- 5 months ago
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00:00All right, I got a question for you.
00:01All of you angry Bay Area sports fans.
00:05Or is that just a perception because we work in sports radio?
00:08I don't know.
00:08It's all relative, like our anger relative to Philly anger or New York anger or other market anger.
00:14Yeah, a lot of people wake up angry, especially when it's cold or when it's not cold anymore, it gets too hot.
00:20Like, that's what's so, that's why California is such a hack.
00:24You know, you go to some of these other, and there's great cities.
00:26I love Chicago, for example, but it's like snowing, and then it stops snowing, and it's 1,000 degrees.
00:31And 100% humidity.
00:32Yeah, you can't breathe.
00:34And you're just like, when is it good?
00:35So I get it if you wake up angry because you're like, oh, I have to shovel my car out so that I can go somewhere.
00:43I get it.
00:44But from a sports perspective, I think there is an inherent bias, is there not?
00:50All fans tend to think that what's going on with their teams is kind of worse than what it is.
00:56There's always somebody out there more miserable.
01:00Is that fair?
01:01There should be.
01:02I mean, if you really take a step back as a Bay Area sports fan, why are you so mad?
01:08Unless you're a prisoner of the moment guy, and yeah, the Giants losing 11 to nothing.
01:13Did they score?
01:14They scored one.
01:15They got one.
01:1511 to one.
01:16Each day, they got one.
01:17Which is kind of cool.
01:18Not really.
01:19Nope.
01:19But you can look at the small sample and be outraged.
01:22Absolutely.
01:23In the Giants, it's been more than just a few games or a series, and so you can feel some type of way.
01:28But if you have a larger perspective, I think that you would be less unhappy than many other fan bases that don't even ever get a sniff of what you've had.
01:38Well, and the only way to sort of measure that is to kind of put it out, right?
01:41Put it out to the world.
01:43Put it out to an objective space that's covering all of the spaces.
01:47So, for example, I'll sit there with you right now in the sandbox of, I'm really upset about Giants baseball.
01:55We might be upset about different things.
01:58You might be over on one side being like, the farm system, and this is just like the execution is terrible, and all of that.
02:05And I look at it a little bit differently where it's like, hey, ownership is spending, and so you don't have one of the teams that's not trying.
02:14So that's good.
02:16Their execution hasn't been right.
02:17And what I'm mad about is just sort of the day-to-day functionality of it.
02:22There's not enough sports that I care about in the month of August now.
02:27There are not enough sporting events that I care about.
02:29And I'm shocked, actually, the one team right now that's giving me games where I care about the outcome this month, the Valkyries.
02:38That's it.
02:39That's it.
02:40The Warriors don't play, the Niners games aren't real, and the Giants games have been ruined.
02:47So that's frustrating to me because this is what I do, and this is what we love to do on a nightly basis.
02:53We do our show, and then we go home, and we lock in.
02:57And I can't jock in when, like, all you're doing is striking out and then looking forlorn in the clubhouse afterward.
03:09I don't know.
03:10I don't know.
03:11Or taking a pitch and bat-flipping thinking that you've got to walk.
03:13Good grief.
03:14And you've got to go get your back because it's now 3-2.
03:16So, like, I get that disappointment and anger, but obviously the ESPN Sports Misery Index is designed to get more of an overarching global feel to how you're doing as a sports fan right now in your market.
03:33So I think we'd love to hear from some of you with regard to how miserable are you or how not miserable are you.
03:44And I guess you can, you know, for us, we talk largely about the Niners, Giants, and Warriors, but you can put whatever teams you want into this.
03:52If you're a big Sharks fan, if you've got something out of market, you're still a Raiders fan, A's fan, whatever.
03:55But how would you answer this?
03:59The ESPN Sports Misery Index is broken up into five categories to rate your misery.
04:06Okay?
04:08The bottom, so the bottom fifth is woeful.
04:12The lowest of low.
04:14We wouldn't wish this one on anyone, almost anyone.
04:18Okay?
04:19The next lowest one is flailing.
04:21Some teams have it worse, but it might take a minute to think of them.
04:27Then the one in the middle is meh.
04:31That's what it's called.
04:33Meh.
04:34Feeling somewhat ambivalent, you find yourself looking up at your rivals.
04:39Next one, pleasant.
04:41Your teams are competitive, but there could be more.
04:45And then there's the top, which is elated.
04:47This is the top 20% of the whole board, elated.
04:52You remember your last championship like it was yesterday, because it basically was.
04:58So, woeful, flailing, meh, pleasant, or elated.
05:04Where would you put yourself on Bay Area sports right now?
05:07Right now, in this moment, probably meh.
05:09I would say that I'm meh.
05:12The Giants are a disappointment.
05:14Granny and I did the whole thing that you like to talk about, expectations versus hope.
05:20And when you were gone and we did the show, I was firmly in the expectations camp.
05:24I expected them to make the playoffs.
05:26And, well, not now.
05:27That was a disappointment.
05:29The 49ers, I think they could have a 10 or 11 win season.
05:32But they're coming off a six-piece, and that's not great.
05:35And the Warriors, even though I think they can be a good team,
05:40I don't think that they're going to be a championship team.
05:42And if I put the over-under that I did before on four-and-a-half playoff wins,
05:47this upcoming playoffs, which is now still nine months away,
05:50I probably would take the under in this moment.
05:53So, I'm meh.
05:54Well, I guessed.
05:55This is how the misery index works.
05:58You guess, like, how you're feeling right now.
06:01So, you would vote meh.
06:03I voted pleasant.
06:04So, I voted not in the top 20%, but in the next 20%.
06:08You voted in the middle.
06:10And you're kind of guessing, because then what it does is it takes you to a board
06:13and it says, tell us who your teams are, and tell us how long you've been a fan.
06:18So, I wrote in the Giants, the 49ers, and the Warriors,
06:23and I've been a fan for 15-plus years.
06:26And it spits out, like it does the metrics,
06:30and it spits out a rating for your overall fandom.
06:33And, again, you want lower numbers than high.
06:37It's like golf.
06:38So, if you're 80 or above, it's terrible.
06:41If you're between 60 and 80, blah, blah, blah.
06:43You guessed that you should be between 40 and 60.
06:47I guessed that we should be between 20 and 40.
06:50And the sports misery rating for the Niners, Giants, and Warriors together right now
06:55is 35.
06:57We are in the pleasant range.
07:00Quote, this is a pretty good place to be.
07:04You haven't faced too tough of a road.
07:07You're probably one title away from truly rarefied air.
07:12And then it gives ratings for each individual team.
07:16Would you believe that right now, the San Francisco Giants,
07:21in all of baseball, rate third from the lowest misery rating in the entire league?
07:30I would, based on the fact that they are basing it on your fandom,
07:35which is 15 plus years.
07:36And 15 years ago, they won the World Series for the first of three times.
07:39Right.
07:40Correct.
07:40So, if you would have put in, I've been a fan for five years,
07:43your misery index would have been dramatically different.
07:45But I think they're also rating the fact that,
07:47Dan, you've had multiple playoff appearances since then.
07:50You are in the top 10 in payroll.
07:53Again, only the Astros and Dodgers right now rank sort of as less miserable
08:01than being a Giants fan.
08:03I don't think it'll surprise you that if you go to the NBA,
08:06the Golden State Warriors are the least miserable fan base in the entire sport.
08:11Yeah.
08:11Absolutely.
08:12Number one.
08:13We have a misery rating of zero.
08:16Yeah, for those of us who've been here for 15 plus.
08:18Or three.
08:19Yeah.
08:20Well.
08:21Right?
08:21I'm going to go through the misery index and see if it changes
08:24based on a fandom of a much shorter period of time.
08:28Because I think that's the interesting part for me with the Giants is 15 plus years
08:33and you've been a fan for 40 plus years.
08:36I get that.
08:37I'm right there with you.
08:38But if you're a new Giants fan, your misery is a little bit different.
08:44If you're maybe a 24-year-old transplant from another place
08:48and you're just finding baseball, I'm a Giants fan.
08:51And you've been a fan for five years,
08:53your misery is much higher than it would be for you or I.
08:56Well, for instance, we know we've had a lot of talks with even people in this building.
09:00If you're 30 or 35 years old,
09:02your misery index for the 49ers might be off the charts
09:05because you keep getting teased and you've never had the ring.
09:09Like, look at Granny.
09:09Look at his face.
09:10He's miserable.
09:11He's absolutely miserable.
09:13I've never seen him so miserable.
09:14Miserable about the 49ers.
09:16You and I are not miserable about the 49ers.
09:18We've experienced probably more championship rings
09:20than any team in football outside of the Patriots.
09:23But because it's been a while, even though there have been multiple trips to the Super Bowl,
09:28because it's been a while, the Niners misery index sits at 25th.
09:33Broncos, Seahawks, Bucs, Rams, Chiefs, Patriots, Eagles have lower misery ratings than the 49ers.
09:41The bottom line is, even if you haven't been a fan for that long,
09:45the Bay Area Sports Misery Index right now is incredibly low.
09:53You have three teams and none of them are basically in the top 25
09:57of miserable rated teams within their own sport.
10:03So, we're kind of spoiled.
10:06We're big time spoiled.
10:07We're kind of spoiled.
10:08We're big time spoiled.
10:09And I ran the numbers before about, since 2000, how many finals, Super Bowl, World Series appearances
10:16do you have in your market?
10:19And our market, the Bay Area, is third.
10:22And that is not even including the A's.
10:24And I guess the A's haven't been there since 2000.
10:27But I ran it for just San Francisco, Niners, Giants, and Warriors.
10:32And you're second only to Boston.
10:34Thank you, Patriots, for carrying the majority of the water there.
10:37And I think New York was the other team.
10:40Was it New York?
10:41I'll find it in my notes.
10:42L.A.?
10:42L.A. was right there.
10:44But, yeah, in the Bay Area, we've had just appearances.
10:48The Niners have the three.
10:50The Warriors have six.
10:52And the Niners have the three, right?
10:55The other way that I look at it also, and I know that I'm not speaking for everyone here at all,
11:01when I get upset about my teams, it's because I think they're being run by morons.
11:07And I don't think we've got any of those right now.
11:10Some of you do.
11:12And you can have an argument, whatever.
11:14But I look at front office play.
11:17I look at ownership support.
11:19I look at money spent.
11:20Yes, they make some bad decisions, just like every company does, for sure.
11:25I'm not saying things are perfect.
11:27I don't think that even exists, quite frankly.
11:29But you have motivated, try-hard, financially bolstered, and largely smart people,
11:37people who have some championship cachet running these three teams.
11:44And so there is some level of comfort there, in my mind.
11:47Definitely, because even the way this Giants season looks like it's going to end,
11:51short of a miracle turnaround, you get in the offseason, and you expect that they'll spend,
11:58they'll try, they're going to run it back and look to improve the team.
12:01They're not just going to go into full rebuild mode.
12:04And even what Shanahan said today about, you know, in the NFL you can never rebuild and stuff,
12:09and, you know, his team, and it's going to be a little different in Week 10,
12:12and they're going to try to win this year, and we know the Warriors are trying to win.
12:16It is L.A. who is ahead of us.
12:19It's Boston 17 appearances since 2000, L.A. 15, and the Bay Area's got 13.
12:26The Giants have four.
12:27I forgot to, I didn't want to mention 2002, but since 2000,
12:32the Giants have appeared in four World Series, the Warriors have six Finals appearances,
12:37and the Niners have three Super Bowl appearances.
12:39And you said L.A. with 17?
12:41L.A. with 15.
12:4215.
12:42You had four Dodgers.
12:44Well, three.
12:44And, well, you had four Dodgers.
12:46Three.
12:47You have four Dodgers.
12:48Three.
12:49You have four Dodgers.
12:51Fine.
12:51Your opinion.
12:52The Lakers have eight, and, you know, you can discount the Lakers one, too,
12:55because it was in Orlando.
12:57No, but they played a full season.
12:58Right.
12:58And then you've got, that would leave three for the Rams, I believe.
13:03The Giants, if it was a 60-game season, would have been in the playoffs this year.
13:06The A's in that same season were a playoff team.
13:0916 teams made the playoffs in that strike year, or the COVID year.
13:13Boxer and Gerson work injury attorneys text line.
13:16There are a handful of people who are Raiders and A's fans who would like to know what their
13:20misery index is on this list.
13:22Fair.
13:22Raiders are fifth most miserable, only less miserable than the Jags, Jets, Browns, and Bears.
13:30And somehow in baseball, I don't agree with this, the A's are eighth.
13:34Somehow Mariners, Pirates, Reds, Angels, Marlins, Rockies, White Sox, more miserable.
13:41I would argue, well, at least those fan bases still have their team.
13:45So actually, to me, that's got to be...
13:48That's part of it, but if you want to go just based on...
13:51And this thing is an algorithm based on track record, as much as anything...
13:55I'll get that.
13:55And Bob Melvin would remind you that they made the playoffs almost every single year.
13:59Totally, totally.
14:00But in this moment, in this moment...
14:03For sure.
14:03I think that fans have been dragged through a pretty awful experience.
14:07All right, let's go out to the phones.
14:09Brian in Walnut Creek.
14:10Hey, Brian, what's going on?
14:12Thank you for calling.
14:12What are you doing?
14:13Hey, guys.
14:15Good to talk to you.
14:16Thanks for taking my call.
14:18Mark, I have an exception to your comment about, well, they're spending, at least they're trying.
14:24I don't agree with you.
14:25And I want to use my hometown, shut it out, Milwaukee Brewers, as an example.
14:30Right.
14:30And just for the record, I was at the first ever game.
14:34It was my senior skip out day.
14:36Thank you very much.
14:36But each year, the Brewers seem to put together one of the best teams in the major leagues.
14:46They do it on a shoestring budget.
14:47They lose their key free agents because they simply can't afford them.
14:51Right now, if you look at ESPN, they rank the top 50 players at the MLB.
14:57Not a single Brewers list.
14:58Right now, if you look at Baseball America, they rank the farm teams.
15:03Brewers are ranked number one.
15:04Look how.
15:05So my point is, rather than spending, do your homework, put together a team that melds together,
15:12that plays hard together, find a coach that gets a message that resonates.
15:17And it's a beautiful thing to witness.
15:20And tell you what, if there is a step above what's the top of the rung of your list, whatever,
15:26if there is one notch above it, that's the whole city of Milwaukee right now.
15:29And I'm not talking about the free birders, by the way.
15:31It's just the excitement.
15:33Every game, the way they're winning is mind-blowing.
15:37I encourage your listeners, if they want to find a fun team to watch other than the local teams,
15:43please watch the Brewers.
15:44They are amazing.
15:45Brian, I love the way they play ball.
15:47They're the fastest team in the bigs.
15:49They've been the best team in the bigs.
15:51So, like you sort of said, like you take exception or disagree.
15:55That's not something I can disagree with.
15:57The Brewers have done a wonderful job.
16:00What I would sort of rebut, though, with is simply the idea that spending,
16:05that does, for many markets in baseball, that does equal trying.
16:11Now, trying is not enough.
16:12You have to do a good job also.
16:15But there are only two teams right now currently in the top ten in baseball payrolls
16:19that are not currently slated for a playoff spot.
16:22And only one of them has the losing record.
16:24I'll let you take one guess on who that is.
16:27That would be the Giants.
16:28So, my question for a while coming into this year with where we've been,
16:33is this ownership actually committed to winning,
16:37or are they committed to making it sound like they're committed to winning?
16:40We're going to miss out on Harper.
16:42We're going to miss out on Judge.
16:43We're going to miss out on Otani, and then we're going to tell you,
16:45but we're right there, coming in second place.
16:48Well, this year, they put their money where their mouth is.
16:51And to a degree, I appreciate that.
16:53I'm not saying it's good enough by any stretch.
16:56But there are so many baseball teams out there that don't do that.
17:01So, that's all I meant by that comment.
17:03I'm not saying the Giants are in great shape by any stretch.
17:06I do appreciate, though, that they have an ownership group that is trying to win.
17:10Right, and the Brewers are also trying to win.
17:13They have three or four guys who make a ton of money.
17:15But beyond that, they've done really well at draft and develop.
17:19And that's where I look at the Giants and think,
17:21okay, Buster, you're coming into year two after this year is over.
17:25That is the task that you're faced with.
17:27You have to find a way to either change out your scouts or change the way that they scout.
17:33Start finding players who, in two to four to five years,
17:37can come up and be Major League impactful players.
17:40Because if you can do both, and the Dodgers have done well at both, traditionally,
17:44finding talent, having them in their system,
17:48and either trading them away for megastars,
17:51or having them come up and be good Major Leaguers,
17:53the Giants haven't really been able to do that.
17:55Let's go to Matt Napa next.
17:56Matt, hey, thank you for calling.
17:58Hey there, guys. Thanks for taking my call.
18:03I just wanted to share this with you.
18:04You mentioned the Misery Index and Oakland fans.
18:07I'm from Oakland.
18:08And I don't feel like there's anybody more miserable than me.
18:11I typed in Raiders.
18:13It spits out 97 plus year fan.
18:16I add the A's to that.
18:18It goes to a 98.
18:19Like, oh my God, it can't get more worse than that.
18:22And then I type in Warriors, and it pulls it up to 79.
18:26So that's why it was kind of funny.
18:28Even in spite of the Warriors' constant success
18:30and the fact that they're just so enjoyable,
18:33you pair those three together, and it's still borderline miserable.
18:37Borderline miserable.
18:38But the Warriors alone pulled you out of the most miserable index by themselves.
18:44I wonder if you could throw in,
18:45I don't know if they go all the way down to the Oakland roots
18:49and the Oakland ballers.
18:50Maybe ESPN needs to flesh this out into the real new local Oakland teams.
18:55They do not.
18:56But I'll say this, for those two teams,
18:59they've done a lot for the overall mood and morale of Oakland.
19:03Those roots games are packed.
19:05People are loving going to the Oakland ballers games in West Oakland.
19:08So it's a small consolation prize.
19:11But if you live in Oakland, it's not nothing.
19:13Yeah.
19:14Valkyries are on here.
19:15Bay FC is on here.
19:17San Jose Earthquakes are on here.
19:18Obviously, the Sharks are on here.
19:20You can put all that in there if you want.
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