Things came to a head in Denver last week between Sports Illustrated senior writer Chris Mannix and Altitude Sports Radio hosts Chris Dempsey, Matt McChesney and Vic Lombardi.
Earlier in the week, Mannix echoed a common theme among many in the national media when he told Rich Eisen that there weren’t any compelling or interesting stories surrounding the Denver Nuggets entering their first ever NBA Finals appearance.
Dempsey responded Thursday saying Mannix was lazy claiming that star Nickola Jokic and Jamal Murray weren’t really worthy of profiling.
Mannix later appeared on Kreckman and Lindahl where he mentioned he had heard what Dempsey said and didn’t appreciate Dempsey taking shots at him.
On Friday, Mannix called in to Dempsey and Company where they had a back and forth on what made for interesting Nuggets storylines. Mannix said the issues with access to the team’s regional sports network Altitude Sports Network should be the top story.
“I would say that you have a team where 92% of the people in Colorado can’t watch it,” Mannix said citing an ongoing lawsuit between Altitude and Comcast. “How is that not the biggest story every single day?”
“You guys do a sports talk radio show, and 92% of the audience can’t watch the games,” Mannix added.
Lombardi, who co-hosts mornings with Marc Moser and Brett Kane, had been listening to the back and forth and jumped in to correct Mannix’s 92% claim.
“It’s not 92%. It’s hovering above 50%,” Lombardi said. “And most people by hook or by crook watch the game. Either by illegal stream, either by some other access code, people are watching the games.”
Mannix continued to press on why the carriage dispute isn’t discussed daily when Lombardi said he and his show have been on top of it from the jump.
“We’ve talked about this for four years!” Lombardi said. “Anybody who knows our station and our network knows we have talked about that issue.”
Mannix pointed to ratings saying that it’s evident fans aren’t tuning in like they used to. Dempsey brought up the issues the Phoenix Suns had with Bally Sports and how the team decided to air local broadcasts on over-the-air TV. He said the ratings don’t tell the whole story.
“It’s the same reason why Sports Illustrated isn’t what it use to be,” Dempsey said. “I don’t order Sports Illustrated anymore, you know why? Because distribution models have changed, and so has this.”
