Great segment between Dino Costa of Mad Dog Radio on Sirius XM and Dave Zirin, who writes about the politics of sports for the Nation Magazine.

Zirin had this to say on MSNBC about the Jets acquisition of Tim Tebow.

There are a lot of LGBT people that live in New York City who are also football fans and they might want to know why the new, possibly, starting quarterback for the New York Jets wants them to move backwards 30 or 40 years

Dino Costa of Mad Dog Radio on Sirius XM, had a 20 minute conversation and challenged Zirin.

Download the interview here

Today is the 50th anniversary of Wilt Chamberlain’s 100- point game against the Knicks in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Gary Pomerantz of Stanford University wrote a book in 2005 called “Wilt 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era.”  Today, he joins me to remember the unique event in sports history.

The NBA was a far different league on that Friday night in 1962. Only 4,124 showed up to see Chamberlain, then a member of the Philadelphia Warriors. Hear Pomerantz discuss the game in great detail, how it changed the league, and provide an interesting take on Wilt that you may not have heard before.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

DOWNLOAD THE MP3

Forget the skills competition, 3-point contest, dunk contest, Jeremy Lin or Lebron in the 4th quarter; the real story at NBA All Star Weekend – at least for me – was former ESPN journalist Chris Sheridan challenging David Stern on the vetoed Chris Paul trade to the Lakers from earlier this year.

We have seen these media congregation all too often. The writers stand around a commissioner – in this case Stern- ask a few questions and get a live version of an NBA press release. Stern isn’t an easy guy to interview, as his legal background allows him to “bob and weave” with the best of them. He gladly would tell everyone about the great job the city of Orlando was doing or what a great story that Jeremy Lin is; ask him about the city of Seattle or Chris Paul and you get the death stare. Most writers want their quotes and run along to file another “puff piece” that fills space and meets their editors demands. Chris Sheridan, now an independent journalist, doesn’t have that luxury nor desire; he actually went into the Stern congregation looking for information.

Sheridan worked for the Associated Press for 18 years before joining ESPN in 2005. Last year, there were reports he filed a libel suit against Peter Vecsey of the NY Post when Vecsey suggested his reporting was “make-believe.” There was some speculation that Sheridan’s ESPN departure was due to the suit, although I have yet to read confirmation of that from Sheridan.

He launched Sheridan Hoops before the season, which has become more of a pro hoops destination for me than ESPN or NBA.com. It’s a site that has good information, strong opinion and intelligent writing that also includes international coverage.

Everyone knows that Stern vetoed the Paul to the Lakers deal over objections from the other owners.  The original deal would have New Orleans sending Paul to the Lakers for F Lamar Odom (from LA Lakers), SG Kevin Martin (from HOU Rockets), PF Luis Scola (from HOU Rockets), and PG Goran Dragic (from HOU Rockets). Houston would land PF Pau Gasol (from LA Lakers).

That deal was overturned by the NBA and Paul went to the Clippers for SG Eric Gordon, C Chris Kaman, SF Al-Farouq Aminu and their unprotected 2012 first-round draft pick to the New Orleans Hornets for Paul and a pair of 2015 second-round picks.

Any educated NBA fan can see the original deal involved more talent and a better return for the Hornets. So the obvious question is why did Stern allow the owners to pressure him into overturning the transaction?

Sheridan elected to not only question Stern about the deal, but push him when the response was less than forthright. Here’s the transcript:

Sheridan.  It’s been two months now since you vetoed the Chris Paul to the Lakers trade, and it’s given you two months of the benefit of hindsight and two months to look at the impact it’s had on several teams, the Clippers, the Lakers and especially the Hornets.  Given the benefit of that hindsight, was that veto, since you’ve never done one before, the right thing to do, and why?

Stern:  You’ve been around too long to phrase the question that way.  I didn’t veto anything.  We are acting on behalf of the owners, as the owners’ rep. New Orleans decided not to make the trade.

Sheridan.  Well, whose decision was it to stop the trade?

Stern:  No, not to stop.  There’s no superstar that gets traded in this league unless the owner says, go ahead with it.  And in the case of New Orleans, the representative of the owner said, “That’s not a trade we’re going to make.”

Sheridan.  But that representative was you?

Stern:  Correct.

Sheridan.  So in effect then, you said the trade is not going to go through?

Stern:  I said that New Orleans would not make the trade that had been proposed to them.

Sheridan:  And was that the right move to make?

Stern:  You know, buy a ticket and see.  We’ll see how it works out.

Sheridan.  I hate to press you on it, and I don’t want to break decorum ‑‑

Stern:  No, that’s okay, go ahead.

Sheridan.  The Hornets didn’t make out as well in that trade as they would have made out in the earlier trade in terms of talent.  The best player they’ve got is injured and the draft pick is the same draft pick.

Stern:  I could go toe to toe.  It wouldn’t be breaking decorum, it would be taking a lot of people’s time.  You’re arguing whether we thought Marc Gasol would be an All‑Star.

Sheridan:  I think we’ve always been in agreement on that.

Stern:  You knew he was going to be an All‑Star?

Sheridan:  Absolutely, sir.  I cover a lot of international basketball.

Stern:  Okay, I have no further questions for the witness then.  Next question.

Give Sheridan credit for not allowing Stern to “piss on his leg and tell him it’s raining.” He came prepared with information and pressed Stern in an assertive, but not disrespectful manner.

Would the suits at ESPN – an NBA partner- been happy with Sheridan pushing the Commissioner as he did? With well over 20 year’s experience, Sheridan probably had a better chance of getting away with it than newer writers. Obviously, working for himself doesn’t come with such concerns.

This is how you talk about sports. This is how newspaper writing, radio and television should be conducted. It’s not about trivia, lazy memes or “how do you feel” questions. We complain about how society is “dumber,” but our news outlets are participating in the dumbing down- sports reporting being one of the main culprits!

Saturation of media has given fans choices. Those that provide intelligent content where the reader/viewer/listener learns something will rise to the top.

Chris Sheridan is one of the guys that “get it.”

Kudos.

You can follow him on Twitter @sheridanhoops or go to sheridanhoops.com

***

I also want to give Justin Termine of Mad Dog Radio kudos for bringing up this issue, along with the city of Seattle, in an interview on Mad Dog Radio. Unfortunately, that station does not podcast their interviews in full so I can’t point you in the direction of a replay

The mixed martial arts world may not be familiar with WFAN’s Morning Show host, Craig Carton. If they weren’t, then Thursday night’s premiere of MMA Uncensored Live on Spike should give them an indication for what they are in store.

Carton is known to ambush guests on WFAN (see Tino Martinez, Jennifer Capriati and Jenn Sterger, among others), and he performed similar antics to kick off his new show.

MMA Fighter Nick Diaz was their inaugural guest in what was an uncomfortable six minutes of television. Diaz was recently suspended from fighting in Las Vegas due to testing positive for marijuana; a touchy subject with a guest that clearly isn’t friendly or engaging. Enter the toxic Carton and you have a perfect storm.

Anyone who interviews a difficult person or delicate topic knows that you loosen up the interviewee on the first one or two questions. It’s the only way to have a decent shot of a solid segment. When it’s a punch-drunk MMA fighter, you might want to be extra careful. Not Carton, as he went for the “gusto” and asked about Diaz’ drug use immediately. This put him on the defensive and led to one of the worst sports interviews I have ever watched.

I will let you watch for yourself.

To be fair, this wasn’t an easy segment for Carton to kick off his MMA career. However, he showed no ability or desire to even try. It was the typical “shock jock ambush” that has earned him a cheap path to FAN stardom.

Mind you, I don’t follow MMA, but I do understand its rapid growth in this country. I wanted to see what those closer to the sport think of my take on this show. I reached out to a former journalist for “Full Contact Fighter” and MMAFighting.com, who thinks Carton is exactly what the sport doesn’t need.

“(Carton) portrays an ‘expert’ level of knowledge when it suits him. That combined with his abrasive personality are just a huge turn-off for me. I consider him and him alone my reason for switching to satellite radio in the mornings…when it comes to mixed martial arts; he has even less of a place. He has no credentials nor passable knowledge, other than perhaps maybe ordering a pay-per-view.”

Carton is not about growing MMA or doing something revolutionary with the sport in television. He made the first show about himself- what he does every morning on the FAN – and ticked off a guest in the process. Was there any reason to watch the rest of the show? I didn’t, since I knew I wasn’t going to learn anything about the sport. For the MMA-junkies, how can you respect a show when you know more about the topic than its primary host? Not just a little bit more, but significantly more.

I applaud Spike for their open-minded view on a growing alternative sport. WFAN should have some sort of niche-content addressing the sport; perhaps now that Carton is involved, they will.

The problem is they have an individual as the face of the show with no knowledge, respect or ability to grow the sport in a positive way. If MMA wanted to embrace a new base of fans – which I assume is one of the goals with the Spike venture- the introduction to MMA Uncensored Live couldn’t go any worse.

Chris “Mad Dog” Russo claimed earlier today that an MLB official told him that Ryan Braun “did steroids.”

You can listen to his segment (courtesy of Bob’s Blitz) below.

“I just got off the phone with somebody in baseball,” Russo said. “And I said give me an answer: Braun guilty or not guilty. Steroids or a PED or something. Chris, if it walks like a cat, if it swims like a duck, quacks like a duck, you know what Chrissy? Chances are that baby’s a duck.  Yes, Braun did steroid-  MLB.” 

Keep in mind that Russo has historically been anti-Players Association and pro-owner. Look up lords and serfs from your old high school history textbook and you will understand how Russo feels the owner/player relationship should really be.

The latest edition of the podcast focuses on spring football, or what use to be known as the United States Football League

In 2007, Michael Damergis wrote a 25th-anniversary commemorative book about the USFL called “USFL: The Rebel League the NFL Didn’t Respect but Feared.”

Hear us talk about memorable games, how the USFL teams became more popular in certain cities than their NFL counterparts, and why the league ultimately failed.

It’s also amazing to hear the star names that went on to great NFL careers such as Jim Kelly, Herschel Walker, Bart Oates and Reggie White. Coaches included Jim Mora and Steve Spurrier.

Also hear how Donald Trump, owner of the New Jersey Generals, passed on bringing Boomer Esiason home in 1985, despite Boomer being the preference of his coach, Walt Michaels.

Listen to a fun trip down memory lane when baseball wasn’t the only story in the spring and early summer.
You can check out Michael’s website USFL-The Rebel League, here. 

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

DOWNLOAD THE MP3

We have really gone soft as a society. I always say there is a small contingent of people that wake up in the morning waiting to get offended. They carry enormous clout because of the large corporate dollars in media. These groups know that even the tiniest squeaky wheel can force a company to pull the precious advertising dollars from a media outlet.

It easily happens; think of the modern world of media as a sidewalk full of banana peels. You can avoid one or two, but it’s inevitable the “looking-to-get-offended” crowd finds the right one for a media conglomerate or personality to slip on. Some (see WFAN’s Craig Carton) make their living on being inappropriate. That makes it easy to point out and criticize their behavior. It also makes it justified because of the intent. In the case of the ESPN “Chink in the Armor” headline scenario, I think bad judgment led to an overreaction with the firing and suspension of the participants.

The ESPN.com headline “Chink in the Armor” that described Jeremy Lin’s 9-turnover performance on Friday certainly was preventable. You always have to think twice, submit once, when you write something on the web. I recently made a bad editorial decision over at my baseball site, nybaseballdigest.com, in which I offended a mainstream writer. It was unintentional, but after a conversation with said writer, I made the proper edits to the story. I always say that you can criticize whomever you want, just as long as you can justify your actions to that person. That’s why you will never see handles or pseudonyms on any of my projects. I stand by my work and will take the fall for any mistakes or edits. My email and phone number are readily available to talk to anyone.

What made the ESPN.com headline even worse was how the same mistake was made by one of their television anchors (Max Bretos) and on the radio. ESPN moved swiftly to issue an apology for the headline that was in poor taste, but the memo didn’t get to Bretos, who used it in passing on a sports update, and an anchor on ESPN Radio, who used referenced the term “chink in the armor,” as well.

I have used the term “chink in the armor” in my writing and radio. Not once have I intended to offend Asian-Americans. I also don’t see how “chink in the armor” references Asian-Americans. I suspect the only reason this was an issue for ESPN was because Jeremy Lin was part of the discussion. If Toney Douglas were on a similar 7-game run and committed 9 turnovers, would it have mattered? Would the blogosphere make as big a deal?

Here is the kicker. I am defending ESPN despite the fact they are known to not cite the work of other outlets; often using it as their own scoop. I view them as the arrogant leader, a big media conglomerate that, at times, flexes its financial might in a boorish way. When you live by that type of credo, there are tons of people waiting to pick you off. The “Chink in the Armor” headline was exactly the ammunition for the little guy to fight back. Remember, this was pointed out by the blogosphere, not any mainstream media critics.

We don’t know the inner details, but I have a hard time believing that any of the participants knowingly went out to make derogatory statements about Lin or the Asian-American community. I say this also knowing how the attention he is getting is bothering many. Lin is viewed as an outsider taking the spotlight away from African-Americans in their game. Any failure will be met with joy by non-Knicks partisans. Lin is the anti-NBA star; educated, moral and articulate. He lives his life off-the-court in a way that fans can relate. More so than Lebron, Kobe or even his teammate, Carmelo Anthony.

I also wonder if Bretos were African-American, and not white, would he have been disciplined? Jason Whitlock of Fox Sports made an overtly derogatory comment about Lin last week and I don’t see Fox Sports removing him from their coverage. In that case an apology was enough; of course, Whitlock is African-American, so the same rules don’t always apply.

ESPN has done a great job putting a target on their back. Unfortunately, the wrong people take the fall in this case.

The Jeremy Lin story has finally transcended basketball. It’s opened up dialogue about race, education and various racial stereotypes. It’s become a minefield for anyone to discuss because of the nature of the PC crowd. Maybe it’s time to get over it before we lose track of what this is: a great human interest and sports story.

“Nobody cares about hockey,” is a common meme when New York sports media outlets are criticized for their lack of coverage of the sport. In a town where there are three hockey teams with rich traditions, the 24-hour sports radio station – WFAN- dedicates little-to-no-coverage of the sport. The other print and media outlets are equally sparse with their hockey talk. Is there really a lack of interest? Let’s take a look:

To date, the attendance figures of the Rangers, Devils, and Islanders are:

Rangers: 18,186 per game for 26 home dates = 472,852

Devils: 15,104 per game for 28 home dates = 422,917

Islanders: 12,787 per game for 30 home dates = 383,611

A total of 1,279,380 fans have walked through a turnstile to watch an NHL game in this area. Last season, the Knicks drew 808,879 patrons to MSG; the hockey teams in this area have them beat with about 25% of the home schedule remaining! If we ignore hockey should we ignore the Knicks as well? That 1.2 million figure is also a little more than half of what the Mets drew last season. As much as I love baseball, there is just so many times you can debate where A.J. Burnett should be traded to or complain about the Mets lack of finances.

I am not suggesting that hockey talk should surpass the Mets, Yankees or NFL. The Jets and Giants should dominate the airwaves from September to January, with the only exception being an October postseason run by the Yankees and/or Mets. Don’t you think the media could find time to talk about a sport that has intelligent and loyal fans? Other than the Giants, Rangers fans are probably the most loyal in this city. Think about how they captivated the city in 1994. Don’t you see this team perhaps doing the same if they are in the Stanley Cup Finals in June? Would it kill the WFAN, or any other New York media outlet, to incorporate the sport into their programming? Even if it’s a niche show on the weekends or at night.

So, I ask you again, do you still think nobody cares or talks about hockey?  My numbers don’t support that position.

“We are going to delve into the digital end of the business in the near future in a way that will be revolutionary to all radio shows. What we do, they will all copy.” - Mike Francesa in July of 2011. 

The technology that was promised in September of 2011 finally launched on February 13th, 2012; better late than never, I guess.

I downloaded the free app called “Audio Roadshow” that is currently only available for the iPhone. Francesa claims it will be available on the Droid within six weeks. Based on his first ETA I wouldn’t hold my breath on that due date.

I wouldn’t call the app “revolutionary,” but it probably doesn’t deserve the ridicule that is being hurled throughout the blogosphere. If you are a fan of Francesa, you will find it useful since it gives you daily information about what to expect from the show. The fact that it costs nothing makes it a low leverage purchase that won’t be a waste even if you use it occasionally.

You can get the daily guest lineup, and what guest is “up next” and “on air”.

The two fan interactive features are “spot poll” and “10 seconds of glory.”

The poll is self explanatory where you can vote on a topic for Mike to get a pulse of the people.

This might be the most useful part of the app since there has been a clear disconnect between what Mike believes people think and reality.

As for the “10 seconds of glory,” there are corporate voicemail systems that allow you longer messages. I am not sure anything of value will come from a listener throwing out a 10-second rant.

I agreed with a caller that suggested to Mike they should have an archive for Francesa’s show (like my NYBD app). I also think he should look at the app for the “Rush Limbaugh Show” that has video, a studio camera, ability to email the show, and transcripts of monologues and interviews. Politics aside, Rush’s app is revolutionary, not Francesa’s.

The fact this was called “Audio Roadshow” tells me they are going to be using it for the station on a broader basis. Francesa’s show is just being used in the test phase.

Here are some excerpts from some of the first reviews after its release:

- “Boring app! It does nothing. Bad name too.”

- Useless app. What a complete letdown.”

- “Revolutionary app that radio shows across the country will copy? I mean geez, how lost is Francesa.”

- “What is so special about this…online polls? Not the first place to have em…groundbreaking? Revolutionary? Eh…not so much.”

- “Decent app with polls, guest list and you can listen live without any long lag from the actual broadcast. Also, you can “10 seconds of glory” where you can record yourself and send it to the show.  But revolutionary? Not even close.”

- “Cool app, but not exactly revolutionary.”

The latest edition of the Sports Media Watchdog Podcast has Mark Lepselter, the founder of Maxx Sports Entertainment, joining me.

Mark is the agent for numerous athletes, broadcasters, and entertainers. Included on that list is such notables such as former Giants RB Tiki Barber, former NFL safety Rodney Harrison, Hall of Fame LB Lawrence Taylor, Brandon Tierney of 95.7 The Game, WFAN’s Joe Benigno, and Sid Rosenberg of WQAM down in South Florida.

We discuss the Super Bowl in Indianapolis and the media explosion during the event. Hear the challenges both Barber (SNY) and Harrison (NBC) faced during their transition from the gridiron to the broadcast booth. Mark tells us how he helped get Lawrence Taylor back on the map in the late-nineties, as well as clear the air on some public misunderstandings about his run-ins with WFAN’s Mike Francesa during the last few months.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

DOWNLOAD THE MP3