Either Relevant or True » Dan Patrick is a terrible man.

Ok! Bob Valvano, filling in for Dan, just said we’d find out what Dan’s announcement was “sometime later this week.”

We hope all is well with Dan, and think perhaps, at this point, that The Announcement is about just how very much he likes being a Story Tease.

ETA: Ok! New plan. We here at ERT will still technically be going on vacation post-Countdown tonight. However, I’m going to stick around until The Announcement (whenever it happens), to pass along the news. So, check back, and we’ll have it for you as soon as we hear.

Edited 4:15pm by Becky: In the course of the afternoon I’ve read no fewer than six different sports blogs say that their “sources” say Dan Patrick’s announcement is that he is leaving The Worldwide Leader, some going as far as to say he’s shopping his own syndicated radio show. All rumors, remember, so take with liberal amounts of salt.

I’ll confirm it.

I normally like Bob Valvano (the guy filling in). But I really didn’t want to hear his voice today. That Big Announcement is never coming.

Maybe Dan’s announcement was that he IS Bob Valvano!

Has anyone ever seen them in the same place at the same time?

So… are we on vacation? Or did Dan ruin it?

Sigh. He certainly knows how to play out a tease.

I don’t like the fact that he is absent unexpectedly and doesn’t even call his announcement in (he must have a few OnStar hotline things lying around). Maybe last minute negotiations of some sort? I hope he isn’t sick - there have been a lot of absenses lately (though no one makes being sick a big tease, do they?)

Oh well, I am headed out on vacation Thursday so I guess I will have to read about it when I can get online and hear it on the podcast at a later point.

This may be a little bit out there, but do you think that maybe MSNBC may be working on bringing the Big Show (possibly a radio/TV simulcast) to the old Don Imus time slot? The format wouldn’t necessarily have to be solely sports themed–more of a general interest Big Show, but it could have some sports thrown in. It would be a big plus for Dan in that it would give him a chance to try something different. Also, since Keith is already employed by MSNBC, if he did participate, the only change would be when and how long he’s on the air. What do you think?

I would love for that to be true, Jo, but somehow I doubt it since the slot appears to have gone to Morning Joe. They’re not even calling his 9:00 timeslot Scarborough Country anymore, so I assume Scarborough’s keeping the 6-9 gig. (Which actually works for me about a million times better than his old show did.)

Some bad news (rumors ?) out there about Dan Patrick leaving ESPN radio:

http://www.bigjoeonline.com/
index.php?categoryid=10

As much as I’ve ripped ESPN in the past, I can’t see any advantage for Dan to leave ESPN. If he’s fed up there, he could have far more impact staying on ESPN Radio as he is probably one of the very few big names at ESPN who could get away with saying occasional bad things about ESPN if he wanted to.

And if Dan likes it there, that would just make leaving even more ridiculous.

Either way, I don’t believe the rumors that he’s leaving for a syndicated show. And he’s too young to retire.

If he was interested in leaving for a non-sports network, we’d probably have heard it before (these things aren’t good at being kept a secret).

Yeah, leaving for a syndicated sports show would be ridiculous since ESPN has a lock on so many of them. What was that analogy to ESPN being most of the ocean the other day?

The rumors would make much more sense if they said he would be doing general interest programming either on radio or television.

This is why I don’t like posting rumors.

sygagyDAMN! I even ran out and brought lunch back to my DESK so I wouldn’t have to miss this! And then…Bob Valvano, claiming to be Dan’s “cutoff man”? What the…?????

OK. I don’t think Dan was sick (hawaii is right–nobody makes big teasy funny announcements about being sick). Perhaps he had something else pop up unexpectedly that had to do with this announcement. I wish jo’s speculation was possible, because if so it would be interesting in that it would have KEITH bringing DAN into someplace as a kind of return favor to Dan for having brought him back to ESPN. Then again, how crazy do you think ESPN would be about that? Also, as Dan said, he got into radio to get OUT of TV. And Morning Joe is looking pretty much like a sure thing, yadda yadda.

Could Dan be leaving ESPN for some other sports gig? Really? Something tells me no. And the biggest thing that tells me no (besides all the obvious stuff–why leave at this point, etc.) is the remark Keith just made yesterday about how trying to compete with The Worldwide Leader (and, as he pointed out, he should know) is like throwing your used wad of gum at the side of a battleship. Why would Keith say such a thing if he was well aware that after many years with The Mothership, Dan was finally setting sail in a new dinghy? It would be at worst extremely rude and insensitive, and at the very least would exhibit serious questioning by Keith as to the wisdom of Dan’s decision–none of which I have sensed thus far. Keith seems to be just fine with Dan’s announcement, whatever it is; I sense no underlying conflict between the two of them on that topic, and you KNOW that if there was an underlying conflict, we’d be able to tell.

Naah. Could it be…a non-sports opportunity? Maybe. But if so, yeah, why no leak?

So…Is Dan retiring? Yeah, he’s young–young for poor working sots who have to keep grinding away until we are 70 just to avoid poverty in our old age. But Dan probably doesn’t fit that category. What if he just wants to? What if he, unlike all those crooks stepping down from their government positions, really DOES want to spend more time with his family? Or whatever?

Damn, I’d miss his show, and I’d miss The Big Show. And so would Keith. But maybe Dan has decided that he’s had enough of the radio and the road. He’s done enough jock banter, he’s presented enough trophies. Time to kick back and enjoy life with The Chairman and the demon seeds that are his children.

I don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine. All I know is, the suspense is killing me.

OK, new guess (which I really don’t believe but would be very cool):

With Morning Joe, Dan Abrams has been temporarily filling in for Scarborough at 9 ET after Keith. I say temporarily because I figure the general manager of a network probably wouldn’t have his own show permanently.

What if Dan Patrick took over the 9 ET hour after Keith on MSNBC? It wouldn’t have to be a hard news show.

Imagine the two of them expanding on what Stewart and Colbert do in between shows. That could be very cool.

I’d rather have the status quo and keep the Big Show. But if Dan’s going to leave, my idea would be great.

Oh, man, Gilbert, a friend and I were totally talking about that earlier this afternoon after I shared the Imus theory with her. And…yes, it made me insanely happy. And then I went off into a fantasy world where they shortened their shows to accomodate 5-10 minutes of talking together. Like I said, fantasy land. But they know me there.

Gilbert, Ashley, I said the exact same thing to Stef in IM early this evening!

So, Becky, does that mean we get the tinfoil hats out again or cross our fingers? You know, maybe a combination of both. Hell, as long as Rosie O’Donnell doesn’t get the slot (thanks, Morning Joe), I don’t care who it is. But, DP… *sighs*

Think they’ll mention ERT on the radio again? You know, assuming they show up.

Okay, I like Gilbert/Ashley/Becky’s guess best (if only DP would base his career on poll votes!), but here are some other possibilities that flitted through my mind today:

-he was leaving and annoucing it today, but ESPN got involved with him on some last minute negotiations and he may stay.

-he was leaving and announcing it today but ESPN got nervous about how he was going to do it (he does spend a lot of time with Keith) and would not let him on the air today.

-he is going to do something with Sirius or XM that is more than just sports. He seems intensely interested in music and celebrity, and I bet he is intereted in politics/social issues too.

All right, my brain is tired from all the speculating today.

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