In August of 2023, ESPN Radio announced a revamped lineup which included its fourth morning show in six years since the end of
Mike & Mike. The new show would replace Keyshawn, JWill and Max which was hosted by Keyshawn Johnson, Jay Williams and Max Kellerman. The new trio ESPN Radio chose to lead off its prime programming day consisted of Evan Cohen, Chris Canty and Michelle Smallmon. The show, which I eavesdropped in on last Friday, is called Unsportsmanlike with Evan, Canty and Michelle.
Evan Cohen is a 20+ year sports media veteran who left his SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio show Morning Men to host the new ESPN morning show. In addition to his hosting duties for the national network, Cohen serves as vice president of content at Good Karma Brands, a company he started with out of college.
Smallmon, who I first met when she interned with KFNS in St. Louis as she was just starting out in the business, had previously been a producer at ESPN Radio, before she came back to St. Louis and co-hosted morning drive with Randy Karraker at 101 ESPN.
Chris Canty is a Super Bowl-champion defensive tackle. He spent 11 years in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens, New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys. He has been with ESPN Radio since 2021 and previously was in afternoon drive with Chris Carlin. Prior to his national show, Canty appeared on DiPietro, Canty & Rothenberg on 98.7 FM ESPN New York, teaming with Rick DiPietro and Dave Rothenberg.
Together, the three create a fun, loose show with just the right mix of opinion, insight and laughter. As the Friday, December 20 edition of the show got going, the immediate thing I thought about was the mix of the three people hosting the show, their diversity and different backgrounds. I was interested to hear how it all meshed together.
As the show got going, Chris ‘Canty Claus’ got started on the topic of gift wrapping. It was a fun way to get a Friday show started right before the holidays. As the world’s worst gift-wrapper, it was interesting to hear the take from the three hosts on the subject. Canty wondered if a poorly wrapped gift takes away from the experience. Even a simple, fun topic like this one, you get the various perspectives of both males and females, people with kids and without kids, so you are never left hearing just one side of anything.
Inside the segment, Canty refers to Smallmon as “the voice of reason” on the show and often times she becomes the deciding factor in things Cohen and Canty disagree on, which makes for good material on the show. Smallmon is the lone female in a cast that also includes Lead Producer Nuno Teixeira, Associate Producer Pat Costello, Board Operator JoVante Lawrence, TV simulcast Producers Mark Morales and Sam Pierce and Program Director for the show Liam Chapman.
In 2024, this is a very smart way to put a show together. Trying to give representation to as many different types of people as possible while all bonding over the love of sports and competition. This is how people learn other people’s sides of things, by hearing what they have to say and how it may differ from someone else.
Cohen is a true pro running the show, hitting the teases and setting up his co-hosts while never shying away from giving strong opinions. Canty, meanwhile, is a rising star in the world of sports media. He is instant offense when giving his opinions and can bring the heat when necessary. Not only was he in the NFL but playing in markets like Dallas and New York and then doing media in New York has him primed for a long, successful career.
As they got into the topics of the day, it all started with Thursday Night Football. As they started to talk about what happened in the game the night before between the Denver Broncos and the Los Angeles Chargers, Cohen said he believes Canty breaks down football “better than anybody out there.” The Chargers won the game 34-27 and the and the topic turned into whether the story was the LA win or the Denver loss.
There was also the matter of the ‘fair catch kick’ that happened in the game and there was good use of audio from Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh about how it is “his favorite play in football” (only Jim Harbaugh…). That was mixed in with their opinions about the two teams and what they have in front of them as far as the AFC playoff picture.
Smallmon’s preparation for the show is obvious and she is able to add in facts to the conversation to support the takes being given. Next, the talk moved to the Baltimore Ravens-Pittsburgh Steelers game coming up and again they had some good audio from both Jason McCourty and Jeff Saturday and them talking about the game being a must win for the Ravens.
As the show moves on, Cohen consistently does a great job of playing point guard and setting the others up with topics and questions. But like any true point guard, he has the ability to ‘take it to the hole’ himself. In this case the offense is really the passion with which he will give a take – definitely not afraid to get excited and make bold statements.
Canty brings that locker room experience that is great to have as he can tell you what players and coaches are thinking about and talking about in certain situations. He can also get to what matters and would later add when asked if the Ravens can win the Super Bowl, “The only way they can go to the Super Bowl is if somebody takes out the trash out for them. If somebody beats the Kansas City Chiefs, then I think the Baltimore Ravens have a chance to go to the Super Bowl…but somebody will have to beat the Chiefs because they can’t do it.”
Later there was the cleverly named segment ‘Can He or Canty’ where the other two hosts throw questions at Canty which in this case were ones such as ‘Can the Super Bowl Chiefs win the Super Bowl without home field advantage?’ (‘Yes’ was his answer).
The hosts had a pretty interesting conversation about the playoff system and James Franklin. The belief is that James Franklin can’t win big games, and even though his team plays SMU (they would win that one) and then Boise State, most people would still say those aren’t ‘big wins’ even though it would be two wins in the playoffs. That does not speak well for the way the bracket is set up.
The show, which is simulcast on ESPNU, has the opportunity to have great guests and insiders from the ESPN family join the show and it takes full advantage of that. Dan Graziano and Bart Scott were both in the studio as the subject of the New York Jets and Aaron Rodgers took center stage. The visit included Graziano going hard at Aaron Rodgers saying, “He is a con artist, he is a narcissist. He is self-absorbed to the absolute maximum. And if he has you fooled again, that’s on you.”
Smallmon had a great line when they were talking about the Jets saying about some of the people Woody Johnson chooses to listen to, “Just because you’ve bought a house, doesn’t mean you can sell a house.” She made the point that just because people are successful in investments or follow the game of football closely, they aren’t more qualified than the people being paid to make football decisions.
Canty ended up stating the obvious, he believes Johnson is, “The worst owner in the sport, and one of the worst in all of sports.” At the same time, he added the context to the discussion that what Johnson does and things that get out about the organization may affect who the team is able to get to come in and be the next General Manager and Head Coach, knowing they will have to deal with the decisions made by the owner.
Another segment the team did was called ‘Four Downs’ and like many of the segments on the show, it was really another way for questions prepared ahead of time to be asked of some of the hosts by one of the other. There was some good college football talk in the segment, mostly around the Texas Longhorns and what will happen with quarterbacks Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning.
The show has a real family dynamic to it, complete with arguments that families sometimes have. When some of the crew jumps in it can be a lot of voices going on, but never was it overwhelming and I would imagine regular listeners have a sense of being a part of the family as they listen each day.
Whether it was breaking down the rookie seasons of Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix, or talking about Michelle’s family lasagna recipe, the hours move quickly, and the hosts keep their energy up throughout the four hours.
As has become common in the sports talk world, the show had a ‘Pick Em’ segment, and they went over some of the bigger games on the schedule for the weekend. Again, Canty shined with the way he breaks down the games and players while Cohen and Smallmon dropped in nuggets of information.
Another segment they had prepared was called ‘Release the Takes’ where it was to be two takes given that they would release out into the world but not be held accountable for. Several strong takes were given including Smallmon doubting the Chiefs chances to win the Super Bowl even though she gave that same take last year and saying the Bears would hire Mike Vrabel who she expects will come in and change the whole culture similar to what Dan Campbell has done with the Lions.
Canty took back his take that Anthony Richardson had a bright career ahead of him and said he believes Nick Sirianni will end up losing his job with the Eagles. Meanwhile Evan Cohen reminded everyone that last year he said Josh Allen would be the NFL MVP this year, which looks like it could come true, and predicted Justin Herbert will win it next season. He also jumped on the Bill Belichick bandwagon big time and said the team will be ACC champs and be in the college football playoff next season.
Later, Joe Fortenbaugh joined in the fun, and they went through some of his selections for the weekend games. I always appreciate these segments when it is more than just the picks being made. I hear a lot of shows get lazy with picks segments and give no context or support for the decisions made. That is never the case with Fortenbaugh and his interaction with the Unsportsmanlike team made for great content.
Throughout the remainder of the show there was insight into the Notre Dame-Indiana game to be played later that night, an ‘Unsportsmanlike Moments of the Day’ segment that was pretty funny. And whether you were learning football trivia from Jeopardy clips or hearing the hosts thoughts on mayonnaise (I wrote that full spelling out just for you, Chris Canty) it kept you entertained and informed with a lot of personality from many different perspectives.
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Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
