SWINE FLU: DAY 4

THE SPORTS PIG

Slow and steady is the way back. Turns out we’re not going to be adding another writer to the blog after all. I would like to thank Adam Lundquist for jogging some old memories from my days at SportsFan Radio Network. Here are  my Top Five  favorite moments  from the golden age of nationally syndicated Vegas Sports Radio:

5. Breaking the story about the Ken Griffey Jr. to the Reds trade. I know it’s kind of hard to believe now, but back in 2000 the internet was not that big a thing for sports coverage. That’s why writer Bob Nightingale had no problem coming on our radio show to announce the details of the Ken Griffey Jr. from the Seattle Mariners to the the Cincinnati Reds trade. Nightingale still viewed himself as a writer  for a weekly tabloid-style baseball magazine. Naturally, all hell broke loose at our Seattle affiliate KJR. They had actually reported that the Mariners demand for infielder Pokey Reese was a “deal killer.” In reality, the Reds simply switched infielder Antonio Perez for Reese (along with Mike Cameron and Brett Tomko.) I got a phone call from a frantic KJR host, Seth Everett. Everett would later work for mlb.com radio and ESPN 1050 in New York. He demanded to know who our sources were on the Griffey story. I calmly pointed out how he should less concerned about how WE GOT the story than the fact that his guys DIDN’T get the story. What a putz. An indignant Everett pointed out that the Mariners GM had personally given him his word that the trade hadn’t happened. The rest, as they say, is history.

4. Chris Webber angrily screaming “MF’er” at me in a taped interview in the tiny locker rooms at the Thomas snd Mack Arena. Webber’s Washington  Wizzards had just played the Los Angeles Lakers in a preseason exhibition game. I wanted to get Webber’s personal reaction to a bill that had been introduced by a Michigan legislator seeking back taxes on bribe and corruption money taken by University of Michigan athletes. Needless to say, Webber had a reaction.

3. Swingin’ (a miss) Sammy Sosa. You know Sammy Sosa wasn’t always a baseball pariah. I once received an e-mail from a guy who claimed to work for the Boston Red Sox. He said the Sox had recently had “internal discussions” about acquiring Sosa. Keep in mind, at the time of this story Sosa had but up consecutive seasons of 66,63, 50 and 64 homers. We checked a club directory and confirmed there was a guy of the same name working for the Red Sox. We then called him at his office and the guy confirmed our story. We led our Friday night show with the news that Boston had at least had discussions about acquiring Sosa.

What was amazing was the reaction by Boston fans on WEEI. Right out of the gate we got a call saying the Sawx didn’t need any more of “THOSE PEOPLE.” After all, they already had Pedro Martinez. Unbeleivable. The racist diatribes continued unabated through the first two hours of the show. I always told Red Sox fans that they would win the World Series the year their payroll topped $100 million, just like their Yankee counterparts. For the record, in 2004 the Bosox finally passed that payroll mark AND won the World Series.

2. My prediction that Jim Druckenmiller would never win a game as a starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. My network had access to every statistic on the face of the earth. I made the point that Druckenmiller had never had more than 10 touchdowns in any season high school or college. After drafting Druckenmiller, Bill Walsh said he liked the kid’s “intangibles” like toughness and leadership ability. He liked to point out all the quarterback weightlfting and bench press records. Unfortunately, throwing a football in the NFL is actually a TANGIBLE NFL sil that Druckenmiller simply did not possess.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that Bill Walsh had just personally hosted an NFL Draft show on our San Francisco affiliate, KNBR. He had spent the entire evening hyping up Druckenmiller. That is until I came on the air with our national show and blasted his selection.

1. Eugene Robinson hookergate. In 1998, the Super Bowl was in Miami. As a matter of sheer coincidence, our SportsFan Radio correspondent was employed as an attorney in Miami’s Dade County. He was actually standing at the desk when the charges were filed against Eugene Robinson. We were miles ahead of all the national networks on this story. The Robinson arrest still stands out as one of the most embarrassing in the history of sports. The safety had just been awarded the Bart Starr Award from the Christian group Athletes in Action for his “high moral character.” Mr. High Moral Character then got up and thanked the crowd. He proceeded to throw the trophy in the back seat of his car and IMMEDIATELY went trolling for prostitutes. Robinson offered one of the working girls $40 for a bj. Unfortunately the woman was really working as an undercover police officer. Robinson’s arrest was a huge distraction for the Falcons as Denver reciever Rod Smith instantly burned him on an 80-yard touchdown catch.

In one of the most reprehensible phone calls I’ve ever taken in my career, KJR talk show host Dave “Softy” Mahler called my show DEMANDING that I recant my charge that Robinson was a “hypocrite.” (something about his work with orphans.) Mahler per usual was near tears. This is the guy who once cried on the air when the Mariners signed Adrian Beltre. Softy is literally the worst talk show host in America.

HALL OF FAME BONUS STORY

Some-folks-just-need-stabbin’. During the heyday of controversial receiver Michael Irvin’s run with the Cowboys we got a tip from the ULTIMATE Cowboys insider. Former team executive Gil Brandt tipped us that Irvin had actually stabbed offensive lineman Everett McIver in the neck with a pair shears during “team haircut day.” This was in the heyday of some of the wildest charges against Irvin. Some of the allegations were true (yes, he really was snorting coke of a stripper’s breast when police in Dallas burst through the hotel door.) Some of the charges against Irvin also turned out to be UNtrue (specifically rape allegations.)

This was my first night ever on the air in Dallas. We were on a huge affiliate with a breaking scandalous story involving the Cowboys. Needless to say, the phones lit up. I was becoming inceasingly frustrated so I finally stopped one of the callers and said, “Sir…He stabbed one of his own teammates…in the neck.”

The caller paused for like half a beat then uttered what, to this day, is still my favorite all-time favorite caller line in sports talk radio history. “Well,” the man pointed out, “Some folks just need stabbin’!”

Under the genius of Phil Hall’s programming, SportsFan Radio Network and its affiliated CBS Sportsline Radio assembled one of the largest and deepest collections of talent in the history of sports talk radio. J.T. The Brick, Sid Rosenberg, Craig Carton, Pete Rose, Scott Ferrell, The Fabulous Sports Babe, Steve Cofield, Soren Petro, Scott Kaplan, C.J. Silas, Chuck Powell, and Dave Cokin all worked at SportsFan. The network also hired Keith Olbermann, but decided his talents didn’t lie as a talk show host.

Tags: Mike Reponts, The Sports Pig