In a New Year, It's Time to Ask 'Wouldn't It Be Nice?'

First Sports Waves column of the new year, so wouldn't it to be nice to begin by wondering:

Wouldn't it be nice if Vinny Cerrato stayed off the radio, started making himself available to reporters on a regular basis and actually brought in free agents and draft picks who could contribute to the Redskins immediately?

Wouldn't it be nice if George Michael's "Redskins Report" show, recently cancelled by clueless WRC-TV, surfaced on another local station that also employed Michael and Sonny Jurgensen to handle Monday nights with Jim Zorn and Joe Bugel?

Wouldn't it be nice to say, "way to go" to Chris Berman for dropping 40 pounds? But wouldn't it also be nice if Berman didn't shill for the product that helped him do it? He still sits in an anchor chair at ESPN, and anchors don't do commercials.

Wouldn't it be nice if ESPN980 had a little competition in the local sports talk radio genre? We're hearing WJFK is seriously thinking about going to that format on the FM band, a very welcome idea if the Junkies go back to what made them so appealing to the 39-and-under male demographic.

Wouldn't it be nice if someone, anyone watched the Washington Nationals on MASN? Maybe they would tune in more often if Nats ownership started spending enough to at least give the appearance of interest in becoming a .500 team.

Wouldn't it be nice to salute long-time local broadcaster Glenn Harris for so many years of hosting his lively sports interview show on News Channel 8?

Wouldn't it be nice to salute Leesburg's Sal Johnson for producing one of the best golf sites on the web, Golfobserver.com?

Wouldn't it be nice if Channel 4's Lindsay Czarniak and Dan Hellie occasionally curled their lips and offered the occasional harsh criticism of a local pro franchise? Come to think of it, Tim Brant, Brett Haber and Dave Feldman might want to go tough-guy, too, every once in awhile.

Wouldn't it be nice if ESPN980 Redskins "beat reporter" Frank Hanrahan just said no if he's asked again to host Cerrato's radio show next season, avoiding a repeat of an outrageous conflict of interest?

Wouldn't it be nice if the Golf Channel's play-by-play announcer, Kelly Tilghman, agreed to do an interview after ducking the media for almost a full year now since her unfortunate "lynching" comment on Tiger Woods?

Wouldn't it be nice if NBC's golf announcers disagreed occasionally with Johnny Miller, especially when he asks them, "Don't you think that's right?"