2007 Sports Talk Year End Awards

[PowerCow106]

This is limited to terrestrial radio only, because otherwise Scott Ferrell would win all of the "Worst Of" awards and NFL Sirius would win all the "Best Of" spots.

Best Show Overall: Hockey Night in Canada (CBC Radio): A show where the hosts stick to the topic at hand and don't go off on "guy radio" divergencies (talking about American Idol, who's hot, etc). or politics. Nor do the rotating hosts give "soft" interviews ala the ESPN guys, they always drill their guests about whether a goalie choked in a loss or if a player is washed up.

Honorable Mention: The Dan Patrick Show (ESPN/Premier)

Worst Show Overall: FSR Most Interactive with J.T. the Brick (Fox Sports Radio): Hey "Brick," keep your political views to yourself, and stop letting your callers go all over the place, keep them focused on the topic at hand.

Worst Show Concept: The David Stein Show (Sporting News Radio): Hey Dave, you want to know something good in my life? SNR is near bankrupt and you'll be off the air again.

Best "Update Guy": Bob Stashour (ESPN)

Worst "Update Guy": Tom Looney (FSR)

The "Bitterness Award": John Fricke and Bob and Bob for constantly taking potshots at ESPN, even though all three men are routinely annihilated in the Arbitrons by the four letter network.

Dumbest Running Gag Award: The guy on FSR Overnight who would play "It's My Life" during the 5:40 AM segment every night and do News of the Weird with his producers. That segment was so funny and succesful that he got fired and replaced with Ben Mallard, who does not play "It's My Life" every morning.

Most Irritating Voice: Jeremy Green. Dear Jeremy, everyone knows you are still very sick. Until your voice comes back to 100%, please take a leave of absence from ESPN. Listening to you try to rasp your way through three hours with Mike Ditka back on December 19th was very painful.

Honorable Mentions: Denny Hocking, J.T. the Brick

Guy Who Doesn't Deserve a Job Award: Doug Gottlieb

Honorable Mention: Freddie Coleman, Amy Lawrence

Best Sidekick Producer: Phil the Showkiller

Worst Sidekick Producer: Fish (The Herd with Colin Cowherd)

Most Disgusting Moment of 2007: Colin Cowherd using the Chris Benoit murder/suicide to go off on a three-hour rant about how wrestling fans are booger eaters and Eddy Guerrero died of steroids (actually, the coroner ruled he died of heart disease related to pain killer addiction). Colin took a three day "vacation" the very next day which he had never mentioned prior to that show.

 

[danpatrickblows]

who annointed this ****** to determine some lame ass list, ESPN pollster hacks?

Dan Patrick could be the worst host ever. He interviews guys who write books about Tom Cruise and sleepwalks thru a dull show reading the USA today from his bedroom in bumfuck Ct. and that's good radio? Most stations bury him at 11pm at night which makes for even worst topical talk when events are already over for that day and he's talking about the day before.

 

[realdeal9]

Here we go. So J.T. hosts Military Night and takes calls from soldiers in Iraq and you bash his political views? Nice! Stick to posting about Networks that are going out of business or hosts who don't get new contracts and flip out. J.T. is set for years to come by Clear Channel/Premiere and his affiliate base continues to grow.

 

[SportsDotCom]

This is limited to terrestrial radio only, because otherwise Scott Ferrell would win all of the "Worst Of" awards and NFL Sirius would win all the "Best Of" spots.

Best Show Overall: Hockey Night in Canada (CBC Radio): A show where the hosts stick to the topic at hand and don't go off on "guy radio" divergencies (talking about American Idol, who's hot, etc). or politics. Nor do the rotating hosts give "soft" interviews ala the ESPN guys, they always drill their guests about whether a goalie choked in a loss or if a player is washed up.

Honorable Mention: The Dan Patrick Show (ESPN/Premier)

Worst Show Overall: FSR Most Interactive with J.T. the Brick (Fox Sports Radio): Hey "Brick," keep your political views to yourself, and stop letting your callers go all over the place, keep them focused on the topic at hand.

Worst Show Concept: The David Stein Show (Sporting News Radio): Hey Dave, you want to know something good in my life? SNR is near bankrupt and you'll be off the air again.

Best "Update Guy": Bob Stashour (ESPN)

Worst "Update Guy": Tom Looney (FSR)

The "Bitterness Award": John Fricke and Bob and Bob for constantly taking potshots at ESPN, even though all three men are routinely annihilated in the Arbitrons by the four letter network.

Dumbest Running Gag Award: The guy on FSR Overnight who would play "It's My Life" during the 5:40 AM segment every night and do News of the Weird with his producers. That segment was so funny and succesful that he got fired and replaced with Ben Mallard, who does not play "It's My Life" every morning.

Most Irritating Voice: Jeremy Green. Dear Jeremy, everyone knows you are still very sick. Until your voice comes back to 100%, please take a leave of absence from ESPN. Listening to you try to rasp your way through three hours with Mike Ditka back on December 19th was very painful.

Honorable Mentions: Denny Hocking, J.T. the Brick

Guy Who Doesn't Deserve a Job Award: Doug Gottlieb

Honorable Mention: Freddie Coleman, Amy Lawrence

Best Sidekick Producer: Phil the Showkiller

Worst Sidekick Producer: Fish (The Herd with Colin Cowherd)

Most Disgusting Moment of 2007: Colin Cowherd using the Chris Benoit murder/suicide to go off on a three-hour rant about how wrestling fans are booger eaters and Eddy Guerrero died of steroids (actually, the coroner ruled he died of heart disease related to pain killer addiction). Colin took a three day "vacation" the very next day which he had never mentioned prior to that show.

Dude do you even like Sports Radio. You rip everyone. Cowherd is great. Ferrall is a legend. JT is extremely successful. The Fox overnight guy (Jorge Sedano)you claimed was fired actually left FSR. I mean you like Freddie Coleman & Amy Lawrence? They're possibly the 2 worst people on Sports Radio. My God man get your facts straight & buy some opinions b/c yours are worth nothing

 

[robbie roundhouse]

Dude do you even like Sports Radio. You rip everyone. Cowherd is great. Ferrall is a legend. JT is extremely successful. The Fox overnight guy (Jorge Sedano)you claimed was fired actually left FSR. I mean you like Freddie Coleman & Amy Lawrence? They're possibly the 2 worst people on Sports Radio. My God man get your facts straight & buy some opinions b/c yours are worth nothing

To be fair he doesn't like Freddie Coleman and Amy Lawrence. Read the post again. Secondly, how could you like Sporting News Radio? It's awful. Finally, being "a legend" or "extremely successful" doesn't necessarily mean good. Seriously, how can anyone who likes sports as a part of their overall more encompassing life really give a damn about JT the Brick? But I'm with you on Colin Cowherd. His show is very entertaining, and that's where sports radio has to go to survive and continue to be relevant.

 

[SportsDotCom]

Dude do you even like Sports Radio. You rip everyone. Cowherd is great. Ferrall is a legend. JT is extremely successful. The Fox overnight guy (Jorge Sedano)you claimed was fired actually left FSR. I mean you like Freddie Coleman & Amy Lawrence? They're possibly the 2 worst people on Sports Radio. My God man get your facts straight & buy some opinions b/c yours are worth nothing

To be fair he doesn't like Freddie Coleman and Amy Lawrence. Read the post again. Secondly, how could you like Sporting News Radio? It's awful. Finally, being "a legend" or "extremely successful" doesn't necessarily mean good. Seriously, how can anyone who likes sports as a part of their overall more encompassing life really give a damn about JT the Brick? But I'm with you on Colin Cowherd. His show is very entertaining, and that's where sports radio has to go to survive and continue to be relevant.

I did misread the Coleman/Lawrence portion. Though, as far as Ferrall, being a legend does translate to good IMO. He was the first guy on the radio talking sports, babes & beers. People may not like his voice, but he's ceratainly worked at some of the best stations in the country & was syndciated back when there weren't alot of sports guys getting those opportunities. He was his own worst enemy at time, but now he's at the perfect place for him on sattelite. He also does TV on SNY. JT may not be for everyone either, but you can't be on the radio and be on those kind of radio stations if you're not good. Success can equal good from a business perspective. Cowherd is great. No denying that. He's smart, witty, and gets radio. My only knock on him is that he thinks he's never wrong, but most of the good guys rarely think they are. It doesn't detract from me wanting to listen to him. Point was that the guy that started this post doesn't really understand radio.

 

[robbie roundhouse]

Point was that the guy that started this post doesn't really understand radio.

No disagreement here. Also, how did Romey get no love from him?

 

[PowerCow106]

"Though, as far as Ferrall, being a legend does translate to good IMO. He was the first guy on the radio talking sports, babes & beers. People may not like his voice, but he's ceratainly worked at some of the best stations in the country"

And been fired from almost all of them. I love how he actually thought he could convince the PD in Atlanta to fire the three long-time stars and replace them, only he got sent packing and replaced with former wrestling announcer Tony Schiavone.

"& was syndciated back when there weren't alot of sports guys getting those opportunities."

You mean 'individual syndication' ala Rome or Dan Patrick these days, ESPN and what is today SNR were going strong back then, even Pete Franklin was still on the air. You can brag about his Westwood One gig being on 100 stations, but as the below Salon.com article notes, they were mostly in small markets and not in the big cities.

http://www.salon.com/media/media960826.html


"He was his own worst enemy at time, but now he's at the perfect place for him on sattelite."

Where his masochistic fans can listen to him.

"JT may not be for everyone either, but you can't be on the radio and be on those kind of radio stations if you're not good."

Yeah, because most sports stations want to spend money on local programming from 10PM-1AM when they can just plug JT and Tom "God Bless George Bush" Looney on for cheap and leave it on automation. I doubt you'd find almost anyone who would belive that Sean Hannity or Dr. Laura or even Art Bell are "good," but they all have national syndication and high ratings.

I'm actually looking forward to Brick and Steve Czaban the day after Obama wins the presidency, six hours of guaranteed bitterness, especially the usually insufferable Military Night.

Soldier: J.T., why have our countrymen sold us out by voting for Obama?

Brick: I have no idea, caller. All you who voted for Obama, you are unpatriotic scum and I don't ever want you to call again.

"Cowherd is great. No denying that. He's smart, witty, and gets radio."

He's an obnoxious *****. At least I take satisfaction in the fact that he's divorced now, which means he's probably paying at least $3000 a month in child support for his two kids and that when he eventually quits/gets fired from ESPN for one reason or another he'll be up the creek. And it's not like he'd latch onto Fox. His FSR counterpart, Chris Moore, has been exiled to Saturday afternoons and even that isn't looking too good at the moment.

 

[PowerCow106]

No disagreement here. Also, how did Romey get no love from him?

I don't view Mormon as a legit religion.

 

[SportsDotCom]

"Though, as far as Ferrall, being a legend does translate to good IMO. He was the first guy on the radio talking sports, babes & beers. People may not like his voice, but he's ceratainly worked at some of the best stations in the country"

And been fired from almost all of them. I love how he actually thought he could convince the PD in Atlanta to fire the three long-time stars and replace them, only he got sent packing and replaced with former wrestling announcer Tony Schiavone.

"& was syndciated back when there weren't alot of sports guys getting those opportunities."

You mean 'individual syndication' ala Rome or Dan Patrick these days, ESPN and what is today SNR were going strong back then, even Pete Franklin was still on the air. You can brag about his Westwood One gig being on 100 stations, but as the below Salon.com article notes, they were mostly in small markets and not in the big cities.

http://www.salon.com/media/media960826.html


"He was his own worst enemy at time, but now he's at the perfect place for him on sattelite."

Where his masochistic fans can listen to him.

"JT may not be for everyone either, but you can't be on the radio and be on those kind of radio stations if you're not good."

Yeah, because most sports stations want to spend money on local programming from 10PM-1AM when they can just plug JT and Tom "God Bless George Bush" Looney on for cheap and leave it on automation. I doubt you'd find almost anyone who would belive that Sean Hannity or Dr. Laura or even Art Bell are "good," but they all have national syndication and high ratings.

I'm actually looking forward to Brick and Steve Czaban the day after Obama wins the presidency, six hours of guaranteed bitterness, especially the usually insufferable Military Night.

Soldier: J.T., why have our countrymen sold us out by voting for Obama?

Brick: I have no idea, caller. All you who voted for Obama, you are unpatriotic scum and I don't ever want you to call again.

"Cowherd is great. No denying that. He's smart, witty, and gets radio."

He's an obnoxious *****. At least I take satisfaction in the fact that he's divorced now, which means he's probably paying at least $3000 a month in child support for his two kids and that when he eventually quits/gets fired from ESPN for one reason or another he'll be up the creek. And it's not like he'd latch onto Fox. His FSR counterpart, Chris Moore, has been exiled to Saturday afternoons and even that isn't looking too good at the moment.

Sean Hannity is a GREAT talent. I can't agree w/ one thing he says, but he's an excellent talk show host. Same goes for all those other hosts. JT (btw: Looney is a total liberal & the Bush thing is extremely tongue & cheek), Cowherd, etc... You're jaded b/c you don't agree w/ their styles or opinions, but that doesn't mean they're not good. You don't last that long in the game if there isn't an appeal.

BTW: Your artclce on Ferrall barley mentions him & never mentions the cities he was on. The guy was the ONLY syndicated show carried on WFAN in NY. Are you kidding? More people heard that show for an hour or two in NYC than in 10 cities combined back in the 90's. He was on in LA, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Dallas, Detroit. Those are all top 15 markets. You need to do better research.

Your personal feelings have to be put aside when determining who's good or not. Apparently, you're not capable of doing that.

 

[kjl]

Awesome posting PowerCow.

Freddie Coleman and Amy Lawrence need to be off the radio along with Jason Smith while your at it.

I think we have a lot more people who know nothing about sports doing "sports radio"

ESPN radio is horrible.

 

[Pratte4Life]

Personally, I like Ferrall. Of course, that goes with liking hockey, hard rock, and being from Pittsburgh.

I also like Freddie Coleman, who I think is smooth and respectful.

Cowherd is a master at getting his point across. Unfortunately, I generally don't agree with his points.

 

[kjl]

Freddie Coleman is a horrible solo host there is no other way to put it.

He has no idea what he hell he is talking about most of the time. I think he might work somewhat if you put someone like Ryen Russillo.

 

[dc4365]

Hey kjl,
What is your problem with Freddie Coleman? As if you could do any better.

 

[kjl]

I knew someone would come back with that, I never proclaimed I was better. My problem is with ESPN putting those mediocre hosts like Freddie and Amy on national radio. Russillo is the best host they have on GameNight. I really hated the way ESPN and Coleman attacked and continued to pile on Coach Petrino after he left the Falcons disaster. "left like a thief in the night" was the quote said by Coleman recently. I don't care for his style on the air, but I don't have much listening choice. I laugh every time he signs off by saying, "three reasons this show is the best in the business." I am sorry if I tell the truth.

 

[dc4365]

Hey kjl,
Tell the truth? Your opinion and the truth are not one and the same. You don't like Freddie Coleman, that's fine. And it's your right to feel that way. But to say I am sorry that I tell the truth? C'mon. If you don't like him or Amy, then turn off your radio. And if you don't like him because he piled on Petrino, then you must not like a lot of people because outside of Arkansas, just about everyone piled on Petrino due to the way he left.

 

[kjl]

A lot more people than just me didn't like how ESPN piled on BP. I never said his departure after not even a full season shouldn't have merited some criticism, but piling on at every chance was not called for even months after he took the job. Coleman is one of those who continued to do so especially since Salsbury got canned errr not renewed.