You can all come out now. Seriously. The recession—the bane of this country’s existence since the fall of 2007, the many-headed monster that’s fueled such anger at the business sector’s crimes against humanity—has run its course. The conclusive proof isn’t in the recent gains on Wall Street or the big jump in February housing starts. It has its genesis, of all places, at Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres. Jeff Moorad, the new Padres CEO and central figure in the club’s much-anticipated turnaround, has pledged that affordability, even in these bleak fiscal times, will become the cornerstone of the local baseball experience. Scott Kaplan thinks this is an “extremely cool” thing. He said so on his Friday, March 27 radio show, the day after the Padres introduced Moorad to the outside world at a press conference. His enthusiasm echoed Moorad’s in its infectiousness—if he’s this jazzed about the new era taking shape in the East Village, imagine his delight when the recession finally does take its leave. But first things first. The Padres’ 40th campaign happens to coincide with the eighth anniversary of “The Scott & BR Show,” marked yesterday, April 1, at Downtown’s The Tilted Kilt sports pub. It’s not like many kilts were tilting at that point—the program airs on AM’s XEPRS, branded locally as “XX 1090,” from 5 to 9 a.m. But from the sounds of things, Kaplan and partner Billy Ray Smith didn’t seem to notice, much less balk at the early hour. Padres broadcast co-anchors Jerry Coleman and Ted Leitner; field manager Bud Black; first baseman Adrian Gonzales; USC football coach Pete Carroll; ex-Charger Junior Seau; the Great Friends band of supporters: Everybody’s the focus of a testosterone-driven love-fest this morning, punctuated by trademark sound bites on Councilmember Donna Frye’s supposed untruthfulness and one caller’s alleged relationship with a sheep. “You can’t just say ‘sausage in the pocket’ and let the thing go. You have to explain that,” Smith quips to former Chargers quarterback Drew Brees, adding that Brees holds a serious grudge for Smith’s role in “ripping your soul out of your body as you had to leave San Diego.” But stuff like that is only a cover. Beneath the fun—and there’s a ton of it every morning—lies a singular commitment to competition as a reflection of the local dialogue. Kaplan and Smith are exemplary ambassadors thereof. For them, sports is as much an art form as great radio itself. Kaplan, the impassioned intellectual. Smith, the extraordinarily affable harlequin. Together eight years in a business legendary for its turnover. The reason lies in the authenticity of the banter and of the men’s backgrounds themselves. Both were in sports long before radio called; Kaplan, 39, kicked the daylights out of the football for the University of Pittsburgh, and Smith, 47, is a former Chargers linebacker and a two-time All-American from the University of Arkansas. Their history has its twists and turns—but the keyword is “their,” with both men holding close to their roots in the sporting life. “I don’t think either of us really try to be journalists,” Kaplan told Downtown News. “There’s a real attitude that seems to come with the notion that ‘I’m a journalist; I know more; I’m more inside and I’m smarter than you are.’ Neither of us really feel that way.” That trait filters into a sizeable segment of the show’s fan base. “If you’re not a Padres fan or if baseball’s too slow for you,” Kaplan explained, “you may not come [out] for baseball games at night, but you can’t wait to get your dose of Scott and BR in the morning.” The show seeks a demographic of 25- to 54-year-old males. But while the program is apparently successful in that bracket, the overall local sports climate is another matter. “Because you have only two pro sports teams here and you don’t have all four majors [and] you don’t have [many] folks that are generational San Diegans,” Kaplan said, “this is a sports market that is just not anywhere near as impassioned as folks are in other types of markets, like Boston or New York. But that doesn’t mean that this isn’t a good sports town or that the fans aren’t passionate. It just means that they don’t have as many choices. When you’ve got all four major sports-type teams, people live and die with their town and its teams. Here, we just don’t have that year-round, crazed, passionate fans for the local teams, because the teams don’t exist. “Good fans live and die with the Chargers, and they adore the Padre organization. [Beyond that], we just don’t have the numbers.” So how do we get ’em? “In downtown L.A.,” Kaplan explained, “[before] the Staples Center, there was nothing around it. It was a beaten-up, old, nasty part of town, kind of the way East Village was before Petco Park came into existence. Now, because of Petco, look at the beautiful development that has happened in Downtown San Diego. Because of the people that go to Lakers games and Kings games and concerts and circuses, they needed to build more amenities. They’ve got ’em. [Similarly], I think the city of San Diego could support an NBA franchise. We have the population and the fan base and the money to support another sport. But [the potential investors] can’t do it alone. It requires a facility.” Until the city can find its way out of a $60 million budget mess, those investors’ words may (and should) fall on deaf councilmanic ears. In any event, you’re invited to join XX 1090 for a block party to fete the Padres as they open their home season Monday, April 6 against them stinkball Dodgers. The fun runs along J Street between 7th and 10th avenues from noon to 3:30 p.m. Doesn’t sound like it’ll cost all that much—and that’s in keeping with Moorad’s initial case in point. As he reportedly said during a conference call in February: “It’s critically important, whether it’s concessions, merchandise or the baseball experience itself, that it is affordable, not only to the businesses that support the club but especially to the individual families and those who bring kids and experience baseball. Affordability has got to be the theme that rings true, and that certainly will be the theme as the new ownership group transitions in.” One franchise seeking to resurrect itself after a dismal 2008. Two guys that need no such redemption, who’ve come eons from the days they played at sports radio “with a plastic card table,” as Smith said, “and a vice holding the microphone onto that card table.” Amid the April 1 celebration, those days represent a blur not unlike Jake Peavy’s fastball. “Get your skinny marathon-runnin’ ass up here,” Smith beckons to show regular “Antarctic Mike,” a world-class endurance athlete who recently ran 26 miles over a Siberian lake. Mike obliges, reciting a litany of his latest feats. Maybe he’d never conceived of such milestones eight years ago, any more than a U-T columnist gave “The Scott & BR Show” a chance in hell. If this is the best they can do, the writer said, “then the sports radio industry is in big trouble.” How dare Kaplan accuse baseball players of steroid use. Heresy. Interdiction. Blasphemy! In his own words, Kaplan’s still waiting for the apology.
