DC sports radio has a feature on in the afternoons, "The Sports Reporters" with Steve Czaban and Andy Pollen and Chris Knoche. This is on ESPN980, formerly Sportstalk980, which was a Fox sports outlet. This is a great show, I'm always pleased when I get a chance to listen to it.
The first 2 guys, Czaban and Pollen, are longtime sports radio guys, "journalists". They've got that slightly jaundiced air about them, of guys who've spent too many years scrabbling out a living standing in smelly locker rooms sticking a microphone into the faces of entitled jocks. Heard it all before. Maybe some of that jaundice comes from having Dan Snyder own the local team, and watching him put his own special tarnish on Joe Gibbs' legacy. Anyway, they're knowledgeable, usually pretty funny, don't give a crap about the usual stuff like how many carries the local RB is going to get in the next game, and they're not ESPN's programming. I like them.
The other guy, Knoche, played basketball for Gary Williams at American 1979-81, then served as an asst coach there for 8 years, before replacing Ed Tapscott as the head coach there from 1990-97. He now does color for Maryland basketball games. He's a pleasure to listen to: a calm, reasoned, knowledgeable guy with a wry streak. It's interesting to have him on this show.
So this afternoon Czaban & Pollen are talking about the upcoming wkend's NFL games, and of course they're talking from the perspective of a Redskins fan. The NFC conf championship is between the Cardinals and the Eagles; either Czabe or Pollen says
(I'm going to put quotes around these comments: but I just got home, having heard this on the radio, am quoting from memory, could be misquoting.)
"You know this has got to be making Danny [Snyder] crazy. The Redskins went 3-0 against those teams this season!" And the other one says "You know he's thinking, 'We're close!'"
Knoche pipes up. "Saturday, I'm watching the end of the Ravens game. So I text my buddy, who I know is watching the game with his Todd Heap jersey on, I tell him congratulations. And he texts me back, he tells me he's pulling for the Steelers! And I text him back, I tell him 'You don't want the Steelers.'"
Dramatic pause.
"And he texts me back, 'Danny has stolen your football manhood. If we win but we don't go thru the Steelers to do it, it will be tarnished.'"
The other guys on the show laugh: maybe Snyder has stolen our football manhood. If I can find an mp3 of this, I'll link it. Very fun moment in sports radio.
It also nicely captures the attitude of many Ravens fans this week. Maybe we shouldn't want the Steelers. But we kinda do want them. Looking forward to them. Evidently the Ravens feel the same way:
Bruised Ravens ready for another brawl vs. Steelers
Most of the Ravens who watched the game were pulling for the Steelers.
"You have to appreciate the way they play. I love the way they play," Bart Scott said. "You want to play the best, and I think they are the best right now. You want the opportunity to prove yourself against the best. You want to test yourself. We look forward to it. We didn't want to go to San Diego."
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I absolutely LOVE Czabe. There aren't many guys I have a ridiculous man-crush on. Matt Damon really was about it. Until I really started listening to Czabe, and now he's the second.
ReplyDeleteESPN 950 in Richmond has just picked up TSR in our afternoons. It's really bad quality cause 950 drops their signal strength dramatically. But I'm a whore for good radio and my father used to listen to Orioles games with crazy static where he just turned the volume way, way up, so now that's what I do.
So now I get Czabe's First Team on Fox show during my morning commute, and his Sports Reporters in the afternoon. My life is [oddly] complete.
you're right they're not espn, the constantly try to bring down and make fun of ESPN. thats what happens when you pull the ratings fox sports radio does. Czabe is borderline racist, and it pretty much the definiton of a male pig. I'll take Jim Rome or Mike and Mike over this blowhard anyday.
ReplyDeleteRacist, really?
ReplyDeleteWhat has Czaban ever done that's racist or close to it? Male pig is fine...he's opinionated and that's what makes him interesting. Who cares about recapping stats about why Florida is the best team in the country? I wanna hear about why people think they deserve it or not based on the archaic system.
ReplyDeleteMike & Mike are solid, but primarily baseball guys. Blah...
Rome is a great interviewer, and a horrible monologuer (spelling?). He finds a topic. Then he beats it to death. Then, he beats it some more just for good measure.
"How big is it that Tebow's coming back? I mean, what a classy guy. "There's classy...and then there's this guy. There's Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, donating to third world countries and adopting babies left and right; and then there's a whole nother level of class with Tebow. The guy couldn't get more classy. They just don't come with more class. It doesn't happen. Don't email me that he's some elite, stuck-up punk that just didn't feel like going to the draft cause he didn't get the NFL man-love he thought he would...this guy's all class. All class. We could all take lessons from this guy. He could have a full time job teaching class, and probably make more than he'd make in the NFL. Wow. Just classy all over."