Colin Cowherd is an easy guy not to like. Maybe it’s his loud, semi-obnoxious voice. Maybe it’s the impression he gives off, that feeling you get when you think hey, this dude likes to hear himself talk. I don’t know what it is exactly, but it’s doubtful that your first impression of Colin Cowherd is anything in the neighborhood of wow, this guy sure is likeable.

I bought a new car a few years back, and it came with this trial subscription to XM radio. The only thing that shit’s good for is the comedy channels, Soul Town and ESPN. On my way into work, I started tuning in to ESPN Radio, and that’s when I caught The Herd, Colin’s radio show. The first thing I thought when I heard him was man, this guy’s annoying as hell.

But I kept listening. It was the strangest thing; I just couldn’t get enough of the guy. The more I tuned in, the more I told myself that I was listening to this guy because he was annoying and different and he said things I didn’t agree with. I listened so that I could be engaged by his program in a negative way. But a funny thing happened the more I listened. I gradually stopped being engaged in a negative way, and I just became engaged.

The dude makes you want to listen to him.

Contrast Colin’s style to a guy like Jim Rome. Rome’s show is littered with pauses and repetition. He says something… and then he lets it sit in the air for a second… and then he says it again. Colin doesn’t do that. He’s got too much to say every morning to take an approach like that. Whether he’s deconstructing the realities of college football, taking subtle jabs at Obama with Curt Schilling, making fun of Jack Johnson’s way-too-mellow music or going on a rant about small market teams, Colin always has something to say.

And that’s refreshing. Really, it is. When a guy can be articulate and formulate logical, intriguing takes in nanoseconds and build up an argument or a stance that’s founded in logic – even if you don’t agree with it – that makes for good radio. And it makes for good television, too.

Colin’s made the jump from radio to TV with the show Sportsnation. The show appears on ESPN 2 at it features Colin Cowherd and Michelle Beadle in a serious of segments’ where they talk about the sports stories of the day and integrate the results of polls that are featured on ESPN.com. It’s less stale than PTI. It features more segments, more Michelle Beadle and a lot less Kornheiser.

I spoke with Colin Cowherd recently and we talked about the show, his style, the differences between radio and TV and what it’s like to work with the lovely Michelle Beadle. Here’s how the interview went down: