The Confessor Nation is aware that I don't get to listen as often as I'd like, but today I did have occasion to be in my car around 2:30 so I tuned in.
Just in time, it turned out, for a big fracas between Bob and Dan.
I'm not taking sides here. I just have two questions and I need to set it up as neutrally as I can.
I'm sure I"m not going to get this quite right, but it had to do with certain long-retired athletes being in good shape. They had just concluded an interview with former Packer Donny Anderson. Bob was going to make a point about -- I thought it was Roger Staubach, but maybe it was Herschel Walker. He'd only gotten a few words out of his mouth when Dan interrupted. I don't know whether Dan was correcting something, or teasing Bob for a misstatement, or what.
Bob took great offense, called Dan a jerk, there was some considerable back and forth, and Bob refused to finish his point. Eventually they moved on, but I sensed that there was continuing discomfort. Christy's comment to the last post suggests that she noticed some interesting facial expressions on the webcam. After awhile, Dan brought the conversation back to the topic and apologized to his "best friend," and Bob was finally cajoled into finishing his point.
As I say -- I don't know if Dan was being a jerk, or Bob was being touchier than usual. No position on Bob v. Dan.
Here are my questions for the BaD connoisseur as I continue my course of instruction in BaD Radio:
(1) Does this happen often? When I was doing my BaD series way back when, I got the impression that there might be more, and more intense, on-air internecine squabbling on that show than on some of the others.
(2) Is this one of the things that BaD fans like about the show? Should I be learning to savor these encounters?
The on-air blowups used to happen a lot more often on BaD, but they tended to be more along the lines of Dan blowing up at an intern, producer or other host with Bob egging him on and then sitting back and savoring the chaos. There has been only one big argument between Bob and Dan before that I can remember: The "moron dog" blowout at training camp in Wichita Falls about 7 or 8 years ago. Dan was always the protagonist in these scenarios, and I think the reduction in friction over the past couple years has been a result of him mellowing in general.
ReplyDeleteTo answer the second part: These kinds of segments make the most memorable radio and produce some of the most replayable moments down the road. E.g., Lee Corso, Dale ("What, are you walking out?"), "moron dog", Norm ("Damn... Dan, you make a damned joke out of everything").
Ah, yes. I believe the correct weird word order is "you make a joke out of damned everything."
ReplyDeleteOK, so this may just be another instance of me tuning in at either exactly the right time, or exactly the wrong time, to BaD. Sounds like there aren't that many of these kinds of tiffs, at least not any more.
Still waiting for a positive post about Dan...I'm not holding my breath.
ReplyDeleteI agree with C-Monkey that the on-air blowups don't occur as often. Any argument these days usually revolve around sports.
I personally don't like the blow-ups until a year later when we can all laugh about it. Tense radio makes me tense.
There was another big Bob and Dan blowup aside from Moron Dog - something about Rush Limbaugh. They replay it on Rotten Radio on the Internet stream during Stars hockey.
As for this incident, I'll need to wait for the E-Brake to listen to the audio again and figure out what happened and who I'm supposed to side with. I think the issue was Bob saying exactly what Donnie had said in order to make his point so Dan cut him off to point out he was being redundant.
Yeah, that's what happened Christy. Bob basically restated what Donnie said and I think was going to add to it but Dan relentlessly cut him off.
ReplyDeleteDan is my favorite host on the Ticket because he generally doesn't let any illogical points go unchallenged (no matter who it is) and is very open / jokes about common things that the other hosts won't touch. He can be a jerk at times (and as others have pointed out probably isn't the most friendly or accommodating to P1s) but that comes with the territory. Bob counterbalances him well and the show can be difficult to listen to if he's not there.
My take on the rest of the BaD crew:
Bob is great for sports knowledge, obviously, and works hard to keep it that way. He also struggles when Dan isn't there.
Donnie I like, but I don't think he adds much to the show. From a comedic standpoint he usually just repeats what the other hosts say and changes it up a little bit, without good results.
Tom is comedy gold in small doses. He hits a very high percentage with his jokes and comments but it seems his air time is increasingly rare.
Grubes of course is comedy gold. It's too bad he can't operate the board during the Musers as well. He adds so much to BaD and Hardline, I really think Musers would be much more enjoyable (for me) if it had him laying down the drops.
Nice post, Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteIt's clear that Dan is the most polarizing host on The Little One. I've had some positive reactions to Dan this year but not ready to embrace. Here's a preview, Christy:
I am less inclined to think that Dan is a jerk, I am more inclined to think that he's a worthwhile radio guy, but also more inclined to think that he's not a good show strategist and that in some ways he is actually misused -- miscast, if you will. I'll expand on this in some future headlined groundbreaking STD.