Connor McDoink to WLS

spmack · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 12:40 pm

Beardown wrote:

I would agree with you most of the time. But it's the White Sox. A lot of cow towns have more fans. The Cardinals absolutely do.

Ok, maybe.

Curious Hair · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 12:42 pm

Beardown wrote:

Spepkowski

I'm getting more amusement out of this than I should be.

spmack wrote:

To go from doing radio in the 3rd largest market to St. Louis is a downgrade, in my opinion. You don't go from Chicago to St. Louis. You go from Chicago to NYC/LA or nationwide, just ask his ex Ginger Zee.

Normally, yes, but with the extreme specialization of baseball broadcasting, that doesn't always hold true. I wouldn't even be surprised if he wound up in Memphis or Springfield MO for the chance to do play-by-play full-time.

spmack · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 12:46 pm

Curious Hair wrote:

Beardown wrote:

Spepkowski

I'm getting more amusement out of this than I should be.

spmack wrote:

To go from doing radio in the 3rd largest market to St. Louis is a downgrade, in my opinion. You don't go from Chicago to St. Louis. You go from Chicago to NYC/LA or nationwide, just ask his ex Ginger Zee.

Normally, yes, but with the extreme specialization of baseball broadcasting, that doesn't always hold true. I wouldn't even be surprised if he wound up in Memphis or Springfield MO for the chance to do play-by-play full-time.

Well they haven't announced a replacement for Hawk Harrelson's PBP for games at The Cell, right? Maybe he's holding out hope for that.

Beardown · **Joined:** Thu Mar 02, 2006 4:29 pm **Posts:** 33998

They'll probably announce Hawk's replacement at Sox fest. It better not be an ex player. It should be an actual broadcaster doing the play by play.

I wonder if Ranger applied to get this gig.

Curious Hair · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 12:57 pm

Beardown wrote:

They'll probably announce Hawk's replacement at Sox fest. It better not be an ex player. It should be an actual broadcaster doing the play by play.

Unlikely. Weird Jerry is obsessed with making ex-jocks call play-by-play. It's one of his little fetishes. Even with the Bulls, he had that useless stiff Tom Dore for all those years.

America · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 1:06 pm

Well at least people gain employment when the White Sox move to a radio station.

Tall Midget · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 2:14 pm

Curious Hair wrote:

I don't understand the line of thinking that goes "well, I want a smug yuppie to sigh at everyone after Sox games and talk about how he'd rather be somewhere else, but I don't want it to be Chris Rongey."

spmack · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 2:21 pm

"Screw you Tall Midget and Beardown!" Matt Abbatacola

Tall Midget · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 2:22 pm

Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:

I'm not sure he's a Cub fan. He just isn't a Sox fan.

The whole nature of the show is different with a real fan, e.g. Dave Wills. Rongey couldn't commiserate. He was a dispassionate observer. I don't want logic when Alexei Ramirez runs us out of a rally in the ninth. I'm sure Rongey is more emotional about the Cubs destroying his beloved Cardinals.

Rongey was certainly "calm" in his analysis of the Sox, but he was rarely logical on important baseball matters. As one poster here described him many years ago, he was Reinsdorf's "cabana boy," a White Sox apologist who sought to dismantle criticism of the team by skewering rightlfully enraged callers to his show.

Rod · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 2:32 pm

Tall Midget wrote:

Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:

I'm not sure he's a Cub fan. He just isn't a Sox fan.

The whole nature of the show is different with a real fan, e.g. Dave Wills. Rongey couldn't commiserate. He was a dispassionate observer. I don't want logic when Alexei Ramirez runs us out of a rally in the ninth. I'm sure Rongey is more emotional about the Cubs destroying his beloved Cardinals.

Rongey was certainly "calm" in his analysis of the Sox, but he was rarely logical on important baseball matters. As one poster here described him many years ago, he was Reinsdorf's "cabana boy," a White Sox apologist who sought to dismantle criticism of the team by skewering rightlfully enraged callers to his show.

Well, he was often a dumbass, but what I meant by logical was that the last thing most fans want after a tough loss is some guy giving them a measured response to a passionate and emotional reaction to said loss. I think most fans prefer the Doug/O'B approach after a game to Zaidman. And Rongey often attacked the callers who were simply acting like fans often do after a tough loss. Doug and O'B got crazy after Bears losses too. Often crazier than the craziest callers. bernstein & Co. wouldn't have dared to call them morons.

Curious Hair · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 2:35 pm

Yeah, Rongey was always a bad fit for the Sox. Consider that even the in-game announcers for the Sox famously get all angry and pouty about stuff. Why would they insist upon a pre/post radio guy who abhors that?

bigfan · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 3:22 pm

Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:

Isn't there a single fucking Sox fan in broadcasting who could be hired for that job?

Couldn't find more of a Southport "Bro" N side flannel guy than mcdoink.

Further proof the Sox don't have a clue as to their own fan base. Directed at Brooks Cubbie Boyer.

312player · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 3:31 pm

He's better than Rongey, I guarantee that.

Tall Midget · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 3:35 pm

Curious Hair wrote:

Yeah, Rongey was always a bad fit for the Sox. Consider that even the in-game announcers for the Sox famously get all angry and pouty about stuff. Why would they insist upon a pre/post radio guy who abhors that?

Is there a team for which Rongey would be a "good fit," especially without significantly altering his on-air persona?

Tall Midget · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 3:36 pm

bigfan wrote:

Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:

Isn't there a single fucking Sox fan in broadcasting who could be hired for that job?

Couldn't find more of a Southport "Bro" N side flannel guy than mcdoink.

Further proof the Sox don't have a clue as to their own fan base. Directed at Brooks Cubbie Boyer.

I think the Sox know who their fans are. They simply aren't interested in pleasing them.

denisdman · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 3:38 pm

Rongey's White Sox columns in the DH were the biggest collection of apologist crap this side of Len Kasper. I will say his post game shows were funny after a tough loss.

Rod · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 5:11 pm

spmack wrote:

To go from doing radio in the 3rd largest market to St. Louis is a downgrade, in my opinion.

It's not really a smaller market. The power of the KMOX signal combined with the fact that for many, many years the Cardinals were the southernmost and westernmost team has created a giant market of Cardinal fans that even to this day goes far beyond the St. Louis metro area.

America · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 5:18 pm

Isn't this the guy who got punched in the face by a vagrant for mouthing off?

Curious Hair · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 5:50 pm

America wrote:

Isn't this the guy who got punched in the face by a vagrant for mouthing off?

Sure is!

Chet Coppock's Fur Coat · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 8:49 pm

I really don't get this move by WLS. The only things I can think of are:

1) They think McDoink will fit in better across properties (e.g. on with Dahl, on the FM station, etc.)
2) McDoink was so desperate to get away from WGN that he was willing to take even shittier money than
3) Rongey is biding his time to go back to St. Louis

Even though I am Cub fan, I like the White Sox. They need to find a way to bring Dave Wills home to do PBP, he's excellent in Tampa broadcasting to mostly folks listening on XM/MLB.com. He'd have a bigger radio crowd just from the 11th Ward than he gets in Tampa.

McDoink is just a horrible fit, the type of numbskull who is not going to understand that Roger from Oak Lawn is angry about Alex Avila not being able to drive a guy in from 3rd with no out because he just lost a hundred bucks because of it, and does NOT want to hear about BABIP and WAR.

Curious Hair · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 9:03 pm

Chet Coppock's Fur Coat wrote:

1) They think McDoink will fit in better across properties (e.g. on with Dahl, on the FM station, etc.)

Come to think of it, McDoink would fit in great at KQX, tossing off trite voice-tracked one-liners between Foster the People and MGMT.

denisdman · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 9:04 pm

Your love for McDoink knows no bounds.

Beardown · **Joined:** Thu Mar 02, 2006 4:29 pm **Posts:** 33998

I'm sure it's not big money. But it's probably a little bit more than what WGN was paying. I still don't know what he was doing there other than catching him on a weekend show every now and then.

Curious Hair · **Posted:** Mon Jan 11, 2016 9:15 pm

denisdman wrote:

Your love for McDoink knows no bounds.

It was more a shot at Cumulus running that station on the cheap. It could be more than what it is but the ratings bear out that people are fine enough with a jukebox.

bigfan · **Posted:** Tue Jan 12, 2016 1:17 am

Tall Midget wrote:

bigfan wrote:

Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:

Isn't there a single fucking Sox fan in broadcasting who could be hired for that job?

Couldn't find more of a Southport "Bro" N side flannel guy than mcdoink.

Further proof the Sox don't have a clue as to their own fan base. Directed at Brooks Cubbie Boyer.

I think the Sox know who their fans are. They simply aren't interested in pleasing them.

Intriguing plan!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Springtime for Hitler"

good dolphin · **Joined:** Thu Feb 17, 2005 2:35 pm **Posts:** 82220

I will be interested to see his posture regarding this job and his listeners. If he enters with the opinion that Sox baseball just got smarter because of his hire, he will be dead in the water. It might be fun but it won't be good. Seeing that he was a direct hire of Bernstein, it is what I am expecting. I'm expecting him to act from day 1 like a missionary to the ignorant savages, spreading the good word of advanced metrics.

Rongey wasn't like that in the beginning. In the end he was pretty openly hostile to his listeners. He would ring a bell whenever a caller mispronounced a name (as if no one does that at the Score). He would accept the "I can't believe you have to sit through that" statements from B and B when he did fill in work. Well, you no longer have to be burdened with that task.

Curious Hair · **Posted:** Tue Jan 12, 2016 9:18 am

The only one I remember was the Vaskwezz bell, which I admit was pretty funny.

denisdman · **Posted:** Tue Jan 12, 2016 9:20 am

The DH had a blurb on this in today's paper. I forgot Doinker worked with Rozner on hit n run or that he was at the Game. I kind of wondered how he ended up at WGN, and I guess that is from the Game.

I honestly never followed the happenings of McKnight, so his history easily escaped me. Out of sight, out of mind.

good dolphin · **Joined:** Thu Feb 17, 2005 2:35 pm **Posts:** 82220

Curious Hair wrote:

The only one I remember was the Vaskwezz bell, which I admit was pretty funny.

Quintana

Godfella · **Posted:** Tue Jan 12, 2016 10:12 am

denisdman wrote:

The DH had a blurb on this in today's paper. I forgot Doinker worked with Rozner on hit n run or that he was at the Game. I kind of wondered how he ended up at WGN, and I guess that is from the Game.

I honestly never followed the happenings of McKnight, so his history easily escaped me. Out of sight, out of mind.

I don't know much about him either. Serious question...Was Connor a winner in a Score search open call for hosts?

Connor McDoink to WLS

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