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Schizo Scott on Media Wars, WBC, NCAA, and AI
2006-03-15 11:33
by Scott Long

I'm a grown man. I should be above it. But I just love when media figures take each other on like professional wrestlers.

If you haven't paid attention, Keith Olbermann has spent the past couple of years trying to get under Bill O'Reilly's very thin skin -- and it has worked. The latest incident had a caller to the "The Factor" radio show mention Olbermann's name, which caused O'Reilly to go off. The coffee-cup peddler finished by saying that he would contact the local authorities to tell them he was being harassed by the caller. He also mentioned that Fox security would get a hold of the guy (which they subsequently did).

So I guess the rule is that if a radio talk show host doesn't like the caller, it's harassment and should be dealt with by some security goon. Nice. We Report. You Decide. Well I've decided this is disgusting behavior by O'Reilly. Billy should stick to his TV show where he can control the content. Oh yeah -- he gives the guest the last word. My bad.

In another media slugfest, Howard Stern and Opie and Anthony morning shows have been going at it. O&A have hated Stern ever since Infinity Broadcasting (both shows were with the company at the time) told them they couldn't bring up Stern's name on-air, because Howard didn't want them to. (Mr. Freedom of speech?)

Now the word is that Opie and Anthony might become CBS/Infinity's new choice to fill the Howard Stern void. While I'm not sure how their XM show will be cut down for the broadcast airwaves, it's a lot better choice than hiring David Lee Roth. Both O&A and Howard discuss each other on their shows now, generally making for good radio.

Let me say that the best show on satellite radio is the one that follows O&A, Ron and Fez. Host Ron Bennington is the smartest, funniest host I've heard in this type of format, plus sidekick Fez Whatley is a great sidekick for him to play off.

*********************

I know that many here have enjoyed the World Baseball Classic, but it just hasn't captured me. I can't wait for the real game to begin in a couple of weeks. I actually think that the WBC has taken away from the natural build-up for Opening Day that Spring Training usually brings. I was for the idea, initially, but I would shed no tears if it ends after its initial year.

*********************

One thing that kills the WBC is that college basketball is at its peak when it's going on. By the way, I hate my tourney bracket picks this year and there is no way I'm ever going to win. I know I will be branded as a homer, but I can honestly say I've never chosen Iowa to make it past the second round since 1987. You can't pick Connecticut and Duke for the final game and expect to win the pool. Here is my Final Four:

    Connecticut over Villanova
    and
    Memphis over Iowa

    National Champ: Connecticut

The only team I feel strongly about is the Huskies. I'm not a fan of the other teams in Villanova's region, as I don't think Ohio State or BC can beat the Wildcats. I like Kansas, but they are so young. UCLA has a favorable draw, playing close to home, but they haven't faced a team this year that is as athletic and aggressive as Memphis, so I barely lean towards the Tigers. Duke is just not as good as usual, while Texas doesn't have a pass-first point guard, which is a must in the tourney. Iowa has been the best defensive team in college basketball this year, plus they have been shooting better ever since Jeff Horner found his stroke. Iowa could lose in the first round, but they are the kind of veteran, defensive team that I like to go with in the tourney.

*******************

The Old Adventures of New Christine is the worst name ever for a sitcom. It's confusing, hard to say, plus the word Old is not something you want to put in your title when you're trying reach younger viewers. Ah, network programmers. What a bunch of net-wits.

*******************

American Idol is down to three people who can win the thing: Chris, Paris, and Katherine. Paris is a little dynamo and could wind up the best in a few years, but she's 17 and I think she's a bit too immature to win the whole thing. It's a lot of fun to watch Chris belt out his album rock, week after week, but I just don't see the Idol part of his talent. If the show was called Rock God he would have already wrapped it up, but I just don't think he's teenie-bopper material. Katherine was great last night and has a real charm to her. She has the pipes and it doesn't hurt that she is sexy as hell. Take her out of the hippie dress from last night and put her in something a bit slinkier and that could be the final step on her way to being the newest AI.

Comments
2006-03-15 12:51:35
1.   chris in illinois
The heavy rumor running around is that Katherine is in the early stages of pregnancy. As a father of three month old twins, I saw the 'hippie' dress and thought 'maternity dress'. She's definately good though....

The grey-haired dude is the darkhorse, otherwise, I agree with your handicapping.

2006-03-15 12:51:35
2.   chris in illinois
The heavy rumor running around is that Katherine is in the early stages of pregnancy. As a father of three month old twins, I saw the 'hippie' dress and thought 'maternity dress'. She's definately good though....

The grey-haired dude is the darkhorse, otherwise, I agree with your handicapping.

2006-03-15 13:07:05
3.   TheBigLowitzki
What about Mendisa?

And I liked the hippy dress. Then again I have been known as "hippy dave", so it would make sense.

And Taylor is good enough to win, and I think people like his quirkiness enough to gain more votes because of it.

2006-03-15 13:22:39
4.   Voxter
The major thing that's going to keep UCLA from going too far is something you neglected to mention: They're not a good basketball team.
2006-03-15 14:07:08
5.   deadteddy8
Though I feel for Darius Washington and don't know how I'd handle what happened to him last year, I think Memphis will be the first number one seed bumped from this year's tourney. Bucknell looms.

-David A.

2006-03-15 16:21:47
6.   bob gaj
not sure if you said it poorly, but olbermann didn't have anything to do with that guy calling up o'reilly. however, his team DID contact the guy to put him on the air afterwards...

i don't follow the wbc much, either, but i'm not going gaga over the ncaa hoops either. i wonder how many companies have sent out stuff to employees saying "if you stream the games, you're in trouble". similarly, i'd use netnanny to block cbs or whoever is streaming the games.

2006-03-15 18:32:50
7.   grandcosmo
The round-robin format is killing the WBC for me. Having to rely on tiebreakers really emphasises how much the short format is unsuited for determining the best baseball teams.
2006-03-15 18:39:34
8.   Scott Long
Bob,
Saying something poorly can sometimes be a subjective deal. I don't see where what I wrote that a caller had been threatened by O'Reilly for using the words Keith Olbermann constitute me writing something poorly. I guess I can see where the line before it sorta sets it up to be just a battle between the 2 talk show hosts, but I never say that the caller was put up to it by KO. Sorry if I confused you.

The first 4 days of the tourney are my favorite 4 in all of sports. Baseball is my favorite professional regular season.

2006-03-16 04:29:34
9.   BobbyBaseBall
Great observation about the O&A vs. Hoo Hoo Howie (who's invented everything). It does make for some very compelling radio.

And the Ron & Fez Show rocks. The blend of sarcasm and intelligent pop culture references make that show (combined with O&A) make work go by that much faster.

2006-03-16 12:41:36
10.   SaveFarris
I imagine the thing that set off O'Reilly was less Olbermann's name than what was said during the 7-second delay that O'Reilly dumped out of and that we never heard.
2006-03-16 13:24:01
11.   jgpyke
O'Reilly is lame and unwatchable. Why bother. He is simply awful.

But the biggest surprise is that people actually watch the Keith Olbermann Smugness Hour. His three viewers already posted here.

KO must have some wicked tennis elbow from patting himself on the back so much. Even worse than Jon Stewart.

2006-03-16 13:34:35
12.   misterjohnny
Slight problem with your UCLA analysis. They already played Memphis this year in the Preseason NIT in MSG. Memphis had a 75-58 lead, but UCLA cut the lead to 82-76 with 42 seconds to play. Memphis made their free throws and won 88-80.
Both UCLA and Memphis have improved over the course of the season. I like UCLA's chances with a partisan Pac-10 crowd in Oakland.
2006-03-16 17:20:32
13.   bob gaj
scott - yeah, i understand. just wanted to make sure...

jgp - are there ANY talking heads who are decent and not full of themselves? seriously. i tuned in because i heard the caller was going to be on...

but don't be dissin' stewart...i love daily show and colbert report. i find it funny that i've seen ads with some press quote about the olbermann show being as funny as the daily show...who'd have thunk THAT a few years back?

i just realised i missed american inventor; gotta tune in (the latest from the american idol crew).

tennessee only won by 2??? wow.

2006-03-16 17:21:57
14.   bob gaj
speaking of unclear - i tried to stop the last msg before it went through, but no success.

who'd have thunk that any regular programming (ie. msnbc, under the nbc umbrella) would be comparing itself to something on ugly stepdaughter comedy central...

2006-03-16 18:13:22
15.   Anthony
I've been using a statistical model on the NCAA Tourney the last few years along with a modified version of a Monte Carlo simulation. UCLA is one of the more interesting cases. They rate far behind Memphis and Kansas, yet have the best chance of reaching the regional final (79.8%) of anyone there because of the pathetic bottom half of the bracket. Despite that, UCLA only has a 5.4% chance of reaching the Final Four since it's a virtual lock either Memphis or Kansas will beat them.

The system spat out some weird results (Xavier is the odds-on favorite to beat Gonzaga and move onto the Sweet 16, which blew my mind) but it's worked well in the past. For what it's worth, the Final Four by this method looks like Texas over Memphis, UConn over Nova, Texas over UConn.

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