Whither Mike?

I think that last post set a record for responses, about 120.

We can keep up the speculation on who will replace Mike.  My money's still on Jake, but I'd be OK with Mike Sirois or Dave Lane.  Or Bob, although I discount pretty much all info from persons claiming to have inside information other than me.  One reason I don't have much confidence in any of my predictions is that I don't know what the competition sounds like.  I don't really tune into G-Bag, so I don't know what, if anything, the demographic likes about it that they're not finding in The Ticket.  I have to believe that Cat is going to have this in mind as much as just how the various candidates sound with Corby.

But I want to turn now to another topic, and that is what Mike is going to do with himself. 

I need to find some time to listen to the Ben & Skin interview.  I gather from comments we've seen to date is that some Confessors are getting the impression that he may be waiting out his noncompete and will hit the airwaves elsewhere again.  They note that the word "retirement" has not been used.

A couple of thoughts on that possibility -- not that I have any information that that's what's going through Mike's Mind:

(1) If he does land elsewhere, then we'll know that the "I just had that feeling, I knew in my bones, it was just time to go" was not entirely true, was not even mostly true -- he had some problems with what management was saying to him.

(2)  If he does land elsewhere, how will we all feel about that elegaic speech and the looooooong hallway walk and opening and closing doors and whatnot?

(3)  But here's the main thing:  Recall that the feeling was pretty much unanimous that Mike was not, shall we say, fully engaged in The Hardline.  Love the guy, truly do, given me hours of pleasure, but recent years  .  .  .  .  Not a lot of prep, and voluntary surrender to Corby's enthusiastic monopolization of the mic.  In other words, he wasn't keeping his game sharp.

So what if he pops up on another show, and whaddya know, we hear a fully-engaged and participatory Mike?  How will we feel about all that affection he reported that he has for the station and the people there?   If we don't hear a fully-engaged Mike, then why try the act elsewhere?  If we don't hear that, then how would he expect to be a success?

That all sounds pretty snarky, I know, but here's where I come out on this:  Because I don't think Mike is that kind of guy, a guy who will give his best elsewhere when he wasn't inclined to give it to Cumulus/Ticket/Hardline.   I don't think Mike will go to another station, or another show, or another medium, only to cast off his Hardline torpor and be a star again.  If he is willing to work hard now, why would he have been unwilling to do so for the home team?  My answer is:  When he left The Ticket, even though he may not have used the word "retirement," he was intending to convey a truthful impression that he was done with sports/guy-talk radio.  My answer is that he is a man of integrity, and that he won't be returning to radio full-time on a daily talk show.  I expect to hear him on one-offs, and on interviews, and maybe even as a guest commentator from time to time, but nothing much more than that.

Thanks for everything, Mike.