OK, Confessors, Your Plainsman doesn't ask much of you (although I suppose slogging through my prose can be something of a chore).
But I do have an assignment to hand out. No math.
I am in San Diego and will not return until after White Elephant Day. I'm hopeful that you will take a moment and drop a comment if you hear anything that you find interesting.
I hope you will pay particular attention to what goes on between the words. If you saw a transcript of a lot of these showgrams, you would never get a full picture of the relationships at The Little One. White Elephant Day is a great day for testing theories, revealing animosities, and unearthing new stars given a chance to shine. I applaud The Ticket for taking these kinds of chances.
So P1 Steven, Christy, Scott, Douglas, Anonymous A through F, and all other Confessors -- get by the channel, as Mike R would put it, and let The Confessor Nation know what you find out tomorrow.
PS: Thanks to AP from the (incomparable) UnTicket for offering to supply Your Plainsman with segments. I'm doubtful I'll have time to review any of the showgrams, but if something blows up you know I'll be tuning in to the site.
Enjoy San Diego, Plainsman...A fantastic city that I wish I'd explored further.
ReplyDeleteThe UnTicket will be posting stuff based on what tickles our funny-bones, plus a collection of informal popular requests. However, if you feel you'd like more, the offer doesn't expire.
First White Elephant observation:
ReplyDeleteAs I sit and watch the webcam today, I see the Ticket banner in the background next to Yawall. Still sporting 1310/1700. I have seen this in several places around town. This makes me believe even more that a frequency change of some sort is on the horizon, whether near or far.
Dan sucks at tickers. From what I understand, tickers are supposed to be the most wheels-off on White Elephant Day. Everyone competes to see who can come up with the strangest, wildest, most off-the-wall sports observations in a minute and a half--or less. Dan just put forth the least amount of effort I've seen since whatever season of MTV's Real World/Road Rules challenge we're on. Dan started off by saying that the Mavs won last night, "One game out of 82 so that's completely insignificant" or something to that effect. "The Rangers are making some moves. They might affect Michael Young.. so.. uh.. there's that." Yet, a mere mention of the Stars and you can hear the delight in Dan's voice. I know he probably likes hockey more than basketball or baseball, but at least act like you can do your job. Once a personality I enjoyed tuning in to hear, Dan is quickly becoming my least favorite. I might even like Norm better, and his voice sounds like a "Simpsons" reject character. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteAnd rolling screenless during the entire ticker? How lazy can you be?!
ReplyDeleteSorry, but I have to post comments as I hear them or I will probably forget. It's soooo early in the 10-12 time slot, but I think Sean, Corby, and Mike are going to have some good chemistry. Sean Bass is one of the most underappreciated Ticket guys. He has a great voice that is easy to understand (unlike Norm), he speaks coherently, he doesn't frazzle easy, and he is a pretty flexible guy. I know the Musers gave him a lot of crap about not being able to carry a show, but I think he may be able to pull this off. (Yes, I realize it's only 20 minutes in.)
ReplyDeleteAnd I must comment on Corby's tickers. He was just as useless as Dan, but he did not come off as arrogant as Dan did. Corby worked ambivalence with an understated, humorous tone. "The Stars have a bunch of games left." "The Rangers are getting ready to sign a whole bunch of people in the coming weeks." Such nondescript, generic information, but I didn't get the sense that Corby was above doing tickers, whereas I totally got that feeling from Dan.
By the way, I don't listen to the Ticket all day as talk radio doesn't really blend at my job. But I'm sticking by the dial all day today. I hope it's worth it.
Sean Bass is a kick in the nuts as an interviewer. And I don't know why he hates Michael Young so much.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, I should have said OBVIOUSLY Sean Bass is a kick in the nuts as an interviewer.
ReplyDeleteI have always been a defender of Dan. Dan lets his feelings be known. He wasnt thrilled about doing tickers & it showed. I enjoed his screenless Ticker. Although, Corby's sean Bass/ Rick Carlisle was great! I think Sean's opinion on MY is based on who MY's infield mates are. All Elvis/ Ian might be the best double play combo in the MLB. MY is very avg. @ 3rd.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRoaP, I don't know why Sean hates Michael Young so much, either. I was with Sean Bass all the way this morning until that "subpar" comment. There are a billion reasons to defend Michael Young, and at least half a dozen to agree with Sean, but I still don't like anyone bad-mouthing my Texas Rangers. (Except Chris Davis--why is that guy still on our team?!)
ReplyDeleteP1 Steven, I am also warming to Corby's tickers. They are what I had in mind when I picture tickers on White Elephant Day. The Sean Bass/Rick Carlisle ticker was hysterical. Nothing can compare to Donovan's tickers, but it wasn't too shabby.
You can tell that Bass is used to doing locker room interviews, as he always falls back to "talk about..." That said, Carlisle is one of the hardest interview subjects I've ever heard.
ReplyDeleteI think Bass has gotten a lot better. I'm curious if he can take it one step further. I'm not encouraged by his decision to spend a segment on a "30 by 30." Total capitulation.
-Anonymous B
Jonaesse,
ReplyDeleteI guess you didn't watch the Rangers postseason - Young simply wasn't able to move laterally quickly enough to stop infield hits from getting into the outfield and putting guys on base. I counted at least three he shoulda snagged and prevented baserunners.
He also pretty much disappeared, offensively.
I think Bass is right.
-Anon B
Now that I look the stats up, MY was bottom three in the MLB in FP% & had the third most errors. Soo, I guess the guy is sub-par> In addition, Carlisle is a notriously tough interview. Kinda funny, because he is part of the media when he isnt coaching. 1st rule in journalism.. never ask a yes or no question unless you can quickly follow up with another question. I remember the offseason interview Rick had with the Musers & asking him questions was like pulling teeth.
ReplyDeleteI understand Michael Young's deficiencies at third. I was there for the First ALCS game where his non-play at third basically allowed that giant 8th inning for the Yankees to happen.
ReplyDeleteBut here's my thing. As Mitch Williams said, he's a leader in the clubhouse, and offensively he sets the table well for Josh. And here is the big intangible, the guy did move to third base when asked, and now that he did everyone is getting all over his defense when his move was for the good of the team. I don't think range is his problem, it's his ability to react on a bullet shot to third, which is a much more difficult play than to short or second.
So rather than cast him aside, why not try moving him back to a position that suits his strengths better like maybe over to first at this point in his career? These teams ask for loyalty from their players, such as asking Cliff to take less money and fewer years to come to Texas, but to then turn around and not honor the fact that MY has been such a huge team leader for 9 years? Loyalty goes both ways.
And that's my beef with Sean Bass. The guy only thinks in numbers apparently and never considers these higher level issues, and then he goes and asks Mitch Williams about it and sounds like a fool.
The Carlisle thing cracked me up. I knew something like that was coming. Rick doesn't suffer fools gladly, and I knew Sean was going to preface a question with something kind of cocky along the lines of "Of course I played High School Football in Texas" and Carlisle was going to smack him back down a bit hehe. That was a joyous moment for me.
Hey I agree. MY should move to 1B that makes the most sense. Oh Cobra takes call on screenles... was that weak? Now I will move to my car & stop streaming. RIP Sean Bass! BTW Corby having Sean do a exclusive segment & interrupting was a beating. On the occasion, Corby can bug the hell out of me.
ReplyDeleteBack to White Elephant...
ReplyDeleteFirst two showgrams were "Meh" for me. Unlike most of you, I think Sean Bass has something, and , he appears to care, something not everyone at The Little One does.
I am liking this mid-day show. No blow-ups yet, but I almost sense it on the fringe.
Although, I am really excited to hear Gordo with Mike and Bob, I expect that to be uncomfortable.
Hmm...lots of Babe-ball-ball talk on this thread...
ReplyDeleteEven though I'm only halfway through the 10-noon slot, Sean's day so far reminds me of the Cowboy's 44-6 defeat at Philly. A few bad things happened at the very start (a rather uncooperative Rick Carlisle followed by an interview with a second curmudgeon-esque guest), and then he was thrown so badly off of his game that he could barely focus on things one would assume he'd normally get right (i.e. baseball).
Nervous, shake-voice, stammering...Sea-Bass is going to have to put an ice-pack on his groin for the remainder of the week for the nut-kicking he's received today (and no doubt will continue to receive for the next few days). Props to Corby for forcing him to do it.
Love W.E. Day!
I can usually take or leave Corby but after today it's pretty obvious that he's a no talent hack. Annoying, not very bright, slow, etc. He was exposed today.
ReplyDeleteWell, the BaD Radio time slot has been pretty good so far. I think putting Corby and Danny together is one of the things that makes it work. Those two have an amazing chemistry and play off each other so well. Danny is also a top-notch producer who knows just the right drop to play (or tell Grubes to play) at just the right time. Additionally, Craig has been a nice addition to this mix. I think Junior is a pretty flexibly guy who doesn't seem to get riled up by much and who seems to get along well with everyone at the station. (I know you've written some posts about some friction before, Mr. Plainsman, but I think overall, Craig is a likable guy.) The only drawback (and not just on White Elephant Day) is I never know when he's serious! I've only been listening for about five years (thanks, hubby) so I don't have a lot of hands-on knowledge about all things Ticket. Craig comes off as being a stone-faced, sarcastic, Ray Romano-type who keeps me on my toes (which is good), but kinda makes me uncomfortable, ya know?
ReplyDeleteCorby's observation that the tickers are expected to be wheels-off was right on the mark. Because that's what we've heard in the past, that's what we expect to hear this one day of the year. I think the pressure is immense. Sometimes, you just can't turn on the funny; it has to come to you naturally and organically. It's one thing to write out some skits or songs in a couple of days; it's another to scramble for a few minutes trying to get a chuckle out of people. Rich can play the straight tickers because that's what he does. We don't expect him to adopt a British accent or talk about his ball hair. We expect Corby or Dan or Donovan to do that. It was quite a disappointment for some tickers, although I think Corby redeemed himself on his last one.
I apologize for the baseball talk tangents on the threads today, but RoaP, I'm with you on the loyalty thing. For a girl who cares more about the decency of the players and the heart of the team than about the statistics, folks like Michael Young, Ian Kinsler, and yes, Josh Hamilton, make me believe in the miracle that is baseball. They may not make every play, every time, but they sure do know how to encourage their teammates, on and off the field.
Sometimes, that's just as important.
Yeah, sorry for all the base-ball-ball talk. But I love the Rangers!!!! And SeaBass riles me up when he talks about them.
ReplyDeleteI didn't hear too much of the BaD Radio timeslot, but looking forward to Mike, Donny, and Gordo now.
Donovan's tickers are the epitome of wheels-off.
ReplyDeleteI think the BAD Radio Slot and Hardline slot have actually been really good programs in their own right. I'm surprised at the lack of wheels-off moments today (I've been listening almost all day). It seems like they're almost TRYING to force off some wheels to make it interesting.
ReplyDeleteDo you think maybe the staff has gotten better overall in the last few years? They seem tighter and more comfortable with each other.
The best part of the day so far has been (aside from getting Ricked) the all-day nut-kicking of Dick Hicks.
And I think the Corby hate is off-base. Maybe he's trying a little too hard to make some comedy, but he's getting little help. Instead of the amusing eBrake moments this year, we're mostly getting some pretty lukewarm talk. I don't blame him for trying to light a few fires. And his tickers have been pretty good.
-Anonymous B
P.S. I love Donovan - and maybe he was just trying to stir the pot - but talking smack about John Lennon on the anniversary of his death is NOT COOL.
I barely pay any attention to John Lennon talk. I think the Beatles were.. overrated. I pretty much tune it out, its like when Norm does steroids talk.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Gordo has decided to make Bob his new George for today.
ReplyDeleteDanny doesn't tell G what drops to play. G is a drop artist.
ReplyDeleteToo bad we couldn't hear a recap of White Elephant day on the ticket Top 10. The reason is because of the blasted hockey game that nobody cares to hear... it bumped out the Top 10 show.
ReplyDeleteLet's pray this season will be the last for hockey on the Ticket!
Tomorrow's Top 10 will be all from White Elephant.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to give up - for the moment - explaining why I like this bit and don't like that person and my thought process during whatever segment and so on. I just want to say this:
ReplyDeleteI find it highly interesting Sean Bass being able to fight through Corby messing with him during that "monologue" segment and earn Corby's pleasantly surprised respect (Corby seemed earnest when he told Sean good job) while Bob was not able to fight through Gordo's bombing of his "What's on Bob's Mind" segment.
Ty Walker we always have if TY Chicken moment, George Dunham will always have his "Paul in uh", Norm will always have "NO NO NO NO", Dan will have "HEY HEY HEY", & Now Sean Bass will have his stutter. I moment that will live in TICKET infamy.
ReplyDeleteI took out the electronic knives this morning and sliced up a few of my favorite selections over at the UnTicket (which, by the way, turns 3 years old today!). I think the only segment I forgot to include was that of Donovan explaining his (an others') indifference to John Lennon.
ReplyDeleteGreat job, everyone. I feel like I was there by the radio.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea the P1 Nation has such strong opinions on Sean Bass.
I have a STD (Scorching Ticket Disquisition) I'm going to lay on you in a day or two relating to the White Elephant -- and I even heard some support for it in an amazing statement by Mike R tonight as I was driving back from the airport.
Man, listening to San Diego sports radio was a thrash. I hope we all appreciate what we have in The Ticket, even when it drives us crazy or we develop an allergy to a particular host.
That is, after all, My Ticket Confession: For all the stuff that makes me roll my eyes or flip to NPR for a segment or two, I love the damned thing.
Thanks again, one and all.