Years ago, Howard Cosell was the first to lament the need to hire ex-athletes in the announcers booth. What the athletes lacked in technical announcing skills would be offset by bringing more authenticity to the broadcast. Cosell called it the jockocracy of sports.
I am not against having athletes announce, or do color, and in this thread, be talk show hosts, but they need to learn the business and be prepared every day, be able to talk about a variety of sports, have interesting guests and be good interviewers.
He definitely was well versed w his Baseball knowledge. I always laughed when he would get so upset at Baggs & Biggio in the Playoffs when they didn’t hit.
Edit: not easy when it was always Maddox, Glavine, Smoltz throwing against them.
Ohh, then Kevin Brown needed a shot.
Not sure I ever heard Howard say anything positive in his calls. The Astros could be on a nine game win streak and he’d talk about how Bagwell isn’t hitting right-handers well. Ha
The Howard’s of the world are a needle in a haystack. Most callers to the shows (at least from what I’ve listened to in past few years) do not sound educated, ill-informed about the topic they want to discuss, and say really stupid sh*t on what management should do.
It’s the reason why the hosts are taking few calls anymore. When I’m drving to work and they take a call, the minute it starts sounding stupid, I switch to a podcast or music.
I also believe with the streaming and comments sections, Twitter, and texting capabilities, there is a higher level of anxiety when mustering up the courage to call a show.
I never really thought of that last point until I received a big promotion a couple years ago. I was offered the position because of my experience but more importantly it was because I could speak to a rooms full of executives and managers without getting nervous.
I agree but they think they know everything and talk down to anyone who disagrees. Not too long ago they spent a whole segment talking about sharting. Do people really enjoy listening to that?
That is pathetic. It might be funny in another venue. We literally have around forty sports teams in various sports - including college and pro. Is there nothing worth talking about?
