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Matt Spiegel: Letting Eddie Olczyk Leave Is ‘Short-Sighted, Stupid, Embarrassing for Blackhawks’

“It is astonishing that that organization that desperately needs positivity is letting the most positive thing they have associated with them walk out the door.”

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There was no mistaking how Parkins & Spiegel feel about Eddie Olczyk leaving the Chicago Blackhawks for anyone that tuned into 670 The Score on Monday afternoon. The Chicago duo opened their show by ripping the local NHL franchise.

“Eddie Olczyk didn’t leave for a better job. He left for the Seattle Kraken,” Danny Parkins said with a mix of confusion and contempt. “The highest profile analyst in Chicago, who calls the Stanley Cup Finals, left for the Kraken? That is an insane headline!”

The Hall of Fame forward and Chicago native played five of his 18 NHL seasons with the Blackhawks. While he began his broadcasting career in Pittsburgh, he had been on the television call of Blackhawks games for the last 16 seasons.

His work for the Blackhawks may be how Chicagoans know him best, but Parkins pointed out that Olczyk’s appeal in the Windy City isn’t limited to hockey fans. He has become something of a local institution.

“He’s a huge deal in town beyond hockey. He goes on every show in town to talk hockey. He goes on every show to talk Kentucky Derby and horses. This is a nationally relevant broadcaster at the top of his day that is beloved.”

Eddie Olczyk has been doing national broadcasts, first for NBC and now for Turner Sports, since 2006. Speculation in the Chicago media has centered on that national schedule, with many openly theorizing that the Blackhawks did not want to pay Olczyk for a full season if he was going to miss more than a quarter of the team’s games.

While it may make financial sense, Matt Spiegel said that the Blackhawks are mired in negative headlines. They cannot afford to think that way with someone like Olczyk.

“It is astonishing that that organization that desperately needs positivity is letting the most positive thing they have associated with them walk out the door.”

He added that if it is indeed a money issue, it shows a level of arrogance in the organization, thinking there wouldn’t be someone willing to show Olczyk that they understand his value is more than just the number of games he is in the broadcast booth.

“They think ‘Eddie loves it here. Eddie’s a Blackhawk for life. This is a great backdrop for what Eddie wants to do. His son is employed here and everything else like that, so he’s not going to be leaving us’. And now he leaves you perhaps in part because you have the audacity to offer him less than a full season’s salary because he happens to have a national gig? 

“His goodwill and his presence and his association with the brand is worth every bit of the full season salary you aren’t willing to give because he only works 60 games. Incredibly short-sighted and stupid and embarrassing for the Blackhawks today.”

Sports Radio News

Doug Gottlieb: I Would Give Up Radio For Coaching Job

“I’ve told people that for the radio element to — for the right thing — I’d give it up. The (podcast), I’m not giving it up.”

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Fox Sports Radio host Doug Gottlieb recently interviewed for the vacant head coaching job at Wisconsin-Green Bay and detailed the experience on his podcast.

“I got a chance to talk to (Wisconsin-Green Bay AD) Josh Moon several times during the year after they had made their coaching job available and my approach to how I’ve done these things — and this is not the first time I’ve gone down this path, but this was a different path,” Gottlieb said on his All Ball podcast.

“This is a low-major, mid-major job, and there’s no connection there. I’ve told people that for the radio element to — for the right thing — I’d give it up. The (podcast), I’m not giving it up. I love doing it and I think there’s a very smart world where if I’m coaching I can still do this podcast and still do it with basketball people all over the country and the world, and it’s kind of like a cheat code.”

He continued by saying that seeing Shaka Smart be successful at Marquette has motivated him to continue to search for the right fit as a college basketball coach.

“That’s what I want to do. And last year when I was coaching in Israel, that also continued to invigorate me…this is something that I would really like to do. It has to be the right thing. It has to be the right AD who hits the right message.”

He continued by saying that a sticking point of negotiations was he wasn’t willing to give up his nationally syndicated radio program for the job. He was willing to take less money for his assistants pool, but also to continue doing his radio show.

Gottlieb did not get the position with the Phoenix, noting that he was a finalist but was never offered the job. The position ultimately went to Wyoming assistant coach Sundance Wicks. Wicks had previous head coaching experience and had worked with Green Bay athletic director Josh Moon at Division II Northern State. He admitted he wasn’t necessarily “all-in” on the job due to the current ages of his children and whether the timing was right to uproot his family to move to Northeastern Wisconsin.

The Fox Sports Radio host does have coaching experience. He has worked as a coach for the U.S. men’s basketball team at the Maccabiah Games, sometimes referred to as the Jewish Olympics.

Gottlieb’s father — Bob — was the head men’s basketball coach at Wisconsin-Milwaukee from 1975-1980, compiling a 97-91 record.

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Waddle & Silvy: Scott Hanson Told Us to Lose His Number

“We didn’t call him back, so he set out what he wanted to do.”

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Aaron Rodgers took immense pride in the fact that he told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter to “lose his number” while discussing his future earlier this week on The Pat McAfee Show. ESPN 1000’s Waddle & Silvy said they’ve experienced similar treatment from guests on their radio show.

While discussing the Rodgers interview with McAfee, the pair admitted that NFL RedZone host Scott Hanson once told their producer to stop trying to book him for interviews on the program.

“I believe the presentation was ‘Do me a favor: lose my number after this interview’,” Tom Waddle said. “So he tried to do it politely. Scott Hanson did. Get out of here. That concept is foreign to me. How about ‘Hey, next time you text me, my schedule is full. I can’t do it, but thanks for thinking of me’. ‘Lose my number?’ You ain’t the President, for Christ’s sake. I’m saying that to anyone who would say that. ‘Lose my number?’ We’re all in the communication business. I just don’t know — why be rude like that to people? What does that accomplish? You know what it accomplished? We didn’t call him back, so he set out what he wanted to do.”

Co-host Mark Silverman then mentioned that the show once tried to book Hansen and NFL Red Zone host Andrew Siciliano together in the same block, with the idea of doing a trivia game to see who the supreme Red Zone host was. Siciliano agreed, but Hansen declined.

The pair also confirmed that an NFL Network personality had told them to lose their number, but couldn’t remember if it was Rich Eisen or not.

Silverman later joked that maybe Hanson was getting a new phone with a new number, and was politely sharing with the producer that he could lose the current phone number because he would share his new number in short order.

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Seth Payne: Aaron Rodgers ‘Makes Gross Inaccuracies’ When Calling Out Media

“This is where Rodgers does this thing where he, in calling out reporters for their inaccuracies, makes gross inaccuracies in his accusations.”

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Aaron Rodgers

Aaron Rodgers is always mad at the media for the inaccurate things he says they report, but according to Sports Radio 610 morning man Seth Payne, no one is more inaccurate than the quarterback himself.

Friday morning, Payne and his partner Sean Pendergast played audio of Aaron Rodgers responding to a question about a list of players he provided to the Jets demanding they sign. Rodgers called the idea that he would make demands “so stupid” and chastised ESPN reporter Dianna Russini, who was the first to report it.

“Now to be clear, Dianna Russini didn’t say demands in her tweet. She said wishlist,” Pendergast clarified.

They also played a clip of Russini responding to Rodgers on NFL Live saying that she stands by her reporting and it is her job to reach out to confirm that it is true.

“This is where Rodgers does this thing where he, in calling out reporters for their inaccuracies, makes gross inaccuracies in his accusations,” Seth Payne said.

He added that if Rodgers is being serious, he is doing some serious nitpicking. He claims that he didn’t give the Jets a list, but that he spoke glowingly about former teammates and told the Jets executives that he met with who he enjoyed playing with during his career.

Payne joked that maybe he wrote down the names in a circle pattern so that it was not a list. Pendergast added that he could have had Fat Head stickers on his wall that he pointed to instead of writing anything at all.

In Payne’s mind, this is a case of Russini catching stray frustration. Neither in her initial tweet nor in any subsequent media appearance did she use the phrase “demands”.

“What he’s actually responding to in that instance is Pat McAfee is the one that described it as a list of demands,” Seth Payne said.

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