My 20-year score to settle with previous management teams on "don't talk hockey" got the best of me Friday. I don't apologize for it. I spoke for a small but passionate percentage of dyed-in-the-wool Blackhawks fans who don't give a shit about the Bulls/NBA. At least I was being genuine, unlike so many who choose to feign enthusiasm instead of going against the grain. You'd be amazed how many guys on the air (both TV and radio) and in print absolutely HATE most of what they cover, but project themselves as big fans. Pussies. Anyway...guilty as charged on the assholio behavior Friday.

Other musings:

* Matt Abbatacola is not who I was referring to when I made an off-the-cuff crack about people agreeing with Bernstein. Matty is one of the few who says what's on his mind with Bernsy or anybody else.

My comment didn't really represent what I was thinking anyway. What I've been noticing lately is disproportionate levels to which Bernstein's approach has influenced the air staff. "Smart." Authoritative. Intolerant. It's other hosts... even update people who clearly are trying to gain Bernsy's approval. I don't blame Dan... I only can shake my head at those who won't be themselves and emulate somebody else's style instead.

* I kind of agree with posts in other threads about the Score being stale.... that we're benefiting from ESPN being such a non-factor. I'm spending a lot more time with music than I did last fall. We are the thinking fan's station, though. Very smart. Who needs the old fraternity-house feel of the early to late '90s when we can say the important things and serve as pillars of morality for all to behold?

* Really looking forward to holiday and skipping crappy baseball four weeks of the the next six weeks. At this point in my life, it's as important to me to negotiate for vacation as it is $$$$. I'm getting old to do the stuff I like to do (golf, musky fishing, etc) so I'm going to do it now before it's too painful. Lots of stuff to do with Sheri, my sons and my buddies this summer.

* I couldn't care less about what's said about me when I'm gone so don't keep score on my behalf. If I can help the fellas move the meters by being the punch line...I'm happy to help. And by the way.... stuff Goff said when I was getting my shit together last spring has nothing to do with Finfer getting the fill-in assignment on a full-time basis. Jason wasn't available for me much. That, coupled with Ben's continued growth, made it a two-foot putt.

* I've got a little less than a year on my deal. I'm going to enjoy myself this last year and let the chips fall where they may. Not "playing it safe" for another contract. If I have an issue with a co-worker, you will know about it. There is nothing for which "I don't have the stomach." Quite to the contrary. Might not be rushing right into my next deal anyway, be it at the Score or elsewhere. There are a couple other projects (not radio) that intrigue me enormously. Don't pay as well....but I won't be a slave to the money. I want to spend my last 25 years being true to myself and those I love.

Good shit Mac.

You agreed that you were being petulant and sophomoric on the air. Even as a big NBA/Bulls guy, I found it amusing.

Please get rid of the Candyman though.

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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

Bernstein is a total fucking asshole. Someone should shut him up.

That's my 2 cents - lol!

Enjoy life Mac!!

Hockey talk over the nba any day and every day!!! Don't lose too much sleep over Bolland and Frolik. Enjoy the vacation and hopefully you have a new co-host upon your return!!!

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

Thanks Mac. Talk more Hockey! And thanks for confirming what I have been saying for a couple of years now...that the Score is STALE.
As a long time Hockey guy & a Bulls bandwagon fan, I hope that the Hawks can once again enjoy the status that they had in the 1960's & early '70's when they were the biggest game in town. Obviously they will never be bigger than the Bears, but the Hawks took a huge step this year.

Make sure that you say goodbye to Spiegel before you leave...in case his deal runs out & he isn't renewed...not that you would go on vacation & miss that or anything...

Please choose a better co-host next time.

Lastly, your not the asshole...Berns is.

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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

Fucking awesome.

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Don't take it personally.

It's Laurence Holmes that you're talking about. I won't make you say it. Update people? I mostly hear the afternoon updates and that's a variety of people. Zach doesn't look for Bernstein's approval. I'll say that for him. Zach hates B&B. McNight? Yeah. He's wants Bernstein to love him. Hell, some have said Bernstein got Connor the job.

I also figured you wouldn't blame Bernstein for this. He doesn't ask for it. These lessor guys look at him, see his success, realize what he makes and want to have the fun of doing "Fuck You" radio. They think it's easy. They figure they'll copy Bernstein and eventually make 500k being an ass hole on the radio for 5 hours a day. But you have to have some intelligence to pull off what Bernstein does. Most of the guys that try to be Bernstein are idiots. Drinky is one of those guys even though you don't think so. Or at least you won't say.

Love the candor, Mac. The closer you get to retirement, the more fun you get. Makes sense. Mitch will give 4 more years after this contract. Don't worry. You've got Mitch in your back pocket and you know it.

Say what you will, Mac. Everybody knows the deal, nobody's willing to do anything about it. Might as well say fuck it and throw caution to the wind.

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Everyone knows you were referring to that bitch Larry. The score sucks now because of Mitch, it just sucks a bit less than ESPN. I haven't listened much in the last year.

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The entire station is something I listen to out of habit, not because of entertainment value. Your show included.

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This.

Like others have stated, listening to The Score was a must for a long time for me.

That is no longer the case.

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Raging a-hole has limited appeal and a limited shelf life. DB has transformed himself into this persona but it doesn't work for other, newer personalities as there is little-to-no frame of reference to nostalgically cling to. Good that you can see it for what it is, too bad current management is comfortable with it.



There are two ironies in play here: Who's to say that new audience measuring abilities and market research meant ESPN management couldn't see who made a show appealing and who didn't. More to the point, why pay someone like you to compete with WSCR when they could cut their expenses and comfortably be #2 in a two station market. True, when you were there you beat WSCR head-to-head but what's to say that they didn't believe in banking the money on your salary, and still pull in the ad sales while being the alternative? A lot of people liked you at ESPN but didn't follow you to WSCR.

The other irony is your "PTFB" post from a few years ago was the definitive stance in support of frat-house radio. I think you can be both Frat house and embrace a thinking man's approach to sports. The challenge is when you want to get up on those pillars of morality. I think for some they forget the past (their own) too quickly when feeling compelled to wax on about morality. For others, the arbitrary stances on morality vacillate too wide, too wildly, and all too frequently to be little more than morality for the sake of convenience. That becomes bullshit radio that in time drives away listeners.

Enjoy your time off as I would wager a lot of listeners knowing that you will be away and with the moribund state of Chicago baseball will probably take a similar hiatus until late July. I wouldn't be surprised if a few listeners take to heart your colleague's stance on how to enjoy sports and being a fan and whatever else, and start applying it to what they want in listening to a show. When its no longer the "toy department" and the hosts don't have fun doing what they do, then the intelligent listener should move on to something else.

One final thought: The Chicago market could support and deserves a third choice in the sports radio spectrum. The status quo of two stations means neither station looks to compete as too many are content with the way pie is divided. Both stations have become stale both on the air and in the management offices and cubicles. While I doubt HD radio will ever become anything of substance, the ability to stream from other cities means a slow erosion of core listeners who want change and will accept a substitute.

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DRINK BƎTTƎR. @theRIPH

Nice NCM. Interesting read as I only listen consistently between 9-1, but only for the sport. Ptfb but quick on the drama...or show pot. Good luck Mac wherever the wind blows.

Good stuff as always Mac. Not sure if this is something you always had or maybe years ago Dahl rubbed off on you some? Anyway, I appreciate your coming here or on the air and letting us know what you think about radio, the score, life and other stuff. Just keep being you. Others should do it more.

I would be interested to hear what Terry has to really say about stuff once in a while.

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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

Dats Ezactly right!

FYI, for those whpo are not familar with the word "PERSONALITY" this is what Mac is. Like it or Not.

It Isn't the Connor McJoeHolmes show with pauses for deep thoughts on sports. ITS SPORTS, I dont care for your deep thoughts and if you need to stop talking in order to work through your next ground breaking statement, then KEEP IT!

I heard Shep on with conor and Rozner, during Hit n Run it was worse than a bad call to the Score. This is now passing as radio?

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

I love how all you douchebags think Mac is talking to you personally.

Mackeyfish, your act is stale. You are too lazy to be a rebel anymore. Management knows that you are lazy and that you have nowhere else to go anyway. Buckle up for another "recession" contract with Fatpants.

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"Who needs the old fraternity-house feel of the early to late '90s when we can say the important things and serve as pillars of morality for all to behold?"

No shit.

Mac's said it himself: "Sports talk is dog food".

And Bernsie tries to intellectually levitate himself above the fray.

Gloopan.....Mac's act is stale? Isn't your whole act telling Mac his act is stale?

That's the cognitive dissonance of bernstein at work. He'll often admit that sports are meaningless. If so, why try to intellectualize them so much? The answer is probably just that doing sports radio is easier and more fun than being a doctor or a lawyer or a nuclear physicist, but when you're a boy who grew up in a culture that expected- perhaps demanded- so much more of you, you feel you have something to prove. Stopping Steve Alford is like curing cancer!

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Don't take it personally.

Great stuff as always Mac. Enjoy your time at cottage.

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I don't mean to sound bitter, cold, or cruel, but I am, so that's how it comes out. - Bill Hicks

Let's do it for Johnny!

One day you have to enlighten us all as to what Mac did to you?

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

I believe JORR can enlighten you on that request Michael.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Mac, I do not enjoy the same tastes as you do, whether it be music or sports, but I do enjoy your occasional candor.

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Uh, eh, uh, look, again, no.

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Don't take it personally.

Let's not go overboard on the Bernstien stuff. I have always said that there is a place for his show at the station. However, it is not as the headliner giving the station its character.

I have a fuzzy rememberance from philosphy class that seems appropriate as an analogy for the Score:

thesis ->antithesis -> synthesis

North ->Bernstien -> ?

Who will be the next embodiment of the station's character? Unfortunately, if the analogy holds true, we will get some bland Connor Mc Night type as the next Score star. Consider that for a moment.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Mac, time to do some yoga. Chill out. Speaking the truth should not cause this much angst.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

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I agree to an extent. Bernstein is smart, by sports talk radio standards. But I have always held the belief that true intelligence is humble. It is unsure. It's actually the irony of the world we live in. The truly intelligent understand that we will always live in a world of gray. Anyone who lives in a world of black and white, to me, probably isn't as intelligent as they portray. Being "sure" of something, or most things, is the sign of someone who doesn't think deeply enough.

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I see what you are saying in Bernstein's case, but question the broader validity of your statement. I would simply point out that there is a certain fetishization of complexity at work in many universities. What you are essentially describing is the ideological ambivalence of Cold War Liberalism (which remains the reigning orthodoxy in most universities today), which privileges "complex" analysis over epistemological certainty. I have long found this paradigm to be a ideological lever used to justify political quietism. Certainly we can see this is true from a historical perspective by tracing the evoloution of cold war intellectuals and their fealty to state power.

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Certainly.