For a guy who drives great distances to get to work/games, I really don’t listen to sports talking on the radio. There are many reasons for this and none of them are an indictment on the genre itself. Hey, people like to talk about sports and they like to listen to the radio when they drive. It’s a happy marriage.
But it’s not really a mode of communication one can sink their teeth into. That’s not a knock on sports talking radio, it’s just the way it is. See, sports radio happens in real time. It’s a continuous thing that exists for a second and then blows away in the wind, kind of like real life or something metaphysical like that.
However, the topics discussed are singular, static moments. Sports news happens and then that’s it. So in order to discuss certain topics, speculation and referencing “sources” often pushes the conversation. Come on… if you’re just putting the news out there and allowing it to stand by itself, it doesn’t make for a great time, does it?
Still, it all makes my head hurt. It’s like eating Fruity Pebbles all the time instead of going for something healthy. Look, I like Fruity Pebbles as much as the next guy and I could eat it all day. However, if I do that for too long it’s going to have a serious affect. It might even kill me, not unlike that movie where that dude went around eating McDonald’s morning, noon and night. After a day or two it stopped being fun or even funny.
Nevertheless, it’s kind of like when some huge real-life news occurs and everyone dials up CNN or MSNBC or something (I’d say FoxNews, but you know…) to find out what’s going on. Apparently the Eagles were/are on the verge of trading Donovan McNabb, which is kind of like a historical moment for the Philadelphia sporting scene. It’s a really big deal, to say the least.
So I dialed it up for the ride home and strangely it took only five minutes for my head to start hurting.
Again, that’s no fault of the medium, the hosts or the genre. It’s just that there isn’t a lot of real information out there aside from the stuff coming from “sources.” Having spent a large portion of my adult life mingling with “sources,” I understand that those dudes will say anything. Sometimes they even know what they’re talking about, too. In fact, my “sources” are usually more right than wrong, but that’s only with what I tell other people. Some of the crazier things they trot out there are really freakin’ crazy.
Whew! I can’t wait to write that book.
Anyway, my head was spinning from all the teams and speculation on other teams that weren’t named by “sources.” There were the Rams, Raiders and Vikings. There were first-round draft picks and defensive backs speculated upon. Legacies both past and present were bandied about.
It was a big mess and it made my head hurt.
After listening from approximately the time it took to get from the Wachovia Center to the part on the Expressway where it seems like eight lanes converge into one with the Art Museum looming above the psychotic automotive mess, I was done. I tapped out, but not for the reason most would think. It was for another reason of my own creation and one that needed me to quiet things down with some podcasts of Terry Gross’ show, “Fresh Air.”
Has there ever been a radio program so aptly named?
So what was the thought that sent me scrambling for the dial with one hand while using the other to steer into rush hour traffic on the Schuylkill? OK, try this out…
What happens if Donovan McNabb comes back to the Eagles next season? Really, what happens then?
It seems as if we are so resigned to the fact that McNabb will be traded away soon that we could forget the notion that we really don’t know what’s happening. Yes, the guys reporting on the story are doing terrific work and are finding out facts that have helped it all make sense. Still, when sports executives say something in front of recorders, microphones and cameras, it really should be taken with a grain of salt or whatever it is one takes when they converse with someone known for being less than truthful.
It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that McNabb will be introduced as the starting quarterback for the Eagles in the home opener next September. And if that happens, what then?
How will the fans react? How will the media types react?
Better yet, what will a return by McNabb mean for Andy Reid and the Eagles? After all, there was a reason why quarterback Kevin Kolb was selected with a second-round draft pick, just as there was a reason why the team signed Michael Vick. If the Eagles are simply going to keep McNabb, what was it Reid and the gang were doing when they got those other quarterbacks?
Really, what were they thinking?
That’s why it won’t be a huge shock if nothing happens. No one really knows what goes through those heads they have over there at the NovaCare complex. Maybe they just really, really like the attention, which is why they are allowing this mess to drag out as long as it has. Actually, it seems as if there ought to be smoke coming out of the top of the place as if they were electing a pope.
Who’s the new (or old) guy? Apparently any guess is as good as anything.