Many of you used Mark Madden's recent dismissal from ESPN Radio 1250 to sound off on the state of the Pittsburgh sports media. And much of it was not pretty. At all. So I want to pose this question: who DO you like in the Pittsburgh sports media?
That question will hopefully be answered with The Mondesi's House 2008 Pittsburgh Sports Media Popularity Contest. I've done lots of research in digging up the 50 biggest names in the genre. I'm sure I missed somebody, so we can always add them later. But anyway, here's how this will work: I'm going to create an online poll for each of the participants. You'll then post your vote, much like Deadspin's media approval ratings: approve or disapprove. If you like him/her, you approve, if not, you disapprove. If you need more explanation, you probably should abstain from voting.
After a week of voting, we'll rank all 50 as determined by the highest percentage of "approvals" and declare a winner (and hopefully get an acceptance speech from the champion). In the unlikely event of a tie, we'll go US Open style and start a whole new competition for those involved.
We're including personalities from TV, radio, and newspapers for this, plus broadcasters from each of the local teams. We'll do 25 of these polls now and post the other 25 in a second post later this week.
And now, your 50 participants, in no particular order...
WPXI
1 Bill Phillips
2 Rich Walsh
3 John Fedko
4 Alby Oxenreiter
KDKA
5 Bob Pompeani
6 Jory Rand
7 Jeff Hathorn
8 John Steigerwald
WTAE
9 Jon Burton
FSN
10 Rob King
11 Paul Alexander
12 Dan Potash
13 Stan Savran
POST-GAZETTE
14 Ron Cook
15 Bob Smizik
16 Shelly Anderson
17 Gene Collier
18 Dejan Kovacevic
19 Ed Bouchette
20 Dave Molinari
21 Gerry Dulac
BEAVER COUNTY TIMES
22 Mark Madden
23 John Perrotto
TRIB
24 Mike Prisuta
25 John Harris
26 Rob Biertempfel
27 Rob Rossi
28 Joe Starkey
104.7
29 Ellis Cannon
105.9
30 Tim Benz
Fox 970
31 Joe Bendel
ESPN 1250
32 Jim Colony
33 Ken Laird
34 Chris Mack
35 Eddy Crow
36 Guy Junker
PIRATES
37 Bob Walk
38 Greg Brown
39 Steve Blass
40 John Wehner
41 Lanny Frattare
STEELERS
42 Bill Hillgrove
43 Tunch Ilkin
44 Craig Wolfley
PENGUINS
45 Mike Lange
46 Paul Steigerwald
47 Bob Errey
48 Phil Bourque
PITT
49 Dick Groat
WDVE
50 Jim Krenn & Randy Baumann
And your first 25 participants to be voted on:
Contestants #26-50 will be voted on in a follow-up post.
That question will hopefully be answered with The Mondesi's House 2008 Pittsburgh Sports Media Popularity Contest. I've done lots of research in digging up the 50 biggest names in the genre. I'm sure I missed somebody, so we can always add them later. But anyway, here's how this will work: I'm going to create an online poll for each of the participants. You'll then post your vote, much like Deadspin's media approval ratings: approve or disapprove. If you like him/her, you approve, if not, you disapprove. If you need more explanation, you probably should abstain from voting.
After a week of voting, we'll rank all 50 as determined by the highest percentage of "approvals" and declare a winner (and hopefully get an acceptance speech from the champion). In the unlikely event of a tie, we'll go US Open style and start a whole new competition for those involved.
We're including personalities from TV, radio, and newspapers for this, plus broadcasters from each of the local teams. We'll do 25 of these polls now and post the other 25 in a second post later this week.
And now, your 50 participants, in no particular order...
WPXI
1 Bill Phillips
2 Rich Walsh
3 John Fedko
4 Alby Oxenreiter
KDKA
5 Bob Pompeani
6 Jory Rand
7 Jeff Hathorn
8 John Steigerwald
WTAE
9 Jon Burton
FSN
10 Rob King
11 Paul Alexander
12 Dan Potash
13 Stan Savran
POST-GAZETTE
14 Ron Cook
15 Bob Smizik
16 Shelly Anderson
17 Gene Collier
18 Dejan Kovacevic
19 Ed Bouchette
20 Dave Molinari
21 Gerry Dulac
BEAVER COUNTY TIMES
22 Mark Madden
23 John Perrotto
TRIB
24 Mike Prisuta
25 John Harris
26 Rob Biertempfel
27 Rob Rossi
28 Joe Starkey
104.7
29 Ellis Cannon
105.9
30 Tim Benz
Fox 970
31 Joe Bendel
ESPN 1250
32 Jim Colony
33 Ken Laird
34 Chris Mack
35 Eddy Crow
36 Guy Junker
PIRATES
37 Bob Walk
38 Greg Brown
39 Steve Blass
40 John Wehner
41 Lanny Frattare
STEELERS
42 Bill Hillgrove
43 Tunch Ilkin
44 Craig Wolfley
PENGUINS
45 Mike Lange
46 Paul Steigerwald
47 Bob Errey
48 Phil Bourque
PITT
49 Dick Groat
WDVE
50 Jim Krenn & Randy Baumann
And your first 25 participants to be voted on:
Contestants #26-50 will be voted on in a follow-up post.
29 comments:
Jeff Hathorn? John Harris? John Perrotto? You've got to have a serious sports jones to be aware of some of these nobodies...
Don't forget Jenifer Langosch, the Pirates beat reporter for MLB.com
wow. Near as I can tell, there is one person of color on that fairly exhaustive list of 50 people.
thats pretty damn sad.
solid idea
How about Ray Goss?
http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/021008/col_245571256.shtml
Please have John Shumway on this list so I can disapprove him over and over again. Why does KDKA send him to the Tomlin Press Conference???? He always askes stupid questions like "What's a contusion?" and "Was the weather a factor?". I think Tomlin is even annoyed by him. Also, put Sally Wiggin on here for me to disapprove of. She is awful during those Steelers Primetime Specials. She doesn't know the difference between a jock strap and a chin strap.
Thus far John Steigerwald and Paul Alexander have positive approval ratings. Something is very wrong with these voters.
Please add Rocco Demarro, Bucco postgame show host. He's got a very loyal following. I actually think he's the best person to replace Madden. Smart, funny, and extremely easy going. Unlike some of these know-nothing clowns, Rocco is polite, knowledgeable, and very entertaining.
What's up with the Hawthorne haters? He's a decent fella.
In addition to adding the Big Shumway, kindly do me a solid and put Rob Pratt/Ted Arnault on the list. Is it possible for a radio program to cause bleeding from the ears? Kill the Chat Pack!
Also, please add Bob Grove under the Pens. Possibly the best postgame/hotline broadcaster in Pgh.
"Near as I can tell, there is one person of color on that fairly exhaustive list of 50 people."
Yeah, no Italians or Asians, nor Indians, how about that. I don't see one person not of color on the Celts.
Anyway...
I haven't been in the Burgh in awhile, who replaced Fedko with a skinny alien?
fittingly, the thing I hate most about Pittsburgh sports media shows up in this poll- no love for Pitt. What about Paul zeise and kevin gorman, the p-g and trib fb beat writers? (for those of you under the Pitt media blackout in the burgh)
where do kurt angle and dee thompson rank on this list?
I have been out of the Burgh for a while. What happened to Andrew Stockey?
definitely add Rocco. whoever suggested that is right on the money
i miss Trenni
Andrew Stockey became a regular anchor.
A few notes from election HQ:
--It's worth noting that the polls are listing the voting boxes for "approve" and "disapprove" at random. So make sure you're checking the right one before placing your vote.
--A few names that will be added on to the next batch:
Scott Brown from the Trib
Beano Cook from ESPN
Paul Zeise from the PG
Kevin Gorman from the Trib
Jenifer Langosch - Pirates MLB.com reporter
Bob Grove - Pens
Rocco Demarro - Pirates Postgame
Rob Pratt/Ted Arnault - The Chat Pack
John Shumway, KDKA
Sally Wiggin, WTAE Steeler Pregame
Any other suggestions, please email me and I'll be happy to add them.
--To answer a previous question, there are two African-Americans on this list: Jon Burton of WTAE and John Harris of the Trib.
--As of 5 PM EST, there's been a total of 11,268 votes cast, the most being Mark Madden at 552 and the least being John Perrotto at 337.
Keep in mind - that is not an indicator of approval ratings, only the amount of votes cast for those individuals.
--There are a few photo glitches with some of the polls, which means the mugs of Bob Pompeani, Mike Prisuta and Dave Molinari are not showing up. I'm sure you're disappointed, but I'll try and fix that ASAP.
A few of the others had no photo available despite my best attempts, which means I'll have to do some serious digging to find a shot of Ed Bouchette.
--The next batch will be posted ASAP, probably by Thursday night.
Phew! Good to see Beano on the amended list. What about the Ayatollah Labriola?
Please add Jim Wexell and Dale Lolley, who cover the Steelers for Scout.com and various regional papers. Unless of course no one else has ever heard of them. I think Wexell at least is pretty well known (and well liked) in Steeler fan circles.
There are indeed just two African-Americans on the list.
But to the dope who complains of reverse racism on the Celtics -- well, what else would you expect from a city and a basketball franchise with such a proud history of refusing to add white guys just to keep the team whiter? Greg Kite starred for the Celtics because of talent and talent alone, and anyone who says different is insane or has an axe to grind.
Who knew Littlefield changed his name to Jory Rand and started working for KDKA?
Rocco Demaro is the man!
I love and miss my Trenni :'-(
Please separate Jim & Randy. One is very knowledgeable about Pittsburgh sports and very entertaining. The other is Randy.
Who the hell approved of Smizik, seriously. Everyone else on this list has some redeeming quality, even if they don't know anything about sports. Smizik is just an incompetent dumb ass that knows nothing. Come on!
Some of the people voting are morons. I mean who thinks for one second that Mike Prisuita is worth anything. While I do like him on the WDVE Morning show, his some of the things he says are really stupid. And whats with people not showing any love for Jeff Hathhorn and Bob Pompeani? Jeff does an excellent job at KDKA for not having anyone around him and Bob is by far the nicest guy in the Pittsburgh sports media. What a bunch of Idiots!
Jeff hathhorn is a complete and total jackoff. He's a notch above Pompeani on the douche pyramid.
I forgot to add, there might actually be some hope for the Pittsburgh sports media. The incompetence that eminates from the Post Gazette and Channel 11 hasn't gone unnoticed by the masses. Nice work properly "disapproving" Smizik, Cook, Walsh, etc.
I also forgot to add that Rich Walsh is a flaming bag of dog shit
Good idea Monde. The people will speak and MAYBE someone in management will listen to who is really doing a good job. From the early returns, the exit polls say that Fox Sports is very popular. Just about everyone else ought to put a gun to their head and end their misery AND ours!
"Thus far John Steigerwald and Paul Alexander have positive approval ratings. Something is very wrong with these voters."
I agree. Steigerwald is the worst.
I had to disapprove of Ken Laird & Chris Mack just because during the Stanley Cup finals, they didn't know who Mickey Redmond is/was!
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