Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Someone Get LaVar Arrington off My Radio

I've had very little nice to say about LaVar Arrington since about three years into his tenure as a Washington Redskin. He was a disappointing high draft pick, and perhaps served as a warning to other teams regarding early linebacker picks. Their skills don't always translate to the NFL, as they rely on being faster than college running backs, and strong enough to take them down.

But I can get past a bad draft pick. He didn't work out, that's alright, it happens. I wouldn't be talking about Arrington today if that's where it stopped. But he's got his own radio show in the DC area. It's on from 2 PM - 6 PM, afternoon drive time, which means someone decided he was one of the best options they have, and whoever that is should be fired.

LaVar is awful. He comes across as naive and foolish, and he's just about the worst interviewer I've ever heard. Some commentators will offer leading questions; LaVar outright answers his own questions, then says, "Right?" He basically instructs his interviewee to use as many cliches as possible. His radio partner, Chad Dukes, has some more sense than Arrington, but he encourages LaVar enough that he's complicit in this crime. And make no mistake; what LaVar Arrington does to his radio listeners is criminal.

The worst part of it all is that I think Arrington is just not all that familiar with today's NFL. Just yesterday, the discussion focused on DeSean Jackson's comments about being happy that Donovan McNabb was out of town. That kind of discussion, a division rival talking smack about your quarterback, that's easy radio fodder. Arrington managed to make himself look like an idiot. First, he referred to McNabb's replacement as Schaub. Three times. Matt Schaub is the starting quarterback for the Houston Texans, and is fairly accomplished. Kevin Kolb is McNabb's replacement in Philadelphia.

If that were the only mistake he made, while silly, it could be chalked up to misspeaking once, then repeating the misspeak. But just a minute later, this exchange took place between LaVar and Dukes:

L: "How many teams are in the NFL? Thirty-five?"
C: "Thirty-two."
L: "Yeah, I guess there would have to be an even number."

Congratulations, LaVar Arrington. You've established yourself as the least qualified sports commentator in the Washington, DC area. Seriously, how many teams are in the NFL? I'll give you a clue, LaVar. No teams have been added to the league since you stopped playing football less than five years ago.

I mean, come on, this is the guy's job. If there's one expectation about a former NFL player when it comes to his radio show, it's that he'll be able to speak with some expertise about the NFL. I can accept that he's not a hockey expert, and doesn't know much about baseball, but he'd better know the NFL up and down.

I don't mean for this post to make you think I dislike LaVar Arrington as a person. He seems like a fine person, fairly good-natured, and while I personally don't care, he's got a history of being very charitable. But companies shouldn't (and overwhelmingly don't) employ people because they're good people. They employ people because they're good at their job. And LaVar isn't.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

I 100 percent disagree - I think the show is great and Lavar does a great job at keeping the audience involved and tuned in- keep up the good work Lavar and dont listen to the haters like this joe shmoe -Brandon Deah -

Anonymous said...

LaVar is one of the worst broadcasters I've ever heard.. I know even on air "talent" sometimes has verbal crutches (JB is fantastic, but even he goes to "indeed" and "folks" a lot) but with LaVar it's more crutch than thought. I swear, he can go on for 30 seconds without saying anything at all. I feel like he's padding for time, talking in circles, just trying to fill the hours till the end of the show. It's 90% filler and 10% content. If they don't cancel the show, I hope they at least replace him with someone who has something interesting to say, or, you know, grammatical skills. At this point the weekend talent is superior.

Anonymous said...

I once heard LaVar refer to Jason Campbell as a mortar. He said it three times before Dukes corrected him saying, "I think you mean martyr."
When describing his show he said that Dukes and he try "Toeing the line between bashing and keeping it real." First of all, Toeing the line means to conform to a rule or standard. I think LaVar meant "walk the fine line." Secondly, if you are a radio host and are going to talk in cliches, then you have an issue. But if you are a radio host who talks in cliches AND misuses them, then you need to be off the air. Please remove this ignorant dolt from the air.

Anonymous said...

I completely agree that Lavar Arrington should not be on the radio. The guy can speak for 10 minutes and I'll have no idea what he just said. He speaks himself into corners and uses vocab and cliches that make ZERO sense. He throws out large vocab in an effort to make himself sound clever = FAIL.

Anonymous said...

Completely agree..he's absolutely awful

Anonymous said...

Is there some way to get Lavar off the radio, I really want another option on radio, that guy that follows him is better. Funny danny I think is his name. Who gave Lavar a job on radio? and the POST? wtf? B-mitch is going to kill him in that time slot now that he's taking over for JT. Are Dukes and Lavar killing it in ratings or something?? My brain hurts from the stupidity Lavar emits.

Anonymous said...

I have been saying the same thing since he started doing the broadcast. The worse thing I heard him say is that basketball was not created in the U.S. He constantly talks about himself and is so bias towards any athlete of African American decent that he comes off as being total fool and ignorant. For example; he made a remark that Mayweather shouldn’t have to split a fights money with Pacquiao 50-50 because he is the bigger draw but when Chad reminded him that actually Pacquiao is the bigger draw he said he still shouldn’t have to split with him because he (Mayweather) is undefeated… He is just an absolute idiot… Thank God for the ESPN Radio app.

Anonymous said...

Lavar's ineptitude on the radio drives me crazy, to the point where I googled "how to get Lavar off the radio" and found this blog. This won't accomplish anything but at least I can vent. Most of the points have already been covered in the other comments. He is long winded, uninformed, and easily offended. If a caller has a legititmate counter argument to a terrible point Lavar has made, Lavar will yell at them and hang up. He spends more time asking questions during an interview than letting the guest respond. I feel bad for Dukes. You can tell he disagrees a lot with Lavar but it's not worth spending the entire show arguing with him. I can only listen now if Lavar is gone for the day. For the love of God get him off the radio.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to pull the scab on an old wound...LaVar has left the LaVar and Dukes show and has been hired by the NFL Network for their morning show. Did no one at NFL Network ever listen to his radio show? He is abysmal! LaVar's actual knowledge of football appears to be very shallow, he knows nothing about baseball, basketball and hockey, and he often launches into long periods of immature banter or rants that make no sense in any format, much less on a sports channel. He WANTS to be entertaining, but he fails miserably. Good for the radio station, The Fan, for keeping the much better Chad Dukes on for his own show. Unfortunately, LaVar still seems to be associated with the station and us often heard on Chad's new show. I fear this means he will be back at The Fan after everyone realizes how poorly he is suited for the NFL Network job and he is sent packing.

GoodPointJoe said...

I'm not a huge fan of Chad Dukes either, but Dukes is way better at being on the radio than LaVar ever was. I haven't seen LaVar on The NFL Network yet, so I can't say for sure that he's a bad choice. Some people are terrible on the radio, but their facial expressions and TV presence gets it done. Many vice versa as well.

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