Network radio sports talk hosts, Russo, Cowherd, Finebaum, Eisen, Golic and Wingo never short on takes

Week three without sports hasn’t stopped these guys. They’re hardly out of material. They just keep going.

The radio talkies and their television counterparts are about all that sports fans have left that’s live. Unlike television replays of old games, you never know where these show hosts are headed.

A week again of listening, and here’s what these unique gentlemen shared.

Colin Cowherd: (Fox Sports Radio)

• Colin Cowherd believes that football fans might still be trapped in their memories, remembering Cam Newton’s productive seasons in college and the NFL. Cowherd explains how Newton is no longer the “great player” he was. He is now in fact “simply average.” He is injury prone and has lost his throwing touch. Therefore, it makes sense that a team like the Chargers won’t pursue him when they already have Tyrod Taylor.

• Reporter Nick Wright joined the show as a guest. He had a strong opinion about the development covering Tampa Bay wide receiver Chris Godwin who surrendered his uniform #12 to Brady and taking #14 himself. While Cowherd and Wright believe that it was a thoughtful gesture by Godwin, the men think he deserves some compensation from Brady. Yes, hard cash.

• Cowherd believes that Cincinnati has a lot of pressure heading into the draft to pick the Ohio raised Joe Burrow and not trade away the pick. He believes that in Miami, Burrow is capable of steering the Dolphins to at least seven wins, two more than they produced last season.

Paul Finebaum (ESPN)

• Teams (Finebaum focuses on college football) are going to have to figure out how to sell tickets and pack stadiums once the coronavirus pandemic is over. Will there have to be games held without fans?  Will fans have to be spread out across the stadium for a certain duration of time in order to attend games?

• There has been lots of discussion on the possible establishment of mini-camps for collegiate athletes to begin training in late June or July in preparation for the college football season if the coronavirus begins to subside. Due to the virus and school closings, spring practice has been cancelled.

Chris Russo (SiriusXM, Mad Dog Radio)

• The MLB might be better off to shorten games to 7 innings and to throw a handful of regular doubleheaders in-lieu of day/night doubleheaders into the schedule. As a result, fans can get two games for the price of one, which is beneficial, considering everyone has already lost loads of money throughout the ongoing pandemic. It’s one way to lure fans back to the stadium.

• Just as the NHL implemented 3-on-3 OT to speed up the game, the MLB can start with a man on 2^nd base in the 10^th inning to quicken the pace of the game. It will also be more exciting for fans.

• The MLB has a chance to be creative and to tweak the playoff structure. If only 80-90 regular season games are able to be played, the playoffs can be expanded as planned where a play-in is added to see who makes the Wildcard and Divisional rounds. Russo thinks the additional round will be exciting.

• If sports come back, the end of the season and playoffs will be compromised in some way. The NBA and MLB will “put the games on” no matter if there are fans present or not because of the money gained from the TV networks.

• Unlike hockey and basketball where the season is 85-90% complete, MLB has more room to experiment because its starting a fresh season. “There is no reason to keep making assumptions and formulating possible options for a playoff structure because no knows what will happen with the virus.”

Golic and Wingo (ESPN)

• The guys laugh about a tweet they saw online. “The typical 7-day week has been shortened to 3 days due to the coronavirus outbreak – yesterday, today, and tomorrow.”

• Golic and Wingo discuss how coaches and athletic programs will have a much harder time divvying scholarships. The economic pie remains the same, but the pie must be shared between more players. That’s because seniors are being given an extra year of eligibility. So, schools will have a limited number of scholarships to allocate to a larger group of returning athletes in addition to new recruits. This affects lacrosse and baseball, two sports whose athletes are getting another year of eligibility.

• The men bring Coach Mike Krzyzewski onto the show and discuss what it takes for a team to ultimately win a national championship. Coach K emphasizes unity and on-court leadership where each  player understands his role and the importance of each moment and possession. Understanding the game in a cerebral manner is vital.

• Golic and Wingo discuss what must be given up by the Dolphins to make a trade with the Bengals for the presumptive first overall pick in the draft, Joe Burrow. While overall (other than in 2019-20), Tua Tagovailoa’s statistics in college are better than Burrow’s, Tua is more injury prone. Tua is projected to go 5^th by some experts.  In addition to swapping picks with the Bengals (currently holding the 1^st pick overall), the Dolphins (currently hold the 5^th pick) would have to throw in another 1^st and 4^th round pick.

 Rich Eisen (NFL Network)

• Eisen claims “It’s the last week of March and we should be talking about the upcoming Final 4, but instead, it feels like it is March 97^th and the longest month our lives.”

• Based on the recently announced expanded wild-card weekend there will be three games played on Saturday, January 9, 2021 and three games on Sunday, January 10, 2021. NFL Insider of NBC Sports, Peter King, covers the changes in the NFL playoff structure. He feels that it may be beneficial in the future to have two wild card games on Saturday, three  games on Sunday, and one game on Monday night.  The Monday night game would attract double the number of viewers than a Saturday afternoon game.

• Eisen and King debate whether Jameis Winston or Cam Newton will be signed before the draft. King thinks Jacksonville is a realistic landing spot for either of these QB’s. Eisen believes that the signing process is being delayed because players cannot be seen by any doctors or medical staff during the coronavirus pandemic. The draft is schedule for April 23-25.

Jim Rome, (CBS Sports Radio)

• If Carmelo Anthony would have been drafted by Detroit, he might be seen in a different light by fans and have a championship ring. He played his early years in Denver.

• Rome explains how now more than ever fans need the “behind the scenes” content from athletes. He appreciates Melo opening up and speaking more about his on-court experiences and verbal exchanges with opposing players.

• Rome cites an example of “behind the scenes content,” sharing the story of when Melo and Kobe Bryant were going back and forth verbally throughout the course of a game. Kobe tells Melo to score all he wants during the first three quarters and to wait until the 4^th quarter to see how he guards him. Then, he intentionally flicks Melo’s braids to piss him off.  At the conclusion of the game, both players show their mutual respect for one another and a friendship emerged. Melo feels that flicking another man’s braid is the most disrespectful act one individual can show another.

• According to Melo, Lebron James saved his life. Melo went barracuda snorkeling and ended up being pulled by the current of the ocean so far from the boat that it was no longer in sight. Lebron jumped off the boat, rescued Melo, and swam back to the boat using one arm. Great story!

Editor’s Note:

FOX Sports Radio reported record audience gains across multiple digital platforms for March 2020, in a period without sporting events since March 11.

According to the Fox release:

“March 2020 yielded one million more podcast listens than February 2020, when there was a full month of live sporting events, making it FSR’s second best month ever in terms of podcast listens. Year over year (March ‘20 vs. March ‘19), the network’s total podcast audience grew +67%. Among FSR’s podcasts that set a new monthly record in March were: Outkick the Coverage with Clay Travis; The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard & Rob Parker; The Doug Gottlieb Show; The Ben Maller Show; The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller; The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon; and FSR Weekends.”