I'm going to be honest here, my boss is going to love me live blogging throughout co-hosting this whole rookie Final Four... We're going in reverse order, so Day One is at the bottom. Here's Day Two:
Thursday with Sean Freer:
7:08 p.m. -- Sean started off strong with some off-hand wedding talk, as well as the Bills expectations. He brought up the phone numbers, and commanded the mic. Unfortunately, he had to be nudged toward mentioning the Jason Peters situation, which is the top story in the area right now. The phones are lit up, though, so he's doing something right.
7:14 p.m. -- Clearly the Bills reporting to training camp has the callers hung up on football, and Sean is handling them well, displaying pretty good football knowledge (even if I don't agree with all of it). He's talked a lot of hockey in the contest up to this point, and it's good to hear the variety.
7:40 p.m. -- Sean's question of why Bills fans continue to show after a long-standing streak of non-playoff seasons has been met with a chorus of calls, mostly negative. Welcome to the airwaves, Sean, you've made your first challenge to the city... We're fairly defensive.
7:49 p.m. -- I just showed Sean this commercial during the break. You should watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynYp-bUvSTw
7:55 p.m. -- Handled himself well, but will his agitation of some callers impress or depress the judges? I just wanted to phrase it that way. Sean did pretty well.
Wednesday with James Wild:
8:20 p.m. -- I forgot to do this one on the fly, so here's a quick recap of James' show. He came in with a purpose and several solid show topics, including, "Which Jason is more important to sign -- Peters or Pominville?" I thought the answer was relatively easy -- Peters -- but James was prepared enough to drop some Pominville knowledge that made callers take notice, as the lines were filled for a good portion of the evening.
Again, I agreed with James a good deal, but needed a little more energy. He opened up in the final segment, The rapid-fire "Selleck" portion of my show, and his quick replies worked for me, particularly Rollie Fingers still rocking the moustache. While I think he was too tentative at the start, and as a caller (Matt in OP) admitted, leaned a little too much on the host, he got comfortable enough to put in a strong effort. I'll be interested to see what the Boss, and others think, because his show was better structured than Jimbo's, but not necessarily more entertaining.
8:26 p.m. -- In the interest of full disclosure, James is a theater guy who likes soccer and graduated from UB, and is freakish about their athletics. All that stuff is right up my alley, so I was prone to like this kid (And by kid, I mean someone three years younger than me).
Tuesday with James "Jimbo" Columbo:
7:07 p.m. -- It's been a remarkable first seven minutes.... Jimbo has ripped on the media for their A-Rod obsession, got after Danica Patrick for being a publicity dork and rolled into knowledgable conversation on Ryan Miller. Plus, I laughed a lot. Nice start.
7:20 p.m. -- Good first segment... Jimbo handled several calls with adequate responses, and what I mean by adequate is not just dropping jokes like his critics warned me he would do.
7:40 p.m. -- Segment two... Jimbo chose the Marshawn Lynch saga, and while I didn't necessarily agree with him -- letting a hit-and-run "slide" is iffy in my book -- he handled himself well. I also thought his handling of Dirk Daniels' call-in was adequate... "The Genius" is a tough nut to crack. Also, I pretty much spit my soda-pop all over the room when he called Chippewa "Satan's version of a Gap Ad."
7:56 p.m. -- I think Jimbo did a pretty good job. My only criticism is handling the unexpected, which I can guarantee you'll get with James Wild on Wednesday, Sean Freer on Thursday and, well, let's be honest, Vic Acevedo will be hosting Friday with Jim Brinson, which a chops-test on several levels. So, several cheers for "Jimbo," who's a Buffalo guy somewhat after my own heart. Check back each night for a rookie blog, and let me know what you thought of each night's contestant: nick@wgr550.com
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