For those in GR - I will never listen to Free Beer & Hot Wings ever again (OK not really)
First off, this probably only applies to people who live in the Grand Rapids area, or somewhere where Free Beer & Hot Wings radio show is syndicated. But I digress...
Just before I got into work, FB&HW brought up the NCAA findings. Hot Wings, the absolute pinnacle of sports knowledge (SARCASM), reads off a headline and brief synopsis that sounds like it was written by Drew Sharp himself, at which point Eric Zane, always one to speak about 47 sentences before even considering using his brain, jumps right in and says that Rich Rodriguez is a "stupid hick" and basically insinuated that he should be fired. Free Beer, who actually knows quite a bit about sports and is usually the voice of reason, continues the bashfest which is then summed up by Zane telling RR to "go back to your ugly wife."
I don't really know why I am telling you all this. What I do is that it pissed me right the fuck off and frankly I didn't think I would hear that on FB&HW. For a comparison, Bakita & Grey, the guys who do the morning show on 107.3 The Ball, actually had intelligent things to say. Even Brett Bakita, a known Spartan homer, kept things in perspective.
So, once again, most of you might not care. Hell, none of you may care. But for some reason this really steamed me on a day when I was already late for work because of traffic. Either way, I will never listen to the Free Beer & Hot Wings morning show ever again. Fuck those assholes.
2:24 PM EDIT: Title edited because, yeah, I'm not actually going to stop listening. But what a bunch of bush league crap.
February 24th, 2010 at 8:33 AM ^
I'm in Flint, so I don't listen to those two, but I do get Huge and listening to his show did rile me up a tad. Huge himself wasn't to bad, but he did refer to this ambiguous population of players and personnel that he felt would probably be the end of Coach Rod. Who are these players is what I want to know. Occasionally we'll hear from someone, Braylon for example, the says something negative, but for the most part it's just hearsay; do you guys feel that the number of ex-players who want coach Rod out is 'statistically' significant?
February 24th, 2010 at 8:35 AM ^
They do mornings on Banana 101.5 in Flint.
Despite what this young man is saying, they're hilariously funny, and they aren't laugh-track douchey like Bob & Tom. Definitely worth a listen if you have a chance.
February 24th, 2010 at 10:24 AM ^
He's probably referring to Mike Hart saying he wanted to be Michigan's Head Coach because OBVIOUSLY that means he wants Rich Rod to be fired...
Just remember this saying:
"Don't ever argue with an idiot... they'll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience."
February 24th, 2010 at 8:36 AM ^
FB&HW suck. They've sucked for some time. Zane is an absolute pile of shit. I haven't listened to them in years and it sounds like I've missed nothing.
February 24th, 2010 at 11:09 AM ^
I live in Myrtle Beach, and I listen to them most mornings on my way in to work. I didn't hear that this morning, but I don't think you should take it too seriously. Hell, those guys probably don't even take themselves seriously.
They are just playing to their audience, most of whom thought it was funny. Relax.
February 24th, 2010 at 8:38 AM ^
Since you live in the GR area, are you still subjected to the Huge Show? That guy was unbelievably annoying.
February 24th, 2010 at 8:52 AM ^
107.3 WBBL is Huge's flagship station, so, yes, we in GR are absolutely subjected to that idiot. Not that I actually listen to him, as I usually tune into the last 30 minutes of Sean & Terp on my way home.
February 24th, 2010 at 8:40 AM ^
they are disc jockeys who belittle the rest of society for their own self worth. typical for a morning show. also they are rolling in that 30 grand a year salary. if only i could take that much of a pay cut to voice my opinion about Tressel.
February 24th, 2010 at 8:50 AM ^
I'm in Kentwood. I've listened to them only once and I thought they were pretty funny, but since they have dissed RR, they are now blocked.(BLOOOOCKED!!!). I even listen to Huge, but he pissed me off yesterday by claiming that RR is a bad fit, and will not make it here. Just two years ago, he was just drinking out of his jock strap, now doesn't have the balls to go against the crowd. Just wait until this team is cruising, he'll be just another band wagoner jumping back on board.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:51 AM ^
The thing with Bill (I refuse to call him Huge) is that his opinion depends on the how he wakes up in the morning. He swings wildy from being for RR to being against him - he does the same thing with Dam-tonio. He has pointed out the double standard at the Freep regarding the two programs often. As most of us know, listening to local sports radio in West Michigan for too many days in a row can really do damage to your brain.
As for morniing talk radio, I never listen to it. Of course I have a 3 yr. old in the car so... The Laurie Berkner Band is the shiznit!
February 24th, 2010 at 10:00 AM ^
Kazoo resident, MSUer here. Simonson sounded to me like he was still pretty heavily on Rodriguez's side. He segued into one of his ultra hilarious comedy bits about how the Freep was moving its headquarters to Breslin or some such (what MSU did to get dragged into it, I'm not sure. I tend to think that Freep vs. Rodriguez is an inter-Blue affair that only interests us for entertainment value. He also bashed John L. late in the foolishness) and that the Freep was reporting that Bin Laden was hiding out in Schmbe.....oh, it's too lame to even type. Simonson sucks, but he sucks less than NPR I'd already heard or whatever national crap 96.1 was running after Sean and Terp end at 6 p.m.
Anyway, Simonson will turn on Rodriguez whenever Rich stops coming on his show. He's not about Green or Blue. He kisses up to Izzo something fierce, but not Dantonio because Izzo comes on his show and Dantonio doesn't. (Which makes me like Dantonio as a person a bit more, but as a head coach a bit less)
My west Michigan sports radio ratings, which I'm sure everyone is dying to read:
1. Bakita and Grey (though I think someone up thread may have gotten which one is the MSU homer wrong). Too much ND talk ("Am I alone in disliking the French? I thought not." - Al Bundy upon entering a British pub), but they don't generally freak out and don't climb on their high horses too much.
2. Sean and Terp are pretty good and I like that they're bringing on Tom Kowalski more. Their main virtue is honestly that they don't refer to themselves in the third person.
118. The Huge Show. Blowhard, knows less about any given topic than anyone this side of Colin Cowherd. Ego needs to regulated by the FCC, etc.
February 24th, 2010 at 10:50 AM ^
Bakita is a huge MSU supporter, but I've always found him fair and decent to listen to. I guess my standards have been lowered by The HUGE Show and all the other syndicated crap that is Sports Talk Radio, most of which is unlistenable.
February 24th, 2010 at 12:48 PM ^
...Grey was the MSU homer and Bakita was the U of M homer, but I'll take your word that it's the opposite, as I'm not so sure. Whichever one the MSU homer is, I seem to remember he predicted something like 10 wins for us in 2009. Ahh, August...
February 24th, 2010 at 2:22 PM ^
Bakita = MSU
Grey = UM
February 24th, 2010 at 8:51 AM ^
I listen to Free Beer & Hot Wings for a hilarious morning show not informed intelligent sports commentary. For that I go to Mr. Sam Webb.
You can't listen to every blowhard with a microphone (Huge) spewing uninformed unintelligent fear mongering.
And yes, Free Beer & Hot Wings are hilarious.
February 24th, 2010 at 8:54 AM ^
I think all of us, no matter where we are, are feeling about the same for some news organization right now. They are taking what would be fairly mild news and blowing it out of proportion because RR lost games and it's Michigan. If RR was 24-0 right now in the regular season how do you think these allegations would be handled? That's what gets me mad about the whole thing. It's not that they are reporting the news it's that they are spinning it because RR has been losing.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:06 AM ^
FB&HW are hilarious, but if I had heard their anti-RR rant, it would have pissed me right off too. Fortunately, I didn't, and I'm also clear they don't know the first fucking thing about sports, so I won't listen to their input on it. Those guys are good for radio stunts and simple radio hilarity, and that's about it.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:14 AM ^
I do like the show in the morning. It is usually pretty funny. However, their RR comments this morning were ridiculous and uninformed.
That being said, the show I listened to on my way home from work yesterday, which was far worse than Huge or FB&HW, was Shawn and Terp on 96.1. Those two idiots are completely clueless. Man, I was so pissed listening to those guys yesterday I wanted to drive to GR and kick their asses.
I keep telling myself that this pain will lessen with time, but man, it is a gaping wound right now. I am starting to get the feeling that if RR doesn't win at least 8 games this year he will be gone. I hope I am wrong, but it keeps getting uglier.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:20 AM ^
Shawn and Terp are bad. I will agree. When they first started it was a nice change of pace from Huge but now it's getting brutal.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:28 AM ^
was that when I got completely fed up with Shawn and Terp and Huge I flipped to NPR to get away from it all. But alas, when they did their "local" segment at the beginning of the hour, even they mentioned the "5 major sanctions against the U of M football program".
Seriously....NPR? Dammit man, what the hell can I actually listen to on the radio without wanting to poke my eyes out???
February 24th, 2010 at 10:05 AM ^
Shawn: "NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!"
Got a little bit frustrated with all the media stuff yesterday that seemed to be blowing it out of proportion, but what would we do in their shoes? OSU getting hammered for practice time issues? We'd eat it up.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:28 AM ^
The people making these comments have no influence on whether RR stays or goes, so what they are essentially doing to wasting their breath. Brandon seems to have a clear head on his shoulders and will not be one to buckle to this media pressure to get RR out.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:35 AM ^
it goes beyond just media pressure. There are plenty of "uninformed" alums that are becoming disenchanted as well. These are the alums that maybe casually follow football and simply know that U of M has been good at this for many years and right now they aren't. They also know that the football program has never had these kind of NCAA allegations before and the only common denomiator seems to be the new coach.
Brandon may not buckle to media pressure but he almost has to pay attention to the alums, even if they are uninformed.
Many believe that winning will help to end the backlash, and that may be true. I just think, from the sounds of things, the winning will have to come sooner rather than later. Again, I hope I am wrong because I can see what RR is building. I just wonder if the casual fan will have enough patience.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:17 AM ^
I hate FB&HW for many reasons:
1.) Producer Joe is a complete asshat
2.) It is no longer local. At all.
3.) It is the same shit every morning.
4.) Every single caller is some redneck from Tennessee.
I am just sick of it. I don't even listen to the radio anymore...if I do in the mornings it is WLAV with Kevin Matthews...I am probably their youngest listener at 25 but it's a pretty good show. Bakita and Grey is good too for sports...Shawn and Terp are terrible.
February 24th, 2010 at 10:46 AM ^
Do you have a specific incident that you cite when referringt o PJ as an asshat? I ask only because I've never met the guy but always had this feeling he was a dick. Zane, despite all his idiotic sayings, I think is a pretty good guy. But Joe always comes off to me like he'd be a huge douche in real life.
February 24th, 2010 at 2:27 PM ^
Well, I've heard things from friends of mine who know him and they say his ego is through the roof. Plus, I follow his tweets on Twitter and he is a major dumbass.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:49 AM ^
...said yesterday that he thought it would be best for RR to leave Michigan. Let's see him try to get another interview with RR after that comment. What an idiot.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:52 AM ^
For why I don't listen to sports-talk radio. Give me the Beastie Boys, 20-lbs of grains, 8 oz of hops, water and yeast... Fuck. This. Shit.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:57 AM ^
I love these guys. Don't quit listening because they hit too close to home, because I'm sure you've laughed at the misfortunes of others...just saying. Yeah, they don't think sometimes, but that's why I love them.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:59 AM ^
Is a dork from Lake Orion. And a product of the fine acedemics of CMU.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:59 AM ^
Baba-Booey
February 24th, 2010 at 10:03 AM ^
If they were sports guys saying that, I'd be a little peeved, but as it is, that's just what they do. They would say the same things about Mother Teresa if it would get a few laughs.
They're pretty funny most of the time, and they gave my brother and me free tickets to the Michigan/Oakland game at the Palace last year, so I'll give them a pass on it.
I will say, however, that it's a little frustrating that all their stories they bring up are straight off Digg.com... I'd email them to complain about it, but it's not really worth the time.
February 24th, 2010 at 10:06 AM ^
I must take issue with the idea that Bakita and Grey are worthwhile to listen to. Bakita has some common sense, but doesn't have the strongest personality. Grey is there for nothing more than his outlandish statements. His knowledge of sports is weak, and his opinions are usually not very original.
This morning was a great example. They had John Borton on to talk about yesterday's announcement. Grey led into the interview by saying Michigan had committed 5 major violations. Borton immediately corrected him, saying he had left out the fact that they were all potential violations; he went on to say that if U-M did get the punishment equal to major violations, it would be something like a person receiving the death penalty for J-walking. Bakita totally misunderstood the analogy and went into a question which was something like, how bad will the sanctions be. I must admit that after this point (and a long diatribe from Borton about how weak the allegations/violations are), both hosts remained much more level headed.
February 24th, 2010 at 2:29 PM ^
I fish with Bakita's brother and my family and the Bakita family are pretty close. They are purely Sparty fans but they are a very good family - they give credit to Michigan when they have to.
February 24th, 2010 at 10:17 AM ^
I used to listen to them in Portland, Maine last year when I was working on a project out there. I generally found them pretty fun to listen to until Hot Wings did his stupid "What Hot Wings Thinks" segment. Is that what this is from?
February 24th, 2010 at 10:18 AM ^
I heard the rant about RR from Free Beer and Hot Wings. It pissed me off. They should not opine about sports. They should probably stick with fart jokes and calling women bitches.
February 24th, 2010 at 10:40 AM ^
I agree with this for the most part, but Free Beer (who is a sports trivia genius) has done what he called "On the Bench with Free Beer" (an obvious mockery of Bret Bakita) and took questions from callers in the style of Huge. He would take their answer, say it was a good answer, thank them for the call, and go to the next question. He repeated this for about 5 minutes and all the callers played along perfectly.
More of that please. Regardless, everyone knows these guys are stupid so there's really no reason to get upset by it. Just roll your eyes and keep listening if you once liked them. Zane is $90,000 in debt, used to be an alcoholic, and got mocked out of town by other shows in the past. He's got nothing to stand on so his opinion and judgment is worthless and everyone knows it. It's still a pretty good show IMO.
February 24th, 2010 at 11:16 AM ^
It just really caught me off-guard this morning. And yeah, I agree about Zane, and I generally like him (though sometimes I think he goes too far).
I will still listen, but today definitely pissed me off.
February 24th, 2010 at 10:41 AM ^
I really shouldn't have expected any less from those guys, as many have pointed out. They have a very specific schtick that they do, and for the most part it works and is funny. I have most definitely laughed my ass off at some of their idiotic stunts or ridiculous statements.
After thinking over the comments in my head again, I guess my main issue was Eric Zane calling Rita ugly. What the hell does she have to do with any of this? I guess the "hick" comment also irked me pretty good, but it's just straight bush league to lash out at RR's wife. Plus, I don't know if anyone has ever seen Zane's wife, but it ain't a pretty sight, let me just say that. But I do laugh at a lot of his other stupid comments.
And to whomever said Hot Wings is a dork -- you're right on. He is easily the worst part of the show. His voice is annoying as hell and he always throws up these idiotic analogies that never add anything to the conversation -- he is dead weight.
February 24th, 2010 at 11:03 AM ^
Have to disagree with you there. Hot Wings is probably my favorite on the show. He is a dork but that makes him funny and he always slips in statements that you may not catch right away but are hilarious.
I love the show. I wish they would do different things sometimes instead of the same games and topics all the time, but they remind me of how my friends and I interact. Miles ahead of any other morning show in my listening area. "puddin's playhouse" anyone? LOL.
February 24th, 2010 at 11:04 AM ^
You westsiders are a bunch of pansies getting bent out of shape about this kind of heckling. One of the guys on the Rivals board said yesterday that Valenti (of 97.1 FM fame) actually said that Michigan fans owe the Freep an apology. That is without question the most infuriating thing anyone has ever said about this whole Rodriguez/Michigan/Freep fiasco ever. Fuck that asshole.
February 24th, 2010 at 11:18 AM ^
People like this are only commenting from the peanut gallery.
Wiki - A peanut gallery is an audience that heckles the performer. The term originated in the days of vaudeville as a nickname for the cheapest (and ostensibly rowdiest) seats in the theater; the cheapest snack served at the theater would often be peanuts, which the patrons would sometimes throw at the performers on stage to show their disapproval. The phrases "no comments from the peanut gallery" or "quiet in the peanut gallery" are extensions of the name.These two dopes are only doing what they believe is the "in" thing to do for the week. Radio folks piling on has occurred on just about anybody or anything that is currently making headlines, it just so happens to be our turn to be at the bottom of the pile. It will pass.
February 24th, 2010 at 12:09 PM ^
I heard that too as I got into work. Zane calling him a hick really pissed me off, at which point I thought Free Beer would jump in and say that the whole thing is overblown, but instead he continued the shit talking. I'm still pissed about it. I shouldn't be, as a number of people pointed out they are just guys on a radio show playing to their audience, but WTF? That was not doing them any favors with anybody. Fuck it, I'm going bowling.
February 24th, 2010 at 8:15 PM ^
I haven't listened to that show in quite a while. Did they get so unfunny that they have to resort to bashing a much loved university and it's football team/coach just to get ratings? Pretty fuckin sad.