[quote name=\'TheLastResort\' post=\'165482\' date=\'Oct 3 2007, 11:48 PM\']
Geez, what's with all the Rich bashing? Are you just biased because Randy happens to posts here?
[/quote]
In fact, that is a key reason for much, probably most — though certainly not all — of it, and Mark's denial of the obvious is laughable.
Can the case be made that Rich isn't as good as Rod Roddy or Johnny Olson? While it's not one with which I happen to agree, certainly the answer is yes, and in any event everyone's entitled to his or her own opinion around here. However, as you've correctly noted, we've seen far worse, and yet Rich gets bashed far out of proportion to whatever faults he may have.
Insulting him in thread after thread after thread, calling him a "schmuck" (and worse) over and over again, saying he has "no supporters" when in fact several of us have gone on the record to the contrary, and publicly expressing a desire to "lock him up in a padded cell"? And on top of those and all the other insults, ridiculing those who try to defend him (not me, though I'm sure that if I weren't a mod I'd be targeted too)? Sorry, that's not just criticism of "a lousy announcer," that's abject hatred, and any honest assessment would indicate that refusing to forgive CBS for not hiring Randy is a key factor — though the hatred has now become so ingrained and so routine that most of the bashers probably don't even realize it themselves by now.
Is anyone going to be thrown out for preferring Randy over Rich? Absolutely not. Does that make the constant, unrelenting hatred against Rich any less disgusting? Absolutely not.