A Respectful Response and Disagreement with the top Oklahoma City Sports Media Members

Hey there again! You may have been wondering, "What is up with the lack of Zorgon posts lately?" Well, I've been on a trip to Chicago, so OKLuschen took over for a bit. Now he's going to Colorado, so I'lll be taking over for him. We should be both cooperatively writing again in August.

Now, I have a few beefs to take up with this so called "list" of OKLuschens....

1. No Bob Barry, Sr.?


Look, I don't care how old the guy is, he's a living legend of sports talk radio. Just because he doesn't "Voice opinion" doesn't mean that he is a talking box. The dude provides good insight during the Sooners games, and has been broadcasting for OVER 50 YEARS! When Bob Barry started broadcasting, we were worrying about the Soviet Union in the cold war, man had not reached space, and segregation was a hot-button issue. I mean, you'd put Toby Rowland over him? Just because he's got some crap radio show doesn't mean that he's more "opinionated". And jeez, even a guy on FOX 25? No one watches that! Quite honestly, I'd argue for him in the top 5. I enjoy his boradcasting, no matter how many times he may mess up a name. At the very least, you should have given him a "Champions Provisional" like they do in NASCAR and put him in the 10 spot simply because of that. (For those unfamiliar, past cup champions who are way past their prime and fail to qualify for a race get a champions provisional and get the lowest possible starting spot.)

2. No Doug Gottlieb?


You really are dismissing too many people if you're gonna disinclude Doug Gottlieb. He is BY FAR the most successful personality EVER from Oklahoma. I mean, sure, 95% of people in Oklahoma could tell you who Jim Traber, Al Eschbach, and the Bob Barries are, but those guys never went National. While I'm not too big a fan of some of his opinions, the dude is still a College Basketball expert and has ALL of the opinion and ALL of the knowledge that any guy on this list does. I'd probably put him as kind of the "Super 1". Out of everyone elses league.

3. I still can't get over the inclusion of Toby Rowland.

The dude is a #2 anchor and has a radio show on the worst sports station in the Metro. I mean, he's not horrible, but you're really gonna include him over big guns like the Bob Barries, John Rhode, and Mark Rodgers? Please, Baba.

4. Jim Traber over Al Eschbach?

Okay, I can't argue the fact that those guys are the top 2 (aside from Gottlieb and possibly Bob Barry). But Al is udoubtedly #1. Al is really funny, and always seems to have the upper hand on Jim Traber whenever they're on the air together. If they ever actually argue about something, usually he presents the better case. Also, he's been around for much longer than Jim. I honestly believe that Jim never would've gotten the job is he wasn't a former major leaguer, while Al did it on his own. Now, I harbor no disrepect towards Jim, but I just think Al is better. You might say we're splitting hairs, but if you listened to their show, you'd know why.

5. Props

This post couldn't be all negative, could it? I think the high placing of Barry Tramel was a good choice, because he's a name that everyone recognizes. I think his recent addition to the Total Dominance Hour was excellent, and really propelled his popularity to the top five of this list.

Also, if you add Bob Barry and Doug Gottlieb and drop Toby Rowland and Myron Patton, this would be a great guide for someone outside the Oklahoma City area on who to watch for opinion-wise about the new team.

I rate this list a B-.

Ranking the Top OKC Sports Media Members, 7-10

While thinking of what to write on our young yet promising blog, inspiration struck me. People love rankings. People also (at least here in Oklahoma) enjoy following their favorite sports media member as much as they do they're favorite sports team. So I thought why not further draw from our very regionally focused fan base and create a ranking of the top sports personalities in city limits?!?!

I derived the rankings not from my own presonal opinion (well, not directly at least) but instead I developed an objective set of criteria thet each is to be judged upon. The criteria was a verstatile and complete knowledge of not just one sport, but all major sporting avenues, charismatic appearances on radio, television, or in his or her writings, being starkly opinionated (controversial or not), and access to solid resources (players, coaches, general managers, you know, poeple that know stuff). Media members got a score (out of 10) for each category (knowledge, charisma, opinion, resources). The knowledge score was derived from two parts. These were present knowledge (knowledge of the sporting world since 2000) and past knowldge (knowledge of the sporting world before the year 2000). Candidates got a maximum of 5 points for each one of these sub-categories and these were added together to get the larger overall knowledge score.

So, without delay, here is the bottom of the top 10:


10) Myron Patton, KREF radio host and FOX25 sports director: It's hard for Myron to be really be competitive being the highlight talent for both the last place sports radio and news provider. He left the state awhile to be an actual news anchor in Louisiana, but came back to both Oklahoma and the sports scene.
Knowledge: Past 3, Present 5
Charisma: 9
Opinion: 6
Resources: 4
Overall Score: 27/40





9) Mark Rodgers, WWLS radio host and KOCO sports director: Some might think this is kind of low for Mark, but honestly, I've never been a fan. I don't have a problem with him or anything, I just think he's all the Jim Traber bark with none of the Jim Traber bite. Though I think that KOCO sports coverage is generally better than say KFORs, I think ninth is about right for him. Radio show is average, no more no less.
Knowledge: Past 3, Present 4
Charisma: 9
Opinion: 8
Resources: 5
Overall Score: 29/40




T-7) Bob Barry Jr., WWLS radio host and KFOR sports director: I really enjoy BBJ, personally. He's bright, experienced, and makes me laugh (whether or not it's intentional). I enjoy his radio a lot more than the nightly news though. Senior was also in consideration for the list, but wasn't able to make the cut, sadly.
Knowledge: Past 4, Present 4
Charisma: 8
Opinion: 8
Resources: 6
Overall Score: 30/40






T-7) John Rohde, JOX radio host and Oklahoman writer: The number 2 guy at the Oklahoman. Known for out of the box ideas and sports projects/ranikings/stories for the Oklahoman. I enjoy him, not a favorite, but usually an interesting article.
Knowledge: Past 3, Present 5
Charisma: 8
Opinion: 7
Resources: 7
Overall Score: 30/40

Come back Tuesday for 3-6 on the list and Wednesday for the revealing of the top 2!