Listened in today - Haugh was there with Levine.

Usually the show starts w/ 'hosted by Bruce Levine and Matt Spiegal'. Today the show intro started with only 'hosted by Bruce Levine'. No mention of Spiegal on the opening.

So the only thing Speg's is good at is talking baseball and now he's been replaced by Haugh? That sucks.

Why wasn't Beardown on top of this?

He won’t be cohosting ITCH but will host hit and run once that resumes.

I enjoy his baseball acumen.

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It's not his show, but he will be on the show.

being on every day he will have plenty of time to talk baseball. Too much of him and he will get old really quick.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Huh?

We're gonna get him in the building and get his baseball information.

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He won’t be on Inside the Clubhouse, but will be hosting Hit and Run on Sundays.

No idea what you two are trying to say

They are variations of old Jauron quotes.

no he sucks when talking baseball with anyone else than Levine. Levine anchored him and made him disciplined to stay on topic. With everyone else he tries to make sure the listener know he is some kind of baseball expert and it comes off very douche.

Maybe the maturity he learned under Levine comes thru w Parkins or he regresses.

I noticed I can tolerate more of Speigel on Saturday mornings with Levine. He doesn't have to be "on" with Levine. With Parkins they're 2 non sports guys talking sports. I can live with it. But somewhere Score hosts have thought they need to be entertainers, and comedians. But, none are. Take Larry's. Bernstein's, Leila's incessant laughter. When have you ever laughed with them? Never? I think that's why I like Hub so much. He's personable, but not doing a bombing standup act like the the other hosts. Hosts can be themselves Saturday am baseball and provide basic sports news, talk, calls, and guests. They don't have to match wits with debating champions, or be obliged to touch on sjw issues to satisfy the lunatic fringe. Even Haugh is quite more tolerable than M & H Haugh not next to baffoon Mully blubbering.

Must be frustrating for guys like Stone that actually know baseball when guys like Spiegel who basically just memorize stats off the back of baseball cards purport themselves as "baseball experts".

It is much easier to pose as a baseball expert today because kids do not grow up playing baseball or even playing catch like many of us did in our hapless youths, they really know nothing about the game and just want to see homeruns and strikeouts which is pretty much what baseball has devolved into today.

Right...that's why Stone was the first call-in to the afternoon show to congratulate Spiegs and Parkins.

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Speigel knows baseball. Yes, he's sometimes dooshy about it. I don't care. There's one thing about Spiegel that's inarguable. He never mails it in.

Listen to ex players break down the game from experience that only a player can provide. Soaking up knowledge as their career progress picking the minds of baseball people they cross paths with, and just playing the game. Score in-house experts as mentioned just rattle off stuff they've read or borrowed from real experts. A guy like Hub though has devoted his adult life to football. Not, just chosen by management to brush up on the game cause you're our new football guy one day.The Score in-house baseball experts are like experts on walking around the block. Big deal.

And the horse that rode in on them!

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-- source

Dude, Hub is not going to blow you.

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My favorite baseball show is on XM 89 on Saturday mornings (9-noon in Chicago). CJ Nitkowski and Ryan Spilborghs, two former players, neither were very good players although Nitkowski was a high draft pick. Both played in Asia at the end of their careers and both are on team broadcasts (CJ is the Rangers' color guy and Ryan does Rockies pre/post). Both are in their 40s.

They have guests. They take callers. (But like all of XM89, they never take callers during a guest's segment.) They can be silly in one segment and straight-laced in the next. They talk about their families just enough. But equally as important, they have good producers who help them keep things moving and who are good at screening calls.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

great post vito. perfect analysis.

yes great stuff again clawmaster. you're saving these forums one handed. you should ask Dr.Ken for a stipend.

the 'new' baseball fan are those assholes who like to always quote WAR, FWAR, SWAR, and all those other analytics stats nobody fucking understands unless you have some kind of dictionary. baseball's gone to hell and it's their own fault.

I really enjoy the Dodgers pre/post game with Steve Sax and the generic co host they have. I don't tune in often, but when I do, Sax does a really good job telling you the insides of the game that only a ex player would know.

He mailed it in plenty when he was a primary host. He is much better since getting dropped, demoted....whatever you want to call it. I like him now quite a bit and I did not his first time around.

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He definitely did. Didn't we used to have a running count of days Speigal worked before taking a day off? He would regularly take a sick day after a Tributosaurus show because his voice wasn't right. He quit doing a Sunday morning show when he needed the money for some ambiguous reason.

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

Haugh was on w/ Levine again this weekend. Has he been announced now as the perm. co host?

Question for Real radio insiders like Vito/Chet : any chance the score can bring Murph back to host this show every Saturday for 2 hours? Or is Murph pretty much banned from ever working at the score again?

i listened today - heard kelly skull and former cub and all-star, ron coomer.

former cub and all-star coomer told us that he disagreed with joe maddon's peaceful and appeasing approach to eye-for-an-eye baseball. said that hitting an opposing superstar/star player in the ribs with a fastball is the best reply to cubs hitters getting beaned. ok. maybe he's right..maybe not. at least he gave us an opinion that someone like dan bernstein would object to.

what i didn't like was former cub and all-star ron coomer telling us that wilson contreras has been getting beaned "for no good reason". you mean the catcher that does an exaggerated bat-flip when he gets an unintentional or intentional walk??

c'mon, coom-dog. don't fall into the the kasper/hughes trap of bullshit.

Listened yesterday and was disappointed to hear that Spiegel favors banning shifts.

He also had a woman named Joan Niesen on, who was promoting her new podcast about the steroid era. Completely useless segment, rehashing things we have already been over a thousand times. A few lowlights (paraphrased):

"I think it started with the bash brothers in Oakland. It was all about the macho culture."
"I don't have kids, but if I did, I wouldn't want them looking to athletes as role models."
"I don't think doing steroids is as bad as being a racist like Curt Schilling."

Of course, Spiegel was more than willing to support her in her thoughts on toxic masculinity. He can be so good with baseball talk, it's a letdown when he strays into SJW mode.

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yeah, good stuff..heard that too.

spiegel told us that in the past 3 years - he didn't fall for a 1 game cubs offensive explosion, only to fall back to anemic hitting. speigel said he believed that the cubs' bats could be back due to hitting to the opposite field, as shown on saturday.

one game doesn't make him wrong - i'll give him a week before saying he was right or wrong about the cubs' bats. spiegel based his opinion off one game.

as i posted in the cubs thread - speigal without levine to check him and ground him is a total shit baseball analyst. he is more emotional than cerebral. At least when he was Levine , Levine forced him to use his head and think before saying something.

Speigs had to be on his toes with Levine - maybe just out of respect . With Parkins who knows shit about baseball Speigs can just say anything and Parkins will nod his yes in agreement.

i understand what you're saying, but, i don't believe that bruce levine is the be all, end all. certainly, he knows baseball, but, he chooses the safe route, each and every time. i prefer to listen to someone with an opinion. furthermore, one that is willing to justify/defend that opinion.

im not a huge levine fan either but that 'safe' approach is much more professional than speigs approach. I don't mind speigs offering his thoughts on the fly but then speigs shouldn't have an attitude like his baseball opinion is the only one that matters.