doggie out at WFAN; fat man stays

Give me one example of "compelling" radio? Reality TV has a shitload of viewers but it isn't "compelling". Same shit.

 

OK. I'll give you an example.

Late March 2003. Huge story in the tristate area was that Cablevision subscribers could not see the Yankees on TV. The stalemate over the carriage issue essentially blacked out the Yankees for most of the tristate the entire 2002 season.

At the center of the controversy - the two giant egos of Jim Dolan and Leo Hindery, Steinbrenner's YES-man.

Part of the impasse involved quite simply the refusal of these two guys to speak to one another.

Days before the start of the 2003 season, with the threat of another potential blackout, Mike and Dog manage to book both Dolan and Hindery on the same show.

It was dramatic. The whole show was devoted to solving this impasse. Francesa and Russo did a phenomenal job holding both execs' feet to the fire -- it was fine questioning -- I don't care what school you graduated from.

At one point, the YES network, which simulcasts M&MD, pulled the plug on the simulcast (IIRC, it was when Dolan was speaking.) Francesa then berated YES for pulling them off the air (they were still on radio, of course.) I think they were back up on YES after 45 minutes.

Finally getting those two massive egos together... it was compelling.

And it was either the next day or the day after that, a deal was announced.

 

Buh ... buh ... Francesa's fat! :

 

Oh I'm pretty sure Francesa was pompous long before he met Parcells...who at least has accomplished something worthy of his pomposity.

 

OK, that's one show out of 1,000. For every show they did like that, there were hundreds that were built on their customary foundation of misinformation.

You're talking about two guys who rarely circulated to get any information, and their egos would never allow them to admit they were either wrong or simply didn't know.

 

"Rarely circulated to get any information?" They aren't beat writers trying to break news, they're talk show hosts. And they did a damn good job at what they did (including occasionally scooping the beat writers).

I can understand anyone who doesn't like sports talk radio and thinks it's all crap. But if you like talk radio, those two were among the best in the business.

 

"Dog I can't say who told me and I am not going to reveal it now the the listeners but there is going to be a big announcement coming up tomorrow"

"Yea I knew that I was asked not to say anything on the show about it though"

 

As was noted that is one time in thousands of shows. How many shows did you hear the newspaper being turned in the background and both acting like they were on the cutting edge of a story. Like I said before, they hit it at the right time, found a niche and made it work.

How many defenders of this show will say Rush Limbaugh is "compelling" radio? He has been on air for years, has good ratings and generates tons in revenue. Is it good or "compelling" radio? I don't think so and neither was MM&D.


Pern, who gives a shit if Francesa is fat? I don't but do you roll your eyes when Limbaugh is called fat or Albom's ears are ridiculed?

 

Still funny in these pages that no one has really disputed the fact that Francesa is a blowhard.

 

And when wondering why the rest of us loathe Francesa, in particular, remember teh disdain he has for those who, you know, WRITE THE STORIES ON WHICH HE RIFFS!!!

They'd have nothing to do or talk about without the traditional media. NOTHING. Yet they--and Francesa, in particular--did nothing but bash it.

Like, you know, bloggers.

 

Bullshit. You get information so your opinions are grounded in some reality. It isn't tough. You go to a game once in a while, talk to a player or a coach or a general manager or a scout. Then you have some credibility instead of pulling everything out of your ass or parroting what's in the papers.

 

Yeah, but see, that's not the issue here.

I think a lot of us dismiss these guys because we're coming at sports talk radio from a purely old-school newsroom approach, and I don't think you can do that.

I understand why so many sports writers can't stand Mike and Chris, but I understand just as well why so many sports fans do.

A lot of you are allowing your personal biases to cloud your judgment here. It's easier to reel off another dumb one-liner about Mike being fat or Chris being annoying than to face the reality that these guys for almost two decades delivered great radio.