It’s been about a year now that DP has left the world wide leader to go off on his own. The move was dubbed by Rick Reily (one of DP’s friends) one of the worst moves in broadcasting history up there with Katie Couric leaving NBC Today show for CBS Evening News. And in that time he was replaced in the 12-3 time slot by Mike Tirico and Scot Van Pelt. Now they aren’t DP, but they’ve brought something fresh to that slot that DP was lacking his last few years.
Thinking bout it and looking at it where he was when he left, and now where he is. I think he made a mistake, but I think he was losing ground at ESPN, and now losing where he is at anyway. So there are a few reasons I think he left.
1-The time slot
2-The rise of Mike & Mike and Colin Cowherd
3-The loss of Rob Dibble
4-The failure of the Big Show Hour
The Time Slot.
Look where he is now. 9-11 cst. Where was he at ESPN, 12-3. He’s 3 hours earlier. He’s not in the afternoon when more work in the offices is usually being done. He’s not on the #3 tier on ESPN where what he says is being repeated for the 3rd time now. He was becoming old stale news we already heard about. This is combined with #2, but we hear a lot from Mike & Mike, Colin or local people, hearing a 4th take on something gets old. Do we need to hear another persons take on Manny, Brett Favre or Tom Brady? No. Where’s he’s now, he is usually after someone local. He’s the 1st national guy now and is more relevant but not since he’s not on ESPN.
The rise of Mike & Mike and the Herd.
Mike and Mike were big but they are bigger now. They are becoming Giants of sports radio. But they are usually over when some people get into the office. The big hurt came when Colin Cowherd came to ESPN radio replacing Tony Kornheiser. The Herd brought a new approach to the 9-12 slot and something completely opposite of Tony. Tony wasn’t all about sports, he was about life. So going Tony to DP was something fresh and not recycled. Now the Herd is there, he’s the new kid, the lil brother rising up and taking the head of the pack. When you got to DP, you heard Colin’s more definitive take and usually a take that is what the normal sports fan is thinking. I think when DP left and still now, Colin was on top of Dan.
The loss of Rob Dibble
Batman can survive with out Robin, but DP took a bit hit when he lost his sidekick. Dibble was that awkward, dumb funny guy who still knew his stuff. Dibble was one of the reasons to listen. When he was gone, the show was missing something. Phil the Showkiller couldn’t fill it himself. Dibble was as much of the show as DP was. With him gone, it was almost boring to listen to just Dan. And that brings us to….
The failure of the Big Show Hour
DP and ESPN Radio tried to recreate the sidekick part with ole buddy Keith Olberman, but Keith was no DP. Granted it was still good and for nostalgia fun to get the 2 back together. But Keith wasn’t the Keith from his ESPN Days. He’s moved on. Kinda like how Craig Kilborn has moved on. It was “cute” but it’s nothing that could have built the show back to what it was.
I think that SVP and Tirico are good replacements and SVP is just hilarious. It’s something new, and fresh, and fun. They are giving us something that the other 2 shows aren’t which makes listening to ESPN Radio fun now. You never know what is going to go on. Like SVP, Tofoya and Timmy Kurtjen talking about the Bear on the golf course at the senior open or talking about video games.
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