What I like...
Patriots Monday. It is great to hear football talk. (more on this later)
Dale and Holley. They have a great rapport with each other and the callers. They are among the few regulars on that station who actually have sports info at the ready. They know more about a wider variety sports than all of the other shows combined. They can talk NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, college football, college hoops, college hockey etc. If they don't know what they are talking about, they sure sell it like they do.
Mike Mutnansky (sp). As far as fill-ins/weekend hosts go, he is the best. He is the most prepared. He directs the conversation in a positive way and keeps the show on track. He listens, asks good questions and actually converses with a caller.
Big Show. I can do without the yelling over each other, but you know what? They are entertaining as hell. The Whiner Line is a great listen more often than not. The bits they play are excellent. Many of their regular co-hosts are strong like DeOssie, Smerlas (when the topic is football), McAdam, Maxwell, Grande...
Fox Sports Radio. The national shows, especially Sunday nights, are excellent. Great work.
Regular guests. Guys like Peter King, Ken Rosenthal, Boomer Esiason, etc add a lot to their respective programs.
Sunday Baseball and Football shows. My two favorite shows. Though Buckley on the baseball show is tough without McAdam. It becomes story time with Steve when McAdam is not there to keep the show on track.
John Rish. He doesn't carry the Red Sox' water. He is informed, connected, and, like Mutnansky, runs a tight ship. He doesn't let idiot callers ruin his show.
What I do not like...
D&C. I know the morning drive shift is different but I would like
some sports talk. Not contrived arguments with not so thinly veiled references to politics. I would like to not be lectured about the negatives of those who happen to have some leftist views. During a discussion about baseball, I could really do without "Of course he didn't swing...but that is what LIBERALS would have you believe..." What does that have to do with anything? Not golf talk either. That is boring as anything. The constant golf talk/references do not count as sports talk. Also, the coward hosts rarely confront their callers in a constructive way. They will shout, hang up, and then berate the caller without him having a chance to retort. They do have outstanding ratings, so obviously I'm way off base here. ???
Mike Adams. His schtick has grown old, quickly. My question is, once Manny is gone, who will he pick on? When he isn't telling fart jokes, discussing random 1960's Red Sox trivia, or peddling another dumb contest, he is stammering his way through a discussion about something he knows little about. He was once great on NECN's Saturday night show. My, those were the days.
Variety of sports discussed. The station has a Red Sox obsession. Case and point. Last Thursday, the Patriots open training camp. They cut in with bits and pieces of Brady and Belichick's pressers, they couldn't bring us the whole conferences? However, they spend 95% of the day discussing something Manny Ramirez did a month ago, something Eck said five days earlier, and rehashing Manny's past with this team. The fill-in nobodies on the mid-day show dismissed the opening of camp for the Pats like it was nothing. Yet, the station flies hosts down to Ft. Myers for spring training and they discuss the first day pitchers and catchers report like it is the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. A few years back, the Pats were on a winning streak that would grow to record proportions, what is talked about in mid-December? The failed A-Rod for Manny trade for most of the 6-6 programming. NCAA tournament time, NFL/NBA draft, and NFL playoffs (outside of Patriots-related games) are all treated like the MIAA state field hockey playoffs. Bringing in one guest to discuss such a topic the day before it starts does not constitute "coverage". Neither does a host who visits two websites right before the cross-over so he sounds somewhat intelligent on the subject. Thank goodness for Sirius NFL radio and the like for coverage of these sports. Goodness knows that WEEI won't touch them with a 10 foot cattle prod.
General sports knowledge. Save for the people mentioned above, too often the hosts (regulars and fill-ins) have to "get someone to look up" the answer to a caller's question or comment. Many times it is just knowing who is pitching two days from now, or who the Pats are playing in two weeks, or the starting center on the team the Celtics are playing on Sunday...I know the emphasis here is on entertainment but c'mon. You would expect a political host to know the issues wouldn't you? A rock jock should know something about the artists he plays, no? Why are these guys any different?
Mustard and Johnson. Would WFAN have a show dedicated to the Red Sox or Phillies? So, why does Boston have a show dedicated to the Yankees? They recycle old news, quips, and quotes from the week gone by and bring nothing new to the table. Listen once for an hour and you may as well have had listened for the full four hours for five months straight. It never changes. Very scripted. This time would be better served from September-early April with a college or high school sports themed program. April-September, they can run bring in one of their "regular" weekend hosts to have an all-around sports talk program.
Looonnng commercial breaks.
Most of the weekend/fill-in guys. I get the need for seasoning some of the less experienced talent but many of them are just horrible. Butch Sterns latches on to one stat, point of view, or tidbit of info and just rehashes it for the entire show; and he is one of the better ones. Don't get me started on guys like Bill Burt! :
