WTF Happened to Joe McDonnell?

by Achilles on Apr 25, 2008 10:12 AM PDT in Football Comment 29 comments

UPDATE: I always liked Big Joe. When I was a student at UCLA (early 90s) I met him couple of times on campus when he used to do his show from KMPC (710?). But that was a long time ago back when we didn't have the internets and were stuck with talk radio. Yet from what I heard in recent years Joe's observations on UCLA sports such Lavin, Dorrell, Neuheisel, Howland etc had been pretty much on point. This was just disappointing, and frankly just classless and disgusting. This whole conversation (even if it was meant as a joke) looks more pathetic given the latest news on PC and BO. Joe ought to apologize to those kids. It would be the decent thing to do. GO BRUINS. -N

Adam Rose, blogging in the L.A. Times, posted this exchange that he caught on the radio (on the Bruin flagship station I might add):

Petros: Dude, did you hear what happened today at practice?
Money: Bad news.
McDonnell: No.
Petros: Pat Cowan and Ben Olson both carted off.
McDonnell: Well, it's good news about Pat Cowan. What happened to Ben Olson?
Money: Carted off ...
McDonnell: Brittle Ben got hurt again.
Money: ... heard a pop in his foot.
Petros: It's good news that a kid got carted off the field at practice?
McDonnell: It is. He never has to play at UCLA again. Kevin Craft will be starting quarterback.

In the exchange (which I did not hear), Joe McDonnell appears to be reveling in the fact that Pat Cowan is injured. McDonnell is entitled to his opinion of Cowan's abilities, but it seems quite beneath him -- beneath anybody for that matter -- to be glad an athlete, particularly a college athlete, is injured.

Not sure what's happened to Joe. I'll readily admit I've been a listener of his for many years. Somewhere along the line he went from breaking the big stories to covering pro wrestling. I still hear his show sometimes, but can't offer countenance for his remarks about Cowan.

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Its always lame to bag on student athletes

but it is inexcusable to celebrate an injury. I generally like Joe, but he went to far with this. He should apologize.

"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"

by silverlakebruin on Apr 25, 2008 10:27 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

We have to remember

that the whole Petros and Money show is about fooling around and joking and saying stupid things. I mean, it really is a joke of a show.

I wouldn't take a transcript of that show and use it for any purpose ever.

I agree, however, we shouldn't make fun of a bruin injury.

by rfirpo on Apr 25, 2008 10:47 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

You are right about PMS but not Bruin injury

PMS is a joke of a show.

We should not root for an injury to anyone, not just Bruins. Maybe it is a sin on this site, but I was glad to see Hackett back with the evil ones even if I hate the evil ones.

Go Team Go!

by bruins grad and dad on Apr 25, 2008 4:19 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yea they goof around

and I didn't take it seriously at first, but its always on on my drive home and they actually do know their stuff when it comes to sports.

Petros has a general appreciation for all LA sports, a big fan of K love and will readily rag on idiots like leinert, even as an SC alum himself.

Money also does post game Laker talk and is very knowledgeable and articulate when it comes to hoops.

My point though as that it was out of line, regardless of the fact the that PMS is a comedy based show, we're talking about real people here and seemingly serious injuries.

O.A.

by Ollie on Apr 25, 2008 10:54 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Joe McDonnell..

..is a fat idiot!

(Highly personal opinion with no basis in fact but extremely satisfying to express.)

God, it's great to be a Bruin!

by whp68 on Apr 25, 2008 12:09 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

about fat

Don't if he's fat anymore, had his stomach stapled, but an idiot nevertheless.

by brewinz on Apr 25, 2008 1:50 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Don't know if....

by brewinz on Apr 25, 2008 1:51 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Still fat

I had heard about the stomach stapling. Coincidentally I was on his station's webcam yesterday evening and was surprised to see him eating non-stop. Doesn't appear to have lost much weight. Too bad about Joe's comments. I always respected his opinions. Seemed like a straight shooter

by bruinchud on Apr 25, 2008 2:11 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Petros and Money

Other than the segemnt the other day where both said they don't like "Nation" blogs, I have to admit their show is growing on me. It's target audience is clearing aimed at people younger than I am, but some of their schticks are very funny.

I may work with the Waves, but I'm still a Bruin!

by HoozierDaddy on Apr 25, 2008 1:12 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Free replay

You can hear the exchange here. (There's more than the above transcript). 4/24 PMS Hour 3
The relevant part starts at 33:17. Joe comes off as a total horse's ass.

by McCloskey on Apr 25, 2008 1:28 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Little Surprised...

I heard his comments. Joe is a Bruin supporter and actually hyped RN from the start as the best guy for the job. In regard to Cowan, he should never say anything that negative about a kid. I think he was trying to say that we need to start fresh. How he said it was terrible.

by whittier71 on Apr 25, 2008 1:46 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Completely out of bounds...

To celebrate or use injuries as a comedic prop. Both PC and BO have worked hard to overcome injuries and we can all only hope that these are minor and they will be back soon.

In the meantime, this does raise the question of the state of the conditioning program especially over the past couple of years. Lots of injuries can be tied to the lack of conditioning and/or strengthening programs that help to prevent injury.

Bottom line - for both of these players, we hope they heal up and can return asap!

by bruins2x on Apr 25, 2008 1:50 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Our new Strength coach seems to be good

Players have noticed how different Mike Linn's program is. I believe Terrence Austin credited Linn for his improved speed and coordination.

by lildre on Apr 25, 2008 5:53 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

WHAT...IN...THE...HELL..?

That dialogue is completely out of line and unacceptable. When any player gets hurt, there is absolutely NO excuse for making a joke of it--I don't care who is injured or who is speaking.

"Hey, I didn't hurt him."...? You are kidding me...IMO, just shut the hell up if that is the only clever thing you can think of to say when a kid who is working hard to get better at a very tough sport gets injured...

Horse's ass is too kind.

Love My Bruins

by Bruingirl83 on Apr 25, 2008 2:53 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Hrmm, surprising

surprising to hear that from a guy whose breaking news is usually on point, but as usual, i'm not reacting with the same amount of vitriol as most people on this board (i understand how the comment was inappropriate --calm down, folks). joel mcdonnel's comment was in poor taste but he probably wasn't thinking or was trying to be funny, karl dorrell and steve lavin aren't the horrible people a lot of you are convinced they are, and it wasn't a terrible idea to consider DeWayne Walker for position of head coach.

as for the PMS show, i love it. they're hip, they get off topic, but it's interesting and sometimes hilarious when they do so. as aforementioned, when it comes down to speaking on sports, they're both knowledgeable and to the point, and manage to bring on good guests, etc.

it took me a while to warm up to Petros, but now i think he's hilarious. especially when he had to call a couple of the Pac-10 tourney games with Money. he acknowledged that he's more of a football guy and that he was out of place, but he made it interesting and lighthearted.

by deepdish on Apr 25, 2008 4:29 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

a knowledgable UCLA fan

Would not try to stick up for Steve Lavin. Enjoy radio but don't bring the BS from there over here on BN.

by Nestor on Apr 25, 2008 6:39 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

i consider myself a knowledgeable UCLA fan

i'm not selling you on what he did as a coach at UCLA. i'm just as cognizant as the next UCLA fan of what he did to the program, and just as relieved that he's gone--i just don't hate him and think he's a terrible person.

-deepdish, of the Daily Bruin Deportes fam

by deepdish on Apr 26, 2008 1:45 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Figures

A former Daily Bruin reporter would be charitable to Steve Lavin consider the disgraceful job the paper did during those years making excuse for the pathetic loser who was nothing short of a fraud stealing millions from our alma mater, posing as a "head coach."

He is a terrible human being for the way he stole money posing as a head coach and demonizing us - alums who were speaking out at the time - for doing it.

Don't come here and try to revise history.

by Nestor on Apr 26, 2008 9:41 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

nope

i know you don't like to be aligned with your alma mater's newspaper, but most DB folks are in the same boat with the opinion about Lav as y'all, sorry.

and lastly, do you think our beloved john wooden would agree with you or me?

me: "i just don't hate [Steve Lavin] and think he's a terrible person."

you: "He is a terrible human being for the way he stole money posing as a head coach and demonizing us - alums who were speaking out at the time - for doing it."

by deepdish on Apr 26, 2008 10:42 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

Just because Wooden doesn't castigate Lavin in public that means we shouldn't point out how he destroyed his program.

As for the Daily Bruin being on the same boat as us, you are a liar:

In his third year as head coach at what is the premier coaching job in college sports, Steve Lavin has proven to be well on his way to acceptance into the exclusive fraternity of his Bruin brethren, forever entrenched in UCLA lore.

He is everything that Bruin fans want in a head coach. He's young, stylish, hardworking, debonair, positive, energetic and one hell of a recruiter. He's the first coach since the Wizard of Westwood to guide the Bruins to more than one win in consecutive postseasons. He's making a name for himself as a great coach.

He's also making a statement by bucking the system - the UCLA system, that is.

With the decision to have the players suit up in black uniforms for certain road games this season, he's letting the world know that this is his team and these are his players.

UCLA alumni and fellow traditionalists may have a problem getting used to this, but the uniforms are a great idea. It gives the team a new identity, and it marks the official beginning of the Steve Lavin era.

Coach said that the idea for the black uniforms came to him two years ago, when the Duke players were adorned with similar jerseys in Pauley Pavilion.

The Daily Bruin has already received numerous letters, calls and e-mails regarding the black uniforms, an overwhelming amount of which are negative. I can't fathom what the Los Angeles Times or the UCLA sports department has had to deal with. Something else I don't understand is the rationale behind these claims.

And no that wasn't from his first season. That was a column in the DB in his third season when it was apparent to most of us who live in a reality based world that the a**hole was a fraud. And there were many others in the DB who continued to defend that p.o.s. while badmouthing the alums.

Now you come back here and try to revise history.

Don't come back here again.

by Nestor on Apr 26, 2008 11:09 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

so you don't want me to come back here

cause i have my own opinion?

and i wasn't with the Daily Bruin during Lav's tenure, i was working there last year. I'm talking about the consensus opinion when we sit around and talk about Lavin. i would say my same opinion, but they wouldn't tell me to leave the room because it wasn't the same as theirs.

this whole time i've simply said my opinion, and have respected others. in a couple of instances on this board, my opinion has changed based off of someones reply, and i've acknowledged it. i've never name-called, cursed, or discounted another Bruin fan's credibility--we're all die-hards. you, on the other hand, right out the gate didn't consider me a knowledgeable bruin fan, called me a liar, and consistently reply condescendingly.

by deepdish on Apr 26, 2008 11:26 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Defending Lavin on BN

Is an insult to BN. If you are going to insist on it, you are going to get ridiculed and laughed at. If you want to stick up for Lavin's character you will have to do it somewhere else.

by Nestor on Apr 26, 2008 11:28 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nestor is right about being laughed at

I was prepared to go on at length about Coach Howland's predecessor, but decided it was a waste of electrons.

by Fox 71 on Apr 26, 2008 7:38 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Also

When I wrote that DB did a disgraceful job covering the Steve Lavin years when he was here, you retorted back with "most DB folks are in the same boat with the opinion about Lav as y'all," implying they were on the same boat as us while he was here. And when you got exposed you come back whining saying that was last year. You can't have it that way. That was a lie, misrepresentation, whatever you want to call it.

We consider someone who was making almost a million dollar a year to coach our basketball team being negligent in his job duties, while demonizing an entire alumni base and tradition a terrible human being. Lavin was a lazy, incompetent liar, who didn't take his job seriously. He is not a person of a good character. If you want to defend him, do it somewhere else. Not here.

by Nestor on Apr 26, 2008 11:33 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

wrong

"most DB folks ARE in the same boat with the opinion about Lav as Y'ALL,"

as in right now. i didnt say most DB folks THEN, because i wasn't a student then, so i wouldn't be able to speak on them then.

i'll continue with my own OPINION, he was a bad coach through and through and i'm just as glad as the next die-hard that he's gone, but i don't HATE him, and i'm glad that because of Lavin we have Howland.

by deepdish on Apr 26, 2008 11:51 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Keep lying

the way you responded to my comment it clearly came across as you implying what DB's opinion was re. Lav when he was around. You can keep expressing your opinion. But if that entails defending Lavin, it will have to be somewhere else. Consider it as your last warning.

by Nestor on Apr 26, 2008 2:34 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Deep, you're much more charitable than I am

The attempt by radio guys to be hip is, in my opinion, just camouflage to mask an absence of talent and insight. That kind of "hip" seems to me to be pandering to the critical 12 to 14 demographic, and hence any humor connected in any way with bodily functions or a toilet is deemed hysterically funny.

But the real reason I bothered to respond to your comment is your defense of Coach Toledo's Successor and Coach Howland's Predecessor. They were horrible people in my opinion. What they did to my beloved alma mater was unforgivable, especially on the basketball side. I would be in line for that same criticism if I decided that I would be the perfect defense attorney for someone accused of first degree murder. I could like the people you defend, slick back my hair and wave my hands, or as happened on the football side, I could stare blankly and then have post trial news conferences consisting entirely of charades. But all the while, my client is getting closer and closer to what we used to describe as the aisle seat in the smokehouse. In such a case, my decision to take on a job that I was clearly not qualified to take would indeed make me a horrible person to the family of the poor schlump who had to pay for my ineptitude.

You may, of course, find a receptive ear to listen to your defenses of CHP and CTS, but you won't get that sort of reception from me.

And I would not have considered Coach Walker for any position other than the one he has. It was wrong to consider another inexperienced head coach. Apparently you were not a participant in the therapy sessions that we went through after the Washington State game, et al. If Mr. Guerrero had hired another person with no head coaching on his resume, many of the denizens of the Bruins Nation would simply have opened our veins and ended it all.

Maybe I'm in the minority on these points, and maybe it makes no difference in the grand scheme of things. But you nonetheless managed to generate a mini-rant when I was in an otherwise ebullient mood after a rousing opening success with Tosca.

by Fox 71 on Apr 25, 2008 9:31 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Perfectly Stated, Fox.

These "hip" radio guys blather like this because they lack true knowledge and insight. "Gee, I can't think of anything enlightening or insightful to say, so I'll just bellow out a string of beligerent, ignorant insults to fill the air time."

One more thing I always consider when I think of Lavin & KD...yes, it was hard on the fans, students and alumni, but look at what they stole from the young athletes who signed on to play for U.C.L.A. in good faith and great hope that they would have the experience of a lifetime.

Congratulations on Tosca.

Love My Bruins

by Bruingirl83 on Apr 26, 2008 9:15 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Can You Please Explain To Me...

why it is perfectly acceptable to be a rude, ignorant, bellering jackass making thoughtless, inane, insulting comments as long as it's in the name of "trying to be funny"?

I have never understood this.

Love My Bruins

by Bruingirl83 on Apr 26, 2008 9:24 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs