Dave Kaplan...thoughts?

If you have more in your life than the Chicago National League Ballclub, in his eyes, you’re not a real fan.

His statistical knowledge rivals Joe Morgan’s, and he makes excuse after excuse for Theriot. Not trying to start that debate, but every player makes mistakes — but the Riot gets a pass from Kap.

I think he’s got an inflated sense of importance, too.

I know, how do I really feel, right?

He’s a passionate fan, but he’s also towed the company line and made a million excuses over the years. He’s unbelievable optomistic about things, almost to a fault. And, like it was stated above, he’s really arrogant.

Now I’ll make excuses for him. He’s on the flagship station. He’s the sports guy on a huge radio station. He has to appeal to the masses. He has to answer questions for the casual and bandwagon fans that don’t know the game as well as some of us. I think he’d be much better if he were on the Score or ESPN and was targeting sports fans specifically rather than the lowest common denominator he addressess most of the time on WGN. I think he knows the game and knows sports well, but (like Santo, Harrelson, Harry Tinewitz (how do you spell that)…) sometimes his love of his team trumps unbiased journalism.

That said, I enjoy listening to him. I actually liked him more when he was with Tom Waddle (they played well off eachother), but if I’m in the car I’ll tune into Sports Central at night.

This week I really got fed up with him, when I heard him berating fans who feel that the Cubs may not go to the playoffs. As a lifelong fan, I feel he is way overboard when he says such things. A fan is a fan. Part of being a fan is feeling down when they lose as well as being up when they win. If you weren’t a fan, losses wouldn’t bother you. But yet he lets callers on and then sets himself up as the only Pure Cub Fan by putting them down. This feeds his own self-image.
I am going to repeat in different ways what’s been previously said. Kaplan bleeds Tribune (not Cubbie) blue. He will say things about Cubs management that may sound negative, but when he interviews the same people, he throws them softball questions. Like tonight, he questioned Soriano’s hustle, being, correctly, critical of him and his approach to the game. But if he had a chance to interview Piniella or Soriano, he would never ask either of them about Soriano’s approach to the game. All of his questions, I feel, are framed so as not to offend the interviewee, because Kaplan has to keep that guy as a potential guest in the future. All the Tribune sports people are like that (with the possible exception of Jim Memolo). If you have ever heard any of them talk to Randy Hundley, especially during the Todd Hundley years, you never heard a negative word about Todd (and Todd Hundley was the worst everyday player I have ever seen in my 40 years of watching baseball). That’s because they wanted to keep Randy happy. That’s Kaplan’s approach to all his guests. And then each guest is called “my guy.”

And as a communicator, he is awful. He has two words to describe anything. Any regular listener knows they are “ridiculous” and “phenomenal.” And his affected way of speaking, emphasizing every other syllable, is annoying. I’ve heard him talk in other settings and he doesn’t do that, so it’s put on for some reason.

If you write to him to criticize him, he’ll tell you nobody else agrees with you the critic. That’s because he is narrowing his audience down to only those who agree with him. The rest of us are fed up.

I know I over react to him, but he’s indicative of the problem with WGN. The whole station is a big disappointment. It could be so much better than it is, but too often it settles for mediocrity. It’s gotten away with it for so long, winning in the ratings, that it doesn’t have to try to be better. And they don’t.

Aren’t you glad you asked?

He’s entertaining; he keeps the show moving at a decent pace; he has opinions (which I may or may not agree with) and defends them. He knows more about baseball than I do. He doesn’t get caught up in the emotional ups and downs of a season.

I say keep him.

I always find myself thinking, “While I may agree with you, you can’t just hang up on someone because they don’t!” He can be degrading and condescenf=ding and I think he is full of himself. Other than that…great guy!

Condescending.

….every player is good, nothing is ever too bad and come to the park and have a great time.

His post games have a real lack of substance. He doesn’t ask hard questions, never has a critical opinion.

I think you can be a real Cubs fan and be very concerned that the Cubs won’t make the playoffs. I think you can be a real Cubs fan if you’re worried about a potential playoff matchup with the D-Backs. I think you can be a real Cubs fan if you boo Bob Howry when he gets lit up,. Kaplan doesn’t think you can be a real Cubs fan doing those things.

Kaplan can accuse the fans of being too negative but don’t accuse them of not being real Cubs fans. Most of his listeners can remember 2004. Some can remember 1969. They have reason to be skiddish. I can hear the fans’ anguish loud and clear through the reception that fades in and out on my finely tuned radio at night.

For the record, I still think the Cubs will win the division. The 1989 team had to survive a 6-game losing streak that August. The 1984 team had to weather a 5-game losing streak that September. This 2008 team will recover from this losing streak., but I can’t blame some fans for being negative right now. To close, I think there are more positive Cubs fans out there than negative ones right now despite the losing streak.

I just don’t go to him for insightful analysis.

And as for ripping into Cubs fans, well, he gets a lot of idiots calling in, and they’re coming off an emotional high/low since his show is right after the game.

He works for WGN so he has to follow the company line. He also comes on directly after Pat and Ron, so he probably gets a lot of casual/older listeners who don’t want to hear about sabermetrics/statistics/negativity.

The Ahmad Rashad of Chicago baseball.

But then, I can rarely listen to sports radio for more than five minutes without turning it off. I’m not a big one for screamers and big egos.

He’s the best radio guy in Chicago. Of course that’s being the tallest midget but young people don’t like him because he doesn’t go tabloid or make every joke about private parts like the Score.

He seems to think Kyle Orton is the greatest QB in the history of the NFL.

So Kaplan youre next… and you probably deserve it more… atleast Mariotti is a great journalist

I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing him a few times and he didn’t hesitate to help me out every time and has told me each time if i ever need anything give him a call. He just wants the Cubs to win as much as anyone out there.