Sean Baligian: It Is What It Is

Sean Baligian is the host of "It Is What It Is" Detroit"s No. 1 morning sports show. He can be heard from 9 AM until Noon on 1130 The Fan. Sean can be heard doing the Detroit Lions' postgame show. He also hosts "Icetime," and "Fantasy Geekly." He writes a Fantasy Football column for the Detroit News. He is the voice of the Plymouth Whalers of the OHL.

In 2003, Sean started MEATA (Men Eating All Tasty Animals), an event that raises food for Detroit area food banks. We thank him for his time.

JS: Sean, your show is incredibly interactive. Was that your intention or did it evolve to where it is?

SB: Jim, Believe it or not, I wanted it to be that way from day one. When you host a show by yourself, you want to be able to "rely" on interaction with listeners. Due to the fact that I am on from 9-12, and so many people are at work at that time, I really like to include e-mails in the show as well, as many people would love to call in but can't.

So, I really try to have a show that is not so "formatted" but rather a bunch of sports fans hanging out just chatting up sports, like at a sports bar.

JS: Isn't that how MEATA started out? I was at MEATA No. 1 in the studio parking lot. Can you tell us how far it has come in five years and how proud you are of all that you have raised for local food banks?

SB: MEATA was something that just happened..In the spring of 2003, I was talking about a giant BBQ and how cool it would be and a lot of people agreed with me [go figure huh?!] and it just happened.

I had no idea how big it was going to be, I would've been content if 50 people showed up, quite frankly, but the idea of it was just a cool way to hang out, talk sports, and of course..EAT LIKE PIGS!

To see what it has become today, and the fact that so many people out there have been so generous, as we have literally donated tons of non-perishables to the Oakland County Food bank is still amazing to me. I never envisioned that to say the least.

JS: Do you ever get complaints from listeners or management about your show drifting from a topic of say John Daly to a 15-minute discussion about Arby's five for five?

SB: YES! Not so much from management, I think they are used to the odd ways my brain works, but you get some from listeners. If you notice, most of the time we "deviate" from the normal stuff is on slower sports days per se, when there is not a lot going on.

We try to have fun, and I personally think that many more people enjoy the silly, off the wall stuff than do not. I try not to do a lot of that stuff, but sometimes it's a nice change of pace when you are doing a three-hour show by yourself.

JS: Do you feel that your show has made more people aware of OHL hockey and hockey in general?

SB: I really would like to believe that, but I am not sure that I have any kind of impact. It's my favorite sport by far, really is it. I don't understand why the masses do not embrace the sport more, especially with the success of the Wings, and yes...the Whalers. The OHL is a great league, I really, truly enjoy it as much, if not more than the NHL.

It is nice, however, when somebody says they checked out an OHL or Whaler game and told me how much they enjoyed it and that they plan on coming again. If I had my way, I would do a lot more hockey talk on my daily show, but I understand that for many that might be "instant tuneout", so I gladly do the Icetime show to feed my inner hockey geek.

JS: Sean, your listeners seem to get excited over the fact that you are getting more into baseball due to your young son Jack's interest in the game; are you surprised that baseball is now a bigger part of your life? You must be proud when a caller's first question is, "How's Jack doing?"

SB: Jim, Heck yes...It makes me very proud. I am proud of my son...and my daughter for that matter, and I think to share stuff with listeners really is important, like we are all a bunch of guys that know each other from the neighborhood hangout or whatever.

I am shocked that I am into baseball as much as I am, but I am glad that my son has found what HE really likes, as opposed to what his dad wants him to like. I swore I would never be THAT dad that forces his likes and dislikes on his children, and I hope I have remained true to that.

JS: The music that opens your segments is awesome. Is it something from the listeners that snowballed or was it planned?

SB: All the opens that we have used have been composed and performed by listeners. It's pretty cool that guys would take the time and effort to do that, so we are more than willing to play the tunes as "Hour" opens.

JS: Finally Sean, do you feel that ESPN swept the Dana Jacobson "Roastgate" under the rug? And do you feel somewhat justified after she chastised you on Cold Pizza for using the word "crap" during an interview about the 2006 Detroit Tigers?

SB: I really do feel that it was swept under the rug personally...Even in a roast, those are things that you should not even joke about. I wasn't angry about her reminding me that it was not talk radio but rather TV, I was just more stunned by it to be honest...I really did not think that saying the word "crap" was worthy of playing the holier-than-thou card that she played, but its no biggie to me in the end. It's just ironic when you consider what she eventually said at that roast.

JS: Thank you so much for your time Sean, would you care to make a World Series prediction?

SB: Tampa in six.