Over the past few weeks we have learned that several Ravens’ players will be hosting their own new radio shows. You can rest assured the MW will get around to reviewing all of them during the season and leading off is “The Big Show with J.O.â€
I tuned into the show and told myself before hand to not let it bother me the co-host was Anita Marks. If you are a regular listener to Ms. Marks’ daily show on 1300 ESPN radio you already know how frequently she goes off on non-sports related tangents. I was pleasantly surprised her bad habit did not make an appearance the night I tuned in.
The opening segment was very smooth as Ogden and Marks discussed nothing but football related topics that included the post season hangover from the playoff loss to the Colts and how a veteran can still get nervous at the start of a game. I could hear the excitement in Ogden’s voice and he seemed comfortable speaking with Marks.
I expected the status of Ogden’s toe injury to be a topic and Marks wasted little time in probing for an explanation. I thought the timing here was good and JO gave a fairly detailed update from a medical perspective, while walking a fine line of not actually stating if he would start in week one.
When speaking about former teammate Jamal Lewis, Ogden gave some insight that he was not happy about Lewis being let go. This is the first I heard of this and kudos to Marks for getting JO to be honest about this topic.
Later Ogden discussed how it can be difficult for a new player, like Willis McGahee, to pick up a new offensive system. I liked how JO made it clear the learning process comes from the terminology used, not the fact teams run many different plays from system to system. The flow here was good and Marks let Ogden just take the topics and run without interrupting….again, nice job by Marks.
My only tiny complaint in the first segment is that Marks can’t mention McGahee without repeating the fact she covered his college playing days at the U. of Miami. I don’t listen to Marks’ show that much, but I have heard this tidbit mentioned by her at least 20 times since April…enough already.
The second segment led off with JO giving a profile of each of the other starting offensive linemen. Ogden also gave some good insight on rookies Ben Grubbs and Jared Gaither. On Gaither, Ogden said he is not ready for the NFL level yet. This made me wonder what the Ravens coaching staff thinks and I hope Marks does a follow up on this sometime during the season.
The phone lines were opened up after the break and I must say Marks and Ogden were excellent with the callers. The flow was solid, the questions were answered and the topic was kept to football the whole time save a tiny tangent on Ogden’s party habits at UCLA. The best question was about how often Steve McNair calls an audible during the game. In my mind I was thinking about 35%; Ogden said it was more like 50%. This topic would be great to revisit during the season after each game and hopefully Marks will keep it in the mix.
Hats off to Marks and Ogden for their first show…hopefully her shows with Ray Lewis and Willis McGahee will also be just as good.
Grade: B+
Bart Scott goes old school on video games – The gut-buster award this week goes to Ravens linebacker Bart Scott for his comment on how long kicker Matt Stover has been in the NFL. During his Hot Sauce Show this past Tuesday Scott said , “Stover has been in the NFL so long he was a player on Tecmo Bowl.â€
ESPN The Magazine scores with its NFL preview issue: Do yourself a favor if you are an NFL football fan and go buy the September 10th issue. The team previews are lean and slick and I especially liked the “A Scout Says†section. The insight on each team from an opposing, anonymous scout was super stuff and I found myself reading the previews for every team, not just the Ravens.
