Cleaning out the inbox

The inbox cleaning begins with a great article from the Athletic on the original 2000 coaching staff with the always interesting Mike Leach at Texas Tech.
That squad between the players and the coaching staff includes eight coaches that would be head coaches, eight more that would be coordinators at the D-I level and seven besides that would become coaches at various smaller levels.
It is really a fascinating look into the world of Leach at Tech and how his influence on those coaches affects the college football world 19 years later.

ESPN writes of the story of the network's first live event and why their broadcast library had no such record of the broadcast.
The slow-pitch softball game between the Kentucky Bourbons and the Milwaukee Schlitz was the first game telecast from ESPN in September of 1979 and the tape from that game had been missing for years.
The article has a companion piece from the E 60 program, which I'm sure you can find with a short Google search.

Back to the Athletic with the story of the first game between Boise State and Marshall from 1994.
That game was the 1-AA national semi-final with the winner playing for the national championship and Marshall was the more established of the two, making trips to the previous three title games, winning one of the three games, all against Youngstown State.
Youngstown was waiting for the winner of this one as well and while being more of a Boise State story, there is plenty of 1-AA history and Marshall as well.
Hard to believe twenty-five years later that Boise State is the national brand and the football power of the Mountain West, while Marshall is probably the choice for the traditional kingpin of Conference USA, which didn't even exist in 1994!

Politico writes of the "culture of fear and self-dealing" at Liberty University in Lynchburg Va.
Liberty is the university that seems to run and own the area and is now led by Jerry Falwell, Jr, who you may have heard his name in the news of late.
The article covers many problems with the school and the Falwell family and what I was surprised about was the sources that were spoken to that seemed to have a real love for the university and even the family, but feel that something needed to be done in order to 'save' it.
I found that quite interesting and having been to Lynchburg, the power that the Falwell's possess, I can completely understand the sources reluctance to go against the family.

Finally, Ramon Malpica invited me to guest on his new venture and I was happy to do so.
Ramon asked me questions about myself, favorite things, opinions on gun laws, the USFL and at the end of course-Boxing.
Please give it a listen and rate and subscribe on the podcast platform of your choice.

More Sports Podcasts

One year ago today, I wrote about some of my favorite podcasts to listen to and I thought I would mention some again in case they might interest you.
Some of them might be repeated from last year and others are new, but here are the sports staples of mine.
I'll have the non-sports list in a future edition.

For Boxing, my favorite still has to be The Three Knockdown Rule with Steve Kim and Mario Lopez.
The show is more than just news and notes, Steve talks to fighters at the gym, the show hosts boxing people in the studio such as Eddie Hearn and Bob Arum and the best part is the opinions, where both Kim and Lopez don't allow promotion affiliation to affect their thoughts.

A new boxing podcast has leaped into the second spot as Chris Mannix hosts the SI boxing podcast.
Mannix, who also works the DAZN broadcasts in various roles, relies more on guests than the Three Knockdown Rule but also isn't afraid to challenge guests with opinions.
Mannix also hosts an NBA podcast entitled the Crossover that I have recently begun to listen to as well.

Scott Dryden's Browns Scout Podcast continues to be my go-to podcast for the Browns.
Dryden watches games, analyzes tape and breaks things down far more than the average media member
As I wrote last year if you are into straight forward football talk without the bells and whistles, this should be the Browns show that you choose to listen to.

The wrestling podcast of choice is still Jim Cornette's Drive-Thru, where Cornette's hilarious takes on questions from fans on old school wrestling are still the funniest of the week.
Cornette's other show, the Experience, is funny, but often strays from wrestling, so if that bothers you, stick to the Drive-Thru.

Conrad Thompson hosts several podcasts, but one that stands above is his What Happened When with former WCW and current Gwinnett Stripers (Braves AAA) announcer Tony Schiavone.
Usually, the pair swaps all sorts of talk while rewatching a past NWA/WCW show with Schiavone's recollections along the way.
It is my favorite of the Thompson family of podcasts.

The other wrestling podcast that I enjoy is the Mid-South Wrestling television review where Brian Last and Mike Mills go chronologically through the Mid-South weekly television shows one at a time.
It doesn't provide the laughs of the above shows, but the Mid-South TV show was, in my opinion, the best of its time and it is great to see episodes that I never saw in their time along with analysis of the show to compare to my own.

I often keep podcasts that are really good downloaded to my IPad just to listen to whenever I want and the show that I have the most retained is easily Tim Hanlon's Good Seats Still Available.
Tim usually has someone on his show that discusses a defunct league or team and items like that are in my wheelhouse.
Still waiting for his show on the Cleveland Barons and Crusaders though!

From the same ilk, Warren Rogan's Sports Forgotten Heroes is another show with discussions on leagues that didn't make or players that were excellent, but not quite Hall of Fame level.
It's the players that were excellent but fell back into time that I love hearing about and if you enjoy that too- You will like this one.

I don't have regular listens for the Indians, Giants or Cavaliers, although I have tried a few from each team, However, I have been listening to a Devils podcast a bit of late.
Devils Insiders Radio has been a interesting listen of late as the off-season progresses, so I'll likely stick around.

I'll be back with the non-sports podcasts soon and the next planned post will cover my road trip to Lakewood and Trenton.

Rouge White and Blue Podcast

I was fortunate enough to be asked to appear with my old friend Joe Pritchard on the Rouge White and Blue podcast where I talked CFL, my background as well as some television talk, USFL and a little more.
If you listen, give them a review and tell them Thoughts Of RS sent you.

Busy Busy

Monday and Tuesday can be busy days for me and sometimes working around real life (Especially on Tuesday) and the everyday errands that we all have hit my time here hard.

However, enjoy this note about the upcoming week to come:

The Browns hit free agency as I write this, Cleveland has an agreement for a major defensive contributor in case.
That's an agreement because teams cannot sign anyone officially until tomorrow, but it is extremely rare to renege on these agreements.

No Hotshots review this week.
Why? Well, I was exhausted after a long Sunday of work and family events and was watching something else when the game began.
I finished that and was going to go to bed when Fred Landucci called me and said the game against San Antonio was 26-0 Commanders near the half.
Judging that, I went to bed- the Hotshots rallied strongly in the second half but lost 29-25.
Arizona falls to 2-3 on the year and visits what appears to be the league's top team next week in the undefeated Orlando Apollos.

I'll be appearing on a podcast (remember when I did one of those before controversy and dollars came into play?) on Wednesday, so once I can post and give the host show some pub, I'll link to it so anyone out there can give it a listen.
Please make sure you give the guys at Rouge White and Blue some comments or even ratings on your podcasting tool of choice.
I'm sure they'll appreciate it and mentioning me wouldn't hurt getting my name out there as I (Shh) tenderly begin the process of "other projects".

Since I'm picking at the bottom of my fantasy draft in each round, it has taken longer to make my picks so the posts on those players will be worked on.
I've picked three more "Rubber Ducks", one of them just a few minutes ago and there will be two more before I'm finished.
I'm fairly pleased so far considering where I'm picking, but I gambled twice in the draft on players I really liked and once it paid off well and the other it didn't so I'll have those stories as well.

I also have the boxing challenge starting early this week with a Friday night card on DAZN
More passings to note and an inbox that needs dumping along with a possible feature as well

Hang in there until tonight/slash tomorrow morning as Jim Ross used to scream- Business is about to pick up!

My Favorite Non-Sports Podcasts

I'm sitting in a hospital.
No, not for me.
My dad appears to have suffered a stroke yesterday and we're still trying to see if it was of the mini variety or not, but he seems to be himself, so I'm hoping that this was a small issue that might give him a warning about keeping himself together a little better.
Please keep him in your thoughts.

Anyway, since I am without wi-fi at the moment, I thought I would knock out a nice easy column that finishes one from last month- My favorite podcasts, this time from the non-sports universe.

Let's start with one with a really basic title- New books in biography.
I must admit that I don't listen to every one of these because the subject range is so huge and wide and not everyone interests me, but some of these are just wonderful hour plus programs with various authors that are incredibly interesting.
When the topic is one that really grips me, this might be my favorite podcast around.

The Batcave podcast is one that deals with episodes of the classic Batman 1966 TV series, but also talks about the Filmation cartoons from the 60's (that I so loved in the early 70's in syndication) and the Batman comic book that has been created over the last few years that is based directly on the TV series.
If you are a Batman fan like me or if certain episodes just make you smile or laugh, they have episodes that deal with specific episodes and is well worth the listen.

More from the animation world with Limited Cel where a father and son duo (Nick and Mike Wood) look back and rewatch Hanna Barbara programs from the 1960's through the 1970's.
I would bet that the show will eventually lead to the H-B 1980's shows as well.
It's pretty entertaining and nostalgic and I do enjoy the father/son dynamic going back and forth over the merits of Quick Draw McGraw very much.

And even more from the comics world with Heroes and Villains.
This one generally selects a Hero or Villain (really?) from either the DC or Marvel universe and discusses in great detail that character's background, powers, weaknesses, appearances and about anything that you can think of about that particular character.
Bruce Leslie is about as comprehensive in covering the subject as one could find and trust me if you walk away from an episode with a question, you likely weren't paying attention!

The Watch Party is hosted by my friend Samantha Blinn with her friend Crystal and the premise of this podcast is films that Sam (a huge film buff) has seen many times, yet Crystal has never seen.
They do an introduction to the film and Sam asks Crystal her perception of the film before they view it.
The pair then talks about the film after watching. how close Crystal's preliminary thoughts were and what type of grade they would give.
Give it a listen and not just because Sam's a friend- it's very entertaining.

I also have in my queue, multi-part programs that I have listened to some episodes, but not the full series yet, that deal with Watergate, Chappaquiddick and the Robert Kennedy assassination from various podcast hosts.

Hope you give any of these of interest a listen and see what you think.

My Favorite Sports Podcasts.

I was planning to start my trip review, but I discovered that I left my notes on my tablet, so that will be slightly delayed.

I also started work on a new version of a post that I wrote a few years ago-Fights that I'd like to see, but I'm doing a little of that at a time, so I'll have that in the future on a slow day.

Instead, what I'm going to offer today is a list of sports podcasts that I listen to on a regular basis and perhaps one or more of them might entice you to give them a try.
I'll have a non-sports list sometime soon.
I listen to podcasts more of late than I had in the past after purchasing an IPad and I find that I really enjoy the return of radio, albeit in a specialized form.
I'm not connecting any links since I'm sure that not everyone uses the same podcasting provider.
I miss doing Fightheads and I'm hoping that Ramon Malpica will consider returning in some form eventually, but besides our podcast, here are a few of my favorites in no particular order.

Let's start with my favorite boxing podcast with Steve Kim's Three Knockdown Rule that he hosts with Mario Lopez of Saved by the Bell fame.
It's a fun podcast that sticks mostly to the fight game, yet is willing to drift off into anything that might strike Steve and Mario at any moment.
It's clearly my favorite boxing podcast and since I'm not around for your listening pleasure at the moment, give Three Knockdown Rule a listen.

In the world of wrestling, Jim Cornette's Drive-Thru and Cornette Experience are must listens.
The Drive-Thru sticks more to old school wrestling (which is the only kind I want to hear about), while the Experience is more wide-ranging with plenty of wrestling too.
If you are offended by strong language or have a great affection for President Trump, you might want to think about passing on the Experience, but if not- get ready for plenty of laughs and lots of great memories!

Another wrestling podcast is Scott Bowden's Kentucky Fried Wrestling, which sticks to looking back at the old Memphis territory.
Bowden used to run the website of the same name, where long-time readers might remember Rachel defeating Bowden at a wrestling pick em and Scott sending her a DVD years ago.
There are many interesting guests from classic Memphis grappling and from someone that loves the classic era, yet missed so many of the great Memphis television shows (Since I didn't live there!), I always learn something new from Bowden and his guests.

Tim Hanlon's Good Seats Still Available focuses mainly on defunct and deceased teams and leagues.
Tim's shows on the WFL, USFL and the CFL's American expansion are among the few podcasts that I have saved for permanent safekeeping.
I'd be lying if I said I listened closely to every show as a show with this format is not going to focus on mainstream sports every episode, but Hanlon is always super prepared and when it features a subject that I really love, there is none better.

Scott Dryden used to guest on the TRS podcast, before hitting it big and now is the featured analyst at the Browns Scout Podcast.
Dryden's opinionated, smart (although the jury is still out on our disagreements on Jabrill Peppers and now Baker Mayfield) and the show is stocked with intelligent football talk.
Don't look for a lot of chuckles, bells, and whistles here, but if you like your Browns talk straight forward- give the Browns scout a listen.

I've also enjoyed the Rouge, White and Blue podcast with American fans talking about the Canadian Football League.
I've reconnected with an old friend that hosts the show in Joe Pritchard and it's nice to listen to American fans that love the three-down game.
And Joe, I'm still available to talk 80's and 90's CFL in the off-season!

Most of you know that my go-to college football expert is Phil Steele and his season preview is constantly with me all summer and season, but Phil has a podcast as well- Strong as Steele.
Phil is weekly during the season and then Strong as Steele goes dormant, but his conference previews will hopefully begin any day now!

Cleveland Baseball and Brews might not seem to be a good fit for someone that hates the taste of beer, but for Indians fans, it is well worth the listen.
Generally, it's just good conversation by Indians fans for Indians fans and Caitlyn Boron, who also appeared on the old TRS show, is one of the regular panelists on their program.
I always enjoy listening to Caitlyn's segment as her energy and passion for the town and the Indians literally jumps out at you through the speakers.

My final recommended podcast is Justin McGuire's Baseball by the Book where McGuire talks with authors of baseball books.
I haven't come anywhere near clearing out my chosen archives of Baseball by the Book, but if you love baseball, yet don't have the time or don't care to read- this is your avenue to learn a lot about the history of baseball!
I'm a big fan of Baseball by the Book!

Hopefully, you'll give one or more of these a try and if you like them, be sure to give them a good rating and tell them that TRS sent you!!

Podcasts? We've got Podcasts!!

Podcasts, you say?

Well, my podcast tenure has been up and down (running out of dollars for the TRS podcast for one) and my tenure on Fightheads- the live show.

I loved doing the live show, but Ramon and I had stated that we were still going to be around in various formats and we are.
You can find my occasional podcast, Ramon's "Mind of Malpica" and our shows together here and be sure to give an ITunes review too.
Ramon says it helps to move us up the ranking etc, so help us out if you can.
I knocked a single PC out last weekend talking about boxing and the Browns and we did one together a while back.
I plan to do one or two solo's each week and I want to bring back guests on my solo appearances very much like the old show, so thanks to Ramon for allowing me to do that and our shows together as well.

There's more than just Ramon's podcast and mine in this post though, so here's a few more of interest (pun intended) that we have listened to and enjoyed of late!

Starting with "Nerd Appropriate" and their 300th episode where they landed Amy Acker ( "Root" of Person of Interest and therefore the above pun) for their show.
If you aren't a fan of POI or Amy's current show "The Gifted" or are unfamiliar with her other work,
you might remember her as last year's face of the PPM.
As an Acker fan, I really enjoyed this and she comes off as someone totally unfazed by fame and as one of the nicest people in show business-Now that would be someone I'd love to have on the "New" TRS podcast.

Another interesting listen was posted on Twitter as one of their past podcasts with Rebecca Jarvis of ABC News and her "No Limits" with guest Erica Hill of CNN/HLN.
I've always liked Hill going back to her early days at CNN before she traveled to the networks before returning back to the "Turner" networks and I prefer her to all the CNN anchors in the afternoon when her HLN show airs.
My biggest issue with HLN, which makes sense with the name of their network as Headline News, is seeing the same items over and over again, so I don't watch it often, but Hill would be great with CNN and an afternoon slot.
Hill talks about the news game, the problems for women in the field and mistakes that she has made, which I thought was refreshingly honest.

And it wouldn't be a podcast post without a sports one and here is a two-part episode that I loved as "Good Seats" spends two and a half hours with author Mark Speck (another person I'd love to have as a guest) talking about the World Football League.
Good Seats is a podcast that you are going to see a lot here at TRS as they deal with defunct sports leagues and as they write "What used to be in professional sports", so look for more on future podcast posts or cleaning out the inbox segments.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it here (I know I did on social media), but I was given a WFL game ball recently by a friend and I play WFL games on the time on my Action Football game, so for me, I loved listening.
Speck has written two books on the WFL that I'd love to read that I haven't been able to yet, but they aren't available on Kindle and they are pretty pricey to boot.
Part one can be found here and part two in this location.

Hope you found a podcast or two to listen and maybe even Fightheads, I think this will become an
occasional fixture here, so send me a podcast that I might find interesting and it might wind up in a future post.

A sad goodbye

It's a somewhat sad day here as I've decided to end the podcast for now.

The main reason is financial,but it's more along the lines of not being motivated to do the show alone and not having the time right now to recruit guests for the show.
Also,I'm having fun here right now as far as writing and making the time can sometime be difficult for this-let alone both.

The money layout at this time of year hits the worst spot for me and it's been a self-fulfilling prophecy since losing sponsorship-You can't get sponsorship without doing shows and I didn't want to do shows with paying out of my pocket right now.

I'm sad because I did enjoy doing the show and I also got to talk and meet so many really cool and smart people as well,but I may look at this as a brief interruption.
If I can find a free host or even a cheaper cost host,I'd like to continue to do the show,but we'll have to see if that is feasible or not...

If there was something that you'd like to archive,I'd get to it quickly because I think Podbean will take everything down on the 21st,which is next week.

Before I go,I'd like to thank the terrific guests,which was the main thing that I look back and enjoyed most and thank the listeners for listening and all the feedback that I received from you.
It always is so meaningful to hear when people enjoy the things that I do and I really appreciated all the times that you did listen.
I'm a lousy self-promoter and I just don't feel right about beating people over the head with "advertising" for this and /or the podcast,so those of you that listened,did so because you wanted to and that meant more than you could know.

Thanks again and keep the faith,one never knows when this could pop up again...

Podcast-Special Guest Daniel Parlegreco

The podcast returns with Daniel Parlegreco to talk more NFL Draft prospects before tomorrow night's draft...

Podcast:Special Guest Scott Dryden

The podcast is back with Scott Dryden to talk Browns and of course the upcoming NFL Draft!

Q and A

I had asked for questions for a Q and A and got a few even though a few came through conversation, so they won't be named...

The first question comes from Battlin' Bob.
Bob wants to know who has impressed me most in the first week of the minor league season.

Well, that is an easy one- Hagerstown's Juan Soto is going to be a prospect that everyone is going to be talking about soon and he's just 18.
The ball jumps off his bat and he's going to hit for power.
Soto isn't a fast runner and I wonder about him defensively, but the bat is going to play.
Washington knows that their window is starting to close at the big league level and might be forced to make a mid-season splash-If the Nationals have to decide which of their top two position prospects have to go between Soto and Victor Robles, it's going to be a very difficult choice to make.

The next question comes from Bill Cover from the ballpark about the Cavaliers and their chances in the playoffs.
Bill is a long time Cavalier fan and has some concerns about the playoffs.

I'm a little concerned, but not overly so.
I look at the other rosters in the Eastern Conference and I don't think that any team including the top-seeded Celtics that observers could say that a series win over Cleveland would not be an upset.
The Cavaliers have the conference's most talented team and when push comes to shove, I think that they will be able to put it together to win the East.
In other words- I don't see any team that is going to beat a LeBron James-led team four times out of seven.
Now in the finals, that could be a different story, but I'll at least say that a return to the finals is likely...

Next, we have an easy one- What's up with the podcast?

I'm hoping to have a new free server when my deal with Podbean expires.
I want to keep it alive, but not at the current cost-If there is any of the archived material that you want to listen to or download for yourself-I'd get on that soon!
I do have some guests scheduled, so look for those soon as well...

Next up-this question from Twitter-What's my stance on Chief Wahoo?

I love Chief Wahoo and I've loved him since childhood, but I can see where he could be found offensive to Native Americans.
Terry Pluto thinks a re-design is in order and maybe so.
I do HATE the current blah Block C that the Indians currently favor, so let's float this idea out there.
I'd trade the Chief, but in return, the block C is scrapped in favor of the "Crooked" C from the '70s.
The crooked C pays homage to the name Indians more than the bland current version, yet takes away what offends.
Under those circumstances, I'd make that trade.

Jason Christensen asks about autographing with this-Are there certain affiliates that seem to be easier than others to get signatures from?

Well, this does tend to ebb and flow according to prospects, but it does seem to be the middle-level teams (at a particular time) that are better than others.
Teams that have been bad at the big league level can sometimes be tough because everyone wants high draft picks, but the traditionally popular teams like Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, Giants, etc can be difficult too.
Currently, the Rockies (minus the Brendan Rodgers experience in 2015), Rangers, Orioles, and Pirates are teams that I had good luck with.
Seems like the good teams change from year to year and the bad ones generally stay the same.
Another thing that helps is if the manager likes to sign.
If the manager (or team player that's a leader) likes to sign, the team follows, and conversely, if they hate it-it's always a grind.

Finally, we have Fred Landucci with a boxing question-Fred wants to know why big fights like the unification fight between Ricky Burns and Julius Indongo aren't shown on American television and how not having it anywhere but online (unless you have AWE tv) doesn't help to grow the sport.

Fred's right that it doesn't help, but apparently no network other than AWE wants to buy the fight.
Some of these small networks would do well (in my opinion) to pay a small rights fee and use the transmission from the other country's main network feed to keep costs down.
I've always thought about the small cost that HBO and Showtime should invest in these types of bouts.
HBO has a show on HBO Latino that could have shown Burns-Indongo on tape (at little cost) to use it to build interest in the winner vs Terence Crawford since Crawford is an HBO fighter and it's the same division.
It's really a Catch 22-they aren't shown because " no one knows them and the interest isn't there", but how do you know them and want to see them, if the exposure never arrives?
It's a hard situation for boxing to be and until we as fans get lucky enough to have a boxing guy run a network, no matter how small, fights like Burns-Indongo will be unavailable on television...

I always enjoy these, so I'll try to do another one soon!!

Podcast:Special Guest Luke Erickson

The podcast returns with special guest Luke Erickson from NationalsProspects.com.
We talk prospects in the Washington Nationals system,various travels and more from the world of the minors!

Podcast:Scott Dryden

Scott Dryden returns to the podcast with 90 minutes on the Browns and the NFL Draft!

Blame it on- And a possible Goodbye

Photo Credit:Jason Christensen

Sorry,I've been away.
I'm going to try to catch up over the next few days,the Jackasses at Verizon have made my online life miserable and it could be as many as five days before I get this fixed.

Actually,if they don't do things then to my satisfaction,I may be changing servers and then that will drag the time out further before they could come and fix things.
So,I suppose unless I can get very lucky (on occasion,I do get some "good" time when things are running smoothly),I'll be doing much of my blog work from the road office.

I do have some podcasts planned,but I have to be honest-If I change IP providers,the cost will go up.
We all know how the economy works,but since things continue to rise and my paycheck does not,I may have to cut a thing or two and the 100+ dollars to Podbean will likely be a start.
I enjoy doing the show and I wish it wasn't so,but life is about choices.

I do plan going out with a bang though with two visits from Daniel Parlegreco and Scott Dryden on the NFL Draft and if he recovers from his broken jaw (get well soon,Joe),Joe Werner on baseball prospects.
I gave the TRS podcast an extra year after losing the sponsorship and with a few tweaks,some things were going to need decisions.
Sad to say,unless I get the proverbial Sack of Money falling from the sky to save the show,Sometime in May or June (I think that's the date) will be the last podcast.
Unless someone has a "Podbean" like base that they are willing to host my data on anyway,that is.

Blame it on Verizon.....
I'm still catching up and I'll get there soon-Thanks for reading...

Editors Note;This will have no effect on Fightheads,You can still catch me there every Monday night...

Podcast:Special Guest Stacey Gotsulias

The podcast returns with freelance writer Stacey Gotsulias with a wide ranging conversation ranging from baseball to my prom to Don Johnson and way more!
This was one of the most fun shows that I have worked on!!
The Don Johnson song will make more sense,if you listen to the show!!

Podcast:DC Comics

We talk DC Comics from the 70's,80's and early 90's with Chris And Reggie from the Cosmic Treadmill and Weird Comic History Podcasts!!

Podcast:Special Guest Ian McArdle

The podcast returns with special guest Ian McArdle as we look back at the 2016 season for Ohio State as well as the future in Columbus..

Podcast:Special Guest Daniel Parlegreco

Special guest Daniel Parlegreco returns to the podcast to talk NFL Draft,Jabril Peppers and Patrick Mahomes Jr.

Podcast:Special Guest Chris Bopst

The podcast returns with Chris Bopst of Tudor Games to talk Electric Football!!

Podcast:Special Guest Scott Dryden

The podcast returns with special guest Scott Dryden with an hour talking Browns and NFL Draft prospects....