Butt Whipping

If you listen to sports talk radio in Chicago and haven’t seen Ed Sherman’s column today, click right now, right here. ESPN 1000 just kicked The Score’s ass in the last ratings quarter. They didn’t just eek out a win, or improve margins. WMVP demolished The Score from top to bottom.

ESPN gained in total listeners, in new listeners, in key demographics, and against non-sports competitors. And if the target is post-college aged men, the Afternoon Show ranks #2 in the entire market, lagging only Steve Dahl.

What was more interesting is how Jay Mariotti and Dan Patrick combined to smack down Boers and Bernstein. Those two shows beat Dan & Terry by 1.5 rating points. My guess is that Dan & Terry are being hurt by a poor lead in show which doesn’t hand them a solid audience.

So, how’s Hot Dog Boy doing? Up from the summer, but not as well as Murph and Fred did in the comparable fall 2003 ratings book. Now, part of that is due to the format change (high school dropouts talking politics takes time to build an audience) and part is due to the lack of the Cubs in the playoffs in the fall of 2004. But the fact is that two syndicated guys from New York are trampling the local, home grown, in-touch-with-the-Chicagoan guy.

WSCR needs radical change. Hot Dog Boy’s act is over. Rick Tellander? Nice guy, smart guy, bad broadcaster.

Last thing. Given how strong Mariotti’s numbers were, it sure looks like Jerry Reinsdorf got him fired. There’s no financial explanation.

No Teeth

The spin on the street is that MLB now has a steroid policy as tough as the NFL’s and that the sport will now be clean. Let’s see. In 1985, the Bears offensive line weighed about 270 to 275 pounds per player on average. Today, the lightest starter in the Bears’ unit weighs 292 (Olin Kreutz) and the other 4 weigh in excess of 315. In 20 years we humans have improved our conditioning and muscle building programs so much that we see such dramatic gains?

Or is it something else?

None of this is clean. Believe it’s clean as much as you believe Tara Reid’s chest is real.

"We’re acting today to restore the confidence of our fans." – Bud Selig.

Gotcha, Bud. Good to know that you aren’t acting to restore the integrity of the league.