Brian at mgoblog recently raised his beefs with the nerdosphere. As someone who listens to his fair share of sports talk radio in Michigan I’ve got a few problems with you people:
1. Any mention of your athletic prowess When dialing up your favorite show you’ve got to resist the temptation to cite your credentials based on your work within your sporting “world”. In the last 2 weeks I have heard no less than 5 guys mention “I play softball” as if that gives them some special perspective in the sports topic of the day. Please stop.
2. Referring to your conversation with the call screener This is a growing trend: dudes getting on air and starting up their take with, “as I told the screener”. First off, there really is no actual screening happening on Michigan-based sports talk radio shows. You could dial up and say your going to talk about Richie Cunningham’s free throw form and you’ll get through. Second, no one cares what you told the screener just get on with it.
3. “I’ll hang up and listen” I heard Seinfeld break this down one time, but no one cares about your elaborate near-term plans.
4. Reluctant Agreement Can’t stand this one either. Very common on Stoney & Wojo’s show on WDFN. Callers have an annoying tendency to make sure the host knows that they always agree/disagree with said host but in this special case, they must disagree/agree. This is weak for many reasons. First, it’s not like these guys are talking about polarizing topics like politics so for anyone to actually disagree with a given host “all the time” is silly. And again, no one cares about you so just speak your piece and move on man.
8 Comments
Andrew
Not talking about sports – I think less than half of the content on some shows focuses on sports. This is why I rarely listen anymore.
Also the huge show is the worst thing I’ve ever heard. I think I’ve made it through 20 minutes of that show (in total) and he’s beyond awful.
Schlimmy
I’ve got one more for you, when a caller says “the earlier caller stole my thunder”…. To me that is saying your opinion/view is pretty standard and more often than not you are stating the obvious.
Merlin
Did any of you listen to the John Beilein show. Matt Shepherd talked and talked and talked…
How about when Marcus calls? That drives me crazy.
Webmaster
Schlimmy, you are dead on with that. Just wish everyone would steer clear of tedious cliches like “stealing thunder”.
Merlin – Agree that Shep has some work to do but Beilein didn’t help much. Of course the results on the court didn’t make for many upbeat installments of Coach’s show.
As for Marcus? That’s funny but I like Marcus. Many times I don’t understand what he’s talking about but the guy is funny. One time I heard him breaking down American Idol or Survivor or something and started cracking up. I’d like to see Marcus do the 10 to noon slot on WTKA now that Morris and Bacon on are break until August.
BiggieMunn
Boom…..outta here.
Tim
You’ve forgotten “Longtime listener, firsttime caller.” First, I honestly don’t care about what you do regularly. Second, I understand that you are saying this to make it clear you aren’t the sort of loser who calls sportstalk radio programs. Guess what? You’ve done it now, so you are a caller either way.
Bonus
Love this post webmaster, and nice throw in there timmy. There is one more that sticks in my craw, that is just an utter lack of originality and falls under the dumb jock talk: “Here’s a guy…”. Whenever anyone on sports or tv talks about an individual player, especially if his name starts with Mark and ends in Schlereth, they feel an absolute obligation to introduce said player with “Here’s a guy who…”. And now callers are adopting this Heres A Guy Formula too. Just yesterday I caught myself saying about my 3 month old son Alan: “Here’s a guy who sleeps all day, shits his pants and wets himself at an unbelievable rate, yet still finds the time to smile at his daddy while throwing up all over himself. Now thats a team player!”
Webmaster
Bonus that’s hilarious. I think Mel Kiper may have got that rolling down the hill, he always has a “guy” in his preamble. Uses both “here’s a guy” and “we’re talkin’ about a guy…”