If you didn’t see it earlier, we posted the first episode of our new podcast, called “Dumb Drafts.”

The podcast is exactly what it sounds like. We take a dumb idea and do a snake draft, like your fantasy football league.

In Episode #1, the goal was to put together the best local news team. The rules were pretty simple. You needed to select one meteorologist, one sports anchor, and three news/misc people, and needed to include at least one personality from each local station – FOX 29, Action News, CBS 3, and NBC 10.

At the end of the day, this is how the teams turned out:

In no order, here are my thoughts on the draft:


  1. I feel as though my squad, Team 4, is the best. There is experience, credibility, and diversity. My 5th round pick of Vernon Odom is a STEAL, and could turn out to be the best pick of the entire draft. It’s like getting Jason Kelce in the sixth round.
  2. People were very upset that Rick Williams fell to the 25th pick. I would have taken him earlier, but I went Action News with Cecily Tynan in round two and figured I could wait to select Vernon. As a result, some really talented Channel 6 people slid down the board.
  3. The list of undrafted free agents is so impressive. Rob Jennings. Marc Howard. Cathy Gandolfo. Nora Muchanic! Susan Barnett, Carol Erickson, etc. It’s kind of crazy how many good personalities worked in this city or still do.
  4. I was giving serious thought to drafting only personalities with criminal records. That team would have been formidable. Larry Mendte. Alycia Lane. Don Tollefson. Colleen Campbell (the PHL17 reporter who told the cop to lick her butt).
  5. Russ is Team 3 and had a terrible draft. I love Hurricane Schwartz, but is he first round talent? Ukee is a fantastic round two pick, but Mike Jerrick is a reach at #13 overall, and Jeff Skversky probably would have been there in the fifth round. Russ had a Howie Roseman type of draft. He went for project linebackers and undersized EDGE rushers.
  6. I was stunned to see both Mendtes go in the second round.
  7. Obviously the drafters were on the younger side. I believe we are all sub-40. That influenced the decision making. That’s probably why guys like Jim O’Brien (RIP) weren’t selected.
  8. I thought Steve Keeley would be drafted. Or Jenn Fred. Thought the FOX 29 Good Day personalities would do better in this draft.
  9. Some people were eligible for more than one station. For example, Kathy Orr worked at NBC, CBS, and now FOX, so Coggin gave her the FOX designation. Good pick by him.
  10. You could make an amazing team of Action News snubs. You could probably actually fill 3-4 teams with their folks that didn’t get mentioned. Beyond the folks I already put on this list, there’s Monica Malpass, Lisa-Thomas Laury, Adam Joseph, etc.
  11. Howard Eskin was eligible for selection. I was thinking about drafting “The King,” but decided to make Vai Sikahema my sports anchor, and took Bob Kelly as my FOX 29 representative. Jammo!
  12. I like Kyle’s Sheinelle Jones pick. I mean, she went from local FOX to the Today show on the weekends. That’s quality.
  13. Kyle went with John Bolaris, which is risky. Gotta watch out for those Eastern European women.
  14. I have signed Dann Cuellar as a UDFA.
  15. STUNNED that Sheena Parveen went undrafted.

That’s it for now. Really disappointed in Russ, but he was something like 10 years old in 2010, so what do you expect?