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10 Thoughts Wrapping The Weekend

July 2, 2012 By

Not exactly MMQB style, but some thoughts from the weekend:

1) Great to get KG signed up. (The Herald‘s Steve Bulpett broke the story first on Saturday morning.) This morning I heard both mid-day shows talking about negativity regarding the deal – are they making this up? The guy will finish his career here, at a very friendly cap number, and can still play. There are no negatives here. If he feels he’s done before the three years are up, he’ll retire.

2) Tim Wakefield made his NESN debut as a studio analyst over the weekend. Bringing in a guy so closely removed from the end of his playing days is a double-edged sword. He’s beloved by the fans will be an attraction for NESN, but will be able to offer critical analysis of guys he was playing with so recently?

3) The return of Ray Allen is still very much up in the air. I think it might be time to move on for both parties, but I’m OK if they bring him back too. Part of me thinks that Danny Ainge saying how much they want Ray back and even having the numbers floated out there to show they’re offering more than Miami or Memphis can is just so that if Ray chooses to go to Miami, it will clearly be his own choice and the public will see that.

4) Minor annoyance – listening to sports flashes over the weekend, kept hearing update guys saying that “the Celtics are willing to double any offer Miami extends to Ray Allen.” Well, there’s really only ONE offer Miami can make, and it’s for $3 million. Numbers floated that the Celtics would offer $6 million. The “double any offer” is a little misleading.

5) Is Gary Tanguay feeling unloved and unnoticed lately? The stuff he just keeps saying – in all mediums, radio, TV and Twitter is mind-blowingly insane. It’s like he and Dwight Howard are having a competition or something.

6) Hey, did you know that we’re coming up on “Anti-’Boston Sports Media’ Sign” Weekend At Fenway this weekend when the Red Sox play the Yankees? Me either.

7) I’ve never understood why reporters feel the need to tell us when a player declines to speak with the media. Over the weekend it happened again with Josh Beckett in Seattle. From this chair, Beckett is much better off not speaking with the media, because when he does, he usually gets himself in trouble, either with his generous use of expletives or his defiant attitude. He gets criticized by the media when he does talk to them, and they complain when he doesn’t talk to them.

8) New England (Lewiston, ME) native – and huge Celtics fan -  Erin Andrews is on the move, leaving ESPN and joining Fox Sports over the weekend.

9) Heard a voice I have not heard in some time over the weekend – Butch Stearns on WEEI. Perhaps he’s been on their regularly and I just haven’t caught him. With Dan Duquette finally acquiring Jim Thome over the weekend, I was reminded of a decade ago when Stearns proudly proclaimed on FOX 25 that Thome to the Red Sox was a “done deal.”

10) I like having Pete Sheppard back on WEEI. With Sheppard and Dale Arnold taking more and more shifts lately, it’s like old home days at WEEI.

Filed Under: Morning Links
  • Winning_Again

    Does anyone else feel that with all the show’s host on vacation this time of year, that quality actually improves?
    I agree with Bruce that it’s nice having Pete and Dale back on. Dale actually makes John Dennis seem somewhat less “douchey.” I’m glad Pete is doing the flashes rather than Mike Adams.

    I agree with the take on Tanger. I believe he is desparate to be part of the Boys Club also known as TSH, as he secretly hates Gresh for taking his position.

    I think Butch has had regular Sunday shows for awhile now, though it could be possible that the Sox season interferes with that schedule. It’s not good radio in my opinion. I want to like Butch Stearns as he comes across as a good guy, but he’s always off topic on talking about Bruce Springstein or Roger Clemens early 90′s days.

    • bsmfan

      I was gonna write about this, but I felt the same. Jerry is to John Dennis what Mazz is to Felger. However, Dale seemed to “throttle” or “modulate” John Dennis, like Mark Bertrand does when he speaks vs. Felger.

    • Bill

      Agree 100% about vacation replacements. Dale does tone down Dennis and some of the best Felger shows are when Tony is out and a strong cohost like Gasper calls him out on some stuff. Shepard and Felger would kill the big show.

  • bsmfan

    1.) Yup. ESPN/Yahoo Sports! confirmed right after, but he blew up the Internet. Good for him on the break. If you want to follow all “hot stove” NBA talk, Woj/Yahoo Sports has been on fire.

    2.) Bruce, couldn’t you say the same about Tito? To this day, he still praises everyone in the booth. I don’t think ESPN hired Tito to do this over the entire duration of his tenure there, but also didn’t expect him burning some major bridges and doing a kill-all-your-players speak on SNB.

    5.) I questioned on another piece since I wonder if it is him doing it to get noticed, a producer saying he needs to get noticed, or something else.

    6.) Would love to see something with Felger on it if they get enough there.

    8.) Whoa, Erin Andrews is leaving ESPN? I completely missed the news:

    So, Erin Andrews even makes news with USAToday:

    http://usat.ly/N4lOUK

    It was more of a general media column that just happened to feature her,
    but I’ve never seen so much coverage. Even Beadle didn’t get this–but
    Beadle isn’t Erin Andrews, which constantly drove her nuts, and to NBC.

    10.) I only lasted about ten minutes on D+C because 75% of D+C must have been the Sandusky trial. I wound up keeping T+R on but kept going back to D+C at random points, only to find the same thing.

    I can see a segment here but if you’re going to ignore Celtics FA/RedSox for the most part, that is not sports talk. I know D+C have made PSU/Sandusky their personal cause, but I’m not sure if a market outside Pennsylvania cares. This town doesn’t even care about its own college sports. Normally, I’m listening to D+C because T+R are the guys not doing the “sports talk” thing.

    To get a handle if markets there were spending the time, I turned on 93.7 “The Fan” (Pittsburgh) and 94WIP (Phillly) and they were talking about something else during random 8/9AM hour segments. I could have missed if they spent the rest of the time but I had to get an idea on how popular things are outside of here.

    ———

    As stated last week, I think the “MMQB” column is a great idea, Bruce.

  • http://twitter.com/saundep PS

    “With Sheppard and Dale Arnold taking more and more shifts lately, it’s like old home days at WEEI”. Um Bruce I am not sure that is a good thing :)

    • Winning_Again

      Pete Sheppard, when not paired with Glen Ordway, is good in my opinion. When mixed with the Pinky and the Brainless, and Big O, Pete also drops to that level.

      I still want Dale and Holley back at midday, my feelings on Dale’s hosting abilities are well documented.

      • http://twitter.com/saundep PS

        I listened to Pete talk over caller after caller last week and it was painful. Completely agree with you on D&H. While I listen mostly to TSH now I would tune back for them.

  • bsmfan

    As Dan Patrick said today, no single person affects a single sport like Tiger Woods:

    “Tiger Woods win his third PGA TOUR event this season and pass Jack Nicklaus with 74 PGA TOUR wins, delivered an average overnight household rating/share of 4.6/10, up 188% from last year’s 1.6/4 in the metered markets.”

    http://www.shermanreport.com/?p=3136

    Count me in that 188% somewhere.

    ———————-

    Your friendly Heat owner, Micky Arison, better known as the guy behind Carnival Cruise Lines (and that large ship that sank) claims the Heat will lose money:

    http://www.cnbc.com/id/48047319

    Wonder what this means for the Celtics? They had one of the highest in 2011:

    http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/basketball/nba/salaries/team

    ————-

    AA did a great post chronicling the “sports media free agency” period:

    http://bit.ly/OcnAEi

  • Scott

    Dale joined fellow crime fighter John Dennis to again explain the Penn state cover up. When will old JD go undercover on campus like Stewie from FamilyGuy dressed in drag on a blind date? Pete Sheppard is useless, with or without help. Any other career ideas Pete? This one isn’t working.

  • bsmfan

    Has someone ever explored why NBA free agents find Boston a “bad destination” for free agency?

    This was a topic on CSNNE last night and I wondered if someone has ever done a story on it. The segment was with Ian Thompson, of SI, I think.

    The biggest reason I’ve heard, from the past, is racism. I’m not sure how much farther you can be from the truth there, and if someone thinks that, I doubt they have much interest.

    Second, the weather. However, as I think Felger/the rest pointed out, why would NY be a good location then? Again, if this is an issue, there is not much you can do. Besides, you play during most of the winter.

    These are some points that were mentioned but are valid:
    - Ownership group here is smart and stable. Lets be real on this that there are some jokes of ownership groups in the NBA, absentee landlord owners, etc. This also has a ‘trickle down’ effect.

    - Everyone seems to call a “rap mogul’ as a selling point. Really? Sorry, I’m far from impressed. He’s got money, sure, but if you had to compare “stable” ownership, wouldn’t you want a more traditional ownership group? Do these guys get promised guess spots/promotions in rap videos or something? (I assume this would be some violation of the CBA If promised) Ownership is also some murky Russian owner who seems more interested in Russian politics and owning a team is a hobby. Maybe this describes most owners, but I’d sometimes wonder.

    - Fans here: They show up, are loyal and loud. What more can you want?

    - Media: very friendly. Yeah, it’s a big city-style media. However, they’re not trashing you daily like a Frank Isola in the NYDN.

    ————-

    They also brought up something about Lamar Odom saying the same (does anyone want him anyways after his stint with the Mavs?) Plus, a guy with a reality show.. no thanks.

    To summarize, I can’t see why people find this place like Syberia. It’s not the best but I can’t see why it’s not a top5-7 location.

    Maybe I’m just not of the frame of mind to understand this.

    ——–

    This just broke about 10 minutes ago:

    Chris_Broussard: (con’t) and the Nets’ first-round picks in 2012, 2014, 2016 & 2018….move would give Nets Big 3 of D-Will, Dwight & Joe Johnson (2 minutes ago)

    Chris_Broussard: Sources: The Nets & Magic are discussing a trade that would send Dwight Howard to Brooklyn for Briik Lopez, Kris Humphies, Marshon Brooks… (3 minutes ago)

    Boy, that’s a lot. But, that would basically match-up with the Heat.

    • latetodinner

      Boston is a bad NBA location for a few reasons. It used to be a “racist” town. Bill Russell had all sorts of problems here that are well documented and because of that Boston got a bad reputation among players and agents. Over time that has waned with players like Robert Parrish, Dennis Johnson, Paul Pierce, Antoine Walker, and now KG and Ray Allen being embraced by the city and its fans. However the endorsement opportunities playing in Boston are not the same as they are playing in Chicago, NY or LA, the weather sucks compared to Miami, Orlando, or LA. But the biggest problem i see is that unless players clearly see they can win a championship…there are too many negatives among the other things to make Boston a desirable landing spot. No matter how good the ownership, legacy or coaching is…for today’s NBA athletes riding a train to an NBA championship is their top priority.

      • toncy66

        I think Boston being a “bad NBA destination for free agents” is another part of Stern’s good/bad legacy as NBA GM. Once he started selling “superstars” to the fans instead of teams, things began to change. Suddenly, it was all about the individual players, not the teams they played for. Ergo, the Celtics “tradition” suddenly meant nothing to potential free agents. Of course, generational attrition had a lot to do with that as well. None of the players selected in the last three or four NBA drafts were even born the last time the Celtics won a pre-Garnett NBA title in ’86, so they have no clue that back in the 80s the Celtics were on national TV pretty much every Sunday afternoon in the winter.
        I’ve always believed that Spike Lee’s “the Celtics and their fans are racist” smear jobs back in the late-80s and throughout the 90s also had an effect on the C’s image–he’s a has-been now, thank God, but Lee had a pretty darn big megaphone back in the 90s, and he constantly pounded that “Celtics are racist” drum for all to hear.
        The newer generation of players DOES know the “new Big Three” era, however, so hopefully this last five-year run of success and national media attention will help make Boston a more attractive location to the younger generation of players that have come into the league since about 2008. I mean, those kids have to have learned how passionate the fans are in this town after watching the C’s on TV in big post-season games for the past five years.
        If weather really is that big a factor, then the young men playing in the NBA today are pretty soft. Can you imagine an NFL free agent choosing a city because he’ll get to play his home games in nice weather, or in a dome? Heck, even Peyton Manning, the ultimate dome creature, chose cold, snowy Denver over warm, climate-controlled Arizona.

        • latetodinner

          Toncy….I completely agree with you…if the weather/club scene effects a person’s willingness to play in a city then his priorities are completely out of whack. I don’t get it. I can explain it but I don’t understand it.

  • peecoh

    Pete Sheppard is awful. Go away, again, please.

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