DoolittleBrothers

“Don’t tell me this town ain’t got no heart!” … I had a fantastic time doing the show last week. Though I had just a little bit of a rough start as I was finding the proper volume levels for my studio monitor (headphones), I was pleased that the issues were on my end – and were barely noticeable in those first couple of minutes.

Once I got settled in, I dived into my story about re-connecting with my high school and junior varsity head coach. As I stated, I tend to talk very little about myself, so it was kind of nice to personalize the show. That first segment improved as it went, and given that it was my first in an entirely new environment, I felt encouraged as we moved forward. The new studios are in Webster Groves off of Big Bend Boulevard rather than Laclede’s Landing, so my drive time has been cut in half, which is very cool. However, it also unfortunately means less time spent downtown.

My opening commentary, and news and notes concluded with a  Team USA breakdown and then we segued into segment No. 2, which I was very excited about.  It featured an interview with University of Akron head coach Keith Dambrot, who is much better known as LeBron James’ first high school coach. Dambrot also mentored LeBron for two years prior to high school. We spent a lot of time discussing those St. Vincent/St. Mary days, and his perspective on what is currently going on with James.

The show wrapped up with another enjoyable interview with Denver Nuggets writer Jeremy Wagner, who helped lend a point of view from Nuggets nation on the rapidly developing and changing circumstances involving Carmelo Anthony’s free agency. Anyone interested in anything regarding the Nuggets, and also Jeremy’s use of video to complement his analysis, can check out his fine work at roundballminingcompany.com.

I slipped in a few quick notes to wrap up the show and signed out … and continue to feel positive about this endeavor. I’ll have a full six months under my figurative belt when the 2010-2011 season kicks off – and anyone who had their doubts about the show as I battled through those first couple of challenging months hopefully continued their support as I found my way!

I look forward to another Saturday summer evening with Producer John this week as he is helping me to establish cohesion with this adventure. Plus, he’s fun to work with. We will break down the incredible impact that the University of Kentucky had on the 2010 NBA Draft, and stay on top of the FIBA World Championships that begin on Saturday. To stay updated with the show and find our Podcasts, RSS feed, audio archives and more, please click here.

This past installment of my NBA radio show was bound to go smoothly. After all, there were no pounding thunderstorms on my way to the radio station, I actually had a key with me to get into the building and … I had a plan.

With 45 minutes for final show preparations, and having already coordinated with producer John, I was eager for the show to begin. With July being so heavy with NBA news and developments, I have yet to run into any lack of content issues. My opening segment focused on setting up Team USA’s scrimmage last Saturday in Las Vegas, and previewing this USA roster and the FIBA World Championships in Turkey next month.

Four years ago, Team USA was stunned by Greece in the semifinals, and eight years ago Team USA finished a mind-boggling sixth in the World Championships. Only one player from the gold-medal-winning 1994 team, Shaquille O’Neal, remains an active NBA player, and and each of the 12 players from the 2008 USA gold-medal team has withdrawn from this year’s team.

I discussed how Kevin Durant was just five years old in 1994, yet is now the new face of USA basketball.

St. Louis native David Lee (finger injury), who was recently traded to the Golden State Warriors, suffered an injury to the middle finger on his right hand last week during practice in Las Vegas. He will wear a splint for six weeks and is expected to make a complete recovery prior to the start of training camp in September. However, Lee will not be playing in Turkey, unfortunately.

The fact that Celtics PG Rajon Rondo is not a lock to make Team USA’s roster was discussed; Rondo is not a solid perimeter shooter, lacks positional flexibility and has incredible backcourt competition on this team.

It has been 16 years (1994) since Team USA grabbed the gold medal in these championships and Saint Louis University head coach Rick Majerus was an assistant coach under Don Nelson during the 1994 games. Coach Majerus was kind enough to record a 20-minute segment for the show, and we talked all about Team USA, his experiences with Don Nelson and Saint Louis University’s decision to play at Duke this season.

Our final segment featured Nuggets writer Jeremy Wagner, who helped to break down the current situation regarding Carmelo Anthony’s potential contact extension in Denver. Other topics going on around the Denver Nuggets includes head coach George Karl battling throat cancer, and ex-Missouri star Linus Kleiza leaving Denver for the Toronto Raptors.

I will have my Podcasts going soon, and hope to have studio-quality interviewing methods at my home office very soon. After one week off, we will be back every Saturday and I look forward to it. For everything related to the show, please click here.

Another show, another scare, though this time it had nothing to do with setting up a live remote. As I began to exit my vehicle to head into the studio last Saturday, I suddenly realized that I had the set of keys that did not have my station key. Doh!

When you are less than 45 minutes from a live radio show, this is somewhat harrowing. My mind was racing through the options. I knew that I could get back home and be back right around show time at 6pm. Not a good option, as I was preparing to work with a new producer and still needed to iron out a few things pre-show.

Thankfully, Producer John had a key and we were good to go. It looks like John and I will be able to work together for awhile, so this is exciting as I have had five different show producers in 13 weeks. That has attributed to most of the mistakes and loss of continuity. But things are looking brighter moving forward – though I still need to make more money doing this!

We had a brief delay at the show’s onset as this was John’s first live solo show, and we needed to work out the proper live channels and settings. No worries … My first segment commentary focused on wrapping up my point of view regarding the LeBron James situation, encouraging listeners to check out my top two LBJ videos (his 55-point and 56-point games) and then switching all discussion to the Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat.

The final two segments featured interviews with Miami Heat writer Surya Fernandez from hothothoops.com and Miami Heat writer David Dwork from peninsulaismighier.com. We broke down the historic free agent signings, how the Heat roster is shaping up and whether head coach Erik Spoelstra is well-suited to handle this team. We also talked quite a bit about Pat Riley, the Miami team president. Consider Riley’s achievements:

– Head coach on 5 championship teams, and an assistant on another
– NBA Coach of the Year three times
- -Head coach in the NBA All-Star Game nine times
– Named one of 10 greatest coaches in the NBA history in 1996
– As a player, he played for the Lakers’ championship team in 1972

Lots of good content last week, and having a dedicated producer who is excited about this NBA show will help minimize any problems and I look forward to show No. 14 this week.

I nailed it! Well, that may be a huge exaggeration, but it was most likely the best show that I have produced so far. I feel that the progress I’ve made in three months is ok, especially considering my lack of any formal broadcasting training. Though if you consider how much I’ve spent consuming talk radio and other sports-related commentary over the past 30 years, perhaps I have been subconsciously training for this all along.

The stunning reality of LeBron James leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers was not only the biggest story of last week, it was the biggest free agent decision in NBA history and really struck a nerve for me, as an NBA fan. I broke down this landmark decision in the show’s opening, and then followed up with an enlightening interview in segment two with Cavaliers writer Mark Cameron, who runs numbersdont.com and is active with the Cavaliers fan site realcavsfans.com as well.

The third segment touched on how I am shifting my day-to-day devotion now to the Oklahoma City Thunder, and I interviewed the talented and well-informed OKC Thunder writer Royce Young, of the dailythunder.com. We spoke in great detail about how awesome and refreshing Kevin Durant is, including how he handled his five-year free agent extension with such grace and loyalty. It is such an enormous contrast to the James fiasco. You can listen to this show by visiting the audio archives right here.

Quick Cardinals Thought

Now that we have reached the All-Star Break, I’ll attempt to write about the Cardinals every once in awhile. Something that I came across yesterday was very interesting. As most Cards fans have noticed, Albert Pujols has been swinging at more balls, and swinging and missing more in general. Or, so it seems based on raw observation.

Research done through fangraphs.com indicates that Pujols has a chase rate of 28.5% this season (28.5% of his swings have been on pitches out of the strike zone). His previous career high was 22.9 percent last season, and before that 22.8 percent in 2003.

A further look at his plate discipline indicates that Pujols’ O-Swing% rating (Percentage of pitches a batter swings at outside the strike zone) has roughly approximated the league average for the past 10 years. What stood out to me from this message board post is that the league-wide O-Swing% rating is 12% higher this season than in ‘04.

Not sure if the strike zone has changed, umpiring has changed or if batters are over-adjusting to better pitching.

Pujols also is always well above the league average in O-Contact% numbers (Percentage of times a batter makes contact with the ball when swinging at pitches thrown outside the strike zone). As this article states, “This might explain his spectacular success with RISP this year and last, though he gets little to hit in such situations.”

It is a little past time for an update concerning the At the Buzzer radio show, so I am eager to get everyone caught up with the latest happenings. Now, “everyone” may be defined by family, friends and several listeners – or, perhaps, it is actually a mix of my brother, random Facebook fans and my cats. Who knows …

I’ll briefly run down the past two weeks, but did want to mention the latest news concerning the sale of KSLG to Grand Slam Sports. The sale was made official last week (on 6.29.10) and the station is now called Sports Radio 1380 (rather than Team 1380), but not much else has yet to change.

Since I am a weekend radio guy, I don’t get involved in the weekday lineup changes and content too much. But despite some shifting, everyone can still be heard on either KFNS 590 or Sports Radio 1380 (owned by same company) and it remains to be seen how many of the weekend shows will be retained. It has been confirmed with the new ownership that my show can continue, so the only changes in the short-term is that I may switch to an earlier Saturday time slot.

That would be a good thing, in terms of raising the show’s profile, internship and even utilizing the stronger daytime signal. There are some financial challenges regarding purchasing of my air time, but I feel the show will survive the summer and be positioned well to get a significant boost in mid-October as the season draws near.

The last of my initial 10-show run at The Post Sports Bar & Grill in historic, downtown Maplewood went down on 6.26.10. The place has served as a wonderful host, and I look forward to a long-term relationship with them. I discussed the 2010 NBA Draft, and spoke about how it was not very exciting after the top five selections.

I mentioned there was a five-year age gap between the top pick (John Wall) and the fourth pick (Wesley Johnson) and how we might as well turn the page quickly to the upcoming free agent frenzy. I interviewed New Jersey Nets writer Sebastian Pruiti from Nets Are Scorching and also local legend and basketball expert Earl Austin Jr.

Earl gave a great interview, but was at a basketball tournament and there were a couple moments of audio challenges. But I really appreciated his time.

The entire experience of episode 11 was unique in that it was my first show from the radio station studio. To sit in the same studio that has hosted so many radio shows was really cool for me, and the setting on Laclede’s Landing during a Cardinals home baseball game and downtown July 4th celebration was spectacular. The studio is on the second floor of its building, so gazing upon the fun-loving, frolicking and boozy crowds was a blast. The view of the Mississippi River from the other side of the building was awesome as well.

Given that traffic was likely to be horrendous, my wife graciously offered to take me to the show. Surprisingly, traffic was not an issue. It was sweet to not have to deal with the struggle of setting up a live remote by myself, which poses a problem mainly because of the driving involved – and increased likelihood of a technical problem.

I began with a lengthy commentary regarding LeBron James’ free agency, why he is staying in Cleveland (or, at least, should) and then shifted to solid interviews with Cavaliers writer Mark Cameron (numbersdon’t.com and cavstheblog.com) and Dallas Mavericks writer Rob Mahoney from thetwomangame.com.

Mark covered the hiring of Byron Scott, and the free agency situation while Rob gave us updates regarding Dirk Nowitzki’s free agency and recent NBA news. Both writers went in-depth on what is happening with their teams, and we discussed the fascinating role that digital media is playing in the free agency frenzy.

Great job by producer Marcus Evans in the studio, and please try to tune in this Saturday at 6pm. All show audio archives can be found here: www.briandoolittle.com.

Tags: NBA, NBA radio show

It is always difficult to listen to yourself speak, and few people would argue that point. Listening to oneself speak at length is even harder, but I am hearing improvement in my vocal delivery, so that is encouraging. Still, every time I stumble over my words or make any mistake, it is pretty damn aggravating. I can always do much better, and hopefully I am headed down the proper path.

After a few listens, I am overall pleased with this show. My brother, Brad, was in St. Louis and able to help me carry and set up my equipment. With my now two-year-old’s birthday being the day after my radio show, I also had my mom and her husband in town and at The Post Sports Bar & Grill in downtown Maplewood for the show. Once again, there was another storm rolling through on my way from the radio station downtown, but we arrived just in the nick of time. We walked through some light sprinkles and entered The Post right before a thunder storm passed by.

It was a quiet atmosphere when I arrived, and that made my show setup and final preparation smooth and simple. The show started at 6:04 as a long commercial break needed to conclude prior to the show’s opening theme song, Shakedown Street. I ran over a few minutes, so it was still over 60 minutes of show with only two breaks. Lots of content.

Besides fitting in so much basketball talk, I was pleased with the sound, both in my live monitors (headphones) and what went out on the air. I had no delay in my ear, and that makes such an enormous difference. I wish it was like that every week, but it may just be an issue with using older equipment. Plus, I’ve had four different producers in nine weeks, so there is bound to be some inconsistency. My producer this week, Marcus, did a fantastic job which helped me deliver something close to what I planned.

The opening commentary weaved around the conclusion of the NBA Finals, along with news and notes from the week. I also touched on the World Cup as this event is huge in the St. Louis market, and also with three games preceding the show it’s worth an update.

The final two segments featured one last NBA Finals wrap from Jason Riley of thelakersnation.com (among other outlets) and we checked in with NBA expert and basketball author Bradford Doolittle from The Basketball Prospectus.

For complete show audio and information, please click here.

Looking ahead, we’ll break down the NBA Draft this week, and start looking ahead at the free agency frenzy that will go down over the next few weeks. Eager to get to episode No. 10!

For the second straight week, the show was not plagued by any technical issues. However, there were a few moments of concern during setup as a wicked thunderstorm blew through St. Louis in the hour proceeding the show. That made for a scary drive from Laclede’s Landing (where the studio is located) to The Post, but I arrived intact and dry with all of my equipment. My phone connection was in and out for awhile, but luckily stayed firm the entire show.

Now, you talk about a crazy scene: I walked into The Post and the place was just wild! Last Saturday was the first day of World Cup, and The Post is a real hotbed for soccer enthusiasts.  Of course, that means very early drinking and that fact was pretty obvious as the mood was beyond celebratory. That was cool with me; I’m just lucky that things wound down around 530 or 6, just in time for me to do my show amid a more mellow atmosphere. I met lots of people and the partiers were very interested to check out what I was doing, which is great.

I was working with my third different producer in eight shows, but it went really well. There was a slight mixup with the theme music, but producer Travis Greene made sure music was played as needed, then did a great job of playing bits from (Grateful Dead) Ripple and Touch of Grey in the show’s second half. The communication and show flow was solid, as that can be tricky when you have various audio clips, live commercial spots in between the dialogue, and an always fluctuating show schedule.

What made this show was my 28-minute interview with Saint Louis head basketball coach Rick Majerus. He was very generous with his time and talked in-depth about the NBA and the players he has sent to the NBA from his various college teams. Majerus is the coach who gave Glenn “Doc” Rivers his nickname, and he told that story and touched on the upcoming season at SLU, among other topics. The show wrapped up with more great insight from Jason Riley from thelakersnation.com. Jason goes a good job of expressing the tone and consciousness of Lakers Nation.

The next show will wrap up the NBA Finals, and look ahead at what is on the horizon in the NBA landscape. For more information and complete show audio, please click here.

Tags: NBA, NBA radio show

Before I review last week’s show, I want to mention Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg. I may not be able to add anything to the media’s coverage, but will say that was the most riveting individual performance I’ve ever seen in a MLB debut. I was very thankful that MLB Network aired this game (HD!) and will never forget how the excitement was crazy before the game, during the game and did not let up until that penultimate finish. It was both surreal and an affirmation that this is a special player, kind of like when LeBron James played really well in his NBA debut.

Out of all of the stats, what stood out to me was the SS struck out 14 of the 16 batters who faced a two-strike count against him. He set a Nats single-game K record! Considering that he mowed down eight of the final 10 batters, it will be very difficult for Washington to stay so conservative with his pitch counts and innings. At least they let him pitch the 7th as that really capped off this wonderful event. Strasburg and Bryce Harper on the same team will be fascinating (in two or three years).

Episode 7 will be remembered (by me, probably no one else)  as my first show that had no glaring technical issues, problems with background noise and went as scripted. That being said, when no major problems arise then the show has to judged by its content and my own performance. Nothing else to blame if I fail to deliver a quality NBA radio show. But, I feel it was a solid show as there was a lot of information delivered and each guest had plenty of insight into both NBA Finals teams.

My technical setup for the show went quickly, and I actually kind of enjoy setting up the remote broadcast as by then the show is prepared  – and it helps keep me busy and away from my notes and laptop for about 20 minutes. My friend, Jeremy, helped out which allowed me an opportunity to fine tune the setup.

My vocals were pretty clear and the background noise was limited, which provided a much cleaner show than previous episodes. Still not great, but I need to be in the studio to have the sound mastered. For a radio remote using old equipment, it was ok. My opening 13 minutes of commentary seemed to flow well enough and I did not go off track too much. I was able to go over recent news and notes while setting the show scene and flowing nicely into the following interview segments.

I was pleased with the interviews with Jason Riley from thelakersnation.com and also Brian Robb from celticshub.com.  These guys represent their respective fan bases very effectively while being able to not be too influenced by their devotion. Just good, solid basketball minds.

Good thing that I was pleased with the show because my family had a nearly three-hour drive later that night to visit family near the Lake of the Ozarks, and I had the show already on my iPod. It was more a pleasure to hear and review than some of the rough broadcasts I’ve had. Slowly getting there …

To listen to last week’s show, please visit briandoolittle.com.

Other than a brief audio error in the first segment, this show was relatively smooth in terms of technical production. The audio levels were not consistent throughout the show, but  that was because The Post was a little crowded at times around my broadcast area, plus I was playing audio clips that varied in volume levels.

Though I have successfully scratched the surface at doing live radio, that is about the extent of my progress. I am not disparaging my performance, just admitting that I have a long way to go to be polished in this realm. Not having prior broadcasting experience is a bit of a hindrance in that regard. Though I am pleased with things from the large perspective. After all, I still have the show after two months!

The past two weeks have been a smooth setup as the phone line has connected with ease, the one variable I can’t always control. On a side note, all of my equipment smells like stale grease. It is rather gross, and displeases me. Why is this the case? The Team 1380 studios are located about Show Me’s, where the deep fryers are usually at work conjuring up unhealthy badness for drinkers busy staring at the servers.

I experienced a little traffic trouble leaving Laclede’s Landing due to the holiday congestion, but nothing too bad. The 10 minutes it cost me were made up by my quick setup. I feel my opening 12 minutes could have been stronger, mainly with the microphone levels and a few weak vocal deliveries on my behalf. We played two solid interviews that I was able to pre-record as a method to preview last Saturday night’s Game 6 between the Suns and Lakers, which followed my show. That was a good plan, and it worked well. No chance for live mishaps, plus these guys were busy with the game, so pre-recording was a nice move. For the Suns, we had Seth Pollack from brightsideoftehsun.com and representing the Lakers we had Jason Riley from thelakersnation.com.

As we have only one series left to break down and analyze, the information is becoming more specialized, and I’m able to catch up listeners on recent news and notes in the first segment, something that I enjoy. I am still plagued by the demise of the Cavaliers, and really wanted two Game 7s in the conference finals, but life seems to have progressed forward.

Following episode No. 6, we enjoyed dinner at Schlafly Bottleworks and saw the band Speakeasy for awhile, and they rocked it good. They played The Changeling by The Doors, which was a nice surprise.

So, we’ll cover the Finals for two weeks, and turn toward the NBA Draft.

Feel free to make fun of me and listen to the show at www.briandoolittle.com.

After each show that I have done, I expect input ranging from “Man, that was probably the worst radio show I’ve ever heard” … to “Dude, you nailed it! That sounded awesome.”

With the truth lying smack in the middle, and, to be honest, probably leaning toward the negative from someone with a neutral point-of-view that is an honest radio critic, I’ve learned to simplify this process. Every week, there are problems and I just try to address them as best as I can. So far, I have encountered a nearby tornado, unexpected Cardinals-related traffic jams, phone line connection problems and, last week, problems with guests being transferred to my live connection. Also, albeit briefly, I experienced a relatively smooth show (episode 3) in the early afternoon.

I tried a new setup for No. 5 and it allowed room for bar patrons to be behind me. Not a wise move. Though you can hear me, the noise pollution is a bit amplified, like in episode 1. After gathering a lot of information via trial and error, and more error, I feel that I am ready for a smooth sixth show with reduced crowd noise, clearer vocal and a revamped interview-delivery system that will take the pressure off of these live scenarios.

Last week, I went deep into the Delonte West rumors, the intrigue related to Amare Stoudemire’s mother and her 29.5 (yes, 29.5) arrests and attempts to clean her life up, and played the first half of my interview with DeMarre Carroll. I analyzed each conference semifinal series and tried to have a lot of fun with the fact my last two guests could not be piped through to me on live radio. I think I handled it ok, but there is some seriously awkward radio moments. Though I take this radio show with a great degree of sincerity, I try to maintain the point of view that becoming unhinged or aggravated will not help anything at all. Plus, that stuff can be let out afterward.

Feel free to make fun of me and listen to the show at www.briandoolittle.com.

Tags: NBA, radio show