“How about the Flames trade Irving, Karlsson, Sarich, Babchuk and Jackman for Malone, Downie and a pick?”
Many serious NHL fans would immediately scoff at that suggestion, but radio host Pat Steinberg sits and listens patiently to the caller before calmly explaining why most teams likely wouldn’t make that move. Such is life for the man behind the aural chaise longue that is the Fan 960’s Overtime call-in show, which follows every Calgary Flames game.
“Sometimes I’m an acting therapist, sometimes I’m a sounding board and sometimes I’m the whipping boy,” Steinberg says. “I like therapist—sometimes it feels like that. ‘Yeah, OK, what else do you think? How did your father treat you as a child?’”
When the team is playing poorly (which has been the case more often than not during Steinberg’s playoff-less tenure), the number of hypothetical trades increases, and half the team is summarily dispatched to New York, Toronto or Florida. “There are a lot of GMs out there,” says Steinberg, who often works from a subterranean studio in the basement of the Saddledome.
These post-game group-therapy sessions sometimes last into the wee hours of the night, especially if the Flames are on a West Coast swing. Two years ago, when the Sharks thumped the Flames 9-1 on a Monday night, Dr. Steinberg was in session until 4 a.m.
The focus of the fans’ ire is often Jarome Iginla, who despite being the face of the team for 14 seasons, has been banished countless times to Philadelphia or Los Angeles by angry fans on Overtime. (This is when the show’s seven-to-10-second delay comes in handy.)
Despite occasionally being the target of anger that should properly be directed at the team, Steinberg enjoys his job and says that the show plays a vital role for members of the public who want a forum to express their feelings.
As Steinberg regularly reassures his patients, “It’s as much about you as it is anything else.”
mikeH
2:08 PM
Nice piece, Pat works a lot of late nights letting drunken fans blow off steam. One of these days we’ll have a winning squad and maybe he’ll catch a wave of positive emotions. Then the delay can be used to bleep out the cheers of overexcited fans celebrating on the red mile.