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Approval Ratings – Steve Buckley

July 10, 2008 By

Steve BuckleySteve Buckley is the original sports media mogul in Boston.

Also known as the “Old Time Baseball Dude”, both because of his proclivity for bringing up stories and stats from the olden days of baseball, but also because of his involvement with the Oldtime Baseball Game.

Buckley has been a columnist with the Boston Herald since 1995, and has a long resume of sports writing experience, including a stint at the National Sports Daily. He’s also written for the Portland Press Herald, Boston Magazine and Yankee Magazine.

Before it came into vogue, Buckley was making appearances on all different forms of media, writing for newspapers, hosting a TV show (on NECN) and making radio appearances on WEEI.

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Steve Buckley Approval Ratings
View Results
Filed Under: Morning Links
  • NASCL

    Once again, I’m out of the closet— I like Steve Buckley.

    Yes, he has more than his fair share of self-inflicted warts but I truly enjoy listening to him talk baseball. The other sports—not so much.

    A little extra credit for being able to poke at himself from time to time and for his charity baseball game.

  • NASCL

    Oh, yes. “Approve!”

  • CISW

    The final piece to my personal sports radio sewer quadrant (joining Ordway, Callahan and Meterparel).

    A hack’s hack, and in my opinion, The Herald’s version of Shaughnessy in terms of being thin skinned, sanctimonious, making himself part of every story and repeatedly regurgitating the same old stale, uninformative, outdated, and irrelevant opinions, articles and comments.

    Virtually any Buckley article or commentary invariably has the following tired references or catch phrases:
    1. Yaz’s Triple Crown season in 1967
    2. Tony C
    3. The Red Sox policy on retired numbers (invariably linking back to #2)
    4. Cambridge vs. Everett football
    5. Quotes from “Its a Wonderful Life”, “The Godfather” and “The Godfather II”
    6. Minor league baseball references to “Rancho Cucomonga”
    7. “This is where you are wrong in your premise …”
    8. “I submit to you …”
    9. Mentioning ridiculously outdated (and in my opinion, brutally lame) shows like “The Beverly Hillbillies”, “Sgt. Bilko” and “Green Acres”
    10. Waxing poetically about the 30′s, 40′s, 50′s, 60′s and 70′s.

    Who is this man’s target audience? I am 43 years old and I find his stuff absolutely abhorrent. Like Shaugnessy, he is completely out of touch with the common sports fan, as he continually feeds his own agenda and personal interests.

    He’s an arrogant, whiny, self-absorbed, humorless, know-it-all tool who postures himself as a guardian for the baseball purist and that his opinion is unparalleled – and anyone who dare question or doubt him be damned.

    And joining forces with that insufferable drunken circus clown “Mikey” Adams on Sunday mornings is easily the worst program on that station (insert your own analogy here – but that’s kind of like being the worst of the teams that don’t qualify for the play-offs in the NBA, NFL or NHL).

    For a region filled with sports champions its downright laughable that this stiff is considered a sports columnist/voice in this town.

    To top it all off, he is a noted Manny basher and that alone is good enough to qualify him as a massive disapprove in my book.

    • Bill

      WOW, this comment is spot on…
      A BIG Disaprove to the hair die king

    • Classless Concepts

      Great tirade.

    • Ed Brown’s Garage

      Spot On!

    • JoeSchmoe

      Amen!!!

    • James

      This could not be any more true. 100% everything spot on.

      Steve Buckley is like 99.9% of baseball writers. They’re pompous, condescending, and they value their opinion as the RIGHT opinion no matter what.

      If anyone was listening to the big show today 6/23/09, Buckley was being just that. Trying to be the end all be all master of minor league baseball.

      Total pompous jackass.

      CISW, I applaud you.

  • thetruth

    Where to begin?

    * The indigance at callers for daring to critcize him?

    * Starting comments off with disclaimers like “I know this would never happen, butimagine if…” (Which actually earned Mazz points from me that time he called Buckley out on it and Buckley got so pissy about it.)

    * Throwing a Godfather quote somewhere in there between 2-6 pm at least 98% of the time.

    * Living in Cambridge

    * The whoring for his beloved midsummer classic

    * The man-love for any player with local roots.

    I know there’s more, that’s just to get the ball rolling…

    • Siggy

      -I liked it that he called out Evil Tony. He went postal on Mazz, was justified and won the argument.

      -If my choice is between Godfather references that I can relate to or Bill Simmons 90210 references that are strictly gratuitous I’ll take the former.

      -So he’s from Cambridge…so was Tip O’Neill. You got a problem with him?

      -The old time game was the bedrock of baseball; read “The Glory of Their Times” by Lawrence Ritter, a refreshing antidote to today’s steroid-plagued mess.

      -If you can’t root for a local kid….

  • Funkhouser

    The fact that his BFF is Alison from Cambridge has earned him a hearty disapprove from me.

  • DV

    I can’t stand Buckley when he’s on WEEI, but I do enjoy reading his columns, whenever he’s providing a historical perspective to whatever the news of the day is.

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

      Yeah, I voted disapprove mostly due to his bad radio guest spots. His writing is fine, but also his battle with Nomar was a bit much for me.

  • John

    There should be two different approval ratings for Buckley. One for his writing & Big Show appearances and the other for all of his other media appearances. I think hsi writing is lousy and his attitude on the Big Show is lousy, but I enjoy him on the baseball show on Sunday morning and any other time he is on the radio when Glenn Ordway isn’t.

  • aldo_cella

    Disapprove to the strongest extent possible.

    1. Never tells you anything about baseball that you don’t already know; never induces you to think about a baseball topic from a different perspective.

    2. Knows nothing about any sport other than baseball that would differentiate him from any average fan.

    3. Agree with the poster above who cited his immediate irritation with anyone, especially a caller, who has the gall to disagree with or challenge his statements or point of view. I have no admiration for Mazzarotti, but the Whiner Line intro in which he tells Buckley to stick a sock in it is priceless.

    4. Actually don’t mind his pumping up his ball game. After all, it’s for charity.

  • Critic

    Some of his diatribes would be pretty good if he didn’t go saying before every comment….

    “that being said”
    “point being”
    “let me preface”

    I will not listen to the baseball show when he is on, the inside information he brings to the table is from 20 years ago.

    • j4b

      I’ve replaced almost all use of that being said with FUB now, so I’m tempted to approve for him adding to my vocabulary.

  • TheGhostOfTonyC

    Why does this hair-dyed freak continue to worship me?

  • Dave F

    One of his old week-end shows was called “The Steve Buckley Show”. In the history of EEI, no show title has more accurately represented the content of the show that it was named for. That’s good enough for an Approve.

  • Chris in Illinois

    I own that shirt, too. Good enough for me.

    • NASCL

      I didn’t realize there was a Zayre’s in Cambridge.

      • Bullock

        Zayres … now that’s the type of Buckley obsolete reference we’re talking about: a fricken’ store that went out of business 15 years ago.

      • Classless Concepts

        epic comment.

  • woo

    Disprove due to his ENORMOUS ego. I can’t figure out why he is so high on himself either, his writing is average and his on air appearances are sub-par.

    He is abrasive, I never learn anything new from him and he never gets me to think or examine a situation in a different way. As a result, I have learned to skip over his articles in the Herald and his appearances radio/TV.

  • LJ Sandwich

    Former host of “The Quality Hang.” Sounds like a name that even 1510 The Zone would reject.

    Blowhard of epic proportions. Has a fascination with particular names and words…Mordecai “Three Fingers” Brown, and Rancho Cucamonga come to mind.

    Obvious money whore as his lifestyle and political beliefs obviously conflict with the Big Show Meatheads that he draws a check from.

    If you’re young and local…watch out!!! If you’re young, local, and wearing an old flannel baseball uniform…head for the hills!!!!

    Doesn’t know nearly as much about baseball as he has convinced himself that he has, and knows next to nothing about anything else, other than popular classic movies. I get the feeling that if you sat down and had lunch with this guy, you’d be asleep in your soup within five minutes.

    I guess that’s a long-winded way of saying he sucks.

    DISAPPROVE!!!!

  • Scott

    I bet you’ve never accomplished a damn thing in your life.

    HOWDY!

    • LJ Sandwich

      Classic Underachiever…

      HOWDY BACK AT YA!!!

      • Scott

        HOWAYA CALLAH?

        I was hoping you’d tell me to go walk my pet rat. ;)

    • BSF34

      Would you bet your house (tires included)on that?

      ;)

  • Mitch

    Buck’s fixation on the single most important team in the history of Boston, the 1967 Red Sox, garners him a huge approval from me.

    “The catching crew is coming through…

    His being a born converationalist who loves baseball and gives back to the community also makes Buck a personal favorite.

    “Mike and Russ and Ellie…

    Providing Buck and Sean McAdam with their own, daily program would result in baseball heaven…a credible, listenable, thought-provoking alternative to the insulting rubbish that prevails from 10 AM through midnight.

    “Andrews, Jones, Adair, Foy…and Rico Petrocelli!!”

    Approve.

    • howzie

      Hey, I remember the 67 Sox. You’ll never convince me they’re more important than the 04 or 07 versions.

      DISAPPROVE.

  • Chris_SNH

    ‘DISAPPROVE’ simply because he dips his wick into too many media pots. You will find the the highest-ranked sports media personnel are those that stick to their knitting and do it well. The bottom-dwellers are those who try to be sports media ‘renaissance men’ or are annoying beyond all reason. Buckley shares both qualities.

    • Ed Brown’s Garage

      This is a perfect description of “I, Buckley.”

  • fred derf

    He once commented after seeing Pete Rose on television that he could not believe how old Pete looked. This was coming from a guy who travels with spray paint to keep his hair black, has teeth that look like they sleep in a glass at night and wears so much white makeup on TV (to hide his craggy “I’ve seen hard times” face) that he ends up looking like a transvestite. When he was on NECN standing next to the young Howard Green, Buckley looked like Methuselah.
    He used his show “The Hang” as a venue for a middle aged man to hit on college coeds.
    A pathetic individual.

  • J.R.

    We have a winner with CISW’s missive above. Nicely done.

    Nothing more to add to that other than Dye Job’s incredibly annoying “habit” of constantly interrupting everyone – be they fellow studio blow hards or callers – on Fraudway’s show in order to make what he thinks are salient and cogent points. Hey Steve . . . it’s called a conversation. Sometimes you speak. Other times you listen. Give it a try.

  • JayCee

    Approve. Can be a bit pompous & thin-skinned but I find him generally entertaining. The fact that he has some appreciation for the people & events of the past is a big plus in my book. Oh, and I enjoy that Whiner Line opening about Kirk Gibson too, but only because it shows how phoney Masarotti’s genial on-air persona really is.

  • Wyatt

    CISW has nailed it. DISAPPROVE!

  • Carlos Pena’s Huffed Jock

    Disapprove for largely the same reason I disapprove of most- more a character than a person. Occasionally find him tolerable on the baseball show, but I don’t hear it that often since most of my sunday mornings are spent dislocating my shoulder to escape from beneath that which I tequila-plied the night before. I can really only speak to his Big Show character- The Missing Link. As in, between Rabbit Maranville and David Eckstein. Between Bobby Cremins and Superman. Between David Gest and a child’s slip-and-slide. Known to grab the mic and using a gutteral moan like Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs demands “It puts the #25 in the Hall of Fame…it puts the #25 in the hall of fame or it gets the Wee Willie Keeler” Sometimes the long-winded story of the former Oriole, sometimes the quality hanging appendage. Particularly humid days, it gets both. No winners here, except for Big Pharma. Takes a lot of chemicals to un-ring that bell

  • The Jortsfather of Sportsradio

    Sexy, Sassy, Sensational and Fabulous. Four tool dye job and Five Tool (Box) guy. I am going to approve just because I love to hear him say, “Hold on caller.”

  • Muggy

    Pompous, thin-skinned, and doesn’t really know all that much about baseball. His obsession with wool uniforms and Tony C is disturbing. DISAPPROVE.

  • Beaker

    A bottle of Clairol, a dog eared Baseball Encyclopedia, and a dream…

    The only thing more powerful than the smell of hair color and personal lubricant is that of desperation as Steve tries to assert himself as Boston’s baseball historian in residence. He would step over his own mother’s corpse in the fruit cellar to be the first to answer any piece of mindless baseball trivia. He does nice work in lining up fresh-faced, sinewy, young, rippled baseball wunderkinds for his Old Time Baseball Game. If you’ve ever gone to the game, you may have noticed when one of the kids swings and fouls a ball back, you can smell Buck’s wood burning. Ted Williams was right.

  • Jason Coyote

    I tend to agree with those here who say that Buckley does bring some positives to the sports media table, but they are better served in small doses. Lean towards disapprove for the overexposure.

    Also wasn’t crazy about his blatant rip job on Nomar in the Herald during the peak of the guy’s popularity in town. Came across as a plea for attention.

  • Dougie the Sky Fox

    Buck .. you, me choppering around the Cape Cod League?

    • VeeBee

      Take me, take me!! I know where you can get the best lobster roll and fried clams down there.

  • Pete

    Try this the next time Buckley is on Ordway’s show or the Sunday program. Turn down the volume…and turn it up every 30 seconds or so. I swear he will always be the one talking every time you bring the sound up. No matter how many times you do it..he will always be talking.

    It shows how much he tries to dominate whatever program he happens to be on..no matter many co-hosts are on with him.

    Sounds like he lives sort of a sad existence…talks about sitting on his back deck every night in Cambridge alone…smoking a cigar. Sad…

  • ozzy

    If they just tallied all the valuable airtime Lady Clairol wastes pimping the Old Tyme Fashion Show and donated that money directly to the Vito Spatafore Home for Boys or whoever gets it, they’d save a lot of trouble.

  • Lance

    I like Buck, I’m very surprised at all the negative comments here, I think he has a great knowlege of baseball and offers well thought opinions wether we like them or not. And as always Ill end with “I hate Andy GRESH”

  • buttercup

    and what’s with his constant references to smoking a cigar on the back porch? How many times have you heard him say, “That’s the kinda game you want on the radio on nice summer’s night as you smoke a great cigar on your back porch!” Why all the sneaking around to smoke a simple cigar? I mean he announces it on the radio that he loves doing it but yet he still has to “go to the back porch”? Smoke your “cigars” wherever you please, Steve. Sure everyone loves a little “back porch” fun, but does all the “cigar” smoking have to happen there? Be proud and loud!

  • Feejis

    I remember when a caller, who was a pilot, called in to answer some questions the guys on the show had that day.

    Guy got about 5 words out and then Buckley interrupted him and told him everything he knew about piloting and planes, then they hung up on the guy after 5 minutes of Buckley’s bloviating.

    Plus he wears jeans without a belt.

    Disapprove.

    • aldo_cella

      Which led to another Whiner Line open (“don’t ever tell me to shutup!”)

  • aldo_cella

    Does anyone know if the subjects of these polls review the results and comments? I can picture Fred (Two Gap) Smerlas and Buckley, among others, doing a slow burn while scrolling down the page.

    • LJ Sandwich

      Yes they do…in fact, Craig Mustard has been out celebrating all week due to the fact that 123 people took the time to comment on his weekend audio torture chamber.

      Lenny Megs on the other hand feels 50 comments is a little light…Right?

  • DUKE

    I cant take him in large doses. I don’t like the fact that his opionion has to be right & others are clueless.
    i think that is called arrogance! :)

  • fishercat

    buckley’s not playing a character.

  • Seuss, M.D.

    If (only) he just concentrated on the baseball show with McAdam. Overexposure and repetition of the same points and same old stories have overshadowed an otherwise positive contribution.

    But I’ll grudgingly give Buck an approve, because when he writes well, he writes very well. And he occasionally stands up for UMass sports in a market that a: doesn’t care too much about college sports anyway and b: is served by media outlets that tend to rediscover their flagship state university only when something bad happens (See Globe, Boston).

  • Angry Old Bastard

    …arrogant, condescending, two-faced blowhard. The constant references to his, “OLD-TIME BASEBALL GAME” is another annoyance…..knows some Baseball, but KNOWS NOTHING of any other sport. This forces him to put on his “contrarian” hat when talking anything but baseball…I can do without him…..DISAPPROVE!

  • Hieronymous

    Two thumbs way down. In terms of his radio persona, I am simply compelled to change the station. That “I, Buckley” bit is right on the money.

    And we’ve all seen “The Godfather” Buck. We know it by heart too.

    Still read his column, but could take it or leave it.

  • RedSoxDraftPickCatcherFromRevere

    I got drafted by the Red Sox.

    Buck thought it would be cool if he came over to my house and play catch with me on the front lawn.

    It was awesome.

    Now, i’m one rehab stint away from Chris Herrenville and where’s Lady Clairol?

    Fawning over the likes of Kyle Snyder and telling me over and over how interesting Kyle’s story is.

  • Classless Concepts

    I…I…I…I…I…disapprove of Buckley Interruptus.

    The Unholy trinity of Mazz, Buckley, and Ordway (feat.smeat sheppard) has made it mandatory to turn off my radio from Feb. to Aug. He simply is a blowhard; he has no idea how to hold a conversation or make the transition to another topic that isn’t old timey in nature. He is much like Shaugnessy, except he fails since he works for a tabloid. Basically, if their was a Mike Reiss quality baseball writer, Buck would be on the opposite end of the spectrum.

    FAIL

    • Ed Brown’s Garage

      Unholy Trinity…Perfect!

  • Jason Variwreck

    Ponderous man, just ponderous.

  • julie

    Can’t stomach this lout. He’s the prototype for bloviators everywhere. Won’t waste time reading his tripe. Will not listen to ‘EEI any longer when’s he “co-hosting”. He’s quick to take offense, yet this intolerant boor has no problem making snide, bordering on cruel, comments to innocuous callers who don’t agree with him. So, I have no remorse for I’m about to state.

    When he rides his bike to the ‘EEI studio, Mr. Fitness (ha-ha) has to let listeners aware of it over and over throughout his four-hour, Sunday blathering fest. Nobody cares, Buckley.

    And if he thinks that Clairol’s Autumn Sunset #21 and his Chicklet-like teeth fool anyone. Think again, Mr. “Do you know who I am”. That turkey neck tells it all. And turtleneck sweaters won’t camouflage an old gullet.

    He probably lives in Cambridge because he still lives in the house he grew up in.

    You can hear crickets after he tells one of his jokes.

    HE IS THE MOST UNINTERESTING MAN ALIVE!!!!

  • DyeDaDye Guy

    Well he was my inspiration…
    for a long time running schtick….

    But that fateful nite
    and you laugh it off
    you f*****g hypocrite…

    dye da dye…
    dye da dye dye dye da dye…
    I’m sure your mom be’d proud…

  • arquimedez pozo

    Flat out boring

  • Bill

    I,I,I strongly disprove. Now, if your asking me, and I think you are, I will say that I have thought this over, and being as it may, I do not like this arogant hair died cigar on the back porch by himself smoker. Now, I wish I had a really funny joke to tell hear, like from my really funny friend from cambridge, who’s name escapes me. Point being, I can’t stand his holyer than thow attitude. How dare you disagree with him. (Next time he is on, count how many times he says (I), or (ME).

  • http://www.jonvssports.blogspot.com Jon

    Mild disapprove for being almost satanically dull.

  • Raise the bar

    With so many concrete reasons to disapprove Mr. Buckley, do people really have to stoop to innuendo about his sexual preference? What’s the difference?

    He should be judged on his professional, not his personal life.

    This plays into the perception that the readers of this board are a bunch of shut-ins.

  • DUKE

    Lets concentrate on the fact that Buckley has an attitude he is THE voice of reasoning in whatever he says. That he is never wrong. That his opionions are the only ones that should count!

  • MarkB

    Buckley makes the mistake of trying to talk sports on a sports radio show – and Ordway always reins him in. Judging from the posts here, the Ordway crowd is out in full force. Notice the “he thinks he’s so smart” comments? George Wallace ran for the presidency on the same complaint – the “pointy-headed liberals.” The one thing you can’t be forgiven for is making the audience feel that they’re as stupid as they are.

  • ben

    Always enjoyed when this one guy would call and ask the Big O or another guest a question that he knew Buck would have an answer for and then when Buck would interrupt he’d shout, “Buck . . . shut up!” Worked every time.

  • mike from gloucester

    just watched -11/18/09-a movie playing on comcast ondemand titled “Cooperstown. It stars Alan Arkin as an old baseball scout who is miffed that he is not in the Hall of Fame. The movie is one of the best baseball movies I have ever seen. It took me totally by surprise.
    Also one of the greatest movie lines i ever heard about sportswriters but you’ll have to watch the film itself to hear it.

  • buttercup

    and I disapprove

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