Jeff From Tarzana speaks ... anyone listening?
One year, during our best-and-worst rankings of the L.A. sports-talk radio hosts, we actually allowed self-proclaimed legendary caller/pest Jeff from Tarzana to give us his picks. Who'd know better than him, right? We might as well have given him a steering wheel and a hand break to go with the soap box that he stood up on, then rode away with. We don't even remember who he picked and why... until now.
After the 15th annual list of the Top 10 and Bottom 5 sports-talk guys came out in the Daily News on Friday, Jeff scribbled a letter to me, "Below Average Sports Writer" as it was addressed but somehow made it into my mail box, just so that he could give me "the correct list ... who would know better than me?"
So, for the record, Big Jeff's choices for the best:
1. Steve Hartman, 570-AM. "His knowledge of sports and trivia here is unpassed. Plus he works with two morons."
2. Joe McDonnell, 570-AM: "His ideas and logic place him in this spot."
3. Petros Papadakis, 570-AM: "He will never be No. 1 unless he works alone."
4. Steve Mason, 710-AM: "Funniest man on sports radio."
5. Fred Roggin, 570-AM: "The nicest guy in radio."
6. Matt "Counterfeit" Smith, 570-AM: "The Laker homer ... enough said."
The worst:
1. Vic Jacobs, 570-AM: "The biggest moron on radio who cannot admit and kisses dopey Bryant butt everytime he gets a chance. His knowledge is second to no one."
2. Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton, 570-AM: "Real name: Paul Mahan... big mouth, rude and the worst 15 minutes on radio."
3. T.J. Simers, 570-AM: "A classless no talent."
4. Roger Lodge, 710-AM: "His claim to fame is he worked at XTRA, The Ticket and 710."
5. Kevin Kiley, 710-AM: "How did he get hired?"
6. Mychal Thompson, 570-AM: "Not anything worth talking about."
Comments
you think Jeff might be ranking hosts by who gives him the most airtime?
Posted by: listener | February 9, 2007 12:48 AM
Anyone who ranks Hacksaw as one of the worst and Papadakous as one of the best isn't to be trusted to go to the store for a loaf of bread let alone build a worst/best list.
Posted by: Fou Lilliger | February 14, 2007 10:52 PM
Best Sports talk personality? Based on what?...sense of humor, sports knowledge, insightful interview skills, ability to field listener calls, the ability to identify and deliver sports knowledge "you" never knew, provocative opinions?...isn't Dan Patrick a LA sports talk guy now? He's my number one. But for those who disqualify him, you have to go with Hartman for the balance of skills. No one has more hard sports info day to day than Hacksaw, but he's abrasive, and brow beats too often. McDonnell is smart but resorts to calling people "idiot or stupid" when they disagree with him, instead of taking their argument to task like Hartman or Hacksaw. Joe also goes pitbull on certain topics and limits his scope. Matt "Money" Smith is number 3 behind Hartman and Hacksaw. Good balance, pleasant pipes, quick mind....Petros is brilliant, but he's not a sports talk guy. Someone will wake up and hire him to do something other than sports....PLEASE.
Posted by: BK | December 31, 2007 3:11 PM