Tuesday, August 8, 2017

In Defense of that Nice Young Michael Gruber


Not that Michael needs any defense as a general proposition.  He remains a Ticket legend, his influence apparent on the station every day.

But, alas, The Ticket is having a great deal of fun -- every show, and the weekend shows, too -- at his expense.  I probably don't need to go into detail on what took place.  He called into Diamond Talk after the Yu Darvish trade and, as things turned out, didn't manage to complete a point that sounded like  .  .  .  an actual point.

BaD Reviews Michael's Diamond Talk Call

The consensus seems to be that sometime before placing that call, Michael had been overserved.

A firm hand at the controls.
I do not wish to be understood as suggesting that Michael was not pixilated.  It is at least possible.  Perhaps more than possible.  I hope he got home safely.

But I think he was calling to make an actual point.  To my ear he started to make that point but didn't get it out with enough detail to give Sean Bass something to hang his hat on.

I think his point was going to be -- at least this is what I "got" as his point before things went awry -- that Yu Darvish was ready to be traded, ready to go anywhere, ready to leave the Rangers for any team that would take him.  That Yu wanted to leave the Rangers.  I don't know if that was going to be his point had he gotten it out with a bit more detail, but that's where I thought he was going right from the start.

What happened, though, was that he did not get that thought out clearly, and Sean, who was trying to keep Michael on track, converted it into a technical question about Yu's no-trade list, which gave Michael two problems:  (1) he wasn't really calling to make a point about the no-trade list, which got him off-message, and (2) Sean's question required consideration of what resembled a double-negative, i.e., a team "not being on his no-trade list," which someone in Michael's condition was not prepared to process, and which led to the stumbles we're now hearing ad nauseum.

Let me stress that I do not blame Sean for Michael's aimless performance -- he was guessing at Michael's point, as I am.

But I do think that, nudged gently in a slightly different direction, Michael would have been on his way to making a legitimate Sports Point worth discussing, that being:  Yu's overall attitude about being a Texas Ranger at that point was that he didn't want to be.

Any takers?

"You leave Michael alone.  He makes more sense tight than most Ticket hosts do straight."
 (The site had a request for more Myrna Loy.  Always pleased to oblige.)  





48 comments:

  1. Such a stretch. He was hammered and had no idea what he was saying.

    ReplyDelete
  2. O think you nailed it, Pscratch. Diggin' that Myrna Loy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. As many at the Ticket have learned, sometimes you do the bit, sometimes the bit does you. Grubes, of all people, should know this.

    Pman: search out some pics of a very young Betty White. You will be pleasantly surprised.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Corby is a douche, but you already knew that.


    More Sirois' and more Jake please.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Hardline and music. Jesus Christ.

    BTW, I do love when they get age defensive.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Some think that Darvish intentionally tanked his last Rangers start because he didn't want to leave.

    Most believe Grubes was just tanked.

    ReplyDelete
  7. "Segment successful"

    Pretty much says it all.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I thought I remembered Grubes having quit drinking. Usually when someone quits drinking there's a reason for it, and it's not good for them to start again. I hope that's not the case with Shoopy.

    ReplyDelete
  9. No need to defend me, P-Man. I overserved myself watching the Rangers game at home and while I was listening to Diamond Talk, thought it would be fun to call Sean and Ty.

    My intended point was that Yu understood the Rangers weren't going anywhere, he was on the trade market, and could bring a lot of value so there weren't bitter feelings from him about the move. I obviously got nowhere close to that point and knew it as soon as I started talking.

    Sean tried to help me out with his follow up, but when it became clear I wasn't going to clear things up, he hang up and I'm glad he did!

    And don't feel bad for me. I played plenty of drops of the other guys in similar conditions, so I'd be a huge hypocrite if I got mad at them having fun with a situation I put myself in.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Grubes, my man, I laughed out loud reading that.

    My stout defense based on what I thought your point was going to be was . . . wrong.

    What else is new? MTC, and sometimes the odd Confessor here and there, commits many errors.

    But I had visions of a remorseful Grubes wishing he had pushed his intended point just a little harder and thus not gotten sidetracked on no-trade lists, so I tried to noodge the dialogue a little more your direction.

    But glad to have this clarification, and perhaps the next time this clip is played, they will compare your actual analysis to what ended up on the air.

    Stay well, Michael. I know the Confessor will be ecstatic that you checked in.

    And thank you for shopping at My Ticket Confession.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hey, I do appreciate your attempt at helping! :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. SHOOOOOP! Thanks for the check-in. Hope all is well with you. You are sorely missed by the P1s.

    @Anon 6:49:
    I recall something similar and was wondering the same.

    ReplyDelete
  13. As usual the PM has no idea what he's talking about.

    Marge STILL is not funny.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I heard it live and found it hilarious. But at the end of the day, I'm glad that Sean decided to end the call when he did, despite criticism from Dan for doing it. Sean was looking out for Shoopy's best interest because he is his friend and cares about that friendship more than whatever Dan or the P1 thinks about it. Not to be Debbie Downer but this could have easily escalated into a potential Deadspin article the next day - "Dallas Stars Musical Director Drunk On The Air!" Sounds insane right? But this is the world we live in. A stupid tweet completely changed the trajectory of Mike Bascik's career, for example. I am not equating the two situations but am trying to illustrate the stupid viral nature of media these days. I would have hated for this to have hurt Shoopy's career in anyway because he is a good dude.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Shoop da doop, we all love ya, man. You can do no wrong. 'Preciate ya, pal, really 'preciate ya. Good dude.

    ReplyDelete
  16. @The Tricky Kid, while I agree with you premise, any opportunity to kick Sean Bass in the junk should be taken, and Dan is not the only one who said something about Sea Bass cutting the call short.

    ReplyDelete
  17. You don't often get a belly laugh out of Mike but you got one today when he saw the drawing of Taylor Swift's mother.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Woke up too early. Grumpy, got a cold. Drove to work listening to replay of Top Ten. Had enough of a certain annoying on-popping that even the hosts were completely ignoring and, for the first time in 13 years of Ticket listening, yelled at the radio to shut up.

    ReplyDelete
  19. C'mon into the pool, Plainsman. The water is fine.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Yeah. Thanks. I try to keep things positive around here, but all that gratuitous chirping . . . I'd had enough. Pop-ons can be OK; some poppers pop more helpfully and entertainingly than others.

    Cat needs to step on some of that. Or the hosts do. I'm still grumpy.

    But give me a minute to find my trunks.

    ReplyDelete
  21. His name has been brought up quite a bit lately, what exactly happened with Logan G?

    Is the Norm and Don show normally just Donny setting up Norm's segments or was that just his show yesterday?

    ReplyDelete
  22. My recollection is that Logan had been sent on a station-credentialed mission to get some locker room audio after a sporting contest of one kind or another -- think it was a Big 12 football game -- but ended up having fun instead and returning sans audio.

    I'm trying to remember if I had some back-channel confirmation of that back in the day. Yeah, here it is in the email archives.

    I don't know anything about his general station performance, but I remember thinking he was OK at the time. Tickers, the occasional bit.

    Hope he's doing well. How has his name come up at the station?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thanks for the reply Plainsman!

    His name came up during BAD radio when they were having someone fill in earlier in the week. They said he was the up and coming guy and would buy stock that he will do well. Someone said you said that about Logan G as well. I think his name was also thrown out in WTDS? I could be wrong but it was at least twice during the past week.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Someone mentioned MTC? That would be a rarity.

    ReplyDelete
  25. BaD Radio so much better when Jack & TC are gone. Wish Cat would wake up.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I had to say "buh bye" forever to The Hardline today. While I'm all for the dismantling of monuments that celebrate the Confederacy, Corby's utterly moronic, spewing, virtue signaling, unfounded "explanation" for such monuments was too much. As Norm would say, "that's it!" I'm plain done with those f***ing idiots. It sucks that The Ticket has on so many levels become a sounding board for the woke. Man, I just want to hear about sports, farting, some half way decent music talk, and regular stuff that we all deal with on a daily basis. As shitty as The FAIL is, they don't do what The Ticket does in this regard, and that's a good thing. Neither does 103.3. It's getting hard enough to listen to The Musers. I pretty much have to turn off all Gordo segs other than the 840 bit. He starts in with his bar stool (fill in the area of study) and the uninformed crap devolves from there. And then you have TC. Jake, Sean, and Machine. For the love of Amazon Prime, TC's explanation of what the Trinity toll road was to be and the more viable solutions was a joke. Hey bud, I'm also against the road and glad it was finally killed. But it wasn't going to be build on top of the bleeping river. "Studies"do not show that buses and trains are the answer, either. In fact for Dallas it's just the opposite. An actual study just came out in the DMN saying so. It's all so damn annoying. I don't want your socio political bulsh! I don't want half formed, un and misinformed, and totally b.s. mental masturbation. I want sports and everyday guy talk. Like it once was. Shit!

    ReplyDelete
  27. The ignorance displayed by NaP this morning when discussing the Zeke situation is astounding. First we have Machine's repeated complaint that the NFL has somehow placed itself "above the law" because it takes action even when there is no criminal prosecution. Huh? Seems pretty basic that the NFL, just like any other private employer, has every right to investigate and take action all sorts of conduct REGARDLESS of law enforcement involvement and regardless of whether or not the conduct is illegal. It's also very basic that the standard of proof for a criminal prosecution is "beyond on a reasonable doubt" and neither the NFL nor any other employer is obligated to abide by that standard, nor would we want them to. You can criticize the NFL all you want for being inconsistent but that doesn't mean it is placing itself "above the law."

    ReplyDelete
  28. Then we have the whole discussion about how the appeal process is somehow unfair or rigged because the initial appeal is to Goodell or his designee -- with no mention whatsoever of the fact that the appeal process was collectively bargained by a rich and powerful labor union. It is not something that was unilaterally imposed by Goodell and the NFL. If it's such a horrible and unfair process then why did the NFLPA ever agree to It?

    The reality is that it is not at all uncommon for the grievance and arbitration provisions in a CBA to call for the original decision maker to decide one of the initial steps of the appeal process.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Sorry about the typos in my initial post, The "on" that was supposed to be in "take action on all sorts of conduct" somehow migrated to "beyond a reasonable doubt"

    ReplyDelete
  30. I sent a note the Plainsman. I live in Tennessee never lived in North Texas. I don't really follow any of the Metroplex's teams. I started listening to The Ticket around 2005. I stopped listening a couple of years ago. It has been like something is missing in my life. After all this time I still think Ticket drops in certain situations throughout my day.

    Anyway, I installed the app on both of my phones again.

    What have I missed?

    ReplyDelete
  31. You've missed the ascendency of BaD Radio with the help of Jake and TC

    ReplyDelete
  32. Darren, how were you listening in 2005?

    ReplyDelete
  33. You've also missed the not so gradual change from the station's primary focus from sports and guy talk to a sounding board for the woke. If you're looking for a good time respite from the aches and pains of the world, The Ticket, more times than not, is no longer that haven.

    ReplyDelete
  34. @5:41 "That theory cannot be proven."

    ReplyDelete
  35. I for one am looking forward to what the ticket has to say about the past few days events.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Pretty sure I won't be tuning in on Monday...would rather listen to Rotten Radio...

    ReplyDelete
  37. Yeah, sans BaD pure sports segments (including Zeke), I'll not be listening tomorrow. It sucks. It used to be the place I went to forget about the shitty world and my humdrum life. Ya know, where everybody knows your name and they're always glad you came...and where people are all the same.

    ReplyDelete
  38. @Ed "I'm Ed Carter"

    ReplyDelete
  39. Plainsman,

    I was listening to the stream. I sort of had an interest in the Rangers then so I was looking to listen to some sports talk from Dallas and found the station then. I am thinking back then the site had something about George and Junior and their dogs? Maybe some kind of pet food they were pushing.

    I feel like an idiot for not listening the couple of years. When this station is gone, I don't think there will ever be another like it.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Today is the day I have been dreading all week. The day I have to hear Corby fan boy gush all over Jack White. Lord, please be with me today.

    ReplyDelete
  41. I guess it's OK for Rhinosaur to impute motive, beliefs, and actions onto others. And any retort to said imputations is unacceptable. You're a gem, Plainsman.

    ReplyDelete
  42. 148: Thank you.

    Pay attention. Rhino was also taken down moments after yours was.

    ReplyDelete
  43. My bad. I meant what I said about being a gem, btw.

    ReplyDelete
  44. CMLS reporting earnings today, btw

    ReplyDelete
  45. Wow, Plainsman! Thank you for your courage. I like that you encourage dissenting opinion while also encouraging discussion. That being said, I can't believe a whole thread about real world news and another thread about Jack White being "locked" on that other Ticket site/blog. Some people over there take their mod duties a little too seriously. C'mon guys, lighten up!!

    ReplyDelete
  46. Is there a new Ticket/site blog? Or are you talking about Reddit?

    I haven't been over there in awhile but when I would drop in I thought it was pretty good and made me think I should maybe pack this baby in. The guys who run it do a pretty good job keeping things in line, at least that was my impression back then. I barely have time to get stuff up on this site but I should pay a return visit.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Dear 12:40: I thought the Jack White segment(s) were quite good.

    ReplyDelete
  48. To clarify on the Reddit threads being locked/deleted. The Jack White thread was locked because the original post actually thought it was a place to ask Jack White questions, like it was an AMA or something. The other political talk thread was deleted because the thread creator felt the need to call people "maggots with an f" who disagreed with him, then went on and on about wanting to physically harm Sean Bass. It wasn't just for "dissenting opinion."

    Sorry, but moderation is needed. Hell, I got a comment here deleted yesterday. Not exactly sure what was wrong with it, but it's not my site. If you want to read nothing but vitriol, I guess there are people on Twitter you can follow.

    ReplyDelete