Pick 3 (or why I love sports radio)

My last few entries have been quite long, so here are a few brief thoughts.

I love Pick 3, the game played by Sean Baligian (It is what it is, 9-12 daily on WDFN 1130 AM). I get to test myself against the clock, against other loyal listeners of the DFN audience, and increase my short-term memory (a good strategy to foil aging). I recently sat down and tried to list out all the answers of previous pick 3 questions without the aid of the internet and without the limits of a timer. Mssportspsychbabe thinks I have a little bit of John Nash going on, but it works for me. Typical questions asked by Sean include: (1) Pick 3 champs during a specific calendar year from 1 of the 4 major sports (NHL, NBA, NFL, MLB), (2) Pick 3 (NHL, NBA, NFL, MBL) champs during the (1980's, 1990's, 2000's), (3) Pick 3 Big Ten (teams, bball or football coaches) outside the state of Michigan, (4) Pick 3 mythical college (champs, coaches) during the (1990's, 2000's). These are great questions because they separate the local sports follower from the true sports fan.

One of my pet peeves is listening to sports radio and hearing someone question a basic fact, or say "I have to check on that." If it were up to me, Sean would use Pick 3 as a hiring tool for any sports related job. He would go to Jeannie Zalasko, al michaels (lowercase intended), Tom Looney, the entire station up the dial, all sideline reporters, and people who have jobs that imply sports expertise and have them fill out a timed test of their sports knowledge. Then our airwaves would be left with just a few people who can actually recite who won what when, who played in what all star games, who belongs in the hall (with stats and logic to back it up).

Of course, those with other reasons to be on the air could be given a few provincials, as some talent is not worth wasting...