By Ami Angelwings
4pm hour – Listener Phone Calls with Bob McCown
- Calls are mostly about the proposed Markham arena deal and putting a second NHL team in Toronto
- Bob thinks you should put a second NHL team in Toronto, but that Markham isn’t the best spot, and he has a better one
5pm hour – Bob McCown hosting, John Shannon co-hosting
First segment: Interview with Stephen Brunt, Prime Time Sports co-host
- Brunt talks about the goings ons with Mexican TV personalities at Superbowl, and Randy Moss saying he’s the greatest wide receiver ever
- Bob asks Brunt some Super Bowl quiz questions
- Shannon complains that they aren’t talking about actual football
- Brunt predicts the 49ers to win
Second segment: Interview with David Branch, OHL Commissioner
- Branch talks about a referee being suspended for tweeting negative things about women in Sault Ste Marie
- Branch says that punishing players who fight 10 times has had a positive effect on the league and cutting down on fighting
Third segment: Interview with Doug Smith, Toronto Star basketball reporter
- Smith talks about the Raptors trading Jose Calderon and Ed Davis for Rudy Gay
- Smith doesn’t think they should have traded Ed Davis, Bob agrees
6pm hour – Bob McCown hosting, John Shannon co-hosting
First segment: Interview with Bob Ryan, The Boston Globe
- Ryan doesn’t think the Rudy Gay trade is good for the Raptors because Gay has topped out and costs too much, Bob agrees
- Ryan talks about Alex Rodriguez being linked to PEDs and that it might help the Yankees get out from under his contract, Bob doesn’t think they will be able to
Second segment: Interview with Glenn Healy, CBC Hockey analyst
- Healy thinks that moving a failing team into Markham would instantly make that team one of the league’s most profitable
- Healy thinks George Gillett might be interested in owning the team, Bob says he wouldn’t because he wouldn’t want to be in a situation where he doesn’t own the arena
- Bob argues with Healy and Shannon that building an arena in Markham makes sense
Third segment: Interview with Michael Grange, Sportsnet columnist
- Grange thinks Gay makes the Raptors better, but not in a way that makes sense for where the team is right now
- Grange thinks Gay costs too much for what he brings
Thoughts:
Maybe I missed it, but has Bob ever mentioned where he’d put a team in the GTA? We know he’s against Hamilton because it’s too far, and he’s against Markham now because it’s not convenient. I only heard him say that he’d put it somewhere in Toronto where it’s not near the ACC, but where it’s still in Toronto and people can get to it. Where is that, and can you build an arena there? Since I live in Markham, I’m pretty concerned about what this means for taxpayers, so I’m not a proponent of it, but I wonder if Bob is just against a team in Markham because suddenly everybody’s talking about the wisdom of a second team in Toronto and he doesn’t like it when people like his ideas but don’t tell him how smart he was to have come up with it. In the past, when his pet ideas get taken up by others, it always seems to me like he gets a little put off that people aren’t talking about how he came up with it, or has always been saying it.
He wasn’t even complaining that there would be cost overruns or that it’d cost the city of Markham a lot of money today either, he was just generally being upset that everybody thought a second NHL team in Markham would be a financial windfall, while at the same time reminding everybody that he said it first.
I also think Bob doesn’t like somebody acting like they know more about George Gillett than he does, since he got defensive about that with Healy too.
Something I really like about Shannon is his attitude towards the internet and Twitter. It’s refreshingly mature compared to Bob’s “everybody on Twitter is a loser geek!”, Brunt’s “I just avoid Twitter” and Cox’s “people on Twitter are all idiots who should be banned because they disagree with me!” attitudes. Shannon thinks Twitter is a good way to break and get news, but also that you should remember that you’re in a public space, not say things you’ll regret, and don’t bother getting into Twitter fights. It’s something that I don’t often see with adults who didn’t grow up in the internet/social media age, and who either hate social media, avoid it, or complain about it, and instead Shannon understands that it’s just a new way to interact with people and get information, and it’s up to you to use it maturely.
On the flipside, Shannon really grated when he whined about how Bob wasn’t asking Brunt any serious football questions, and kept badgering Bob to talk about football. I thought the light hearted quiz was amusing, and we’ve already heard plenty of analysis about San Francisco and Baltimore for the past week and a bit. I also like hearing Brunt talk about various other stories going on around the Superbowl, New Orleans, and other stuff like that. That’s the point of sending him down there.
Nobody interviewed today seems to like the Gay deal for the Raptors. At least so far. Smith thinks that the Raptors gave up too much in Ed Davis, Grange thinks this is yet another move that keeps the Raptors in the no-man’s land of middle draft picks and no playoffs/first round elimination, and Bob Ryan just doesn’t think Rudy Gay provides enough as a player. Doesn’t really inspire confidence. I’m pretty sure Bob’s mind on the trade has been mind up after today.
Photo available here
