Top 10: Fighting Talk Contestants

Following on from last month's review of my favourite BS Report guests, I thought I should detail my favourite Fighting Talk contestants, coming after today's new season debut (which I've not listened to yet, I'm a podcast subscriber). Like last month, let's start with the contestants I'm not bothered about:

10 > - Simon Day (every answer comes back to Boxing), Brian Read (every answer comes back to Liverpool) and Jim Smallman (every answer comes back to Leicester City, specifically 1996 Leicester City, which I've written about before). It honestly wouldn't sadden me if they never came on the show again, although I wouldn't wish the fate of Stuart Hall on any of them.

10 - Henning Wehn
The German stand-up comic is the perfect foil for some of the more serious contestants. He's also wonderfully random, and frequently not politically correct, especially about the Dutch. I almost dread to think what his stand-up is like. My favourite moment of his? When he butchered a late Canadian Snooker player's name:

9 - Richard Osman
I wasn't a big fan of his to begin with, but he's grown on me with his dry, witty humour. Additionally he gets merit points for posting this on Twitter. It probably helps that thanks to the cleaner at work I'm in danger of becoming a "Pointless" fan as well.

8 - Gary O'Reilly
Purely a personal preference, due to lots of Palace mentions (especially the self-indulgent 1990 Palace mentions) and an introduction from the Miami Dolphins cheerleaders.

7 - Neil Delamere
A number of comedians work their way through the Fighting Talk studios (or in some cases, ISDN lines), to varying degrees of success with precious little interest in either sport or preparation (yes, Kevin Bridges, that means you). Neil Delamere, in my opinion at least, tends to be the best of them.

6 - Dougie Anderson
Following the antics of his namesake Freedman, Dougie "Two Answers" (sometimes "Three Answers") Anderson might now be becoming my favourite Scotsman, mostly because I like his self-depreciating humour. Oh, by the way, as of Friday I've lived in Scotland for 16 years now. Just thought I should mention that.

5 - Martin Kelner
If my best friend at University hadn't come from Warrington Kelner might be my favourite proponent of Rugby League. Additionally his "Any Other Business" answers are usually hysterical, such as the time that he was told about Country Vegetable soup and wondered if there was an Urban Vegatable equivalent. He's quite random at times:

4 - Bob Mills
Speaking of my best friend from University, when most people there were off getting wildly drunk (or worse) on Friday nights he and I would go into one of our rooms and watch "In Bed With Me Dinner". We hadn't heard of Bob Mills before, but we loved his offbeat comedy. Tragically I can't find any clips of his legendary destruction of Leslie Grantham's performance as Mick Raynor, so this will have to do instead.

(Yikes, that's 20 years ago. I'm really getting old.)

Mills is still just as offbeat, frequently extolling the virtues of lower league football in among various other comments and frequently terrible impressions. Apologies if you came here expecting a lecture on communism.

3 - Kath Merry
I'm probably shocking some listeners by placing her this highly, but she gets bonus points for being uncompromising and sharp, especially on the episode where the guest with the same name as an over-rated Br*ghton player decided to act a little strangely.

2 - Greg Brady
Can there just be a clip on YouTube of my favourite Canadian radio host butchering people's names? You need to hear him say Yakubu. Or West Bromwhich Albion. Or Snooker. Or anything with the potential to be verbally mangled. There's something likeable about him well, although I do tend to like people who don't take themselves too seriously.

1 - John Rawling
Psycho himself can go anyway you want on Fighting Talk, he can talk expertly on any subject, but at the same point he can see the humour in matters as well. Probably best of all, I'm no Boxing fan, but Rawling can talk about the history of the sport he covers most with reverance and class. It's never a bad show when JR is on.

Honourable mentions: Ian Stone, Tom Watt, Steve Bunce, Des Kelly, Steve Lamacq, Mark Watson.

Top 10: BS Report Guests

Thought I'd put in a few top 10 lists, as a way to put in some different content on the blog. Don't expect these to be as entertaining as David Letterman's top 10 lists. They're leaning in the direction of information instead of entertainment, and they are my opinion only so feel free to disagree.

The first list is in relation to The BS Report, the ESPN/Grantland podcast hosted by Bill Simmons. Here are my top 10 guests (people who appear on at least a semi-regular basis), but before I get to that point, here's a candidate who won't make the top 10:

10 > - Zach Lowe
The go-to BS Report guest for everything NBA, which would be fine if he was anywhere near as entertaining as Steve Kerr or the more informal Joe House. I'm sure Lowe is a fine writer, but he's not a particularly easy listen unless you're looking to fall asleep. Every podcast he's on is too long, and he's possibly more over-exposed than Emile Sandé. For Lowe, less is more. Less Lowe, more variety on NBA topics please.

10 - Matthew Berry

The ESPN Fantasy Sports expert appears ahead of every American Football and Baseball season, and yet the one podcast I remember most of all was the one where Berry and Simmons fondly looked back at Beverly Hills 90210. Make of that what you will.

9 - Steve Kerr

The NBA expert and commentator, who unfortunately isn't on very much these days. A thoughtful commentator on the game today, with lots of great stories from his time as a General Mananger and also his days as a player (especially as a colleague of Michael Jordan).

8 - Jalen Rose

When Simmons first started having Rose on the podcast I thought it was more to do with their new working relationship on ABC's NBA coverage. Scratch that, Rose is a fantastic guest. He's fantastically engaging, endearingly honest and candid, and has a host of stories of what he got up to as an NBA player. If you have a spare hour, go to the Grantland YouTube channel and get a listen to some of these stories, they're well worth your time.

7 - Chuck Klosterman

The Rolling Stone writer surprised me by being an always-interesting guest, regardless of the topic. Not afraid to argue contrary opinions, although always with a purpose and not to just seek attention. Always very interesting, although possibly not the person to listen to if you're looking for humour.

6 - Chris Connelly

The man of many hats, all of them interesting. He's told many stories that I haven't heard before (like the one about Chris Paul's tribute game to his Grandfather), given valuable insight on past eras (e.g. Michael Jackson and the early 1980s) and also recommended some interesting documentaries and films (e.g. Rachel Getting Married, which I hated, but never mind). He's a great story teller, and to his benefit I think I would struggle to pinpoint any of his biases, he simply presents as an interested neutral.

5 - Alan Sepinwall

The TV writer at hitfix.com,  Sepinwall is an engaging, thoughtful TV critic. He was one of the first people who pointed me in the direction of Mad Men as well as early proponent of Homeland (and to be fair, a pointed critic of the end of series two). Like anyone, I won't always agree with everything he says, but at least his points are well considered and his appearances are an easy listen.

4 - JackO

Call this a conflicted point. Simmons' old college friend (full name John O'Connell) is the Yankees supporting balance when Red Sox supporting Simmons wants to discuss Baseball. They're often disparaging about the National League, but they remind me of how I talk with my friends on the phone, so their discussions make me smile for more than just the obvious reasons. It's  just a pity that JackO's Irish ancestry make him so clearly anti-English.

3 - Joe House

Simmons' Washington-based friend always seems happy to talk Basketball, although he's also keen to talk about food as well. The conversations are similar to those with JackO, but a bit lighter and with no such anti-English slants. There's just something likeable about him. Maybe it's the incredible eating feats?

2 - Adam Carolla

Rarely seen these days, which is a pity, but the now-annual Fast & Furious reviews are always a must-listen. Additionally, his fictional film pitch for "Pedif Isle" in the early weeks of the podcast quickly made the BS Report a must listen for me. Very funny, usually quite bizarre. Okay, very bizarre, but I wouldn't miss them.

1 - Cousin Sal

My favourite guest, Sal Iacono  bar none, usually for his weekly NFL picks that he and Simmons do every week during the NFL season. In jokes, impressions and the weekly staple of the fake voicemail message from Simmons, these are the podcasts I look forward to most every week from September to the start of February. (Please don't mess up the recordings at any point this season - week one of last season wasn't fun.)

This Is Why I Don't Shop In City Centres

One of the occupational hazards of working in Glasgow is that there are loads of shops around. You can't help but see them and walk past windows full of interesting items.

Today I was looking for some more CD-RWs. One of my current ones is a bit nicked-up, and on it's way out, so I wanted to get a replacement for burning podcasts onto and listening to in the car.

Normally I get my CD-RWs from a shop in Wishaw. The cost? 60p. Unfortunately I can't really get there during the week, so I took a look for them in Glasgow. After taking a look in two hard-to-find stores (one of the upsides of working in Glasgow, although they're a bit of a trek) which didn't have them I headed back to the city centre.

Finally I found some individual CD-RWs. The cost? £2.99! I think I'll wait until the weekend to get some more.

Geoff Thomas, Podcasts and Nuthin' Else (for now)

In the past couple of weeks I've really begun to enjoy some podcasts from various websites (thanks to my Father-in-law for passing on a complimentary .mp3 player he received). This morning I was listening to some of the Palace Radio podcasts while waiting for my train.

The two clips I had downloaded were from the night of the recent rematch of the two 1990 F.A. Cup Final sides in aid of Leukaemia Research. Of course former Palace captain Geoff Thomas has recently overcome the disease, and it was his idea to stage the game to raise funds. Pretty good idea too, I wish I could have been there.

One of the clips I had downloaded was with Geoff himself. The beginning of the interview might be a one of the strangest introductions I've ever heard. What happened to the cancer survivor and captain of arguably the greatest ever Palace side? Yep, he had the sprinklers turned on him! Only at Palace.

You can donate to Geoff's appeal at www.geoff-thomas.com.