ESPN980

Clinton Portis had some interesting comments in The Washington Post today. In an article published by Barry Svrluga, Clinton said he wished he could switch places with a team that had a better line or a better scheme. He wonders how other running backs would fare if they came to Washington and played in our current system. He also said that he often feels regret for leaving a Denver Broncos team in which he averaged 5.5 yards a carry. What the “F” Clinton. Way to call out the entire offensive line and our new head coach not even 2 weeks into the regular season. How about you shut the hell up and do your job. We don’t pay you millions of dollars to fantasize about playing for The Denver Broncos.
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“Portis better watch his back” was one of the more memorable quotes from callers today on The John Thompson Show. Why should Clinton Portis be watching his back you ask? Well in case you haven’t had a chance to catch the skins preseason thus far, running back Marcus Mason, the former Georgetown Prep and Youngstown State standout, has been making quite an impact for The Washington Redskins. B-Mitch quickly reminded the caller that Portis wasn’t going anywhere because of his guaranteed contract but the point was made. The fans have spoken. They want Mason on this roster.
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It’s offically, offical.

As first reported by DCRTV.COM, and then later comfirmed by the DCSPORTSPULSE.COM’s very own Dr. Gonzo, today marked the beginning of the 980 Dan Snyder era.

Last night at midnight, the programming offically switched from regular old Sports Talk 980 to the “brand new” ESPN 980. This came as no surprise to those who have followed this story all along, we knew that Snyder took control of WTEM on July, 1, 2008, but it was always a question of when the programming would change.

One good thing that came out of this is that you can now hear 980 on more frequencies than before, the station is now carried on 92.7 FM, 94.3 FM, and 730 AM.

The new lineup for 980 is as follows: first we say goodbye to the First Team with Steve Czaban, and hello to Sportscenter AM, from 5-6 AM, follwed by Mike and Mike. From 10-12 we have “The Herd” with Colin Cowherd, occupying Doc Walker and Dan Patricks old spots. Doc Walker will remain on 980, and move to 12-2 with Kevin Sheehan. The John Thompson show has been trimmed by an hour, and will air from 2-4. The Thompson show line-up remains unharmed. Sticking with success, the Sports Reporters remain in the 4-7 slot, but rumors have the reporters linked to a possible addition of John Riggins, who at the moment is showless.

I can not tell a lie, I knew this change was coming today, but I was awoken early by a text message that read, “What are Mike and Mike, doing on 980?” Funny how many people still appear to be out of the loop.

Now reality sets in, and all the questions will begin to be answered. Some thought they would never hear Brian Mitchell and Steve Czaban working for Snyder, but they are still on board. Lets hope they don’t have their passion and fire censored from above.

Dan Steiberg had an interesting post on the DC Sports Bog yesterday that included an interview with Jerry Coleman, former WTEM beat reporter. The interview talked about his personal experiences at the station, what direction he thinks the station is going now that Snyder owns it, and what his plans were now that he had been let go by WTEM.

From what I have heard Mr. Coleman was somewhat of a polarizing figure at Sports Talk 980. For example here are two excerpts from the comments section of the DC Sports Bog, the first quite disparaging and the second just the opposite:

You may have found Coleman to be such a great guy, but I too worked with him years ago and I and many of his co-workers found him to be an annoying, droopy eyed, mumble mouthed jerk-off. I nearly put him through the studio window one night that we unfortunatly had to work together because he pissed me off so badly. I will remain nameless just because I feel like it and because he doesn’t deserve the satisfaction that I like many others that have worked with him hate his fake ass. Good riddance to him. Hopefully we will never have to hear him EVER again in either the DC or Balmer markets!!
-Posted by ZM

I thought Jerry was quite fair to the Redskins and was the work-horse of 980. I had plenty of respect for him…but it was quite unfortunate that people like Czaban, Linn and Doc showed little to no respect or professional courtesy. Jerry was the ultimate pro and that always showed on the radio. I hope he gets a network job and blows away his old 980 friends.
-KevinNfl

I often heard stories of B-Mitch hiding Jerry’s cell phone and rearranging his desk, you know little office pranks, nothing malicious. The photo from the D.C Sports Bog post is priceless by the way. However while Coleman may have been the brunt of a few jokes I got the feeling that most people respected his work and if not genuinely liked he was at least tolerated. While I did not know Mr. Coleman very well I did have a few run ins with him and from what I can tell he is a solid guy. The following is a funny anecdote between him and Czaban.

Around a month ago I had the pleasure of sitting in on The Sports Reporters with producer Steve Solomon (one of the best in the biz and the nicest guy you will ever meet). I think this was the day after Josh Howard of the Dallas Mavericks had the lapse in judgment while commenting on marijuana in the NBA. He talked about how smoking pot wasn’t that big a deal and how many NBA players hit the bong during the offseason. This story happened to be one of the main topics on The Sports Reporters that day. Within a couple of minutes the show became a debate as to whether or not pot should be illegal, if it was right or wrong, and on the perception of the drug today, thus opening Pandora’s box. Needless to say the phones started lighting up. The show got a couple of callers basically saying pot is the devil and a couple saying that pot should be legal. They also got an ex judge or ex cop, at least he said he was, that believed pot should be legal, which was intersting. Anyways, at the next break Jerry Coleman entered the studio to get ready for his 20/20 sports update. For those of you who do not listen to The Sports Reporters that often you may not be aware that Steve Czaban is fairly conservative. Whenever the topic of drugs is introduced he usually will use the conversation as a forum to push his own opinions. And from what I can tell Jerry Coleman seems to be a bit of a softball, a liberal if you will. So Coleman does his update and then I presume Coleman and Czabe got into a heated argument (I was talking to Solly at the time and was behind soundproof glass) because the next thing you know Coleman’s Gatorade bottle and salad went flying out of the studio. “Did you see that” Coleman asked us as he ran into the production booth. “He [Czabe] just threw my dinner out the studio door!” I have to admit the whole fiasco was pretty hilarious. Czaban throwing Colemans food out of the studio was classic and Jerry threatening to leave without doing the next 20/20 update was even better.

I have to give the guy credit for going toe to toe with “The Great Czambino” like he did. Czabe is pretty much the face of Sports Talk radio in D.C. and I think it took a lot of guts to stand up to him. As for the final sports update? Cooler heads eventually prevailed and Jerry finished his 20/20 segment. These guys are professionals for a reason and I knew they would not let their argument affect their craft which was great to see. In his interview with Dan Steinberg, Mr. Coleman was quoted as saying “I was able to contribute an opinion or three when I joined 980’s talk shows. I never ran from expressing myself…” Love him or hate him the guy stood by his opinions and didn’t back down from a fight. So Mr. Coleman I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors and hope you can find another niche in Sports Talk Radio.

The Washington Post has a great article on some of the major changes that will be coming to Sports Talk 980 which can be found here.