Best Radio Show in Town

3 radio shows on WQFS were listed on an article for best radio in Greensboro and not one of them was Chuck Carroll's Thursday 6-8 pm show. Maybe I'm biased b/c he trained me at QFS 15 years ago. Maybe I'm biased b/c I was driving around and stumbled onto some Uriah Heap and he was the one playing it. Maybe I'm biased b/c he plays T. Rex and Thin Lizzy. But it's the only radio show that I try to listen to even if I'm not driving in my car. That's saying something. I'd also like to give and honorable mention to Josh Neas' Wednesday 6-8pm show which has an honor all Replacements requests policy. And Jack Bonney the station manager who has brought WUAG to the top of the radio presets. I don't think he does a regular show any more, but he did play Langley Schools Music Projects version of "Band on the Run" in honor of George Harrison's death. That was a powerful moment.

Stuff I'm on top of

The Randy Moss trade seems like a big win for the Raiders. The Raiders hardly give up a bounty. Napoleon Harris was a 1st round pick, but he hasn't been a star. Phillip Buchanon would have been much better for the Vikings. That #7 overall selection doesn't look so good. Now I don't want to praise the Raiders too much b/c they just signed Jerry Porter to a big contract, but Randy Moss will make Kerry Collins happy. I think the only reason the league doesn't officially announce this trade is to give the clothing companies a chance to make enough authentic #84 Raiders jerseys.

Stuff I forgot to blog about

Super Bowl - sucked. I hate the Patriots. They may never top the Cowboys or the Giants, but they have my undying hatred.

Duke-Carolina 1 - If Carolina plays that bad and only loses by 1 point w/ a chance to win at the end, then they can win any game. I know they actually lost the game, but their defense was (and has continued to be) awesome. They will make baskets and win subsequent Duke games.

Steroids, NASCAR, and the Great Frisco Freakout

This new Jose Canseco book has brought an ugly reality to light. Not that baseball's new round of record breakers are tainted by steroids. As long as there wasn't a rule against it or baseball didn't enforce any rule against it, there's not really any room to complain. It may have been illegal, but so are drunk driving, cheating on your taxes, and smoking weed. The real problem is I keep seeing the images from Jose's tryout w/ the Dodgers last year. He's wearing the same shirt I bought Pete Smith for the previous Christmas. What's so disturbing is I bought that shirt at Wal-mart for $5. How can I believe Jose's book isn't a money grubbing publicity stunt when he's wearing the same shirt I bought at Wal-mart? Oh, and I'm a cheap bastard of a brother, but that's not anything new (I'm also a cheap bastard as a husband, father, son, neighbor, employee, friend, etc.)

NASCAR is back and not a moment too soon. That 1 weekend b/w the Super Bowl and the Daytona 500 was tough. I wanted to sit around the house and drink beer while watching sports, but I found myself playing w/ the kids, talking to the wife, cleaning up, and on and on. I'm glad it's another 51 weeks before I have to do that again. The biggest change this year is that ESPN is actually devoting air time to NASCAR. I saw Jeff Gordon on PTI. Kenny Mayne and Dr. Jerry Punch are trackside at Daytona (spawning 2 great KM lines - first, after a wreck he deadpanned "I'm an excellent driver" and after the JJ/Harvick incident they showed JJ ranting about Harvick needed to be fined/suspended/fired and KM offered "how about a public caning"). This tells me NASCAR will probably be back on ESPN at the expense of the current NBC broadcasts. NASCAR disappeared from the ESPN radar after they left the network, but a feature story on top of the live Daytona broadcasts every night on Sportscenter this week says we are serious about NASCAR. And NASCAR's willingness to follow the almighty dollar foretells bad things for NBC.

I got my state tax refund this week, but I still haven't gotten my money from the Federales. I hope it's not being used to fund some kind of private retirement account for me.

Finally, the last I, Max aired this week. I figured if I mentioned that my blog would top Google's search list if anyone ever googles "I, Max." You certainly aren't going to get any info from Fox Sports.

Worst Show Ever?

I read today, that "I, Max" will air its last episodes this week. I only recently watched the show after the initial fanfare. I even blogged about it. This can't be the worst show on sports television. So you don't like Max Kellerman b/c he's an opinionated New York jerk who only knows boxing. Put him on the Sports Reporters in Mike Lupica's place, and the only difference is you have someone who is knowledgeable about boxing. The professionals who write about sports television (and I guess sports) seem really bitter about a show that pays more for 30 minutes of work than The Daily Planet pays in a month. They take out their frustrations on the show and its sometimes funny, sometimes annoying, always opinionated cast. Just like I mock those reporters b/c I'd like my job to be watching sports on television. $75K + expenses (ie watching sports on tv at a bar) and I'm there.

Uncomfortable w/ Negroes

I was at work reading this 1960 account of the sit-in movement in North Carolina. A lady I work with came to my cube to get me to do some work for her, and I have to admit I felt a little uncomfortable with the boldface type on my screen "Negro Knocked Down." She didn't say anything, but my security badge will probably be disabled this weekend.

"The Shot" Update

This was in the News and Record today.

"There came a point Friday when Jordan Snipes' amazing shot at Randolph-Macon had evolved into a minor nuisance for Guilford College. The college's Web site included a link to a high-resolution video of the long distance shot, which made CNN, ESPN and various other worldwide media outlets and gave the Quakers a 91-89 overtime victory Tuesday night. At a hit every 12 seconds, the page with the video was overloading the server capacity for www.guilford.edu, and early Friday afternoon, the school's Webmaster called sports information director Dave Walters and asked him to take the thing off the athletics department's segment of the site. Hits to the page in question were taking an estimated 80 percent of network capacity. That's the price of fame."

The Shot

If you haven't heard about the 87 foot game winner Jordon Snipes hoisted for Guilford College on Monday, I guess you don't watch sportscenter or live w/in 100 miles of Greensboro. Almost as impressive, he did it again for a channel 2 news crew. I was going to go to the game on Saturday, but the media types will be there and the fans will be yelling for him to shoot in the backcourt. I may just go to the UNCG/Davidson game.