Larry Cotlar, who has been around the block a few times as a sports talk radio host, called me at home one day. But I wasn’t there to answer the phone. So I later saw him at an Iowa State basketball game, and got an update on his wanderings.

It turns out he’s back in Des Moines, working the 4-to-7 p.m. weekday shift at KXNO.

Cotlar said he’s been in talk radio in such places as Las Vegas, Chicago and St. Louis, in addition to Des Moines. So I figured he’d be the ideal guy to answer my question: Is Des Moines too small to support the three sports talk stations it now has?

"I don’t know,’’ Cotlar responded. "On the surface, you would think so. Quite frankly, when I mention that Des Moines has three stations—KXNO, KJJC and KXTK—people are pretty surprised.

"I can’t predict if all of them will last, but my goal is to be on the one that everybody listens to. I just try to be the best.’’

After the conversation with Cotlar, things began happening. The sports talk show situation in Des Moines, as far as I was concerned, got a lot hotter.

I got some interesting responses from readers—things ranging from the opening of the Kruidenier Trail at Gray’s Lake to the demise of the Iowa Barnstormers.

Tirrell was an early sports talk radio announcer in this area, once working at KJJC and later at KXTK. He now does halftime and postgame shows on the Boston Celtics’ radio network.

It turns out Boston isn’t as far from Des Moines as you might think. E-mail provides very quick transportation. I didn’t have Tirrell’s e-mail address, and certainly didn’t contact him about Deace’s list, but someone else obviously did.

It wasn’t long after I printed Deace’s claim that Tirrell being "booted out of town’’ was a good thing for Des Moines that there was reaction in Boston.

Tirrell, who regularly stirred the emotions of guests and listeners when he worked the Des Moines radio market, went on to say other things about some of the people presently in Des Moines sports talk radio in his e-mailings to me, and I’ll get to that soon.

But, first, now that I had Tirrell’s attention, I figured I might as well ask him the same question I asked Cotlar: Is Des Moines too small for three sports talk radio stations?

Within a matter of hours, I had Tirrell’s answer to that question—as well as his thoughts on a number of things I didn’t ask about.

Without me asking him to do it, Tirrell then went on to give his reviews on some of the men now navigating the city’s sports talk shows. After seeing his comments, I contacted Tirrell again to make sure he wanted to go public with them.

"You can use what I said because it’s the truth as I see it,’’ Tirrell shot back

Some of the guys Tirrell mentioned have been friends of mine for years, so keep in mind that these are only the opinions of the guy from Boston:

"Steve Deace--"Miserable. But if he’d fly straight and lose the lame attempt to be Jim Rome, he’d be a nice overnight talent and build a following.

"Bob Dyer--Washed up! He is like Ground Hog Day on the radio. Same stories, half-refuted by callers, over and over. Nice guy, for the most part. Bad radio, though.’’

"Tim Darrah—What a self-made talker he’s become!

"Ken Miller--Paranoid and a phony.

"Ken Thompson--Best producer in the country. He can tell you a million stories and works his ass off.’’

"My time in Boston won’t be long,’’ he said. "Des Moines is a great market. The college, high school and even pro blend are awesome.’’

Tirrell feels KXTK will wind up to be the sports radio heavyweight here.

"Here’s my vision: Someday Des Moines will have one solid sports radio outlet in KXTK, and the station will be a flagship for a statewide network. I want to be there smiling when it’s humming along, purring like a kitten.’’

I gave him a chance to respond to the things Tirrell said, and he came out with guns blazing.

Asked if he had heard that Tirrell might like to someday return to the Des Moines radio market, or at least contribute to a show, Deace said, "If so, what station would hire him?

"Also, what caused him to leave Des Moines? You mean to tell me doing a scoreboard show for a station in Boston isn’t a step up from hosting your own show in Des Moines? I can’t possibly believe that.’’

"I will give Marty credit on three fronts: 1. He’s fun as hell to be around; 2. He gave me my first break; 3. He is talented, no doubt. But his integrity is nil. He’s the Bill Clinton of Des Moines sports radio—a compelling personality, for sure, with Machiavellian-style ethics.

"Clear Channel has more money than God,’’ he said, adding that KXTK’s ownership "seems to be willing to spend whatever it takes.’’

And, he said, "I’m not too worried about where we (KJJC or, as many call it, the JOCK) stand—especially with our tight affiliation with ESPN, and the fact that every major sporting event (i.e., the World Series, BCS, Final Four, Super Bowl, NBA Finals and Stanley Cup) are exclusive properties of the JOCK. And we’ve already been through our share of fianncial difficulty, with new ownership coming in now that has deep pockets. The JOCK will be fine.

"What’s interesting is, I think there are bits and pieces of the other two sports stations (like the morning show on 940 and the Bruno and Rome shows on 1460) which, if combined into one, would make for a killer competitor to the JOCK.’’

Asked what he feels makes a sports talk show successful, Deace said, "The simple answer is passion and credibility. Passion by the announcer for the subject matter, the job and the listener. Listeners need to have passion in your product and feel as if they are a part of it as well.

"Inviting and cultivating participation, I feel, is a big part of this. This is how your listeners make an emotional investment in your product and become loyal. You also need credibility. Others have failed in this market because they were pretenders from a knowledge-of-the-subject-matter standpoint (i.e., Jack and Alex) or were known for shredding the truth and abandoning their principles on a whim (i.e., Marty Tirrell).’’

As for Tirrell’s claim that Deace tries to be a spinoff of nationally-known announcer Jim Rome, Deace said, "I haven’t listened to Jim Rome’s show since last May. I’m actually trying to emulate Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh.’’

Stay tuned. I’m sure there will be more coming soon. Radio announcers, as we all know, like to talk. After all, that’s what they get paid for.

[Hey, like other people, I can have fun with rumors and the truth, too!]

Every time another coaching vacancy popped up—whether it was at the collegiate or professional level—Stoops’ name would be mentioned in connection with it. The latest job the former Iowa player and football staff member turned down was at Florida.

Not everyone agrees. George Wine, former sports information director at Iowa, doesn’t feel Crouch deserved the 2001 Heisman.

Wine adds that "everyone should now be convinced that both the BCS and the Heisman Trophy have become jokes. I would really like to see Oregon or Florida play Miami, and I bet their fans would, too.

Further evidence that the Bowl Championship Series is wearing thin with people: The title game, as well as the other BCS games, took big hits in TV viewership over last season.

Pete Taylor, associate athletic director at Iowa State and longtime play-by-play announcer for the Cyclones’ football and basketball games, vividly recalls the situation at Arkansas—which he calls a fiasco.