In the words of Screamin' Danny Bacon:
Now, this is fun.
Today on What's on Mike's Mind, the lads were going through their annual recollection of the early days of The Ticket. There is something distinctly thrilling to today's Ticket listener about hearing Skip Bayless's first words over a transmitter that sounded as though it were designed by Marconi himself.
Then, as they also frequently do, they turned to the shortcomings of Mr. Bayless, although Mike does acknowledge that his presence was critical to getting the venture off the ground.
In light of what came just after I wish I had listened to this discussion a little more closely. I did catch that he was speaking negatively of his former colleague Bayless, and (please correct me here, I don't have time to go back and listen to it on The (Incomparable) UnTicket) I think his point generally was that Bayless had bigger fish to fry, held himself apart from the station as a whole, never really warmed up to the enterprise, may only have been in it for the money, such as it was.
And then, Mike said – and, as usual, I don't have the exact words, and if anyone wants to donate them from checking out The UnTicket replay, I'd be delighted to correct this – "There's only one person like that around here now."
Well, well, well, well, well, now isn't this lovely?
Mike doesn't pull back the curtain very often, but that was certainly tantalizing, was it not?
Who do you think he was talking about?
This is important to the P1 Nation and its Confessor subset. We don't get stuff like this from a host very often. If we could figure out who it was, well, then we'd really have something. Probably some things would fall into place for us, stuff that puzzles us would no longer. And our forecast for The Ticket's future might sharpen up some.
I have a couple of possible candidates, but I want to know what you guys – almost all of whom get to listen to the station more than I do – think he was referring to. I'm certain your guesses will be better than mine.
And if a consensus candidate emerges – even if we are wrong – the fact that we think this may be the candidate will tell us a lot about how the station is presenting itself to the P1 Nation.
Now to aid our considerations I consulted Full Disclosure to see if I could find exactly what the issue was with Bayless, and that would help us compare with the current Ticket lineup. Fail. The firing of Skip Bayless by the Laddy occupies exactly one line, and there's scarcely a discouraging word about the guy, at least not in the part I reread tonight.
So we are left with what little archaeology we have about Bayless, and we have to compare that with what little we know about the behind-the-scenes (and perhaps even the not-so-behind-the-scenes) behavior and attitude of the current Ticket team. In your considerations, Confessors, bear in mind that Mike didn't limit his remark to hosts, or on-air guys. Maybe he was referring to management. Maybe to a yuk-monkey. Or maybe to one of his on-air host colleagues. Maybe he was referring to himself. Riddle me that, if you will.
Voting for
Who at The Ticket does Mike Rhyner believe possesses the character, attitude, and relationship to his Ticket colleagues exhibited by inaugural Ticket host Skip Bayless?
is now . . . open.
There have always been sub-vocalized rumblings about Fernando's lack of interest in being a part of the camaraderie of the station. I'd put him in the running.
ReplyDeletePlainsman, I think he was talking about Gordo, but I'm fairly certain it was a joke. It's easy to get on to Gordon because of all the other stuff he does, but he is extremely loyal to The Ticket, and I think Rhynes was just telling a "joke for one" or three in this case; something that might be an on going joke off the air, perhaps.
ReplyDeleteDan. I have not heard anyone say this, but Dan rubs me the wrong way, so it must be him.
ReplyDeleteDouglas, I considered the possibility that Mike was joking. I rejected it. It didn't have that feel or sound, a joke wasn't right in context, and a joke makes no sense if the listener has no idea who he's talking about, unless it was a joke just between the guys about someone known to them, but not to us, to be an outlier. And the identity of that person, joking or not, is of interest to the always snooping P1.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, we have three responses and three candidates. May have to leave voting open for awhile. This is much more fun than the E-Brake.
Why I believe it is a joke:
ReplyDelete1. Mike said it and Danny and Corby laughed. Doesn't say much but that made me think it was somewhat inside.
2. An abbreviated drop was played. I thought it was Gordon's laugh, but I could've been wrong.
3. Mike has an uncanny ability to insert a line of humor into an otherwise serious topic (see: Mike betting his title of Baseball Jesus on whether or not Corby tried to work Greggo out of the show during the Hard Lie segment).
Also the Skip segment was mainly based on how all he wanted to do was use The Ticket as a stepping stone for bigger and better things. They compared him to college coaches like Rich Rodriguez. Someone mentioned that Rich said he was like 10th in seniority despite being there for 15 years. So if Rhynes was talking about someone of note, I'd guess chances are he was joking. It seems like most people are happy with where they are at The Ticket, but I bet Gordon takes crap behind the scenes for his TV work, past and present.
I don't think it's Fernando. Rhynes is a big Fernando fan. I think he also likes Dan. And I believe Dan likes his situation here. I'd say it's either a "buddy" dig at Gordo, or purely a provocative joke. Unfortunately, as of late this evening, the audio hasn't been posted up at the unTicket site.
ReplyDeleteI didn't hear the comment in question, but I'd guess it was either Mike making a JOKING dig at Gordon, or Mike taking a self-deprecating dig at himself. I think the former.
ReplyDeleteOK, just for the sake of baseless and destructive speculation, if we assume it WASN'T a joke, I'd lay my money on Junior Miller. He seems more and more distracted (new wife, European vacations, engrossing hobbies), and if there were one guy at The Ticket for whom it's just a job, I'd say it's him.
-Anon B
Anon B,
ReplyDeleteIntriguing post, indeed. Junior would seem to make a good candidate. However, I think you hit the nail on the head with the Mike self-reference suggestion. He/a lot of the Ticket hosts, secondary, and tertiary players read this and other blogs. We know this because of (i) their kind comments posted on said blog[s] and (ii) direct on-air references. I believe he reads and hears the many comments saying that he's checked out, mails it in, etc... As well, in light of the recent chatter regarding digs at Greggo, it wouldn't surprise me if he was taking a jab at something that was said by RaGE, either on or off-air.
Interesting Plainsman. I caught that yesterday, and I did reach over to turn the volume up. My immediate thought was Gordo. I did not take it as a totally negative jab. But, I did not take it as a joke either. I took it that Mike would rather said person spend more time concentrating on their Ticket duties and not self promotion. But, not much can be done, so whatever.
ReplyDeleteIt is fun to listen to the old Ticket audio. And, I always like listening to those bits now that Greggo is gone. It can get tense because they try so hard not to include him now. SO unfortunate that they did not save all the audio that day.
I'm pretty sure there was an abbreviated Gordon-laugh drop played and Mike, Corby, and Danny chuckled. Mike is all the time joking about Gordon's side work (GK Show, Quick, blog, GMT, etc).
ReplyDeleteDid someone say ebrake vote? I vote for Gordo's bloody under pants!
ReplyDeleteFirst, I don't think it's Fernando. While we have heard that Fernando does not participate in Ticket events, he does add a little something to the morning drive, and he does have some insightful HSO's. I get the feeling, however, that most producers don't chime in because the hosts give them too much static for it. (We've talked about producer roles during White Elephant Day, and I tend to agree with most of what was said.) Danny can get away with it because he's been there so long and because he does participate in Ticket event and hangs out with the guys on road trips, etc. But we've talked about how Fernando has a family and isn't that interested in doing the arse-kissing necessary to move up at Cumulus. If he really cared about using this job as a stepping stone to "greater things" he would probably invest a little more interest in all things Ticket. Plus, I can't imagine that being the producer of an AM radio show pays all that much so the idea that Fernando is in it for the money seems a little off-base to me.
ReplyDeleteSecond, joking or not, Gordo is an interesting choice. Playing the yuk-monkey to the Musers allows him to go balls out all the time without apologizing for it. His other gigs are a little more subdued and restrained than this one. Yet, there is some distancing at times. Remember when he left The Compound before the end of the week a couple of years ago and everyone got bent out of shape about it? Kind of makes you wonder if Gordo is indeed a team player (albeit one who thrives off the displeasure of others) or if he could care less about team-building exercises and camaraderie.
Third, Craig doesn't strike me as someone who is ever going to leave the Ticket. The Ticket is his home and has been for almost two decades. Whether he does it for the money or not, he still gives a damn good show every morning that he is on. His segments are well prepared, properly executed, and riveting enough to want to hear more. Yes, he has his moments, but who doesn't? He has often talked about enjoying it when the P1 stops him on the street to say hi or comment on something that happened on the radio that day (unlike some other personalities 'cough'DAN'cough').
Finally, I'm glad you caught this snippet, too. I couldn't wait to get home and ask my husband who he thought Mike was referencing, only to find out he wasn't even listening. I'll be checking the unTicket for those ever-so-subtle drops. Keep up the good work, Plainsman.
Off topic.
ReplyDeleteMajor, major props to Mike Sirois for standing strong against Norm regarding Jerry Jones and his comments about cornerback play. I gave him grief last month about his debating skills, but he was terrific today. I was cheering him on!
Also, thanks to Jake for putting The Musers's HSOs regarding Jay Cutler during yesterday's Top Ten. I was right - Corby (and Mike although he wasn't the one yelling) was the lone dissenter in the Jay Cutler discussion.
Carry on.
Fernando's envolvement in Ticket events has been discussed before. A main reason is the hours he keeps. He gets to work at some ungodly hour, and is just unable to make it to the night events.
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ReplyDeleteMisinformed Corby strikes again. This drives me NUTS! He made the statment that there were no deaths in commercial aviation (USA) last year. "First Time in a long time." Except it was the third time in four years. I only know this because the well prepared Musers discussed it.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if "Snake" realizes we all realize he just read #%^ off the internet.
ReplyDeleteWell it's not much of a mystery when most of his stories are prefaced by, "ummmmmmmmmmm"
ReplyDeleteYou guys are crackin' Your Plainsman up.
ReplyDeleteWhile The Hardline is looking like the voice of reason regarding the question of Jay Cutler's toughness, I don't agree with their premise of letting him get away with his seemingly skulking attitude on the sidelines because that's just the way Jay Cutler is. Perhaps The Hardline also defended Tony Romo on this point, but I'm glad the rest of the media didn't allow Tony Romo to get away with his post-season comments.
ReplyDeleteNow I have to call out Bob. Yesterday, he absolutely was calling for Jay Cutler's head and needing to see him be carried out on his shield in a big game. Today, he spun 180 degrees and was all up in the grill(z) of those questioning Cutler's manhood. It's fine if he slept on it and is reacting (sensibly) to the over-reaction, but while he's on that high horse, he should at least acknowledge he was one of those over-reactors a mere 24 hours ago.
Christy, I'm with you on Mike Sirloin holding his ground re: Jerry yesterday. I caught part of that, and I was impressed as well. It didn't sound like he was doing a bit or doing it just to be argumentative, and Norm needs that kind of foil on his show.
ReplyDeleteHaving listened to the Hardline presentation many a time, I'm going to place my money on it being a joke by the Old Gray Wolf. He is notorious for saying jokes in a serious way.
ReplyDelete