleaver). It’s not the typical “who’s better, Koby or T-Mac? Give us a call and let us know what you think” sportstalk. Man, I hate that crap. Here in DFW we have the greatness of SportsRadio 1310 The Ticket, so I don’t listen to Kornheiser or any other ESPN or FoxSports show.
Pash
I listen to both shows semi-regularly (having a job makes it impossible to listen TOO often), and enjoy both. I like Kornheiser a LITTLE better, because he’s not quite so full of himself, and isn’t so obsessed with making himself look cool.
Rome is genuinely funny, and I always get a lot of laughs from his show. But what annoys me is how quickly he transforms from a self-styled “hard-hitting” tough guy who “tells it like it is” into a fawning butt-kisser whenever he interviews an athlete.
They play Rome, but they don’t play the Kornheiser show here. I can’t say I’ve ever heard Rome say anything about Tony, but admittedly, I haven’t listened for a few months now. So if there’s a rivalry, I haven’t noticed.
For the most part, I like Jim Rome. He really is pretty funny at times, he draws some pretty amazing people to interviews, and many of the “clones” have some good stuff to say, as opposed to local talk radio shows whose callers are often so bad that I turn the radio off to avoid the pain of listening.
The one thing that bugs me about Rome is that he’ll occasionally run a funny topic into the ground. He’ll rant on and on about something for 10 minutes when it’s really only funny for about 2 tops.
I prefer Tony Bruno to either of them.
That said, Rome really tend to pull in the better guests of the two. Still the problem with Rome, is that his show lapses too often into cliches and flogging the same sorry topics and jokes over and over. He was fresh and interesting about 4 years ago, but sadly relies too much of the same sorry schitck and angry loser callers he did then.
Looks like another flop TV from him. How many chance does he and Keith Obermann get anyway?
Kornheiser started out here on WTEM in Washington. I used to be one of his regular callers.
I dislike Rome immensely exactly because he plays to the typical dumbshit macho sports fan. It’s just stupid.
I like TK because he’s genuinely funny (not putting on an act) and he’s intelligent. I also like the fact that, even though it’s a sports show, he doesn’t allow athletes on the show. Your typical athlete really shouldn’t be allowed in front of a mic (a la Todd Jones recent homophobic comments). TK relies more on reporters who know sports rather than athletes who may know how to play but couldn’t be trusted to form coherent sentences.
Really, it’s a higher level of discussion in a genre desperate for it.
I just want to say re: Kornheiser:
“This show stinks!”
-from a loyal listener 
We do not get TK here in Houston, but from what I have seen on PTI on ESPN, he’s OK.
We do however get Jim Rome, and I treasure the moments that I get to listen to him. He’s hilarious at times, he rarely pulls punches, he gets great interviews etc.
That being said, he is not for everyone.
I listen to both, occasionally. On the whole, I think I like Kornheiser better, maybe because he’s a little more cerebral.
I generally like what Rome has to say, but he repeats himself, then he reiterates, then he restates his point, holds forth, blathers, elucidates, sermonizes, elaborates, elucidates, and makes himself generally prolix. Then he goes back to the beginning and starts again in order to make absolutely positive all the clones understand his point. He could get three times as many takes in if he’d just exercise a little self-restraint in re: indulging in the sound of his own voice.
Here’s an example of my other Rome pet peeve.
Rome: I’m getting lots of e-mails from the clones on “X” subject. That’s just disgusting. I’m not going to talk about “X”. People who say “Y” about “X” are evil and foul. Nobody sane thinks “Z” about “X”. What kind of foul life form would say “Q” about “X”.
And on and on… Not going to talk about something? Then STFU about it already! You give the subjects you won’t talk about more airtime than the stuff you DO talk about.
That being said, I really do enjoy Rome’s show. I generally agree with what he’s got to say, and he does get excellent guests (even if he does stick his head halfway up their lower intestines.)
I prefer Rome to Kornheiser or Bruno (I think both are annoying). I can understand that Rome sometimes runs a topic into the ground, but that’s ok. He pulls the best guests by far, and if he kisses a little butt, so what? He still calls a spade a spade when the situation warrants it. Do you think Eric Gagne felt like he was getting his butt kissed? Or Rae Carruth? Not likely.
Some of his regular callers are knowledgable and witty, and the others are just like every other sports call-in show gets!
Rome is an acquired taste, to be sure. I have been listening to him for over 10 years, and have heard plenty of people say I’m out of my mind, especially since I’m a girl. Apparently, I shouldn’t like sports or something…
But if you really want to make me happy, give Bob Costas a three-hour prime time show! 
I’d love a Bob Costas radio program.
Of course, occassionaly he waxes nostalgic a bit. Mentions players that called Walters Johnson “meat”.
I get Rome here in Houston. He has kind of gotten old. Now that I have Satellite Radio, I get the Dan Patrick Show live in its entirety (it comes on abbreviated following Rome).
Patrick, Dibble, and Saulsberry are an INCREDIBLE team. Patrick is much more open on his radio show than on Sportscenter.
They talk about Sports, news and enterainment (a little diversity is a good thing on a slow sports day).
They have the best interviews and they bring on the on air personalities of ESPN (and their analysts).
Makes for a nice program.
I’m a Kornheiser fan, I do what I can to listen everyday. He’s intelligent, and it’s an intelligent show. I like to hear what the sports writers and commentators he has on have to say.
I really can’t stand Rome’s show. I used to hate it when I was in an area that only carried it.
Still, both are better than the Sports Babe.
Her show use to be simulcast on ESPN2. After watching, I could only think of a quote by Nelson Muntz, “I can think of TWO things wrong with that title!”
HOOOOORRRRRRIBBBBBBLLLLLLLEEEEEEE!
I listen to Kornheiser every day and his show is very good. I don’t get the Rome show here in Reno, so I have no opinion. Also, ditto on the Dan Patrick show praise, his show is consistently awesome.
Re: Rome’s callers: Intelligent and informed??
As if!! Christ, it’s the same, “(insert name of town/team/player/coach here) sucks/is a bitch/should die/will get crushed when (insert name of callers team/callers favorite player) comes to town. OUT.”
Yeah, that’s intellligent talk worth hearing. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
Let me tell you about Jim Rome. The guy is an asshole. And a punk.
I used to listen every day back in 1996-1997-1998. I used to fax in things (before they email everything in) which got read on the air a lot. I thought he was a very funny guy and he would “smak” people who needed to be “smacked”
One day they do a bit about the National Spelling Bee where the 12 year old girl who won started hyperventilating as she spelled the last word and won the whole thing.
But at the end of this bit, as he is talking about this 12 year old girl, someone’s daughter, Rome says “Stupid little bitch.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. It bothered the shit out of me so I faxed in a short letter telling him that. I figured he went too far and was just trying to be funny so I kept listening every day.
The next year 1998 he has more clips from that year’s spelling bee. And he says the same shit. “Stupid little bitch” 2 or 3 times.
I faxed something in expressing how I felt, and wrote and mailed a long letter telling him I would never listen to that show or anything he did again and that you don’t talk about kids like that.
Any man who would talk about a little girl like that on a national radio show is a piece of shit. He should have been taken off the air, and I am surprised more people were not upset about it.
And Astorian was absolutely correct about this :
“But what annoys me is how quickly he transforms from a self-styled “hard-hitting” tough guy who “tells it like it is” into a fawning butt-kisser whenever he interviews an athlete.”
This asshole has something seriously wrong with him to say something like that about those kids, and then he never misses a chance to jump in everyone’s shit when they do something wrong.
As I recall, he is very conservative politically. Another conservative hypocrite. And a punk.
I think the fact that Rome got his ass kicked by Jim Everett says a lot. 
Seriously, it does. He was being a prick for no reason and somebody called him on it. I have no idea why he puts on such an attitude. I listen to sports radio, but I prefer actual analysis to shouting and schtick. Of course, the latter two are really what sports talk, and radio as a whole, runs on.
One professor I had in a journalism class liked to quote a maxim of his: “Have a take and don’t suck.” It’s literally the most useless piece of advice I’ve ever heard. As a student, it provided no help in journalism or writing, and I think it illustrates how he, and sadly, so many other pundits, work: whatever the facts are, just have an opinion and be very loud and unreasonable about it. Never consider the complexities of any issue. The more names you call your opponents and the more smug you act, the higher your ratings will go.
Arg. I wonder if I have more issues with Rome, the quote, or that prof. But I’d say I prefer Kornheiser, though on PTI I like Wilbon better.
I think they are apples and oranges since their styles are so different. Actually, I like them both. I like how Tony is smart and dry and can talk about a number of things, especially when he does his movie reviews. And I also enjoy the smack from Rome’s show (but I agree that he is a a crappy interviewer).
The best part of Rome’s show is the stuff that the “clones” do–the emails and the phone calls. I think of his show as more sports comedy than sports talk. It’s not really about who has this insight or this point, it’s who can make the best jokes about something, whether it’s Jim himself or a caller (I disagree, Payton, the callers aren’t that ridiculous unless they are doing it as a joke, like Willie in KC or something) or an emailer.
I can’t stand Jim Rome. I can’t stand his show or his callers. Fortunately, there are other radio shows…
I knew I would eventually find another “Ticket” fan on here. I listened to Rome before I discovered the Ticket and now I can’t stand Rome.