*KTVU finally got a POST-GAME SHOW that not only looked and sounded good, (with a few exceptions) it has long-tern potential:
Mark Ibanez and the surprisingly fresh, Julie Haener.
Direcctly after the FOX post-game show the DUO of Ibanez and Haener was solid and spot on. It goes to show what can happen when you team up the veteran presence of Ibanez and even blase Haener who showed sports moxie and then some. If KTVU/Fox has some creative moxie in their house, why not just place Ibanez in a hybrd role so he can do sports and news. Maybe then he'd get his extension and KTVU can keep one of its Core4 together.
Haener at times appears vapid and plastic but last (Sunday) night she was crisp and engaged. I'm sure she's utterly capable and competent --as she displyed--but sometimes her robotic ways overtake her. Sunday night was a nice change-of-pace; again, maybe this is a Fox directive we're viewing in progress.
*A FEW shake-your-head moments.
*Why was Sal Castaneda made to look goofy reporting from a barren, upper deck in Sofi Stadium? Castaneda looked out-of-place after the game doing fan/49ers MOS would have been far more interesting had he been outside the stadium engaged with the fans. As it was, Sal pulled it off but the look was both awkward and bizarre.
*RADIO:
Immediately after the game, I turned on KNBR and waited for its after-game show with Larry Krueger, John Lund and Dennis Brown.
Travesty.
Lund is an embarrassment with his arrogance and smug putdown of a caller who made some cogent points and wasn't a part of the booster club. Krueger makes salient points but is too bogged down by football-geek talk and pedantic poor-loser chit-chat. The ex-player Brown could be a decent critic and provide much-needed analysis but his constant, over-use of the term, "football", is nauseating and useless. Between him and the imbecile Lund, I couldn't stomach KNBR but what else is new.
*The usual VOMIT that is the KNBR Morning Show was in full audio gear this (Monday) as the boys were in near tears and acted as if they were broadcasting from a wake and not talking about the game. Frat boys in their mid-50-s don't sound great on radio and these clowns never seem to dispute that evidence.
*On KGO, the morning clutter that is Nikki Medoro was unintentionally hysterical--Medoro's over-use of "we" was comical and ran amateur; she sounded less giddy and for a change, we didn't hear about her kids but Medoro took to tear-eyed and sad-sounding. Tough life, kid.
I just shake my head (and sometimes laugh) when I hear about adult men being in tears after a stupid football game. Who cares? It's just a GAME. Get on with your lives. It's not the end of the world. Believe me, there's plenty out there in the REAL WORLD that could bring on the end. But not the outcome of a dumb football contest. Grow up and get over it. Take off your jerseys and dry your eyes, you big babies.
ReplyDeleteSo agree. We're witnessing the gradual end of the U.S. as anything more than a Third World nation and no one cares. But people get worked up over football.
Delete9ers lose, let the excuses begin...
ReplyDeleteExcuses? In football games, one team wins and another loses. There are reasons why the winning team won and the losing team lost. Yes, 49er fans will discuss the reasons they believe the 49ers lost, just as Rams fans will focus on the reasons they won. The better team won yesterday. Not sure what you mean by 'excuses.'
Delete8:26, why are you triggered by the fact that football fans might actually have the audacity to discuss the game, including reasons why they think the 49ers lost?
DeleteI noticed the same with Haener. She was engaged and knowledgeable. The fact her son is a college football quarterback no doubt made her comfortable anchoring the postgame and talking about football. She brought a good energy to the show.
ReplyDeleteAnother star of the postgame show was Joe Fonzi.
Sal on the other hand, a complete goofus who brought nothing of substance to the coverage. All he had to say was 49er fans were subdued, left immediately, and most want Jimmy G. out and Trey Lance the starter next season. No shit, Sherlock. Certainly a low point in his career as he embarrassed himself trying to act like Mr. Cool Guy when he tried to interview rowdy football fans. They need to keep him confined to his traffic cubicle.
Greg Papa would be much better if he stopped going into so much pre-snap detail and focused his attention on the actual play. He gets so bogged down describing formations, motions and personnel groupings, etc. that by the time the ball is snapped he seems to run out of the time or breath to describe what is actually happening. He routinely misses the most basic details like is a play to the right or left, inside or outside, short or long that it is very difficult to picture what happened until he gets around to telling you where the ball is spotted. For example, there was pass in the Green Bay that "sounded" like it went for about 14 yards and I was surprised when it ended up being a two yard loss. Personally, I think he is more interested in showing off his knowledge of football terms rather than painting a picture for his listeners - and it makes him a tough, ineffective listen.
ReplyDelete"Haener at times appears vapid and plastic but last (Sunday) night she was crisp and engaged."
ReplyDeleteFootball is something she knows about, since her kid kicks a ball for some university.
Her kid is the starting QB at Fresno State...and has an outside shot at a pro career.
DeleteLOL!!!
DeleteJake Haener is putting up some pretty good stats. But he's listed at 6'1" 195lbs...so I bet NFL teams pass on drafting him and will sign him as a UDFA
DeleteLike I said....like he said....enough said....
ReplyDeleteHe's the quarterback at Fresno state and is quite good
ReplyDeleteIt's no surprise Julie was great. Her loins produce fantastically skilled football quarterbacks.
ReplyDeleteYou say 'quarterbacks' plural. Which of her other offspring are fantastically skilled football quarterbacks?
Delete12:58 Kyle has a hell of an arm as well even tho he is currently playing defense. Educate yourself.
DeleteSure Mark Ibanez is a viewer favorite (though his stock has dropped with the Vinyl Room schtick) but let's be honest about it, he doesn't do any real analysis of the game or provide any insights. He talks about sports at a high level, recaps plays, reads off scores, interviews people which is all well and good, but at The Firm only Joe Fonzi and Jason Applebaum are providing actual analysis. It's clear as day when you listen to the Fonz or Applebaum and then listen to Ibanez, as he rarely says anything that your casual viewer wouldn't already know.
ReplyDeleteHe lost what because of the vinyl room? It was Covid-19, everyone was working from home. Did you happen to notice some of the backgrounds of most underpaid reporters, they looked like they could barely pay for the place, let alone how to decorate. Mark made the vinyl room interesting (background) by constantly having rotating albums as a backdrop. Hope your portfolio is doing better than your opinion on Mark's vinyl room.
DeleteI also love seeing Mark in the Vinyl Room with his constant rotation of albums, but I also understand people who say it's run it's course...as has most everything else that came about during the pandemic.
DeleteI LOVE the vinyl room. Stop hatin'
ReplyDeleteI love the vinyl room too! Meow!
ReplyDeleteI must admit, I love listening to "Smurphy" get all choked up about any local teams losing big games. Mac is fine, he's actually funny sometimes. Larry Kruger is A B.S homer. He thinks this team is the 85'Bears. He thinks Jimmy G is worth a #1 pick He's dreaming!
ReplyDeleteMark is a nice guy who reports sports as a fan, not as anyone with any particular insight.
ReplyDeleteJohn Lund and his Mr.T impersonation is painful to listen to. Papa would be so much better with a grown man to work with.
ReplyDeleteActually Lund and Papa are both two middle aged divorced guys,although I guess Lund remarried,who are obsessed with sex,making jokes and double entendres about sex and drinking,and getting laid if they could talk about it..
DeleteI agree Larry Krueger has good knowledge and good points to make — but too often gets lost in the pedantic over analysis that our low attention span public really doesn’t have time for. He’s good on his own where he doesn’t have to share the mic and the conversation. Which is why TKB is approaching unlistenable. I try because its on my drive home and I’m a sports junkie, but every time Larry has an unconventional take, I’m waiting for Rod to disagree and mock him, and every time Tolbert starts on one of his patented sanctimonious rants about how he doesn’t like/understand A, B or C and Larry tries to enter the conversation, he just gets pushed aside. Listening to Larry try to repeat the same sentence for the 4th time and still get cut off by Tolbert and Brooks, as if he doesn’t exist, is painful. Not sure if its all staged or just how they genuinely interact with one another — either way it sucks.
ReplyDelete