OT: Michigan Media / Entertainment Snowflakes
I'm way out of state, so I don't have many folks to bounce this off of at the water cooler, so I'll bounce it off of you, and maybe get destroyed for it, but either way.
I consume enough Michigan media/entertainment to be classified as a degenerate. My wife certainly thinks I have issues, and she's never been wrong. Through this consumption, I have developed a love/hate relationship with it. There are certain people or shows that I have grown to love, some I begrudgingly listen to and some I just flat out avoid. I'd like to share some of those thoughts. Maybe you think the same, maybe I'm alone in my thoughts. Either way, it's late, I'm agitated from work, and I'm letting it fly.
Personalities
Angelique Chengelis
She is one of the VERY few people that will ask a tough question. The rest of the people in the room are so gun-shy, they end up saying "talk about what you like about Shea Patterson, blah blah".
Brian Cook
Super knowledgeable, albeit quirky. He will die on a hill, any hill, as long as it's the one he started on. The flip side is that a lot of the time he starts on the right hill.
Sam Webb
One of the few insiders that have inside info. He keeps that access by not sharing all of it, which is the right move. In Sam We Trust.
Ed Fang
Gets discounted so much for his "nerdy stats" but is right a lot. I appreciate his perspective and look forward to when he talks
Craig Ross
Just a gosh darn national treasure. He is basically the Jack Harbaugh of the MGoBlog Roundtable if Jack Harbaugh got mocked every time he brought up a really interesting old story or fact.
James T. Yoder
Universally hated, and extraordinarily cocky (in the same way the short kid in class tries to pick on people), but man, he's usually right on his stuff. He comes out with info early, people say "he knows nothing" while many of the other folks have late info, different info, or refuse to say, and then Yoder is often right. Either he steals his info from other people, he's a great guesser, or maybe he's right? I have no idea what to make of him. I started following him to mock him, now I follow him to get info that's typically right, before other insiders are willing to share it; however, the way he attacks and taunts other insiders is petty and makes me dislike him, but I enjoy his info.
Shows
- Love -
MGoRadio
- I listen to every single second of every one of these podcasts, except the political ones, which I pretend don't exist. Whoever the new guy is that does the post-game podcasts with Brian and Seth is excellent. Not only does he know wtf he's talking about, he also has the balls to stand up to Brian and present a counter point. Seth is awesome too, but Seth quickly backs down from Brian when he tries say "I disagree". I love this new guy, and I don't even know his name... (maybe he's not new??? I've only been listening for around 4 years)
WTKA segments such as Recruiting roundup, Inside S.H., MGOBlog roundtable
- Super informative and listening via podcast allows me to skip the 3 minutes of commercials in a 5 minute segment
Nick Baumgardner's The Michigan Rant
- Nick is one of the few voices that I trust as "knows what he's talking about". He can be critical at times, and I like that. He's not a rabid fan like other people and when he complains, most of the time it's warranted. The one caveat here is the newer, younger co-host. He is WAY too agreeable. I'm sure he is well-versed in football and Michigan, but he basically becomes an echo for Nick. He says "ya" or "I agree" more than anything else. Also, he sounds so monotone. He needs to develop a willingness to disagree along with some inflection.
- Begrudgingly Listen -
Attack Each Day
- When J.T. was the host, it was my #1, must-listen-podcast. Now, I really listed to probably 20% of the show when they are talking about the previous week's game and the next week's opponent. J.T. would offer so much insight into the program, even when the coach segment was over. Ira...man, I'm sure he's a nice guy, but I can't listen to him at all. His super fast speaking, mixed with his jumbled words and his undying love for the program are too much. He sounds more like a fan they pulled off the street than a radio host (although probably better than I would do). Again, I'm sure he's a nice guy, but I personally have to fast-forward it when he talks. Also, who is the podcast one guy who does the into to the show? He sounds like if you took a random person off the street and said, "do your best 'in-a-world-where' impression from the movie theatre". It's awful.
Michigan Podcast
- I like a lot about this podcast, but the host can drive me nuts. One of the best parts about hosts, like Dan Patrick, is that they realize when they have a guest on, the guest becomes the centerpiece while the host become the facilitator. For Steve, he basically talks 85% of the time the guest is on and then let's the guest talk 15%. He also rehashes stuff a lot. For instance, he can talk 3 minutes in the opening segment about "the narrative about Michigan's offense is unfounded" and when the guest comes on, he does the full 3 minute speech again to frame his question.
The Michigan Man Podcast
- I actually haven't listen to it at all this season. This was my gateway drug into Michigan entertainment years ago, but it's pretty surface level stuff. On top of that, he frames every question with "here is my opinion on the matter, wouldn't you agree?". That's not great.
Anyway, it's late. I have a 1.5 hour commute to work and I listen to a lot of good and bad stuff and I don't really have many folks to bounce these thoughts off of. There are way more podcasts that I listen to(Runyan's, 247, among others) or stopped listening to, but I realized this post was way too long so I deleted a lot of them before I had to start looking for a publisher.
I guess to tie this into more of a question: are there any podcasts, videos or radio shows that you all listen to that are "can't-miss" and conversely, are there any that you just can't stand to listen to?
November 7th, 2018 at 3:31 AM ^
Huh. Interesting.
November 7th, 2018 at 4:58 AM ^
Not quite sure where this is going OP thread-wise but i AM sure this belongs in the diaries, not the board.
November 7th, 2018 at 4:59 AM ^
Checkout the podcasts of Michael Spath's show, Inside the Huddle, on WTKA. He has Devin Gardner as his Monday quarterback reviewer, Bill Bender a national college football columnist. He also has an interesting Friday segment "Game of My Life" with former players. He even had Anthony Carter on recently. He also has an opponent preview from one of their local sports affiliates.
November 7th, 2018 at 5:35 AM ^
You should listen to Colin Cowherd. He's the only Harbaugh guy that doesn't mind when Jim hangs up on him.
November 7th, 2018 at 5:51 AM ^
Yoder is often way wrong too, you know. Not just on injuries, but he literally said this year that Runyan is not a BigTen talent at the same time other insiders were saying for awhile that he had already locked up a starting spot.
November 7th, 2018 at 10:36 AM ^
Yeah, the idea that the guy who runs chatsports is right a bunch of times is the most counting stat of stats out there. You say literally a thousand things, a couple will be right . But he is profoundly wrong on so many other things (at one point I think he said DPJ was going to transfer or something insane like that) that I'm not going to give him credit for guessing right sometimes.
November 7th, 2018 at 6:56 AM ^
Yoder isn't right most of the time unless: A) it's stolen; B) it's Occum's Razor
A few examples:
1) Claims he was the first to say Walker was transferring. Occum's Razor and common knowledge was that Walker was in the dog house and had work to do. He wasn't kicked off the team when Yoder claimed he was, he was still trying to work his way out of the dog house. I think most people (which included tons of rumors) understood that there was a decent chance Walker wasn't going to make. Eventually he didn't. Just because Yoder knew a guy was on thin-ice, like just about everyone else, doesn't mean he had any real info.
2) Yoder claims something of his own, represents it as his own, and then when it's later proven wrong, claims he got it from the pay sites (which he doesn't pay for, he says) and it was them that was wrong. He would have had a case if he originally attributed to them the first time, because in this case (it was something over the summer) they did get it wrong. But you can't use that later to demonstrate "see, I was always right and these pay sites are wrong". Basically all that it showed is that he steals info and represents it as his own (for the record, I don't pay for any of the pay sites, so I can't confirm other instances, but this one stood out).
3) Yoder claimed the starting tackles would be the two young guys which disagreed with most insiders but leaned toward plausable take eventually given what people knew about the veteran OTs. This site, for instance, I think guessed the young guys would take over at some point in the season. But they admitted it was a guess, based on the best available evidence to them, and never claimed it as fact. That is the proper way of doing it. This is one of those "it seems like a hot take but is pretty safe" given what the casual fan knew. If he's right, he claims he had inside info (which he did not), and gets more followers. If he's wrong, it's likely be when and not if. But even that didn't happen. So it was a relatively low-risk claim that he could have been "first" to improve his credibility. But it was wrong, so just ignore it. These are the kind of claims he generally makes. I'm sure there were people 1.5 years ago claiming Kurt Taylor was going to transfer. There were some pretty obvious signs, after all. It doesn't mean they had inside info, but saying it 1.5 years ago gives you the option of being "first" with very low risk.
November 7th, 2018 at 8:54 AM ^
Fair points. I no longer do the paywalled sites, so maybe info I see him get right is just insider info he stole that I never saw because it was behind the paywall.
November 7th, 2018 at 6:58 AM ^
I stopped reading after you wrote Yoder. Are you his mom?
November 7th, 2018 at 7:00 AM ^
You have a 1.5 hour commute? Round trip?
November 7th, 2018 at 8:09 AM ^
1.5 door to door each way is normal if you live 30+ miles (read: nice suburbs) of NYC. The train is at least 45 min + 15 min to get to the station to park + 20 min to get from Penn Station or Grand Central to your office. Add train delays and it's 1.5 hours each way for a 30 mile journey.
November 7th, 2018 at 8:09 AM ^
Yeah, that got me, too! I have a 1.5 hr commute - but I live outside Washington DC, one of the two worst places to drive in the country (LA being the other)! OP lives in (around?) Nashville, so he must be driving for 90 miles! Good Lord...
November 7th, 2018 at 10:27 AM ^
I drove 1 hr each way from Grand Rapids/MI to Greenville/MI for about 5 years. Not quite the hell-traffic you guys experience, but other things caused me heartburn (weather, $4/gal gas, lost time with my young kids, etc). I rather like my 5 min commute now.
November 7th, 2018 at 2:21 PM ^
My commute in Nashville is at best 25 minutes for ~17 miles. My "standard" afternoon commute is more like 40 minutes. He probably has to commute I-24 every day. That is a nightmare.
November 7th, 2018 at 7:07 AM ^
November 7th, 2018 at 7:22 AM ^
This post lost me after you gave praise to James Yoder.
The man is a loser and has only been right when he stole the story from other people anyway, and even then, he's managed to turn someone else's "correct" into his own "incorrect".
November 7th, 2018 at 7:30 AM ^
I don't understand why so many people can't comprehend this. He is a complete and utter fraud and even admitted it. He started a media website in which they made up fake reporters (which logically means they made up fake stories), not to mention he fabricated emails, lied on Twitter about ever talking to Rashan Gary's mom, has blocked multiple Michigan players and has been called out numerous times by people he makes stories up about. I'm pretty sure he's never set foot in Ann Arbor. But he has a rivals subscription so when he talks about his "sources" people think he's legit.
November 7th, 2018 at 7:58 AM ^
The thing about Yoder is that he's universally hated by everyone in the Michigan community. He will never be issued a press pass, and I'm certain he has never even been to Ann Arbor. So rationally speaking, you have to conclude he has no real sources. What person, with any actual inside knowledge of the program, would ever tell him anything? He has been called out for lying about talking to players and their parents. Nobody would ever give him any real info. He has only attached himself to Michigan because we have a huge fanbase and he knows he'll get lots of clicks if he plays the game right. I wish he'd just go away and go to Tuscaloosa or something. I'm sure the fans down there are way more gullible anyway.
November 7th, 2018 at 10:27 AM ^
Ironic example.
November 7th, 2018 at 8:38 AM ^
Thank you for this topic!
I too have a 1.5 hour commute. I will scroll through WTKA shows podcasts and download, Recruiting Roundup, MMQB with Andy M. I download their MGoBlog roundtable because they usually have it hours before this site does. I try to listen to Mario O’s segments but not much value. Eric Adelson usually gets too far off of UM topics so I have stopped listening to that one.
I will scroll through Spath’s show daily. I may download Game of my Life segment. I am usually driving home and have finished listening to whatever I have downloaded for the day and may have 30-45 minutes still to drive. I will use iheartRadio and listen to Jamie Morris show. It is awful but better than local stuff I have available to me here in SC. Jamie Morris was one of my all-time greatests, I was a kid watching him every Saturday. But he is terrible at radio and feel bad for him listening. Rick Leach’s kid, bad too.
One thing about the WTKA shows, Sam’s, Spath, Jamie, they all get the same 4-6 callers every day.
As I drive for 1.5 hours, I often ponder, what kind of life do these people have that they call these 3 shows every day?
November 7th, 2018 at 9:54 AM ^
Yoder? GTFO. Cumong man
November 7th, 2018 at 10:36 AM ^
Suprised you don't have In The Trenches with Jon Janson listed here. He unapologetically gushes about the team, but in a chummy former O-lineman sort of way. I actually think his radio/podcast persona is way better than how he presents on TV. Does interviews with players, gives perspective as an older player, and tries a bit too hard to sound like Bo when he gets revved up. He also likes to talk smack about opposing coaches (esp. Frost & Franklin). Maybe worth checking out.
November 7th, 2018 at 10:47 AM ^
I actually did but I said Runyan's podcast because apparently I'm an imbecile. I couldn't edit it so it stayed.
November 7th, 2018 at 10:50 AM ^
There it is - last post on the page. Was just about to suggest Jansen's podcast as well. Another vote for In The Trenches.
November 7th, 2018 at 11:39 AM ^
You are right on Nashville. Yes, I love Craig Ross. And yes, skipping commercials on wkta is a must.
But Angelique best reporting is the stuff she gets from listening to radio shows. Otherwise, I find her nondescript, she tells me what I already know.
If you haven't listened to Devin Gardner on Monday morning qb on Spath's show, He is the best.
Also, Spath's game of my life segment each week is super, An old M player talks about his past life at M. Any of the Bo guys are simply fantastic.
Good thread topic, Go Blue.
November 7th, 2018 at 11:43 AM ^
Never heard Yoder, never will.
Inside the trenches, Jon Jansen, the new ufer. , excitement is contagious and real. And love the O line stuff.
November 7th, 2018 at 11:42 AM ^
I feel the exact same way about the Attack Each Day podcast... #BringBackJT
Also agree with the others that have mentioned In The Trenches podcast. It's excellent.
November 7th, 2018 at 12:11 PM ^
Dave Nasternak is who is on with Brian and Seth. He's the one who goes out to scout FBO's as well. Swell fella.
November 7th, 2018 at 1:27 PM ^
Since I posted a few weeks ago a question about what other podcasts I should listen to once I've consumed all the MGoContent, this might be a good place to follow up with the results of that query....
I've landed on the WTKA app to get my additional fixes. Not only do they serve up all of their aired content in podcast form, you can download the specific segments you want to listen to right to your device (when in wifi) and not burn any of your data by streaming in your car, say. You can also listen live, of course. These might seem like very obvious points to make, but more than a few commenters responded to my OP lamenting that they couldn't get a stronger AM signal to hear more of Sam, et. al. Well, you don't have to, TL;DR. The app works great.