We love lists. Yes we do.

In fact, some people (me) even write a book with the list theme: The Great Book of Chicago Sports Lists. And even another: Golf List Mania.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise that Talkers.com is getting a lot of traction for its list ranking the top 100 personalities on sports talk radio.

Here’s the top 10 of the “Heavy Hundred.”

1. Mike Francesa, WFAN, New York

2. Jim Rome, Premiere Networks

3. Dan Patrick, DirecTV/Fox Sports Radio Network

4. Boomer Esiason, Craig Carton, WFAN, New York

5. Mike Valenti, Terry Foster, WXYT, Detroit

6. Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic, ESPN

7. John Dennis and Gerry Callahan, WEEI, Boston

8. Tony Kornheiser, WTEM, Washington

9. Doug Karsch and Scott Anderson, WXYT, Detroit

10. Angelo Cataldi, WIP, Philadelphia

Initial reaction:

OK, Francesa, given the weight (not his) and history of that show. But I’m sure his former partner, Chris Russo, is steaming. The man behind Mad Dog Radio placed 39.

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How does a Detroit sports talk grab two spots in the top 10 and ESPN, with all its power and branding, get only one?

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Paul Finebaum, who has a network based out of Birmingham, is woefully low at 41. He is huge in the South.

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Also, hard to believe how many former sportswriters have their own shows. Dan LeBatard, Terry Boers, Dan Barreiro, Brian Murphy, Patrick Reusse, John Lopez, Randy Galloway, among others. Former press box seatmates who actually found a way to make a buck in this business.

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Speaking of former sportswriters, the omission of the Mike Mulligan-Brian Hanley show on WSCR-AM 670 in Chicago is a major mistake. They have been huge in morning drive for many years, and do a solid, informative and entertaining show. Not only should they be in top 100. You could make case for top 10 in my book.

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And who knew? Joe Morgan placed 100 for a show on Sports USA Media. Turns out it is a weekly two-hour show.

I was in the car yesterday, driving to the John Deere Classic in the Western Illinois. It is a three-hour drive both ways, which meant I consumed the Penn State coverage on radio during the morning and evening hours.

A few observations:

With the Louis Freeh press conference coming up at 10 a.m. ET, I tuned into ESPN Radio on my Sirius/XM dial. The Colin Cowherd show airs at that time. Cowherd wasn’t there; Doug Gottlieb filled in.

Didn’t matter because I wanted to hear from Freeh. And I did until about 10:16 when ESPN Radio incredibly went to a commercial. This might be the most important press conference in the last decade, and ESPN, the self-proclaimed WWL, is running ads?

Then it got worse. When ESPN returned from the break, do they go back to the press conference? No. Do they talk about Freeh’s damning conclusion? No. The topic now is Brook Lopez resigning with Brooklyn.

Are you kidding me? Penn State is the biggest story of the year–the program could be shut down–and they talk about basketball in July. Talk about dropping the ball.

I frantically tried to find the press conference. ESPNExtra also didn’t have it. Finally, I found it on College Sports Nation.

I contacted the ESPN folks this morning, and they said they couldn’t run the entire press conference live because of logistics involving affiliates and the running of ads. I’d suggest ESPN fix that situation pronto. When you have a press conference of that magnitude, sports listeners expect ESPN to provide complete, uninterrupted coverage on all of its platforms, including radio.

And by all means, if you can’t cover the press conference, don’t switch the subject to Brook Lopez and the Brooklyn Nets.

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I heard more coverage during my drive home in the evening. There was a highly absurd segment on Dino Costa’s show on Mad Dog Radio in which a guest named John Ziegler literally was screaming while trying to point out how the Freeh report was flawed.

The guy actually had some points, but they were totally obscured by his top-of-the-lungs shouting. I actually was fascinated to see how long both Ziegler and Costa could keep it up. Finally, I gave up. I can’t tolerate people shouting at me.

Eventually, I turned to my local sports station in Chicago, WSCR-AM 670. Thankfully, evening hosts Matt Abbatacola and Adam Hoge gave a calm, measured analysis of the entire situation. It was some of the best radio I heard all day.

Hoge discussed the Big Ten Network and its decision not to air the press conference live. He also wrote a post on the station’s site. Hoge writes:

Flash forward to Thursday, when once again, the Big Ten Network received criticism for not airing a press conference.

“While some may be unaware, BTN is not and was never intended to be a news organization,” the network said in a statement given to Sports Business Daily. “Our focus is to air, discuss and analyze what happens relative to the field of play, which is what our viewers are most interested in. BTN analysts have repeatedly expressed their disappointment with the way in which Penn State football officials handled the Sandusky situation. When our football coverage resumes later this month, it will be a topic of conversation as to how it may affect the Penn State football program and the rest of the Big Ten.”

When I read this statement, I literally screamed. Not a news organization? I worked at BTN for three years and that’s news to me. As I detailed before, it’s certainly not CNN, but if BTN is not a news organization then why did I sit through all those meetings where we discussed the news of the day and then created a show around it?

And in this case, how does the Freeh Report not have an impact on “what happens relative to the field of play”? At the very least, it will affect recruiting. At the very worst, it will shut down the program.

I agree. One of the reasons why the MLB Network has been so successful is that it hasn’t acted as a PR machine for Major League Baseball. An impression was made early on when the network aggressively covered the Alex Rodriguez steroids story.

The BTN should want its viewers to turn to its network for all things Big Ten. Yesterday’s press conference has far reaching implications for what occurs on and off the field.

The situation was addressed on the BTN’s site. There’s a column from senior writer Tom Dienhart with the headline: “I thought I knew ya, Joe Pa.”

He writes:

Those cold and hard revelations in the Freeh report were horrific. They also sadly are the punctuation point on Paterno’s legacy that is now tarnished beyond reproach. All of those good things he did over four-plus decades as head coach of the Nittany Lions?

Gone.

The generous donations to the school.

The wins.

The charitable work.

Gone, gone, gone.

It all has been swallowed up by Paterno’s confounding inaction in what only can be classified as a selfish act of self-preservation. How did Paterno sleep at night over the past 10-plus years knowing what he knew?

Confounding.

I thought I knew ya, JoePa. I guess not.

Yet while reading Dienhart’s words, I couldn’t help notice a prominent box on the right rail. It said: “Remembering Joe Paterno, 1926-2012.”

I don’t think you can underestimate the impact of what happened when WFAN hit the air 25 years ago. The nation’s first 24/7 sports talk station led to a revolution in media that completely changed the sports.

Previously, I posted interviews with WFAN founder Jeff Smulyan and Chris Russo.

Grantland now has posted a major oral history on the station. Compiled by Alex French and Howie Kahn, it features interviews with all the major players, including Don Imus. However, Mike Francesa declined to participate; the authors used quotes for him from another source.

A footnote in the story explains:

“Francesa turned down repeated requests to be interviewed for this oral history. Grantland editor-in-chief Bill Simmons even spent 20 minutes on the phone with Francesa to no avail, explaining afterward, “Since ESPN doesn’t allow its talent to be interviewed on Mike’s radio show, Mike simply didn’t want to be interviewed for a piece that would appear on a site owned by ESPN. He kept saying it was a ‘matter of principle’ for him.” Simmons couldn’t change his mind even though Francesa admitted that he couldn’t wait to read the piece.”

The post is more than 15,000 words and was 29 pages when I printed it out. So carve out some time because it is a fascinating read.

Also, Simmons updates his 2006 running diary of “Mike and the Mad Dog” with some footnotes.

Some quotes from an ESPN release:

Jim Lampley (one of the first hosts at WFAN): I scripted an introductory segment, which was completely and totally facetious in intent. It was a litany of things that I foresaw changing in the culture, and in the sports world, as a result of the genesis of the 24-hour-a-day sport-talk radio station. I forecast a variety of absurdities: People would bend their schedules and neglect their work and their marriages and their children to sit on the phone and wait to be involved in discussions about nothing.

ESPN’s Mike Breen (former update guy for Don Imus): Imus was tough to be around. He used to kid — and it was half-kidding — that you weren’t allowed to make eye contact with him if you saw him in the hallway.

George Vecsey (sports columnist, New York Times): They truly were Martin and Lewis, Sonny and Cher. They were Simon and Garfunkel. Even if you can play a solo show in Central Park once a year, it’ll never be the same as when the two of you were doing it together.

Chris Russo (former WFAN host): The quarters were tight. It wasn’t state-of-the-art. There was no room to escape when you had an issue, when you’re not getting along. You’re on top of each other on a day-in, day-out basis. It probably helped us deal with the fights that we had a little better because they probably didn’t linger. We had no choice but to face up with each other. I only had three or four bad ones. But again, you’re gonna have three or four bad ones in 19 years of a relationship.

Bob Snyder grew up in sports talk radio as a general manager of stations in Washington and Chicago, among other jobs. Now a radio consultant, he and his wife Michele want to honor the genre that has changed the dynamic in sports.

They are the driving forces behind the 2012 National Sports Radio Awards Show at the Chicago Theater on Oct. 6. The event will celebrate 25 years of the sports talk format, which began with the founding of WFAN in 1987. Fittingly, the Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Emmis Chairman and WFAN Founder Jeff Smulyan.

All told there will be 11 awards. Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon have been named the honorary chairman of the event.

For the Snyders, the event is personal in another way. Proceeds will benefit the Parent Heart Watch, a national organization committed to preventing sudden cardiac arrest among youth; the number one cause of death of young athletes. In 2008, they lost their daughter Jenny when she died suddenly on a soccer field.

Here’s the link with more information. I’ll have more posts leading up to the event. It promises to be a memorable evening.

One of the best shows on radio (or anywhere, for that matter) is Jeremy Schaap’s The Sporting Life on ESPN Radio. It is the sports version of NPR’s Fresh Air with long-form stories, comprehensive interviews and commentary from Schaap, one of the best in the business.

Unfortunately, it airs at odd hours (Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN Radio’s main network). As Schaap said, “It’s not a ratings machine.”

No, but it does serve a loyal, niche audience who enjoy smart radio in any genre. Such as me.

I had become frustrated at not being able to hear the show. Every time, I talked to an ESPN official in recent months, I’d ask, “When are you going to put Jeremy’s show on a podcast?”

Now fortunately, Schaap’s shows finally are available on podcast. Here’s the link. Check them out. You’ll be glad you did.

Also, be sure to check out Schaap’s piece Sunday on Outside the Lines (ESPN, 9 a.m. ET). He reports on a Jewish hockey player who decided to become a dual German-U.S. citizen to be able to play for Germany. It’s a powerful story.

From ESPN:

Sixty-seven years ago, as World War II was coming to an end, allied troops liberated the concentration camps where Adolf Hitler had called for the murder of millions of innocents, mostly Jews. Today, the descendants of the camp’s victims and survivors grapple with the issue of modern Germany – how to forgive without forgetting. A young American hockey player, Evan Kaufmann, has come to embody those tensions. Jeremy Schaap reports Kaufmann’s dilemma – should he represent and wear the flag of the country that killed and tortured members of his family?

“A lot of my family was either chased out of Germany, or ended up being murdered in the Holocaust. So, is it right for me to come here? Is it something I should even be thinking about doing? I think to become a German citizen, knowing all of that, was definitely, at the time, a very tough decision.” -Evan Kaufmann

“You can’t help but think about what my family went through 70 years ago and the hardships that they suffered. But I think, more than that, you had to think about the strides that have been made since then, and in my own personal experiences.” –Kaufmann

“When I initially came here, being in the locker room with my teammates, I’d be wondering, ‘What was my teammate’s grandfather doing at the time that my grandfather was suffering, and was he part of the actions?” –Kaufmann

As expected, Ralph Barbieri is suing KNBR in San Francisco over his dismissal. From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Angela Alioto, one of Barbieri’s attorneys, said KNBR management had told him  he was being fired because he came to work late and wasn’t preparing properly  for his show.

“If you look at the ratings, Mr. Barbieri and Mr. Tolbert were No. 1 or 2  until the day he was terminated,” Alioto said. “The fact is, before they knew he  was sick, those excuses didn’t exist – and they renewed his contract.”

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This week marks the 40th anniversary of Title IX. Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has a terrific package. He has comments from women in sports broadcasting about the impact the landmark measure had on their careers.

From Mary Carillo:

 I always tell young kids, especially young women who are interested in this sort of work: if you are asked whether you can do something, cover something, bring back a story — say yes. Then go after it with everything you’ve got. And more than anything, support one another. Madeline Albright says there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help one another. I believe that with all my heart. All the boats need to rise.

Title IX was the first step to an even playing field. It’s still far from that, in my end of sports as well. But we’re getting there. I need to believe that’s true. I need to know  my daughter can dream  the same dreams as my son.

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Tampa to get its first FM sport talk station.

CBS RADIO Tampa Bay announced today it will debut an all-sports radio station in August, marking the first time the market will feature the format on FM. Listeners will be able to hear SPORTSRADIO 98.7 The Fan on-air at 98.7 FM and 1010 AM, online at www.987thefan.com, and via a variety of mobile applications.  The station will provide Tampa Bay’s ardent sports fan base with locally programmed content including in-depth news, scores, headlines, and full coverage of area professional and college teams.

“Never before has there been a station for Tampa Bay’s passionate sports fans with such reach and ties to the community as SPORTSRADIO 98.7 The Fan,” said Ben Hill, Senior Vice President/Market Manager, CBS RADIO Tampa Bay.  “Locally based on-air personalities, and a programming team with years of experience in Tampa will help shape the station as a place listeners can trust for the most honest, engaging and interactive sports talk.”