Just because I give you a sneak peek here, you should STILL go to www.scoreatl.com to download the issue or stop by QuickTrip, Kroger or Blockbuster and pick up this week's issue. It comes out tomorrow.
If you caught Pollack & Bell on 790 the Zone last week, you may have heard Norm Hitzges from Dallas calling in to discuss the Ron Washington situation as well as the Dallas Cowboys. As I listened to the interview, only one thought ran through my head: what is that accent? I couldn’t put my finger on where that dude was from. It wasn’t a Texas accent and his cadence was slightly off. Then another thought popped into my head: thank goodness that guy doesn’t host a show in Atlanta. I could not listen to him on a regular basis. What as up with that voice. I felt bad for the people of Dallas. He did not represent the people of Dallas very well. I wonder what other people think of our radio hosts. Actually, I would hope that only two local hosts ever do over the phone interviews: 790 The Zone’s Chris Dimino and 680 The Fan’s John Kincade. These two are the only two in Atlanta that I would feel comfortable representing our city on other cities’ radio shows. Both are knowledgeable enough to discuss a variety of sports topics and neither relies on a shtick or a past athletic achievement to garner sports credibility. Both simply know what they are talking about and can deliver it professionally. Honestly, those are the only two that should get any sort of play in other markets and The Zone and The Fan should be lucky that each has a go-to-guy to represent their stations and their city.
Could the NCAA men’s basketball Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight rounds be a littler more presidential this weekend? CBS Sports president Sean McManus said he would be open to putting President Obama into the broadcast booth in any way if the president was open to it. So far, Obama has not taken McManus up on his offer. Earlier this season Obama sat in on the network’s broadcast of the Georgetown/Duke game and was quite good. Obama also once again filled out a bracket and cut a segment for ESPN on his bracket. Obama’s picks: Kansas over Kentucky in the championship game. I gave Obama a bunch of flack last season for doing the SportsCenter segment and once again I think that maybe instead of filling out a bracket, perhaps the Commander-in-Chief could better spend the two hours perhaps trying to fix some problems he said he would tackle in the election process. I thought we were electing a president, not a First Fan of Basketball.
As long as we are talking about the NCAA tournament and CBS’s coverage of the “Big Dance,” have we determined whether a four-year-old with ADD or a chimp is at the main control center? Why in the world do we jump from situation to situation in MID-PLAY during crunch time of big games? Friday night I feel like I had whiplash as CBS jumped around to about three different games, and I believe we missed the crucial plays in all three. Yes, we got to see the end of all of the games (Cool! People dribbling out the clock!) but we missed the big layup and the game-winning shot one of the other ones. And on Sunday, we watch Xavier make a huge shot against Pittsburgh then Pittsburgh drive down and miss a shot, but .4 seconds is left. So CBS cuts to Texas A&M and Purdue with over one minute left. WHAT? HUH? I’m so confused. You couldn’t wait about, oh, I don’t know, .4 seconds before switching over?
Former Braves pitcher John Smoltz has gone on record and said that he isn’t retiring but he is moving to a new team: the media. The former Cy Young award winner will work this season for Peachtree TV, TBS and MLB network, calling games for all three networks. Smoltz will debut on MLB network, partnering Bob Costas to call Yankees/Red Sox game on April 6 then do a Braves game April 7. His PTV partners will include Ernie Johnson Jr., and Joe Simpson.
Speaking of Braves announcing, it is amateur hour for the Braves spring training games. After Buck & Kincade butchered their way through a few games for braves.com, Tony Schiavone and Leo Mazzone worked games last week. Leo actually offered some baseball insight when not trying to crack jokes about alcohol. Meanwhile Schiavone is the radio voice of the Gwinnett Braves, but even still all I could think of was during a call of Martin Prado’s home run was Schiavone screaming, “Prado rounding second and MY GOD! STING AND THE MACHO MAN ARE STOMPING PRADO in front on Hanley Ramirez. My GOD! Won’t anybody help him? WAIT! HERE COMES THE YETI! Won’t somebody please stop this? HERE COMES GOLDBERG, TO SAVE THE DAY!”
Mark Bradley of the AJC, who has been caught in an unfair war of words with Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt, wrote a very on-point column about the Jackets season following the team’s bouncing from the NCAA tournament by the hand of Ohio State. Bradley correctly assessed that this team fell short of its high ceiling that its coach referenced during the season. With the talent that Hewitt accumulated, it is a wonder that Hewitt told the AJC that it was a “major accomplishment” to cap a “great year,” when his team made the field of 65. Really? I must agree with Bradley when he simply spouted off the facts that the team lost 13 games with two potential lottery picks and another McDonald’s high school All-American on its roster. I must agree with Bradley that this team should not have been a ten-seed due to a losing record in conference play. I must agree with Bradley that this team was, on whole, a massive underachieving disappointment. Bradley was right to question the team’s success (out of the tournament before the end of the first weekend), and he was unfairly called out by the coach recently when the coach got on Twitter and blasted him. I wonder if the coach also was angry at the recent Sports Illustrated article that poked fun of Hewitt over the Twittering.
CAN YOU BELIVE HE JUST SAID THAT!?!?
Speaking of Norm Hitzges from Dallas’s The Ticket 1310 AM… At one point during his interview last Wednesday on Pollack & Bell, he said “Is Wade Phillips like your Uncle Charlie after he’s had four too many beers at the family reunion? Yes!” This statement was met with uncomfortable laughter from P&B and with an eye roll from me. Dude, we don’t know your sense of humor and I’m not certain that was even funny. Build a rapport first before you bust out the bad jokes. At least when radio hosts from the ATL make bad jokes on the air, we are used to it and their shtick. That is who they are. Drop the “this works for me in Dallas, so OF COURSE it will work for me in Atlanta!” routine. It flatlined. Sorry Bro.
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