Three Twin Cities Shows In Talkers’ Heavy Hundred of Sports Talk

There are plenty of people who think sports talk radio is nothing more than a wasteland of bloviating nitwit columnists, clueless ex-jocks and guys like Jim Rome who put edgy schtick above substance. Such people will probably not be interested in a list of the 100 most influential sports talk radio shows in the country. For the rest of you, check out Talkers.com’s Heavy Hundred.

Those who listen to Twin Cities talk radio will recognize several of the names. KFAN personality Dan Barreiro does the best among Minneapolis yakkers, finishing #38 on the list. Bump’s partner in crime Dan “The Common Man” Cole follows fairly close behind at #52. Both Dans’ inclusions on the list will come as a shock to those who don’t consider either of their shows to be true sports talk shows, since they dare to occasionally move outside the toy department (and in Cole’s case, outside of any known reality entirely).

Outside KFAN, the only Twin Cities show to place in the 100 is 1500 ESPN’s Reusse & Mackey at #63. Full disclosure: I’ve never listened to the Reusse and Mackey show. I do enjoy Reusse on Twitter and used to like his segments on The Common Man as Our Patrick. Barreiro does a solid show and has for years, while Cole it seems to me has slipped a bit since they started forcing him into more of a structured situation. Obviously KFAN doesn’t get what makes Cole entertaining. I predict he’ll last another year before they replace him, probably with that Russo guy from The Star-Trib.

Actually, the most interesting thing about the list from a Twin Cities perspective may be who’s NOT on it. No Paul Allen. Is this a reflection of Allen’s perceived severe homerism or is it just that people find his schtick sort of grating? I don’t know. I barely listen to him myself even during the football season. As for Judd Zulgad and Tom Pelissero…I guess those guys are too new on the scene to yet be on the radar screens of the people at Talkers.com. That’ll change next year I’m sure. Uh-huh.

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