Papa-Bruce on KNBR 1050 go deep and its a TD; Thursday pulse

In the world of sports-talk radio, the Damon Bruce-Greg Papa interview on KNBR 1050 Wednesday, won't go down as anything THAT original, but the semi-heated, twenty-minute give and take between Bruce and the Raiders pbp-man and host of "Chronicle Live" was good, riveting radio that was devoid of sound "drops", inane, false flattery, and the usual banal chit-chat.

After a few opening innocuous questions about the Giants, Bruce went straight into the JaMarcus Russell controversy, (will he/won't he be let go by the Raiders?); Papa made some salient points that "the media" wants to shove Russell off the team, but that he felt strongly that he wouldn' be surprised if the Raiders kept him, providing of course he'd be willing to take a pay cut. Humn...

Bruce, who was to appear on Comcast SportsNet "CL" program later Wednesday night, was befuddled and began chiding Papa about how much an athletic albatross Russell had become, (and he was right.) Papa didn't back down and in spite of what most sports fans, and the "RaiderNation" would conclude, Papa defended Russell and pointed out "he's still only 24 and '{they've} invested $36 million in him--'I'm not sure they want to part with him just yet." Papa made it clear that Russell "right now" is not the Raiders' QB and that the recent acquisition of Jason Campbell put him #1 at the depth chart.

Bruce, who sounded incredulous that Papa would defend Russell, was also steadfast in his support of the Raiders chief tonsil. "Look, the Raiders' put Papa's kids through college," he joked.

It wasn't a knock on Papa, nor was Papa's defense of Russell, (although perhaps a bit curious.) In fact, it was genuinely infinitely entertaining to hear passionate, uninterrupted, (and probably unintentional) radio dialogue from two people engaged in a topic that brought out heavy-duty emotion and there's nothing wrong with that. Seriously, it was in fact, REFRESHING.

Bruce, who was celebrating his 40th show on 1050 since moving out from the bowels of the 680/Giants bunker, is at his best when it comes to this type of performance, and yes, it is sort of show biz, but it also brings to mind that you don't have to play stupid sound effects and manufacture chemistry; sometimes a mere passionate and compelling interview/discussion is ENTERTAINING itself and the Papa/Bruce affair definitely scored an audio touchdown.

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