hail2skins

980 has new schedule on their website. Not sure how permanent this is: Galdi 6-10 Smoot 10-1 B-Mitch/Scott Linn 1-4 Czabe 4-7

This discussion of the latest going on at 980 makes me reminisce about when WTEM started back in '92...…..the offseason after the Skins won the SB. Some of those notable shows included Kiley and the Coach ("We're gonna schwak 'em!!") and later Kiley and Booms. According to Wiki, neither show lasted very long, but it must've been some fun radio......we weren't very far removed from the glory days and the angst over how the team fell must've been interesting. What shows on WTEM do you remember from the '90s?

Put this in the GDT, but cracked me up seeing him on the broadcast touting the open end plaza in one of the end zones. If only they had thought of that when the stadium opened in 1997...…...oh wait! Next thing you know, they are going to say, wouldn't it be cool if they had an area where kids could kick field goals, throw passes, run through obstacles...…………...

Yeah I know. I really liked Sheehan though, but found myself mostly listening to the Junks in the morning on JFK because I personally wasn't a fan of Cooley as a radio host. You are right that really doesn't seem to be a place right now for Kevin on JFK, save for perhaps a weekend show. I wouldn't mind Sheehan replacing Dukes in PM drive time, but I know that won't happen.

Terrible that Sheehan insinuating that he is leaving 980. They might as well turn 980 into something else and maybe consolidate talent at 106.7.

Interesting discussion that past few days. Total agree that the stations pretty much know which topics move the needle from a ratings perspective, and thus will concentrate on those topics. On the other hand, its tough to get too upset when someone like Wilbon criticizes DC as a "minor league sports town," when the Caps don't generate a strong enough buzz to be discussed on the airwaves for a large part of their season. I think people should talk about the Caps early in the 2018-19 season, coming off a Cup win. But even in a sports-crazed town like Philly, in recent years I've heard people complain that the talk stations up there focus too much on the Eagles at the expense of the other sports. There probably should be only one sports talk station in DC. At 980, I would be inclined to keep Sheehan in morning drive and Czaban in afternoon drive, with Galdi somewhere in the mid day. Or, if you combined the two stations, have the Junkies in the morning, maybe two separate shows featuring Galdi, from say, 10-1 and maybe Pollin/Loverro from 1-4, and then pair up Czaban and Sheehan from 4-7 pm.

You're probably right....even though there wasn't a Stubhub back during the glory days, I still would imagine there would be increased demand for tickets on the secondary market following a deep playoff run. I guess what gets me is that, unlike the other sports, there are only eight regular season home games. The beginning of each season should call for at least some optimism, as in maybe we'll finally be pleasantly surprised with a 11+ win season. But the past quarter-century of suck has beaten the snot out of this fanbase. In recent years there has really been little-to-no early season buzz about the Skins, at least from a ticket demand perspective is concerned. The Skins can be .500 six to eight games into the season but, unless its a marquee opponent, tickets on Stubhub can still be had relatively cheap.

Well yeah, I was mainly referring to not having a Metro relatively close by like you did at RFK. They do have Morgan Blvd station now but that mile walk looks like a death march. I do get annoyed at the folks who never go to games, but who swear by the narrative that it takes 2+ hours to get out of FedEx after a game. I don't know who these folks are. I normally sit in the club level, and after a 1 pm game usually have to walk around the stadium to get to my car, but am able to drop my mother off at New Carrollton by 5 pm. My only real pet peeve is parking. I'm not a tailgater, and normally get to the parking lots about an hour before the game. I can't claim that I've never been able to find a parking spot in due time, but it should be easier than it turns out to be.

Entertaining reading the comments with the WaPo article Samy linked. One dude spent $110,000 on club seats over a 12-year timeframe. That's just brutal. The stadium is certainly in a challenging location, and for sure folks had some issues with it when it opened, such as the upper level seats pushed way up there due to the club and suite levels that didn't exist at RFK. But the Skins were not that far removed from the glory days and there was probably enough demand that even the $100-250 per game prices for the club level at that time could be had. And no doubt, the losing is the biggest culprit in the declining demand, as well as the better home experience. But I still feel Dan has contributed to this problem in other ways like the installation of the dream seats, which pretty much made the lower level sidelines undesirable. That and taking forever to install a decent jumbotron.

Lot of the opposing fan concentration I see tends to be on the visitors side of the lower level. I've always suspected that those seats are owned by larger entities that make them available to employees and are gobbled up by folks who are fans of the team the Skins are playing. Either that or they are held by individual STHs who don't go anymore due to the seats being undesirable since 2004, when Snyder installed the dream seats. I'm a club seat snob and it cracks me up to see the Skins offering club seats for single game purchase starting at $430 (fees included) when you can go onto Stubhub and get club seats at least for the Colts game starting at $140 (fees included). I guess the Skins kind of have to do that to make the few folks that still have club level contracts not feel so bad, but still...………………..

Of course you need two-thirds of the Senate to vote to remove him, so of course it will not happen. But if the votes were there...….I think he would leave. I don't think he really likes the job all that much and at this point he only remains in office to prove he can win re-election. I wouldn't be surprised to see him step down shortly after he wins re-election in November 2020.

Cheapest club seat to the Indy game is $140, fees included. But it is still six weeks away, and I can't see that game being one that there'll be high demand for.

Are we that jaded nowadays that we don't even have time for a one-second pleasantry at the start of a conversation? Kornheiser would cut callers off just for asking "how's it going?" and I thought he was a complete douche for doing so. I know we don't want callers to give their life stories, but geez.

I agree TD, and while there are a few morons that call in, I think most callers have just as much insight as the hosts. I remember the day when the Nats got Eaton and Pollin says "Well, I don't know a lot about him." Gee Andy, maybe you could do your job and read an article on the guy instead of reading about the 74 Skins? Also don't like how they feel the need to leap from topic to topic every 20 minutes. Let the show be more freewheeling and caller driven. Think a large part of why it's not that way is that, probably with the exception of Galdi and Sheehan, these other guys are reluctant to go outside of their NFL comfort zone.

Lot of people on here disagree with me, but that's what taking calls are for. I know folks say that "the callers are idiots" but many of them have just as valid of insight as the co-hosts, IMO. Plus it can be entertaining when the true idiots call in and the hosts argue with them. And it also doesn't mean that a solo host still can't have beat reporters call in to say what's going on with the respective local teams. And some of these shows just have wastes of time. Czabe's show spent the first few minutes arguing about who screwed up the beginning of the show. I don't need to hear that. Cooley and Sheehan's "Whattaya Got?" segment often features Cooley blathering on about something irrelevant. And the Junks are constantly talking over one another.

Maybe Galdi replaces Bram during the lunchtime hour and they do away with that 5 - 7 am slot. Smokin Al and/or Smoot maybe get a shot with Doc in mid-afternoon. They'll probably pick someone to pair with Sheehan, but I'd like it more if he just had the show on his own. I'm more used to the solo hosts in my "growing up in Philly" days (although I like listening to Czabe's show more than Dukes).

I think there was back and forth earlier after the Open ended, but latest projections have him at #50 and in at Bridgestone.

Molinari has been kicking butt the last few months. Looks like Tiger just outside the Top 50, which means he won't be able to play Bridgestone in two weeks. Will have to wait for the PGA the following week.

But Mark, they further reduced capacity in 2015, whacking the top eight rows off the sideline sections of the upper deck. As well as at some point tarping over the club level SROs. Do we know for sure if the 200 level OVs have been removed? Someone had alluded that they were not going to be sold as season tickets, but are they still going to be available for individual games?

I don't know how the current number of 82K is arrived at. If the max capacity at one point was a hair under 92K, the various Post articles (cited in the Wikipedia page) have the Skins removing from the upper deck 10K seats in 2011, 4K seats in 2012, and between 4-6K seats in 2015. Now yes, some of those torn out seats were offset by the creation of the SRO areas in the upper deck, but I'm not sure if the figures are counting the seats torn out in the club level to make way for the club party decks, which have themselves been tarped over and should not be counted in the capacity numbers. I would say that the capacity at FedEx, counting seats, SRO, and suite capacity, is likely no more than 75K.

They are offering discounted concession prices for STH

The Skins have ripped out probably close to 15,000 seats in the upper deck and were able to relocate folks, so seems like the dream seat thing would be doable. Of course, this is the same organization that made up excuses for years on why we couldn't replace the lite brite with a decent jumbotron.

Remove the dream seats. Even though I've sat in the club level for most of the times I've been to FedEx, spent plenty of games in the 100 sideline seats prior to the dream seats being installed. Being able to sit and enjoy the game was never an issue before then.

For those who follow the remaining burning embers of whatever Tiger-Lefty rivalry there is and matters, how does Tiger miss the cut and manage to come out looking better than Phil this weekend? WTF is Mickelson thinking today with that "putt the ball while its moving" nonsense? What would compare to that in other sports?

The old NFL blackout rules have been suspended for the past few years.