Defacto General Managers

 BY SCOTT MORGANROTH 

For many years, I used to watch a lot of game shows.

I always enjoyed watching; Let’s Make a Deal, The Price is Right, Jokers Wild, Family Feud and many others.

But one that stands out is when Regis Philbin hosted his classic “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?”

This got me thinking as I was preparing for a Sports Exchange when describing today’s modern day athlete, “Who Wants To Be A General Manager” so I decided to title the show, “Defacto General Managers.”

This wasn’t a show that I wanted to bombard our listeners with a lot of facts. Just opinions.

We did have some interesting facts in the show and I assembled a great crew to address the subject.

We had former NFL Player Mel Farr Jr., Steve Balestrieri, who covers the New England Patriots and Rick Curti aka Mr. Opinion and I had a blast talking about this! In fact, I felt bad for Balestrieri that he had to talk about the NBA because he was out of his comfort zone but I made it easy for him and generalized the subject matter.

During the show, we all raised our hands that we enjoyed the outspoken nature of NBA Legend, now turned TNT Commentator Charles Barkley with his harsh criticism of today’s NBA Players. I often refer to the NBA as the National Drama League because that’s what it has become where these players are the most outspoken athletes of the four major sports. 

I certainly respect them utilizing their platform to talk about social issues. During the millennium, I never heard about the term “Load Management” until players started taking games off at key points during the regular season and at times during Nationally Televised Games. 

Late Commissioner David Stern cringed at this and had to work to rectify this problem. Stern inherited a league that was close to bankruptcy back in the late 1970’s and was on tape delay. When Magic Johnson and Larry Bird entered the league, followed by Michael Jordan, Isiah Thomas and Barkley, the interest began to increase drastically. 

During the Sports Exchange, my crew talked about the college transfer portal, Magic Johnson, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, LeBron James, the creation of super teams that I actually feel began when NBA Players participated in the Olympics.

There has been the drama of Ben Simmons, James Hardin, Kyrie Irving, plus we talked about Isiah Thomas and former Jack Eichel formerly of the Buffalo Sabres.

If you’re looking for a great debate with your friends, family, etc… then I encourage you to watch this show. Our opinions varied and it was great having a guy like Farr Jr to get a players perspective when dealing with athletes.

The names that we mentioned covered the past and the present therefore, that’s what made this a fun topic to talk about. There are shows that I like to create that are extremely informative and my goal is to make sure that everyone can learn something! There are other shows where my goal is to keep the fan’s wheels turning! Then there are shows that accomplish both objectives.

So check out this show and we encourage your feedback. 

For those individuals that respond, I would definitely consider inviting you to be a guest on a future show.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com.

You can find this broadcast as well as others on our website and we ask if you would please Subscribe to the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel to view them or you can listen to them where ever you get your podcasts.

We look forward to hearing from you!