Gay's Back Determines Aztecs Fate, Sportscasters

As encouraging as it is to see San Diego State F Billy White becoming an offensive force again, the Aztecs will go as deep into the conference and NCAA tournaments as G DJ Gay's back allows.

Yes, we all know about how coach Steve Fisher calls Gay his "most important player" and it is true, but Gay is sinking barely over a quarter of his jumpers the past few games. He still logs significant minutes, but since he hurt his lower back a few weeks ago, his shot has been off just a smidgen. There have been more than a few in-and-outs that, earlier, would have tickled nothing but net.

If Gay's health allows him to return to form, the Aztecs will go deep. If not, there could be a disappointing early exit.

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Well, Don Norcross' article on San Diego sports talk radio hosts sure did draw a lot of attention, particularly over his rating of "zero microphones" for Lee Hamilton. Taste for any radio host is subjective, as we'll see in a moment. One odd example in news talk is a few years ago when Bill O'Reilly had a radio show, I like to listen to it very much. I can't stand his television program.

What it comes down to for me is if someone is talking about a sports topic I'm interested in, I listen. If not, I switch. My taste is subject-related, not about the host.

Some of my takes:

-- Scott & BR. I tuned them out years ago when every time I tuned in they were talking about the Lakers. This is San Diego. I don't know if they still talk a lot about the Lakers because I don't listen much. Also, Scott Kaplan is the radio voice of the Aztec bandwagon. Up to this year, all he did was bad-mouth or ignore SDSU athletics. Now they mean everything to him. Huh?

-- Hacksaw. I don't know about zero microphones. The guy does his schtick and always has. You either like it or you don't. It's like trashing green grapes because they're so 80s.

-- Darren Smith. When he first started in San Diego, he was maybe the worst sports radio host. Now he is one of the best. Not sure whether that means more for his improvement or about the drain of talent from the local market. He no longer sighs much, indicating to the listeners that they should be bored, so that is a good thing. He has a good head on his shoulders, so I think his opinions are worth a listen.

-- John Kentera. Coach is like Hamilton, he's done his thing consistently for decades now. I appreciate his love for high school sports. I get frustrated when he gets, often, tongue-tied.

-- I think Norcross was on the money with his takes on the hosts over at 1360. Chris Ello loves to take three pages to ask a question that most people could ask in a simple phrase. However, you can count on him to have a take on something no one else will have, and that in time will turn out to be correct.