Sounds of Silence Raise My Ire
Open Mike | by Mike O'Hara | 01.20.2009/4:31PM
Contact Mike O’Hara at
It’s what I didn’t hear on radio today that has me steamed. It’s what I didn’t hear from Rush Limbaugh snaking through his personal slime pit, and the termination of sports-station WDFN as we have come to know, love and hate it.
First, the important stuff.
Uh, sit down, Rush. You’re not important. You were the whoopee cushion of the coverage of President Obama’s inauguration – an unpleasant, misplaced noise.
WDFN-1130 – best known, affectionately to Detroit sports fans as “The Fan” – has been emasculated by Clear Channel Communications, the parent company.
Clear Channel has cut all of the local programming and replaced it with syndicated mush.
The cut included the “Stoney and Wojo Show” – the staple of Detroit’s afternoon sports-talk with cohosts Mike Stone and Bob Wojonwski, a colleague at The Detroit News.
Rumors surfaced over the weekend that Clear Channel would turn to syndicated programming around the company, and replace it with the syndicated shows.
The first bite of reality of what the changes will mean in Detroit came shortly after 3 p.m. Instead of hearing Stoney and Wojo talk about former Lions coach Rod Marinelli dissing some beat writers at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, we heard a discussion of some baseball player either signing a contract, not signing, or going to arbitration. I don’t remember which, and, frankly, don’t care. That stuff is fine for the updates, but sports and politicians are local, and we want to hear about our hometown teams.
That means today, we won’t hear Matt Sheppard and Sean Baligian in the morning.
Baligian put in 10 years building a loyal following. And that quick, because the corporate suits have decided that the bottom line and stock price don’t jibe, he’s out of a job.
And what I didn’t hear Tuesday was Rush Limbaugh’s smarmy remarks during President Obama’s inauguration speech.
I’m not surprised, and I don’t care. What amazes me most is how people let the like of Limbaugh and Sean Hannity get away with classifying people as “good” Americans and “bad” Americans based on blind support of their politicians of choice.
Of course, neither one ever served in the military. You figure it out.
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O’Hara (modestly) No. 2 in Writers Vote
Open Mike | by Mike O'Hara | 01.10.2009/11:58AM
Contact Mike O’Hara at
What’s in a name?
If your last name is O’Hara, you can be the center of attention and attract votes.
Shaun O’Hara, the center for the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants, finished second in voting for the Associated Press All-Pro team.
O’Hara received 18 of a possible 50 votes as the runnerup to Kevin Mawae of the Tennessee Titans.
OK, so we’ve backed into this story, playing on a name shared by the writer and the football player. As far as I know, we share nothing else.
Further analysis of the show some interesting connections.
On Friday, I reported that the Lions got four votes combined for two players – three for kicker Jason Hanson, and one for wide receiver Calvin Johnson.
That got a good laugh at the Lions’ expense – four votes, or a little more than .03 percent of the total votes cast. Obviously, it was a reflection of the Lions’ 0-16 season.
But the Lions did not finish last, either in total votes or number of players getting at least one All Pro vote.
Seattle, Jacksonville and Cincinnati got no votes. Chicago, San Francisco, St. Louis and Kansas City each had one player get votes. New Orleans and Houston had two.
There were some oddities. DeMarcus Ware of the Cowboys got votes at two positions – outside linebacker and defensive end. James Harrison of the Steelers, voted defensive player of the year, got votes at inside linebacker and outside linebacker.
The Giants had the most players get votes, with nine. The Ravens were second with eight.
The Steelers and Falcons both had seven.
The Jets, who missed the playoffs, had six – but not a single vote for Brett Favre, who undeservedly was voted to the AFC Pro Bowl team.
The Cowboys, who missed the playoffs, had six players with votes – which is probably a good reason to fire coach Wade Phillips. But Terrell Owens didn’t get a vote, which is good reason to praise media members who make up the AP voting panel.
And the Eagles had five players with votes, but four of them got one each.
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