Archive for April, 2008
We were discussing fast food on the air the other day because Arby’s just announced that they’re buying out Wendy’s. Fast food is always one of those topics that you can’t get anyone to agree on. My wife is a HUGE Burger King fan, and I think Burger King stinks. I haven’t liked Burger King since I was a kid, and I don’t like it now. But my wife grew up loving Burger King, so I guess she still has good memories of the place.
To me, there’s no better fast food than Wendy’s. The Wendy’s cheeseburgers are unparalleled in fast food as far as I’m concerned. (Steak and Shake has awesome burgers too… but I don’t know if Steak and Shake is considered fast food, since you actually get waited on.) Fat Burger and In and Out Burger are another couple places with good burgers… but they don’t have them here so you can really only get them if you’re traveling.
As far as McDonald’s… I’m cool with it. Great fries. Tasty burgers. I’ve never been to Checkers, so I can’t comment on them. I haven’t been to Arby’s in years, but I’m really not a roast beef fan, so I’m not sure how much success I’d have in an Arby’s. (Although I do remember them having potato cakes. Do they still have those?)
One of my secret pleasures that I’m always embarrassed to admit is that I love Taco Bell. I don’t lie to my wife about anything… except Taco Bell. She thinks it’s so gross that I never tell her when I eat there. She’ll ask what I had for lunch, and I’ll just tell her Subway or Quiznos or something like that. But the truth is I LOVE Taco Bell. Don’t know why. But man, those burritos and tacos are amazing! Grilled Stuft Burrito! Oh yeah!
Some fast food things come and go… I always wonder what happened to some of the less successful rollouts from the fast food places. Remember the Arch Deluxe? The McDLT? The Shamrock Shake? Do any of those still exist anywhere?
I’m not a big fast food chicken guy… Not crazy about KFC or Popeye’s. When I was growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, there was a fast food chicken place called Brown’s Chicken… That was always pretty good. You don’t see those around anymore I don’t think.
Anyone remember the McDonald’s beefsteak sandwich? Also, Quizno’s has jumped the shark.
April 28th, 2008
I’ve been talking on the air about jai alai lately. We even had Joey- a jai alai legend- on the air for an interview. (He was great.) And, as you read about in my last blog, I’d like to put together a field trip for our listeners to jai alai one night. I’ve always had good times at jai alai, so I figured a night out with listeners at jai alai is a sure fire good time.
So rather than just rush into a field trip, I decided it would be important to do a “site check” and meet with Dania Jai Alai and see if it was possible to actually pull it off. Well Wednesday night I went to Dania Jai Alai… and I didn’t just go alone; I brought a bunch of people from the station with me: Dan, his girlfriend, Stugotz, Mike Ryan, Cyn City, Kenny the Intern, Roy, and Fake Howard. We all went to Dania Jai Alai Wednesday night… and it was AWESOME!
Yes, I’ll admit walking into Dania Jai Alai is a bit like going back in time. The place (except for the new poker room and bar) hasn’t been updated since the 70’s. I hadn’t been there in a while, but I expected to valet park like I always used to. I pulled into the valet circle… and found that there is no valet parking anymore. In fact the old entrance isn’t even used anymore. But once I got into the fronton (stadium) it all came back to me!
What made it really exciting was that a lot of people that went with us had never been to jai alai before. Mike Ryan, Kenny, Roy, Cyn City, even Stugotz… they had NEVER seen the sport. It’s like taking your child to Disney World for the first time… When you see the looks on their faces, it’s priceless. We had a great time at Dania Jai Alai, and now I’m more certain than ever that I want to have a listener party out there.
Jai Alai… Wagering… Poker… Beer… Hot dogs… It’s all coming together. I’m going to have this thing planned in the next couple of weeks. I want The Dan LeBatard Show to be responsible for a resurgence in jai alai. I want to see thousands of people at the fronton just like there used to be in the 70’s. I want to put jai alai back on the map… and with your help, we’re gonna do it!
The jai alai field trip is coming! Please let me know on this blog if you’ll join us on a Friday night at Dania Jai Alai!
April 24th, 2008
I’ve been talking on the air the past couple days about how excited I am that Joey- quite possibly the greatest Jai Alai player ever- is coming on the air with us next week. This dude is legendary. Now, I temper everything with the fact that I’m 38 years old and I like to gamble. When I first came down to Miami to go to UM in 1987, Dania Jai Alai and Miami Jai Alai were a couple of my only few gambling options. So I used to go.
It amazes me that all the kids around the radio station have no idea what jai alai is. Most of the producers at the station are 20-25 years old… Most of the board ops are in the same range. NO ONE was excited when I said Joey was coming on the air. NO ONE had heard of him… and NONE of them had been to jai alai. I must admit that kind of shocked me.
I’ve never been to a bowling match… I’ve never watched bowling on TV… but I know that Earl Anthony was THE bowling legend. I put Joey and Earl Anthony in the same category. That’s why I was so shocked that not many people were sharing my excitement about Joey being on the air with Dan.
If you think jai alai wasn’t big time during the 70’s… Google it. The jai alai frontons used to be packed with thousands of people every night. I remember vacationing down in Florida once a year… (My parents would take me and my brother to Miami Beach every year from Chicago…) And if my parents went to jai alai one night, they would get DRESSED UP. It was an event to go to jai alai. (They didn’t let kids in back then. That probably added some of the mystique to it, making me want to experience jai alai when I got old enough.)
Anyway, I digress. While I’m excited that Joey is coming on the show… While I’m excited to talk a little about jai alai because it brings back fun memories for me… My real question is: If I planned a field trip for LeBatard Show listeners to Dania Jai Alai, would you come? Would it be fun? I’d plan it out- kind of like one of our movie screenings… The seats would be paid for… Your responsibility would just be to show up and have some fun hanging out. (And of course you could wager on some matches and maybe win some money.) So who’s in? Should I plan a jai alai field trip?
April 10th, 2008
We “sueyed” a legend last week. And I still feel bad about it. For those of you who don’t know, we “suey” interviews as a subtle signal to the listening audience that we know the interview is not going well. It’s just a small sound—- someone saying “suey”—- that’s played live during the interview, usually while the guest is talking. It’s disrespectful, but it’s our way of letting you know that we also know the interview is not good.
I’m the one that’s responsible for actually pushing the suey button. It’s not a responsibility that I take lightly. During EVERY interview, people are always calling, texting, and e-mailing that I should suey the guest. It doesn’t matter how good the interview is… Someone always wants it to be sueyed. I’ve sueyed everyone from Chuck Norris to Richard Dent to Jimmy Snuka to Hubie Brown. I usually enjoy the power of the suey…
And then I sueyed Mario Andretti. He probably deserved it. The interview was kind of creeping along. He wasn’t all that forthcoming. He wasn’t tremendously exciting. In fact, he was close to boring. So I sueyed him. And I’ve felt bad since.
Mario Andretti is a legend. A true legend. I’m not a race fan, but even I know how legendary this dude is. He’s won the Indy 500… He’s won every major race there is to win… His name is probably one of the most recognizable names in the world. And I sueyed him. He was kind enough to give us his time for the interview, even though he doesn’t do too many interviews. He was kind enough to answer our silly questions. He was kind enough to reschedule the interview several times to accommodate Dan’s schedule. And I sueyed him.
Certain people, I believe are “above” the suey. Certain people are so legendary that they should never be sueyed- no matter what the situation is. Michael Jordan is above the suey. So is Brett Favre. Vin Scully would be above the suey; as is David Stern. There are just certain people that should never be sueyed, no matter what. And Mario Andretti was probably one of those people. And I blew it. And there’s nothing I can do to go back and change it. So to make things better, I would like to publicly apologize to Mario Andretti right here on this blog in front of all 6 people that read this. That should make things better.
Suey to me.
April 1st, 2008
