Heck, I am anti-gambling but I don't mind some gambling talk. When they talk to Vegas guys they usually bring up some interesting stats and info. When hosts talk about what they're gambling on they might as well talk about their fantasy teams because that shit is boring.

That and I'd be more pro-gambling if anyone gave me any winners at Arlington.

also gambling is far more interesting than sabermetrics

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

Gambling talk is merely people talking about which teams will win and lose but with more conviction. The proverbial putting your money where your mouth is.

And Arlington, sigh, been a money sink for several years running.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

That's weird. At Arlington, it seemed like you had a problem.

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That's true. I'd rather hear what a gambling/stats expert thinks than hear some dumb pick 'em game with the semi-functional alcoholics on NFL Live.

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Never got into gambling except horses but that's because I love horse racing. I only have a 10-15 commute to work so I guess thats why it doesn't bother me so much so far.

Like it's been said, still better than NBA talk.

I drove past Pop’s on Sunday. The sign says it is reopening this March....

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Hawaii (fuck) You

I did very well on NFL gambling this year so I don't mind the chatter at all. In fact I dig it

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Ok

I wish they’d talk about Poweball numbers. Would be more interesting to me.

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

As someone else said, it is probably just a function of timing. Billions of dollars are wagered on the NCAA men's basketball tournament. I suspect this show will also talk a fair amount of fantasy/gambling during football season. I'm fine with both, but if they start talking about the -250 bet on the Cubs on June 18th, I'll quickly lose interest.

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How many millions of people have brackets, office pools, etc? It's completely relevant to discuss gambling at tourney time. This is like the Super Bowl, but for three weeks!

Bad thread.

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Hence my second post, and the $5 a race I put up.

I dunno, the only conviction Mac and Parkins seem to have about gambling is they aren't interested in the games otherwise.

Last year's NBA Finals Game 5 (clincher for GSW) had 18.6 rating in Chicago.

http://www.nba.com/article/2017/06/13/g ... als-game-5

It may not interest "YOU" but people in Chicago care about national sports events that don't involved a local team. Or at least, basketball fans do because Chicago didn't register much in last year's Stanley Cup ratings as they were lower than 4.3 (Knoxville): https://twitter.com/NBCSportsPR/status/ ... 0066344960

I'm personally indifferent to the gambling talk. It's a common interest that Parkins and Mac can both default to. Give it a few weeks and they'll have a better idea of what subjects form a more natural conversation besides gambling. That said, they'll still talk a shitload of gambling because they're both, well, degenerate gamblers.

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Yes. People care about national events.

The majority of people in Chicago (at least ones who listen to AM radio) don't care about day to day games for out of town teams, no matter what sport. Unless there was something special that haooened.

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At least you're willing to add the (at least ones who listen to AM radio) disclaimer that so many others at this site don't. You may be right but "national NBA" being what sunk B&G is a really stupid talking point that gets brought up here mostly because those talking about it don't like the NBA. Again, that's fine but I think there were WAY bigger issues plaguing the show than them talking about the NBA.

I cited NBA Finals ratings and while I don't have specifics for Chicago proper, non-"event" NBA games are doing better than ever and I'd assume Chicago is in line with the rest of the country as far as that particularly in a town with such a storied and cherished NBA team:



http://adage.com/article/media/nba-ratings/311486/

Would "I" do a show on the Sport that talks a lot of national NBA? Probably not. I also wouldn't do one that spends the show talking about my individual bets or hockey either.

2 million viewers nationally...yup ogie is right! no one cares about out of town NBA games.

the Bears, Bulls, Hawks, and local college basketball were all complete shit shows all winter. That must have had some impact on sports radio ratings.

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

Somebody get those numbers to The Score. It's not too late to get Bernstein and Goff back on the radio!

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Better let advertisers know! They keep sinking money into this failing roundball league venture.

What were the issues that sunk the show, in your view, and where would you rank national NBA/LeBron talk among them?

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woah bro, no one said it's failing. don't be sensitive. a lot of people don't care about nba. you do. that's fine! enjoy it!

I would rank talking about the NBA and LeBron far below:

*A lack of fun
*Guest-heavy shows where neither of the hosts personality was ever able to shine
*Race/heavily-political talk (with both hosts on the opposite side than a lot of the station's historical listeners)
*Entire weeks devoted to hot-button issue of the time (PSU, MSU, etc.)
*Apprehension to calls/combative response to calls
*Lack of chemistry between the two, seemed to be on different planes most days
*Big shoes to fill with Terry

There are probably some others as well but on this site it seems like Jason talks about NBA for a segment was what made everyone run for the hills when I do believe all of above played a MUCH bigger role.

Again, i'm not saying that they didn't talk NBA more than I probably would for a Chicago sports radio show but it is what it is. That was what Jason and Dan were passionate about, all I want from my radio hosts are to talk about what they are passionate about. If Parkins and McNeil want to talk gambling because that's their passion, go for it. It was everything in-between that I thought was really dry, bland and uneasy. The show just wasn't any fucking fun ever. It was a chore to listen to and frankly I don't think Goff is a very good host or radio personality, regardless of what he's talking about.

I would agree with a lot of what you said, but not all of it. (I did hear some of it, but what I did hear, I didn't hear any of that.) I would say lack of fun and culture-war talk (these arguably go hand-in-hand) were the biggest issues, and Terry's absence loomed larger than any of us could have predicted, but I do think you're selling the out-of-town NBA talk short. I'm guessing you're a big NBA guy, which is fine, but when they'd go into detail about the back end of a TNT doubleheader, or just write another love letter to LeBron James, who exactly was that for, really? Between that and the fixation on Twitter, I almost started wondering whether they were trying to cultivate a not-necessarily-Chicago audience and backdoor their way into being a national NBA/online-culture-war podcast that also happened to be a drive-time radio show in Chicago.

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I suppose since I didn't mind the NBA talk I may not have noticed it being overdone. Likewise if I listened to a show that talked a ton of hockey I may over-inflate how much they talked about it in the same way others are doing here. That's a definite possibility. And as I said I don't really disagree with some of the criticisms here I just think it's pretty far down the list of what made that show a failure.

Sports gambling radio is bad radio and this is coming from someone whose father was a bookmaker and has spent decades around it. It's right up there with "Which WR should I play" radio.

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"I give you my word as a Biden"

This has been a pet peeve of mine and couldn't agree more with the OP.

These guys are so good together. It'd be a sports talk tragedy if they fill up their show with gambling-centric takes.

When they spent the first stretch of Monday's show talking point spreads, it got me worried. And it has nothing to do with the tournament. Both have admitted to a perhaps unhealthy obsession with gambling.

It's mostly completely uninteresting and it will lessen how much I listen to the show (that I'd otherwise really like to listen to!).

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Why don't I own this?