Landry likes Ravens in title game

Jim Williams, The Examiner
Dec 19, 2006 3:00 AM (3 hrs ago)
Current rank: # 3 of 10,543 articles

BALTIMORE - If you have not heard John Fricke and Chris Landry do their weekend show on Fox Sports Radio (WNST-AM 1570 or XM channel 142) every Saturday and Sunday night from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m., you have been missing radio’s best football show.


Saturday nights, the duo hosts “Fox College GameTime Rewind,” covering every possible angle of the day’s action. On Sundays, they switch to the pros on “Fox NFL GameTime Rewind.”

Fricke is at the Fox Sports Radio studio in Los Angeles, while Landry is half a country away at his home studio in Baton Rouge, La. Still, they have an on-air chemistry that is both entertaining and informative.

Callers fill up the lines and their show moves along quickly. Fricke, the polished broadcaster, knows football and keeps things rolling, while Landry is a former college and pro assistant coach who now runs a major football scouting service.

Recently, we talked about all things football.

Landry: “I know that Baltimore fans don’t seem to feel the love on a national basis. They feel that the Ravens just don’t seem to get enough respect. If I had to pick an AFC championship game today, it would be San Diego and Baltimore. They are the class of the conference and among the best three or four teams in football. I do think that [San Diego quarterback] Philip Rivers has grown a great deal from the first time the two teams played [Baltimore, 16-13, on Oct. 1], but they are so even that it comes down to who has the home field. That would be worth about three points. But both teams have shown an ability to win on the road. Barring an injury or a misstep along the way, one of those teams will be in the Super Bowl.”

Fricke, on the difference between attending a college vs. pro game: “The NFL has done a wonderful job of making it comfortable for the fans. But I like the old stadiums like RFK, where you could not hear and the stands bounced. The college game gives you tradition, walking though campus and then heading to the stadium for a tailgate party. Both have their strong points, but if I had a chance to go to a big-time college football game or an NFL game, it would be college for me.”

Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. E-mail him at jwilliamsexaminer@gmail.com.

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