The Golden Age of Radio

I’ve spent the last four years of my life in college in Southwest Missouri. The job I’ve taken means I’ll be down there for at least another year. I like the area a lot, but I have one huge issue with living in this region of Missouri.

St. Louis Cardinals on Fox Sports Midwest.

All day, everyday.

I love watching the Royals play every night on T.V. back in St. Joseph and I didn’t plan on this summer being any different. I headed back home for the summer where Fox Sports KC plays the team in blue instead of red (which we’re all thankful for) and settled in for a great couple of months of watching the Royals play.

Instead, I find myself turning off the television and tuning into the radio, which is something I could do just as easily down where I’ve been living. The reason? I’m sure you can guess.

Rex.

Rex Hudler walked into a hostile situation with all of the Frank White drama in the off-season, but he certainly hasn’t helped himself. His chemistry with Ryan is awkward and strained. He often talks about the last thing in the world I, as a fan, could care about.* He seems to dislike any form of silence and continually fills those silences with ridiculous anecdotes when I’d simply rather watch the game.

*Something about clay and an inability to pronounce the word “kiln.”

I was ready to jump on the bandwagon when everyone complained about him early in the season, but then I started reading about the guy and I’ve come to find out, he seems like a really decent person. This made disliking him difficult. I decided to give him a few months to settle in and see how he meshed.

The results have not been satisfying. I didn’t even make it a week this summer before I was opting to sit in my room and listen to games rather than watch them, despite the fact that I’d waited all spring to be able to WATCH the team play.

Look, I know that people don’t react well to change. I’m like that. I don’t like change at all. However, I’m not blinded to the fact that Frank White wasn’t a phenomenal T.V. guy. He wasn’t bad and he had close ties to Kansas City. I know that no one is going to be able to smoothly move into the void he left behind. Maybe people didn’t care for Denny Matthews when he first started.* I don’t know.

*Though I find that hard to believe.

But even with all of that, I’m still cringing as I’m watching.

I hope this guy settles in, because right now he’s affecting my ability to watch baseball games and you have to be pretty awkward to do that. Maybe by the end of the year, I’ll be able to watch a Royals games again without rolling my eyes. Then again, maybe not. It hasn’t taken me long to get used to Steve Physioc on the radio, so maybe Hudler is already firmly entrenched as a guy who is going to talk about clay being fired in a kiln among other unimportant things.

For both our sakes, I hope that’s not the case. He seems like an ok guy.