Shooting down the walls of Heartache

 

A moment of silence, please, to honour the retreat into oblivion of the self-appointed sports radio icon who for many years has graced websites and talk shows in the third-person under the handle of THE WARRIOR.

THE WARRIOR, who in real life is a car salesman in Killeen, Texas named Howard Kinsel, has decided to step out of the spotlight. Here’s how he put it recently in a post on HFboards.com.

Howard and I, Team 1260 listeners might recall, have had our differences over the years. Most notably when he’d call Bob Stauffer and I on Total Sports and chide me for being what he considered an Adam Oates fan boy, or worse, because of a puffy, feel-good column I’d written during Oates failed single season with the Edmonton Oilers.

Listeners might remember just a couple months ago when Howard waded in on the Chris Pronger kicking incident, ranting that Stauffer and I were only criticizing the cowardly act because we had something personal against Pronger. Or just last month, after I’d called out a HFboards.com poster who goes by the name Bank Shot, for suggesting Stauffer and I were making things up about the Oilers being interested in Mike Cammalleri, Howard wrote:

“Look, Bob bought his way onto radio and Brownlee has been reduced to an internet blog. Robin is in the twilight of a mediocre career as a journalist and can fire at bank shot because they are at an equal level — two guys posting on the internet on fan sites.” I suspect Howard’s stated reason for not coming back to Edmonton this summer is as big a load as many of his calls. My guess is times are tough at The King of Dodge — the Texas dealership website featuring Howard — and he’s passing on the trip north this summer to flog more gas-chugging Hemis before they become boat anchors as oil approaches $150 a barrel.

That, or Howard’s post is just one of those “please pay attention to me and tell me you like me” pleas. Then again, that would be insincere. That would be grandstanding. That would be . . .

All that said, I’ve always had a soft-spot for blowhards like Howard because I tend to be one myself. And coming from a never-was like Howard, it’s not so bad being called a has-been. All in all, The Brownlee gets a kick out of THE WARRIOR in a twisted sort of way that makes me wonder if I’m not well.

Talk to you soon, Howard.