I have to confess, I regularly tune in to transition in the hopes that I’ll listen to an entertaining show. My day takes me to and from a listening source so sometimes I can’t listen, and sometimes I simply cannot listen anymore. I also read this board as it passes for the closest thing to having a discussion about what is broadcast.
Wednesday was one of those days where I listened to transition and the discussion moved to Ray Lewis. I had to ask myself, for such an “enlightened show” why are the hosts devoting so much emphasis on Lewis? Could it be that despite the pretense and posturing, and attitude, that they are just another show like most others?
I get away from the radio and come back a short while later to listen to Dan read a Drew Magary piece, "The Hater's Guide to Ray Lewis"
http://deadspin.com/5980173/the-haters-guide-to-ray-lewis?tag=ray-lewis. Then they take a caller who wants to raise the question of the African American religious experience, and Dan challenging whether the caller had read the Sports Illustrated story. That was followed by a “Bob” caller from Blue Island who took on the previous caller. At that point, having heard both sides of a “discussion” that I didn’t care for, I made a point of getting away from a listening source. And then did some quick reading.
The Baltimore Sun had an article
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/baltimore-sports-blog/bal-ray-lewis-denies-using-banned-substance-during-rehab-from-injury-20130129,0,7725655.story debunking the whole Deer Antler spray concept. A good portion of Tuesday had been devoted to this, and now an expert said what many callers had try to state, the spray doesn’t work, all but can't work.
Drew Magary of Deadspin, started at
Kissing Suzy Kolber, a humor blog devoted to football. To his (and their) credit the site became popular enough for the principals to earn a few dollars and to be picked up by Uproxx media. When [i]Deadspin[/]’s creator Will Leitch moved on, Magary took a spot there. Magary is not a journalist but a writer with decent skills and a penchant to be humorous. He doesn't let facts get in the way, and neither did Dan by selectively omitting parts of Magary’s piece.
Sidenote: Obstruction of Justice is a wide-ranging charge but it is nearly the opposite of inferring someone is a snitch or a rat.
Finally, I decided to do what Dan questioned the A.A.R.E. caller and read the S.I.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/news/20130129/the-strange-lab-that-lured-numerous-athletes/index.html story. As Terry has said through the years, “listening is a skill.” And so is reading. Having read the story of how a couple of guys peddle magnets, stickers, and special water to athletes with the promise of enhanced performance. How they claim the cell phones of fans in stadiums create electro-magnetic radiation that robs athletes of performance. How one of the principals videotapes his phone discussions in the hopes of using them to market his products (an illegal act in Illinois and Maryland) to other potential customers (allegedly the Ray Lewis tape). There’s more to the story including a lawsuit by a player (David Vobora) against S.W.A.T. who tested positive for PED and how the company folded up shop to avoid paying damages and reopened again, and other stuff as well.
Perhaps it is easier to remember that Dan & Terry are putting on a “show.” And while it can be debated as to the extent of the amount of preparation put into the show, the desired outcome remains to get people to listen. So long as people choose to let Dan (and Terry) do the heavy lifting of thinking for them, people will find entertainment. Ol' Nigel West would be both amused and amazed.
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