In news that kind of makes me go, “Ehhhhhhh, hmmmmm,” Artie Lange is making his return to talk radio with fellow comedian Nick DiPaolo for… well, “The Nick and Artie Show.” The new show will start out on plain, old terrestrial radio in as many as 30 markets, and they’re going to air episodes on DirecTV and hit the road to promote it as well. But in a little bit of a twist, this show will be focused on sports. As DiPaolo would say, sports talk radio is like sex. Even when it’s bad, we still pay for it.

Some tidbits from Deadline:

Their deals are worth high six-figures. It’s a three-year commitment and the total value of the deal is in excess of $3 million, I’m told.

Lange returns to the airwaves in regular rotation for the first time since he left under tragic circumstances.

Lange and DiPaolo tested out their radio chemistry when they subbed for Tony Bruno on Fox Sports Radio earlier this year, and it was no secret they were looking for a deal. The show won’t be syndicated by Fox, though, but they are close to finalizing with another company.

Basically, Lange is a huge New York fan and DiPaolo is a Boston guy, so expect them to yell at each other a lot and make over-the-top jokes about Tom Brady and Rex Ryan, much like a live version of Lange’s recent contribution to ESPN the Magazine, which was the biggest turd to hit my mailbox since I was in a high school prank war.

But living in a market that has eternally terrible radio shows, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little excited for the show’s potential. Judge for yourself with the sample at their current website.

As pitchers and catchers trickle into spring training and Albert Pujols prepares to not sign a contract, baseball fans start to climb out of their holes and get ready for another summer of baseball. One of those fans is a guy we’ll only know as “Rich in Hackensack,” who proclaims on a popular NY-area sports talk show that the New York Mets are “a great franchise.” When host Mike Francesca presses him for supporting points to his argument, Rich responds in proper Mets fashion–poorly.

Jimmy Traina brought this to my attention, and it really does encapsulate everything you love or hate about sports talk on radio: the know-it-all fans, the arrogant host that never lets the other guy talk, cheap shots on work ethic, and a small hiss in the background.

Do you think “Spring Training” would be a great name for a gay bar? I’m…uh…asking for a friend.

If it feels like Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic have been peeing into your ear through your radio dial for ten years now, it’s because they have. Their radio show, the one where they “talk” about “sports” each morning, “celebrates” it’s tenth anniversary this week, even though it was in October. But never mind. From My FOX Orlando:

ESPN Radio’s “Mike & Mike in the Morning”will celebrate the show’s 10th anniversary at the newly re-imagined ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort on Wednesday, Feb. 24 (6-10 a.m. ET). ESPN Radio’s popular morning-drive show hosted by Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic launched in January 2000. Today the show is heard (and seen on ESPN2) by more than 12 million listeners each–

Pfffft. Whatever. Hey, they’re having a great run, but don’t call it sports talk. It’s gay schtick powered by ESPN’s affiliates, and maybe every 15 minutes they’ll talk about Tony Romo. Great sports show, guys. And I meant “gay” as in actually gay. I’m sure they have a cottage up in Vermont somewhere. Vermont’s a little chilly this time of year, but that makes for better snuggling. Better anniversary here.

One of the best things about this job is that people from all over the country email me interesting stories about people in sports and the media that they've met.  I received one such email today, about the blogosphere's favorite radio host, Schrutebag, AKA "Colin Cowherd."  Of course, I can't say with any confidence that this is a true story, but I want it to be true, and really, that's good enough for the journalistic standards of With Leather (Editor's note: there are no journalistic standards at With Leather).  At the very least, it stays true to the theme of "Schrutebag is a cowardly asshole" that seems to keep popping up these days.

Without further ado, here's the email, edited only for typos because I'm obsessive-compulsive that way:

A quick Colin Cowherd story you might enjoy.  A couple years back some wrestler died suddenly and Cowherd went off on him and his family and was pretty brutal about it because he hates professional wrestling.  Now I haven't watched wrestling in like 10 years, but from what I understand he was just being a dick to get wrestling fans to call in so he could make fun of them.  Fast forward a year later.  Cowherd is in Miami for who the fuck knows and my buddy is grabbing a drink with a friend at some patio bar.  Now my friend is a big guy, but he was there with a guy that dwarfs him.  Said guy, we'll call him Jeff, is training to be a pro wrestler.  Someone at the bar says there is an espn radio guy in the bar named colin cow-something.  Now Jeff is a pretty calm guy and well-educated, but he can't resist.  This is the following exchange:

Jeff:  "Hey Colin, big fan.  I used to listen to you when I lived in New York last year."

 

Colin:  "Thanks man, always appreciate it.  You sure you didn't play for the Giants?"

 

*They share fake laugh*

 

Jeff:  "Actually, I've been training the last 3 years of my life to be a pro-wrestler."

 

Colin: long pause of silence.  "Oh….uh….that's great man, good luck."

 

Jeff:  "Thanks Colin.  But remember when you insulted wrestling fans and called ALL wrestlers a bunch of needle-injecting losers who deserve their terrible fate?"

 

Colin:  "Uh….uh…that's just radio man.  It's pretty much all an act.  Half the time we just make stuff up"

 

Jeff:  "So can I get an apology?"

 

Colin:  "Yeah, I'm sorry man.  didn't mean to insult a fan"

 

Jeff:  "I'm not a fan, you're a piece of shit and you better hope I never see you again"

 

Colin: *blank stare*

 

Jeff:  "Got it?"

 

Colin:  "yup" (nodding profusely)

 

Jeff:  *Just stares at him for about 30 seconds to make him feel uncomfortable, then walks away*

 

Best part is that the bartender told him that he saw Schrutebag puking in the bathroom about 5 minutes later.  I would have payed paid a ton to see this happen!

So, is it true?  Maybe, maybe not.  And by "maybe not" I mean "almost definitely."  I'll update this post with regard to the date and specific location of the run-in when my tipster gets back to me.  Until then, revel in the third-hand truthiness.

TIPSTER'S UPDATE: "Delano Beach Bar in South Beach.  He says it was the 2nd week of the season because he was in Miami for the Bills-Dolphins game.  So I'm assuming that's sometime in mid-september.  I would have looked it up but I'm lazy and that's your job, right?  And because someone asked about it in the comments; no, he didn't make it as a wrestler yet, but my buddy says he's still does independent stuff outside of his real job."

I'm not a fan of local sports talk radio shows. I don't get what the appeal is: flaming asshole maligns local sports figure, then legally retarded listeners call in and argue. It's like Jerry Springer, only about sports and without the physical confrontations.

That is, until now. A St. Louis man is accusing radio show host Kevin Slaten of assaulting him with a bottle in a bar/restaurant where Slaten had just finished a public show. I kind of want to paste the entire article and put it in blockquotes, but here's a sampling:

The man said Slaten picked up a bottle with his left hand and struck him above the eye. Dubliner employees broke up the disturbance and ejected both… One witness said the man who filed the complaint had called a companion of Slaten's an "idiot" and that the companion told Slaten: "Kevin, you've got to kick this guy's (rear)".

But here's the real gem:

Witnesses at the Dubliner told police that Slaten grabbed a purse, not a bottle, and hit the man.

Naturally. Because when a man hits me with a purse, I'm sure as hell not going to tell the cops that. "And then he hit me with a… a bottle! Yeah, it was definitely a bottle."

Slaten, of course, has a version where he doesn't assault anyone. And he probably didn't. Not by any real man's standards. There was probably just some hair-pulling and a lot of hissing.