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Friday, June 21, 2013

WHITT'S END 6.21.13

 
   Whether you're at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End:

   *After the day-to-day teasing on here I hate to do this, but next week I'll have breaking local radio news that could re-shape the landscape you've known for three decades. And, yes, I'm talking about The Ticket. See ya Monday morning.

   *I don't think there's a more dramatic play in all of sports than the relay throw to home plate trying to nab a runner in a 1-run game with two outs in the 9th. So many moving parts: Two throws, two catches, running, a slide, a convergence if not an outright collision and, of course, a tag. If you weren't standing and cringing as Elvis Andrus made a perfect throw to catcher A.J. Pierzynski to nail the A's Josh Donaldson in yesterday's 4-3 win, then you need a shot of 5hour Energy to wake your ass up. Gotta be the most exciting Rangers' win of the season, right?

   *Watching the Heat beat the Spurs in Game 7 last night was nauseating, but wouldn't have been much easier to stomach watching Tim Duncan hoist another trophy. Reminds us how rare two summers ago was. The Mavs not only won their only title by beating the Heat in six games, but since then Miami has dominated the NBA. And, dang, doesn't Dallas' championship feel like 20 years ago instead of just two?

   *Patriots' tight end Aaron Hernandez is in deep sh*t. Boston police issued an arrest warrant for him Friday morning in connection with the murder of Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old who was driving an SUV in Hernandez' name and who was dating Hernandez' fiancee's sister. Lloyd was found in a field - shot in the head - a mile from Hernandez' home and so far cops have discovered that the Pro Bowl player was seen with Lloyd just hours before his death, smashed his cell phone, destroyed his home security system which included video surveillance, and hired a cleaning crew to his house Monday afternoon. Not good.


 *I sincerely appreciate the feedback on this blog's curtain-lifter, "The Hard Lie 2". You guys devoured the series to the tune of - so far - 155,000+ pageviews since Monday morning's debut. Me - and my advertisers - thank you. If you missed any of it you can catch up right here with Parts 1 2 3 4 5 and check out the accompanying photo gallery. Even after almost 10,000 words and 50+ documents some of you have lingering questions. Shoot them to me at Richie@DFWSportatorium.com. I'll gather them up and next week post an item of your Q's and my A's. Deal?

   *Hot.
   *Not.


90 comments:

  1. Tom @beevomav on TwitterJune 21, 2013 at 12:17 PM

    OK..Color me stupid but where do I set up a profile? Good stuff again. Only one thing, I hate radio teases.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry, I'm woefully uprepared for that question. lol.

      Delete
  2. Same question here.....

    ReplyDelete
  3. I went to Blogger.com and set up a free account. Or if you have Gmail, you can link them. Happy commenting!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Can you get Richie to add a "Sybil of the day" tab. I'm thinking like, racing onesies, costumes, etc. What say you?

      Delete
  4. Lemme guess--The Ticket has a broken baby arm and will miss the rest of the season?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your pageviews are about 8 times as high as they should be since you split every article into small pieces. This isn't print where there's a limit to the size of the pages. Breaking up articles is old school, much like the design.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Done to inflate numbers for selling ads. He learned that from the Observer site.

      Richie gotta eat.

      Delete
    2. The page views are not counted twice. Those page breaks are just using hidden "div" tags, hiding and showing. They are not actually reloading new pages.


      @WebGuru

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  6. Yeah, just go to Blogger prompt on the drop down options under 'More' on the Google home page. This is the same moniker I have carried around the intertubz for a while and I see no need to put my actual irl name out there. I at least have the illusion of some measure of anonymity while allowing someone to address me directly.

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  7. Richie, Been some good reads here lately. Keep up the good work and glad to see you moving forward.

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  8. Since Mike Doocy is a tag on this blog post and isn't mentioned in the article, I'm going to assume that next week's big news is this new lineup at The Ticket:

    5:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.: The Gentle Mike Doocy

    10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.: The Norm Hitzges/Mike Doocy Show

    12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.: BaD Mike Doocy

    3:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.: Stay Hard with Mike Doocy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great guesses, but pretty sure Doocy is mentioned in the column. Check again.

      Delete
    2. That's too bad. Your scoop would've been a real Doocy.

      Delete
  9. Whitt's End is always a must read. Fascinating content this week, keep it going.

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  10. Now THIS is the writing I missed every Friday!!

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  11. Moving to an FM signal, maybe 93.3.

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  12. When Rage was good it was gold? Really? When was your show ever good? Never. And, you want a pat on the back for working 25 hours a week? Wow, what a hard worker you are. Wake me up when you're in the real world with us real working folks working 40-50 hours a week. Your stupidity continues to amaze.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pre-show prep meetings and research for a 5 hour radio show every day.
      Sponsor Events.
      Travel.
      Some of these events were more fun than others, but all were work.
      I could tell you whose stupidity continues to amaze, but really it is not all that amazing.

      Delete
    2. prep meetings and research for a half ass radio show? sponsor events where spare fan listeners kiss your ass and shake your hand? travel? wow i'm convinced. what a hard worker dick whit is.

      Delete
  13. You’re a fucking joke bitchy Richie . How about that fact you and sib starting dating around the same time ratings started going down! If greggo wanted out then why didn’t they just let him go?? Instead they let all the three of you go! Think about it dip shit! Instead of trying to pawn it all off on greggo!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. People who really think Me and Sybil dating had anything to do with our show's demise amuse me. First of all, you have no idea when we actually started dating. Secondly, did you read the Hard Lie 2? Fool.

      Delete
  14. Replies
    1. It took me a week to figure out. When my email to you went unanswered about this issue I said "F" it and took the bull by the horns. lol

      Delete
  15. So Norm's out and Doocy's in?!?!

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  16. Glad this is back, I hated this on CBS' site, it was slow and the pop ups were annoying.

    Fucking squirrels almost cost me $200 from having Brinks come out and rewire my alarm system from them chewing through wires.

    Luckily they did the work before telling me how much it was going to cost. They are, like you said, rats with fluffy tails.

    Thanks for linking Riggs' blog. Seems like a nice guy that has a big hill to climb.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad to be back. Hated CBS' web site. Still do, in fact.

      Delete
    2. Well obviously you know what's going on at the Ticket and it will leak before Monday. How about putting an anonymous post on MTC? The hugging incident at summer bash was not orchestrated I'm sure.
      Oh well, I'll probably forget about this until Monday but sure would be nice to know. I hope you are still in enough with the guys in this market. I enjoyed your articles on sports radio more than Barry Horn's.

      Delete
  17. I can't believe anyone would tell this scumbag anything regarding the ticket but he appears to be right

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  18. I listened to RAGE faithfully. The mix of life's experiences and sports combo was great no matter what dbag spittle says. I know you have respect for ben and skin but their act is very corney and seems forced. I have not listened to the show since yall left. Best wishes to the future man.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you sir. I don't love their show, but I do like them personally. A lot.

      Delete
  19. I'm a 36 year old woman who started listening to you and Newy all those years ago. I loved your "tell it like it is" attitude. I'm so sorry Spittle and Williams screwed you and Sybil over so bad. I wish you two the very best and have book-marked your website. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Another Last Supper for the Ticket, Richie?

    Is Texas/OU still moving to JerryWorld, Richie?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dez broke his finger and is out for the year again. Or... Richies pizza shop will still be in business a year from now.

      Delete
  21. Dan just gave Mike Rhyner a hug on the air following their shift. I would assume BaD radio is leaving.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Was it a "you broke my heart, Fredo," hug or more of a "let's hug it out bitch"?

      Delete
    2. or Mike is retiring. sure hope cobra isnt taking over.

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  22. You and Grubes are taking over the 10-noon spot? Rage is coming to The Ticket?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Maybe Cumulus is selling the station?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. sounds possible, this station is worth tons.

      Delete
  24. Not BaD leaving. Rhyner retiring. Think about it. 3 Decades. Mike's worked over 30 years in the market. From The Zoo to The Ticket. He's been a permanent and important local radio fixture. I'd lay any amount down that this is the dealio.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i believe it, Mike doesnt seem into it anymore, hasnt for a while. Hes in a band now, lol.

      Delete
  25. Another guess: Catman leaving? It says "could re-shape the landscape" which sounds more like a gradual lineup change rather than an immediate one.

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  26. Dam Richie I wish you and Greggo would've worked. I loved RAGE I listened everyday. I will keep reading this your love it so far. Hope to hear back on the radio soon. The Ticket? I guess we will see on Monday. One thing if so I will be listening. Oh yeah Sybil is with ya on there.

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  27. Attention Complaint Department....now that the NBA is over, it should be all Cowboys ALL the time. No Cowboys news? Maybe a 'where are they now segment' even?

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  28. If someone breaks it first, it won't be breaking news Monday

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What if someone breaks it on Saturday?

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    2. Shaggy was the one to break it. Thanks Shaggy!

      Delete
  29. im hearing what this ticket thing is about.

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  30. It is Rhyner retiring. The hint is in the 3 decades of radio part.

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  31. What about Norm retiring? He has been around for a while.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Norm would be "four decades" not three. He used to work for Newsweek and arrived at KERA in 74 or 75.

      Delete
  32. Wanted to say how glad I am that the "sportatorium" is back. Missed it greatly when the observer dropped you and the CBS version seemed a bit "censored". Have a good weekend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, it's good to be back with tons of freedom and only one dick as a boss. lol. Thanks.

      Delete
  33. As of two days ago, The Ticket posted a help wanted ad looking for someone to host the pregame and postgame Stars shows:

    http://hockeyjobs.nhl.com/teamwork/r.cfm?i=56310&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

    Isn't that Bob and Dan's gig?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bob and Dan did home games, I thought...the position in question is to fill the void left by Matt Mclaren, who is now doing mid-days in Birmingham.

      Delete
  34. Bob and Dan are going to be too busy doing afternoon drive.

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  35. From an article from GQ on James Gandolfini... Firings Happen. Most, if not all, are justly unfair. This guy has a more compelling case than Richie will ever have. He understood that "the best revenge is living well." Not whining in a "factual" blog series.
    I encourage everyone to read the article. This is from page 5. It's an eye-opening look into "The Sopranos"...


    "Kessler threw himself into the show, staying on unpaid at the end of the season to watch the shooting of the finale, which he'd co-written. After that, he said, Chase allowed him to come to Los Angeles to sit in on two months of editing, asking him not to mention it to the other writers. He became close with the Chase family, often going out to dinner with them. Kessler's agent, who happened to also represent Chase, told him that Chase was considering the possibility of someday handing the show off to another writer and that he, Kessler, was being groomed.

    Chase dismisses that idea outright, saying he had never thought about handing the show over to anybody. In fact, he says, he had been growing increasingly unhappy with Kessler's work as the writers reconvened for season three. "He had written a really good episode, and then it seemed to me that it was declining after that," Chase says. "Some people understand this completely strange, bizarre mind-set of organized crime. Some people don't."

    On July 21, 2000, at about 8:30 a.m., the nominations for that year's Emmys were announced. They included one for Chase and Kessler as the writers of "Funhouse," the season-two finale. Chase had written the first thirty pages: Tony's long fever dream, occasioned by a bout of food poisoning and punctuated with graphic bathroom sound effects, in which his subconscious reveals what he's known for a long time but refused to acknowledge, that his deputy, Big Pussy, is a rat. Kessler wrote the second half, in which Pussy paid with his life, meeting a watery end.

    As Kessler remembers it, he spent the next ten minutes fielding congratulatory phone calls. Then came one from Chase's assistant, saying that Chase wanted to see him in the office. When Kessler arrived, Chase closed the door and sat down.

    "I guess the timing isn't great," he said, "but I think I need to end this relationship."

    Kessler, astonished, asked what he meant. "I think you've lost the voice of the show," Chase said.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "David, the last thing we wrote was nominated for an Emmy, less than an hour ago," Kessler said. "If you felt this way, why didn't you say something?"

      Chase considered this. "I guess you're right," he said finally. "Do you want a second chance?" Kessler, more confused than ever, said yes. "Well, I need to think about it," Chase said, showing him the door.

      Kessler left work and went to see his brother, Glenn, an actor and writer, at the SoHo apartment they shared: "As soon as I started to tell him what happened, I burst into tears. Like the embarrassing, childlike crying where you can't catch your breath. The show had been my entire life." As he sat there, sobbing, a call came from Chase.

      "He was asking my advice on writing a scene. Like, would Tony say this or something else. No mention of what had just happened," Kessler says. Two days later, Chase told him that he'd get his second chance, but that his next script had better come in "production ready," with no need of revision. Given Chase's way of working—and really any showrunner's—this was as definitive a death sentence as a fish in the mail. Sure enough, several months later—and after the two had lost the Emmy to The West Wing—Kessler was summoned once again to Chase's office. This time it was definitive.

      "I've never seen people get fired so fast. You walk into David's office and ten seconds later the door opens and you have your shit in a box. He does not mince words," Winter says. This time, he didn't even see that much. Winter called Kessler a week later, wondering if he was sick, since he hadn't been showing up for work. Chase had failed to mention the dismissal."

      Source: http://www.gq.com/entertainment/movies-and-tv/201307/sopranos-james-gandolfini-david-chase-july-2013

      Delete
  36. Thanks for posting a novel about what Tony Soprano thinks. Very relevant to Dallas sports talk radio you fucking idiot. You seem to have killed the whole thread.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree what a jack ass. Just stopped the whole damn thing down.

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    2. It's incredibly disheartening how many hateful people there are on the web.

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    3. @anon above fuck you.

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    4. Completely disagree. It is not at all what Tony Soprano thought but rather a tale of an unjust firing from a writer on the show who was fired an hour after receiving an Emmy nomination for writing the show--hence why it's perfectly apropos for this site.

      I would have just posted the link, but no one would have read it. Moral: pull a chumba-wumba and get up again, but don't do it at other's expense.

      Delete
    5. I didn't read it anyway. Tired head commenced 10 sentences in.

      Delete
  37. Any chance we can be told how the text between Greg and Jen made it to you?

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  38. Look at that mess over there. The Hardline. Yuck Monkeys and some such. The Emperor can only go with NO CLOTHES for so long. Rhyner is DYING.

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  39. Not since Mike Fisher has anyone thought more highly of themselves in this market. Yet, in reality, Richie is seen as a journeyman hack. He makes it sound like RAGE was killing it in the ratings. I would invite anyone to examine their ratings--you'll find, in M 25-54, a lot of 21st, 25th, 17th, etc, places. That's in their TARGET demo. That is the opposite of killing it--that's being killed, which is the biggest reason he was fired.

    Or, you could keep reading this blog and have Richie brainwash you into thinking he's Howard Stern.

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    Replies
    1. Well said.

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    2. This is so right on, same goes for greggo. Hope these two fade into obscurity.

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    3. Never said "killing it", never said "Howard Stern." Read my story again, and stop embellishing in an attempt to strengthen your weak point. Lame.

      Delete
  40. Here's the big news, folks. No need to wait until Monday.

    Bob and Dan got a big offer from the Fan to do 10-2 and the Ticket had yet to match.

    Sorta like years ago when Mike R. was super close to leaving as well.


    That's what you get for teasing until Monday, looking for more page views.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow. So Bob and Dan not getting renewed might actually pay off on Richie saying the Ticket is having a Last Supper from about 5 years ago. So Summer Bash was the Last Supper.

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    2. I'll just get 'em on Saturday, Shaggy, all the same to me.

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    3. Except you didn't get to break the news.

      Delete
  41. After looking into this^ that's the story.

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  42. I pretty sure the clue is in " landscaping" perhaps a new garden right outside the aac..fresh tomatoes and cucumbers

    ReplyDelete
  43. Tom @beevomav on TwitterJune 23, 2013 at 6:43 PM

    Bob and Dan are going nowhere. Bob Sturm just announced via Twitter that they just could not leave all they had built at 1310. I saw the retweet from Mark Followill since Sturm hates me..

    ReplyDelete
  44. Looks like religious Fan Fans are stuck with Elf and Slater! Maybe I should start streaming 1310 from my phone in my car from 10-2

    ReplyDelete