Frozen Face Nipples

To pass a bit of your weekend time .  .  .  .

(1)  Is anyone else astounded/delighted/shocked by the fact that Gordon Keith is facing Bob Sturm in the Dallas Morning News DFW Sportscasters Bracket contest?  (DMN Sportscasters Bracket) As of this writing, the results are Gordon 51.65, Bob 48.35.  And does anyone think we will ever hear the end of it if Gordon, the least sportsy of the entire bracket, wins?  Or even if he doesn't?

Gentle Confessors, this illustrates something I suggest from time to time, but it bears repeating:  The fine stable of readers who comment on this site is not necessarily -- perhaps I should leave off the "necessarily" -- reflective of the Ticket fan base.  Now Gordon is a DMN personality himself, and he shows up on the teevee from time to time, so we may be getting a number of voters here who like Gordon from his non-radio work.

But even so, that he's gotten this far, and may win, reminds us that there are many media consumers out there who don't think bullying is the signature feature of Gordon's work, in fact, who like him a lot.  (Maybe the voters are doing a mass bit, but I doubt it.)  He and Corby by far take the greatest gobkicking on MTC, and, while Corby didn't make it out of the first round, he's probably also a lot more popular than someone whose only source of information on the popularity of Ticket guys is this site would think.  (Whoo.  Bad sentence.)   I would point to, uh, the ratings as proof.  It's not just the shaky competition.

(2) Cat must have lectured the programs on "managing the back end."  I am guessing this has to do with bringing segments smoothly to a close so Cumulus can pay for them with on-time commercials.  But does anyone know for sure what this phrase, sneeringly referenced from time to time by hosts and producers, means?

(3) CONFIDENTIAL TO KEVIN TURNER:

KT, KT, KT.

I have no idea of all the indignities to which you were subjected at The Ticket.

No one has disclosed to me the various humiliations you suffered at the hands of BaD, Mike R, and Mitchell Karasik.

The soul-killing tasks you were ordered to perform remain hidden to me.

But I believe I can say with a fairish degree of certainty that The Ticket never, ever required you to eat the beard clippings of a Dallas Cowboys rookie out of his lap.

Mmm.

Email:  ThePlainsman1310@gmail.com

Twitter:  @Plainsman1310

Memorial Cirque Quick Hits -- AMENDED

Liking the sound of CDS this morning.  Nice paced conversation.  Funny, relaxed.  No forced radio wackiness or multitracked voicings.  Compare and contrast:  Ben + Skin.

Happy Birthday, Machine.

Laugh:  Mike (I think) discussing his early grilling attempts, and referring to the instrument used to pick up meat from the grill (in this case, trying to keep something from falling through the grate) as "tweezers."

Laugh:  A Sirois (again, I think Mike) referring to the Indy 500 trophy as "frozen face nipples."  (Could become as Ticket-legendary as "Green Tail Shiner.")

I may have missed this guy in the past, but where has John Fahey been?  Perfect Tickers.  Is he a Cumulus guy sitting in?  A long-time fill-in guy who has just escaped my notice?  Great cadence, and a Ticket-ready voice with a smile in it.

 *     *     *

LATER IN THE DAY:

Liking That Shake Joint Thang a lot.  I only got to hear maybe an hour of it off and on, but what I heard was strong on substance with a good balance of humor, quirks, and general personality.  Strong offering.

An early commenter below talks about David and David (Newbury and Moore) "failing," but I think The Boomtown is always a first-rate show.  Especially for those who gripe about the lack of actual sports on The Ticket.  (Not me, but you're out there).   I have no idea what the Confessor was talking about. 

So tell me, good Confessors:  Let's say The Ticket hosts all disappeared tomorrow and you had to hear today's lineup every day.  Would you listen to The Ticket or would you spend a whole lot more time with ESPN and The Fan?   For me, no question:  Today's shows were all better than anything I pretty much ever hear elsewhere.  Now having to do one show with time to prepare may not give us a good indicator of how these guys would all do on a day-to-day basis, but we've heard enough of all of them over the course of the last few years to know that they're very consistent performers. 

(Maybe the more exotic hypothetical would be:  What if a rival spirited away today's shows and lined them all up against Musers/Norm/BaD/Hardline?   Have you thought about it?)

*     *     *

Guessing Ticket salaries is a fool's errand, so my qualifications are impeccable.  Re Danny:  Pretty sure his base dollars are pretty close to where he claims.  Low-mid five figures.  The only question I would have is whether he gets some small extra duty pay for The Orphanage.  Glad to see the chap getting some endorsement dollars, local merchants banking on his legendary sincerity. 

*     *     *

Everyone:  Remember, remember.