PARTY TIME
Gow Media's listener appreciation party was an event to remember
Aug 3, 2018, 11:16 am
Loyal listeners were treated to an evening of food fun and up close conversation with some of their favorite ESPN 97.5 personalities Thursday evening as part of a Listener appreciation event put on by the station.
The station opened their doors at 6 p.m. to a line of excited fans who were ushered up an elevator to the Gow Media lobby where they were treated to catered food, an open bar, and an opportunity to sit in on a live broadcast of The Blitz with Fred Faour and AJ Hoffman.
“I was great to see them talk in person because you don’t ever get to see it,” Michael Chan explained. “Seeing it in person, like some of the arguments and when they go back and forth, it’s a lot of fun.”
On top of the food and drink, listeners had the opportunity to meet and speak with many of the station’s on air personalities including Faour, Charlie Pallilo, Raheel Ramzanali, and Lance Zierlein.
“Whenever I first started getting into media I knew fairly early on that radio is the closest to the one-to-one medium.” Pallilo remarked. “When done well it feels more like interaction from the host or hosts to the individual listener.”
Pallilo entertained guests on one end of the Gow Media lobby by successfully fielding guest-submitted sports trivia questions in an attempt to stump the daytime show host for prizes. Across the same lobby, Faour and Hoffman mingled with fans in familiar territory: a poker table.
The entire station was fair game, and guests were encouraged to weave their way in and out of the production side of the building, giving listeners the opportunity to see just where and how their favorite shows are made.
“No business can have 100 percent customer satisfaction, no sports opinion I have is going to have 100 percent agreement; I wouldn’t want that,” Pallilo added.”But this event, I think got close to--if not--100 percent satisfaction.”
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan. We drop two episodes every week on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel. You can also listen on Apple Podcast, Spotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.