COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY - MIKE IN DA - JUNE 23, 2010

COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY
Written by: Astro Mike Ganis aka Mike In DA

Date Posted: 6/23/2010

THE TALL AND THE SHORT OF IT FOR 2010 - REST IN PEACE!

LINCECUM HAS OSWALT'S NUMBER!

Tim Lincecum out-dueled Roy Oswalt in the Giants 3-1 win over the Astros on Tuesday. Lincecum is now 4-0 with an ERA of 0.85 in six career starts against Oswalt. Oswalt is 1-4 in those games (including a loss on Tuesday), although with a respectable 3.07 ERA. No other pitcher, past or present, has won as many as four games when starting against Oswalt.

STAT ODDITY OF THE DAY!

The Tampa Bay Rays are 3-0 this season when they commit three or more errors in a game.

VUVUZELAS MIGHT BE FUN AT THESE VENUES!

Speaking of the Rays, the other day I mentioned that the Marlins handed out annoying vuvuzela-like noisemakers during their weekend series with the Rays. Though I am not a vuvuzela fan, I would love to see them en force at tennis tournaments, PGA tour galleries, the World Series of Poker, the World Chess Championships, the National Spelling Bee, bowling tournaments, the billiard championships, and every place that a politician(s) makes a speech. That would liven things up a little.

LEBRON AND TOM: EVER HEAR ABOUT  COMMUNICATION?

Last week, I complimented Michigan State basketball coach, Tom Izzo, for his candidness in dealing with the Cleveland Cavaliers and their open coaching job. My advice to him and also to any other big-time coach for that matter was to take the Cleveland job only if it was guaranteed that LeBron James was signed on in Cleveland for a minimum of five years. As I said last week, Izzo made the right move in turning down that job to stay at Michigan State, which is a great job in itself for a coach.

There were stories or rumors out there that LeBron would gladly accept Izzo as the Cavs' coach and that he was completely behind that kind of move by the team. That sounds fine, until you read what Izzo had to say after he made his decision to stay at Michigan State. Izzo said that he had spoken to some people who then spoke to LeBron about the job and other various matters. Of course, Izzo didn't get an answer regarding LeBron’s city of preference for next season because if that were revealed before July 1, it might hurt much of LeBron’s negotiating power and it would create the possibility of tampering charges against any team other than Cleveland. However, the fact that Izzo did not and could not speak directly to LeBron says a lot.

If King James really wanted to play for Tom Izzo and was indeed fully behind that coaching move by the Cavs, he would have found a way to take a call from Izzo even if it was just to shoot the breeze. So what's the real story here? We'll find out soon.







HOUSTON SPORTS TALK: THE BOTTOM LINE

The following is from one of David Barron's Houston Chronicle columns regarding the comparative revenues of  Houston's Sports stations for four months 2010 vs. the same period of 2009.

"On the bottom-line front, each of the three sports stations (KGOW being the exception) that report financial data to the accounting firm Miller Kaplan Arase is up over last year through April. KBME is up 15.4 percent, KILT is up 8.2 percent, and KFNC is up 24.6 percent.

Combined, the three sports stations have brought in just under a million dollars through April. That accounts for just over 4 percent of the $23 million in revenue generated through April by the six major radio groups (Cox, Clear Channel, CBS, Univision, Radio One, and Cumulus), which is up 7.2 percent from $21.49 million through April 2009.

The four sports stations accounted for 2 percent of persons 12-plus average audience share during April, according to Arbitron."

PEANUT GALLERY RESPONSES TO RICHARD TOPPER FIRING!

The names have been withheld to protect the innocent:

"If Richard Topper was in any way responsible for bringing the childish, immature antics of 1560's "sports talk hosts" to our ears, good riddance. Now if David Gow (pictured) will just let them (the hosts) go and not replace them, the Houston radio sports talk market would improve immensely."

"KGOW blows, especially Windbag and Wanna-be-tuff-guys. Dead air would get better ratings. (Though Josh Anus and that retarded "Rock and Roll" is killing me on 610 these days as well...) But KGOW is K-rap."















WHAT'S UP WITH TRAVIS RODGERS?

Speaking of the Richard Topper firing, in recent months, Travis Rodgers, former producer of the Jim Rome radio and TV shows, has been making a fairly large number of co-hosting and guesting appearances on 1560 KGOW though he lives in Southern California.


Rodgers is a friend of KGOW talk host, Sean Pendergast, going back to Sean’s days as the “Smack-Off” champ as the “Cablinasian” on the Rome radio show.

Since he is a free agent, I wouldn’t be surprised if Rodgers is auditioning for a future job at 1560 or Sporting News Radio. In April, it was announced that David Gow will become chairman of a new company that will operate the Sporting News Radio Network and will move the network’s operations center to Houston.

TIGER SHORT IN US OPEN

Earlier in the year when Tiger Woods went into "sex" rehab, my advice to him was to sit out the whole year, let things cool off, and get his life back into order. The dude didn't listen, but I can't blame him because of the amount of money that would be lost from the industry when he is away from golf. Though I'm not a golfer or much of a fan, I did follow and root for Tiger in the past. I go out of my way to root against him now.

When the third round of the US Open concluded last Saturday, Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson had just made big moves. Johnson led the tournament by 3 strokes and Woods by 6 strokes but the golf media - resorting to their personae as Tiger Woods’ PR agents - started saying that Tiger Woods had gotten it back together and would the young Johnson be able to withstand the pressure on Sunday.

Well, they got it partly right. Johnson folded like a napkin. He shot an 11-over par final round of 82. What they got wrong was that Tiger was going to make a comeback on Sunday. On a day when the winner, Graeme McDowell (pictured), shot 3-over par, all Tiger had to do was to shoot par to force a playoff. Woods shot 4-over par to finish tied for 4th place. The rumors of Tiger Woods’ return to the top were a little premature.

You hear from the media non-stop about Tiger's pursuit of Jack Nicklaus’ lifetime record for wins in majors. Rarely will you hear one of them say that Tiger has never ever won a major tournament without having the lead after 54 holes. By deduction, if he doesn't have the lead on Saturday, he loses. It's the old "Never on Sunday" principle, so why did they think he was going to comeback this time.

MEMO TO PGA PLAYERS: WHY DON'T YOU CALL THE 610 WHINER LINE!

Various PGA golfers often complain about course set-ups and the condition of the greens. As long as all the players are competing on the same course, the course is fair. The fact that no one in the US Open field could shoot below par for 72 holes is not a reflection of the course. Perhaps the contempt should be put on all of the PGA courses that are set up to assure that the PGA players have an easy time shooting under par and can record 12-under par tournament scores on a regular basis. Maybe the PGA should think about providing a few more challenges for its tour players, but that would result in more complaining.

GRANATO A HALL OF FAMER!

No, not 1560 TheGame's John Granato. On Tuesday, John's cousin, Cammi Granato, as well as Angela James, were the first two female inductees elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. This is one of the few times the words "Granato" and "Hall of Fame" will ever be linked.

Cammi led Team USA to the gold medal in the 1998 Winter Olympics, the first Games that included a women's hockey tournament.







O'S ARE BECOMING ZEROES!

We all know about the long-term futility of the Pittsburgh Pirates and their record-setting 18 straight years below .500. They have provided cover for the Baltimore Orioles whose futility also needs to be recognized. In 1997 (remember the Jeffrey Maier interference), the Orioles won the AL East; they have not had a winning record since then. But what makes their streak even worse is that for the last five seasons they have lost more games each year than they did in the preceding season. Even with a miserable team, they continue to get worse year after year. It is not easy to be that bad.

I know that projecting a full baseball season from standings in June is not always that accurate. Nevertheless, if the O's continue to play at the same pace for the rest of 2010, they will finish with a season record of 45-117. That will be six straight years with more losses than in the previous year and will present the fans in Baltimore with a level of futility not seen since the franchise was known as the St. Louis Browns.

KANSAS CITY TO FINALLY SEE MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL!

MLB has announced that the All-Star Game for 2012 will be held at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. This is a great idea to put the All-Star Game there. That will give fans there a couple of days to witness two teams comprised entirely of major league caliber ballplayers. KC fans have not seen that in a long time.






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