Make it Your New Year's Resolution to Listen
If you're not listening to the Jim Rome show on the radio between noon and 3 p.m. Eastern, you're really missing out. Rome has perfected the radio sports talk format, and he is even adept at interviewing actorsRome first came to national prominence in the early days of ESPN2 as the host of the "talk2" show. He separated himself from the other talking heads with his unique lingo. "Don't tank," he would say, urging viewers not to leave during the break. Rival players would "talk smack" to each other before games.
Rome got into some hot water when he insulted L.A. Rams quarterback Jim Everett. Rome called the quarterback "Chris" (as in female tennis star Chris Evert). Everett got up and dumped Rome out of his chair. Admittedly, Rome had it coming.
As the years have gone by, Rome has dialed down the attitude a little bit, in favor of a more professional approach. When you listen to Rome's radio show (nicknamed "The Jungle"), you can tell he takes his job very seriously. Rome doesn't throw a bunch of facts and figures at you, but he can interview just about anyone and let his subject educate the audience.
Most sports-talk hosts will deliver an opening monologue before fielding hours of calls from fans griping about their favorite teams. Rome can talk for an hour and a half without taking a call because he has good takes (opinions on a subject). If the calls start to get bad, he will stop taking them and continue on his own.
New listeners to the jungle are sometimes stumped by Rome's lingo, which is constantly parroted by his callers (who are appropriately called The Clones). Here is quick guide to some terms used on the show.
City Names: C-Town (Cleveland), The D (Detroit), Big D (Dallas), H-town (Houston), The Nati (Cincinnati), NoCal (Northern California), SoCal (Southern California), Crapchester (Rochester, N.Y.)
Gloss - A nickname, as in, Chad Johnson has glossed himself as "85" or "Ocho Cinco"
Sled - A car.
