Given the developments of this past week, this blog is far overdue to pay homage to the talent that is Jeff Dubay.
There's a lot to admire about Dubay. He has parlayed a love of sports into a reasonably successful career in radio broadcasting. I have yet to hear anyone praise him for his dulcet tones on the radio. That is the claim to fame of his longtime KFAN partner, Paul Allen. Dubay was the sidekick in that scenario. He may have been equally billed as a co-host of the show, but there was no Dubay without P.A.
Dubay proved that following sports passionately and dedicating yourself to your career choice will pay dividends. Nobody refers to Dubay as a marquee talent, and nobody would ever have mistaken him for it on KFAN. Allen won the play-by-play job for the Minnesota Vikings radio network, Dubay chewed the fat with Vikings rubes on the air following the games. Allen calls horse races at Canterbury Park to this day. Dubay would occasionally be tapped for an on-air promotion of Body Solutions during the KFAN broadcast day.
Dubay's fall from grace was well chronicled in the local media. I won't rehash it. All I'll say is that many have fallen further, and harder, than Dubay, but given Dubay's profile, it got more attention than those who crashed and burned. That's the price you pay when you seek out a public profile. Right or wrong, that's how it works.
Dubay is synonymous with crack cocaine, but I'd argue that wasn't his only addiction. I'm relatively certain Dubay was addicted to the cult of celebrity. Dubay's celebrity pales in comparison to that of the Kardashians, but on a local level he is a public figure who enjoyed the benefits of being a public figure in an entertainment medium, and the trappings of it were his first addiction. Crack cocaine was a bonus that came along later. Both addictions were capable of derailing his career, but unfortunately for Dubay, it was the latter addiction that did it, and in the process that addiction also made him a criminal drug user.
Despite his improbable rise to KFAN co-host and fall from grace, Dubay accomplished another miracle: a second chapter in his broadcast career. Dubay may have name recognition, but again, he wasn't an elite talent. There are plenty of young Dubay wannabes in the Twin Cities. But instead of cultivating one of those, 1500ESPN allowed the phoenix that is Jeff Dubay to rise from the ashes.
Clearly the guy is more of a talent than I realize. Good thing I'm not pursuing a career in talent scouting.
I'll share thoughts about Dubay's short-lived podcasting career another night. For now I want to conclude by theorizing why Jeff Dubay hates you.
He doesn't hate you, necessarily, but he hates people who don't want to kiss his ass. He proved this via Twitter.
Dubay was active on Twitter during his year at 1500ESPN. When people didn't like what he said, or disagreed with him, they'd take cheap shots at Dubay about his previous crack addiction. Dubay didn't like that, and rightfully so. It was childish and mean-spirited at best.
But Dubay's anger seems to be deeper seeded. Sure, he'd hate you if you made a crack comment in regard to him, but he seemed to be angered by anyone who challenged him or dismissed his point of view. I've seen it firsthand.
One of his most famous moments was when he was talking on-air with a former KSTP-TV weatherman about global warming. Dubay has decided the concept is fraudulent and made that clear. I'd love to know what kind of reading he's done on the topic. Maybe the sports geek is also a science geek who spent his years of recovery reading up on the topic. I'd be surprised, but you never know.
Those who scoffed at his simple dismissive comments via Twitter drew his ire. Mocked for his past crack addiction, Dubay claimed he was quitting Twitter. That didn't last long. And when he returned, Mr. Thin Skin was once again quick to snap at comments he perceived as insulting. The dude has anger management issues, and he demonstrated them on Twitter.
For reasons I'm uncertain of, but will touch on soon enough, Pioneer
Press sports columnist Bob Sansevere blogged about the quick demise of
Dubay's podcast. He nailed it in his closing graphs: "Unfortunately, Dubay appears to have a tendency to be quick-tempered and knee-jerk."
Plenty of people like Dubay. When he was dismissed by 1500ESPN – purely as a cost-cutting move by all indication – several people were quick to kiss his ass, telling him via Twitter how much they would miss him and how they had no reason to listen to 1500 any more. Additional praise was showered upon Dubay at the announcement that he was going to host a podcast.
If you kiss up to Dubay, he'll tell you how much he appreciates you. If you mock his crack addiction, he'll be quick to dismiss you, and rightfully so. And if you dare to question or criticize him, he'll hate you.
No comments:
Post a Comment