Great, great moment on WIP last night, showing once again that Howard Eskin should never be taken seriously as an authority on anything, by anyone.
Eskin, likely still smarting from the news that his bid to become GM of the Phillies has failed, was discussing Pat Gillick's introductory press conference with fellow host Glen Macnow, during the five-minute overlap between the end of Eskin's show and the start of Macnow's. They got to talking about what the Phils are going to do with Jim Thome, leading into this exchange (I'm paraphrasing, as I heard it in the car, but I'm sure it's close to exact):
Eskin: Maybe he should go to Minnesota. They don't have much media there, it's pretty small and there's only one newspaper.So there you have it. Eskin has covered pro sports for something like two decades, has likely traveled to the Twin Cities area at least a few times for games, yet he thinks the city of Minneapolis is called "Minnesota," he has no idea that Minneapolis and St. Paul are the Twin Cities, and he isn't aware that, like Philly, the Cities have two newspapers, a regional sports network, and a 24-hour sports radio station. But other than that, no, not much media.Macnow (dumbfounded): Well, uh, actually they have the Star Tribune, which is a pretty big paper, and also the St. Paul paper, the Pioneer Press...
Eskin: Really? How close to Minnesota is St. Paul?
Macnow (probably banging his head on the table): Uh, Minneapolis and St. Paul are right next to each other, they're the Twin Cities.
Other than that, great segment. And yes, I was exactly right about the talk-show callers being unhappy with the Gillick hiring. I mean, who cares that he has two World Series rings and has won everywhere he's been? He's not a local guy!
Posted by Stephen Silver at November 3, 2005 10:26 AMIf I recall correctly, Eskin once suited up for a half-time stunt in goal at a Philadelphia Wings lacrosse game. I think they had some Flyers or former Flyers take some shots at him.
The hockey guys, being Canadian, eh, had also played indoor lacrosse, and had a blast whipping the ball at his head, his nuts, etc. Eskin probably never even put the Canadian/lacrosse thing together until it was too late!
Eskin was pretty pissed off from what I hear, but the players had been waiting for their 'shot' at him for a while.
Posted by: lutton at November 3, 2005 11:20 AM