Yesterday afternoon I caught the tail end of The Bruce Cunningham Show on 105.7 The Fan. It’s a bummer because I usually listen all the way through and chime in from time to time via email or the rare phone call if I’m truly fired up.

I looked at the website to see if the show was on their podcast but the feed appeared to be out of date.

The topic of his afternoon show was about what you hate in sports and Anita Marks was a guest during the period I listened. I usually agree with Bruce Cunningham, but not on yesterday’s issue.

Cunningham, Mark Zinno, and Marks were discussing fans on message boards bad talking the hosts on The Fan. Bruce specifically mentioned that he hated when people did this online as opposed to calling into a show.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and my opinion is that that they’ve got it all wrong. 105.7’s motto is to be the voice of the Baltimore sports fan, but let’s be honest: No one in the media is a fan like you or me.

Not everyone who listens can take the time to wait on hold to voice their thirty second opinion. 105.7 does a great job of making sure as many fans as possible are heard, but it’s impossible to hear every voice.

A show motivated by opinion must understand that fans are not necessarily going to agree with it’s host. People may not like that Mark Zinno is a Yankee fan or think Anita Marks is out of touch with Baltimore history because she’s a Florida native or that Jeremy Conn likes the Indianapolis Colts. That’s their opinion.

From what I heard, it sounded like Bruce wanted disgruntled fans to call in and tell Zinno he’s a New York jerk or Anita to go back to Florida. What’s wrong with venting in a true fan to fan community through message boards and blogs?

Radio talk shows aren’t the only way fans communicate and state their opinions on the day’s topics. Message boards are virtual water coolers and if a host is offended because of something said online then they shouldn’t read them. I’ve never seen Bruce post on any of the forums I frequent, so unless he’s trolling the boards what does he care?