BTW, as a followup on the Bedard issue I posted about last night, here is the text of an email I sent to the host in question - would love to see some dialogue on the air about him in that context, but I'm not holding my breath.
Hi _____ ,
First, I’m gonna let you know that I’ve listened to you off and on for years, including back in your days in _______. You are by far the most knowledgeable host on that station and it isn’t even close – even if you are a Cougar. Now that I’ve buttered you up (and I mean that stuff), can you give us a little break on your irrational hatred of Bedard? In lieu of the fact that the guy pitched pretty darn well for having a torn labrum, maybe we ought to appreciate his effort in spite of the shoulder hurting. As a matter of fact the pressure for him to pitch in pain may easily have contributed to a tear instead of just soreness.
Tearing a labrum hardly is something to fault the pitcher for. As far as I’m concerned Bedard had an extremely unfair shake during his time here, led mostly by the schizophrenics over at (that popular Seattle cyber site)(can you tell I’m not a huge fan of those guys, evn though their smart?), but also by his unfair treatment from the media. I think we all knew that he wasn’t going to be a great interview and that he comes across as disdainful to you guys. I’m not a stranger to that as I grew up in a baseball beat writer’s house and I have been around a lot of these guys growing up – I know that guys like him don’t make your guys’ job any easier. Even with that though, I think his rep with the media tainted his evaluation by them. I can only imagine how good a healthy Bedard would be. In fact, his best opportunity to come back may yet be here…and I’d be all for that.
I would have done the same trade the M’s did to get him and I’ve always maintained that. I can’t turn back the clock and have known he was going to tear his labrum. He may have had some nagging injuries at times, but there is no one who could have accurately predicted any specific injury (like some people now like to claim). The fact that he broke down is not his fault and it’s not the M’s fault. They were coming off of a successful season and Bedard was a true ace. Adam Jones is certainly a borderline all-star, but his replacement seems to be doing just fine. Tillman may develop into a #1 starter, but as with any pitcher, he’s a risk. The rest was pretty much filler. Sherrill was easily replaced, Butler is nice prospect, but he was easily replaced too. Same for Mickolio.
Anyway, keep up the good work. Like your show. Just quibbling on one issue.
Cheers,
Russ
to sell papers and commercials.
Easiest way to draw a crowd, is to shock or criticize in an over-the-top fashion. We can kibitz that much, our own selves, from a public-speaking standpoint.
When the audience is bored, bash somebody and suddenly the phone lines will light up.
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There's an alternative, which is to make the effort to prepare quality content. Someday you and I might try that, eh Russ ;- )