COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY - MIKE IN DA - JANUARY 14, 2011

COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY

Written by: Mike in DA
Date posted: 1/14/2011

BO JACKSON CONFESSES HE GOT PAID BY AUBURN!

FORMER NEW YORK GOVERNOR'S "FREE" TIX COST HIM BIG TIME, BUT HE MIGHT HAVE SAVED A FEW BUCKS!  

Last March, charges were made that New York Governor David Paterson lied under oath with regard to charges that he had solicited five free tickets from the New York Yankees for the 2009 World Series vs. the Phillies.

Last month, before the gov left office, the Commission on Public Integrity saying Paterson had lied about the accepting the tickets fined him over 62 grand. Given the ticket prices that scalpers were offering for the Legends seats, the former governor may have come out ahead.






THE NEW “ODD COUPLE”

Barry Warner and Shaun Bijani of the SR610 Evening Show often refer to themselves as “The Odd Couple”. Well, move over guys. There’s an odder couple in town – it’s Rich Lord and Josh Innes. Or should I say, Josh Innes and Rich Lord (J&R) for correct billing purposes, as that’s how Josh wants it. Josh will run over anyone in his way to the top.


Ever since Charlie Pallilo left SR 610 several years ago after teaming with Rich Lord on SR 610 on the weekday afternoons from 1999 to the mid-2000’s, Rich has gone through Marc Vandermeer, Matt Jackson, and Robert Henslee as co-hosts. None of them had the chemistry with Rich that ex-New Yorkers, Rich and Charlie, had together.

Last month, wise-ass Josh Innes moved into the co-host seat next to Rich. When you google the words, “arrogance”, “rude”, and “obnoxious” Josh’s picture should show up. I don’t have to tell you what HMW thinks about Josh as a “sports talk” host. If you’ve been a constant reader here, you should know and most of it is not pleasant or nice. 

To get a prime-time radio gig after only a year at Houston sports leader SR610, the often obnoxious/rude Josh must have embarrassing pictures of someone or he has his own rabbi who is taking good care of him.

61 year-old caller

This past Monday (1/10), a 61-year-old caller called in to voice his disapproval of Josh as a talk show host, but Josh being the assclown that he is, instead of accepting the guy’s opinion like a man started to make wise-guy comments back at the caller. Josh, that’s not how you get fans or keep listeners. Josh seems to want to be the next Barry Warner, aka “The Mouth”. That act doesn’t work anymore, unless you know your sports inside out and Josh obviously doesn’t.

The conspiracy theory here is that egocentric Josh is there to drive Rich crazy, so that Rich will quit, thereby saving SR610 some money on Rich’s salary. And of course, Josh has his buddy, Ben Nance, as the show producer, so expect to hear plenty of sound bites selected by Josh. 


The consensus pick here is that this partnership will last no longer than the rest of the time on Rich Lord’s current contract.





STAND-UP COMIC LEBRON TELLS HIS BEST JOKES ABOUT THE CITY OF CLEVELAND!

LEBRON IS STILL LAUGHING AFTER LATEST CAVALIER LOSS, AS "GOD SEES EVERYTHING"!

A local sports talk topic this week was the LA Lakers humiliation of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night, winning by 55 points, 112-57. It was followed by LeBron James' infamous "tweet" about "karma".

Remember last summer, when LeBron James told us he was taking his talents to South Beach. Cleveland owner, Sam Gilbert, then lashed out at LBJ by saying that the Cavs would win an NBA championship before James did. Not with this crew, they won’t.

As of this morning, the Cavs have the worst record in the NBA at 8-30. That puts them on pace to win 17 games this year. The Cavs were bad before and they are now bad once again.

LEBRON LAUGHED SO MUCH THAT HE USED A LITTLE TOO MUCH POWDER THIS TIME!




COOLEST SPORTS NICKNAMES: TUBBY SMITH


Today’s sports nicknames are terrible: A-Rod, L.T., K-Rod, Bags, Bidge, etc. They are nothing more than a combination of a player’s first and last name. But nicknames haven’t always been so bad. Here is another cool one – "Tubby" Smith.

"Tubby” Smith who currently coaches hoops at the University of Minnesota is not fat. He actually earned the nickname when he would spend hours in the galvanized wash tub he and his 16 brothers/sisters took their baths in. Of all the Smith children, Tubby was most fond of staying in the galvanized washtub where they bathed, so his family called him “Tubby”. Smith tried to shake the nickname several times, but it stuck. FYI - His given name is “Orlando”.







FLUB OF THE DAY!

Rich Lord of SR610 continues to incorrectly pronounce some of the names of celebrity birthdays that are a little difficult to pronounce, which shows that he has no idea who the fuck some of these people are, so why then celebrate their birthday.

On Thursday's (1/13) show, Rich said that the Minnesota Twins were an expansion team. Wrong! They were the transplanted Washington Senators who were replaced in Washington by an expansion team.

On Thursday’s (1/13) show on Sports Talk 790, Dylan Gwinn was trying to use a Yiddish word “bupkis”, which means “nothing” (emphatically), as in “He gets paid bupkis”. However, Dylan pronounced it “bumpkis”. Obviously, Dylan is not of the Jewish persuasion.

On Thursday (1/13), Steve Mark was subbing for Matt Thomas on Sports Talk 790, as Matt was on the road to broadcast the Houston Baptist (HBU) game vs. Chicago State. However, Steve called the opponent, "Chicago Baptist". At last count, the only Baptist school on HBU's schedule this season is East Texas Baptist.

THIS SEAHAWK FAN MUST BE THEIR "12TH MAN"!

DICK VITALE RE-SIGNS FOR FOUR MORE YEARS AT ESPN - IT'S AWESOME BABY!

Dick Vitale will be at ESPN for another four years through 2015, which means more yelling and screaming, more dumb catchphrases like “dipsy doo” and “diaper dandy”, and plenty of praise for the “Dookies”. He must have been a little disappointed on Wednesday (1/12) night when Duke lost at Florida State.









ESPN GOES FROM "HE GOT JACKED" TO "THAT PUTS EVERYTHING INTO PERSPECTIVE"

Last week, an ESPN field reporter interviewed Rutgers DT Eric LeGrand. You can see some of the highlights from the local ABC affiliate  (http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/sports&id=7883337). 

You may remember that early in the college football season, Eric was paralyzed from the neck down after a helmet hit last October in a game vs. Army. LeGrand said he has regained some movement in his shoulders and that he hopes to walk again.



While LeGrand spoke on ESPN, sitting in a wheelchair, I checked out the video of the hit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BbNe5Kv56k), which reminded me of the time in the mid-2000’s when ESPN used to have a segment on one of its NFL shows entitled, "He Got Jacked Up!" that showed vicious football hits like LeGrand’s.

During that segment, the panel with Stuart Scott acting as the head cheerleader acted thrilled to show highlight clips of NFL players getting brutalized by getting hit in the head, having their bodies flipped, etc. If a player was carrying the ball or was a receiver, he had a chance to make the highlight reel, as the panel hooted and hollered in unison, "He got jacked up!"




ESPN's target demographics

 Finally, someone at ESPN came up with the thought that having such a segment was a very bad idea and ESPN even said that they regretted it. I understand why they had such a segment like that. It was to attract the young male demographic of teens through 30-year-olds who love stuff like that.

Then you have the 180-degree turnaround, as the LeGrand incident, when a player lies motionless on the ground and the trainers come out. The camera shows close-ups of the injured player and the other players looking concerned. Then the screaming play-by-play announcer changes to a somber tone and says something about "putting everything into perspective". And the ambulance drives off the field with the announcer's "thoughts and prayers" for the injured player.


That happens every time.

SPORTS JOKE OF THE DAY:

Peyton Manning, after living a full life, died. When he got to Heaven, God was showing him around.


They came to a modest little house with a faded Colts flag in the
window. "This house is yours for eternity, Peyton," said God. "This

is very special; not everyone gets a house up here."


Peyton felt special, indeed, and walked up to his house.

On his way up the porch, he noticed another house just around the corner. It was a 3-story mansion with a Silver and Blue sidewalk, a 50-foot tall flagpole with an enormous Patriots' logo flag, and in every window, there was a New England Patriots towel.


Peyton looked at God and said, "God, I'm not trying to be ungrateful, but I have a question. I was an all-pro QB, I hold many NFL records, and I even went to the Hall of Fame."


God said "So what's your point Peyton?"


"Well, why does Tom Brady get a better house than me?"


God chuckled, and said: "Peyton, that's not Tom's house, it's Mine."


IS THIS AN UP AND COMING "MOST INTERESTING MAN IN THE WORLD?"

THE COACHING CAROUSEL CONTINUES!

There was plenty of more football coach talk this week on the local sports talk stations.


Michigan went looking for a football coach and contacted Les Miles, the coach at LSU. Les is a Michigan alum. This happened after another alum made it clear that he wasn’t going to go to Michigan to take the job; Jim Harbaugh signed up to coach the SF 49ers.

Miles played football for Michigan about 35 years ago and was an assistant coach at Michigan twice - once under Bo Schembechler and once under Gary Moeller. Miles politely told Michigan that he was not going to take the job either.

I can understand Harbaugh’s decision; he was the “Hot Coach of the Week” and he had several NFL opportunities open to him. Miles on the other hand chose to turn down his alma mater and had a chance to take a job where he would get to play the likes of Indiana, Northwestern, Minnesota, and Purdue, but chose instead to stay at LSU in the SEC to play the likes of Alabama, Auburn, Florida and Georgia. That choice surprised me a bit, until I read that LSU extended Miles' contract.

So, Michigan hired Brady Hoke who has plenty of links to Michigan football. He was an assistant there for seven years and now returns from a successful season at San Diego State. Clearly, Michigan football is a step up from San Diego State football in terms of national recognition and prestige. That would seem to have been an offer Brady Hoke couldn't refuse.

I don’t want to jinx Michigan, but there are a couple of stats that need to be brought up. Brady Hoke has been a head coach for eight years (six at his alma mater, Ball State, and two at San Diego State). Overall, his teams have a record of 47-50; against ranked teams, he is 1-12.

Lastly on the coaching carousel, the Niners hired Harbaugh away from Stanford. That makes sense for Harbaugh and for the Niners who needed to make changes. Harbaugh played in the NFL; his father coached; and his brother, John, is in the playoffs for the third time in his three years in Baltimore. Nonetheless, the problem that the Niners have had for the last several years is a talent deficiency at the QB position. It wouldn't matter if George Halas or Vince Lombardi came back from the dead to take the Niners’ job. He too would need much better QB play in order to keep that team relevant. The Niners desperately need an improvement there.

GET YOUR OREGON DUCK DUCT TAPE!

FROM THE HMW MAILBAG:

Matt Simon and Robnemar both left comments on Lamont Mann’s post of 1/12, "IN DEFENSE OF SR610" (http://sheltonmedia.blogspot.com/2011/01/in-defense-of-sr610.html):



“They are homers, but I tune in to hear the debates between both sides. To put it bluntly, I rather enjoy hearing the voice of reason coax out admissions of doubt from the Texans' employees. Sure, tuning into stations with my point of view is always soothing to my ego. At the same time, though, I really like to hear that homer mentality consistently de-bunked and exposed as fraud by Josh. Personally, I think it lends a bit of accidental balance that wouldn't be there without the Texans payroll being involved. Summing this up - I don't agree with John McClain and Marc Vandermeer usually - and that is a good thing.” From Matt S, END.


“I know it sounds obvious, but the biggest problem I see with SR610 is too many of the hosts and analysis givers are wearing too many hats. It would be a much better product if you didn't have to hear Rich (Lord) every day from 2-7 giving you his opinion about the Texans when you know he is on the sidelines every Sunday giving you the Texans report. I think someone like Rich and Marc (Vandermeer) for that matter should only have the opportunity to wear one hat. If Rich wants to have the best 2-7 (PM) gig he can, then he need not be affiliated with the Texans in the matter that he is. Or if he wants to be the Texans sideline reporter, then he need not participate in the 2-7 if you know what I mean. I know that is not what is realistic at this point, but it just shows me that something is lacking in management behind the scenes. Unless they don't care about a fair and objective talk show host base. If that is the case then it is all good. But if they believe the product is something different from what it really is, then that is a whole different problem.” From Robnemar, END.


Robnemar left a comment on Lamont’s post of 1/9, "SR610 BRAD DAVIES SPITS ON THE TED WILLIAMS STORY": (http://sheltonmedia.blogspot.com/2011/01/sr610-brad-davies-spits-on-ted-williams.html):


“I learned a long time ago that destiny is never the same for any man. Where you go and how you get there are always taken by way of a different path. I would never stand in the way someone is given and receives their blessing. It is not for me to say. Davies is just a hater thinking that everything in life is earned and deserved by way of your effort. Some blessings are given.”


Busy Robnemar also left a new comment on Lamont’s post of 1/10 "JASON WHITLOCK: WHATS THE DAMN DEAL "BRO" - LAMONT...": (http://sheltonmedia.blogspot.com/2011/01/jason-whitlock-whats-damn-deal-bro.html):


“I like Whitlock. I just think he needs a different type of forum to do what he does. I get he is a former athlete and that it is obvious for him to stick to the world that he knows best. I just think he is a man trapped between two realms. He doesn't always know from what side to choose. One moment he is a black man, the next he is a black athlete. I agree that Bill Cosby is a benchmark in stating the problems of the race the way he did in which you reference. Bill Cosby is never and was never confused about what he was though. I just think Whitlock is a confused soul. He is torn between having to choose who or what most likely is to blame for a lot of the negativity, perception, and reality about the black athlete and the black community at large. The way he judges the black athlete is by way of the community standard. Ironically he just has a hard time separating the two entities as he tries to bridge the gap.”

IS THIS A NEW, HOT FEMALE TENNIS STAR?

BCS NIELSEN RESULTS

The Auburn-Oregon National Championship Game was the highest rated show in cable TV history. According to Nielsen Ratings, the BCS title game was watched by just over 27.3 million viewers, which is almost 5.5 million more viewers than the previous all-time cable high - a Monday Night Football game in 2009 between Green Bay and Minnesota. That's a big number for ESPN that beat their previous best for college football.

However, ratings were down 14% from last year's title game between Texas and Alabama that aired on ABC. The 2011 BCS game was the fifth lowest-rated out of the thirteen national championship games, going back to 1999. All four of the Wild Card Playoff games that aired on NBC, CBS, and Fox outdrew Auburn-Oregon.  


With the BCS now on cable and the Final Four in the future moving to cable (TBS) in 2016 and the even years thereafter, it could mean more sports and more important games may find their way off network TV. But after seeing these numbers, you have to wonder whether or not the move of these games to cable is a good idea in the long run for the sports involved with less people watching overall.



MIKE IN DA

HMW

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