BREAKING: Changes at ESPN

Per Anonymous at 7:06p on September 24:

Per Reddit, Mosely and Friedo out at ESPN.

Steve Dennis to replace Mosely on Afternoon Show.

Friedo-Dennis to be replaced by Jean-Jacques Taylor and an unnamed partner.

This is all I have on this, and if it turns out to be in error, apologies in advance.   My thanks to 706 Anonymous, unless it's wrong.

I liked Cowlishaw and Mosely, but I think Steve Dennis and Tim Cowlishaw will be worth a listen.

Interesting -- in the last thread, I was wondering if Dennis might find a home as a host somewheres.  I speculate that this has nothing to do with these changes.

UPDATE:  Looks like Anonymous had the goods.

http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/other-sports/moresports/2016/09/23/matt-mosley-espn-1033

Article places Will Chambers with JJT.  Looks like JJT was reporting on his assignment via Facebook on Friday, so I'm a little behind the times here.

A Couple of Quick HIts to Get a New Thread Going -- UPDATED [2]

(1) My schedule has changed so I'm sometimes not in the car as much during drive, so my Hardline listening has diminished a bit.  When I tuned in this past week, I have to say, I enjoyed the show.  I thought the Danny rat story was overrated, but they did some car talk that got me laughing, and it seemed to me that I heard More Mike than I'd heard in recent months, which always makes for a better show.

(2) I sometimes punch over to ESPN, and heard something that I really liked on Monday afternoon:  a couple of hours of "Football Firing Line," which I guess has been going on for awhile.  It was Tim Cowlishaw and Matt Mosley, the usual Afternoon Show hosts, with Steve Dennis, Nate Newton, and another guy whose name I wrote down and now I can't find the slip.  The Internets say Ed Werder is on the panel, but it wasn't him, it was an AA with a four-letter first name, a middle initial, and a last name.  One of you guys can tell me who it was.  [UPDATE 2:  The other guy had a four letter last name:  Clarence E. Hill, Jr., of the Star-Telegram.]  Anyway, I thought it was a lot of fun with some trenchant Cowboys analysis thrown in for good measure.

What's the story on Steve Dennis, anyway?  He seems pretty spicy and zero-BS but it seems all he does is fill in around the Dallas sports media scene from time to time.  Would he make a good full-time host somewheres?

(3) Danny has a great radio voice, but in recent months it's gotten rough and a little breathy and sometimes cracks, as though perhaps he smokes and perhaps smokes a lot.  (I don't know if he smokes.)  Maybe he's been performing a lot.  (You can tell when Mike's not far past a Petty Theft performance -- his voice gets noticeably tired.)  Maybe he has to yell a lot at the Twilite Lounge.  Maybe he's using a different mic or he's getting EQ'd so the treble is turnt up.  His habits are none of MTC's business; I'm just saying his on-air sound has frayed some.

(4)  UPDATE:  Hey, how long has Matt McClearin been hosting the Cowboys post-game on ESPN?  (Since there's only been one other game, I would think that's probably the answer.)  Maybe the better question is, how long has Matt McClearin been working at KESN?   I punch over from Norm and Donovan once in awhile just to see what's airing on ESPN or The Fan, and he was running the show (it sounded like) with Steve Dennis and Tim McMahon, if I caught it correctly.  I thought it was pretty good.

I knew that he and Scot Harrison had lost their WJOX Birmingham show back in July but hadn't heard anything further.  Since Cumulus is operating KESN, maybe Jeff C welcomed him back.  (Scot's LinkedIn page says that he's "Director of Marketing and Public Relations at Taco Mama."  Matt's says that he's "Account Executive at New Home Guide," which sounds like something you do until Cat can find a spot for you.)

Non-Tickety Observation on the 105.3 FM Call of the Vikings Game

My non-Tickety observation is that it was terrible. 

Babe Laufenberg was doing the teevee color, so Brad Sham was paired with "Coach Joe" Avezzano and Steve Dennis. 

Is Coach Joe some kind of local beloved character?  I know about his coaching career, but is he known for being an astute observer of the local football scene?  The gags about him being techologically behind the times, and references to what school someone came from, and all the rest, was pointless, unamusing, repeated ad nauseum, and dumb.  I didn't hear one observation from him about what was going on on the field that wasn't obvious; his offerings were so generalized and cliched that I could have written them in advance of the game.  The highlight was where Brad was reading a lst of all the Cowboys who had carried the ball in the game, and when he was done, Coach Joe said "and a porridge in a pear tree." He's like Greggo, without the eloquence.

You know who he sounds like?  Hank Hill's neighbor Bill on "King of the Hill."  Hey, if he's some DFW deity that everyone loves, I apologize for the disrespect.  But man, he was awful in the booth.

Steve Dennis spent more time commenting on his own commentary and Tweeting than offering game observations.  On the TV I would see some cowboy headed off the field on a cart, and those three were larfing it up about some nothing or other. 

Hard to believe that The Fan could not have assembled better support for Brad Sham than that, or that they couldn't have directed Coach Joe and Dennis to do some game prep.  The broadcast was a trainwreck from beginning to end.

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NOTE:  This was corrected from its first posting, as I had the channel entirely wrong.  Observations are the same.  Many thanks to Anonymous below for pointing out my error.

Shaggy below also suggests that the Cowboys select the broadcast team.  I had been under the impression that the Cowboys might have approval rights, but the network/station hires the broadcasters.  I'll be there's someone out there who knows.

If it is the Cowboys -- it doesn't improve the broadcast.