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Approval Ratings – Steve Burton

April 25, 2008 By

Steve BurtonLast Friday we rated outgoing WBZ-TV sports director Bob Lobel. Today we’re rating his successor, Steve Burton.

Burton has been at WBZ since 1994, serving as sports reporter and anchor on both WBZ and TV38. He has been a fixture on the Patriots pregame shows, as well as on Patriots Fifth Quarter, where he is usually stationed inside the press conference room at Gillette getting reaction to the game.

Prior to joining WBZ, Burton worked for NESN between 1988 and 1994, hosting pre and post game shows for the Red Sox broadcasts. He has been a regular on WEEI’s Big Show recently as well.

Burton was raised in Framingham, and attended Northwestern University, where he was on the football team. He is the son of former Patriots player Ron Burton, and his brother Phil Burton works as a sports reporter/anchor for CN8. His brother Ron Jr works in the community relations department for the Red Sox, and brother Paul Burton works for WBZ as a general assignment reporter.

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Steve Burton Approval Ratings
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Filed Under: BSM Approval Ratings
  • Ironhead

    Wow. I mean, wow.

  • Brian

    The WBZ/Patriots 5th Quarter Steve Burton is an approve. The WEEI/Jose buddy Steve Burton is a disapprove. Enough said there.

  • Nopointe

    Wow, he’s losing eleventy to too

  • Bob

    the empty vest. has an unhealthy mancrush on Jose Canseco. asks “questions” in the form of statements to which his subjects must react awkwardly.

    • Jason Coyote

      Damn if he didn’t do that statement-question thing during a segment on “Sports Final” with Sam Ryan last night. She waited about three seconds before awkwardly responding, during which ol’ Stevo chimed in, “So whaddya think?”

      If it’s possible Burton is becoming a bigger broadcasting abomination with each passing week. If it weren’t for some of the halfway-decent guests on “Sports Final” that show would be totally unwatchable. As it is, it’s pretty close to that now.

  • Nopointe

    Thinks his cat’s breath smells like people food

  • lobstah

    His expression in that pic says it all!

  • Nopointe

    As a child he was told to invest for his future. And he still dresses in vest every day.

  • Ironhead

    You won’t find a bigger sycophant or example of the Peter Principle in the Boston media. DISAPPROVE.

  • Nopointe

    Didn’t want an island in his kitchen, because he can’t swim

  • LJ Sandwich

    In a battle of wits between Steve Burton and a pound of thinly sliced Hans Kissell Bologna, the match was stopped in favor of the bologna via the mercy rule.

    DISSAPROVE 100,000 times.

  • Nopointe

    Will spend the next month reminding everyone that the correct word is “Can” not “May”

  • fishercat

    his work during the press conferences on the fifth quarter is the most annoying look at me stuff that is out there in this town right now. saying something because he has some stiff competition.

    feeble attempts at gotcha journalism that seem to confound the person being questioned and the audience.

    also seems to never have heard a sentence that he thinks he shouldn’t finish.

    probably a decent guy but caters to ordway, callahan, wolfe, and the shemale.

  • Nopointe

    Holds the world record for most consecutive ‘Rock,Paper,Scissors’ losses. Almost most injuries sustained while playing ‘Rock,Paper,Scissors.

  • Mike

    The 27 people so far who have approved should be banned from sports for the rest of their lives.

    • ben

      I’d like to explore this further. Among the most salient comments ever made in this forum.

      Steve Burton is an insult to all of us. Not a bad human being. Just incredibly vapid.

  • Slug

    The dumbest guy on the Boston sports media scene, bar none. Makes LJ seem like a Mensa student.

  • rick

    Makes Bobo Halloran look smart. Nuf Ced.

  • thetruth

    “Bruce! Bruce! I need an approval rating over here! Bruce!”

  • 02062

    I don’t think he’s as bright as Butch Stearns.

    The ultimate jocksniffer.

    Should not be allowed anywhere near Fenway Park as his brother is employed by the team.

    Offers little or no insight into football which is hard to believe because he played the game at a high level in the Big 10. Whether it’s birthday greetings for DeOssie or asking Randy Moss fashion questions – he’s out to lunch.

    His Patriots pre-game show consists of stuff that he’s already shown thru the week and he’s trying to pass it off as some sort of breaking news.

    Have I mentioned that I think he’s dumber than Butch Stearns?

    Always afraid to ask the tough questions.

  • Beaker

    When I look into his eyes as he’s looking into the camera, it’s like staring at a playful puppy that just wants to please but doesn’t quite know how to do it. He also can’t take direction well, doesn’t understand simple voice commands and refuses to do #1 on the paper.

  • ITT

    If it guaranteed a ratings win for Channel 4 I would trade him to the CBS affiliate in Des Moines for a bucket of cow manure. No, imagine a bucket of manure doing the sports sitting next to Jack Williams? You HAVE to do that. If it GUARANTEED a ratings win, you have to make that trade. Wow.

  • Funkhouser

    Actually, he’s brilliant. He’s drawing a paycheck from WEEI for having Jose Canseco’s cell number, saying Wow repeatedly and cackling like some birthing hyena during the Whiner Line. Nice gig if you can get it.

  • Raise the bar

    DISAPPROVE, in fact hoping people are jumping the gun in annointing Steve as the successor. I’m hopeful that Dan Roache jumps over Steve to earn that job. Steve’s ‘aw, shucks’ grin as he asks flattering questions in the form of statements is brutal.

  • Fred West Lynn

    “I don’t think that we should all waste our time on these Internet polls, because … hey! is that a marble over there in the corner?”

  • Dave F

    Know the bit on Howard Stern where they conference called 2 Chinese Restaurants at the same time and then just listened to the 2 of them trying to figure out what was going on? It’s my dream to do that to Steve and Butch.

  • http://fangsbites.blogspot.com/ Ken Fang

    Not my favorite. Sometimes, he looks as if he had a stroke.

  • Wyatt

    Disapprove.

    If this were an American Idol judge he would be Paula Abdul. WOW!

  • Bill

    Ok, I disapprove, but I don’t think he’s as bad as some of the cast of characters polled here.

    And, shame on Bruce for slanting the poll with a photo of the guy that just encourages “dumb” comments. There has to be a better picture out there. I mean, heck, even Stearns looked ok, didn’t he???

  • Guntfather of SportsRadio

    Uses his relationship with a guy to determine their merit. Doesn’t watch sports beyond the Boston teams. Appears on WEEI’s big show and passed off as an expert. Wow.

  • Nopointe

    The photo doesn’t make him look dumb Bill. The dumb makes him look dumb.

    And no there are no other pictures, that one stole his soul.

  • ozzy

    Thinks the whiner line is the most side splittingly hilarious, cutting edge comedy he’s ever heard. Also, falls for “got your nose” every time.

  • matt

    We have a winner in the dumbest person pulling down 6 figures for a Boston news station…Steve Burton! Every time this guy cashes his paycheck he’s committing robbery. Like the football player said about Bradshaw, “He couldn’t spell cat if you gave him the c and the a.”

  • NASCL

    Not a bad guy, but only a matter of time before he’s seen on-camera with a “Kick Me” signed taped to his back.

  • LJ Sandwich

    To be fair…the pound of thinly sliced Hans Kissell bologna also pummelled Bob Halloran, Butch Stearns, and Larry Johnson in successive battles of wit.

    Larry tried to make a sandwich out of the bologna but tripped on his moo-moo while chasing the elusive deli meat.

  • LJ Sandwich

    He should borrow some of Ordway’s mock turtlenecks…his in-grown neck hairs frighten me.

  • Lance

    These comments are the most entertaining thing about Burton’s entire life.

  • media-tor

    In case anyone’s wondering where the picture was taken, looks like it was from the 2004 commencement ceremony at Mount Wachusett Community College. Here’s the press release:

    http://www.mwcc.mass.edu/offices/communications/Press%20Releases/PR013004.html

  • Thirdkill

    On the positive side, he won a grievance against Channel 4. Jack Williams will no longer be permitted to jiggle plastic toddler keys behind the teleprompter while Burton is on air.

  • Beaker

    To extend the dog analogy, Stearns is more aggressively stupid, sort of a retarded doberman. He enjoys rubbing his idiocy in your face.

  • RIFRED

    It is beyond me how Steve Burton, seemingly a nice guy but a first-class jock sniffer is able to hold his job. When he appears on WEEI, I am forced to turn the station off. I have a lot of “nice” relatives, but that does not mean I wish to hear him twice or three times a week talking nonsensically and otherwise making inane comments about sports.

  • buttercup

    Joseph O’Leary wrote,

    “Buddhism queries the reality of the passions that make forgiveness necessary and queries also the reality of the objects of those passions. My anger, resentment, hatred are a delusion, and so is the crime or offence the other is thought to have committed against me. Indeed my very conception of myself and of the other is pervaded by delusion and fixation. Even if these Buddhist ideas were totally untrue, it would still be very wholesome to meditate on them.”

    I am reminded of this when I wonder on the utter lack of brain function of Steve Burton and then feel badly about my feelings toward him. Thankfully, according to the Buddhists, I don’t need to forgive him for ruining everything he touches with stupidity. I am one with his lunk-headedness.

    My mantra for this is, “Ohhhm- WOW!…Ohhhm- WOW!” They hate me in yoga class.

  • kampy1

    Vapid is a great term to describe him. As far as I can see, he is pretty much talent-less and is riding the family name. I once went to a charity fundraiser for inner-city kids at Fenway, and he was there as a celebrity. He spent 90% of the time talking on his phone. A jack-arse’s jack-arse.

    Disapprove.

  • Beaker

    I’m more partial to ‘vacuous’ myself.

  • buttercup

    I read a poet recently who said he was reassured by scientists being able to only identify 4% of the known matter in the universe. As a Boston sports fan I was horrified by the knowledge that the remaining 96% of unknown matter resided between the ears of Steve Burton.

  • rick

    buttercup, RACK IT!

    I cannot fathom how somebody as stupid as Burton has a job. It’s disgusting that this is what is foisted on the Boston market. WBZ must write out the teleprompter in phonetics so that dimwit can talk good.

  • b holmes

    born on third base, steve thinks he kicked a field goal.

    incapable of asking a question.

    a dullards dullard

  • Chris

    Make book on this: Burton will actually outlast Lobel at the helm of WBZ sports. The favorite play-toy of all TV news hacks is the diskimination lawsuit, which Burton will wield like a threatening ax as his years move along. His is the closest thing to an entitlement program out there.

  • Chet

    Unprofessional and not knowledgeable. Embarrassed himself with his “Curt, I need you!” routine at the World Series Parade while Francona was giving him an interview.

  • Bill Bleak

    LMAO at the picture of Burton, it’s almost as bad as the one of Larry Johnson in his “hospital garb”….I can’t wait to see what kind of picture Bruce digs out for Pete Sheppard

  • Steve From Yellowstone

    RAMONE!!!! I NEED YOU!!!!! RAMONE!!!!!!

    Steve Burton, outside of Butch Sterns, is the biggest idiot on EEI. To think I had respect for this guy before he became an EEI regular… @_@

  • JohnnyApps

    This guy is playing up the family name. Not much talent . Awkward on the air. Not talented. Suprised he has remained on the air this long.

  • Brady

    He’s too dumb to know how to turn off his cellphone. He ruined an interview with Deion Branch with the phone going off, it constantly rings when he’s on ‘EEI, and even when he’s on TV! The guy is a total moron.

  • Chris M

    TV guys should not be on radio and only Butch Stearns is a more prime example than this guy. His ridiculous laugh is the only redeeming quality he has…cuz lord knows he doesn’t have any sports knowledge.

  • Wilson

    A two legged priapism!
    with an annoying laugh!
    Trying to be Bill Russell??
    Heavily Disapprove!

  • George

    Wow! look at all these losers sting negative comments. th guy ha a reat sports journalist character that’s what it takes, his opinion does not make him dumb because u don’t agree with it, so go back to your jobs that you all dislike maiking a quarter of what steve makes

    • buttercup

      it doesn’t get any better than this…

  • Jason Coyote

    Yet another instance of idiocy from the mouth of Burton in his Pats game package intro: “If you told me the Patriots would win this game and Moss only gets two catches, I would’ve said you were crazy.”

    Perhaps you’re the crazy one, Stevo. Today’s Pats win played out pretty much the way I thought, with a conservative offensive game plan and mistake-free football. Are most Pats fans really shocked that they beat the Jets the way they did? It’s lazy, thoughtless writing on Burton’s part, you can just add it to his long list of vices.

  • Callah

    Tell me about Steve Burton?

  • FREDDIE MERCURY

    Steve,
    Tonight you said: Joe gave myself……
    NO!
    You mean: Joe gave ME…….!!!

    I'm the only one who can give myself anything! But, other people can give just ME something.

    Please, lose the 'self'……not needed…..Ever!!! Also, it's: including ME, or including YOU……Again…..NO self……Ever!!!
    It's just about YOU and ME! No 'self' needed……Ever!!!
    If ever you need to use a 'self' on the end of a pronoun, you will Know it!!
    Basically, just leave any 'self' out you may be inclined to stick on a word.
    Better to lead a 'self' less life!
    You'll speak better!!

  • Brian B

    Steve Burton is the man

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