Shark Bytes

Bill Rhoden is beating the bushes to find racism; does he miss the days when people roll their eyes when a black journalist had something to say? Those days are gone, but he always comes up with new nonsense to try and stir the embers. And Lupica, that smug little twerp; stick to writing children's books and forget your laughable political blogs and your searing hatred of George Steinbrenner. So he didn't hire you for his PR department -- get over it, little man. That said, John Saunders has filled Dick Schaap's big shoes superbly. If only his guests could remember the name of the show and save their agendas for their own columns.

I typically like John Saunders, especially given the fact that he had immensely huge shoes to fill once Dick Schaap passed. In general, I think he does a good job.
Bill Rhoden is an inarticulate one-trick pony. Can this buffoon possibly find something to talk about other than the racism he seems to find in ever aspect of the sports world? I wish ESPN producers could understand how worn-out his nonsense is. He's become the man (see, I didn't say "boy") who cried wolf. No one cares Bill. Go away.

I've rarely watched it since Schaap died. I'm just tired of listening to a bunch of loud mouthed, untalented and overpaid PC sportswriters whine, on this or any other show.

There show was good. That was until Jason Whitlock came to town.

Possessing the ability to talk should be a prerequisite for appearing on a talk show. My 82-year-old grandfather who is paralyzed due to a recent stroke is more articulate than that man. I typically avoid this show because everything is turned into a racial issue, but occasionally when I catch it really annoys me. Mitch Albom follows the same formula for every point he makes. He lays out an argument, says, “that being said,” and then lays out a counter argument. What really made the show jump the shark today was John Saunders’s “parting shot.” He admonished the Women’s Duke Lacrosse team for supporting the men’s lacrosse team. He spewed these nonsensical statistics that imply that 99 percent of all women are raped at one point or another. The sources he sighted were liberal feminist organizations. Disgusting.

The most obvious answer is the day that Dick Schaap crossed over Jordan. The show has been downhill since then. But three particular things bother me about this rag. First, John Saunders is an EXCELLENT ABC college football host; he is lousy at this show. Saunders, Rhoden, and Jayson Whitlock turn everything they can into a 'racial' issue. The one that bothered me most is when the University of Alabama chose Mike Shula (zero day's head coaching experience and white) over Sylvester Croom (zero day's head coaching experience and black) and the panel slammed Shula as 'unqualified' while touting Croom, going so far as to say Alabama 'should have done the right thing.' Well, Croom has the worst team in the SEC and Shula's going to the Cotton Bowl, but will you hear an apology from these militants? I doubt it. Secondly, Mouth Lupica is more useless than a bucketful of warm spit. Seriously. He's the kind of pencil-necked geek who used to argue with the teacher just to show he had brains when he had no brawn. And finally, Mitch Albom really gets my goat. If it's a player Mitch Albom likes who gets in trouble with the law or overdoes it publicly, Albom will go, "Well, we're the cause of it, the media." But if somebody Albom doesn't like blames the media, Albom retreats to, "Typical, blame the media for it. Well, we didn't make Ray Lewis obstruct justice, blah blah blah." In other words, its okay for Mitch to slam the media but not anybody else. Which causes me to wonder if Albom's picking Duke to beat the nearly all-black Arkansas basketball team for the 1994 NCAA championship was 'racist.' Albom said, "The more intelligent team wins this game and that's Duke." What do you think Rhoden would have said if, say, John Rocker had said the same thing? Even if Duke won?

Perhaps this show jumped the shark many years ago, so i can't say whether it always wasted too much time on golf, or if that was just a more recent development. I can't remember a single show, during any time of the calendar year, when there wasn't at least some segment about golf. I'd expect that from April until October, but when it's February, I'd like at least 50-50 between college basketball and golf. This show probably jumped after Dick Schapp died. Maybe he was the perfect host for this sort of thing. No matter who the guests were, he served as an anchor of old-school formality. I'll give Saunders credit for trying to step into those shoes, but he just doesn't cut it. Strangely, as annoying as Lupica can be, I actually like him as host/moderator because for one thing it reduces his role as one of the debators. His whininess actually WORKS if he's trying to facilitate differing opinions. Not sure how consistent the rotation of commentators was in the early days, but by now there's no consistency. Like, maybe you don't like Ryan or Lupica, but at least if they're there most of the time, you either can get into a flow or give up watching. In a reversal of sorts, this show made Mitch Albom jump the shark. I once found his sports columns amusing. But this show just accentuates the fact he knows only one phrase: "that being said..." And Albom presents an example of another shark point: the intro, where the host has to mention each panelist's latest book. Nothing is more irritating than a sports journalist with a book deal. I've never read a good book by a sports writer.

Somebody- OK, me- once called me "the best unpublished sports columnist around." Another sports-savvy friend calls me "the-Commish-in-waiting". But "Sports Reporters"- whose late and lamented host Dick Schaap really was a class act (read his book, "Schaap as told to Schaap", and see why)- jumps big-time because of its natural East Coast bias. I live in Boston but I spend an awful lot of time ripping the Globe's finest, and both regulars on either this show or local radio, constantly. They're known by me as "Cryin' Ryan" and "Little Orphan Danny" (Shaughnessy). We in the Northeast think we're the greatest, most knowledgeable sports fans in the world, but we're also the biggest blowhards in the land. You go with nothing but Boston/NYC/Philly/DC people, with Albom (once a super-duper writer, today a franchise- ask any Detroiter) as the sole outsider, and you easily get bored. Let me tell you, folks, if you took the best writers from smaller markets or other regions- let's say, KC/ Nashville/Baltimore/Denver- you'd have a better show. Or Ft. Lauderdale/Indy/Hartford/Seattle. Again, I don't have ESPN any more, but I'd give them a better shot at saving this tired talkfest by creating a spot for great regional guests once in a while like Joe Posnanski (KC), Dave Hyde or Dan LeBatard (Miami), Art Thiel (Seattle) and even ESPN's home-state guy, Jeff Jacobs from the Hartford Courant. How about it?

Never jumped!!! This is a terrific show. I tape it every Sunday morning, and can't wait to watch it. I don't think John Saunders is nearly as good as Dick Schapp, but sometimes his parting shots are excellent. My favorite ones are those including Mitch Album, arguably the best sports writer in the country. The only one I can't stand is Mike Lupica, but that's what the fast forward button is for!!

For the last 10-12 years the only show I strive to watch every single time it's on and I'm mad when I don't catch it. Lupica can be too much sometimes, but he represents NYC well.

Lupica is an angry little man because he could never actually play any sport, so he rips athletes because he's jealous of them. Conlin acts like it would kill him to actually lean forward for anything other than a doughnut. These fools are the reason I can't watch.

The Sports Reporters jumped the shark with the repeated pomposity and outright hubris of Mike Lupica. The guy is just so dogmatic and plain phony. For example, when former Laker Ervin "Magic" Johnson did not especially like the then-current Laker coach (Paul Westphal?) and lobbied to have him fired, Lupica referred to Johnson as a "punk" in his NY Daily News column. However, several years later, when Johnson announced to the world that he had "attained" the HIV virus, there was good, old Mikey boy on the Sports Reporters, saying that he had received the truly sad and tragic news about "Magic," while out on the golf course. I thought that Lupica was going to break down and cry right on Bill Conlin's husky shoulders right there on the set. Hey, Mikey, make up your mind, will you? Do you like the guy or do you loathe the guy? Of course, Lupica bailed on the NY Daily News when he joined the sports writing staff of "The National," that national daily of Frank DeFord's that very quickly jumped the shark and bit the bullet. (New York's "loss" was America's "gain.") And, after "The National" went finito, then, here came Mike Lupica (with his tail between his legs) as he had to return in humiliation to the NY Daily News tabloid. Welcome back, Mike!!! All is forgiven!!!

I like this show, I tape it every Sunday and watch it in the afternoon...I don't like the Prime Time version though...doesn't it seem like there's a whole lot of background noise on the set during the prime time taping? Hey guys, why don't you set up your chairs on the 42nd street A train subway platform? At least there it's a lot quieter than your ESPN zone setting... btw, I'm black, so I can say this (hee hee)...Bill Rhoden is an idiot! Hey Bill, I'm sure you check this site out...next time you're on the show, would you do us a favor? Would you mind FINISHING AT LEAST ONE LOUSY SENTENCE DURING THE SHOW?? IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?? Rhoden: "Well, I think that...I mean, let's say that you're in Kobe's situat...you know, I...what it comes down to is...". Jeez, it's painful to watch Rhoden try to put a complete sentence together... Overall, I like the show...I'm not as annoyed with Lupica as a lot of people seem to be, and I think Bob Ryan is pretty funny sometimes, especially his "Parting Shots"...Just get rid of Rhoden, and I'll be happy. btw, I think John Saunders is a good replacement for Dick Schaap... Oh yeah, get rid of Dan Lebetard too...he's so annoying...

This show flat out stinks out loud. Lupica over dramatizes everything - "if the Mets win this game, this will be the biggest story ever in sports". Mitch Album is a homer who thinks way too much of himself. I agree with Rhoden being annoying as the "angry black man". Hey William - save the liberal propaganda for the rest of the NY Times, but leave it out of sports. And Bob Knight was right about Jeremy "my daddy was famous so I got this gig" Schapp - what a piece of garbage this guy is. I've never heard such a spineless gutless troll bow down to the politically correct crowd in such a weak manner. He actually tried to equate Martha Burke with Jackie Robinson - that's the most retarded thing I've ever heard in my life. Bob Ryan is the only sane individual to ever appear on that program.

It jumped the first time Mike Lupica nearly had a heart attack when someone dared to disagree with him. I was amused to see that Jason Whitlock made Lupica his bitch while discussing the bowl format of college football last week. The look on that arrogant prick's face...priceless.