Prime Time Sports Pantload Open Thread

1) My favourite PTS moment was when McCown hung up on the mayor of Hamilton in the mid 1990’s (honourable mentions go to Jim Hunt’s last show as c-host and to the McCown versus Doug MacLean screaming match from a few years ago,)

2) Shulman did a fine job as PTS host for a year or two but when McCown was in his prime there was no one even close

3) My favourite PTS co-host has always been Brunt

4) I think Brady filled in for McCown between Christmas and New Year’s a few years ago so I will go with him

5) I’d like to see Mitch Melnick eventually be the one to take over for McCown, assuming they could ever convince him to leave Montreal

1. Favourite PTS moment – Doug MacLean screaming match for sure. That was epic!

2. McCown over Shulman

3. Favourite Co-Host – I actually liked Bill Watters on the show but in terms of more recent victims, I’d have to say Brunt

4. Fill-in – Sid or Jeff – tied in my opinion

5. Mitch Melnick would be a great choice. How about Ken Reid? If Greg Sansone wanted to go back to having an on-air gig, he’d be my choice.

Happy Anniversary to McCown and the crew!

To borrow a phrase from Bob McCown, that documentary put my feet to sleep: too much focus on Bob, too much reverence for Bob, and too long.

I can’t stand McCown. Listening to him and his band of cranky, unfunny toadies makes me feel 100 years old. Jim Kelly was the worst co-host he ever had (and that is saying lots). I’ll give the nod to Shaky as best, but that is ancient history…

TSN really dropped the ball not trying harder in that slot. I can’t think of anyone under the age of 55 who would want to listen to PTS. “Pantload” was a good name to use. It defines “irony”.

Wow as if Bob’s Ego couldn’t balloon anymore he goes and produces that self serving shrine to himself that he called a documentary. I was embarrassed for sportstnet for having to put that on the air. He must be in contract negotiations again.

1. Favourite PTS moment – Not a boxing fan, but always enjoyed when Bert Sugar was on the show, entertaining stories

2. McCown over Shulman

3. Favourite Co-Host – Brunt

4. Fill-in – Elliotte Friedman

5. Friedman, has incredible multi-sport knowledge, great insider connections, is a great storyteller and a stronger interviewer

Can’t disagree with Sal, Rob in Aurora and Bob Canuck. At one time many years ago PTS I thought was a rteally good show. Since then sportstalk radio and competition has grown and has PTS behinf.
The BobCat hes evolved in the FatCat!

1. Lorne Rubinstein ambushed him one time complaining about getting paid, and Bob hung up on him and apologized to the audience. Was an interesting few minutes.
2. I don’t even remember Shulman hosting it, I must have ignored it at the time.
3. Everybody here hates Cox but I love their banter.
4. I’ll have to say Friedman but in general, I am much less interested in any of the guest hosts.
5. I think there will be a revolving door after Bob goes, because nobody will really spark with the audience enough. Remember Mike Toth was the heir apparent for a while. I would have been okay with that, at least he would have tried his own muse rather than continuing what Bob started.

As for the docu, it was good but all the NYC people could have easily been edited out, as they just spoke in general terms about sports radio and never mentioned Bob or PTS. It could have been a great hour-long docu.

I just caught the last half hour of it, but wow, what a Bob love-in. As I have said here many times, years ago I was a big fan of PTS – back in the Jim Hunt days and some time after. But gradually, the the quality of the show (and Bob’s effort) has eroded. He’s now a man resting on his laurels with a supporting cast of sycophants. Much has been written here about his lack of good co-hosts and guests, but again, when you’re running the show as Bob does, you tend to have your buddies on. Anyway, I don’t listen to PTS anymore unless Brunt is the co-host, but even then…

It was interesting to relive the whole Cito drama. That was big at the time. But it got me thinking about Jerry Howarth. I never really cared much for his work (Tom was definitely the real talent), but in that interview with Cito he asks if he thinks the criticism he gets is racially motivated. Now I wonder, did he ask that on his own or at the behest of Cito (certainly the Blue Jays wouldn’t want to go there). If he did ask it on his own, was he trying to burn Bob and others who were critical of Cito? Or was he asking because Cito had wanted him to. Either way, it was a low moment for Jerry in my opinion. He does seem to have issues with media who are critical of anything Blue Jays – remember Jerry taking issue with Zaun and Hayhurst over the whole Arencibia fiasco? He always seemed a little weasely to me.

Did Rubenstein and McCown ever make up? As I recall it was some pretty low-level ball busting and Rube went ballistic.

The doc was good, would have been better at 1 hour. There was a terrifying moment when they showed that photo of a young Dan Shulman. He looked like the Son of Sam’s younger, crazier brother.

I thought Walker might take over for Bob in 6 or 7 years, but then I heard his rant against the space program. This Luddite might also be against antibiotics and modern medicine so might not be alive in 6 years.

“Stop Progress” Walker did make up for it as he and Brady had a great segment yesterday at 6:20am. Brilliant hockey knowledge from both.

I noticed in the end credits mention that the production had funding from the Canadian government. I guess David Braley left some tax payers money for Bob.

Why doesn’t Mike Toth fill in on 1050 during summer vacations? I think 1010 is also a Bell company. If Bob chose him to host PTS I don’t see why he can’t sub for Hayes, Tati and co.

Speaking of docs, waiting for the Steve Spurrier one from ESPN….

….and is Tiger Back???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUhRKVIjJtw

Why so much Jeter talk on radio the last few days? Everybody knows Scott Baio is the king, as this x-rated Howard Stern interview proves.

http://www.4shared.com/audio/hvk0R2BL/best_of_sirius-aug_2010_-_13_-.htm?locale=en

Tuned in to PTS at 5:02 PM and rode out a couple mins of Bob yakking about his Pacos Red River Chili recipe he stole from some Mexican place in Vegas 20 years ago and how he fudges with it every year ( I think this is 5th time I’ve heard this story ). So I flip over to Naylor on TSN- he’s talking golf and it is a big golf day, British Open and all – after 10 seconds I realize he’s reading another one of his soporific essays. Death knell. So the failing newspaper-radio guy thinks he’ll win over listeners by giving them what got him there – his writing.

I turned back to Bob to hear another 5 minutes about the Pacos Red River Chili.

C’mon TSN Radio, Naylor and your ‘Producer’, find yer game.

@Kamlesh Walker’s space rant was on par with Brady’s anti Elisabeth Hasselbeck rant. I think they may have both been hungover. It was entertaining though in that Walker called out Brady for watching The View.

The documentary was just a FOB Fest. Yawn.

Numbers are in and sadly Bobcat can’t say he outdrew MLS Soccer on TSN airing the same night

Total Audience for TFC vs Vancouver – 207,300
Total Audience for Pantload – 42,800

@Zeb – don’t believe so, I’ve never heard him on the show since. Very difficult to get out of the “black book.” For his last show he should read the names off the black book as a final kick.

@Brian – He should have all the members of the black book on his last show. That would be fun!

RE Bob’s chili ramblings.

He MAY have stolen the recipe from some Vegas joint (I have no idea) but the original recipe for Pecos River Bowl of Red can be found in a terrific cookbook called ‘Chili Madness’ by Jane Butel. page 52. published in 1980.

1. Favourite PTS moment – Bert Sugar telling stories of the advertising business in the 50’s. Runner up Doug McLean.

Re Pantload – I don’t see why they had Francesa and the other US people – didn’t really add anything. I think this would have benefitted from focus on one topic… focus was too scattered… was this (1) a McCown biography (2) a PTS history (3) a documentary on the sports media business… they flipped too much between the (at least) 3 topics – each of these topics probably could have been a one hour show.

1. Anytime the late Burt Randolph Sugar was on, but especially the night he spoke of the out-of-ring friendship between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. Absolutely riveting. Mr. Sugar was a master storyteller; whether the story was always accurate or not, who knows nor cares? Miss him greatly.
2. Dan Shulman is the best in the business at what he does regularly, but show hosting is not that. McCown wins out, even on his laziest days.
3. The late Jim Hunt. Never a dull moment. Never knew what would come out of his mouth next. Kinda like the crazy old uncle every family has.
4. Mike Toth. At least he’d try to poke a bear every so often.
5. Toughest question by far. I don’t think a replacement show will be the same; will probably go to a more formal approach. Personally, I like Jeff Marek, who can combine sharp wit with good knowledge. He clearly does the hard work off the air to always be ready to mix it up on the air. Bright kid.

Numbers are in and sadly Bobcat can’t say he outdrew MLS Soccer on TSN airing the same night

Total Audience for TFC vs Vancouver – 207,300
Total Audience for Pantload – 42,800

I was one of the 207,300. I figured anything called Pantload would be crap.

Since theres no weekend thread this week…

Naylor’s anti-soccer gimmick is really grating on me. He complained about people calling it “football” and then starting the world cup “the world cup of soccer.”

It’s one thing to not be a soccer guy and just not talk about it. It’s another to be antagonistic, which seems out of character for his good guy, meat and potatos on-air persona.

Maybe all the angry soccer tweets pushed him too far.

Wait, what was that about Walker and the space program? o_O I don’t listen to Brady and Walker (too early in the morning and I have no interest in podcasting it)

Everybody knows I’m the giant Bob fangirl who loves listening to him and is fascinated by his stories about his life, but I found this documentary really disappointing. Sam’s point above is exactly how I felt too. :\ The focus was too scattered. I wasn’t sure if this was supposed to be a documentary about Bob’s life, about Prime Time Sports, or about talk radio in general. I’d be okay if they focused on the latter too, and talked about how PTS fits into the greater scheme of talk radio and how it influenced other shows, but it didn’t. Instead it just seemed like they would jump around from the 3 topics with no real link. Also, I was hoping for more of a history of Prime Time Sports and the discussion behind the scenes, how they decided on the co-hosts in various eras, maybe some controversies or lawsuits we’ve never heard of. But they didn’t. The whole thing was incredibly superficial, and yeah, came off as kind of a hagiography about Bob at times too. I got pretty tired of the “he’s such a badass persona who antagonizes people” comments from the friends of Bob. :\ I guess this is the problem with a documentary that’s made by his employer and his own company. (In that case they should have just focused on the show rather than the personality that they can’t actually give us a true look at.)

Also, I thought it was meaningless to have a segment about the Cito controversy if they weren’t going to bring in Cito or Jerry Howarth to talk about it. Why even bring it up if it’s just going to be telling one side? Again, “Pantload” keeps coming off like it’s a promotional vehicle for Bob and they wanted to bring up the Cito thing just to defend him in case any current/potential fans had heard about the controversy and they wanted to allay our fears.

The only thing I liked about it was cartoon Bob. I think they should make video shorts of cartoon Bob and air it as filler. Like have stuff happening in the background while he’s talking, like a dinosaur is chasing Brunt or something. xD

1) A dinosaur chasing Brunt. Me likey.

Actually Brunt should have been on the doc more as he was saying the most thoughtful things. I also liked that Keith Pelley wanted to be photographed with a photo of his kids in the background. Nice shot.

Agree the show should have focused more on Bob (or focused on anything). The stories he told on Friday about Bob Mackowycz/John Derringer, and buying the Vegas house were more interesting than most of what was in the program.

If it’s going to be a hagiography make it a good one. Go on location to Ohio and Las Vegas with Bob. This could have been his “Wild Strawberries” or “Citizen Kane”. I wonder what Bob’s ‘Rosebud” is?

2) Just stop with the Tiger-Jack comparisons. It’s over for Tiger (and I’m a Tiger fan).

Jack Nicklaus Majors Record:

164 majors played
18 majors won (11 percent)
19 2nd places (11 percent)
56 top 5s (34 percent)
73 top 10s (45 percent)

3) Here is an interesting article on the holier than thou Chris Kluwe:

http://www.cbssports.com/general/writer/gregg-doyel/24628550/chris-kluwe-cant-be-moral-crusader-after-his-cruel-twitter-rant

In the background I’m listening to a CBC radio summer quiz show called “Newshounds” right now and one of the guests is Don Landry, whom they introduced as the in-house announcer for the Argos.

I thought that some of you might find this interesting, for what it’s worth.

@ Another Steve

It’s been a long road back for Landry, but he does seem to have repackaged himself as a pseudo CFL insider / CFL booster. And, to his credit, he’s always been a big CFL guy from way, way back.

From his heyday as a FAN 590 morning personality (even doing luxury car commercials), his fall has been deeper and longer than others. Not sure why, but word is that he didn’t leave behind a lot of friends when he was shown the door. And, from the outside, that would seem to reason out why it’s been a struggle for him to return to the big-time mainstream.

He has talent, no doubt, but seems to piss people off who work with him. Or at least he did. I’m sure he’s much humbler now.

And, again, he’s always been legitimately passionate about the CFL. He’s no phony when it comes to that subject.

There seems to be a lot of promotions on Rogers lately. I don’t think anyone is gullible enough to fall for these long shot appeals to avarice.

“jonah @yyzsportsmedia · 17h
I just entered the #RogersAlerts contest for a chance to WIN $5,000!”

Sure Andrew Walker can find fault with NASA, but what about NASSA?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6xJzAYYrX8

I think Don Landry did call some curling for Sportsnet this past winter, so some people must like him to bring him back for that.

does this mean Don Landry is back with Rogers?

Mike George was on Macko on Cauz today. Searching for more info on George and CIA Basketball came across this excellent piece in the Globe:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/basketball/nbas-canadian-contingent-can-thank-unity-behind-cia-bounce/article19321611/

From the article:

“Mike George started a basketball program for teens called Christians in Action (CIA) in the late 1990s, run out the back of a church in Malton, Ont. George was studying at York University to become a teacher, and he had many players in his program from low-income homes.”

“George, a teacher at Cardinal Newman elementary school, and McIntyre, an operations manager for a pharmaceuticals company, figure they each pitched in about $20,000 in the early years. But they needed more. On a lark, George applied to be a contestant on the game show Deal or No Deal, when it filmed some episodes in Toronto, vowing he would give half of any winnings to CIA Bounce.

The gregarious coach got onto the Howie Mandel-hosted show in 2007 and picked the cash-filled suitcases according to numbers of his favourite NBA players. He won $144,000, and lived up to his promise.”

“CIA Bounce has sent more than 40 players to the NCAA. Their alumni also include 2013 first-overall draft pick Anthony Bennett. In addition to Wiggins and Ennis….”

Are there any soccer programs like this?

@MiB – it was the last or second last segment … roughly an hour into the show.

@MIB – 49 minutes in.

Some baseball ratings in US.

“John Ourand @Ourand_SBJ · Jul 22
MLB on Fox is down 27% so far this year. MLB on FS1 is averaging 430,000 viewers”

” John Ourand @Ourand_SBJ · Jul 14
SBJ: The Dodgers’ TV ratings are at historic lows this season. Two times more people in L.A. are watching the Angels.”

Of course, that statistic doesnt mention almost half the cable providers are not carrying the dodgers channel.

The recent Toronto Indy weekend may have been the last one, and the Toronto media seem slow to understand this. Even during the heyday of Molson years from 1986 into the 1990s, apparently it never made money but was seen as worthwhile promotion for the brewery and city. Molstar/Molson got out of it in 2005, and there seems to be little doubt that since then revenue from sponsorship and ticket sales has not been enough to keep it going. After being canceled in the year of the IRL and ChampCar merger/buyout, the Toronto race returned in following years only with “economic incentives” from all three levels of government.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/toronto-indy-event-will-return-in-2009-1.769968
——–
Pantalone said it was his understanding that Tourism Toronto and the provincial government have agreed to economic incentives to allow the race to proceed.
Exhibition Place certainly has, though he would not say to what extent.
——

http://www.wheels.ca/honda-roars-in-to-rescue-race/
——
… provincial tourism minister Peter Fonseca, who revealed that Ontario would pony up $1 million in support for each of the next three years.
——

http://www.thestar.com/sports/2010/07/05/honda_indy_gets_federal_infrastructure_funds.html
——-
Honda Indy gets federal infrastructure funds
——-

The most recent contract with the city was for three years, and has expired without being renewed at the conclusion of the 2014 race weekend. The city’s lack of interest is displayed by their planning over the last year or two for a bunch of temporary Pan Am Games facilities to occupy Exhibition Place thoughout the month of July 2015.
http://www.toronto2015.org/venue/pan-am-park

Dean McNulty of the Sun makes a generous attendance estimate of 12-15,000 (as opposed to the 60 or 70,000 on raceday in the 1980s and 90s) and points out “not many of the folks running for office are willing to campaign on a promise to subsidize the Honda Indy to the tune of about $2 million a year”.
http://www.torontosun.com/2014/07/21/pan-am-games-throw-a-wrench-into-indy-dates

Anyone complaining about Bob is butthurt because he didn’t agree with you nothing more. Rob in Aurora is bitch, I’ve heard you whine on the Fan all the time, you are bitter and butthurt Bob told you what kind of idiot you are.

Jim Kelly was a gentleman and one of the best.

If you don’t like Bob, and like any of the other pandering snivelling try hards besides Tim and Sid who are second best by far, you are too stupid to understand the point Bob makes.

TSN and 640 could F&ckup a one car parade. Bill Watters is a corporate shill and TSN employs unfunny hacks except for Dave Hodge. I enjoy all of Bob’s guests except when Blair goes on one of his anti-violence limp wrist lefty rants. Other than that, never change, I hope you do it till the day you die Bob.

Just a short……just watching as Bob had the worst co-host in the history of PT on to announce he is coming on line with him permanently starting next Monday. Damian Cox is an arrogant snivelling spoiled child. We watch Bob religiously but that will end next Monday. As for Sim and Tid…..go on!…..how could anyone even compare that program of stupidity to Bob’s? My favourite co-host was….and I emphasize “was” Steven Brunt. Now I look forward to Arash Madany daily and even watch when he fills for Bob. I do not think Bob is happy with his new co-host. Maybe Damian Cox should take over ? Then we could watch the ratings.