Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown: Friday, December 11, 2009 (4:00-7:00)

Host: Bob McCown
Guests: Roundtable with John Shannon, James Deacon and David Shoalts

Did someone in the first hour ask Bobcat if he ever cheated on his wife when he was on the road?? OK, maybe it's the callers that are the problem! How about someone actually check what the callers are calling about before they actually call in???

I agree with Bobcat on the spending that happens for the Olympics from the public coffers. This isn't a new opinion from Bobcat - he's maintained this for years. To clarify, it's not as much as a hesitation for giving "amateur" athletes public funding as much as it is asking amateur athletes to garner funding on their own first. I'm not sure what the reason is that Sportsnet is insisting that McCown and PTS go to Vancouver, but the only reason I can figure is to ensure that McCown stays in tow right in front of their eyes. If he's at the party, he won't complain as much as if he wasn't invited.

Hey Deacon, lighten up a bit! Your arms were folded the entire time you were on. Did that have anything to do with the above conversation?

McCown suggested that 20 years from now, we'll look back at the Tiger Woods story as the point where journalism changed. In my opinion, it wasn't the Tiger Woods story that changed the paradigm, it was OJ Simpson.

Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown: Friday, December 4, 2009 (4:00-7:00)

Host: Bob McCown
Roundtable with Bob McCown, Stephen Brunt, James Deacon, and Michael Grange.

Yes! More Leaf discussion!! ...and the rest of the country on "the nations most listened to Sports Talk presentation" rejoyce!! Ah well, they are "Canada's Team" after all, so we all should be thankful! Covering a team that the roundtable asked to "at least try hard", tells you all you need to know. (Hey, does sarcasm translate well on a blog??)

I'm an ardent Bills fan from Ottawa and would much rather spend the cash to head to Buffalo than Toronto. I'm paying for the experience, and something about being outdoors, tailgating, in a different environment is appealing to me compared to being in Skydome. Given the results of the past couple of Bills games, Toronto fans feel the same way.

Grange brought up an interesting point. How could Rogers let this asset devalue so much, especially with the rise of the Candian dollar. Here is the history of the Dollar for some key years for Jays fans:
October 1992 - 1.2453 CAD
October 1993 - 1.32629 CAD
October 2009 - 1.05427 CAD

20% more funds coming into Rogers this year compared to the budged Interbrew had in 1992...I wonder where it's all going?? Must be to that great customer service we all get, eh?

Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown: Friday, October 9, 2009 (5:00-7:00)

Host: Bob McCown
Guests: Roundtable with Bob McCown, John Shannon, James Deacon, and Sam Cosentino.
Why come forward now Fleury? Why speak now and not when Sheldon Kennedy pursued a case against James? Why speak now and not when he was younger to help ensure that James would be locked away never to harm children again? Why put Graham James in a position to Coach other boys (link)?

With all of these lingering questions, how can any of us put our minds in the head of Fleury, including what he has been through and the demons he has battled through the years? It is definitely tough on mainstream journalists who need to delicately ask these questions while at the same time having empathy for what Fleury has gone through.

Still no word on whether Jim Kelley is gonzo on Prime Time Sports.

I pretty much agree with the panel on the Jays. This is the turning point. A lot of fans will make their mind up on the future support of this team based on what management does this year in the off season. Will fans still show up? Sure. But as an average of less than 20,000 - that's pretty much a given. Unless the Jays management can show the fans that they are ready to pony up and financially support this team against the Sox and Yankees.

What do you think of the Jays 60 mill vs 120 mill debate?

Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown: Friday, September 4, 2009 (5:00-7:00)

Host: Bob McCown
Guests: Roundtable with James Deacon, Michael Grange, and Gord Kirke.

McCown to open the Roundtable: "We did our best but I must confess failed miserably in trying to ascertain why Paul Kelly was fired. After Buzz Hargrove, Paul Kelly, Ian Penny all showed up, we got nothing and apologize for the waste of time to our listeners."

Say what you want about Bobcat, he really does value his listeners time. My biggest gripe is, all of these players knew they *had* to come on Prime Time Sports. I personally feel they used the show to save face and McCown needs to evaluate these players in the middle of an interview and hang up on guests that are not forthcoming with information. If not, those who feel like "using" Prime Time Sports as an avenue to "show face" will continue to do so without answering the questions that need to be answered.

Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown - Tuesday, August 4th (5:00-7:00)

Host: Bob McCown
Co-Host: James Deacon
Guests: Bob Elliott, Bart Andrus, Rob Becker, Doug Smith, Stephen Brunt

Why review the perfection that is Bobcat? After being on vacation for a week, Bobcat came back in fine form. Two forms of evidence proving this today:

"If you can go win a major golf championship 10 weeks after spitting out a kid, I'm thinking it can't be that big of a deal. I'm trying to come up with a arallel...like maybe if I had a sore throat and won a major championship...having a baby ain't a big deal. Every day someone is having a baby."
Man, this was a good rant in the first segment. Can't wait for my wife who just had her second baby to hear this one!!

"Lying SunummBitch General Manager" - Bobcat describing JP Ricciardi.

Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown - Monday, July 20 (5:00-7:00)

Host: Bob McCown

Co-Host: Bruce Arthur

Guests: Daryl Jones, Research Edge LLC managing director; Toronto Blue Jays radio play-by-play announcer, Alan Ashby; roundtable with Bob McCown, John Shannon, and James Deacon.

(My opinion on the Heatley situation, which continues to be ignored by Prime Time Sports:)
There is a parallel between the Heatley-Sens situation and the Halladay-Jays situation. As Beeston said a couple of days ago (paraphrased), "If someone wants Doc, it's gonna have to *hurt* them with the pieces they are going to give up. He's a quality pitcher and you are going to have several quality pieces to get him".

I applaud Murray for 'standing pat'. What's the worst that could happen if Heatley is forced to return? Or if Heatley accepts the move to Edmonton, but the Oil don't put up any more compensation to deal with the 4 mill the Sens dished out? There's no way Heater would sit out on the Sens, especially during an Olympic year. This decision will be as pivotal for the Sens as is the Doc decision is with the Jays. It will set the Sens up well for the next few years or set us back a few if the decision isn't the right one. If there are no suitors, I say wait it out and bring Heater back.

OK Bobcat, let's can the baseball discussion and get to the story behind you and Watson... What happened? Why is he such an a-hole?

EDIT: Reader Sensfan commented that Heatley was discussed to death while I was away...apologies to PTS and Bobcat. Well, what did the glassed-eyed-one have to say on Heatley??

Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown: Friday, May 22, 2009 (5:00-7:00)

Host: Bob McCown
Guests: Roundtable with Bob McCown, Stephen Brunt, Neil Smith, and James Deacon

Interesting to hear the roundtable literally go down the list of offenses that one would not be allowed back into the NFL for. "Child abuse, for sure" - weird radio for a bit. Almost as weird as the boys trying to go over the lineage of teams that Mike Keenan coached!

What an fantastic week of radio on Prime Time Sports eh?

Happy (60th, right Brunt) to the ol-Bobcat...never sounded better!!

Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown: Monday, May 4, 2009 (6:00-7:00)

Host: Bob McCown
Roundtable: Roundtable with Jim Kelley, and James Deacon

May the fourth be with you.

McCown started the first segment with the following: "I'd fix the (national hockey) league in a week and the first thing I'd do is say 'the hell with America. I don't give a flyin' Fadoo about how the playoffs affect America." With the talk of Balsillie taking ownership of the Coyotes and moving them to southern Ontario heating up, the whole discussion of hockey in Canada vs hockey in the USA is JUST beginning. …I get the sense it won't be a long argument.

McCown argued that the 92 Jays batting line-up may be the best of all time. I love how Bob McCown throws stuff out there that is completely moronic and then begins to persuade you to his side of the argument.

I would love to see McGuire and McCown engage with each other for just one segment - heck, it doesn't even have to be about hockey. Both of them are really knowledgeable, passionate, stubborn and persuasive (all good things in my books.) Hopefully the unholy alliance of Bell-Rogers will facilitate this (right Brunt?)

"Sidney, get an apartment." God bless Bob McCown.

Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown: Friday April 24, 2009 (5:00-7:00)

Host: Bob McCown
Roundtable: Stephen Brunt, James Deacon, Gord Kirke

The name of the book mentioned in the first segment is called "Old City Hall", not "City Hall" (no sponsored links either.)

McCown is working on two books that intrigue the heck out of me:
- one for the fall 2009 (McCown hasn't started yet) - a book regarding the last 20 years of Prime Time Sports. REALLY interested in this, but as the big guy hasn't started anything and the roundtable didn't know anything about it.
- one for the fall 2010 (McCown to write with David Naylor)

I'm a big time fan of McCown's previous book, The 100 Greatest Hockey Arguments. I'm pretty sure that Brunt had some sort of encouragement for Bobcat to do the book in the first place. I also think that McCown was a bit surprised by the reaction of the book. What I wasn't a big fan of was the re-release of the book and the ability to get an autographed copy for the SECOND version of the book. I bought the first version of the book as a die hard Prime Time Sports fan, and would have gladly forked over the cash if an autographed copy was available the first time around. When the second version came out, it seemed like a cheap cash grab to me. Ah well, 'tis the world of publishing and Bob's "got mouths to feed". This definitely won't take away from my thirst for McCown related media including literature.

A week or so ago, a cryptic comment was made here by 'someone' perhaps posing to be Bobcat. I held onto a bit of hope that perhaps it was McCown, but McCown said on the show today, "there's no danger of me reading someone else's blogs on the internet. Unless they are on my site, in which case I read all of them, and they are excellent." *sigh* Ah well, Bobcat will hopefully find this site one day.

Kate Jett - va-va-voom Bobcat?

When it comes to Bettman, both Brunt and McCown have been on the same page. Brunt seemed to divert from this when he disagreed with McCown on bringing another NHL team to Toronto, especially with regards to Bettman's handling of the Balsillie situation. Brunt surprised me (and I'm sure McCown) by taking Bettman's side - "(Bob) I think you make it way to personal. You make it sound like he's (Bettman's) omnipotent, like he's this dictator running the league. He's not. I think he's trying to save the owners butts, legally. I don't think he's sitting there casting lightning bolts at people (like Balsillie)." McCown retorted, "I'm quite comfortable that it was personal (at Balsillie)." There is no question that McCown has inside information from the Ballsille camp, if not the Balsillie himself.

Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown - Friday, March 12 - 5:00-7:00

Host: Bob McCown
Guest Hosts: Friday Roundtable with Jim Kelley, Bruce Arthur, and James Deacon
Another shout-out to Harvey's on Fridays…and way to make Kelley squirm in the opening segment on his "past indiscretions"!

TSN2 is going to go down the tubes as quickly as the Raptors this year. The round table suggested that without a successful Raptors team, the pressure for Rogers to get TSN2 on their airwaves diminishes very quickly. Absolutely agreed. I used to care that I didn't get TSN2 on my cable package for NHL and NBA games. Now that the Sens and Raptors are both our of the post-season, I couldn't care less. This doesn't bode well for TSN2.

The next head coach of the Habs will indeed be an interesting discussion primarily because the leading candidate, Don Lever is anglophone. Language shouldn't matter, but it sure as heck does in Montreal and the province of Quebec. Ultimately, I do agree with the panel, that results will matter much more than language, but can only intesify the feelings against an English coach if the Habs season takes another turn for the worse.

Surprised to hear that most of the panel spoke a bit of French, including Bobcat…who knew??

Friday, March 6 - 5:00-7:00

Roundtable with Bob McCown, Stephen Brunt, James Deacon, and John Wells
"Due to your performance Brunt, you are getting exactly what you are worth…NOTHING!" - Bob McCown.

(I really have to start a javascript quotation generator with Bob McCown's quotes!)

A wonderful exchange off the top (which turned into an entire segment) between Brunt and McCown on Brunt wanting to talk about "Tobogganing". McCown maintained he's going to be excited about the games, but don't expect him to be excited up until a week before and a week after. As this "unholy alliance" continues, it's going to be really interesting to see how McCown's mood is going to affect what the network wants to achieve. A lot is at stake, and I'm sure Bobcat will get a talking to as we get closer to put on the pompoms and do the rah-rah-rah thing more and keep the comments against the alliance to a minimum! (Anyone from Prime Time Sports want to email me on that hypothesis, feel free and bobcat_idol@hotmail.com!)

Hey Deacon in response to your comment "Imagine the Ottawa fans thought about Gerber's win?" - we thought exactly what Bob McCown said 2 seconds later…we hope he takes the leafs RIGHT into 9th place! Go Gerber GO! The highlight of my season will be when Gerber looses the last game of the season and costs the leafs from getting into the playoffs for the first time in 5 years. (Of course, there is an alternative which my mind mentally cannot go to!)

Then, shock of shocks, the roundtable started to discuss my hometown Kanata. Lots of guessing here and not much of homework done by the panel. For the record, the links to both proposals are located below:

Ottawa's MLS bid
and
Ottawa's CFL bid
Melnyk is asking for land to be donated by the City that he wishes to build MLS Soccer on. I hate Bob McCown's take on the CFL not returning to Ottawa based on it's previous failures. I have heard this time and time again, and to hear the 4 guys from Toronto take shots against what's happening in Ottawa. Truth is Bobcat, as a former Renegades Season Ticket holder, we have had attendance that was equal to the product on the field. SI was going to write an article the year the Renegades folded that the Ottawa CFL team was the most "loosing-est" (Bobcat, you may cringe now), franchise of all time. You can't continue to go for support to the public when the ownership is so incompetent.

In terms of the relationship between the CFL and MLS, what is happening is all part of negotiating, the EXACT same way it was with the Leafs and Raptors looking for facilities. I'm not saying necessarily that it will work, but the posturing is the same. Where I have been influenced by Bobcat is, as long as my public money doesn't go into the franchise (land or otherwise), I'm a-ok.

Not sure of Wells said more than 10 words the entire 2 hours. (In a loving way, of course!)

...and Prime Time Sports, brought to you by Harvey's? Very cool shout-out Bobcat!