Sports "think" radio?

This is about the only time of year that I pay much attention to sports talk radio, a medium with which I have a real love/hate relationship.

I love to talk sports as much as the next person, although not as much at this stage of my life as in my sports-obsessed youth. But too often the "dialogue" on these stations degenerates into "discussions" of who sucks worse, the Yankees or the Red Sox, or the Blue Devils or the Tar Heels, for example.

But the Dan Patrick Show,(http://www.danpatrick.com) to which I'm becoming a regular listener, seems to be an intelligent alternative in this genre. Patrick, the former ESPN anchor, is now doing his show as a part of Sports Illustrated magazine's big media convergence move. (This is actually worth a post of its own, maybe more later.)

His interview with Jose Canseco this morning was compelling radio. No screaming or name-calling, but some tough questions for the ex-American League slugger, an admitted steroids user who seems intent on taking as many people down with him as possible. (He has a second book out, in which he calls out the likes of Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling).

After the interview, Patrick made a good point which journalists of all kinds should remember. "I don't have to like him to believe him," said Patrick, who thinks that Canseco's allegations have the ring of truth. "You can't say that you believe Roger Clemens because he's a good guy and you like him, but you don't believe Barry Bonds because he's a bad guy and you don't like him. That's hypocritical."

Sound judgment and measured reaction -- talk radio should have a lot more of this.

Testing, testing.....

OK, so it's been a while since the last post. And I've been told frequently since then (OK, once or twice but I'm easily influenced) that I'm a bad blogger.

So in the effort to at least get myself jump-started, here's a brief post to say I'm back. Both worlds that I claim to inhabit -- sports and journalism -- have a lot going on and the rest of the year is going to be exciting. (Gotta love blogging from London in the fall...)

Meanwhile, my bracket isn't much worse off than anyone else's -- three of the four teams in the Final Four and I didn't see Davidson coming. The sun is shining and all's right with the world.