04/20/24
May 02, 2003
Personally, I am hugely disappointed that this guy is becoming part of the ESPN lineup. I first heard about it yesterday when I saw a promo with him berating parents for pushing their children too hard. Huh? WTF? Rome setting himself up as a voice of sobriety? Obviously this guy has some popularity, if any of you out there like him could you please explain what the attraction is? (a bit more inside about this asshat)
I don't like him. I can't really pinpoint why though, he's just really annoying.
posted by corpse at 10:00 AM on May 02, 2003
He's whiny and colossally judgmental on the scale of Rush Limbaugh. I just got a mental image of Rome's "Clones" battling Limbaugh's "Dittoheads" for misinformed, bombastic radio supremacy. It's probably a little unfair to Jim to compare him to Rush, but maybe it isn't.
posted by pfuller at 10:15 AM on May 02, 2003
My GOD is he an asshole...
posted by StarFucker at 10:22 AM on May 02, 2003
Somebody must like him. Why would ESPN put him on? The article mentions a connection with an old producer, but still, ESPN usually has pretty high standards.
posted by vito90 at 10:25 AM on May 02, 2003
He will most likely draw good ratings and there are a lot of people (the Clones) who like him. I think his radio show does pretty well (financially and ratings-wise) and he definitely has outspoken opinions that will generate enough controversy to keep other people (outside his core audience) interested. /parentheses
posted by pfuller at 10:58 AM on May 02, 2003
I find it interesting that while his radio show is unlistenable dreck his TV show (“The Last Word”) wasn’t nearly as bad. He was at his best in the role of moderator and I suspect this is because his own convictions are so clearly calculated and ungrounded that he can freely play the devil’s advocate to any side of a discussion. Amazingly, this ran counter to the boot-licking and ego-pandering of the radio show. From the commercials it would appear the radio personae is the direction of this new show, to which all I can say is RIP.
posted by kloeprich at 11:28 AM on May 02, 2003
I like Jim Rome but I can't stand listening to his radio show, because he fills it with callers doing a poor imitation of himself. Rome's keeping-it-real shtick is extremely forced and entirely fake, but it can be pretty funny. I like the weird language he has coined for how sports should be discussed, and a lot of it is addictive. You hear people describing their opinions as "a take" all over the place, and he highlights a few things I might otherwise have missed, like the bitter Giants/Dodgers "NoCal vs. SoCal" rivalry. Also, Rome has some personality tics that no one else demonstrates on the radio. He doesn't have conversations with his callers; instead, he lets them say their piece, waits for them to hang up, and then comments on what they have said -- sometimes repeating portions of it word for word. It's hilariously bizarre -- in some ways, he's a Gen-X Paul Harvey. Also, there are times when Rome inspires athletes to give extremely candid interviews on his show.
posted by rcade at 12:11 PM on May 02, 2003
Jim Rome's page on Am I Annoying (answer: Yes, currently a shade under 70%). Also worth mentioning for the people that don't know Jim Rome - the infamous and classic Jim Rome v Jim Everett interview: wav format or a video clip. I only access ESPN through their website (don't/can't watch the channel and don't bother with their other media formats) but wonder what Jim Rome brings to ESPN that they really need.
posted by gspm at 01:02 PM on May 02, 2003
hey gspm, try reading the link in the posted article before you comment. dumbass. the Everett stuff is in the article. thx for the pointers to the clips though.
posted by gspm at 01:04 PM on May 02, 2003
Jim Rome's forced hip-hop cool is only slightly less hilarious than Sean Connery's "You da man now, dog!" in Finding Forrester.
posted by smithers at 01:21 PM on May 02, 2003
And also slightly less hilarious than gspm calling out that dumbass gspm. I was going to drag you into the locker room for conduct unbecoming until I figured out who you were bitching at! Thanks for the links to the clips though. And also rcade, thanks for the input, obviously ESPN thinks he adds something.
posted by vito90 at 02:41 PM on May 02, 2003
Now that I've offered a defense of "Romey," I can offer one thing that I hate: His dismissive, sexist treatment of the WNBA and other women's sports is one of the main reasons I went ballistic here the last time the subject came up. He's the poster child for the thumb-up-his-ass sports fan who doesn't follow their sports but bashes them anyway.
posted by rcade at 05:18 PM on May 02, 2003
Gee whiz, I actually like the guy, although I could do without a lot of the callers. But I find some of the e-mails funny, and he does interviews that you won't necessarily see on SportsCenter, and I generally think he's a pretty good interviewer. (Well, Jim Everett might disagree.)
posted by Jaquandor at 10:11 PM on May 02, 2003
Oh my god, I think I just changed my mind about him. A google search for something else turned this Rome piece up. This is some sort of juju at work, because I've never read him before. But this is clearly him, because he writes just as he talks, and this is a very very good piece, warts and all.
posted by vito90 at 01:13 AM on May 03, 2003
. . . doesn't follow their sports but bashes them anyway Yes. That's it. Everyone can stop right there. He's every co-worker who only talks to me about local sports teams (ones I live and die with) when they lose. To perfect the analogy I'd need an out-of-touch 80 year-old co-worker who talked like Jamie Kennedy. Not that I'm hatin' on Jim Rome or anything. Basically his show consists of bashing anyone who isn't the .400 hitter who struck out in the clutch last night. It's for shut-ins afraid of failure to bash the athletes they have love-hate relationships with. Every idiot who has to watch a ball game around the beer gut sticking up from the easy chair.
posted by yerfatma at 09:23 AM on May 03, 2003
yerfatma: I hate those guys! As a Leaf fan, I get to hear from the mindless-know-nothings all the time. After a couple of them were trying to get on my nerves at work, I asked them what hockey team they support. "Oh, I don't watch hockey that much." "Me neither. I don't really care who wins." My response was: "Then I guess your opinion is worth jack shit if you don't follow the sport." I don't hear from those fuckwads anymore when the Leafs lose. /venting in public
posted by grum@work at 10:03 AM on May 03, 2003
That Rome article on Aron Ralston is great.
posted by rcade at 10:58 AM on May 03, 2003
If that's Rome writing ... his punctuation sucks.
posted by wfrazerjr at 01:19 PM on May 05, 2003
From last year's THE BEAST 50 Most Loathsome People in America 15. JIM ROME Misdeeds: Like Woods (see #20), he is also raceless but he co-opts a hackneyed litany of passe hip-hop culture tag lines. He makes Sportscenter seem daring and cutting edge. He abuses the first amendment from both radio and TV on a daily basis. He has about as much insight into the athlete's psyche as does Joyce Brothers or Elton John. Rome is pathetically enamored with his emperorship over his cretinous listener-subjects. He abuses his mastery over the caller-participants of his show like some half-wit from King of the Hill who was made manager of a third-rate drive-thru. The only references he seems to have from the world of normal people are exhibited in his frequent mentions of his "college days," which appears to be the last time Rome spent any time around a human being that he wasn't interviewing. He has reset the standard for the kiss-ass, doormat interviewer when questioning difficult and press-shy stars. Aggravating Factor: Recently re-signed radio deal. He can't seem to reconcile with the fact that many towns and large markets don't want him on the air and he will not shut up about it. He's like some relentless, piss-soaked street bum that gets belligerent when you tell him you can't give him any money today. He's whiny and colossally judgmental on the scale of Rush Limbaugh. Aesthetic: G.I. Joe with default goatee if he were drawn by the guy that does the Gil Thorpe comic strip.