Tune the FM in to static and pretend that it's the sea.
But four words fumble for the microphone: you should have known.

Well, AM, but close enough. This show thread is in honor of the guy at Nike, the guy at NASA, the guy at the Cubs, and the other various connections and informants who have popped up on this week's shows.

I expect a Lance-heavy WYC, even more Dick Butkus talk, and some in-depth Cubs booth stuff.

_________________

Good preview for what is expected to be a bad show. I will set the odds at 5:2 for a rough listen.

_________________
-- source

I listened from 4pm to 430pm yesterday...

I say to myself, while sitting in the darkness, that there is no way that this show can be collectively any worse than that. Although I realize that my utterance is more likely a wish than a fact as I see the show M.O. from C.H....double double toil and trouble. A little WYC. Bad. A ton of Lance Armstrong. Eye of Newt. Hosts lying about having connections.Willow Wisps. Stupid talk about past athlete comparisons. Rabbit ear, monkey's paw.

Hypothetically speaking, and without sarcasm, just what would make a better show? Let's be realistic here. Don't give me any crap about Bernstein treating callers better. That won't happen (nor should it, IMO). But what makes a better show? This question is for anybody, BTW.

I already know my answer: Less direction and less focus on specific topics. When they allow the conversations to go all over the map, the show is more enjoyable for me.

_________________
Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

Like you mentioned it definately is a better show when they get away from their talking points. I honest to god believe the show would be better if they put a ban on the following topics

Sandusky
Lance Armstrong
CTE
Momentum in Baseball
Fighting in Hockey

Get a station manager at WSCR that gives them a week suspension anytime the show veers into this territory.

_________________

Ding, ding, ding. Of course they can't do that for four hours. But topics like PSU, Lance, and the like are beaten into the ground, day after day. That's when I usually PTFB. I didn't hate the PSU stuff, so much, but the Lance talk is beyond ridiculous. We get it, you don't like him. You knew he was a "monster" from day one. We do not need Twitter updates every two minutes about "breaking" Lance news. Normally I like the show, you know I do, but when they go into these funks where they continue to "make" the story rather than report/reflect listeners' interest, it's beyond bad. No one gives a shit about Lance except Bernstein's ASL*










*Today at 5. Just wait.

_________________
-- source

You're back!

Anyways, I would kinda sorta agree with you about the topics. More so because the topics they (BernSTINE) focus on are focused on, beating to death, lit on fire and then resurrected using black magic and witchcraft time after time after time. Whether it's Lance Armstrong, PSU, racial talk, advanced statistics etc...those were old 2 years ago.

I just think that about 3 years ago the show truly crossed the threshold of Consistently Awesome/Great/Good to a decline (which got faster and steeper as months wore on) into Great/Good/Bad and now in the last year or so it has dropped further to consistently Good/Bad/Unlistenable with the latter 2 taking the lions share. I haven't listened all that much in the last 6 months or so but when I do turn it on....it's bad, really bad.

As I've said before the show has had its time on top of Sports Talk Mountain, but it took a tumble and cracked its body on the rocks below. Like Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat compared to Ric Flair vs Jay Lethal.

My answer is your answer. The show is at its best when it's just weird, smart people talking to one another about whatever. When they're forced to be the wall-to-wall football guys, the show suffers, because I don't think they're wall-to-wall football guys at heart.

As far as the pet topics go, I don't mind some of them. The Penn State thing really is fascinating on so many levels, as is CTE, but I can do without another fighting in hockey show, and pretty much all the racial stuff is just more heat than light. The White Sox attendance thing was without a doubt one of the worst segments I've heard them do in six years of listening, so bad that I practically want an apology.

I've said before that it could well be that we've all gotten Dan Bernsteined out over the last few years, especially Dan Bernstein himself. Five hours of show, five days a week, plus twitter, plus the blog, that's just...a ton of stuff.

_________________

Talk about the NFL. There's a great game taking place tonight, and several other good matchups this weekend. Talk about the Bears also.
Talk about baseball playoffs
Get an NBA guy in to talk about the upcoming season, which starts in a couple weeks.
If they want to talk about Butkus/Lewis, expand on it to talk about the differences of athletes seperated by 40-50 years and get someone on who actually knows what they are talking about in this regard.

You know... talk sports. Novel concept on a sports radio station, I know.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Talk more football! Stop talking football!

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Bingo. This may be imaginary radio but I don't remember Bernsy being the insufferable asshole he is now. Before, I would disagree with an opinion but appreciated his exploration of different viewpoints and angles. His desire to create interest in niche topics rather than reflect listener interest is frustrating. Also, the treatmenat of his thoughts as unassailable fact (NFL=Gladiators) and hyperbolic anger has gotten out of control.

B&B used to be fun. He's sucked out a lot of the fun.

He has sucked a lot of the joy out of it. His and Terry's inflated self-importance on somehow being crusaders against Sandusky and Lance, as if in any way they had anything to do with what happened, is particularly annoying. Terry several times this week has mentioned how long they've "fought" Lance Armstrong. Come on, man, you're a fucking sports radio host. I feel like they no longer reflect the news/sports conversation, they try and lead the conversation...often to where seemingly noone but themselves is interested in.

Next topic on the docket...Boy Scouts.

I might actually tune in for the first time in over a year if they talked about the following topics exclusively:

The NHL labor dispute because the players had some pretty rough things to say about the owners' latest offer (30 minute max is good given hockey is a non-starter for many).
The baseball playoffs. The Yankees apparent implosion and the end of the line for a good portion of their overpaid team. I hate the Cardinals, are they going to do it again?
Bears/Lions hatred. This is turning into a very good rivalry, and I am excited about the game. This should be the main focus. Ok to pan out to other NFL match-ups. Due to fantasy and/or gambling, I think folks like general NFL talk.

I know a lot of folks don't care much for out of town baseball or hockey at all. I love baseball and hockey. The MLB playoffs have been terrific. I am a big fan of pitching, and we've seen some good stuff, and then some terrible bullpen outings. The hockey stuff is interesting, like I said already, because Donald Fehr is a bad guy and Bettman is even worse. I don't know who to believe.

You can keep Armstrong, Sandusky, Illini, concussions, Brenly, etc, etc. I won't be listening, so talk away!

_________________
Hawaii (fuck) You

I don't think they can actually discuss the Cardinals. It immediately turns into ripping into the fan base, La Russa, dead players, etc.

_________________
-- source

Well, Tony LaRussa is in the class photo with Jerry Sandusky, the late Joe Paterno, the very alive Lance Armstrong & the very alive Tim Tebow among guys Terry & Dan B. can't stand.

They cant really discuss any sports without becoming classless and getting off-topic or into angles that are either inaccurate, or people dont give a shit about. It's one of the main reasons why Danny Mac is such a better sports radio driver. He doesnt try to be above it all.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Hello, friend.

Looks like they're picking up where they left off yesterday. Have they gotten that fucking lazy and bored with their own show? As a 13 year fan, I'm disappointed, nay, pissed!

_________________
"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." ~ H.L. Mencken

The above it all, smarter than thou, you fans are all idiots etc can be funny in smaller less hammer smashing doses. Back in the day it wasn't the entire meat of the show, B&B were actually a good listen, they were kind of smart in a listenable way with wacky hijinks serving as a change of pace from the sports manontany. Now it IS the show, every single day, every single segment with the slamming of callers serving as a "spiking of the football" to the whole charade.

The PSU/Lance/SABRmetrics (among others) serve as a shinning example of all of it wrapped up into a giant mallet that is smashed against those who dare to listen. The show is a condescending, sanctimonious and above all a supremely joyless exercise.

The show has lost that loving feeling.

I wish Mac got the afternoons.

Here's the Thursday Game Plan:

*3:30P: "The Second Half"
*4P-ish: The SCORE/WBBM Newsradio/Bears Radio Network's Zach Zaidman-"Jay Day" at Halas Hall
*4:30P: FOX Sports/NFL Network's Brian Billick-Working GB/STL w/Sam Rosen & Laura Okmin Sunday on FOX
*5P: "Who Ya Crappin'?"

Matt Rodewald has "Scoreboard Updates" this Thursday afternoon.

The Chicago Bears' Network presentation of "Bears All Access" follows the guys @ 6P. Dial Global Radio Network's "Thursday Night Football" follows @ 7P promptly with a very interesting game between the Seahawks & 49ers in San Francisco. Kevin Kugler, Trent Green & Laura Okmin have the descriptions from Candlestick Park, with Scott Graham "crackering" through the pregame & halftime from New York. Back in Chicago, "SCORE Overnight" (EP Version) with Les Grobstein & Adam Harris follows the game until 5A Friday.

Meanwhile, Bernsy ponders a different set of pinstripes for Alex Rodriguez in his latest column. He tells you why "Adding A-Rod Would Be So Kenny" here:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/10/18/ ... -so-kenny/

Damnit, why did KS have to disappear?

_________________
2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

I can't do the Lance Armstrong talk again today....

_________________

But you haven't. Hello friend.

_________________
Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

It was a big story yesterday. I'll give them until the top of the hour today to talk about OTHER things. They won't listen to you, let alone me, my friend.

Are they getting some kind of indication that it's okay to talk about topics no one cares about and makes people shut off the radio? Talk about Neil Armstrong, Dan has his NASA guy

Now, they're playing Lewis Black from Comedy Central's "Daily Show w/Jon Stewart" ranting about you know who...

Mitch doesn't care. What are people gonna do? listen to Harry?

_________________

One day ESPN1000 will start to care put up an acceptable show in the drive time afternoons.

One day.

Hating everything & everyone is the root of the problem with B&B.

_________________
CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan