Even at his worst, Ralph Barbieri was the Best on The Sports Bleeder; The Razor versus Cumulus; Tolbert knew All Along

Let's clear a few things up, shall we?

I don't have a dog in the Barbieri/Cumulus legal battle if it gets to court. Those of you who read me know my feelings about Cumulus-- its abhorrent corporate bulliness and its wanton disregard for broadcast ethics, particularly here in the Bay Area where it has hijacked radio and killed off the once-great call letters of KGO, KNBR, and KFOG.

The Ralph Barbieri situation is quite known now. I wrote about his relationship with the Giants, to which some of you took as "ripping" Ralph. Yes, I've been critical of Ralph, but at least The Razor has stood up for what he believes is right. Has he had road bumps? Sure, we all do; that's called life.

This is an important issue. Some of you have e-mailed to say, "move on" and enough about Barbieri. Many others of you like the subject matter. There's a lot of passion out there involving Ralph's situation, the impending legal battle with his ex-employer, and that's why I continue to write about this issue.

Even at his worst, Ralph Barbieri was willing to challenge the old guard here and that's why I liked him, for the most part. He had some personal baggage like most of us, but his on-air work was alright for me.

I don't want to get in the thorny legal issues. That's lawyer stuff and not particularly interesting. I know he was late a lot, I've heard he'd begun to lag and that his interest in sports seemed to wane. And I called him out on that. I also was the only guy who stated openly that although I was sympathetic over his disclosure of early-stages Parkinson's disease, that he had used that ailment as a negotiating tactic over his impending, (at the time), contract renewal.

After that posting, Ralph called me and wanted to go on the record. He said his health status was not used as a bargaining chip. I politely disagreed but told him if he wanted to issue a statement, I'd be happy to oblige. At the time, he informed me that he had re-upped his deal, (for a year) and that was that. We all know what has happened since.

For all his shortcomings, personally and professionally, Barbieri made me listen. I wasn't thrilled he was late and appeared sometimes ten minutes into the program out of nowhere. But when it counted I liked his style and he was usually an entertaining fixture on Bay Area radio.

Mostly, I liked Ralph for his refusal to back down on conventional wisdom and the norm. Not just on sports issues, but peripheral news and political issues as well. Were there times he was boorish and narcissistic? Yes, but even the bad Ralph was better than most of his own KNBR minions.

His audio retorts with Giant's GM, Brian Sabean were occasionally off the chart, but entertaining as hell. Likewise his obsession with the OJ Simpson trial and his incessant spiel that Simpson was guilty and frequent "this guy chopped the head off 2 people"-rant with the few callers that dared bring the matter up and/or disagree with him.

Like many of you, I despised the Ameci's Pizza reads and his on-air pimping. And said so. When he was about to do a live read, I immediately turned the dial. Then again, they became so ubiquitous and self-serving, that I would listen to see how bad it would become. (So bad, they're good? You betcha) So Ralphish.

It's been over a week now and I miss Ralph. Not the five-minute opening question nor the frequent anti-Raiders rants nor his million "two-things-can-be-mutually-true" crappola, but Ralph himself. He'd almost have a brand.

One thing's for sure: His partner can't carry the show alone. Not by a long shot. And how funny everyone at the Knibber outpost was so enthralled with "Tommy's" emotional farewell to Ralph. That makes me laugh uncontrollably out loud when Tolbert knew all along that Ralph was on, (professionally) borrowed time; Tolbert knew, (like me), last fall that Cumulus wanted Ralph gone, but held out temporarily waiting for the right time to show him the door.

And so now we hear the mental midgets at Knibber have gone to "Byrnesie" as Tolbert's short-term partner. Yeah, Eric Byrnes, that hyper, overly-caffeinated dude that stole $30M from the Arizona D-Backs and had a brain fart in the 2003 ALDS at Fenway when he forgot to touch home plate for your Oakland A's.

Compelling radio there on Knibber from 3-7 PM. Then again, don't get me going on that subject.

So yes, I miss Ralph. He wasn't the best radio guy in sports here, but he sure beats the hell out of everyone else over there; that's not really saying much, but I'm that type of guy.

And YES: I'm hoping he gets his due out of Cumulus---THEE MOST EVIL COMPANY ON THE PLANET.

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