BBC Radio 5Live tonight the massive gap in quality between football's former pro yes men and their rugby union counterparts.
While Steve Claridge, Perry Groves, Pat Nevin, Mark Lawrenson et al have landed cushy media gigs specialising in saying not much more than the bleedin' obvious, the ever combative former England prop, Brian Moore (left) flew the flag for no-nonsense-say-it-as-it-is-and-damn-the-consequences punditry.
He's an intelligent man who in commentary can disappear up his own ass with self importance, but when it comes to calling it as it is and perhaps alienating sacred cows or former colleagues, he's fearless.
Tonight was magnificent. He laid the failings of England at the world cup bare: 'They were truculent from the start and they had no friends,' 'Martin Johnson was never comfortable dealing with the media, but he's the England manager, that's his job,' 'Martin Johnson wasn't tactically experienced enough or qualified for being head coach.'
The best moment came when it was noted that Nick Mallett, the outgoing Italy coach had decided to turn down England to go back to South Africa to spend time with his family. Moore added: "And in parenthesis: I wouldn't deal with that shower."
Apart from anything else, when was the last time you heard Steve Claridge or Jason Roberts use the word parenthesis?
Unlike the picture illustrating this post, Moore's never toothless in his punditry and remains a cut above.
Gary Moore was one of a triumvirate of great Irish bluesmen, including Van Morrison and Rory Gallagher. Alas, after his recent death, we are left with only the first now. Here is in his pomp playing with BB King and listen to the touching and intelligent tribute from Bob Geldof on BBC Radio 5Live's breakfast show last Monday.
Lloyd Cole was on the BBC Radio 5Live mid-morning show's music review section today and the peerless Radcliffe and Maconie on BBC Radio 2 this evening.
He was promoting his new record, Broken Record, which was financed by fans through his brilliant website. 'Writer's Retreat' is the first single from it - it's not really a single - but it's the one he has chosen to film a promo for.
For my money it is the closest album he has recorded to 1995's Love Story, my favourite of his. (See GMs passim) Crucially his voice gets better as the years go on and he gets even more wry, which is, in the parlance of modern girls the world over, 'a good thing'.
I've filleted the section from Radio 5 below, the longer Radcliffe and Maconie session will follow when I have time to edit it.
THE king is back on primetime radio this September - years late - but let's salute Danny Baker nonetheless. He's taking over the 9am Saturday morning slot that Eamonn Holmes has made a no go zone with his twin inabilities of not being able to read from a script written by the producer or finish a sentence without the words 'so it is.' It seems BBC Radio 5 controllers have finally worked out that if you want quality radio you hire radio innovators with an inate feel for the medium rather than TV personalities with so-called cross platform appeal. For this witness the welcoming back of Christian O'Connell while the lamentable radio presences of Holmes and 606's Tim Lovejoy are out the door. (Just Donal McIntyre and Gabby Logan left, the latter is great on TV but so lamentable of a Sunday morning on 5 Live that it's enough to unlapse the most lapsed of Catholic mass goers.) But Baker's recent sojourn on the Tuesday night 606 Pirate Ship football phone-in (which finished tonight) was a bright, shining beacon of inventive, funny, interactive radio delight. Baker has always had the ability to conjur radio gold from the smallest of thoughts - what's the wierdest place you've played football*? What are the wierdest things you've used for goals?** What's the most dangerous thing you've ever got into a ground?*** Do you know anyone whose name sounds like a football club?**** Anyone who listens to his Radio London show every day on the net will know how he keeps a cast of returning callers (Keithy Baby et al)and letters from across the globe spinning like plates above his head. Even those of us from outside the capital - hey Beeb there are some of us - are interested in the minutiae of life inside the M25. His encyclopedic knowledge of rock, befitting an old punk NME hack, saw him get his mate Teletext Alex to do renditions of Bohemian Rhapsody and Slade's Merry Christamas Everyone with every lyric changed to footballers' names.
However, this series, one of his hardy annual questions,(you get used to them after years as a member of the Baker Treehouse listening to his dog and pony shows) got an incredible response. He asked have you ever stolen anything from a football ground and got a story about someone who lifted former Swindon keeper Fraser Digby's tortoise shell comb from his washbag. He said let's get someone to write a song about that and 29 weeks later a host a parody songs with the title Fraser Digby's Washbag in title were the crowning glory of a show which may have saved the 606 from the banalities of a London-based Liverpool fans calling for Rafa Benitez's head while Alan Green goes off on a sanctimonious rant under the misapprehension that anyone gives a monkey's what he thinks. Even Mark Lawson discussed it on Radio 4 as did The Word magazine massive.
Oh that radio is always this good, luckily I've now got about a hundred hours of podcasts featuring the Baker which I can listen to over and over again. (Most of the most glorious examples come from an ill-fated attempt at making money from podcasting with the ill-fated download operation Wippit a year or so ago, free downloads here.) For the motherload of Baker and Danny Kelly's brilliant TalkSport shows from more than 10 years ago (I used to rush home from reporting on Tranmere to hear them) go to this site (more than a 1gb though) to download. I don't want to let light in on magic but when Danny tugs your coat tail, it's worth listening. The 606 podcasts can be downloaded at iTunes, all 30 hours, you lucky, lucky people. Roll on 9am on September 5.
* Columbian jungle with cocaine as the lines ** Dead lions *** An antique blunderbuss and a set of chef's knives **** Debbie County
BBC Radio 5Live tonight the massive gap in quality between football's former pro yes men and their rugby union counterparts.
