Evil Palaver

 
Evil Palaver

People we’d like to hear on the Dan Patrick Show

CELEBRITIES	NOTES and COMMENT
Ben Affleck	Actor, Boston Red Sox fan. Could maybe get Jennifer Garner on at the same time, satisfying DP’s Hot Babe Requirement.
Jon Bon Jovi	Musician, part-owner of the Philadelphia Soul, Arena Football League team.
Dyan Cannon	Actress, Los Angeles Lakers fan
Drew Carey	TV star, Cleveland guy, sports fan. DP could also chat with him about “The Price is Right.”
Kevin Costner	Actor. Has made numerous sports-related movies. A Cal State Fullerton alum, he attends their baseball team’s College World Series games.
Matt Dillon	Actor, NY Mets fan.
Jane Fonda	Actress. She used to go to Atlanta Braves game when she was married to Ted Turner. Not sure if she was a real fan of the team or just playing the role of the supportive wife.
NEW! Hoosiers reunion	Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper
Jay-Z	Music mogul, co-owner of the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets.
Tim McGraw	Country music star, son of late NY Mets’ pitcher Tug McGraw. Could have a two-for-one interview and get McGraw’s wife Faith Hill on the show as well.
Alyssa Milano	Actress, Los Angeles Dodgers fan. Developed a clothing line for female baseball fan. What I like about her is that she’s not just eye-candy (well, maybe she is to men ….) but she’s a real baseball fan.
Bill Murray	Actor, part-owner of several minor league baseball teams, Cubs fan, University of Illinois fan.
Jack Nicholson	Actor, Los Angeles Lakers fan. It might be fun to have him on with Dyan Cannon, or Spike Lee, or Reggie Miller.
Oliver Platt	Actor. Attended a David Wright Foundation fundraiser. Maybe a Mets’ fan?
Rob Reiner	Actor, director. He was in the broadcast booth at a Mets-Phillies game last season; if I recall correctly, he was on journey with his son to attend games at every MLB ball park. It was be super if DP could get not only Rob Reiner but Carl Reiner as well. Or get Carl Reiner on with Mel Brooks.
Tim Robbins	Actor, NY Mets fan. Starred in one of the best baseball movies of all-time, “Bull Durham.” He could appear on the show with Susan Sarandon, who has a new movie out, “Enchanted.” I read somewhere that one of their sons is/was playing minor league hockey.
Tom Selleck	Actor, Detroit Tigers fan (on “Magnum, P.I.” his character often wore a Tigers cap).
Eddie Vedder	Musician, Chicago Cubs fan.

 

MEDIA	NOTES and COMMENT
Stephen Colbert	The Colbert Report
Bob Costas	Emmy winner. (Et tu, DP?)
Thomas Friedman	Columnist, New York Times; author.
Jim Lehrer	Anchor, The PBS NewsHour; author.
Jay Leno	DP’s been on “The Tonight Show,” maybe he can get Leno to reciprocate.
David Letterman	Payback, for DP appearing on “Late Night.”
Bill O’Reilly	News show host, NY Mets fan. (Boy, it kind of kills me that Bill and I cheer for the same team.)
Tim Russert	Host, “Meet the Press.” From Buffalo, I imagine he roots for the Bills and the Sabres. I believe he attends Washington Nationals’ games.
Jon Stewart	“News” show host, NY Mets fan.
George F. Will	Columnist, Washington Post; author; Chicago Cubs fan.
ANNOUNCERS/PAST & PRESENT
Ernie Harwell	Former Detroit Tigers announcer.
NEW! Jim McKay	The Voice of the Olympics when I was a kid. Also hosted ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” (with that famous opening line “… the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”
Vin Scully	Los Angeles Dodgers. Of interest to me is how he calls a game solo. Most broadcast booths have two people, along with a sideline/courtside/on-field reporter. I much prefer having the Mets announcers call the Mets games, but don’t miss them as much when the Mets play in L.A. and I get Scully’s broadcast.
Local tv/radio announcers	I’m partial to the Mets’ broadcasters, but there are a lot of good announcers who cover teams all over the country.
MEDIA CRITICS
Neil Best	Newsday
Phil Mushnick	New York Post. He hammers the Mets broadcasters at times, but I don’t hold this against him. He often makes great observations.
Tom Shales	Washington Post. His reviews can be brutal, but they are always well-written and often screamingly funny.

 

POLITICAL FIGURES	NOTES and COMMENT
Michael Bloomberg	Mayor, New York City; NY Mets fan
Bill Bradley	Princeton basketball, New York Knicks, former New Jersey senator, former presidential candidate. I’d like to hear his comments on college basketball today vs. in his day, the sad state of the Knicks, and politics.
NEW! Jim Bunning	Former MLB pitcher; member, National Baseball Hall of Fame; U.S. Senator, Kentucky.
George H.W. Bush	Yale baseball, former U.S. president, skydiver.
NEW! Jack Kemp	Former NFL quarterback, former U.S. Representative from NY, former VP candidate. He has an interesting take on soccer; maybe have him on with David Beckham.
NEW! Alan Page	Former Purple People Eater; associate justice, Minnesota Supreme Court.
Dan Patrick	The other DP.
Condoleezza Rice	Football fan, U.S. Secretary of State.
Donald Rumsfeld	Princeton wrestling, former U.S. Secretary of Defense.
Presidential candidates	They are probably dying to talk about anything besides health care, the mortgage crisis, the war in Iraq, etc.
NEW! Jesse Ventura	Former professional rassler, former governor of Minnesota.

 

SPORTS FIGURES	NOTES and COMMENT
Bill Belichick	Head coach, New England Patriots. This could be the Interview of the Century, as Belichick rarely gives interviews and is notoriously testy with the media. But Spygate and post-game handshakes aside, he’s a fascinating person and I think would respond well to intelligent questions.
Jim Brown	Former Cleveland Brown, actor, political activist, CEO The Amer-I-Can Program. I would love to hear him comment on today’s athletes and the current political landscape.
Adonal Foyle	Not many NBA players dedicate themselves to promoting student activism and civics: Democracy Matters. Could you imagine if Kobe or Michael Jordan got involved in something like this?
Dan Gable	Collegiate wrestling, athlete and coach. U.S. Olympic team, gold medalist as both athlete and coach.
Kim Ng	Assistant GM, Los Angeles Dodgers. She is one of two female front office executives in Major League Baseball.
Olympians	Past and present. And I don’t mean just the high-profile athletes, like Michael Phelps and Kristi Yamaguchi. Interview the athletes for whom the Olympic ideal is real, the ones who dedicate themselves out of love for their sport, those who will never see fame or fortune.
Bobby Ross	Former coach, college and NFL. I’m particularly interested in his observations on coaching in the NFL vs. at the U.S. Military Academy. I get the feeling that he would not make the same kind of strained analogies between war and football games as Nick Saban did.
Bill Russell	Former Boston Celtic, former NBA coach. My favorite player when I was a kid. When I lived in Seattle he wrote a column for the Seattle Times that I enjoyed reading.
Etan Thomas	Washington Wizards. Not a typical pro athlete.
Tex Winter	Assistant coach, Los Angeles Lakers. Architect of the triangle offense used by the NBA champion Lakers and Chicago Bulls teams.
John Wooden	Legend

 

WRITERS	NOTES and COMMENT
Dave Anderson	Sports editor, New York Times. Retiring soon, it would be interesting to hear his perspective on sports and sports writing.
Roger Angell	Senior editor and writer, The New Yorker. The magazine doesn’t seem to publish as many of his long, luscious baseball pieces as it used to, which is a huge disappointment to me.
Dave Barry	Author, humorist, musician. (Maybe make that “humorous musician.”)
Michael Beschloss	Historian, author, Chicago Cubs fan.
Buzz Bissinger	Author, including “Friday Night Lights” and “Three Nights in August.”
Roy Blount, Jr.	Author, humorist. He also plays in Dave Barry’s band. After reading his bio (check out his Web site) I think he deserves he own dang radio show!
Thomas Boswell	Sports columnist, Washington Pos; author. Wrote two of my favorite books, “Why Time Begins on Opening Day” and “How Life Imitates the World Series.”
Bill Bryson	Author, humorist. He lives in England; maybe he could talk with DP about the Premier League.
Frank Deford	Sports columnist, Sports Illustrated. He also appears on National Public Radio.
John Feinstein	Sports columnist, Washington Post. Author.
Doris Kearns Goodwin	Historian, author. Brooklyn Dodgers fan; featured in Ken Burns’ Baseball.
John Irving	Wrestler, author.
Sally Jenkins	Sports columnist, Washington Post
NEW! Garrison Keillor	Author, humorist. DP could referee a Caged Death Match between Keillor and Jesse Ventura.
Stephen King	Boston Red Sox fan, author, musician (see Dave Barry entry).
W.P. Kinsella	Author of amongst other books “Shoeless Joe,” which was made into the film “Field of Dreams”
Michael Lewis	Author, “Moneyball” and “Blind Side”
The Onion	Editors and writers
Selena Roberts	Sports columnist, still with the New York Times, I think, but moving to Sports Illustrated.
J.K. Rowling	How exactly did she dream up Quidditch?

 

OTHER	NOTES and COMMENT
Warren Buffett	Part-owner of Omaha Royals, Triple-A affliate of the Kansas City Royals.
Bill Gates	Wants you to upgrade your computer’s operating system every 18 months. Plays bridge with Warren Buffett.
Spike Lee	Film maker, Los Angeles Lakers fan, Reggie Miller antagonist.
John Sayles	Film maker, including Eight Men Out.
Stadium/ballpark architects	New parks opening soon: Washington Nationals (2008), NY Mets and NY Yankees (2009), Minnesota Twins (2010). Also: have Red Sox and Cubs officials on to discuss what they are doing to preserve and sustain Fenway Park and Wrigley Field.
Donald Trump	Bad hair guy. Shows up at Yankees and Mets playoff games, but I never see him in the stands or mentioned in the media for regular season games.
Ted Turner	Former cable guy; former owner. Atlanta Braves; America’s Cup winner, 1977; founder, The Goodwill Games.