Thursday, January 28, 2010

The Blitz is on...for an extra hour

First, as always, please check out Examiner.com for sports takes. Click early and often...

Big news on the radio front this week: The Blitz picks up an extra hour. We will now be on from 1-4 Monday through Friday.

It doesn't seem like a lot, but it is a big deal on a lot of levels.

From a personal perspective, I am now off the 6 a.m. updates, which now means no more 4:45 a.m. wake up alarms. I can sleep until 6 and head straight for school instead of the station/school/back to the station/back to school run. (45 minutes one way via Beltway 8 if no one is...um, er, carjacking). So life should be a little easier on all fronts.

It's also a nice response to our listeners and the ratings we have put up in a very short time.

This is an extremely competitive sports talk environment. There are a lot of talented people all over the city, many of whom I consider to be very good friends. I was fortunate enough to get a foot in the door because of a past life in newspapers, and I had no idea how things would play out.

We started with a weekend morning show with a pretty simple idea: put two fun-loving degenerates with solid sports backgrounds together. Throw in a sick, somewhat disturbing sense of humor and multiply that by two. Then focus more on fun and less on controversy, but don't be afraid to tackle issues when they come up.

We had no idea if it would work, and to be honest, we weren't too worried about it if it didn't. We pretty much took the Princess Bride approach: They will most likely kill us tomorrow. If so, we'll all move on to other options.

But it turned into a daily show, and now that has turned into a bigger daily show. They will still most likely kill us tomorrow. If not...well, there might be a new Dread Pirate Roberts in town one day.



Anyway, thanks to everyone for listening, and to Matt the Superstar and Long Lee, adult film star, for making it work. Hopefully there will be more good stuff to come in the future. If not? Well, there are still other options out there, including the following....

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After all that time searching for a nickname, we've finally come up with one. Well, more appropriately, an alter ego as opposed to a nickname.

Meet Freddy Falcon.



It has sort of a generic, FM morning DJ vibe. Or maybe an adult film star vibe. Or maybe just a bad actor who gets a lead in a Lifetime movie opposite some burned out female actor in her 60s who is made up to look 30 and has a midlife crisis.

I can see the tout now: "Tune in Tuesday at 8 for Life Choices, starring Kathleen Turner as a middle aged housewife who is struggling with her feelings. And introducing Freddy Falcon as the friendly widower neighbor whose poignant artwork touches a nerve and sets off a chain of events that will change their lives forever."

Hey, it worked for Peter Coyote.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The Freddys World challenge

OK, so I suck again. Haven't been inspired to write much lately. However, since I have assigned my students to post once per week on their blog, I will do the same on this one.

(Also, please check out the Examiner columns. I get paid per click, so help a fellow out).

Today's topic on the show was best/worst team names. Sure, names like the UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs and UC-Irvine Anteaters are easy to make fun of, but even some of our NFL teams are pretty weak.

Dolphins? Really? They inspire fear? And don't even get me started on the Cardinals.

Allegedly there is a hockey team in Alabama called "Hicks with Sticks." The easy punch lines are too numerous to list here.

But my personal favorite was the Webster University Gorloks.

Warlocks I have heard of. Gorgons, too. But Gorlocks?

And no, it is nothing sinister.

From the Webster University website: "The Gorlok is Webster University's school mascot. It is a mythical creature that was designed by Webster staff and students through a school contest. It is reported to have the paws of a speeding cheetah, horns of a fierce buffalo, and the face of a dependable Saint Bernard."

You judge for yourself. I don't see the Saint Bernard. Looks like a freaky combination of a lion, cat, dog and bull. In other words, the result of a very drunk animal party:


Oh well, we shall all fear the Gorlok.

My personal favorite? A caller suggested the Reapers. I like it. Nice uniform possibilities. And who isn't afraid of death?