Matrix
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I Root For: UAB, N'Western
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RE: Sports Media Vibe For Old Dominion...
(07-22-2012 03:41 PM)smudge12 Wrote: I think the support from the Pilot has been fantastic, and the Daily Press surprises from time to time as well. Television hasn't been too bad either.WAVY always has videos and highlights up after every game, and we've gotten a decent amount of games on television so far considering we're an FCS program.
However, like other posters have mentioned, we're still competing against UVA and VT, and to some extent UNC (VT is definitely the biggest one to contend against). In large though, I've found the Hampton Roads community to be very supportive of ODU and as we join the FBS, it should get much better; I can see ODU becoming the highlight of sports media in the area. That said, I highly doubt we'll ever overtake VT as the state's favorite team unless we start regularly making BCS bowls...and we know that's nearly impossible in the current state of the FBS.
As far as newspapers go, we had 2 people who wrote anything consistently about UAB, Kevin Scarbinsky and Steve Irvine. As far as the former goes, some are of the opinion that he's not exactly an ally of the Blazers, but I respectfully disagree, he's taken some pretty courageous, dare I say, dangerous stands in print and on radio on behalf of UAB & the screwjob by the UA board of trustees, especially where the on campus stadium project is concerned, and he's not backed down a step, in spite of the heat he's gotten from "Updyke Nation" (my nickname for alabama football fans, I know y'all heard about the guy who allegedly poisoned some historic trees on the Auburn campus last year because his Crimson Tide football team blew a huge lead in an Iron Bowl game and lost, Harvey Updyke. He bragged about it on the air of a radio talk show - it was a hot mess, & it's not over yet!)...Irvine is being laid off by the only newspaper in this town, The Birmingham News. He says he has other options to pursue, but right now is in limbo. The Birmingham News went out of its' way to bury anything UAB did positive in sports, especially football, in a small corner column of their sports section, while alabama would get a full paged, color spread. Nick Saban's stool sample results would make the front page of that paper over anything UAB did. That doesn't leave UAB with much outside of options like BlazerTV.com, the school's newspaper, Kaleidoscope, the uabsports.com website. Far as radio is concerned, the only personalities consistently receptive to discussing Blazers sports are Kevin Scarbinsky (he also cohosts a show on weekday morning with a very abrasive and narrowminded SEC/Crimson Tide luggage carrier Scott Griffin) & the lovely Rachel Baribeau, who cohosts a program called "The 4th Quarter", with an SEC Throwback named Max Howell. Their station 97.3 FM, "The Zone",which started out last year around this time as if they were going to be a pleasurable alternative to what we'd been subjected to for far too long at the hands of station WJOX 94.5 FM, the self-proclaimed "sports animal"...In my eyes, they are more like "the sports enema." Absolutely horrible excuse for a sports radio station where local coverage and personas are concerned, they are clueless about what real sports are about, especially in the pros. If you weren't as a caller, bringing something related to alabama or Auburn football, recruiting or the SEC, they would rudely blow you off and not make a concerted effort to address your topic with arrogance, their overall knowledge of sports in general is atrocious across the board. The last time it happened with me was the absolute last time I ever tuned into that station, well over a year and a half ago. For the time being, their top ratings-getter is a weasel named Paul Finebaum, don't listen to him or his show unless you have an affinity for perpetual nausea. The only reason I'd give the entire sports media in this town overall a "C-" is because of Rachel Baribeau and Kevin Scarbinsky, otherwise, the grade would be a big, fat, "F." I want to acknowledge this man, too, he factors into the grade as well, in spite of the fact that he works for the university of alabama as a sportscaster, his knowledge of the entire sports spectrum and undeniable humility and objectivity has made him highly respected in my eyes, and if he wanted to take his broadcasting career to a higher level, I don't see anything stopping him, not even the university of alabama...He's the voice of the crimson tide, Eli Gold. Used to host two sports talk shows in this town and you could call him up to talk hockey, NASCAR, MLB, Pro Wrestling, he was incredible, but unfortunately, the brass that runs the radio stations here criticized him for not being "cutting edge" enough and too accommodating to callers and listeners. Incredulous! He was part of "The Zone's" lineup until about 4 months ago(his abrupt departure did not set well with me), he also held a time slot down on WJOX about 7 or 8 years ago.
If "The Zone" becomes what we hate (& they're getting there), then XM radio will be my next option, gladly, right now, they're the lesser of two evils, even though they provide Yahoo Sports Radio, which I like a great deal. I know there's a place for real sports fans in the XM Universe.
(This post was last modified: 07-22-2012 09:32 PM by Matrix.)
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