The following is a rant on sports talk radio...do not read further if you could care less. You've been warned.
One of the joys of being a sports fan is being able to talk about what you just saw. It doesn't matter what sport it is, or if your team played well or bad, there's always something to talk about.
Over the years, sports talk radio has grown from a niche market to being one of the most dominant types of talk radio. Whether it be local broadcasting or national, someone's always talking about sports at any given time. Mix in an increasing willingness to put out personal opinions on everything going on, and you have the potential for a very entertaining time.
One of the big perks I had when my mom was a travel nurse was being able to check out sports talk radio in the different markets, whether it be Phoenix, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, or Pittsburgh. I can even pick up ESPN 1000 out of Chicago at night and listen to them on occasion if I want. I could hear how different, or similar, the programs and hosts were compared to our own.
At one time, WTAM 1100 had a pretty robust lineup of sports programs in the evening, especially in the summer. With time, that station has dramatically reduced the amount of sports-related programming to focus more on political while it's competitor, ESPN850 held a firm hold overall due to its affiliation with ESPN.
And all was well in the Cleveland market. While they didn't seem to know who they wanted on in the afternoon (switching from Greg Brinda, Mark "Munch" Bishop, Kenny Rhoda, Michael Reghi, and now Chris Fedor, Bruce Hooley, and Brinda), the programming was at worst tolerable. In the morning you had Mike & Mike until Tony Rizzo came on with "The Really Big Show," then transitioned to Jim Rome, then the afternoon parade. My favorite was "X's & O's with the Pros," mostly because those guys just seemed to have a good time.
Then it was announced that a new station was coming to town, 92.3 "The Fan," which sounded from the get-go that it would be a "me-too" kind of station, along the lines of what I heard coming out of New York and Boston (whose fans are always pissed off about something even though they've won what seems like 54 championships between the two cities in the last 25 years). What that typically comprised of was one guy trying to talk like a normal fan while another guy just says random things to get a reaction, usually unrelated to sports even.
However, I was willing to listen first before I judged the new station, all while hoping ESPN850 didn't make wholesale changes to its lineup in a panic move.
Well, the first week "The Fan" was on the air, one of the morning guys made at least 5 different homosexual references, usually just at random it seemed. In essense, if someone did something he didn't think made sense, he called him gay. He also took the opportunity to make fun of Tristan Thompson, who'd be a rookie if the NBA ever stops being dumb, for deciding to enroll back in school. In fact, every time I've listened in the morning, the same guy just seems to be interested in talking over the other host, who's actually trying to talk about sports.
Meanwhile, ESPN850 was busy tripping over itself to "catch up" with the new station as if it had already made a huge impact. It ended "Afternoon R&R" with Reghi and Rhoda, moving them to later in the night, ended "X's & O's," moved Fedor from the "Really Big Show" to the afternoon slot with Brinda and Hooley, and kept one of the most annoying voices ever, Aaron Goldhammer, on the air.
Now I realize it makes for good radio when there's someone who disagrees with the main host, such as Hammer with Rizzo, but Hammer takes it a step further. He's not from Cleveland (one of my big issues with "The Fan" as well since a good portion of the hosts are from other markets), hates all things Cleveland, and is constantly dumping callers off the air the moment they disagree with him or attempt to argue with him. He's the "new-age" sports fan, the type that relies on numbers and computers to determine whether a player is good or bad, rather than watching said player actually play. He thinks because he's working for the station, he has all the power in the world.
Fedor isn't much better. You try to point out a flaw in his argument, and he cuts the fan off, giving them NO chance to state their case. Of late, he's been preoccupied with pointing out how Peyton Hillis is the most overrated football player in the league and that Colt McCoy is a terrible quarterback. When a fan tried to point out the offensive line not playing well, he refused to listen, saying it didn't matter before dumping the call while the fan was making their point.
The point is, I'm actually to the point where I can't listen to sports talk anymore. All I hear is doom and gloom and when someone tries to be positive, they get cut off or called ridiculous for being that way. Someone tried to say most fans would take 3-3 for the Browns record at this point, and the host immediately ridiculed the guy asking if they thought the team was getting better or worse. When the guy said it seemed to be improving, the host started laughing, dumped the call, and went on a rant about how horrible the team was.
Way to show some guts. Make your point after you hang-up on the caller so that the caller can't counter what you have to say.
In the end, what I think about it isn't going to change anything. Sports talk is degenerating who can talk the loudest and say the most outrageous thing and there isn't anything that's going to make it stop anytime soon.
In the end, I still love my teams and it doesn't matter what some idiot says on the radio.
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