Well, against my better judgment -- and the better judgment of anyone who has ever heard me on radio -- I have decided to start podcasting. This is not entirely because of my editor, who has been stalking me for more than a year to get me to do it. This is only MOSTLY because of my editor, who has been stalking me for more than a year to get me to do it.
The great thing about doing Sports Poscasts (at least in theory) is that I don't have to do them alone ... and I have the good fortune of knowing some great people who are much better at this than I am. I'm hoping to have them as regular co-hosts so they can carry me. We will see how it plays out.
My first Sports Poscast co-host is with one of those great people -- Michael Schur, creator and Executive Producer of the fabulous Parks and Recreation on NBC (Thursday nights, right after The Office). Mike, as you probably know, is also one of the founders of the legendary Fire Joe Morgan Web site and one of the funniest people I've ever met. He's also Paul. We preview the baseball season and, as you might expect based on this blog's history, go way longer than we intended. Future Poscasts should be shorter. Comments, questions, suggestions, chocolate-covered strawberries can all be sent here.
You may notice, if you listen that long, that when we had the conversation, Bartolo Colon appeared slotted as the Yankees fifth starter. Please feel free to replace those words with the equally frightening words "Freddy Garcia." Next time, we'll get the thing up faster.
The next Sports Poscast, I'm hoping, will be with Bill James though I must admit that I'm not entirely sure Bill is completely out of hiding after the Kansas game just yet.
Here is the first Sports Poscast.
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Postscript: I should add here that the Sports Poscast will be on iTunes, hopefully in the next couple of days. Will keep you updated. Also the sound quality should get better when we get all the equipment set up in and in working order. Until then, yes, we do indeed plan on continuing to record our Poscasts through a baby monitor.
Took a listen, and all I can say is that I was impressed. It was entertaining and informative. I also liked your pick of most underrated player. He was the first person I could think of when you listed the definition. I'm even going to nitpick that Michael said Oswalt was the oldest of the Phillies starter when Halladay is 3 months older. XP
ReplyDeleteScary
ReplyDeleteI like the "Sports! On! Parade!" theme music at the beginning. What followed was great, too. But way to hook in the young people, Joe. Maybe next week you can open with some Barbershop Quartet or something.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I understand why you guys are so baffled by the Rays' offseason. From your comments, it sounds like you don't understand their philosophy. It's not "all youth, all the time," it's value relative to cost. The Manny and Damon signings are only one-year deals at a little over $7 million total: classic low risk, high reward. With the Garza trade, they cashed in on a high profile pitcher with declining strikeout and groundball rates, got great value in return, and-- oh yeah!-- cleared a spot in the rotation for one of the top pitching prospects around. With Bartlett, they addressed a need by trading a redundancy, AND added by subtraction (Brignac is better defensively at this point).
ReplyDeleteIf the Manny and Damon signings don't work out, they cut bait, trade someone like Upton for more than he's worth, and try again next year. Which they would have done anyway.
Maybe Joe and Michael haven't had time to read the Extra 2% yet.
ReplyDeleteNice debut. Will there be a transcript or audio bookmark option on future pozcasts (for those of us who like to skip ahead to topics of interest)?
ReplyDeleteAs a fan of an NL Central team that was not evaluated by the pozcasting duo, I'd argue that their consensus NL Central pick, the Brewers, are basically the Cubs wearing different colored jerseys - a few good starting pitchers (though I'm skeptical about Gallardo's and Marcum's abilities to consume innings and get deep into meaningful games), a really good closer with lots of serious question marks leading up to him in the bullpen, a handful of somewhat one-dimensional power hitters, a roster chock full of bad defenders, and basically no prospects to promote or trade when the time comes to fill holes in the major league roster. I'd definitely take the under on the Brewers' current 85ish-win over-under.
Don't just have an iTunes page, get an RSS as well!!
ReplyDeleteIt's a sad day when our best writers are forced to pander to those who can't be bothered to actually read any more.
ReplyDeleteReally great stuff, Joe. I hope that on future Poscasts with Ken Tremendous you don't focus entirely on sports. It would be fun to hear you guys talk about comedy, movies, whatever. Great work!
ReplyDeleteWow, get off your high horse, y42k. It's not like Joe is just monotonously reading an article of his. It's a free-flowing conversation between him and one of the funniest writers in show-business as they talk baseball. . .and it's simply recorded for our enjoyment. Joe will still write, and anyone who is a fan of his will still read.
ReplyDeleteJeez, I guess you really can't please everyone.
Great work, btw, Joe! As a Mets fan, you guys hit on every Mets-mocking trope out there, which isn't a bad thing. However, despite all of their nonsense, they'll probably still put a .500 team on the field, which is more than roughly half the franchises in baseball will be able to say.
Just wanted to echo the need for an RSS feed. For those of us who listen to podcasts on Android phones, iTunes doesn't help much.
ReplyDeleteI was disappointed Joe and Michael didn't mention that Shin-Soo Choo had to play his way out of military service this offseason: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Shin-Soo-Choo-avoids-military-service-with-Asia-?urn=mlb-287428
ReplyDeleteJoe, you are easily my favorite baseball writer, and I really enjoyed your podcast. That said, I think I liked it better when I didn't know what your voice sounds like. Nothing against your voice, which is well-suited for podcasts and otherwise unremarkable. Weird how that is.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I misheard him, but did Ken Tremendous say the Reds had a "horrible road record" in 2010? There are legitimate reasons to think the Reds might decline a bit this year, but they went 42-39 on the road last year. Only Philadelphia, San Francisco and San Diego had better road records in the NL last year.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed the first Poscast. It was a very impressive first effort. Couldn't tell it was the first!
ReplyDeleteBut I was pretty surprised at the "meh" on Braves. I'll admit I'm a Braves fan, but I've watched in horror as the media has found them to be a sexier and sexier "sleeper" pick. I don't WANT that kind of pressure on this team. But I would have expected a bit more than "they're nothing special."
The pitching is deep, though clearly miles from the Phillies. But the offense should also be far better than the Phillies'. I was just puzzled by the way they were brushed aside.
All of that said... great Poscast and I look forward to more in the future. Thought you were a very good "radio personality."
Eric: He did say that. He apologized later: http://twitter.com/KenTremendous/status/52495540470038528
ReplyDeleteJoe, you have a good voice for Podcasting. You don't have that whiny edge to your voice like quite a few sports radio personalities these days. And I trust that you're not going to say something idiotic just to rile up the listening audience.
ReplyDeleteJoe doesn't sound like I expected him to, though I agree with what Mark said below. I will enjoy the Poscast so long as we still get our ridiculously long posts!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the Poscast. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI would agree that Joe's voice surprised me. You sounded younger that you look, interestingly.
ReplyDeleteRangers lost a lot of games to injury last year--Kinsler, Cruz, Hamilton. Even if Hamilton isn't as good as last year, I think the lineup top-to-bottom is better.
ReplyDeleteThe pitching staff...well, who knows. The young guys could really step up and take a huge step forward--and there aren't any sure things but Holland, Kirkman, Ogando, Hurley all have promise--but it also could be a real mess.