Calling out Bob Stauffer.....
At one time prior to the past 18 months or so, I used to be a pretty dedicated listener to Total Sports. I could put up with the host's full on hard-on for the Oilers simply because there was a good balance to the overal content to the show in terms of Eskimos coverage. In fact TS's pre game show the last 2 years was much better that CHED's own pre game. So I'll give credit where it's due.
That said, I've become frustrated at what "Total Nothing But Hockey" has become and find myself tuning out more and more. At one point I used to be a 3 hour listener, now I find myself catching maybe an hour at best.
Quite frankly, Stauffer's endless and over repetitiveness in regurgitating the same old Oiler topics endlessly at the expense of football talk, has become nauseating. What's even more apparent is the creation of a self fufilling prophecy that 'people don't care about the Eskimos' mentality that has been cultivated and perpetuated by guys like Stauffer and his boss Bryn. I've heard time and time again that 'nobody talks football so why bother' yet their own direction has conditioned their listeners that it's hockey first second, third, and foremeost. They will tell you that the 'callers drive the show' however the host steers it and Stauffer's been riding around the same block for almost two years and you can see the tire groove marks in the pavement.
Cases in point:
1. CFL Free agent day - Show leads off with 1 solid hour of hockey with a 10 min segment on the CFL. Hockey then resumes.
2. CFL Draft - Show starts off with direct Oiler talk ( much of it the same re-hashed oiler coaching talk we've heard a thousand times before) and after an hour and 20 we get another short segment gloss over on the Eskimos draft. No depth on who we picked and if not for Huntington's spot, the day would have been almost void of any coverage.
3. Training camp - Again take Huntington's spots out and there is next to zero coverage. Self admittedly, Stauffer is not covering camp.
4. This season's mantra/diatribe begins to formulate - Right around camp Stauffer creates his season long campiagn that he continues to fly about how the Eskimos don't attract younger crowds, how nobody cares about the CFL, and how the NFL is more popular in this city. This begins and continues to get repeated and reinforced by himself and his small group of regular hockey callers which dominate the interaction.
5. Pre season - next to zero coverage, self created stereotype is still being pushed (#4), fans are told on air many times that we all are near retirement, and don't care about football ad nauseum. More hockey, hockey, hockey, including such stunning topics as, the Florida Panthers (who no one even in florida even ****in' cares about!), and the Darryl Katz lovefest is in full swing.
6. On air guest hosts - With the exception of Huntington and the occasional guest appearance of V. Hall, the 'dream team' is devoid of any real football knowledge, and therefore no real in depth intelligent discussion is anywhere to be found. When an eskimos call comes in the direction is quickly and woefully predicticably steered back to hockey as quickly as possible, to cover such ground breaking topics as ' What NHL player should be on Dancing With the Stars...'
7. Early season - More same old same old from Stauffer who could literally have his producer edit a 3 hour segment of Craig MacTavish comments, criticisms on the Oiler coaching staff, Jeof Lupil minute by minute updates, Jay Boumiester pontifications, Darryl Katz love ins, calls by the same group of 20 callers who call in about the same topics daily, and just take the afternoon's off. #4 continues to be pushed and perpetuated.
8. Noticable drop off in football talk not due to fan apathy, but in his show due to host direction. Everyone knows now that the place to talk football isn't his show, it's Gregors. ( who does a very fine job in the balance of his shows) Yet we are still being told that no one cares, esks fans are all geriatrics, the NFL is the shizzle, and the fans not calling are the reason why they aren't talking. Go Oilers Go....
9. Last wed - Fan calls in to talk about Rick Campbell's defence in the Argo loss. Stauffer takes this opportunity to turn the caller's call into a 2 minute diatribe on MacTavish and his coaching style, to which THE CALLER HIMSELF, had to purposely steer the convo back to football. I shook my head at the audacity of that and switched off the channel.
10. Now this - at the 26 min mark of his spot on the Vancouver Team station, Stauffer regurgitates and spreads his theories on why no one talks football on his show, etc, in another market. Listen for yourself (26 min mark)
http://www.team1040.ca/podcast/rick_...w_July_30~.mp3
Quite frankly I've and a lot of others have grown tired of the same old same old from that afternoon show. It's old, it's stale, and I'm getting sick of the noticable anti- Eskimo/CFL slant as of long late. The past two weeks have been dotted with " the NFL is better than the CFL, let me count the ways" talk and when one listens, the same callers call in each time like a daily visit to a therapist.
I call now maybe once a month, if that, knowing that within 2 minutes, it's back to the good ol hockey game and what hair gel Georges laraques is using this week.......
Total Sports is fast tracking to Totally Redundant.....
That said, I've become frustrated at what "Total Nothing But Hockey" has become and find myself tuning out more and more. At one point I used to be a 3 hour listener, now I find myself catching maybe an hour at best.
Quite frankly, Stauffer's endless and over repetitiveness in regurgitating the same old Oiler topics endlessly at the expense of football talk, has become nauseating. What's even more apparent is the creation of a self fufilling prophecy that 'people don't care about the Eskimos' mentality that has been cultivated and perpetuated by guys like Stauffer and his boss Bryn. I've heard time and time again that 'nobody talks football so why bother' yet their own direction has conditioned their listeners that it's hockey first second, third, and foremeost. They will tell you that the 'callers drive the show' however the host steers it and Stauffer's been riding around the same block for almost two years and you can see the tire groove marks in the pavement.
Cases in point:
1. CFL Free agent day - Show leads off with 1 solid hour of hockey with a 10 min segment on the CFL. Hockey then resumes.
2. CFL Draft - Show starts off with direct Oiler talk ( much of it the same re-hashed oiler coaching talk we've heard a thousand times before) and after an hour and 20 we get another short segment gloss over on the Eskimos draft. No depth on who we picked and if not for Huntington's spot, the day would have been almost void of any coverage.
3. Training camp - Again take Huntington's spots out and there is next to zero coverage. Self admittedly, Stauffer is not covering camp.
4. This season's mantra/diatribe begins to formulate - Right around camp Stauffer creates his season long campiagn that he continues to fly about how the Eskimos don't attract younger crowds, how nobody cares about the CFL, and how the NFL is more popular in this city. This begins and continues to get repeated and reinforced by himself and his small group of regular hockey callers which dominate the interaction.
5. Pre season - next to zero coverage, self created stereotype is still being pushed (#4), fans are told on air many times that we all are near retirement, and don't care about football ad nauseum. More hockey, hockey, hockey, including such stunning topics as, the Florida Panthers (who no one even in florida even ****in' cares about!), and the Darryl Katz lovefest is in full swing.
6. On air guest hosts - With the exception of Huntington and the occasional guest appearance of V. Hall, the 'dream team' is devoid of any real football knowledge, and therefore no real in depth intelligent discussion is anywhere to be found. When an eskimos call comes in the direction is quickly and woefully predicticably steered back to hockey as quickly as possible, to cover such ground breaking topics as ' What NHL player should be on Dancing With the Stars...'
7. Early season - More same old same old from Stauffer who could literally have his producer edit a 3 hour segment of Craig MacTavish comments, criticisms on the Oiler coaching staff, Jeof Lupil minute by minute updates, Jay Boumiester pontifications, Darryl Katz love ins, calls by the same group of 20 callers who call in about the same topics daily, and just take the afternoon's off. #4 continues to be pushed and perpetuated.
8. Noticable drop off in football talk not due to fan apathy, but in his show due to host direction. Everyone knows now that the place to talk football isn't his show, it's Gregors. ( who does a very fine job in the balance of his shows) Yet we are still being told that no one cares, esks fans are all geriatrics, the NFL is the shizzle, and the fans not calling are the reason why they aren't talking. Go Oilers Go....
9. Last wed - Fan calls in to talk about Rick Campbell's defence in the Argo loss. Stauffer takes this opportunity to turn the caller's call into a 2 minute diatribe on MacTavish and his coaching style, to which THE CALLER HIMSELF, had to purposely steer the convo back to football. I shook my head at the audacity of that and switched off the channel.
10. Now this - at the 26 min mark of his spot on the Vancouver Team station, Stauffer regurgitates and spreads his theories on why no one talks football on his show, etc, in another market. Listen for yourself (26 min mark)
http://www.team1040.ca/podcast/rick_...w_July_30~.mp3
Quite frankly I've and a lot of others have grown tired of the same old same old from that afternoon show. It's old, it's stale, and I'm getting sick of the noticable anti- Eskimo/CFL slant as of long late. The past two weeks have been dotted with " the NFL is better than the CFL, let me count the ways" talk and when one listens, the same callers call in each time like a daily visit to a therapist.
I call now maybe once a month, if that, knowing that within 2 minutes, it's back to the good ol hockey game and what hair gel Georges laraques is using this week.......
Total Sports is fast tracking to Totally Redundant.....
Comment