Couldn't agree more with the Goff and Dan remark, and especially Terry and Dan. Once upon a time, Boers would challenge Dan, or even take a point opposite of him just to serve the argumentative purpose. Now he's just old and tired, echoing every point Dan makes, no matter how far-fetched. Matty tries to do it, but goes too far, making it all look like a goofy joke, not an opposable viewpoint.

Pretty much. Their show has become a schtick of reminding their listeners that:

- they're stupid for not acknowledging the greatness of/rooting for LeBron James
- they're stupid for being Chicago sports fans
- they're stupid for letting their kids play football
- they're stupid.

Throw in a couple hours of Sandusky rehashing, a sprinkle of CTE/concussion talk (don't forget 2-3 occurrences of Dan mashing his teeth as he reminds everybody it's NOT ABOUT CONCUSSIONS), fire up the Terry weird noise soundboard and bam - you've got a show.

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I think this Dewskie nailed it with this: "they're stupid for being Chicago sports fans"....Dan doesn't like the Chicago fans, or the traditions associated with those teams by the fans; he thinks he's above it all. To him, being a Chicago sports fan is like being a member of the Indiana Pacers or Boston Celtics -- neither of which are worthy of the big stage. Dan is a Miami Heat player - in fact I bet he sees himself as LeBron in the sports journalism world - and all us listeners and Chicago sports fans are Tyler Hansbroughs.

I think he's as much a Bears/Bulls/Sox fan as anyone.

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You're probably right....I think he does like the sports teams but just not the fans and all the fan traditions associated with the teams.

These are not mutually exclusive propositions.

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The Bulls haven't done anything wrong, and they're not going to do anything wrong.

Agree with this. Rozners column today was on the lebon hate too. I dont have explain mine. I will for cheer for anybody against lebron, even the iranian national team.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

I've never loved hearing Laurence's voice more than right now....thank god B&B are over!!

You don't just have a show, you have a really, really bad show.

By the way, fellas, great work on the show thread today. I PTFB'd early and went for a nice long jog...I come back and see solid work done. Don Tiny was even clockin' hours. Even the ever-pro-B&B SHARK is wilting under the enormity of the shows obvious and shockingly sudden decline into terrible radio. Those that ridiculed The Club for its honesty and frankness are now seeing the light.

I hope to see you all in the NBA Finals thread tonight.

Best Regards,
SomeGuy.

This show has become a terribly fascinating (or un-fascinating, more like) case study in what can happen when a show's identity digs itself in too deep of a hole.

Over the years the show's been relatively fair in providing it's own checks and balances, but starting with the Penn State stuff we've all been listening as the show has absorbed the praise from that coverage and inflated itself; so much so that they've now attempted some strange unspoken rebranding. They're now pushing the show as a quasi-national voice of reason that's trying to grind sports down to the common marrow and contextualize it with societal issues, ala The Sports Reporters, but they're going about it the wrong way.

By trying to maintain the anti-listener humor and self-deprecating tongue-in-cheek dismissal of their own product it's forced a really unpleasant mutation of demands for the listeners: We want you to take us seriously, but not too seriously. If you take us too seriously then you're getting mad (and we'll make fun of you), but if you don't take us seriously then you're an idiot (and we'll make fun of you).

What?

Couple that with their new-found love to degrade football and hockey. It's arguable that they've always hated hockey but with the infusion of cte/concussion in the show's lexicon it's afforded them an entirely new branch of revulsion. Not only can they say hockey's a shitty game because of their own personal discrimination, but now they have what they feel is justifiable evidence that the game is criminally violent, and the fans of the sport are stupider now more than ever before for loving the game.

Dan's distaste for football began immediately after Stewart Bradley got his bell rung and couldn't get his shit together on the field, and it's evolved into this terribly uncomfortable crusade against youth football. Citing medical evidence and horror stories, he's reduced youth football down to a bloodbath where it's 100% certain all participants will be injured and their brains turned into scrambled egg; all the while the positive stories of personal growth and bonding experiences of the sport are immediately branded as archaic peasant-speak that is nothing more than window dressing for what's actually the sporting equivalent of a 10-car pileup.

And now we have to put up with the ridiculous crap about basketball. At least with the Bulls in-season we could all reach the accord that Rose was awesome but needs legit help, but now that Rose is hurt and the Bulls are out we have to suffer a further condescension. The LeBron stuff has been talked to death, but the foot-stomping and inarguable line in the sand Dan's drawn isn't enjoyable whatsoever to listen to. It's bad enough he already thinks Chicago sports fans are generally stupid but because we don't collectively root for LeBron we're now stupider than he ever thought possible.

Awesome.

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