Pulling 710ESPN Off the Dial

I listen to local sports radio at work nearly everyday and its frustrating as a sounders fan to never have any representation on the radio. I understand that most of the hosts don’t know much about soccer and therefore don’t want to discuss it but you would think they would make a better attempt when they looked at the comparison of attendance between the sounders and the mariners. I’ve always preferred 710 but after that comment this morning I am also switching to 950. Maybe someday soccer will be a little more mainstream and I wont have to work as hard to find good Sounders coverage, or at least respect.

Also, Ron and Don, the afternoon guys on 97.3, frequently are derisive of soccer.

Makes perfect sense now.

I gave up on the rest of radio, aside from Mariner and Seahawk games, long ago.

I like the way Gas has embraced the sport. He pretty clearly had never watched it and there were some things he was frustrated by (mostly the same things that frustrate soccer fans) but it’s clear he gets it now and is pretty much the only sports talk guy willing to give it an airing.

I think a lot of his questions are actually based on the premise that most of his listeners probably don’t know much about the game. In that way he’s setting up Arlo for explanation. For example, last season I heard him talk about an offside call where he clearly demonstrated a high level understanding of the rule, but this season he’s played dumb to set up Arlo.

A lot of radio is set up that way to make it sound more interesting.

PS I’m done with Salk as well. I don’t care if they like soccer… but don’t insult the rest of us with their ignorance and expect us to not respond in kind.

What if we could get this blog’s support as well as ECS support and flood Brock and Salk with phone calls tomorrow talking about the Sounders, asking about the wussiness of Zakuani and just calling out his ignorance? We can show 710 that there are a lot of Sounders fans and we shouldn’t be insulted.

I probably think a little different than most. Those things just don’t bother me much. I can separate the idiotic things that they say from the station and the person. In other words, I am not going to stop listening to Jim Moore and Kevin Calabro just because Salk says something stupid. I am not going to stop listening to Bob and Groz just because Salk says something stupid.

To me they are separate. Also, I don’t hate Salk. There are things he says that I agree with and there are things that he says that I disagree with. Wow. I just described my childhood and my parents. I am guessing that it describes most of our childhoods or relationships with your own children.

Just think of him as that crazy relative that we all have. We all love him, but we also know at times he will do something that will leave us shaking our heads.

I was in the states briefly last summer and was thrilled to hear World Cup score updates on KJR, reports from South Africa by Softy and even an interview with Kasey that explained how Tim Howard was the key to the thrilling team USA goal against Algeria. I was hopeful that Sounders attendance records and the World Cup would get soccer its deserved place on sports radio, but I guess that hasn’t happened.

I realize this is pretty far down the comments section but I heard most of the Salk comments when he was clarifying his point of view with the "wussification of America". His point, this time, was not so much about soccer but about how a majority of ‘do-gooders’ are trying to water down sports again. Contact sports contain contact, we can try and minimize the contact and make is safer, but we shouldn’t be changing the rules drastically to coddle the players. I think the argument was coddling vs safety. I tend to agree with him on that particular point.
Much of what Mike Salk says is intended to give a rise out of the listeners. A sports shock jock. He is a protagonist on almost every subject. He won’t just play the part of a devil advocate – he IS the devil’s advocate. The word "soccer" should not be uttered around Salk. He ranks soccer below watching paint dry. I don’t have a problem with him not liking the sport, but I do have a problem with his hate and a giant microphone in front of him. Just keep his yapper shut. And as somebody else pointed out if isn’t like he’s not liking the lineup, or frustrated at tactical decisions; instead he hates the sport and speaks about his dislike of the sport. This is the wrong market for that. Soccer should be highlighted and supported. It is crazy that the Sonics left town and I hear more about basketball than soccer. I RARELY hear about soccer on 710 and it shocks me they are the Sounders partner. But Sounder fans haven’t embraced mynorthwest.com either. Did you know Sigi has a column on the site? I never see comments on stories on the site. Part fan problem and part 710 issue. I try and not listen to Salk and I often prefer 950 for sports talk. Nothing pleased me more than Arlo kicking Salk’s ass in his own call in tournament. My hope in the future is Matt Johnson’s show is played at a more fan friendly time.

Well my memory of my High School years did include some fights… favorite being in the “good game” line after the match… Our stiker and their cental defender lined each other up in the line and after the first swing was made … well both teams were already there so it was quite a melee for a couple of minutes.
It would seem though that the “governing body” is putting a team on notice for accumulating red cards; instead of banning certain players for the season or for life. (referring to the gig harbor story). Do you really believe that HS soccer should be banned? wow.

The most surprising thing is that there is more sonics coverage than sounders coverage on both stations. The mariners gets pre game coverage for an hour and post game coverage for 2 hours on both stations. The sounders are lucky if they are mentioned before or after their games. I know that both stations desperately want the sonics back but to hear about it every damn day is beyond tiring, it’s down right pathetic. But seriously who wants the sonics back in bellevue or seattle? Don’t worry we don’t have to decide today we will talk about it for the next 5 years.

There is a discussion on why people aren’t going to Mariners games on Bob and Groz right now and it has disintegrated into a soccer vs baseball argument. It is at sometimes annoying, but also interesting to hear the debate. I’d suggest listening to the podcast to hear it. Amazing how some are still ignoring a trend that is very evident in Seattle sports.