WTTW has apparently premiered a replacement for The Friday Night Show, the second half-hour of the Friday edition of Chicago Tonight. The title, simply "Friday Night," is equally uninspiring. John Callaway is the host, and the new program takes the same format as the old--an interview with a notable figure in Chicago media, politics or entertainment. I haven't been watching Chicago Tonight as regularly since Bob Sirott left, but I still TiVo it.
Longtime (and recently retired) ABC7 sports reporter Brad Palmer was the guest. He spent almost the entire interview blasting today's pro sports world. It was mainly about how athletes are not as accessible as they used to be, they don't feel like talking to the media most of the time, they have a PR person telling them what to say instead of speaking their mind, etc. This exchange near the end is what surprised me the most.
CALLAWAY: What is your take on this current Bulls team and its coaching?
PALMER: John, I don't have a take. Once I knew I was gonna retire, I tuned out. I don't read Bulls stories, or NBA... I will probably never watch another NBA game. I think it's a travesty.
CALLAWAY: Are you kidding me?
PALMER: No. First of all, it doesn't even pass for basketball. I mean, there's virtually no rules in it. The guys that are in it, it's heavy on prima donnas. They're all "look at Kobe's 81 points" and all that. It's not a team sport anymore. There are few places where it is a team sport, and the Bulls, I thought it was great what the Bulls did last season.
CALLAWAY: Well, that's what I mean. That's why I asked you to comment on it.
PALMER: Yeah, I thought that was great. But the sport in general, and they way they've marketed the sport. Even when I went to United Center, I had to watch in the press room. I couldn't take the noise, and the "DE-FENSE! DE-FENSE!", and you know, "bum-bum-bum-bum", and all the stuff, the timeouts, it's a three-ring circus! Not to mention, where we used to sit's now a $400 seat, so I couldn't see it from my seat anyway. I'm three rows, or two rows back of the basketball stand, behind the Love-A-Bulls. So you can't see anything anyway. I'm watching it in the press room. You want to watch a hockey game, you can barely see the puck! You certainly can't read the names on the jerseys. You're up there in the rafters.
I think he made some excellent points, and I don't doubt that he speaks the truth, but toward the end he started to come off as a bit of a crank. Did anyone else see this? What did you think? I'm wondering if Robert Feder will have anything to say about this in his column tomorrow; usually he mentions ahead of time whether a media figure is going to appear in an interview like this, but I didn't see him write anything about this in his column last week.
Longtime (and recently retired) ABC7 sports reporter Brad Palmer was the guest. He spent almost the entire interview blasting today's pro sports world. It was mainly about how athletes are not as accessible as they used to be, they don't feel like talking to the media most of the time, they have a PR person telling them what to say instead of speaking their mind, etc. This exchange near the end is what surprised me the most.
CALLAWAY: What is your take on this current Bulls team and its coaching?
PALMER: John, I don't have a take. Once I knew I was gonna retire, I tuned out. I don't read Bulls stories, or NBA... I will probably never watch another NBA game. I think it's a travesty.
CALLAWAY: Are you kidding me?
PALMER: No. First of all, it doesn't even pass for basketball. I mean, there's virtually no rules in it. The guys that are in it, it's heavy on prima donnas. They're all "look at Kobe's 81 points" and all that. It's not a team sport anymore. There are few places where it is a team sport, and the Bulls, I thought it was great what the Bulls did last season.
CALLAWAY: Well, that's what I mean. That's why I asked you to comment on it.
PALMER: Yeah, I thought that was great. But the sport in general, and they way they've marketed the sport. Even when I went to United Center, I had to watch in the press room. I couldn't take the noise, and the "DE-FENSE! DE-FENSE!", and you know, "bum-bum-bum-bum", and all the stuff, the timeouts, it's a three-ring circus! Not to mention, where we used to sit's now a $400 seat, so I couldn't see it from my seat anyway. I'm three rows, or two rows back of the basketball stand, behind the Love-A-Bulls. So you can't see anything anyway. I'm watching it in the press room. You want to watch a hockey game, you can barely see the puck! You certainly can't read the names on the jerseys. You're up there in the rafters.
I think he made some excellent points, and I don't doubt that he speaks the truth, but toward the end he started to come off as a bit of a crank. Did anyone else see this? What did you think? I'm wondering if Robert Feder will have anything to say about this in his column tomorrow; usually he mentions ahead of time whether a media figure is going to appear in an interview like this, but I didn't see him write anything about this in his column last week.