SUNDAY WRAP-UP
The post-game 49ers/Raiders shows on local radio and TV are positively dreadful; maybe the most melba toast broadcasts in Bay Area history.
On TV, the NBC Sports Bay Area offering with Dave Feldman, commentators Dennis Brown and Jeff Garcia is an hour-long, tortured, repetitious, hodgepodge better suited for a high-school detention class. Just plain insufferable.
Feldman, the ringleader, as usual, offers nothing but banal chatter. He couldn't carry a show if his life depended on it.
Brown, the former Niners' player, could be a decent commentator but week after week, says nothing. Worse, Brown has a habit of constantly saying "the football"; it's annoying after one or two references and downright hideous after more and Brown doesn't disappoint. He needs coaching there.
Garcia, another ex-jock, could also offer some more enlightening criticism (constructive and otherwise) but other than the usual "they (49ers) give good effort" jock speak, is a weekly vanilla wafer. Garcia was known as a rebel on the field but that obviously hasn't translated to the broadcast studio.
It's easy to conclude that with the 49ers awful season heading in historical path, what is there to say? I mean, crap is crap, right? Wrong. There's plenty to articulate and go after, legitimately so, but you'll never see it on the cable drivel with Feldman and his double twits.
On radio, it's worse. KNBR's weeny morsels say the SAME thing over and over; they might as well tape each show and insert different team names. Larry Krueger hosts and says every conceivable cliché --Krueger is joined by local schmucko, the human windbag, John Lund, whose repertoire consists of "I like the 49ers progress; with their cap space and draft picks, this could be a great team." Well, duh! And if you pour gas on a fire you'd have one badass fire, thanks a lot, Lundie. Just awesome. Former 49er and NFL honcho, Merton Hanks, adds a little sugar and spice but often gets interrupted by Lund. Gees, what a surprise.
By their very nature, postgame shows are usually tepid and boring. Nobody says anything of substance and criticism is muted by the ex-players reluctance to rip into their fellow athletes ; Howard Cosell called it the jockocracy; there's exceptions, Steve Young is terrific; but he's in the minority.
The Raiders post-game offer on their flagship 95.7 FM (The Game) is also not worthy of your time. Its host, Chris Townsend, sounds like a booster club president and offers little insight other than standard-faire analysis that is mundane and a snoozer. Townsend's show is caller-driven and the leather lungs from the Silver and Black denizen schtick gets old pretty fast because they do a lot of screaming and yelling and say, NOTHING.
Bad TV. Bad radio.
Pass the melba toast. 
If Lund and Bob whats his name ever became co hosts? It would be three hours of non stop giggles-every friggin day. Pays the bill I guess.
ReplyDeleteInteresting to see once the CBS/Entercom radio finally completes its merge the 95.7 staff will be on pins and needles for changes...expect CBS Sports Radio along with Jim Rome coming to 95.7 and Scotty Ferrall that means no spot for Towney...
ReplyDeleteThat's John Lund? So much older than I thought. What's up with the back of his head? The hair resembles my old dog.
ReplyDeleteWhat's up with the left side of Larry's face? And do I spy moobs?
Larry is fatter than Gary. He's always talking about the gym most be a restaurant.
ReplyDeleteDennis Brown's over use of 'the football' is standard football-jock-speak. Blame Madden.
ReplyDeleteStill, the one that I hate is on NBA games, when everybody's talking about the importance of 'scoring the basketball'...or, if you're Charles Barkley, 'It's turribly impornnt ta score da baskabah'.
you left out bill romanowski, who is annoying to listen to on the pregame show, and there is another show chris does with george atkinson and david humm who are both terrible speakers and nothing either, total, total waste of time
ReplyDeleteromo!
DeleteRich, whatever happened to KRONS Tiffany McElroy ( and her BREAKING NEWS DESK)? She’s been conspicuously MIA recently.
ReplyDeleteThey all suck. The postgame BS sessions are nothing more than advertising for the teams. Be dammed if you say anything bad. If you're smart (and sadly, most listeners aren't), your viewing should end when the game ends. The only things interesting would be any postgame presser video from the podium or the locker room. But that's it. The rest of it is dribble. People need to wake up and realize the programmers are trying to zombie us.
ReplyDeleteThank God for an exciting World Series.
ReplyDeleteMatt Steinmetz and John Dickinson are good entertainment on 95.7 The Game on Saturday mornings. Funny how a great team makes sports talk fun to listen to.
ReplyDeletesteinmetz tries too hard to be edgy and frankly he comes across as rather pompus just like michael urban
DeleteI enjoy the post-game show on KNBR and find Lund to be totally different (i.e., intelligent) compared to his weekly show with Tolbert. Sometimes they are so critical of the 49ers performance I keep expecting that the following week the criticism will be "toned down". It isn't, which is refreshing. The real surprise is Merton Hanks who speaks from experience but is obviously still connected to the current NFL game. Rich, if I may, your comments read like you listen to a program for 5 minutes and make a snap judgement without listening to the whole show. But most of your comments about Bay Area media are totally negative, so I'm not surprised.
ReplyDeleteEarlier this year, Towny's mic was left on and during a break in the PreGame show and he was big-timing someone "Marc Badain wanted me for this show!" It was hilarious. I never liked his whiney voice and now I hate him as a human being.
ReplyDelete