Sports talk radio can be excruciating.
No, let me revise that a bit: Summertime sports talk radio can be excruciating.
And I'm a sports fan.
In recent days, I've watched tennis matches from Wimbledon, professional golf at The Open Championship at St. Andrews in Scotland, and even some Summer League games of the NBA to catch a few glimpses of former Razorbacks in action. A couple of months ago, my oldest son and I went to the PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, even though the sum total of my golf experience -- not including mini-golf -- could fill a pamphlet.
I have plans to be at every Razorback home football game -- all seven of them -- and as many basketball games at Bud Walton Arena as I can possibly get to. And yes, I'm looking forward to Dave Van Horn's baseball team making another run toward Omaha. I'm a big St. Louis Cardinals fan.
So I've at least got some fan credentials as measured by attendance and viewing. I'm no expert on any of it, but it's fun and I recognize there is a lot for fans to discuss and keep up with. Like so many readers, I'm thankful the sports reporters, editors and photographers here at the Democrat-Gazette deliver a lot of great coverage.
I love sports as much as the next person, but I clearly have my limits.
Sports talk radio can be, in a word, exhausting. But my wife's radio is tuned to it almost all the time. When I drive her car, I usually leave the radio alone ... as long as I can stand it.
I appreciate that people can't get enough about their Razorbacks. I can enjoy a smart discussion about why this team has a chance to improve or that team missed the boat on draft picks. But how many times can one debate which quarterback is the GOAT -- greatest of all time -- or drag out a discussion about Tiger Woods leg and whether it will hold up to the rigors of the next course he'll play?
It's on social media, too. Publications come out with their lists of Top 10 this or Top 5 that, and social media goes berserk.
Truthfully, I know I'm the odd man out. The whole reason there are so many rankings or Top 10 lists is that people love to debate, argue or counter them. And maybe it's therapeutic. It's undoubtedly more fun (and generally safer, though not always) to debate among family and friends who the best NBA player is than it is to discuss the Jan. 6 hearings.
The toughest part of it all is there can really never be a conclusion. It's like asking what the best college mascot is or what flavor ice cream is the best. And so sports talk radio goes on, and on, and on. And it's worse in the summer, when the big sports are between seasons and ESPN is showing the national cornhole or hot dog eating championships.
Strangely for a guy who writes opinion all the time, I get frustrated with talk radio because it seems 95 percent of it is just opinion. It's not delivering new information. It's just regurgitating and debating.
That's also why I can't stomach much of the cable news networks, where for so long it's seemed they deliver five minutes of news per hour and 55 minutes of commercials and panelists droning on with their opinions.
It all makes me appreciate this newspaper, as a reader, even more, because it delivers much more news and helpful information valuable to the readers than it does talking head opinions. News is the meat, and it's OK to have some clearly marked opinion as the seasoning. But too much seasoning can ruin any dish.