Just Go With It --- or not?

Last night I rented Just Go With It, the new movie out from Adam Sandler and Jennifer Anniston, and also SI swimsuit cover model Brooklyn Decker’s acting debut.  Was excited for the movie as I’ve heard that it wasn’t bad….and IMO Sandler’s had some bummers in the past few years, compared to what he had in the 90s.  The movie felt like it was a more the same story line from The Wedding Singer than anything else.  Through the first half of the movie I was thinking to myself “I’ve seen this story before.”  I felt the relationship with Sandler and Decker was rushed and I was asking “how’d they get there”  The movie wasn’t good until the scene where Dan Patrick comes in with the Hula Dance off between Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Anniston.  With that scene and the next 35 minutes the movie was enjoyable and funny. 

Until the end I didn’t like Nicole Kidman’s character.  Anniston is well Anniston, she’s cute and can pull off funny stuff.  Sandler I thought was just happy to have an SI cover model there in a bikini and Nick Swardson I just wanted to hit with a 2x4.  Brooklyn Decker looked like a rookie acting, but you see why she is a SI swimsuit cover model.  Dan Patrick was good in his role and so were the kids. 

Glad I only did a redbox here for it. 

1.5 Stars out of 5.

Who’s in your 5 - Sports Media Talent

In honor of the Sports Emmys that were awarded last night, I’m going to go with a Who’s in your 5, best Sports Media Talents right now!

5 – Chris Collinsworth – NBC Sports / Sunday Night Football – Had HUGE shoes to fill after Madden retired and has done it and has really succeeded.  Second best analyst in sports.

4 – Yahoo Sports Guys – Death to the BCS / Ohio State / Reggie Bush – No list would be complete without them.  They’ve broken more stories than any sports outlet in the past few years than ESPN and other BIG outlets combined.  Death to the BCS was a revelation on the dirty world of college bowls, and may have been a contributing factor to the Fiesta Bowl scandal.

3 – Dan Patrick – Dan Patrick Show / NBC Sports – Was getting stale at ESPN Radio, especially after Rob Dibble left, but with the new show and format has really rocketed to the top.  With NBC Sports, he still gets to do some highlights with Sunday Night Football and the Olympics.  And who doesn’t like the Dannettes! 

2 – Kirk Heribstreit – ESPN College Football – As Steve Deace and Jon Miller used to say on KXNO, he has the best job.  He’s the best analyst on the best show (College GameDay) and then also on College Football’s biggest stage (Saturday Night Football) he does a great job teaming with Brent Musburger

1 – Al Michaels.  NBC Sports / Sunday Night Football – The best, that’s it that’s the list.  To me Sunday Night Football has become the best broadcast of NFL games, and mostly because of Michaels. 

Honorable Mention – Scott Van Pelt – ESPN; Mike Tirico – ESPN; Chris Martin – Big Ten Network; Gus Johnson – CBS Sports/Big Ten; Verne Lundquist – CBS Sports; Bob Costas – NBC Sports, Mike Florio - Pro Football Talk/ESPN.

The Plunger – Worst

Colin Cowherd – ESPN Radio/ESPN – I think the ESPN thing has got to his head, he needs to take a step back and realize real life. Get away from Yankees-RedSox, USC, Florida, Dallas Cowboys.

Why I think Dan Patrick left ESPN.

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.