Getting Jacked?

"Did the dishes, made the bed
Read a book I’ve never read
Any minute you will show
And I’m wondering, where did you go?"
--Where'd You Go, Mighty Mighty Bosstones

I'm fast growing accustomed to the idea of a format change in the "industry," having now gone through two of them on our show in the last three months, but I was still unprepared for the shock of tuning my radio to 93.1 FM the other day and hearing Tone Loc's "Wild Thing." Don't get me wrong: it's a great song, one I hear all the time on 93.5, KDAY (hip hop today and back in the day, if you didn't know), but it's certainly not one I expected to hear on the Arrow. So I listened a little bit more. John Mayer? This is weird. Then the station ID comes up: "Jack, 93.1 FM." What? Where did the trusty arrow go? When I reached a computer, I immediately headed over to Google News, which informed me that a huge operating loss last year combined with the rise of satellite radio gave way to a need for change. There aren't even any DJ's on the station yet, just music and the station ID voiceover guy. Poor Uncle Joe Benson--where's that guy gonna go? Just sort of a sad state of affairs, I guess. As far as I know, Arrow's been around since at least high school (note: I re-read the article, and it said Arrow was around for 11 years), and it's always been the source for good classic rock (better than KLOS for sure), but alas, it is no more.
Mike and Mike (who I can't listen to for more than two minutes at a time, unless Peter Gammons or John Clayton or somebody informative is on) hit the whole Dean Smith/Pat Summitt thing this morning, and Greenberg (who sucks) actually agreed with what I was saying. Good for him (he still sucks--far too arrogant). His analogy was close: if Bill Laimbeer keeps coaching in the WNBA (for the uninformed, his Detroit Shock won the title last year) and wins 10 championships, people aren't going to say he's tied Red Auerbach and Phil Jackson, right? Just let her have her record and be done with it. I am now done with it too, I promise.
The erstwhile female (see 2/17's blog) called last night, ending about six weeks of confusing silence. Nice to get an apology, nice to get closure, and certainly not as exciting to hear her voice as it once was. Since I'm the only one who can really judge, I'd have to give myself high marks for standing up for myself and not letting her off the hook. I don't know that I'd have been able to do that (make someone else--rightfully--take the blame) even a year ago, so I'm at least a little bit proud of some demonstrated progress in that field. I was terse but not mean, aloof but not totally disinterested, and it didn't require any acting at all. I accepted the apology, asserted (truthfully) that I had somewhere to be, and hung up quite satisfied. The relationship itself could have been better, for sure, but the closure convo went about as well as possible.
I don't think I can come up with three positive words to say about the Lakers right now, stewing in the disgust of a six-game losing streak and a rapidly-growing deficit in the race for the eighth and final playoff seed. Kobe had 43 last night, but his fourth quarter was absolutely abysmal, missing all four treys he attempted and getting no help whatsoever. They went the final seven-plus minutes without a field goal, which (unless you're Duke) makes it kinda tough to win games. Listening to the hyper-critical Joel Meyers and Mychal Thompson makes it even worse--I'm more frustrated with them right now than I am with the team, and that's saying something. After watching the Clipper game the other night (by the way, Shaun Livingston is back and if he doesn't get injured again--that's a big if--there will be some special things happening the rest of the way in Clipperland), I was alerted to the hughe discrepancy between the announcing quality of Ralph Lawler/Michael Smith and any combination of Paul Sunderland/Stu Lantz/Meyers/Thompson. It makes me incredibly grateful for the time we had with Chick, because it's awful right now. Sorry, more anger directed at sports--I promise, there are things I'm excited about too, like the tourney, but I'll get to that tomorrow. Peace.