Draft Coverage Reaction Here

Possibly the cheapest refresh yet.  Hugely tied up, sorry.

And you can talk about stuff other than draft coverage.

In recompense, I offer three reds.

The Night Before

Two nights before, actually.

I usually enjoy The Ticket's draft coverage even if I don't have a lot of interest in the draft.  I only got to listen to about two hours of it this time around, Thursday evening.  The time leading up to and just following the Cowboys' pick.

It was OK, certainly didn't punch out, but it seemed somehow  .  .  .  I dunno, undernourished.  In the past, The Ticket seemed to have made an investment in the draft, really talked it up, promoted the coverage heavily.  Not so much this year, just the guys in the studio, and Cumulus didn't even turn the air conditioning on for them.

There wasn't the same verve and, I daresay, the same preparation we have heard in years past.  Norm mispronounced names of at least two of the top batch of picks, and on one occasion he was corrected incorrectly by one of the other hosts.

Bob was good, as usual, but seemed kind of checked out, not really fully engaged.  I can't put my finger on it.  No criticism, I just got the feeling that maybe he wasn't all that interested in fighting with all the other voices.

As other commenters have observed, Corby was one guy too many.  Nothing to add on the football front. And he was doing something peculiar:  Every once in awhile he -- at least I think it was him -- would start mumbling quietly when someone else was trying to talk, like nonsense syllables or something under his breath, and Norm would simply stop and the air would go dead.  Some really weird moments.

Bright spot:  David Moore.

I miss Junior Miller's capsule bios of the players following their selection.  Little jewels of reportage and wit.

Draft coverage should be Norm, Bob, and one or the other David (Newbury or Moore).  Whether they're all in the same room or divided up between the draft venue, Valley Ranch, and Victory Park, you'd just have a cleaner, livelier, and more informative show.

Mainly Just Freshening Up the Thread

I got pretty much nothing today, but probably need to get a new thread started.  Man, 107 comments to the last one.  I need to step up my game here.  By the way, huge readership during RaGE's implosion, and it looks like quite a few are sticking around.  Thanks to all for shopping at My Ticket Confession.

Got a laugh out of George's and Gordon's live Raising Cain's commercial this morning, which was not only unscripted but completely unconceptualized.  It sputtered along for awhile until Jer or whoever was working the joint today mercifully started running another ad while George and Gordon were still speaking haltingly to one another, and finally stopped in mid-nothing.

How about some thanks to the CTO for a big investment in draft day?  Not everyone enjoys it, but for me it's kind of like Race Week.  I have no interest in NASCAR but I really enjoy Rich's broadcast.  I know zero about the draft or college players, but the enthusiasm Norm, Bob, David, and David (and George from Valley Ranch) manage to sustain for hours and days on end is pretty remarkable, and a fun listen.

That's it.  Thread is now  .  .  .  open.

OPEN THREAD: Draft

A number of Confessors have been groaning about The Ticket's NFL draft coverage.  Mainly, that there's too much of it.

I have about as much interest in the draft as I do in women's curling, but I tuned into as much coverage as I could.  I found it very listenable, and even enjoyable.

It takes some talent to make compelling a subject one's audience knows next to nothing about, but by his enthusiasm and expertise and presentational skills Bob Sturm manages it.  David Moore -- terrific.  And personally, I have no problem whatsoever with Norm's draft obsession.

But this year, Norm sounded tired and ragged although his enthusiasm for the task burned as brightly as ever.  I didn't mind his rough sound, but I worried that perhaps the travel and long hours are starting to take their toll.

Commenters have already noted Mike R's nonperformance.  Craig didn't have much to say, but I always get a kick out of what little he does say.  I thought Corby's College Football Blowhard might have had a little more to offer, but he wasn't bad -- tough to compete with Bob and Norm.  The question is, why have anyone but Norm, Bob, and guys like David Moore and perhaps other station draft wonks on the air at all?

In any case, I kind of got sucked into the coverage -- again, evidence of skilled broadcasters taking an arcane and complex subject and making good radio out of it.

But I know not a lot of you don't agree, and now it's your turn.

OPEN THREAD: Draft Coverage

Wow, that is one dull topic.  But maybe we can have a spot of fun with it.

My employer has thoughtlessly demanded that I work from rising in the morning until turning in at night, so I've been unavoidably detained.  I know I owe you a PART 2 to that PART 1 of a few days ago.  I'll get to it.

So I'm giving you a cut-rate post and asking you to give the Nation your thoughts on The Ticket's draft coverage.

My cut-rate view:  It was excellent, as always.  I follow exactly one college football team, and if the players involved aren't from that team my interest is somewhat attenuated.  But during my normal listening hours, I listen to The Ticket's draft coverage as though it were a regular showgram.

I have two highlights, and one new element that I'd like to hear your views on.

The highlights, which I think most Confessors will agree with, are

(1) Bob Sturm's analysis.  I have no idea if he's right or wrong most of the time, but it sells me.  I especially enjoy it when he cocks his radio eye at a proposed pick, asking how that pick would fit into the selecting team's scheme.  Ooo, good point!

(2) Junior Miller's droll mini-summaries of the players selected.  Very funny.  More important, he's trying.  Rewarding the P1 for tuning in -- he cares enough about a quality presentation to give them something to anticipate.  I think it almost always works.

The DCC signal the drafting of kicker David Buehler
in the 5th round of the 2009 draft

OK, here's the wild card I'd like your views on:  Jean-Jacques Taylor's contribution.  I'll hold off on any major JJT STD.  I'll just say that (a) he's still damned hard to hear and understand if you have your radio -- expecially your car radio, which is fighting with tire and engine noise -- tuned to hear the normal radio voices at normal volume (which I've griped about on an earlier occasion), and (b) I make a special effort to make sure I do hear what he has to say.   For now I'll just say -- well, nothing.  I'd rather hear what you have to say.

Thanks for checking in during this quiet time.

A Handful of Draft Quick Hits

(1)  Say what you want about Cumulus, they pull out the stops when it comes to the draft and the result is some entertaining, informative broadcasting.  I don't know much about college football and frankly don't care much about it, but the show holds my attention. 

(2)  Norm is the acknowledged expert, but my ears perk up when I hear the resonant murmur of Bob Sturm.  Don't let the guy anywhere near an interview, but even his occasional asides are worth listening to.  The more I hear of the guy and read his blog, the more admire his real sports savvy. 

(3)  It is disconcerting to hear Mike Rhyner as the yuck-monkey.  I always like hearing his voice, but I'm not entirely sure what he's doing there.  I'm not sure he knows, either.  Throws in a gag or a non-specific observation here and there.  I'm not being critical -- I'm just saying that when he's not running a show doing what he's good at doing, it's faintly discomfiting to hear him just there without a role. 

(4) Junior Miller, along with Sturm the most astute sports mind on the station, delivered a scorching SO this morning, predicting that Dez Bryant would be as productive as Randy Moss over his career.  One of the things I admire about Junior is that he is not one of these guys that is more interested in not being wrong than in the possibility of being spectacularly right.  That attitude makes America great.

(5) I'm still somewhat puzzled by Todd Archer.  After a promising start on The Ranch Report, I didn't think he rose to the occasion, as I suggested here and here.  Again, he's an agreeable radio presence, but what more does he bring?  In his defense, I think he was doing a live instant Q&A online during the draft last night, which was surely distracting.