And I’ll say it again for emphasis: I hope the podcasts continue. And I’d just as soon see them continue to go wherever you guys find the conversation leading you.
I'm glad you wrote this, because I felt pretty bad saying I disliked them.
The non-baseball talk hasn’t done much for me. That said, I’m sure the reason there’s (relatively) so little talk about baseball is because February and March are two of the most boring months of the year for the sport. It makes sense that you and Matthew would drift to other topics. I’m sure the podcasts’ baseball-talk quota will skyrocket once April hits.
I find the podcasts interesting, but light on baseball content. But, that might just be a matter of the time of year. I would recommend interspersing the baseball and non-baseball content a bit more?
I think a podcast with quality Mariners analysis is lacking in the world (I currently listen to Brock and Salk podcasts).
I know how hard this sort of thing is to do, and you guys are pretty entertaining, but I listen to a lot of podcasts that are entertaining. I guess I was really excited about the LL podcast because it would be about the Mariners first, entertaining second.
I like knowing that if there is big baseball news, I can expect the LL Podcast to cover it, and if not, I can expect entertainment rather than beating of a dead horse.
I think that’s why I would suggest interspersing it (and my agree with sentiments about shortening it). So that instead of 15 mins non-baseball and then 45 minutes of baseball, there would be 5 minutes non – 10 minutes baseball – 2 minutes non – etc.
The sports podcasts I listen to have a lot of non-topic conversation (as do the radio shows). But they intersperse it well, part of that is driven by producers and advertising, I’m sure ("you won’t believe what this homeless guy we ran into said to us, but before we get to that we’re going to discuss Lopez at 3b. . . "), but I think it works well for a reason.
But the audio quality still makes it tough at times. I really can’t listen to them in my car (which is old and loud) because of the lack of clarity in the voices. The problem there is that I listen to most of my podcasts while driving.
I wish I had some advice for you on how to clean up the garble in the voices. Your meta (frequency, bitrate) looks OK to me …
who has voted don’t like at this point. For clarification, I just haven’t liked them quite as much as I anticipated. I really like hearing what you guys have to say, but I’m less interested in hockey and Winter Olympic experiences than some. Plus I’m just contrary.
I didn’t listen to the last one because it looked like hockey was so prominent. I might have ended up finding it endlessly fascinating. I mean, I might never have guessed that a post on pitching faces would be the funniest thing I read all month. And then it happened!
Heading back to give ’er a listen I see that I was fooled by the proportion of typed space in the recap:
This week’s topics incude:
More Olympic Hockey and coverage on each of the Mariner infield spots.
That closing half of the sentence points to five dramatic and overlapping storylines—-about the same amount of raw material that has produced 30 years of Days of Our Lives.
Wanted to say that I love that the first half of the podcasts have usually been about hockey.
I realize that this will probably change once baseball season starts, but I have to give you guys credit for me having the most interest in hockey that I’ve had since maybe 2001 or 2002.
I like the hockey talk and hope it continues at least a bit
I know there probably won’t be much time for it come opening day, but I hope you sneak in a few minutes of hockey stuff when possible (the Canucks/Sens will hopefully both make decent playoff runs so there will be lots to say). I’m Canadian and we get force fed hockey, hockey, hockey pretty much 24/7/365, but you guys have a fresh point of view that I enjoy.
I thought the one I listened to was entertaining, but honestly, podcasts just aren't for me.
I prefer reading, and the amount of written content on LL is enough to keep me busy. If I ever used my MP3 player or if these were on the radio when I was driving or something, then my opinion would probably be different. But when I’m in front of a computer, I don’t want to listen to an hour of anything.
I use an iPod but downloading podcasts to it just isn’t on my radar. I like the backstory stuff on how you prepare articles and that kind of thing that we don’t necessarily see in written form. Matthew has good “radio voice” and Jeff is a bit of a fast-talker, but we knew that. Couldn’t get through the last one (lost me right around Giraffe-Bear-Man) but I think that’s just because the season needs to hurry up and fucking START ALREADY
I can listen at work, and maybe that's the only bad thing.
I can’t seem to focus on work when I’m listening to a podcast, especially ones about baseball. I guess since you guys started doing these my productivity has taken a hit when new ones are available. So, in other words if I get fired it’s all your fault.
I wasn’t interested in the beginning, but I liked the one I listened to. You guys interact well together. I don’t think you should limit yourself to baseball talk, but you might want to stick to baseball in the beginning and then warn the listeners you are moving into territory outside baseball.
I enjoy the non-baseball talk because you guys outline most everything about baseball here on the site already. I wouldn’t mind hearing more reviews on things you enjoy personally doing (e.g. which movies you watched recently and why you liked/disliked them). You can basically get your ideas from the OT threads. I quit participating in them for a period of time because they became addictive. I am only now dipping my feet back in them. However, I might be using the OT threads to curb my excitement for the upcoming season.
but then I’m a pretty regular reader of LL so I don’t feel like I’d be getting anything from the podcast I don’t already get from LL. As the season gets started and it becomes more baseball-centric I might listen to one though.
I like that you guys do talk about things other than baseball because it allows the readers/listeners to get to know you more than just through reading the articles. I think it is a great way for you guys to introduce yourselves to newer LLers that haven’t been able to meet you in real life at a meet up or LL event. It’s hard to convey certain emotions through writing that can be conveyed through speaking. I think that it has helped me understand some of the articles a little better. This is one reason why I have enjoyed participating in the OTs because then you get to know the other people that are part of the community. It’s kind of nice to put a personality behind the written words from an author. Obviously the non-baseball talk will slowly get less and less as the season approaches.
I only listened to the last one, and I guess it boils down to the fact that nothing that you guys said on the analysis side was that interesting, meaning I could pretty much infer what you were going to say about all of the positions based on previous articles and the prevailing opinions of the LL authors in general based on reading here for years. So in that sense it’s not worth it to me to spend the time to listen to it. Sorry if that comes off harsh…there are clearly a lot of interested people so I would say keep doing it. I’ll give it another go-round once the season starts for sure.
That's a bimodal distribution if I've ever seen one
I listened to part of the first one, got bored, and never messed with it again- I have trouble listening to anything for more than about 5 minutes- I either space out or see a bunch of kittens making noise on youtube that I absolutely have to watch
I’m from Vancouver, so all the hockey talk and such has been great. It was quite the 2 weeks, so it deserves the attention. But I cant wait for the season to start. I guess my only complaint would be the sound quality. But if you’re using Skype (or similar) there isn’t much that can be done about it. I’m guessing you dont have access to a sound booth…
I listen every week and enjoy it mainly because of your sense of humor.
I thought it would just be a rehash of what you guys say in writing but you guys digress enough that’s it’s not completely that. If I were listening to this looking for purely a Mariners podcast then I would be mildly disappointed. But like the blog itself, you don’t always talk about the same thing. That you manage to cram in an hour of interesting at this time of year is amazing. But then again I like hockey.
I like them, but I'll also echo the sentiment that I don't care about the non baseball stuff(though the Olympic stuff was interesting)
I generally just skip over the stuff I don’t want to listen too, so it’s not that big of a deal. They’ve gotten alot better since you guys have improved the audio quality.
I wasn't real psyched about this but eventually listened to one...
Fortunately, it was apparently the first one in which you spoke about baseball all the way through (with a small tangent about trains). I have to say, I’ll probably never listen to the older ones and may stop listening altogether if I get bombarded by too much stuff that is not of interest.
Podcasts have been awesome so far
it’s nice to hear more of a freeform interaction between you and Matthew which obviously is much more difficult to do through a text medium
seattlebruin - March 15, 2010
In the event that you don't like them and aren't afraid to own up to it
What do you think would make them better?
Jeff Sullivan - March 15, 2010
You anticipated my response nicely
And I’ll say it again for emphasis: I hope the podcasts continue. And I’d just as soon see them continue to go wherever you guys find the conversation leading you.
Torjazz - March 15, 2010
I like them, and I know it can be hard...
but you should have guest stars every once in a while!
SeaKoala - March 15, 2010
Like Graham!
Fin - March 15, 2010
This is in the works
We just haven’t yet gotten around to figuring out the best way to add and record a third person.
Jeff Sullivan - March 15, 2010
I'm glad you wrote this, because I felt pretty bad saying I disliked them.
The non-baseball talk hasn’t done much for me. That said, I’m sure the reason there’s (relatively) so little talk about baseball is because February and March are two of the most boring months of the year for the sport. It makes sense that you and Matthew would drift to other topics. I’m sure the podcasts’ baseball-talk quota will skyrocket once April hits.
katal - March 15, 2010
I'd agree
I find the podcasts interesting, but light on baseball content. But, that might just be a matter of the time of year. I would recommend interspersing the baseball and non-baseball content a bit more?
I think a podcast with quality Mariners analysis is lacking in the world (I currently listen to Brock and Salk podcasts).
I know how hard this sort of thing is to do, and you guys are pretty entertaining, but I listen to a lot of podcasts that are entertaining. I guess I was really excited about the LL podcast because it would be about the Mariners first, entertaining second.
Snuffleupagus - March 15, 2010
I don't think I'm the only one.
But I would dread these if it was a hour of just straight baseball talk.
Scruffy Lefty - March 15, 2010
Yes
One of the reasons why I prefer LL over USSM is that we share common interests outside of baseball.
Robert - March 15, 2010
Absolutely agreed
I like knowing that if there is big baseball news, I can expect the LL Podcast to cover it, and if not, I can expect entertainment rather than beating of a dead horse.
Robert Lintott - March 15, 2010
intersperse
I think that’s why I would suggest interspersing it (and my agree with sentiments about shortening it). So that instead of 15 mins non-baseball and then 45 minutes of baseball, there would be 5 minutes non – 10 minutes baseball – 2 minutes non – etc.
The sports podcasts I listen to have a lot of non-topic conversation (as do the radio shows). But they intersperse it well, part of that is driven by producers and advertising, I’m sure ("you won’t believe what this homeless guy we ran into said to us, but before we get to that we’re going to discuss Lopez at 3b. . . "), but I think it works well for a reason.
Snuffleupagus - March 15, 2010
Shorter
10 minutes would be a good maximum- I don’t have the time or energy to listen to anything for thirty minutes
Corco - March 15, 2010
I actually enjoy the length of them.
If you keep them space out to once a week or longer.
Scruffy Lefty - March 15, 2010
I like longer!
vivaelpujols - March 15, 2010
It lets me listen to it in the car
vivaelpujols - March 15, 2010
Same here!
It entertained me on my whole drive up to Bellingham!
Fin - March 15, 2010
I much prefer the hour+ length actually
Gives me something to listen to while I walk around the city.
Robert Lintott - March 15, 2010
I do like them
But the audio quality still makes it tough at times. I really can’t listen to them in my car (which is old and loud) because of the lack of clarity in the voices. The problem there is that I listen to most of my podcasts while driving.
I wish I had some advice for you on how to clean up the garble in the voices. Your meta (frequency, bitrate) looks OK to me …
Jeff Nusser - March 15, 2010
I agree
I love the podcast, but there have been times where I just stopped listening because the audio was so terrible.
skisulli - March 15, 2010
The audio has gotten significantly better.
Specifically Jeff’s audio.
circa81 - March 15, 2010
Matthew came up with an idea that, in the early going, seems to have a lot of promise
The latest podcast sounded the best, I believe.
Jeff Sullivan - March 15, 2010
Latest one was great.
Scruffy Lefty - March 16, 2010
I'm the only lame-o
who has voted don’t like at this point. For clarification, I just haven’t liked them quite as much as I anticipated. I really like hearing what you guys have to say, but I’m less interested in hockey and Winter Olympic experiences than some. Plus I’m just contrary.
Torjazz - March 15, 2010
That's mainly been because the Olympics were a big story and there was nothing going on with the Mariners
Now that it’s baseball time again, we probably won’t have much of a window to talk about anything else.
Jeff Sullivan - March 15, 2010
I confess
I didn’t listen to the last one because it looked like hockey was so prominent. I might have ended up finding it endlessly fascinating. I mean, I might never have guessed that a post on pitching faces would be the funniest thing I read all month. And then it happened!
Torjazz - March 15, 2010
Actually we talked about the Mariners for 45 minutes!
Jeff Sullivan - March 15, 2010
I was fooled by proportions of visual space
Heading back to give ’er a listen I see that I was fooled by the proportion of typed space in the recap:
This week’s topics incude:
More Olympic Hockey and coverage on each of the Mariner infield spots.
That closing half of the sentence points to five dramatic and overlapping storylines—-about the same amount of raw material that has produced 30 years of Days of Our Lives.
Torjazz - March 15, 2010
Wanted to say that I love that the first half of the podcasts have usually been about hockey.
I realize that this will probably change once baseball season starts, but I have to give you guys credit for me having the most interest in hockey that I’ve had since maybe 2001 or 2002.
Fin - March 15, 2010
I like the hockey talk and hope it continues at least a bit
I know there probably won’t be much time for it come opening day, but I hope you sneak in a few minutes of hockey stuff when possible (the Canucks/Sens will hopefully both make decent playoff runs so there will be lots to say). I’m Canadian and we get force fed hockey, hockey, hockey pretty much 24/7/365, but you guys have a fresh point of view that I enjoy.
shuswapslugger - March 15, 2010
I haven't listened to the newest one,
but I’ve liked the rest.
SeaKoala - March 15, 2010
The podcasts have forced me out of lurking
And made me finally sign up.
So yeah, you could say I like them.
rbr07 - March 15, 2010
Same here!
Oh my God it’s like we’re kindred spirits!
I’m making you a compilation cd and a bracelet, right now!
circa81 - March 15, 2010
I would reciprocate
But I’m not very creative and I find my own music tastes embarrassing. Settle for a jolly hello?
rbr07 - March 15, 2010
They make me laugh out loud in the grocery store.
And I don’t give a shit about hockey but I can still enjoy most of it.
lailaihei - March 15, 2010
My feeling is that writing output has gone down since the podcasts started.
Granted, nothing interesting has happened to write about, so whatever.
Graham MacAree - March 15, 2010
I thought the one I listened to was entertaining, but honestly, podcasts just aren't for me.
I prefer reading, and the amount of written content on LL is enough to keep me busy. If I ever used my MP3 player or if these were on the radio when I was driving or something, then my opinion would probably be different. But when I’m in front of a computer, I don’t want to listen to an hour of anything.
Teej - March 15, 2010
Surprisingly, I have the same viewpoint.
abender20 - March 15, 2010
I'm in this boat, if they replace writing content then I'll be upset. Or something.
Kermit. - March 15, 2010
This is about where I'm at
Most of the time I spend online is at work, where I am unable to listen to a podcast but have no problem making time to read
tootthekazoo - March 15, 2010
I'm the opposite.
I’d rather listen to something so I can keep working. But I don’t want it to take away from the written content.
Scruffy Lefty - March 15, 2010
This is pretty much how I feel
I use an iPod but downloading podcasts to it just isn’t on my radar. I like the backstory stuff on how you prepare articles and that kind of thing that we don’t necessarily see in written form. Matthew has good “radio voice” and Jeff is a bit of a fast-talker, but we knew that. Couldn’t get through the last one (lost me right around Giraffe-Bear-Man) but I think that’s just because the season needs to hurry up and fucking START ALREADY
lemonverbena - March 15, 2010
I wasn't interested at first partly because I cannot listen at work.
I just do not have much time to waste at home. That being said I have listened to two of them and enjoyed them a lot.
Sec 108 - March 15, 2010
I can listen at work, and maybe that's the only bad thing.
I can’t seem to focus on work when I’m listening to a podcast, especially ones about baseball. I guess since you guys started doing these my productivity has taken a hit when new ones are available. So, in other words if I get fired it’s all your fault.
shuswapslugger - March 15, 2010
I have only listened to one podcast.
I wasn’t interested in the beginning, but I liked the one I listened to. You guys interact well together. I don’t think you should limit yourself to baseball talk, but you might want to stick to baseball in the beginning and then warn the listeners you are moving into territory outside baseball.
I enjoy the non-baseball talk because you guys outline most everything about baseball here on the site already. I wouldn’t mind hearing more reviews on things you enjoy personally doing (e.g. which movies you watched recently and why you liked/disliked them). You can basically get your ideas from the OT threads. I quit participating in them for a period of time because they became addictive. I am only now dipping my feet back in them. However, I might be using the OT threads to curb my excitement for the upcoming season.
Wilder. - March 15, 2010
They are very entertaining
And will only get better once we have more baseball-relevant news.
niceguysfinishlast - March 15, 2010
I haven't listened to one of your podcasts yet
but then I’m a pretty regular reader of LL so I don’t feel like I’d be getting anything from the podcast I don’t already get from LL. As the season gets started and it becomes more baseball-centric I might listen to one though.
pdb - March 15, 2010
This is pretty much my vote in a nutshell..
seattlesundevil - March 15, 2010
I'm looking for the option:
“I was interested in them, and I like them, but talk less about Hockey”
ARock - March 15, 2010
Or possibly, you could just tell us at what time in each podcast you start talking about Baseball.
ARock - March 15, 2010
I've enjoyed them
I like that you guys do talk about things other than baseball because it allows the readers/listeners to get to know you more than just through reading the articles. I think it is a great way for you guys to introduce yourselves to newer LLers that haven’t been able to meet you in real life at a meet up or LL event. It’s hard to convey certain emotions through writing that can be conveyed through speaking. I think that it has helped me understand some of the articles a little better. This is one reason why I have enjoyed participating in the OTs because then you get to know the other people that are part of the community. It’s kind of nice to put a personality behind the written words from an author. Obviously the non-baseball talk will slowly get less and less as the season approaches.
seattle_since_81 - March 15, 2010
I've been enjoying them.
I don’t really care what you talk about it. You guys do it in an entertaining fashion so ramble, rant, and talk on.
ABQmsFan - March 15, 2010
Ehh
I only listened to the last one, and I guess it boils down to the fact that nothing that you guys said on the analysis side was that interesting, meaning I could pretty much infer what you were going to say about all of the positions based on previous articles and the prevailing opinions of the LL authors in general based on reading here for years. So in that sense it’s not worth it to me to spend the time to listen to it. Sorry if that comes off harsh…there are clearly a lot of interested people so I would say keep doing it. I’ll give it another go-round once the season starts for sure.
appleshampoo - March 15, 2010
I fall on the secret option of "Interested from the beginning, and have not listened"
I’ve downloaded all of them, but haven’t been able to block aside any time to listen
tootthekazoo - March 15, 2010
That's a bimodal distribution if I've ever seen one
I listened to part of the first one, got bored, and never messed with it again- I have trouble listening to anything for more than about 5 minutes- I either space out or see a bunch of kittens making noise on youtube that I absolutely have to watch
Corco - March 15, 2010
listener from day 1
I’m from Vancouver, so all the hockey talk and such has been great. It was quite the 2 weeks, so it deserves the attention. But I cant wait for the season to start. I guess my only complaint would be the sound quality. But if you’re using Skype (or similar) there isn’t much that can be done about it. I’m guessing you dont have access to a sound booth…
crushingyourhead - March 15, 2010
This is OT, but I had a question about obtaining hockey tickets in Vancouver.
Anyway that you can e-mail me so we can discuss there? My e-mail address is on my profile.
Fin - March 15, 2010
More Astros talk please.
SethGrandpa - March 15, 2010
I honestly don't think it would be nearly as good if they intentionally set out to make fun of other organizations before the podcast started
seattlebruin - March 15, 2010
I'm not saying that. But how about one "Astros Fun Fact of the Week?"
SethGrandpa - March 15, 2010
To be honest, I haven't had the time to listen to them, nor the attention span required to do so.
redwolf75 - March 15, 2010
There's no option for "I was interested in the beginning, but haven't listened to them".
Just haven’t had the time.
The Typical Idiot Fan - March 15, 2010
I listen every week and enjoy it mainly because of your sense of humor.
I thought it would just be a rehash of what you guys say in writing but you guys digress enough that’s it’s not completely that. If I were listening to this looking for purely a Mariners podcast then I would be mildly disappointed. But like the blog itself, you don’t always talk about the same thing. That you manage to cram in an hour of interesting at this time of year is amazing. But then again I like hockey.
Mariner John - March 15, 2010
I like them, but I'll also echo the sentiment that I don't care about the non baseball stuff(though the Olympic stuff was interesting)
I generally just skip over the stuff I don’t want to listen too, so it’s not that big of a deal. They’ve gotten alot better since you guys have improved the audio quality.
Goose - March 15, 2010
You guys need to have random viewers call-in so you can rip them apart like Salk does.
Decatur - March 15, 2010
I was really disappointed to learn that there wasn't a "NL Team of the Week"
I agree with SB above that you’d probably stink if you tried to be funny, but I’m sure there’s enough to laugh at extemporaneously that it’d work.
Robert Lintott - March 15, 2010
Only fair to explain why I voted for the final option.
Still on dialup.
Slica - March 15, 2010
Wow
I’m really, really sorry. Isn’t the internet as a whole borderline unusable for you?
appleshampoo - March 15, 2010
You've been on dialup since like 2006
Robert - March 15, 2010
At least, because I can remember all of us giving you shit about it even back then.
Goose - March 15, 2010
Apparently you guys are extremely polarizing
OlSalty - March 15, 2010
I wasn't real psyched about this but eventually listened to one...
Fortunately, it was apparently the first one in which you spoke about baseball all the way through (with a small tangent about trains). I have to say, I’ll probably never listen to the older ones and may stop listening altogether if I get bombarded by too much stuff that is not of interest.
Ike Clanton - March 18, 2010
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