Curious Hair wrote:
Heisenberg wrote:
That's what is now missing in MANY of these shows--the hosts just agree with each other the entire show.
pittmike wrote:
In the past, it would be very easy for the HFC to take both positions (each taking a side) even if they didn't believe one side. It would be good radio.
Boers and Bernstein used to pride themselves on subverting the trope of "one guy thinks this and the other thinks that" contrived radio debate. It's something they would openly acknowledge, that they weren't going to lie to you and force arguments where they didn't exist. That's good, and I respect that, but it falls apart when one person doesn't have anything to add, or when one person is Laurence Holmes and becomes consumed with flattering his partner and showing off how with-it he is and you aren't. Also, while it made sense that two hosts weren't never going to Embrace Debate and disagree on every conceivable topic, it was just as strange to agree that much, too.
I'm not advocating fake debates (sad!). When I'm with my friends, we have honest debates on sports. I was out east this week, and there were two radio guys debating whether Kapernick should be signed or not. They both made points, and it was interesting (I pulled into a parking garage and listened until a commercial break--when was the last time you did that for a Score show?). You would never hear that debate on B&G, they would both just side with Kapernick.
There could be honest debates on who should start Game 1 for the Bears at quarterback. Honest debate about Maddon's managing decisions this year. Honest debates about the Sox rebuilding efforts and how long fans have to wait to see some progress. The list goes on.
I just don't seem to hear that much, and I don't think it's just Twitter. Perhaps Twitter makes them stick to a position they tweet. I think the real problem is that most of the hosts there have become mini-Bernsteins. Geez, I sound like Beardown, or maybe Beerdown, but I don't mean to.
I think the reason that you don't have that on the Score these days is because they believe that those sort of discussions are beneath them. On some level they believe that they are too cool for school. To me if there was ever a Bernstein effect that's it. This sort of thinking began with him. At some point they began to view passionate sports fans as idiots. You would often hear hit during broadcasts. How dare you be this concerned about sports. It's just a game after all. Guys that were overly concerned about it were fools because in most cases they failed to "monetized" it. Boers and Bernstein were the biggest offenders in this regard. Serious radio was not synonymous with serious sports discussions. They used to ridicule guys Bayless because he seemed overly concerned about sports.
I don't think that you will ever get that on the Score because honestly they don't want it.