Lori

Philly, schmoove? Aren't those the guys who took a busload of Eagles "fans" to the draft to boo McNabb, because they wanted Ricky Williams instead? Based on reports from a relative who works in the industry down there, Eskin is a Grade-A !@#$. Which doesn't excuse the local afternoon show's aversion to talking anything other than Sabres/Bills -- agree completely about that. They'll say that the listeners don't care about other sports; while that's not entirely false, Simon (on WNSA) used to do all right with call-ins when he went off the beaten path for a segment or two. That made it all the cooler to hear Dennis Williams go off about the Beijing Olympics a couple of weeks ago. Right now, I'd take either him or Brad over one of the current afternoon hosts. (The other half of that duo would be just fine, once he got away from his co-host's aura of negativity...)

No memory tricks here: just know a little about transcribing on the run, is all. And I haven't borrowed money from anyone since I paid my student loans off in 1991, but nice try anyway. And try to be nicer to our guests next time, willya? They're probably not used to the survival-of-the-fittest flavor of this board... PFC, be sure to mention the iTunes option when you put up a link.

Schobel? He stinks. I read it right here, don't ya know.

Quick-n-dirty recap: His schedule is insane right now, but he's not complaining, because he has one of the best jobs in the world. There are tradeoffs, though. He can't really be a fan of a particular team -- once you start getting paid to cover a sport, you root for good stories, not teams -- but has established friendships with several players and coaches. He mentioned following USC because of Pete Carroll, who he got to know when PC was here for a short time in the mid-eighties. Miami isn't interested in Matt Ryan. Chris Long is a different story. Told by "some people very close to the Miami organization" that they WILL trade out of #1, but he has to see it to believe it -- is anyone prepared to go to $40 million for one player? He's not sure any team in the league is interested in tying up that much money in one guy. Spygate: he feels the Pats* Super Bowls were NOT tainted, but he can't tell anyone else how to feel about it -- that's all in the eye of the beholder. (PFC, Carroll was a DBs coach here for one year, 1984, under Kay Stephenson.) Favre: when he talked about being available to come back, Vic thought to himself, "Did this really need to be said?" Is this a conditional retirement, or is he really done? Stay or go, pick one and stick to it. Free-agent winners: Dolphins were busy, but what did they really do? On the other hand, Cleveland's moves could very well have done what was necessary to get over the hump (into the playoffs) -- Anderson is signed, Quinn is there, they enhanced their d-line. He likes what the Bills did, especially the Stroud trade (assuming he comes back healthy). Kawika Mitchell could also be a big addition. Oh, and the Pats should get credit for keeping Randy Moss. He's up for the McCann Award this year, the one presented by the HOF. (John Clayton won it last year; Larry Felser in 1984.) Len Pasquarelli, Vinny DiTrani (Bergen Record), and the late Alan Greenberg (Hartford Courant) are also finalists. Best of luck to him...

Coming in fine here.

Check your settings. Yeah, you'll get a blank browser tab, but it should also open your multimedia player. (Windows Media Player for me.)

Yes, 97 Rock streams -- you can find the log-on info in the Radio/TV programming thread. We preferred the 97 Rock postgame in Lot 1, mostly because they have all the press conferences and a ton of locker room stuff. (Plus, while I don't care for Schopp's on-air personality, I don't envy anyone who has to put up with some of the drunk-and-stupid call-ins on postgame shows. They make this place look sane...) Carucci took over for Bob Koshinski last year. You could tell he's more used to being a guest on those shows than hosting one, but I thought he did okay with it.

He's also a former PFWA president who spent more than a decade on the Bills beat for the Buffalo News during the Super Bowl era, co-authored Jim Kelly's 1992 autobiography, Armed and Dangerous, hosted the local postgame show on 97 Rock last season, and (I believe) still lives in East Amherst.

We really need a [sarcasm] tag for this place, don't we? Or a [beerball] tag meaning the same thing... Oh yeah -- welcome aboard, cuseguy. Keep your hands and feet inside the car at all times, and wait until the roller coaster comes to a complete stop before exiting.

Better than Dad, you think?

...while cackling maniacally. Okay, that mental image made me giggle.

Thanks for the heads-up...

Valid points from both of you. Yeah, Irish, I think some teams would be inclined to ding him for this. (As always, just my opinion.) But since we weren't there, you're right, Brandon -- we don't know how it was received. Even Chris Brown is merely speculating on that point, and he's a lot closer to the inside scoop than we are.

The protestors would probably tell you that, but I won't. Official complaint from the Chinese government to Bristol, Ct., in 5... 4... 3... Either that, or they'll try to hack the site like they do with our government networks. Hmmm, PRC vs. ESPN. Actually, this could be fun.

His attitude might end up costing him more than that. Just sayin'...

ESPN has apparently decided it might be amusing to host video games. This particular one might not be such a good PR idea, though: TORCH RUN: Use arrow keys to navigate the torch to the Olympic flag while avoiding protestors! I'm guessing -- or hoping, anyway -- this link will shortly be inoperative, once someone at the WWL comes to their senses.

They could stand to start thinking about Taylor's replacement, but an NFL-caliber left tackle is something they haven't had for a "long" time. So... surprising? Not really. Parcells has been known to use #1 picks on linemen before, although not from the #1 slot. Here's a list of all his first-rounders: Giants 83-90: Terry Kinard, S; Carl Banks, LB; William Roberts, T; George Adams, RB; Eric Dorsey, DE: Mark Ingram, WR; Eric Moore, T; Brian Williams, G; Rodney Hampton, RB Pats 93-96: Drew Bledsoe, QB (#1 overall pick); Willie McGinest, LB; Ty Law, CB; Terry Glenn, WR Jets 97-99: James Farrior, LB; no #1 in 1998 or 1999 Cowboys 03-06: Terence Newman, CB; no #1 in 2004 (Losman trade); Demarcus Ware, DE; Marcus Spears, DE

You might take some heat for that post, but I agree. You're right about the ratings, too. I don't have access to the complete numbers, but their latest 12+ was ahead of this time last year....

Then why does the league keep giving them one? Four consecutive years (and counting)...

Whitner.

Glad to oblige: Politics, Polls, and Pundits

Unfortunately, no, at least not right now. Local owner -- not sure they've got the wherewithal to set up a live stream. However, their new-and-improved website, http://www.weck1230.com, DOES promise a podcast page.

Again: OTAs and "offseason conditioning" are two different things. Teams are prohibited from on-the-field stuff during the conditioning program, and OTAs don't begin until the middle of May.

Just finished listening to it: http://www.npr.org/blogs/talk/2008/04/hono...ransfers_1.html

I disagree about the OTAs. Take this year -- QB and RB are still just second-year players, they'll have at least one new WR (potentially a starter), different OC, at least two new starters on D. The more time they spend working together (especially on the offensive playbook), the better. The offseason conditioning program (which this is, as noted above), not so much. Would it be nice if everyone was here to, I dunno, build team spirit in the weight room? Yeah, I guess, but these guys are supposed to be able to stay in shape on their own.