It's hard to say. I think many thoughtful sports fans know/knew about M&MD and their reputation, and once streaming came around it was easy to listen to them. I listened to M&MD all the time and I've never lived a day in New York, but I got to know them on all those summer trips back to New England - once we hit the Connecticut border EEI's signal crapped out, so it was time for WFAN. The Tri-State diaspora doesn't hurt either, they always spread the word about these two guys in New York. Their legend's only grown with the Internet, with stuff like the 2004 post-Game 7 open (which I have on my iPod for a rainy day!) and the "JUST ONE TIME!!!!" rant available on YouTube.
It's really crazy to think of how good they were. I went from listening to the radio/watching them on tv every day for 5-6 years, to never listening to sports talk again. Nobody comes close, trying to not get to excited at the rumors of them getting back together. That would be incredible.
Do not discount how powerful the signal for WFAN is. Throughout the early nineties while I was living in Philly I was able to listen to Mike and the Mad Dog because the signal for 660 was so strong. And I was grateful for that, since both the hosts and the clowns who called into the Philly sports station WIP were godawful.
Yeah, I've picked up WFAN past the MA border, as far as the Springfield/Worcester stretch, depending on the time/month.
No disagreement from me, the Piggyback Bandit is exactly the sort of thing I want from Grantland. What a weird, sad story.
My favorite bit of that is the 87 email exchange with Damon Lindelof, and then I noticed Stern's email is "frozenenvelope@gmail.com." Funny stuff.
I'll bet you a wooden nickle we see him writing more pieces for Grantland now.
It seems lately they've had original illustrations to accompany some of their longer stories/features. Like this one on Simmons' Olympics column from today: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8225426/dr-jack-breakdown-swimming-vs-gymnastics
He did cut her, but she told him that she would be back in the fall for the fall tryouts.
Makes me want to watch that movie again.
Their WFAN retrospective was better, but this was pretty good.
Same. Simmons' own pieces are "hit or miss" at about the same frequency Mario Mendoza was "hit or miss"...but at this point its clear the site has a lot more to offer than SG columns. Their Oral histories in particular are really good. As with 30 for 30, I think this is strong evidence that Simmons is much better at giving other talented people a platform than he is coming up with his own stuff. Which for an editor in chief isn't a bad skillset.
Chris Ryan said on twitter it will be making appearances during the season, but not weekly. They have a weeky MLS column that they are trying out now I think.
And Men in Blazers is fucking awesome.
I do too...i also find it kind of surprising, since the general impression Simmons gives off is one of caring very, very little about non-mainstream sports.
My impression is that this isn't necessarily a Simmons decision--it's more that Simmons hires smart people and lets them do their own thing, and it's starting to work very well as people take Grantland into interesting places.
Zach Lowe is really good. I hope that he carries over the same format and post frequency from SI to Grantland.
Yeah, I was happy to see that. Pruiti's going to be a film analyst for the Thunder. It's sort-of like when the Sox hired Bill James.
I agree Prutti will be a great pickup for OKC -- his real-time NBA analysis last year on Twitter was a great follow.
Pierce is always good for a really enjoyable screed. I particularly liked the phrase "Goodell's ongoing experiment in national consumer fraud."
Pretty hilarious that he asks if the Pats-Ravens debacle was the lowest moment of the NFL ref lockout. Much like the 2012 Red Sox season, with every day comes a new rock bottom.
