TWFE on the good, the bad, and the ugly, in sports media

Why in Bernie Smilovitz gainfully employed in the Detroit? It's unfathomable to think that he's actuallymaking well over 6 figures for the lamest TV sportscast (Term used very loosely) you'll ever see in a major market. He's on WDIV's airwaves for 3 minutes a newscast, yet half of that is spent running some unfunny blooper clip that's a decade or 3 old (Such as Brett Butler getting hit in the nuts by his kid, a kid who's probably in college now), while the other half is spent mugging for the camera or flirting with the anchor chicks.

Smilovitz's painfully uncomfortable to watch "Weekend at Bernies" bit can kiss my blogger ass. Bernie's been coasting for years, while being paid handsomely. At least the "Boom goes the dynamite" kid was making an effort, sad as it may have been. Bernie isn't even trying anymore, and is mailing it in at this point.

Truthfully, Don Shane at WXYZ is loafing along so as well. When you've been on the air as long as those 2, the boredom they have with their bottom rung status on their newscasts can't be hidden. But they continue to cash big paychecks.

The only Detroit station that gives a damn about sports is WJBK, FOX 2. They are the 1 station that actually tries to have a legitimate sports department, Woody Woodruff be damned.

I was speaking with Ian, of "Bless you Boys," another blog that has the slightly gay name, and what seems like 5 others, after recording our guest appearance on "The Detroit Tigers Posdcast" last night. We both agreed on a couple of things in regard to Detroit's big dog in sports talk, the Stoney and Wojo Show...

It was shocking to hear WDFN's Stoney and Wojo over the national airwaves, when they sat in for Jim Rome last Friday. I never really thought that their show would fly outside of the D. To be honest, I was wrong. They were quite good, and defended Detroit against Rome's sheep-like listeners, "The Clones." They were vastly better while covering for Rome than they ever are during their local broadcast.

Why? Because Mike Stone actually had opinions, and Bob Wojnowski scaled back from 11 on the "Dumb ass fat guy shtick" dial, to about a 2. Wojo was much closer to the funny and literate columnist we read in the Detroit News. The "Dumb Wojo" has become a rote, paint-by-the-numbers, radio caricature, and is, in S & W parlance, an old bit. When Stoney shows a little more emotion, and makes a few waves, it's equally as refreshing to hear. I hope S & W learned that they didn't need to be "Fence sitter and Dumb ass" to do entertaining radio.

I have trouble waking up in the mornings, but I think I finally know why. You try and stay awake during WDFN's snoozefest morning show. I turn over, flip on the radio, hear Jamie and Brady babbling on about...Well, I can't say, as they put me right back to sleep. It's as if the Sandman clubbed me over the head with his boring stick. ZZZZZ.

Not that WXYT is much better in the AM. Who told Scott Anderson that his impersonations are any good? Please don't encourage him to do his Jim Leyland. It's lousy. OK, he does do a pretty good Johm Keating, I'll give him that. There's a problem, unfortunately. How many people actually know who John Keating is?

There's 1 thing that frustrates me more than anything as an avid blog reader. That being sites that require me to jump through hoops, in a blatantly obvious attempt to increase their click-thru rate. Deadspin, I'm looking at you. I read their RSS feed, but I never physically visit the site anymore, as it's become a pain in the ass to navigate.

By the way, if you do happen to surf over, stay out of the comments. Deadspin's commenting, once original and funny, has turned into a a Fark-like pissing contest, seeing who can out pop culture reference the other. The signal-to-noise ratio is higher than I was in in the 70's.

This week, a new entry in the sports blog arena hit the web, Epic Carnival. I'll admit that I'm a tad biased, as some of the bloggers involved are friends of TWFE, and have linked to me. But you can't deny that they are off to a good start. They are putting up a ton of daily content, so if you don't care for 1 post, don't worry, another will be up soon.

What I like about EC is that they are posting, for the most part, long-form opinion and humor. There's very little in the way of a Deadspin-like 1 snarky paragraph, and a link. EC bloggers are writing much in the same tone as they would on their own sites, and posting it on the collaborative blog. In other words, they aren't dumbing down their writing, or toning down their irreverence, unlike some the great bloggers that write for the mainstream AOL Fanhouse.

I have nothing against the AOL bloggers at all, as I read the Fanhouse daily. I'd also love to get paid to write. But I do know that I couldn't write with the same attitude at a site like the Fanhouse, unlike what I can get away with at TWFE.

For example, I doubt I'd be allowed to write my "Inside Millen's Brain" posts, portraying Matt Millen to have the mental capacity of a retarded 3 year old on 'ludes. Or call out Bernie Smilovitz, whose TV hackery is a pox that lowers the IQ of the entire Detroit area. New York City ran his hack ass out of town, why in the Hell did they allow him back in Detroit? And who on earth watches, let alone enjoys, Bernie, and his vaudeville level of lowest common denominator humor? But I digress...

They have the same sort of "Write what you really think, good taste be damned" attitude at Epic Carnival. I hope they will able to keep it that way as they get more notice, and traffic.

To close, let me do one shout out...

If you read TWFE, and/or are a Detroit sports fan in general, I'm guessing that you are already listening to the weekly "The Detroit Tigers Podcast." So I seriously doubt my appearance on the show will increase downloads, or iTunes subscriptions. But I had a great deal of fun sitting in with "The Daily Fungo" guys, and I hope I added a little something to what was an already entertaining podcast.

Why Detroit sports talk radio blows: Reason #142

Whats the current hot button topic on WDFN? The Red Wings starting the playoffs? No. The Tigers' winning in extra innings? Nope. The NFL draft? Not even close. Don Imus getting the ziggy? Close, but not quite.

The topic being bantered about by The Fan's Mike Stone at 5:40 Thursday afternoon is, "Should Don Imus be kicked out of the broadcasting hall of fame?"

What? The? Fuck? If Bob Wojonowski was on, he's be kicking Stoney's ass.

I didn't think it was possible, but I think sports talk radio has hit a new low.

Want to lose IQ points? Listen to Detroit sports talk radio

Art Regner got the ziggy from WXYT in what was called a "Cost-cutting" move. As bad as it is to see ANYONE lose their job before the holidays, the move was a positive one for 1270. As you might remember, I had Art high on my list of Detroit media hacks. Regner's blind love of all things Wolverine and Red Wing caused him to come off as nothing more than a sycophant. Neither team could do no wrong in his maize, blue, and red tinted world. Regner was nothing more than a glorified fluffer when it came to those organizations, I guess WXYT tired of paying for handi-wipes and knee pads.

With the loss of Regner, WXYT has improved themselves. 1270 may not be listenable, as pseudo tough guy Mike Valenti and Michigan mouthpiece Doug Karsh are still on the air, but improved all the same. Faint praise, but it's progress.

The highest ranking member of my media hack list, self designated baseball "Expert" Wobb Parker, along with his long suffering partner, Mark Wilson, was given his walking papers from 97.1 FM. The cancellation of Parker and the Man was greeted with a shrug by me, as I never listened to them. Personally, I find Parker to be absolutely insufferable. I avoid his columns at all cost, so why on earth would I want to listen to his drivel as well? If only the Detroit News would take heed, and shitcan the worst columnist of any major market newspaper.

But there was even better news than no longer having to hear Parker's tripe. The reason given for Parker's removal was that both the Red Wings and Tigers were going to have their night games simulcast on WKRK along with WXYT. That may have been the best news for Tigers fans since Joel Zumaya gave up playing "Guitar Hero." 1270's weak signal was long been a sore spot with the Tigers fanbase. Since leaving WJR, you couldn't hear the Tigers over the air at night, unless you were living within plain sight of 1270's transmitter. Considering WXYT's transmitter is powered by 2 asthmatic hamsters during the day, and 1 at night, the Tigers moving to FM was loooong overdue.

For those pining for the days of the Tigers being heard on the WJR's blowtorch of a signal, as compared to WXYT's Bic lighter of one, those days are long gone. WJR makes more money going with a schedule full of syndicated programming, which is a damn shame. 760 is a shadow of its own self, anyway. Today's WJR is an utter waste of a clear channel signal. Local programming is an afterthought, as they would rather poison the airwaves with agenda pushing blowhards like Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura. If only JP McCarthy knew what has happened to his once great station, which is no longer the "Voice of the Great Lakes." The Tigers and Wings are better off being on stations with more sports-centric focus, rather than the rhetoric-spewing voice of far right wing conservatism.

WDFN is dead to me at this point. The station has become so full of inside jokes, callers who fancy themselves as bad comedy writers, run into the ground cliches, and hosts that encourage such behavior, that 1130 has become unlistenable to anyone with even a modicum of intelligence. Tuning into Stoney and Wojo yesterday afternoon (For the first time in months, actually) pretty much confirmed that I wouldn't be listening to 1130 again anytime soon, as I'm trying to preserve what brain matter I have left.

I don't mind guy talk at all, but S and W have turned into an audio version of the lowest common denominator lad mags, Maxim and Stuff. Sports are an afterthought, talked about in between "Wacky" news stories and rote, by the numbers caller contests. They have dumbed themselves down to the point where they have become frustratingly unlistenable.

For example, yesterday's big topics were sexual fetishes, and another one of their once funny, now lame, 64 team tournaments. What was even worse hearing Mike Stone and Bob Wojonowski going through the motions was their outright asinine callers. They feel the need to do awful bits that even Jay Leno would find unfunny, state the blatantly obvious, and encourage Wojo's stupidity, which is an act that has worn awfully thin. If I ever hear "HAPPY NEW YEAR" over the airwaves ever again, I'm going postal.

After listening to out 2 local sports talk outlets, one thing has become clear. Between Detroit sports talk radio, or getting a lobotomy, local sports talk kills more brain cells.