My work travels took me to San Francisco this week. On my Airtran flight and in my rental car, I had XM radio. So I got a good earful of Russo this week. Despite all the Dog love on this blog, I think it's time for a little reality check. He has been spotty this week.
His big problem is that he hasn't figured out how to do a national show yet. He's still leaning on New York stuff. And granted, a lot of that stems from the callers. My rough estimate puts 80% of the callers either from the NY metro area or used to be from there. And of course, they want to talk New York stuff.
Chris makes a big effort to talk about national topics, but this is a struggle. Basically because that ain't in his wheelhouse. One of the worst segments was with Marty Schottenheimer on Monday. We all know he overuses the word 'scenario', but this was too much. He would just throw out a team, stumble for a question and then end with 'scenario'. It went like this, "Marty, the Bills blah blah blah blah, what do you think about that scenario." He literally did this 5 times in a row. Marty is not good radio, but this made him worse. He wasn't given a specific question, so he just spat out generic comments like, 'Any week any team can win' or 'They need to play better defense.' It was a brutally painful segment. It just highlighted the fact that in an attempt to cover NFL teams across the country, he spread himself thin on the knowledge front.
Just like Francesa, Russo really needs a producer to help structure his show. His show jumps all over the place like some meth head. And whenever he talks about New York, he makes these qualifying statements like, "For those of you in Nebraska that want to talk about the Missouri game, we'll get to it. Right now, we have to talk about Yankee Stadium."
I think I need to call into him today to take him to task for this bullshit criticism of Johan Santana from yesterday. I will alert you when I call in. Is anyone beside KBill listening to the angry puppy?
And Now, A Note From Brian Powell
14 years ago
16 comments:
Gman...what was the criticism of Santana? i think you should call russo and explain to him why his show is struggling.
I jump back and forth all day
FTLT, the criticism echos what you took him to task on awhile ago. "Santana throws 125 pitches. What's the big deal? You're making all that money. Lincecum throws 130 pitches. What about Bob Gibson? blah blah blah" Not sure if he notice that Santana has more IP than Lincecum. He has to stop using him as the gold standard.
Yes...while Russo was not watching, Santana has put together a terrific season. He probably can't get past those early few starts that were a little questionable for Johan..
I was at the SF Giant game the other night. Guess what? Lincecum stunk!
Looks to me like Heyman is gonna be a regular "in Studio" spot. All Heyman fans will love that
Gman, yesterday Dog's close had me cracking up. He was playing that Red Sox song with a clip of Jeter saying the Yanks just weren't good and he was clapping and cackling in the background.
As for all the NY Mets talk, that is the biggest national story this week. It is the lead on SC each night.
In defense of the dog regarding the NY issue. Yes, it's a national show, but in the last two weeks NY has been the center of the sports world. The Yankees not making the playoffs is a national story. They've dominated the sport since '95. The downfall has to be discussed on any sports show. Not to mention the death of Yankee Stadium, also a national story centered around NY. Just ask ESPN who dedicated all of Sunday to it.
Likewise, the Mets September issues is a story with national interest and he's been fair to involve the other two cities, Milwaukee and Philly, in the discussion.
Is that a turtleneck Heyman is wearing or a noose around his neck?
Maybe Mike has resorted to "threats of hanging" in order to ensure good performances from his guests to save his show? I thought Rick Peterson looked a bit uneasy yesterday!
Yes--- It has to be a noose. Turtlenecks went out of style somewhere in the 70's!!!
JD
Dog just said that The Marquis would return to his show. Mike has claimed ownership of the Marquis. It will be interesting to see how that battle unfolds.
And Gman, it is KBilly, not KBill. You know like KBilly's Super Sounds of the 70s...
That was The Partridge Family's "Doesn't Somebody Want to be Wanted?", followed by Edison Lighthouse's "Love Grows where my Rosemary Goes" as K-Billy's Super Sounds of the 70's weekend just keeps on... truckin'.
I'm not arguing that Russo shouldn't talk about the New York stuff. Obviously the Mets and Yanks and Jets merit a lot of discussion. I'm saying that he hasn't gotten his flow on. He jumps around, makes excuses for NY talk and then when he does talk national, he's not up to speed. Let's not be Russo apologists just like Bill From Hauppauge is with Francesa. We all need to kick our dog every now and then.
And with the impending Mizzou/Nebraska game actually meaning something this year, I am excited to hear Russo talk about that one. "Pellini, Mike Rozier, the whole bit."
I'm not trying to be a Francesa apologist. It just that the "fat" reference is getting a little tired, and that we will choose to listen to him because he is "New York centric" I'd like to see a poll with the options 1) Russo at WFAN 2) Francesa on Sirius/XM. I think we know how that would turn out.
Well i did not have the opportunity to listen to any show since 3pm but it must have sucked b/c no one took the time to post about it..But for the next weeks i will only be able to post before 4 and after 12 but i do often check the blogs during my hours when i can..Can all of you faithful contributors and commentators please inform when i go off air for those last three hours..
NBT
In a perfect world, do you think Mike and Chris would ever bury the hatchet and get back together...all of our lives be so much easier and so would theirs..Maybe Dog should listen to ESPN radio just to get a concept of a national spot if he is struggling that much..
Dog must realize that he has to start following college football to be successful nationally. That's what the guy in Little Rock wants to hear.
But, Dog will struggle, because he doesn't follow college football until the end of the season, then throws out wild generalizations about games and teams he hasn't seen.
He did the same thing with college basketball. Didn't watch a game all year, then got made when teams like Hofstra and Syracuse were left out of the NCAAs.
As for baseball, he bnetter get the Cubs angle going, because that's what America will be watching come postseason. Every Cub game will be in primetime year, and he has to get with it.
And, thought I dread it, he must talk NFL every single day. I liek the NFL, but they only play once per week, and it's tough to talk football for four days after the games have been played, then do the standard prediction show on Friday. Boring.
As for ESPN Radio, they're not great. Mike and Mike are decent, but Cowherd loves himself too much and Tirico and Van Pelt offer nothing as far as opining goes. Tirico would never bash anybody for fear of reprisals. Doesn;t he get paid enough to do play by play and golf for ESPN. Does he need a radio show, too. Does he think he's Marv Albert?
I think with Mike and then Michael Kay to switch too, there is no need for purchasing Sirius XM is there?
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