Boiled down to his or her very essence, what is a sports talk radio host if not a person that knows how to entertain? Sure, sports knowledge is important, but without a personality, how is a sports talk radio show any different than a lecture from your most boring college professor?
Recently, I was talking with a friend about podcasts and what makes a good podcast host different from a good radio hosts. That lead to a discussion about whether or not there were people outside of the sports world that I could see as great sports radio hosts.
Yeah, there are plenty. Maybe most of these folks would need a co-host to take care of the nuts ad bolts of getting in and out of segments, but here are six celebrities I think could thrive in the sports talk space.
5. MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY
Alright, alright, alright, I’ll admit that this would be a love or hate situation for most people, because Matthew McConaughey is a weirdo. It isn’t hard to imagine a show filled with literary and existential references used to describe home runs and shooting percentages. Frankly, if I were programmer and hired him, I am only thinking about him for nights.
McConaughey is an open book in terms of his thoughts and feelings. I don’t think he is the kind of guy that would struggle to give you an honest opinion about any player or coach. He’s a lifelong fan of the Texas Longhorns and the Washington Redskins Football Team, so he knows how to make even mediocrity matter.
If you’ve seen any of the online content McConaughey has created during the Pandemic, you have seen what a relentlessly positive person he is. That might mean he shies away from being too hard on a team, but I think it also says he is willing to embrace challenges and learn and grow when given the chance.
4. EVA LONGORIA
Longoria has been around sports her whole life. Sure, she is the former Mrs. Tony Parker, but her athletic interests go beyond who her partner is or was. She is an avid golfer, she helped produce the doc-series Versus for ESPN, and she is a diehard fan of the Dallas Cowboys.
More important than that, since the end of her Desperate Housewives days, Longoria has shown a diverse set of interests from sports to cooking to politics. It was always clear when Craig Sager would talk to her in the stands at Spurs games that she wasn’t there just to be seen or just because her husband was playing. She followed the action and offered ideas of what she wanted to see the team do the following quarter.
Eva Longoria is interesting to listen to even when she isn’t reciting lines from a script. That is something you can’t say about most actors. More important than being interesting is that she is interested. If she were part of a two or three person dynamic, I would trust her to bring the most out of guests and co-hosts by letting them expand on their thoughts.
3. ICE CUBE
I don’t know why Cube doesn’t get the same sort of respect for his deep knowledge of sports history that someone like Billy Crystal does. He’s a Lakers diehard, a Dodgers diehard, and a Raiders diehard. If that’s not enough, he also owns his own basketball league, and that might be his greatest asset.
Ice Cube would be a unique talent in the sports radio world: a guy that could talk about the business side of sports intelligently and with all of the same passion he would have for action on the court or field.
The guy also has a diverse rolodex. Imagine a show that can go from talking about the challenges of attracting advertisers to an uncertain college football season with ESPN’s top brass to breaking down the future of the 76ers with Charles Barkley to cracking jokes with Kevin Hart. Ice Cube’s hybrid career has given him the chance to build relationships with all of them.
2. JIMMY KIMMEL
Jimmy Kimmel is the only person on this list with radio experience. Most of America first learned his name when he showed up as the host of Win Ben Stein’s Money on Comedy Central in the late 90s, but if you were in LA earlier in the decade, you knew him as Jimmy the Sports Guy on KROQ’s Kevin & Bean.
Kimmel is a really interesting guy. In addition to loving sports in the traditional sense, he also knows enough about gambling to make that part of his show. Like Cube, the guy has a uniquely fun list of contacts to bring to sports radio.
Finally, I think the fact that Kimmel rides the line of woke and shameless is a real asset. He gets the magnitude of things like NBA players boycotting the playoffs and isn’t afraid to have that discussion, but he also makes mistakes and occasionally still does things that result in the looming threat of social media cancellation. In short, he can be conscious of the world outside of him without being self-righteous.
1. DESUS & MERO
There is no one outside of the sports world that I am more eager to see take on sports radio than Showtime’s late night hosts, Desus Nice and The Kid Mero. They get the power of social media, they built a following and became stars by being unapologetically authentic, and most importantly, they are the funniest things on TV right now. Just ask David Letterman.
They are cocky about their Yankees. They ooze dispair when talking about the Knicks. Mero has an over the top Mike Francesa impression. Imagine the burst of energy the two Bronx natives could inject into the WFAN lineup!
It seems like the sports media has taken notice of Desus and Mero’s talents too. Bill Simmons, Dan Le Batard, Pablo Torre, Nick Wright, CC Sabathia, Taylor Rooks and Bomani Jones all count themselves as members of Bodega Hive, as the duo calls their fans.
Demetri Ravanos is a columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. He is also the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host on the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.
You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.
the best celebrities love sport
i love ice cube much respect to him a a sport lengend!