Mike Hogan and Mike Toth this morning (Update page 4)

NAFTA · Post #1 » by **NAFTA** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 4:58 pm

As many of you know, and poke fun at me about, I listen to the Fan 590 quite a bit. But it's normally Chuck, Bob MacCowan, and the Raptors and Hoops I listen to. I rarely listen to Mike Hogan's show.

But I had a buddy email me and ask if I heard Eric Smith on with Hogan and Mike Toth.

Apparently they got into it about the amount of hockey on the Fan and Eric was defending more basketball and stuff like that. Apparently he said something about wanting to "shoot himself" because there's so much hockey.

Did anybody hear this? Was it any good? Or is my buddy just pulling my leg? I can't find it on the Fan 590 website hot audio or whatever.

sule · Post #2 » by **sule** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 5:08 pm

i didn't hear that, but i agree that there is WAY TOO MUCH hockey on the Fan.

It just really bothers me when they spend hours upon hours just discussing hockey. They dont' carry any NHL games, and dont' carry any Leaf games, yet they devote all this prime time to discussing it.

I'm not saying don't discuss it, but its more than frustrating when the Raptors are broadcast on the station and can't even get a pre-game show, or a post-game devoted entirely to that team, or just NBA talk. Even though the Leafs are on AM 640, the Fan still incorporates post-game Leaf discussion on their team, and cut into the Raptors post-game for it.

Then, on top of that, it seems like they even make Chuck, with his 1 or 2 hours on the radio, devote part of his time to hockey.

The puckheads don't even discuss anything different than the same reiterated points about the Leafs and their sad state.

And even though they don't broadcast Leaf games, they still announce themselves as the official station of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and yet i hear nothing the same about the Raptors.

And don't even get me started about those puckheads in the morning, always interviewing Smitch, asking stupid questions, and not getting down to meat and potatoes basketball. They just taunt him and play the same shtick with him every morning.

Sorry for the rant, but its just damn frustrating; makes me want to shoot my radio.

ghuytro · Post #3 » by **ghuytro** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 5:14 pm

Don't know if anyone was listening to Stellick and Landry this morning (talk about wanting to shoot yourself in the head) but when Landry started into reading something off about the Raptors 1000th game tonight, Stellick stopped him and said "Hey, why did you give your shoulders a shrug when you said that" - totally seriously too like he did shrug his shoulders, but not seriously in the sense that Stellick didn't care about it, he was just joking about the fact he did it.

Anyway, that kind of pissed me off and is another facet to the point that the OP and the previous post are alluding to.

burn1down · Post #4 » by **burn1down** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 5:15 pm

I understand where you are coming from, but with all due respect, try living in Calgary. On 30 minute highlight shows, the NBA gets the last 3 minutes every time.
Its frustrating as a Raps fan, because i would assume they would cover them a bit more, but outside of gamedays on TSN, there is very little Raps coverage at all.
And thats TV
Dont get me started on radio. . .dont even get me started

Post #5 » by **supersub15** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 5:16 pm

I was in my car and I heard the back-end of the discussion. What I did hear was Toth (did I tell you that I hate this guy with a passion?) poking fun at the Raptors' ratings, and Eric Smith said that he doesn't pay attention to the Nielsen ratings, because he's never known anyone who had a box (and he's in the media!), even friends of friends of friends, etc. Also, he said that a lot of people have more than one TV at home and the Nielsen ratings don't account for that.

Hogan and Toth did agree that bball in the GTA is very strong, but that the rest of the country has not caught on yet.

Graham's Cracker · Post #6 » by **Graham's Cracker** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 5:16 pm

NAFTA wrote:As many of you know, and poke fun at me about, I listen to the Fan 590 quite a bit. But it's normally Chuck, Bob MacCowan, and the Raptors and Hoops I listen to. I rarely listen to Mike Hogan's show.

But I had a buddy email me and ask if I heard Eric Smith on with Hogan and Mike Toth.

Apparently they got into it about the amount of hockey on the Fan and Eric was defending more basketball and stuff like that. Apparently he said something about wanting to "shoot himself" because there's so much hockey.

Did anybody hear this? Was it any good? Or is my buddy just pulling my leg? I can't find it on the Fan 590 website hot audio or whatever.

I cant see Eric doing that. They are his employer after all. Unless he was doing it in jest.

J Dilla · Post #7 » by **J Dilla** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 5:23 pm

Isn't hockey on the decline now? I like Ovechkin and the other stars, but I keep hearing from McCowan that hockey is on the decline in the U.S and there are numerous times where he has basically dissed Mike Toth and Kypreos for the obsession with hockey.

You can't really do anything about it. FAN590 will only talk about what people want to hear, and being in Canada its hockey. Just like ESPN radio, they talk non stop football and college sports. It gets annoying. I dont mind a little bit of hockey, but I prefer more baseball and basketball. When I drive to school in the morning, thats what landry and stellick talk about, hockey. In the Pat Marsden era, they kept things balanced.

I listen to the fan590, but only when the Swirsk, Smith and Jones, and McCowan are on. And I totally understand Eric's comment about "shooting himself" because theres so much hockey. I would've said the same thing.

KG1585 · Post #8 » by **KG1585** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 5:23 pm

I was in my car and I heard the back-end of the discussion. What I did hear was Toth (did I tell you that I hate this guy with a passion?)

I can't stand that guy, everytime he is on, I just turn the radio off.

Silk Wilkes · Post #9 » by **Silk Wilkes** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 5:24 pm

I remember one time some guy was complaining about the limited amount of Ball on the Fan and those two late night fools started talking about how hoops is priority because Swirsky (who talks about everything, not just basketball) has his own show and they have Hoops on every week. The Fan 590 is such garbage 99.9% of the time. I would call for a boycott on the Fan 590 if E. Smith, Jonesy, Jack and Swirsk didn't work for them fools.

Post #10 » by **Shaazzam** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 5:24 pm

Graham's Cracker wrote:
I cant see Eric doing that. They are his employer after all. Unless he was doing it in jest.

The more hours that BBall gets aired, the more chances he has of being on the air.

More exposure = Good for all hoops media.

stash · Post #11 » by **stash** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 5:28 pm

yea, you can't listen to the fan, even when one of these guys has an "NBA expert" come on the show, they always ask like the most basic dumb questions...and some how they still figure out a way to incorporate hockey into it somehow.

The ones that listen to the radio, I suggest satalite radio, you get all the american stations, they won't talk about the Raptors, but atleast it won't be hockey. I don't mind Bob MacCowan, his show is pretty good, but even he talks about the CFL way to much.

It would be nice to have a station that was much more dedicated to the Raptors, but how many of us are there??? enough to run a station? I doubt it, as it seems that even a great percentage of this forum is probably filled with individuals who would still rather go to a leaf game than a Raptor game.

And... as far as ratings go, I don't know why the Raptors are so hell bent on getting the entire country to watch this team. I don't think any other city cares, and I don't think it matters. Yes the Raptors could generate more revenues if the team was watched in Halifax, but they just never will...b/c of Hockey...I don't really like the Red Unis, and I want TORONTO back on the front of the jerseys.

Pchu · Post #12 » by **Pchu** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 5:28 pm

supersub15 wrote:I was in my car and I heard the back-end of the discussion. What I did hear was Toth (did I tell you that I hate this guy with a passion?) poking fun at the Raptors' ratings, and Eric Smith said that he doesn't pay attention to the Nielsen ratings, because he's never known anyone who had a box (and he's in the media!), even friends of friends of friends, etc. Also, he said that a lot of people have more than one TV at home and the Nielsen ratings don't account for that.

Hogan and Toth did agree that bball in the GTA is very strong, but that the rest of the country has not caught on yet.

Yup. I am not sure if basketball will have huge ratings in this country. I think alot of people have to understand that this is really a regional sport and there isn't a lot of interest on it outside of GTA.

NAFTA · Post #13 » by **NAFTA** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 5:29 pm

Overall, I don't mind the Fan, you just have to know when to listen. You know you're going to get basketball with Chuck, the Raptors and the pre and post game shows, Hoops, and MacCowan. Other than that, there is little with the morning show and Mike Hogan.

My intention wasn't to turn this into a pro or con Fan 590 thread, that's be done over and over on this site. I was simply talking about this one specific incident this morning and what Eric actually said.

GideonRapfan · Post #14 » by **GideonRapfan** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 5:29 pm

KG1585 wrote:
I was in my car and I heard the back-end of the discussion. What I did hear was Toth (did I tell you that I hate this guy with a passion?)

I can't stand that guy, everytime he is on, I just turn the radio off.

I had no problem with him until a few days ago, when I happened to pass by the televised version of PTS, and while McCowan was sitting there in a suit jacket, Toth was wearing a backwards baseball cap, over-sized sweat shirt, and hunched over with a stupid smirk on his face the entire time (except when he was shouting out unfunny one-liners that the guests didn't get). Nothing like a 40-something year-old dressing and acting like a 15 year-old to scream "charisma".

Nonetheless, if they were willing to admit that basketball is growing quickly in the GTA, should they also admit that they are working for a GTA radio station?

Raptorsrock · Post #15 » by **Raptorsrock** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 5:33 pm

Mike Toth is the biggest moron in Canadian broadcasting. The guys a complete hack. I wish he would get fired and just go away.

Suppesdly he's set to take over for Bobcat when he retires. You watch the rating plummet on PrimeTime when that happens

Indiana Jones · Post #16 » by **Indiana Jones** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 5:36 pm

everyone needs to get serious...i mean sirius...it has a ton of games every night, not to mention an nba channel...usually get the raps feed too, from anywhere in north america...

i don't hate hockey...in fact i like watching it...but the coverage before/after and on highlight shows is insane...it's excessive...and yeah sure it's canada's game, but that's partly because they shove it down your throat all day, every day...

i've been an nba fan since as long as i can remember...and coverage has increased a bit over the years...

ps - i love it in the summer when baseball gets the top billing...no hockey!!

GideonRapfan · Post #17 » by **GideonRapfan** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 5:43 pm

Indiana Jones wrote:
ps - i love it in the summer when baseball gets the top billing...no hockey!!

But part of the Fan590's marketing shtick is "we are number one for hockey coverage in each of its seasons... pre-season, regular season, post-season, and off-season."

Even this past year, on any given day in July, the sports update would begin with Toskala drunk on a boat, or a media-shy Sundin, or so on.

But I agree, the reason I picked Sirius over XM is lots of basketball, and no hockey.

sparrow · Post #18 » by **sparrow** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 5:44 pm

Try living in Ottawa were the pretty much the entire radio station is employed by the Senators. Even on the Monday after the Super Bowl all they talked about was the Senatros. The only other thing they talk about is how much the Leafs suck, which pisses me off. Good luck even getting a score update for the Raps. Plus, its Bargnani not Barg--knee--anny.

mintsa · Post #19 » by **mintsa** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 5:50 pm

Toth is EXTREMELY difficult to watch on tv or even listen to on the radio.

Misher · Post #20 » by **Misher** » Fri Feb 8, 2008 5:57 pm

Yup. I am not sure if basketball will have huge ratings in this country. I think alot of people have to understand that this is really a regional sport and there isn't a lot of interest on it outside of GTA.

I disagree. There is a lot of interest in BBall outside of the GTA. The problem is that it isn't very concentrated. Basketball is insanely popular here in Vancouver. The reason why the city lost the franchise was because managmenet was completely inept. Could you imagine inVan had a decent manager and drafted a player like Yao Ming? Or Yi Jianlian? Games would be sold out. BVancouver has a very high Chinese population and for the most part, they all love basketball. In comparison to Toronto, you're right. Toronto pretty much is the centre, but I believe that Vancouver could support a franchise due to the high immigrant population. Other cities, forget it. It isn't because basketball isn't popular (It is quite popular in Calgary). It's because meathead hockey dwarfs everything else. Basketball followers wouldn't have a chance.