08-12-2021, 08:37 PM
(08-11-2021, 06:58 PM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: We didn't get Stern here in Cincinnati until the early 2000's. And he was off to Sirius within a few years. So I only got bits of it on my commute (like 40 minutes) for maybe 4 or 5 years. I probably got most of my knowledge of the show from when it aired on E.
I have to say, I've been pretty amazed at some of things I've heard him say these last few years. It seems like he takes himself way too seriously and is trying to rewrite history. I don't know if he thinks people forgot, or if a a lot of people did actually forget. But hearing him rip on sites like Barstool for takes that pale in comparison to what he was doing always gets an eye roll out of me.
I think the biggest issue is that his "Hamptons/Hollywood Howie" routine puts the lie to his earlier years when he portrayed himself as the maverick who hated establishment media figures and refused to kiss their ass. His recent (~past eight years or so) conduct has shown he always wanted to be a part of the in crowd and only tore into them because he perceived himself as not being able to join it.
Quote:He's not at all the Howard I remember. I get times change and he has to adapt but I'm often left thinking "Who do you think you're kidding? Everyone remembers Gary, and Wendy, and Hank, and all of the crazy shit you used to."
I loved the show for what it was then, it was right up my ally as a early 20 something kid. I've tired following along a little bit here and there just with what gets posted to youtube but he just seems like such a douche now. I guess close to a billion dollars will do that to a person like him. It's not even his recent takes that bother me, it's the phoniness. I feel like old Howard would absolute skewer new Howard for being a total fraud.
Yeah, none of us are the person we were thirty years ago, to be sure. But, it's the complete abandonment of his old principles that disturbs me and turns me off the show. The funny thing is he's become, as you rightly point out, everything he used to ridicule and despise. Much younger wife, out of touch rich person, does his show from home, utter elitist and condescending to the average citizen.
(08-11-2021, 07:00 PM)Vas Deferens Wrote: Agree, the show is a shell of its former self, even from ~12 years ago when I started listening. He doesn't even have it in him to lay into any of the idiots he's surrounded himself with purely for the content they provide. Its sad.
If it wasn't for some of the other sports shows I enjoy listening to passively while gtd, I'd cancel that shit as well. I'll bet they're going to see a big drop off next QTR
Oh man, you really missed the glory days of the 90's. I literally almost failed a class because I was listening to Howard scream at his boss, Tom Chiusano on my way to school. When I parked my car I couldn't leave until the show went to commercial. There were times back then Howard wouldn't break for over an hour and this was one of those times. Once he finally broke I realized the class was almost over and I'd missed the test. Luckily the teacher bought my lie that I had been stuck in traffic and let me take the test after class.
Thinking back on those days and listening to the Covid/mask/fountain pen/journaling show that it's become make me sad in a way I can't describe.
