WKTA Roundtable--why is Brian always so rude to Ira?

Submitted by Dennis on
I understand that Brian has a better holistic understanding of football than Ira, given that Ira is mostly a stats guy, but I don't understand why Brian is always so dismissive and rude to him. I think it's okay to disagree with someone who might know less than you, but it comes across as lacking emotional intelligence and typical "I know more than you, so you're dumb" attitude that guys exhibit discussing football.

Brian

January 5th, 2018 at 11:02 AM ^

I have no idea what you're talking about. Are you conflating Ira with some doofus who emailed the show about how Don Brown sucks? Because there was an exchange there where Ira read that and I declined to engage with said doofus. That's about doofus, not Ira.

UM Fan from Sydney

January 5th, 2018 at 12:24 PM ^

I'm with you on this. I could not care less about what his stupid numbers say. It should be just Brian, Sam, Ira, and maybe Craig.

matty blue

January 5th, 2018 at 12:42 PM ^

i'm not against numbers (although - full disclosure - i think "his stupid numbers" is a good descriptor in this case).  but having said numbers doesn't mean i need to hear his stupid voice with his stupid other opinions. 

IF his analytics have value, then just say "ed feng's numbers say the michigan is #17 in per-play blah blah blah" and leave it at that.  he still gets his plug, and his numbers become another data point in a conversation.

because when he moves on from the data into actual, you know, speaking and opinion and stuff?  hard pass.  

Chalky White

January 6th, 2018 at 7:20 PM ^

One time Ira's dad was in studio. Is a basically interrupted him the entire time. It's like he had to prove that he knew just as much as his dad. I felt bad for the guy.

This thing with Brian and Ed Feng is like listening to Bill Walton and Snapper Jones try to call a game together. They spend the entire time talking in that "I know more than you" tone. It's annoying.

bronxblue

January 5th, 2018 at 11:55 AM ^

Yeah, I assumed he was talking about Ed.  What I've always felt is Ed wants to be analytical, but he too easily falls into the crutch of "my numbers say X" and since his systems are proprietary it's hard to analyze their validity.  And so when called out on it, he'll say things like "yeah, I sat and watched the tape" and after 20 seconds it's clear he barely did and it hurts his arguments.

I think he has a place on radio, but the roundtable never felt like a good fit.

McDoomButt

January 5th, 2018 at 1:58 PM ^

Personally, the reason I like MGoBlog (and Brian) is because there's very little "professionalism". If you say something dumb, dude says "that's dumb." If someone John O'Korn plays an awful game the game summary says "John O'Korn played an awful game."



Compare that with all the "professional" media out there... It seems like they're all about not saying what they actually mean, at which point why the fuck am I even reading it?

ScruffyTheJanitor

January 5th, 2018 at 11:25 AM ^

If you listen to one quote where Ed is like, "I DUNNO, the defense wasn't perfect" and Brian verbally rolls his eyes, it would sound like Brian is being mean.

When you listen to this weekly, you realize that Ed basically says, "Here's some fresh HAWTAKES in yo face," over and over,  and Brian is basically just groaning and beating his head against the table.

It would be a great thing if Ed could be replaced with someone who could actually go toe to toe with Brian. That would be much more entertaining that listening to a bear getting poked with a dumb stick.