The Podcast of Awesomeness Vol. 2, No. 6

The Podcast of Awesomeness Vol. 2, No. 3

January 25, 2011

When Joe Frazier knocked down Muhammad Ali for the very first time of his career in the first of their three fights, Ali did not allow it to devastate him. Instead, he popped back up off the canvass before the referee could reach the count of four.

Similarly, whenever Brad Lidge blows a save in the ninth inning of a game he does not hang his head in shame when he leaves the mound. Stoically and purposefully, Lidge heads to the clubhouse with his head up and his eyes straight ahead.

After all, to paraphrase a line from Goodfellas, everyone takes a beating every once in a while.

Look at Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty for hells’ sakes. Two of the most admired actors in the history of the cinema are responsible for one of the greatest flops in Hollywood history.

Oh yes, The Podcast of Awesomeness had its Ishtar moment. The only difference is we did not take a net loss of $76 million.

PODCAST 2.3

It was as if John Gonzalez and Todd Zolecki were being trotted out for a perp walk when they exited the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday afternoon. The crime, of course, was lending a hand in steering a burning plane of a podcast into the lake.

Nope, not even an appearance by Dan Baker could save this one.

Still, like Ali, Lidge, Hoffman and Beatty, we’ll be back. Maybe we’ll be a little gun shy when we climb back in there, but in the meantime we had two heavyweights in our tiny studio and we scared them away forever.

It was like we had the cast of Ocean’s 11 and delivered Ocean’s 12.

Sigh.

Anyway, if anyone has two Super Bowl tickets they can’t use, contact Mr. Zolecki. He’ll gladly take them off your hands.

The Podcast of Awesomeness: Vol. 2, No. 2

January 20, 2011

So we keep at this podcast thing. We keep at it even when it seems as if we’re screaming WOLF! in an empty theater. After all, if the wolf can get into a theater in the first place, chances are it did so to be alone. It won’t matter how loud you scream or how many capital letters with exclamation points you use to get through that wolf’s thick head.

In other words, we made a show without Sarah today. Remember her? The quiet and retiring type? Such a dear that Sarah, it’s amazing that a young lady as mousy and shy as her agrees to be on a podcast in the first place.

But we sent her out to see a dentist today and so Dan Roche, DJ B-Seid and me stripped it down a touch. Y’know, we went acoustic or “unplugged” as the rock-n-roll types say.

Remember that whole unplugged thing? Back when the M in MTV used to stand for Music, the popular cable channel used to do this thing where well-known pop stars showed up and instead of playing songs with electric guitars and wired microphones, they did it “unplugged.” That meant they subbed in wooden guitars, emptied moonshine jugs and megaphones.

Needless to say it was a giant hit.

PODCAST 2.2

And like any landmark event in television history, MTV took the unplugged phenomenon and beat it like a bad habit. In fact, it got to the point where those acoustic guitars sounded just like fingernails on a chalkboard—and not one of those new-fangled dry erase boards, either. This is an old-timey chalkboard with chalk and the fingernails. They have them in museums… go check it out.

Anyway, our little group remains undaunted. Even when interlopers burst into our little room to change clothes or use the complimentary hair spray, we forge on… and so should you.

THE PODCAST OF AWESOMENESS: VOL. 2, NO. 1

January 4, 2011

There are some jokes that are timeless. For instance, the old vaudeville bit called The Aristocrats has withstood the test of time through the generations in certain circles.

Don’t go telling that joke at the dinner table when your grandmother is around.

Of course there are other bits of humor that we latch onto as kids and never let go. Heirlooms, of sorts, that becomes flash points in a family history. You know, like the very first time you went to your oldest son and said, “Pull my finger.”

It never gets old.

Reliving the times when funny stories were told never gets old, either. That’s especially true of the tales that involve hand buzzers, bubble wrap or whoopee cushions. In this instance it isn’t just family or friendly banter that these things are relegated to. Oh no, not at all. In fact, Roman Emperor Elagabalus was known to trot out the whoopee cushion at dinner parties when he took over in the year 218. Sure, Elagabalus was only 18 when he was assassinated in the year 222, but a precedent was set.

Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is filled with fart jokes. There was hardly a moment when the Squire, Merchant or Parson was making a crack with a face Rodney Dangerfield made famous attached to it. Better yet, master comic Mark Twain was not averse to going to the ol' breaking-wind route.

So in our first episode of the new year after a long hiatus, we discuss the etymology of the scent gag. Here, take a listen:

010411 PODCAST V2_1

Of course we break down the matchup between the Packers and Eagles in the NFL Playoffs, discuss the possibility of the Winter Classic in Philly, and wonder if the governor of the commonwealth has lined up when his political career is over.

Maybe he become a gag-pulling talking head on the chat shows…

PODCAST EPISODE NO. 17

September 13, 2010

Sometimes the best laid plans aren't planned at all.

At least that's what we'll tell ourselves about this episode of The Podcast of Awesomeness. I was anticipating a show toward the end of the week, but Sarah Baicker strutted over to where I was sitting in the office at CSN and said, "Let's do a podcast."

It sounded like a good idea until our intern, Cori Egan, said, "Pleeeeeeeeease."

Then it sounded like trouble. Almost sinister. When Dennis Deitch responded to a text that he was hopping on his bike and would peddle down to the Wells Fargo Center (or whatever its called), it looked like it was on.

And here it is:

No. 17

With no agenda or planning, we came up with what you hear on this MP3 file. Better yet, we had Tom Finer back on the wheels of steel like in the old days, which was fun.

So here we chatter about baseball, the Eagles, advanced metrics, the Flyers pre-season camp for and rookies, interns with a death wish, and old episodes of Diff'rent Strokes.

PODCAST EPISODE NO. 16

September 2, 2010

So we’re headed for the stretch run. This is the time of year that could make or break a season. No, the games don’t count any more than they did in April, but they mean more. They carry more weight. They’re heavier.

This is the time of year where legends are made, or, even more heroically, it’s the time legends define their legacies. And yes, the past sentence was written in the John Facenda-voice font.

Nevertheless, we have much admiration for the guy who refuses to simply play out the string. That’s where the Nationals’ Nyjer Morgan comes in, because even though his team is a good 21 games out of first place and headed for their fifth last-place finish in the last six seasons, Morgan has not given in.
It’s like Updike once wrote about Ted Williams:

“For me, Williams is the classic ballplayer of the game on a hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill.”

For a couple of nights that was Nyjer Morgan of the lowly Washington Nationals. Not only was he running over catchers and swiping bases with his team down by a dozen runs, but when the Marlins tried to drill him a second time for perceived insults, well, that was too much for the man to bear.

And so he started a brawl.

We want to be known as the audio show that barrels over a catcher in a late-season game when there is nothing at stake aside from the final score. Maybe we did that this time:

AWESOME 16

Was this the “tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and thing done ill?”

Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, we’re giving you, the listener, you’re moneys’ worth…

Wait... it’s free. OK, never mind.

PODCAST OF AWESOMENESS 15

PODCAST EPISODE NO. 15

August 24, 2010

There are energizing powers in the sunshine. Whether it’s the vitamin D or simply the warmth, the fact remains that sunshine makes us feel good. Hell, John Denver made a career on just this very fact.

So it’s only logical that when the clouds prevail and the sun is hidden away, those recuperative energies dwindle. Sometimes we drag and it takes everything we have just to carry our sorry asses to where we need to be. Without the sun it’s often as if we spent the last 12 hours sleeping only to wake up and want to go right back to bed.

That was the way we felt this morning when we all stumbled in to the office to record the 15^th episode of the Podcast. If there were greenies or coffee available we would have ingested them with the multi-vitamin we all take in the morning, but since we work with an operating budget of $0, we have to pick up each other. Our energy source is Sarah or Boonie or me (or whomever), so when one of us is drained, we all suffer.

We’re a team and no part is greater than the sum.

So here’s our 39-minute effort for a cloudy, chilly and dour Tuesday morning:

We have plenty of Pat Burrell chatter along with the abstract notion of the base line. We even go on about Donovan McNabb a bit, too, but then we all get sleepy and want to do something else.

Zzzzzzzzzz…

PODCAST EPISODE NO. 14

August 5, 2010

Remember when Eddie Murphy did Buckwheat on Saturday Night Live, or when Mike Myers and Dana Carvey did Wayne and Garth? Or that one song on the radio that gets you flying down the highway and the mojo working like a caffeine injection? You loved it, right?

That is to say, you loved it until you didn’t.

The slippery slope when a team has a knockout, runaway hit of a character is going back to it too much. Yes, people loved seeing Buckwheat or hearing that song until they got too much of it. It got played out. Overexposed might be a better word.

Certainly Lorne Michaels and the gang at SNL know what happens when they lay it on too thick, and yes, his remedy seems to be to go make a movie with those characters. Did you think the “Night at the Roxbury” boys were charming? Yeah, well, wait around and catch the movie sometime on cable.

It’s doubtful we will be making a movie starring Dan Roche as the renowned Philadelphia public address artiste, Dan Baker. But we could. The bit is that good. Listeners to our podcast—yes, all of them—have written in asking for more Dan Roche doing the Dan Baker impression. See, our listeners are old-school like that… they write in.

We climbed on that slippery slope anyway and Dan trotted out his gift for mimicry. Here, take a listen:

AWESOME 14

Here comes the part you don’t want to read… don’t expect Dan doing Dan every time out. That’s the best thing we have so we don’t want to kill it before we have to. See, we’re thinking long term here at The Podcast of Awesomeness and in the meantime, the boys back in R&D are busy coming up with new ideas that we can beat up until they crumble apart like a piñata.

And then we can all dive on top of the sweet, nutritious candy.

PODCAST EPISODE NO. 13

July 29, 2010

There’s a line in the film Bad Santa where Billy Bob Thornton tells the kid disappointed by the fact that his mutilated Advent calendar garnered him just one lousy candy corn a phrase that I like to carry around with me in all facets of life.

The line:

"They all can’t be winners, can they?"

It’s so true. Despite the best intentions of the artist, the hours put into the project and the talent therein, sometimes there are clunkers. Hey, it happens. After all, sometimes even Michael Jordan had a bad game.

After the avant jazz that Dennis Deitch and yours truly put on to the Internets last week in the show billed as Episode 12.5, you can almost expect a bit of a letdown. It’s common—human nature even—for something like that to happen. It’s not on purpose, mind you, it just is.

Oh sure, we came out gunning with the full roster plus Sarah Baicker’s friend, Pat Gallen, but as our friend Dan Roche pointed out early in the Episode No. 13, it was a lot like Clyde Frazier and Pearl Monroe working with the Knicks back in the early ‘70s.

No, we’re not sure which one of us is Clyde and which is Pearl… but listen in anyway:

AWESOME 13

Still, it was nice to have the whole gang back together again. A few of the old favorites from episodes past turned up as well as a rundown of all the great laundromats across the U.S. for all of those out there looking for clean clothes.

So we’ll be back with the crew next week, too. Hopefully we’re back to be-bopping and scatting as usual as long as Dave DeBusschere doesn’t take away any shots from Clyde and Pearl.

PODCAST EPISODE NO. 12.5

July 22, 2010

We all have our issues. You could be the most laidback, placid dude on earth and there is sure to be something to make you act as if you have a bee in your bonnet. It’s only natural—human nature or whatever.

This morning our man Dennis Deitch and yours truly showed up at the Wachovia Center with engineer extraordinaire, Ben Seidman, with a hive in our headdresses. We were angry about things we could not control and, ultimately, were inconsequential. Hey, the Phillies stink. We have eyes and can see what’s going on this ballclub and it’s sickening. What makes that especially so is that it never had to be like this.

Want to hear two old ballscribes in full rant? OK, here it is anyway:

AWESOME PODCAST 12.5

We’re calling this 12.5 because it’s a scaled down crew. It’s kind of like when Robert Plant and Jimmy Page went out on the road without John Paul Jones a few years ago, but rather than do some self-indulgent blues numbers with ridiculous solos, we stick with the rock. I’m not sure who the Plant or Page is in this scenario, but we didn’t slow it down with some self-absorbed noodling or extended, blues’d up “Stairway” thing.

Nope. Not at all.

We went after it from the jump. Nobody gets a chance to come up for air. Deitch came gunning at the first riff and I stepped on the gas when given the chance. In fact, rather than just 60 minutes of our regular The Podcast of Awesomeness fare, we bring you 90 minutes of The Podcast of Angryness.

Come get some.

PODCAST EPISODE NO. 12

July 8, 2010

Every once in a while things get away from us. Just when it seems as if there’s a solid rhythm and everyone is locked in and on the same page, it all goes to hell.

That’s what happened with the Podcast of Awesomeness for the past two months. Just when we were cooking along and kicking some butts, everything gets thrown into the wind. First, the Flyers got into the Stanley Cup Finals and that led to another thing and the next thing we know we’re all scattered and doing our own thing.

But like General Douglas MacArthur knew oh so well, the Internet is littered with podcasts that just faded away. Either someone got bored or the entire enterprise got stale or whatever. Obviously, we knew all of this going into it. The cautionary tales were easy to discern.

So after two months of doing nothing, we forged on. Rather than surrender to the whims of society and popular culture, troops were rallied, schedules made and trains were boarded.

As a result, we got the job done.

No, this isn’t the greatest podcast ever, but it’s not the worst one, either. If you’re going for a long drive and want something to keep you company, just download this thing and get to driving. We don’t care where you’re taking us, let’s just go.

AWESOME 12

Just like the completion of every other episode of this enterprise, we feel invigorated. We’re ready to get after it again, if not immediately then at least a week later. Hey, we have the technology and because you’re still reading this, so do you. So, for all the good stuff on the Phillies, Michael Vick, Purple Drank and the World Cup, this is the one-stop web site.

Thank you for bearing with us.

We’re back.

PODCAST EPISODE NO. 11

May 6, 2010

Everyone loves going to a ballgame every once in a while. In fact, I can remember times when we went to games and we screamed so loud and rooted so vociferously that we were convinced we had an effect on the outcome of the game. It wasn’t true, but that’s what we believed.

Only once did we get a reaction from a player, which came whilst sitting in the left-field bleachers at Memorial Stadium and yelling non-stop at Rickey Henderson. Oh, make no mistake about it… Rickey Henderson not only is one of the greatest players in the history of the game, but also one of the most entertaining. In his prime he was like the most fearsome cleanup hitter only he batted at the top of the order.

Rickey did it all. He changed the game the way he swiped bases and he could jerk one out of the park, too, if a pitcher went to sleep on him.

But where Rickey really scored points with my friends and I was when he turned around and flipped us the bird at Memorial Stadium. We loved it and we loved Rickey for it.

Now Dan Roche, our esteemed colleague at the Podcast of Awesomeness, has taken the art of going to a game and rooting for the home team to a higher level. Actually, Dan claims to be one of the best hecklers on the Eastern Seaboard, which is a statement he backs up with some compelling stories.

Here, take a listen:

AWESOME 11

There’s a story—a legend, actually—out there that Dan not only heckled Marlins lefty reliever Vic Darensbourg into coughing up a game against the Phillies. So rattled by Dan’s calls was the pitcher that the Phillies actually won the game.

But better than that, Dan also was able to send out messages around the Delaware Valley with his exuberance. So yeah, we’re pleased to be on Dan’s good side…

At least we hope we’re on his good side.

PODCAST EPISODE NO. 10

April 28, 2010

Truth be told, we don’t have much to be angry about here at The Podcast of Awesomeness. No one is living out on the streets and we’re all in reasonably decent health. Sure, there might a few mental issues here or there, but for the most part life is good.

That doesn’t mean we don’t engage in our share of dramas or controversies. Sometimes we even stick our snouts into places they don’t belong and then yelp when they get snapped. Chalk that up to human nature… or just plain busybody-ness.

With that in mind the gang was unified in the simmering anger over numerical order. Yep, those tricky numbers—or statistics as they sometimes like to be called—got our rugs in a bunch. It’s not that we don’t appreciate representative digits and all they do for us, it’s just that sometimes they ruin all the fun.

For instance, when it pertains to Ryan Howard and his statistical body of work and how it relates to his contract extension, well, we just have no patience. The thing of it is there is so much the numbers do not reveal about Howard, which is something else considering he has already posted several of the most statistically awesome seasons in Phillies history.

Look, we all appreciate “advanced metrics” and what they explain about baseball. We get it. The numbers actually paint some sort of a portrait. However, if it comes down to the numbers over the nuance of the game and the sheer beauty of watching the drama and stories unfold, the numbers can go pound sand.

Yeah, that’s right.

Anyway, listen to the gang as we react to the reaction about the Howard deal and discuss hockey player, Ian Laperriere. Check it out:

AWESOME NO. 10

Oh yeah, it should be mentioned that this little dog-and-pony show will evolve into a videocast. And you know what? We’re going all out with it, too. We’re talking a live band, solid production values and a desk from Ikea.

Nope, we can’t wait either.

PODCAST EPISODE NO. 9

April 20, 2010

It’s time for the playoffs, which means we have to beready to move at a moment’s notice. Oh sure, the league office sets up a schedule so we know where we have to go and when, but in the playoffs nothing is a given. Just because something is on the schedule it doesn’t mean it’s going to be played.

For instance, a bunch of us spent the last two autumns unsure of which city we would be in the next day. It could have been Philadelphia, Tampa, Los Angeles or somewhere else. Fortunately, the Phillies cooperated with us and ended the playoff rounds in a timely manner. Better yet, thanks to Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth, we even got to spend an extra day in Los Angeles and the sunshine instead of cold and snowy Denver.

We took the act on the road on Tuesday for Episode No. 9 of the Podcast of Awesomeness like we were a rock band on tour. So who better to have in for the show on the road than a guy who tallies more miles and hits more cities in more countries than anyone we know…

Oh yes, we had Chris Wilson back.

Chris and his band mates just finished a tour of the United States in which they hit 25 cities in 30 days. In one stretch they went from Washington, D.C. to Philadelphia then back to D.C. all in the name of rockin’. In addition to all those shows, the band appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s show, did a bit for The Onion’s A.V. Club in Chicago, jumped in on a number of radio shows all while traveling in a sprinter van.

And get this, starting on May 4, Chris and the gang hits six countries for 12 dates in 20 days before tearing through Canada and New England.

Think of all that laundry.

Anyway, if you’re planning on taking some trips this summer, check the band’s schedule and see if you cross paths. Better yet, here about some of the first part of the tour—as well as about the Flyers’ playoffs run—here:

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A few of us writing folks have a few to hit the road, too. In fact, Sarah Baicker and I will go to Newark, N.J. this Thursday to check out Game 5 of the Flyers-Devils series. Game 6, if needed, will be back here on Sunday.

Game 7… we’ll worry about that if it’s necessary.

PODCAST EPISODE NO. 8

April 15, 2010

One of the themes that is repeated often on this site isthe notion that some folks should not have to follow others. For instance, during one tour in the 1960s, The Monkees hired Jimi Hendrix to open for them and, famously, Jimi refused to open for The Who at Monterrey.

Needless to say, fans of The Monkees hated Jimi. Obviously, they weren’t ready for that yet.

Here at The Podcast of Awesomeness, we actually learn from history. We know we better than to go on after Hendrix, especially when we know he’s going to set his guitar on fire and smash it into a Marshall stack.

In this scenario my old friend Beth Shuba is our Jimi Hendrix. We knew we didn’t have the chops to follow her sordid tale about soccer and the female anatomy so we simply went underground for a week. We couldn’t top it, so we just let it go…

Actually, that’s not true. Donovan McNabb got traded and a one-day trip to Washington ended up lasting nearly a week. Moreover, while in D.C. I ran into frequent PoA guest, Chris Wilson, who was there on the tail end of the first leg of the Brutalist Bricks tour with his band Ted Leo & The Pharmacists. The plan to record the show back in Philadelphia at noon was postponed when Chris and I went searching for an all night bingo parlor.

Luck was not on our side since we didn't get to play bingo, but at least we found a place to help us stay hydrated.

Nevertheless, a week on the shelf still hasn’t been enough to erase Beth’s harrowing tale from our memory banks. It’s still burned in there and likely will be for the rest of our lives. Beth is like a rash in that sense.

We forged ahead anyway and acquitted ourselves reasonably well. At least that’s the way it sounded in the moment as we recorded the show. Why don’t you listen for yourself?

Download Awesome No. 8

We must mention that the eighth episode was the very last one we recorded in the office/studio on the penthouse level in the Wachovia Center of the lonely floor we called home for the past couple of years. It seems as if our little space has been earmarked for better use, so we’re homeless.

In other words, if someone has a space we can use for an hour or so in order to record our little dog-and-pony show, send a shout. We’ll be right over.

PODCAST EPISODE NO. 7

March 30, 2010

I like competitive running because there are no façades.The phrase, “This may hurt a little,” belongs exclusively to the circle of freaks who enjoy running marathons. In that sense it’s the ultimate “rub some dirt” on it sport and that often can be taken literally.

The fact is distance running is one of those things where if a participant has to take a rest stop, all normal societal norms and customs are abandoned. Have to go… then just go. No one is judging you.

The first time I ran the Boston Marathon was back in 1996, which was the 100^th anniversary of the great race. Needless to say the Boston Marathon is one of those sporting events that gets a little bit of attention. Make it the 100^th running of the race and there will be a few extra thousand set of eyes on the jaunt from the hamlet Hopkinton to Boston’s Back Bay. Toss in the fact that the race had the largest number of folks competing in a marathon (at that point in history), and the newsworthiness of it increases even more.

I remember that April day in 1996 as a sun-soaked but temperate one with gentle sea breezes blowing in our faces as we made our way to Boston. Couple all of this with the fact that the course starts with a pretty steep downhill portion and it made it easy to start out way too quickly. You know what they say about something being a marathon and not a sprint? Well, that’s especially true in marathons. You kind of need to pace yourself a bit.

Anyway, not far from my vantage point during the early portion of the race were the top women runners. Tegla Loroupe, a future word-record holder in the distance, was up there in the lead. So too was arguably the best women’s runner in the world in Uta Pippig. The problem was that by the halfway point Tegla was putting some distance between her and Uta to the point where it appeared as if it was going to end up as a cakewalk. Uta was fading badly and no one really knew why.

But oh boy oh boy did they ever find out. By overcoming a seemingly insurmountable 30-second deficit with a few miles to go, we learned very quickly what the problem was for Uta Pippig that sunny April day. It seemed as if it was Uta’s day in more ways than one.

Here, let this account of the race from Lorie Conway paint the picture:

On April 15 of this year, during the running of the 100th Marathon, Uta Pippig, the first woman to cross the finish line, had menstrual blood and diarrhea running down her legs.

While the crowd gathered in Copley Square roared their support, male commentators on radio and TV were, uncharacteristically, tongue-tied. Ironically, the only person to graphically describe what was happening on live TV was commentator Katherine Switzer. "Look, there's been a history of diarrhea in marathons, for any world class competitor knows it happens," Switzer said. "You just don't worry about it. You've got a race to run." There was no mention of bleeding. It was "diarrhea" that surprised people and that announcers picked up on. ...

I have to say that Uta showed an incredible amount of toughness that day that superseded her ability to win the Boston Marathon for the third year in a row. Certainly it was a toughness that I would never understand, even though just two years later on another sunny day in Washington, D.C., I could be found retching on the 14^th Street Bridge more than 22 miles into the Marine Corps Marathon. It wasn’t the bile and Clif Bar remnants that had me down that day—it was the fact that it took me just 1:55 to run the first 21 miles of that race and 1:02 to run the last five.

Things like what happened to Uta Pippig don’t really happen in too many other sports. At least they don’t happen in a setting that other people find out about it. However, that wasn’t the case with my friend Elizabeth Haralam Shuba. Actually, people would not have heard about it if she hadn’t written about it, which is what she did. Hey, Beth has something to say, and needs to put her feelings into words. I dig that and can relate a bit.

See, I’ve known Beth ever since my family moved to Lancaster in 1981. She lived on Marietta Avenue and I lived on Woods. From James Buchanan Elementary, to Wheatland Junior High and on to McCaskey High, we were in the same vicinity for all those years. In fact, her dad was our family’s dentist (and a great dentist at that). So I had the knowledge that Beth could tell a story or two. She has that gift.

She also has no façades, which is something we all love about her. Check out this story she wrote for her site, “The Joy of Being a Monkey Wrench.” After you’ve read it, listen here:

Podcast No. 7

Look, Beth is no Uta Pippig dashing over Heartbreak Hill looking like she’d taken on sniper fire to win the Boston Marathon. But there is something to be said for an athlete who preserves and fights through injury, nature or biology. That’s especially the case in soccer, where the Seattle club in the MLS looked as if they were being beaten by an angry mob during last week's debut for the Philadelphia Union. Those Seattle guys were rolling around on the grass and crying for the stretcher if a Philly guy even looked at them cross-eyed. It made me ashamed to be a man.

No one wants to see that kind of behavior. If there is going to be blood, at least it should be earned. That's what Uta and Beth have taught us.

Also on the seventh episode of the show, we talk about baseball with Curt Gill of the great podcast, Atlanta Baseball Talk. Curt breaks down the upcoming season for the Phillies' top competition in the NL East for us and explains why Atlantans might not be the most rabid of sports fans.

He also says to expect the Braves in the playoffs this year. The Braves and Phillies... together again.

PODCAST EPISODE NO. 6

March 23, 2010

Remember how it was when you were a kid just trying to get that first job or internship? Filled with cock-eyed optimism and enough enthusiasm to provide power to an entire city if properly harnessed, these youngsters keep us old dudes on our toes.

See, I remember being young and how difficult it was to wedge out even the tiniest bit of space for myself in the hard-scrabble world of pro writin’. Back then kids like me were to be seen and not heard. We were told that any idea we had was a bad one or required too many resources and/or money or, simply, there were dues to be paid and I didn’t have enough capital yet.

Now that I’m older and been around the block once or twice, I’ve been able to reflect on how things were at the beginning of this bumpy ride of writing sentences for a living. You know what? The old dudes were wrong. The old dudes are always wrong.

Youthful exuberance is infectious. Sure, the kids coming up these days need guidance and some nurturing, but the best thing for a workplace caught in a Groundhog’s Day spin of banging its heads against the wall is to feed off that energy. Bring in the kids and try to see things the way they see things for a change. While you’re at it, mix your old ideas up with some new ideas. Not only does it keep a guy young, it makes everything feel and look better.

There’s nothing wrong with calling the kids up from the minors and letting them push the veterans a little bit. It’s good for everyone and, frankly, it may be one of the reasons why my former medium of choice has been in the dumps for the past decade. Progress and technology are supposed to make your product better… if you allow it.

Anyway, we had a kid named Christian in the office today for an interview. Fresh faced and with nothing but high hopes and big dreams sparkling from his eye, we thought it would be a neat thing to bring Christian into the room where we recorded The Podcast of Awesomeness and put him on the spot. You know, see how the kid could handle a little pressure from a bunch of old dudes who subscribe to the theory that youth is not wasted on the young, but wasted away by old curmudgeons.

Sarah Baicker led Christian right into the fray and the kid knocked it right out of the park. I’m not saying he got the internship yet, but if his poise and sharpness displayed in front of a firing squad that has taken aim at plenty of coaches, managers and GMs in Philadelphia over the past 10 years, well, he’s going to be OK.

And get this, Christian told us that someday he would like to write columns and host a show of some sort. That sounds like he’s coming after me, doesn’t it?

Here… listen to what the kid has to say:

P of A NO. 6

Of course we take our time getting to the meat of the program. We sandwiched it up in a menagerie of chatter about college hoops, the Flyers and the Eagles. We also invited the newest member of the team to the show as Enrico Campitelli joined in.

Don’t know Enrico? Well, have you ever heard of The 700 Level? Yes, that’s him. Enrico runs the show at the popular sports site that is now part of the CSNPhilly.com family. He’s going to fit in quite well…

Or else.

http://media.avclub.com/assets/flash/video/widescreen_player/bin-release/widescreen_player.swf

PODCAST EPISODE NO. 5

March 18, 2010

We fancy ourselves a knowledgeable bunch here at ThePodcast of Awesomeness. We’re a diverse bunch who comes from different places, with different backgrounds and an array of educational resumes. More importantly, we’ve been around. We’ve seen and done things and when we mix it all up it makes for some good conversation.

Did you know that Dennis Deitch worked on a dude ranch in Wyoming before deciding to give writing a try? Does it seem as if Sarah Baicker was a debutante who went to the best finishing schools in the land until she realized she wanted to hang around the dingy and sullen atmosphere that is an NHL dressing room?

It’s all true.

Dan Roche was a backyard wrestling announcer who doubled as a nightclub crooner. He seems to have been born into a tuxedo and ruffled shirt. Mike Radano rode the rails as a country western singer before he got caught up in the fickle world of corporate downsizing.

Me? Well, I had a lot of jobs before turning to spinning a phrase or two… where do you think I met all of those folks?

Nevertheless, we put our knowledge and experiences to the test during Thursday’s recording of EPISODE NO. 5. That’s because we had a couple of guests on the show who have seen more than all of us. Better yet, one of them has the answer sheet.

Oh yes, Johnny Goodtimes, the official quiz master of Philadelphia, came in for a visit. And yes, he brought the knowledge. Then again, go see for yourself and check out Mr. Goodtimes in action at the Quizzo Bowl VI at the TLA on South Street on Saturday. You really ought to go.

Meanwhile, we dialed up Chris Wilson of Ted Leo & The Pharmacists to check in on him and the rest of the gang as they make their way across the country. In fact, we caught up with Chris in Missoula, Montana before the gang piled into the van to drive to a gig in Spokane, Wash.[1]

Here, take a listen:

PODCAST EPISODE NO. 5

If I had my druthers, I’d be out at the Quizzo Bowl VI on Saturday night at the TLA. But since I have to raise my kids and that kind of stuff, I’ll probably get on the internet and watch the appearance by Chris, Ted and the rest of the Pharmacists on The Onion’s A.V. Club. What happened was each band showed up in the offices at the A.V. Club in Chicago, picked a song to cover, and got at it.

For TL/Rx, that number was Tears for Fears’, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.”

It’s gone downright viral on these internets.

So we’ll be back with another show next week. It’s doubtful that it will be as funny (or as much as a train wreck) as No. 5, but whatever.

P.S. There was a portion of the show sliced out because it may have been slightly over the edge. Problem is it's really, really funny and we don't quite know what to do with it yet. Stay tuned.

[1] Apparently I mispronounced both Spokane and Minneapolis in succession during the show. Smart.