MadmanLA
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Posts posted by MadmanLA
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5 minutes ago, HedleyLamarr said:
Los Angeles saw their longtime baseball announcer retire last October, and thankfully under his terms. Today, their longtime hockey announcer announced that he will be retiring at the end of this season.
Bob Miller, who non-broadcasting fans may associate more with his work in the Mighty Ducks movie than the Kings games, has had some health issues in recent times, with this season being so tough that he's missed a lot of games (I believe he had dialed back some of the road games to begin with). He's going to call the Kings' final two regular season games...the home game with Chicago, then the season finale the next day across town in Anaheim.
I'm a casual-at-best hockey fan, but I've always enjoyed listening to Bob Miller's play-by-play. Nick Nickson, who's their radio play-by-play man (and originally broadcast games as Miller's partner and a fellow Hall of Famer) is a great heir apparent to Miller, and the broadcasts should be in excellent hands.
That now leaves the Clippers' Ralph Lawler as the only 70-something year-old play-by-play announcer still working in Los Angeles (he'll be 79 in April; Miller, FWIW, will also be 79 in October).
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1 hour ago, dfwabel said:
I disagree regarding credibilty as ESPN has had a cadre of longtime former NBA newspaper journalists with years, if not decades of experience (Stein, Windhorst, Nichols, McMenamin, McMahon, Holmes, Arnovitz, Haberstoh, Lowe...). Woj is just the top name and is akin to Jay Glazer.
Duly noted...I've been listening to Lowe's podcast the last few years, and I've followed Arnovitz since he used to run the Clipperblog site and the subsequent team podcast through local ESPN LA. I admit I had a bit of a brain fart when I thinking about other ESPN NBA people. As far as Woj, maybe with this potential Verizon-Yahoo merger, maybe he sees the potential writing on the wall.
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It looks like Woj is heading to Bristol, if Deadspin's story checks out...if so, good for ESPN, he brings some much instant credibility to their NBA coverage.
http://deadspin.com/sources-adrian-wojnarowski-is-close-to-joining-espn-1791830016
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10 minutes ago, 2001mark said:
si.com's linkage with FanSided is horrible. Spam & clickbait from headline links is pathetic.
Yeah, I agree...Turner's relationship with Bleacher Report has gradually killed SI.
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Adam Schefter re-ups with ESPN, and now adds NBA sideline duties and a podcast to his busy schedule...
http://www.si.com/tech-media/2016/11/30/adam-schefter-espn-extension-media-circus
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HBO pulled the plug on "Any Given Wednesday"; last original episode airs on November 9th.
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17 minutes ago, 2001mark said:
I've rather enjoyed Ernie Johnson doing play by play for TBS this post-season. His is a quieter yet entertaining voice all the same. Not always the sharpest baseball eye, yet it's his lack of hijacking the game with boastful announcing which makes that tolerable. He tends to sound like his priority is enjoying the game he's calling. That's a very welcome trait.
I was too young to hear his father call Braves games on the radio (going all way back to the Milwaukee days), but given EJ's roots in the sport and just his overall professionalism, he's probably one of the few sportscasters where if he/she are on my TV, I'll at least check out a few minutes of play-by-play. Brian Anderson (the Brewers' TV voice) isn't a bad play-by-play caller either.
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11 minutes ago, dfwabel said:
His voice box paralysis due to excessive hair replacement procedures is a bit funnier.
Oh yeah, I read the story this morning, which led me to the FoD video.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcmhnoSyQFE
More Joe Buck for your enjoyment...I'm not his biggest fan, but I give the man credit for making fun of himself in some way.
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1 hour ago, dfwabel said:
Today, on The Dan LeBatard Show, Bob Ryan reflected on Saunders and mentioned that he (Saunders) was a Diabetic and over 20 surgeries for joint pain due to his hockey playing days.
He did have a fall on the ABC College Football set in NYC some years ago and fractured his skull/brain bleeding.
There is also an Amazon pre-order memoir in which Saunders wrote about battling Depression.So suicide is definitely a possibility.
The latter part, I was sadly thinking the same thing, especially when I saw someone mention his depression issues on another board. I'm someone who has dealt with depression and anxiety, and after hearing about Saunders' own depression, I just hope that he didn't do the unthinkable.
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Very shocking indeed...damn, I'll be glad when this damn year is over with.
Rest in peace John Saunders...
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1 hour ago, Cujo said:
This is the same question I pose for Skip's future. At least he was wise enough to not burn his bridges on the way out of Bristol like Cowherd....Moron.
...or Bill Simmons--his departure is pretty much up there with Keith Olbermann's first departure from Bristol. Little Billy, to paraphrase a quote, didn't just burn his bridge to Bristol, he napalmed it.
Speaking of Skip, Ryen Russillo didn't exactly hide his feelings about Bayless leaving for Fox...supposedly according to Russillo, ESPN basically put an edict towards the personalities that they weren't allowed to publicly disagree with Bayless.
QuoteRussillo: “Here’s my thing, If I had a position where I kept saying Tom Brady was the worst all the time and there’s really a lot of evidence that tells you he’s not the worst – or if I say Brady’s Super Bowl, you know, he could have done it without David Patten, that kind of stuff. If [Dan] LeBatard went out and said “I can’t believe Russillo said this, or Mike & Mike can’t believe Russillo said this, I would be OK with this, but I may disagree with them, but I would be OK with it. The problem is when you disagree with Skip, you’re not allowed to. Then he gets mad at you about it. So like, nobody wants to deal with it. And that’s why when the LeBron stuff comes up, if you’re going to be so clearly doctoring the results to keep pushing that you don’t like LeBron or you don’t think he’s any good, then go ahead and keep doing it because it’s clearly great for business, but you can’t get mad at other opinion people for being like ‘Well, that’s just insane and I don’t even know if you believe it.’ That’s always been my point with any of that stuff.”
Kanell: “Isn’t there a time, where you have to go ‘I was wrong’. Isn’t there a time? It’s probably not after the NBA Finals when LeBron was just so dominant.
Russillo: But that’s not good for business. It’s not good for business. You’re right, Danny, but it’s not good for business. And do you know what? Business is good, so I respect that part of it, but we’re all big boys, we all say stuff, and all of us, since we’re opinion guys, disagree with each other all the time. But when you disagree with Skip, it’s handled a different way and a lot of us are just like, whatever. So that’s why we never bring it up.
Kanell: Well, we don’t have to worry about it anymore.
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Because of their judgement to pay-off Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against them, Gawker Media just announced that they're filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and are in the process of selling its assets to Ziff-Davis (owners of PC Magazine and IGN.com).
http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/10/media/gawker-media-bankruptcy/index.html
Another Hogan burial job...
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If anyone checked out today's PTI, in the "Five Good Minutes" segment, as Tony and Mike were coming back from the break, the two were going on about "getting stuffed", and then Tony makes a little slip of sorts, as says "...speaking of getting stuffed, where's Brian Windhorst"
Speaking of Tony Kornheiser, he's ending his daily radio show on WTEM in Washington, at the end of the month, and will transition to a podcast starting in September.
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Awful Announcing has a breakdown of the upcoming "O.J.: Made in America" multi-part 30 for 30 film, which premieres first on ABC on June 11th before moving to ESPN for the final installments. Besides the obvious stuff, it delves more into O.J.'s life from childhood to USC (plus the goings on in inner-city Los Angeles during that timeframe) to the Bills to his acting career to the murders.
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26 minutes ago, jmac11281 said:
Will he still call college games? I don't watch MNF and I loved him doing college games.
I imagine McDonough will call the bowl games that Tirico did for ESPN, and if he does continue to call college football games, he'll likely work closer to whatever game site is hosting MNF that week.
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I see John Skipper taking revisionist history tips from Vince McMahon...I don't think much of Schilling one way or another, but for ESPN to remove the bloody sock storyline from the documentary is WWE levels of pettiness.
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13 hours ago, Cujo said:
Nailed it.
Believe it or not, Bayless once was legit sports writer and called it like it was -- you know, "just another guy". As the years went on, he became more and more opinionated and realized that the more bizarre, outlandish his opinions were, the more attention he would gather, the more (im)famous he would become and the more money he would make.
It's amazing to see the amount of people who get worked up over his takes. The guy has it mastered. Take a nationally publicized figure (ala Tebow, the Cowboys, etc), side with the unpopular minority, and say it all with a straight face. As DDR alluded to, trolling at it's finest.
So yea, Skip has basically become sports' version of Stephen Colbert, and now look at where it's gotten him. Good for him.
To expound it a bit further...I remember listening to Bayless interviewed on the His & Hers podcast a couple years ago, and he was candid about his life away from sports media. For most past, Bayless in real life is an introvert, and he even admitted that his TV persona is completely different from what people see every morning next to Screamin A. and whichever piece of ass that has the (un)fortunate task to play "moderator" between the two.
I only catch a few minutes of "First Take" before heading to work; let's just say I don't watch hear to Skip and Screamin A. and whatever convoluted topics they conjure up each morning.
55 minutes ago, DG_Now said:The good thing about OTT networks is that we as consumers generally have more choice. The bad thing is they're approaching or eclipsing cable bills. My Sling/Hulu/WWEN/Netflix package is $60-ish a month, and relies on reliable Internet without data caps, which I'm lucky to have.
I just signed-up for PlayStation Vue last week, and so far, so good...the only glaring omissions from its lineup are the A&E Networks (meh, whatever...the only show I watch between those networks is "Bates Motel") and the Univision networks (which includes the El Rey Network). Beyond that, the channel selection is pretty much most of the channels I normally watch anyway, but all in all, I think it's a good value across the board, especially when you consider what you may already pay for through a traditional TV provider, and for a bunch of channels you could care less about.
Of course, it would also be great if they added at least one of the league-owned networks, even if they put them in a separate tier, so long as it's reasonable priced ($5-9 a month), I would have no problem paying a few dollars extra.
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Good deal for Tirico...I'm sure they'll also use him on Olympic basketball (backing-up Marv) and whatever other events suit him. With him also getting the NBC TNF package, they're definitely grooming him to take over for Al Michaels when he's ready to step away.
Edit: I just saw a blurb via Clay Travis' Twitter that reportedly Brad Nessler may also be on his way out of Bristol, going to CBS to call NFL and college basketball games, and may end up being Verne Lundquist's heir apparent to the SEC football play-by-play chair.
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20 hours ago, 2001mark said:
Curt Schilling. lols
To quote the great Red Forman...Schilling's a
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I haven't listened to the Lowe Post in awhile, but given what just happened with Sam Hinkie, I may go back and give it a listen.
Meanwhile, Bill Simmons poached someone else from ESPN--David Shoemaker, who covered wrestling for Grantland and co-hosted with Peter Rosenberg their "Cheap Heat" podcast. The Masked Man is on Simmons' most recent episode (posted last night) talking about WrestleMania.
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I just came across this today...Twitter (yes, Twitter!) has won the streaming rights to the ten Thursday Night Football games CBS and NBC have rights to.
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A bit of news as it pertains to the Dodgers' on-going TV situation...the L.A. Times reported that Time Warner Cable has stopped negotiations with other TV providers for carriage of Sportsnet LA, even though TWC was willing to lower its price to TV providers. Of course, the merger between Charter and Time Warner Cable is still awaiting federal approval, which could really play a role in Sportsnet LA's future.
One team RSNs usually don't work, especially a network like Sportsnet LA which only has the Dodgers and nothing else but filler. At least the other TWC sports network here have other live programming surrounding the Lakers year-round.
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I always thought the the "baseball-card" styled retired number banners that the Twins had at the Dome was a nice touch, and it was certainly unique.
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Rare NBA Getty Images, Google & Internet Find
in Sports Logo General Discussion
Posted
They had that scoreboard at the L.A. Sports Arena at least through the mid-80s, not too long after the Clippers moved in. They replaced it with a pretty standard dot-matrix non-video scoreboard which they used through its closing, and added video boards on the north and south ends of the arena by 1997 (and by then LASA's days were numbered as an useful NBA venue, as Staples Center was still in planning stages and the Clips wanted a new arena)