DL544: Is Murray Chass the Westboro Baptist Church of Sports Bloggers?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Murray Chass wrote something last week that got a lot of baseball writers and other bloggers in a tizzy. We paid attention to it, as a whole, because those baseball writers and other bloggers wrote and blogged about it. Look at this guy! Why do we still pay attention to him?!

Wait…why do we still pay attention to him? If there’s a crazy man ranting on my street corner, do I bring TV cameras over and yell at the cameras that we should ignore the crazy man I just introduced to the world? Or do we calmly ignore the crazy person and go about our day?

What’s the internet equivalent of walking across the street with your head down?

As Nick mentioned on the show, if the news media could find the common sense to ignore the “protesters” of the Westboro Baptist Church, no matter what they did to try and get attention, would they eventually go away? Doesn’t the attention, in some way, justify the method? And, no, we aren’t calling ChassREAD MORE

DL506: The BCS Title Game Was One Heckuva Show

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nick and I recap the BCS title game, focusing mostly on the coverage by ESPN during (and before) the game.

In short, we both seem to love the work of Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit and, I’ll admit, I have a media crush on Chris Fowler. He’s the best studio host in the business, covering any sport on any network.

Speaking of that, we talk about why the college pregame show can be handled professionally and with a modicum of class and seriousness (yet still be fun) while almost all the professional pregame shows are yukfests. Why are the guys who cover amateurs more professional than those covering the actual professionals, who come off looking like amateurs by comparison?

HOUSEKEEPING:

We touch briefly on the Carmelo Anthony rumors and how ESPN reported that the Nuggets are upset that media reports keep leaking out about the deal, something we find funny coming from a media source that has gotten beat on the exact reports the Nuggets don’t want out. So meta.

We talk about Pitt sneakingREAD MORE

Ian Darke On The MLS Cup Final: “Oooh, It’s Nerve-Shredding Stuff”

Say what you want about ESPN’s decision to put a Brit in the lead play-by-play chair for American soccer’s finale despite not working much (read: any) MLS action in his career. I’m sure JP Dellacamera or one of the other fine American announcers would have more local knowledge of the players on both teams, the specific situations that got each team to the finale and who we should expect to shine.

Yes, all that is true, but that’s why John Harkes — “the number six,” he might call himself — is in the booth. Darke is there to come up with calls like, “ooh this is nerve-shredding stuff.” That kind of talk always gets me and it always will.

So, for your enjoyment — or if you wonder what the MLS product actually looks like at the championship level — here’s an easy-to-digest ten minutes of highlights.

I’ll admit I did not watch the match (what with Dexter and the SNF games taking up my TV time) but these highlights sure make me wish I had. There’s somethingREAD MORE

DL478: Jon Tannenwald On College Hoops Madness, Soccer Notes & More

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Jon Tannenwald has started to become a regular on this show with all the soccer talk we’ve been having and now with college basketball season starting up — Tannenwald is the editor of Philly.com’s hoops blog Soft Pretzel Logic — we have a ton of stuff to discuss.

Today we talk about the start of the college basketball season and why some schools still think getting on ESPN is important enough to play a game at midnight, or 6am. We talk about the news that TNT’s basketball talkers will be a part of March Madness and discuss my concern that it might turn into more of an NBA discussion than the NCAA Tournament coverage should. We talk about the UConn women’s record and why we still insist on comparing the records in that sport to men’s basketball, which really devalues the sport more than promotes it.

We also touch on the WPS losing their league champion and wonder if sometimes there just isn’t enough money to make an sports league (or a sport)READ MORE

DL470: Tannenwald and I Talk College Football, Recruiting Scandals & How Scoring Equals Excitement

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Jon Tannenwald fills in for Nick. It’s a game program Monday, so this recap is short.

We talk about the BCS rankings and if TCU and Boise will get their chance at the title game. It looks like it’s up to Alabama — with two losses — to knock off Auburn for either of those two teams to get a chance. That seems like a good system.

We also get into the Cam Newton recruiting scandal and equate it to some in college basketball AND, as Tannenwald adeptly segued, how international soccer treats their high schoolers.

Speaking of soccer, we talk about the MLS playoffs and wonder if — like with Michigan and Illinois this weekend — more scoring always equals more excitement. Is a 1-0 pitchers duel more exciting than a 10-9 game? Can you have a lot of excitement without a lot of scoring?

Tannenwald gets and “anything else” to talk about how the USWNT may not make the World Cup. That seems insane.

Thanks for listening. NFL stuff tomorrow.

Call of the Day: “Bobby Convey Has Stunned This Crowd.” Super Exciting MLS Playoff Highlights (VIDEO)

Bobby Convey had himself one helluva night at Red Bull Arena to help the San Jose Earthquakes past Red Bull New York in the first leg of the MLS playoffs.

I know that clipping up and re-posting MLS clips isn’t going to break any pageview records, but this is worth watching. it’s five-plus minutes of some really entertaining soccer action.

I’m usually not a huge fan of the world of JP Dellacamera and, frankly, only taped the game because I was under the assumption that Ian Darke was calling this match, but to his credit, Dellacamera came through with a really solid call of the match. His goal calls, above, were as solid as any.

John Harkes, on the other hand, just…talks. He just talks way too much. It’s amazing how much he talks. Don’t believe me? Try and cut up a clip and see how little time he takes between points. He doesn’t even breathe. On a telecast with no commercials, Harkes has to put in more words than any analyst in the country per event. ItREAD MORE

Toronto FC Apologizes To Fans For “Not Listening Better” And Charging For Extra Games. Also, The Sucking.

Toronto FC has some of the best fans in the entire MLS. Many of them have recently become rather perturbed with the way the team is being run, most notably the fact that, in four years, their local side has yet to make the playoffs. So then, it stands to reason they’d hike up prices on the season ticket packages for 2011, right?

Wait…what? From MLSSoccer.com:

Package prices for 2011 reflected 17 home league games, two Nutrilite Canadian Championship matches, two CONCACAF Champions League matches and next month’s 2010 MLS Cup final at BMO Field.

Packages for 2011 were up for renewal, but the increase couldn’t have been timed worse. With TFC officially eliminated from playoff contention last Saturday, supporters were already upset, but their ire significantly rose over the last two weeks when they received their renewal packages in the mail.

The team increased a total of FIVE games to the season ticket package from the previous year, including two home matches, the MLS Cup and two CONCACAF Champions League matches which, let’s be honest, is really terribleREAD MORE

Greatest MLS Promotion Ever? Shout it Out Loud!

If you live in Dallas and you’re not going to this event, I don’t even want to speak to you.

FC Dallas is offering a promotion to see Rock N the Park AND their match against Red Bull New York for only FORTY BUCKS. According to their Rock and Roll themed online flyer (below) that’s $80 in savings.

Who, pray tell is playing Rock N The Park this year? Let’s see…shitty band, shitty band, American Idol contestant, shitty band….KISS!!!! Yes, KISS is playing Dallas and for $40 you get to Rock and Roll all night one day AND party watch soccer every day all night!

Plus, if you plan to go to one FC Dallas match this year, wouldn’t it be to see Thierry Henry play?

Get. Tickets. Now.

Call of the Day: RSL, Cruz Azul & An Absolute Crazy Three Mins of Soccer

Real Salt Lake of MLS travelled to Mexico to face Cruz Azul in the CONCACAF Champions League group stage. A team from the US has apparently never won a meaningful game on Mexican soil, so when RSL went up 3-1 in an absolute monsoon, it looked like history could be made for the reigning MLS champs. Cruz Azul chipped away, making the score 3-2 in favor of RSL before all hell broke loose with two minutes to go (plus stoppage time). Not enough scoring in soccer? Maybe they should play every game in a lake. From the MLS official recap:

However, as perpetual rain turned the field to a small lake, a series of slapstick routines resulted in an outrageous four-goal scoring flurry in the waning minutes that saw Javier Orozco finish the night with four goals and Christian Giménez tally a stoppage-time winner for the host Cementeros.

If you look closely, I’m fairly certain that somewhere in the empty stands, you can see a shot of a man loading animals onto an ark.

Aaron Stollar from BigSoccer.comREAD MORE

DL410: Oswalt to Philly, Dom Brown’s Debut, ESPN’s LeBron Story, Other Stuff

Nick and I talk about Oswalt to Philly, Dom Brown’s debut, the LeBron story that got pulled from ESPNLA.com and what that means from a PR perspective (and how to fix that if you’re ESPN) and other stuff, including a little on the shakeup at ABC and how TV has changed in the last five years and some talk of the MLS All-Star Game.

Quick recap, so go listen. And thanks for doing so.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download