Danny, Dave, and Moore

"Danny, Dave, and Moore" is the name of a local sports radio show that I'm addicted to for the first couple of hours of my shift as a pizza man, and have been meaning to write about for awhile. I thought of doing a sweeping review but thought it would be best to break down the characters who make up the hour or hour and a half that they do everyday but loop for three hours. I wouldn't mind looping the first hour or two of my shift every night, making them the luckiest men in the world!

Danny O'Neill - Danny is the lead voice of the show and the most important member of the team. He's a Gen X'er with a very good self deprecating sense of humor who isn't afraid to admit he takes anti-depressants, and has a dark side. He also admitted to watching "The Hills" the other day so in some ways he beats back the traditional stereotypes of a jock, especially because he doesn't seem sexist. The most annoying thing about Danny O'Neill is he lets out these belly laughs sometimes that sound fake, or if that's too harsh, a way to keep listeners tuned in to the show, and have heard him criticized for it in tweets that the listeners send in. That said, I sense that he really loves doing the show but the same is true of Dave Wyman, Jim Moore, and even Jessica MacIntyre, the producer, so the laughs may only be half fake. I'm sure Danny is generally amused by the things his co-hosts say, and he is an entertainer.

As for his sports analysis, it's hard to rate this. Like all local sports show hosts he roots for the home team and sometimes this gets in the way of him giving good analysis. He's almost always bullish on the Mariners, Seahawks, Huskies, or anyone else, and this can be frustrating, but the show isn't based so much on probing insight, and for that they bring on John Clayton, know as the "Professor." Truthfully, he's awful at sports analysis too but can break down salaries and statistics like it's nobody's business, and adds gravitas. "The Professor" also has his own show, but it's hard to imagine anyone listening to it for too long since he conveys next to no emotion, that he tries to compensate for with a wry sense of humor that often misses the mark.

Dave Wyman - Dave is an ex All American from Stanford who was a forgettable Seahawk in the Chuck Knox years and also a Denver Bronco, and Lords it over everyone's head. I've tried to understand Wyman as an athlete, but am not sure what round he was drafted in or whether or not he exceeded expectations, but that would be hard to imagine. Truthfully, he's like most players in the NFL who have an average career and end up in the announcer's booth or selling used cars, but in this day and age also end up wealthy from a million dollar contract even benchwarmers now get.

Wyman has a good sense of humor and given that his alma mater was Stanford is smarter than the average ex-jock, but there is a woozy quality to him. Some of this is his demeanor, because it's an easy guess that he was one of those guys in the locker room that everyone liked getting a beer with, and sharing a joke. He seems like a genuinely nice guy, and often those kind of people come off as a little punch drunk, or in the clouds, but the difference is that Wyman knocked heads in the NFL for nearly a decade, and the bizarre historical timing of him being on the show. The concussion issue has become an albatross around the NFL's neck during his stint on Danny, Dave, and Moore, and being an ex Seahawk/Bronco it's hard not to listen to a show about concussions and think of poor Dave sitting there, self reflecting. In general, he defends the NFL and the hits a football player has to endure as part of the game and if that were to change it wouldn't be football anymore, and I agree with him on this. But sometimes I wonder if I'm not listening to a classic example of a woozy ex linebacker whose brain is intact enough in his early fifties, but will be less so a decade down the line. No one addresses this on the show, or pokes fun, but it's always there for me as a listener.

Dave is a natural storyteller like a guy going fishing and since he was in the league he has a lot of great stories to share, and I never tire of these though they've read texts on the air that berate him for it. I think "Danny, Dave, and Moore" would be far less of a show without these stories or anecdotes that are always honest and light. I'm not sure they give a gravitas to the on air proceedings like the Professor's mathematical breakdowns, but they do give an almost blue collar insight into the life of professional football player, without the tawdriness usually required of a "tell all" memoir. He's a good spirit.

Jim Moore - Jim Moore is the oldest of the three and a wisecracking sports columnist from the Blank Generation, who likes to talk about gambling a lot. He's the butt of most of Dave's jokes, but sets himself up for it, and indeed that's Jim Moore's charm. He knows he's a loud mouth and revels in his uneducated analysis that I find more honest and charming than either Danny's or Dave's, since they are squarely in the hometown's corner, right or wrong. Jim is also rooting for the home town teams, save the Cougs (Washington State), but he's likely to call a spade a spade and rat out a player when he's stinking it up on the field. He brings none of Danny's Gen X acumen with pop culture to the table, and none of Dave's woozy nice guy jock creds, but is a strangely valuable asset by being the ass of the show. At first, I hated Jim Moore and didn't think he knew what he was talking about, but have come to appreciate his sense of humor and contrarian nature.