Dear Pepper,

Every weekday, I get in my car around 6:40 AM and make the commute from my house in Brandon over to Largo where I work. And each day, around 7:08, I flip the dial from whatever I’m listening to over to 1010 Sports to hear you, Lynne, and Chicken discuss all things Tampa Bay Sports and other news of the day.

But sadly, each day between 7:15 and 7:20, I’m forced to change stations for about five minutes because its during this time that for some unknown reason, you all put Dan on the radio.

Dan, who repeats “how bout them Rays” with nothing else to say. Dan, who sometimes calls in just to ask if the Yankees or Red Sox won (like he can’t look it up himself). Dan, who will call in to tell us that he’s excited about the game that night but not add any insight as to why (like a good pitching matchup). Dan, who if he’s forced to discuss something other than baseball doesn’t know anything – case in point, two years ago he actually said “Now I know the winner of the Big East basketball tournament gets an automatic bid to the big dance, but does the winner of the Big Ten basketball tournament get an automatic bid too?” (Incidentally, it was after this asinine comment that I vowed to always change the dial when I heard his voice). I would rather hear Larry the Red Sox fan everyday than Dan because atleast Larry speaks intelligently and adds to the conversation.

Please don’t mistake my e-mail as something personally against the Dan, he seems like a nice guy and as a person have nothing against him. But the reason I listen to your radio station each morning is to be entertained and hear reasonably intelligent sports discussions – neither of which Dan provides. I’m begging you, pleading you, to give us a break from him. He’s turned into Brett Favre, just getting put on the radio for the sake of the streak. Like Favre, the novelty has worn off (assuming there was any kind of novelty in the first place).

PS Love the Captain Obvious nickname, couldn’t have said it better myself.

Lynne Austin is just wrong. Parents who live in the Tampa Bay area should grow their children up to like sports but not necessarily root for the home teams. It is wrong for parents to brainwash their children. Introduce them to the sport but then allow them to choose on their own what teams they like. If children are allowed to do that, they will grow up more tolerant of other people and become more well-rounded sports fans.