Jim Rome

Jim Rome (b. October 14, 1964) is an American sports radio talk show host syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks, the programming subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications. Broadcasting from a studio in Los Angeles, he hosts "The Jim Rome Show" weekdays from 9 AM to 12 noon Pacific Time. He also hosts the television show "Jim Rome Is Burning" (formerly "Rome Is Burning") which airs on ESPN. His past hosting jobs included "Talk2" (ESPN2), then "The Last Word" (Fox Sports Net). All these shows deal with the sports world in general.

Rome achieved notoriety for an incident on his ESPN2 show in 1994 when he repeatedly called NFL quarterback Jim Everett "Chris" (after Chris Evert, the tennis player), from the argument that Everett shied away from getting hit. After fair warning, Everett physically attacked Rome while still on the air. Video (http://joezizzo.com/video/ESPNAttack.mpg) of the Incident.

Rome also achieved notoriety when, in 1997, he challenged hockey star Gordie Howe's plans to play a shift with the minor hockey league Detroit Vipers, which would have given "Mr. Hockey" the claim of having played professional hockey in six decades. Rome offered a bounty of $3,000 to any player on the team playing against the Vipers to take Howe out of the game permanently. Howe and his wife threatened Rome with a lawsuit, and the bounty went away.

His current radio show takes calls from listeners and features interviews of notable people from the sports world. His television show primarily features interviews with athletes and other people associated with sports, but his main influence both started and remains with sports talk radio.

A graduate from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1987, Rome started his radio career at KTMS, located in Santa Barbara, CA. He eventually moved to XTRA Sports 690 in San Diego, CA, where he started what is now known as the Jim Rome Show, or "The Jungle" (after "Welcome to the Jungle", the Guns N' Roses hit that opens some segments of the program). Syndication started in 1996 and the show now can be heard on over 180 radio stations nationwide and in Canada.

The Jim Rome Show is unique in many ways, but the most notable are his use of Smack, The Clones that listen to the show, and The Huge Call of the Day. A large portion of the language used on the show is known as "smack," or a harsh, different way of saying the usual sports rant, known as a "take." Because of this, it is usually difficult for new listeners to enjoy the show quickly, as there is a learning curve before one can fully understand what is being said.

The "Clones" are what Rome calls the listeners of the show. Their devotion to Rome along with their use of "Smack" makes them different from normal people, but all the same as each other. Unfortunately, callers often only reiterate Rome's exact take on an issue. During the day, Rome saves the recordings of the best calls in the rack (with the term "Rack him" after a call being the cue that he enjoyed the callers take). At the end of the show the Huge Call (the Best Call of the Day) is replayed with much fanfare.

Jim Rome is also known for his many Tour Stops. The Tour Stop is a limited access (because of the ticket required) show, often with sports related guests and surprises. Multiple times around the year, Rome will reward a syndication city that has been providing him with great takes with a Tour Stop. These events are often held in stadiums or other large venues. The tickets are normally free. Clones are known to travel to a Tour Stop from across the country instead of waiting for one in their town.

Every year, Rome holds a Smack Off, where the greatest callers from the previous year (often winners of the Call of the Day) are brought back for a the full day of Smack talk, and the winner of the Smack Off is crowned for an entire year.

Contents

1 Regular Bits on the Jim Rome Show 2 Infamous Callers 3 Telephone Clips 4 Smack-Off History 5 Nicknames 6 External links

Regular Bits on the Jim Rome Show

• The Celebrity Drunk Bus - any time a professional athlete, actor or politician is arrested for DUI or DWAI, Jim Rome offers to send the "Celebrity Drunk Bus," which will pick up the inebriated star and courier him home. The phone number for the drunk bus is 1-800-BAAAAAAAAAA...
• The XR4Ti Crew - Jim Rome's "posse" of phone screener Jason Stewart and e-mail screener Travis Rogers; the "XR4TI" comes from the brand name of Jim Rome's first car, a Mercury Merkur XR4Ti.
• Jim Hates Soccer - As far as Jim Rome is concerned, soccer, with its nil-nil scoring, players who fake injuries, and stereotypically drunken, riotous fan base, has no use on his show. Rome also talks about how his eldest son Jake has developed into an above-average youth soccer player, apparently against his father's wishes. In 2004, soccer star Eric Wynalda called in to chastise Rome on the radio show host's anti-soccer tirades.
• Border Wars - Often when leading up to a significant event (such as the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, etc.), fans of the teams will phone the Jungle and degrade the opposing team's city. This usually degenerates into a back-and-forth war between inhabitants of the two cities where every call Jim receives is from someone looking to weigh in on the war. One notable border war that flares up occasionally is America vs. Canada (or America Jr., as it has been termed on the show).

Infamous Callers

Jim appreciates good calls on his show, but oftentimes he will receive a call that is less than acceptable. The really terrible calls will live in their own infamy, and listeners will reference those calls for years to come. Some of these calls include:

• Patty in Modesto - apparently tried to call the Jim Rome show, but was too inebriated to have an intelligent conversation.
• Alex in Louisville - Called in to congratulate Jim Rome on the host's great interview with NFL player Deion Branch; except that Jim had not interviewed Branch yet.
• Willie in K.C. - A regular caller who often broke into song parodies during his calls; was permanently banned from the Jim Rome show after one of his calls contained what appeared to be anti-Semitic references (i.e., "The B'nai B'rith Bowling League")
• Bill in Syracuse - While Jim was making a sarcastic remark about how he would LOVE to have his child enter the porn industry, Bill in Syracuse called to chastise the host, believing him to be serious.
• Fabian - often referred to as "Flamian" because he promised to have an epic phone call - only to almost immediately "flame out" in spectacular fashion. (Specifically, he was unable to make it through his first on-air sentence without stumbling over his words and asking for a do-over).
• Jim in Fall River - During one of his calls, Jim in Fall River became extremely animated and agitated, to the point of actually shouting out his call. In the background, Jim Rome heard what he thought was the sound of an animal, possibly a donkey braying. Since then, Jim in Fall River has been associated with beastiality.
• Smack Attack in Wisconsin - Was on hold for over an hour and when his turn finally came up to speak with Rome he yelled into the phone, "AAAHHHHH... My Phone Bill!" then hung-up. Why was it remembered? Mostly because Jim Rome to this day blames that incident for some of his hearing loss.
• Iggy in Springfield - Called into the program and greeted Jim before starting a prerecorded tape of what was intended to be his call (noticed because the sound of the tape player starting was audible in the call). In (dis)honor of Iggy, callers occasionally announce the local time before starting their call to prove that they have not prerecorded it.
• Pancho and Tyrone - During one call-in session, Rome took a call from a caller who claimed his name was Pancho, and that he was an African-American. Jim doubted this, but let the caller go through. A few minutes later, another caller got through the call screener, saying, in a stereotypical Spanish accent, "Jim, eff he can be Pancho, why can't I be Tyrone?" This is often cited as an example of a caller fooling the phone screener, essentially using a Jedi mind trick on Jason Stewart.

Telephone Clips

Heaven forbid any celebrity says something stupid, asinine, racist or rambling into a microphone; it will end up in Jim Rome's archive. Such interview clips include:

• Tonya Harding - Rome often plays a 911 call made by Harding, in which the figure skater claims to have suffered physical abuse at the hands of her boyfriend, when in fact the boyfriend was the recipient of a hubcap on the side of his head from the former figure skater. After playing the clip, Jim notes that the 911 operator is curious about Harding's boyfriend's middle name.
• Pete Gillen - the former Virginia men's basketball coach, when asked about Duke University's basketball team, said, "Certainly Duke is Duke, they're on TV more often than Leave It To Beaver reruns."
• Reggie White - Up until the Green Bay Packers linebacker died in 2005, Rome had a clip from White's 1998 speech in front of the Wisconsin State Legislature, in which White uttered some racially insensitive statements, including, "The Asian is very gifted in creation, creativity and inventions. If you go to Japan or any Asian country, they can turn a television into a watch."
• O.J. Simpson - Rome has plenty of interview tapes and 911 calls from the former Buffalo Bills running back. One 911 call involves Simpson's attempts to get his then-girlfriend to go into rehab, because "she spent all last night doing drugs with Pedro Guerrero."
• Ashlee Simpson - When the singer warbled off-key at the 2005 Orange Bowl halftime show, Rome kept a copy of Ashlee Simpson's last few notes - including the boos clearly heard throughout the stadium after Simpson's song was over.
• Evel Knievel - During a 2002 interview with the motorcycle daredevil, Rome asked Knievel if there was only a 50/50 chance of surviving the Snake River Canyon jump, why would anybody attempt to do it - Knievel answered, without hesitation, "Do you know who the hell I am?"
• Isiah Thomas - During a radio interview, Rome and NBA player Chucky Brown had a discussion about the differences in per diem between the NBA and the minor league Continental Basketball Association, where NBA players can afford to eat at Red Lobster. Later, when Rome interviewed Isiah Thomas on Rome's show "The Last Word," Thomas started the interview with, "I just got back from Red Lobster."
• Tiger Woods - In 2004, Jim Rome debuted a Tiger Woods interview clip, in which Woods is heard to utter the phrase "The golf course looks good, my golf swing feels good, I like my chances." Actually, Rome's interview clip was edited from several Woods interviews, and Rome uses that clip as a "created" example of Woods' aloofness to the media, where the golfer might use that "phrase" for any question ever asked of him. In Woods' defense, Rome also plays from time to time the infamous Fuzzy Zoeller interview, in which, when the veteran golfer is asked about Tiger Woods' first Masters victory, responds that he hopes Woods won't serve fried chicken or collard greens at the Masters banquet.

Smack-Off History

1995 -- The winner of the inaugural Smack-Off is JT the Brick (http://www.jtthebrick.com), who parlays his Smack-Off victory into his own sports-talk radio show. Jason Stewart, then known as "Jason from Fullerton," also got on, with an especially bad take before getting run off.

1996 -- Jeffrey E. DiTolla ("Esquire") is the winner of the second Smack-Off.

1997 -- Doc Mike DiTolla wins his first Smack-Off, marking back-to-back victories for the Brothers DiTolla.

1998 -- In one of the more classic Smack-Offs, Steve Carbone wins with his famous "I am not a clone!" call. Many of Steve's detractors like to claim that the fix was in on this Smack-Off, because at the time Carbone was the call-screener (known as "Phoneslap") for the Jim Rome Show (having previously been the successful caller "Stevie from LMU"). Carbone went on to host his own sports-talk radio show, before being dismissed for making some very inappropriate comments on a website. This was also the first Smack-Off to feature a professional athlete in the field, quarterback Jim Harbaugh - who unfortunately provided one of the most boring Smack-Off calls ever.

1999 -- Sean the Cablinasian in Houston wins his first Smack-Off.

2000 -- Doc Mike DiTolla becomes the first caller to win two Smack-Offs.

2001 -- One of the original callers to the Jungle, Silk in Huntington Beach, wins the Smack-Off after being the unfair target of criticism from many callers throughout the year.

2002 -- One of the most polarizing callers, Jeff in Richmond, wins the Smack-Off, to the outrage of many "Clones" and the joy of few.

2003 -- Sean the Cablinasian (now in Denver) becomes the second caller to win two Smack-Offs.

2004 -- "Iafrate" Ken Chasen in Los Angeles, who had finished second in four previous Smack-Offs, wins his first, his call capped off by a parody of the song "Michael's Dad" by John Niems, in which Iafrate sings about Brian Albers (nicknamed "Whitey") who was Jim Rome's show engineer and board operator.

2005 -- Sean the Cablinasian becomes the first 3-time winner of the Smack-Off. Defending champ "Iafrate" Ken Chasen finishes second for the fifth time. Terence from Sierra Madre, considered to be the best caller to have never won the Smack-Off, places third.

Nicknames

Callers and e-mailers to The Jungle seem to delight in giving Jim Rome nicknames when talking to him. Some of these are:

• Jimmy
• Rome
• Romey
• Mr. Rome
• Van Smack
• V-Smack
• Pimp In The Box

External links

• Jim Rome's official web site (http://www.jimrome.com)

• Clone website with pictures from recent tourstops (http://www.jungletourstop.com)
• Clone message board (http://www.stucknut.com)