If you would have told me in August that the first local sports story in 2009 would center around sports talk radio I would have accused you of spending too much time at Nick's Place drinking beer.
Shows what I know.
Amazingly, this run of press that Sports talk radio is enjoying is being driven by a listenership that totals less than 5% of Houston's population. (If that) Part of the problem is the dismal Houston sports scene. When you hang your sporting hat on the Texans, Astros and Rockets the cupboard is likely to be bare. Granted, there's a lot of grist for the mill currently as the Rockets are concerned, the Astros are perennial weak-sauce contenders (especially during the hot-stove period) and about all that needs to be said about the Texans has already been said.
It also doesn't help conversation that Houston is a very sports media-friendly town. The Chronicle has more apologists on their staff for the local professional franchises than Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Gov. Blago combined. PR professionals have to take off the training wheels before writing sports for the Chron. Whether its John McClain dusting off his 'sage old insider' routine, Richard Justice assuring us all is well as the tanks roll into the city, Jerome Solomon once again telling fans that they're 'idiots' for being critical, or Megan Manfull, Jonathan Feigan et. all on the writers' pool dishing out glorified PR releases, its hard to find an area where Houston sports fans can get really worked up into a sufficient lather that listening to it on the radio is a big deal. (And no, we're not going to mention College Sports, Houston is not a College sports town)
Aside from all of this the biggest hurdle Houston has to clear in order to be considered a quality sports town is that the current teams have to build up some emotional equity with fans. This is hard to do because of two reasons:
1. Most Houstonians are transplants and come with pre-existing loyalties.
2. The level of History in Houston franchses is lacking in comparison to other, more sports-crazy Cities.
When it comes to the first point....Guilty as charged. Not only do I root for teams outside of Houston (Michigan, SF 49'er's, Detroit Red Wings, Texas Rangers) but the Houston team that I was invested in is no longer in town. (Oilers) The problem that I have rooting for the Texans is not that they are a sorry franchise, but that they're not....the Oilers.
"What, do you want to return to the days when Houston didn't have the NFL?" Texans fans will say in response to nay-sayers.
Yes, I do. The reason being is that I enjoyed receiving the best NFL matchups on TV every Sunday, instead of the "Texans vs. whoever" clunker that we are saddled with now. It's the same reason I don't go to many UH football games (despite having graduated from a campus in their system). Why go to Robertson to watch UH vs. Tulane when Georgia vs. Florida is the CBS/SEC Game of the Week?
I missed a lot of good football for about three years going to UH Cougar games. I watched a lot of bad football (and bad coaching) when Art Briles was at the helm. I like Kevin Sumlin as a coach, but I'm not willing to give up my afternoons at Stag's Head checking out the biggest College Football games.
Here's the rub. At the end of the day I'm a huge sports fan. I'll watch and talk about most sporting events, not just the major events. I have a passion for football (soccer) played at the highest (read: International) level, International Rugby, College American Football, NFL football, College Basketball (though not the NBA), Baseball, Golf, Hockey, Open-wheel racing, track and field, boxing, MMA, powerlifting, bodybuilding, extreme sports you name it. If its a competition I like to watch. Because of that I'm a dedicated sports-talk fan.
The problem is, most of it on Houston's airwaves isn't very good. The fourth largest City in America should have better.
That's why I'm rooting for the guys over at KGOW. They have their weak shows (Ken Hoffman) and areas where they can improve (get rid of Justice) but overall they're putting out the most entertaining sports talk around right now. It's not polished, its not 'corporate', it's just 'fun'. If they could persuade Charlie Palillo to come over it'd be the best station in Houston hands down, as it is I swap between Shawn & John and Charlie's show depending on the topic. As-is however KGOW is the best.
Which explains why they're leading the pack right now.