The world has passed Mac by. His cultural references are both limited and dated, his approach to talking sports is antiquated, and his lack of investment in his job is/was obvious. He hasn't been on top of his game in roughly a decade.

I think you're right and wrong. It's true that the world has passed Mac by. It's passed me by too. But the typical listener is still in the same place Mac and I are. The people that the world has not passed by aren't listening to terrestrial radio anyway.

This is a problem I see with a lot of businesses that see their customer bases aging, e.g. baseball and horse racing. They abandon the customer they have to chase the customer they want. And you know what? It never works.

But Mac and Parkins gave something that both ends of the spectrum could enjoy. It's hard to accurately assess that show since the majority of it occurred during the pandemic. And while McNeil was not what he used to be, he was still entertaining and a good match with Parkins. A Parkins and Spiegel show will provide, to a lesser extent, the same type of balanced show but with better chemistry. Moving forward, it will be rare to find a show with a couple 50+ year old hosts.

Have to think that someone will figure out the appropriate platform to reach WSCR's core audience which is primarily 40 plus males. It may not be politically correct, but this group will be around for 10-20 more years and most are in solid income brackets.

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The end result of all this is that no one has anything to say that I can't hear somewhere else. I read all the same stuff Bernstein, Parkins, and Laurence read -- no surprises. There are sport-specific podcasts if I want them. But there's no spontaneity or sense of belonging to an audience. It's just people telling you how it is. They came full-circle to Chet.

I noticed that movement in junior high about 12-13 years ago. It has only gotten worse. They only watch highlights.

I know at this point I sound like a paid ad read for them, but Barstool has captured some of the best of that original formula. The only thing missing is the callers as callers into a podcast just isn't feasible, but the personalities, opinions, and fun are all still there and keep me listening regularly.

Barstool Chicago is run by people who listened to the same hosts we did their entire lives and the influence of them is clear in each podcast. Had 670 spent time looking for talent rather than recycling producers, perhaps a few of these guys would've landed there before Barstool made them full time. I'd say the chance of 670 or 1000 getting any of the talent from Barstool has passed though. The firing of Danny Mac taught everyone don't try to make a joke or else you might get fired. These guys won't give up their chance to be at a place that lets them say what they want when they want.

For some reason I suspect the salary NBCSN Chicago pays for pre/post game doesn't exactly cover a Range Rover payment

In game 6 when the Hawks clinched in 2015, Andrew Desjardins took a late penalty while the Hawks were protecting a 2-goal lead. I was beside myself and full of tension and anger. I was pacing, ranting, yelling at Desjardins. My wife questioned why it mattered to me so much. Millionaire players/billionaire owners none of who are my friends or people I will ever meet. We know there is very little loyalty in sports and teams see fans as customers and dollars signs. Why make rooting for a sports team part of your personal identity? I love the Onion's saying on T-shirts "The sports team from my area is superior to the sports team from your area."

Since 2015, I have intentionally detached myself from teams. Teams don't deserve the blind loyalty and we all know there are much better uses of our time and energy. I remember an older colleague telling me back when I was in my 20s how as you get older you'll realize that these teams and wins and losses aren't that important. How right he was. Obviously, I follow sports closely and consume a large amount of sports journalism but my enjoyment of sports is not solely derived from whether some random group of athletes wearing a uniform I have watched for years, wins or loses.

But Mac and Parkins gave something that both ends of the spectrum could enjoy. It's hard to accurately assess that show since the majority of it occurred during the pandemic. And while McNeil was not what he used to be, he was still entertaining and a good match with Parkins. A Parkins and Spiegel show will provide, to a lesser extent, the same type of balanced show but with better chemistry. Moving forward, it will be rare to find a show with a couple 50+ year old hosts.

They abandon the customer they have to chase the customer they want. And you know what? It never works.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

Clawmaster - you need to post more like every day more. great stuff once again. keep it coming.

Few responses :

1.Mac on his 6th experiment pitch is still 10x better than any of these other guys. If i know Mac is going to be on and have no clue who the guests are lined up or what happened in the chicago sports scene, doesn't matter, i will still tune in because it's Mac. He's a star. Even a over the hill star is still a star. none of these other guys are even close to a star in the biz.

2.Spot on about the younger generation. They don't really give a shit about sports like we did. And that's a good thing. I think i would have accomplished more in my life if it wasn't blind loyalty for the fucking cubs and bears. As an older man, i think back sometimes and am like wtf did i waste all that money, energy, and most importantly TIME on these fuckers. These assholes don't give a shit about me.

Like I use to have this fantasy when I was a kid that I had a magic wand and could say fix the Cubs. I was some kind of sports wizard that I would make all the cubs great and make them win the world series. Use to think like this for a long time....until... i finally realized WHY THE FUCK would I want to do that if I had that power? For example, why would I want George Halas or the Trib Co. to get all the money and praise. They don't deserve it! And Shit, it should be me getting the credit and money.

Maybe I'm nuts to think like that as a kid but i'm sure i'm not alone.

See also: hockey in Phoenix and Raleigh

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

Oh, bunk.

We are misremembering our youth. We didn't watch nearly the amount of sports in our teens and early 20s as we remember. I didn't sit in to watch ANY game if I had the opportunity to go out, chase tail and kill brain cells. I certainly had an interest and I would read the newspaper the next day but sports were certainly superseded by more instinctual drives.

I was a big bears fan when I was in grade school. A little less interested in high school. Probably didn't watch a single game in college/grad school years. Late 20s I came back to college and pro football. It was a Saturday/Sunday escape from a life of breaking rocks with 40 years of hard labor staring me in the face.

Young adults are the same today.

Sam Fels was an unusual dork back then in the amount he cared about sports for his age, just as he is now.

Yes it is.

I have MANY years of experience in trying to appreciate steaming piles of dogshit.

Congrats to meatpants. I have been a huge critic of his around here, but he handled himself well since his demotion a couple years back. Instead of going whiney asshat like Goff he did what he needed to get by and I respect that.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

Congrats to meatpants. I have been a huge critic of his around here, but he handled himself well since his demotion a couple years back. Instead of going whiney asshat like Goff he did what he needed to get by and I respect that. I hope the show does well.

Yes, but as I recall, they were pretty clear that they were going to use Spiegel as a baseball contributor and all-around substitute host while Goff was just "on the sidelines." So yeah, Spiegel did a good job of reacting to not getting fired while Goff did a poor job reacting to actually getting fired.

I have MANY years of experience in trying to appreciate steaming piles of dogshit.

speigal and parkins are good together. now reel in riordan a bit

That is why I phrased it as a demotion.

But do you really think the meatpants from a few years ago would have been ok with such demotion and still went along with some crumbs thrown his way? I don't. He would have been a huge assbag. So he is showing some growth and I can respect that. Now I definitely understand in a month I may completely go back to hating meatpants

Goff got screwed.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

We lose a lot of rights when we look the other way when it doesn't affect our lives or it isn't a cause we agree with.