I liked Ben and Skin on Saturdays on The Ticket. Oh, sure, I'd bang my head on the steering wheel when they'd get into one of their endless self-referential hyper-irony loops. And the problem of hosts sounding too much alike I came to call Ben-and-Skin Disease. But their show was pretty good, they were smart and could be funny and they knew their sports-stuff, I thought. The show had a very different sound which I found appealing (when I wasn't steering-wheel-banging-of-head). I was sorry when they moved on. I regret to say I have never heard one of their ESPN broadcasts.
(Also, I liked the little girl singing "Ben and Skin" to "My Darling Clementine," and the "Ben and Skin Show" guy doing that overdubbed lower-register vamp.)
I always thought Bob Ortegel was OK, whenever I was able to catch the Mavs. But the fact is that Mrs. Plainsman is not interested in the Mavs and my evenings are usually spent on domestic interactions that do not allow even radio Mavs listening.
So I have heard absolutely zero broadcasts with Mr. Followill and Mr. Ortegel and Mr. Skin. (No, not that Mr. Skin.)
I thought that The Hardline today was particularly good on the departure of Mr. O from the Mavs' broadcasts. They were complimentary to Ortegel's many years of good service. They were also quite gracious to Skin, I thought. They could have been snotty about Skin, a Ticket refugee and current competitor, but they weren't. In fact, in general, they thought the Skin/Ortegel color combo was working OK. (And, later, they were complimentary to former-colleague-and-current competitor Big Dick Hunter in his speaking-truth-to-power address to the Mayor and City Council about the Vick key-to-city disaster.) It was another good Hardline day.
Here's my request to the Nation: Did anyone out there listen to the Followill/Ortegel/Skin broadcasts? What was your reaction to the whole thing? I'd be grateful for your report.
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Also: I found it interesting that RJ Choppy -- Greggo the Hammer Williams's former broadcast partner -- emailed in during the discussion of Corby's invite to the Mav's game. Obviously, Choppy was listening to The Ticket, not to his former pard. (Who had let Choppy down, of course, with his claimed mismanagement of what must have been massive prescription meds.)
