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Four Steps Forward, Two Steps Back For Sox

August 3, 2012 By

As has been their pattern this season, just as you think the Red Sox are getting it together, they go on another cold streak. After winning four games in a row, they have now dropped their last two, and the circus continues at Fenway Park.

Bobby Valentine smells a rat in clubhouse – Here is today’s topic teed up for sports radio. Michael Silverman reports that a current player has been going behind the manager’s back and complaining to ownership about him.

Can this season just be over, already?

Magadan says Red Sox hitters need better approach – Sean McAdam has the team’s hitting instructor not happy with the inconsistency of his charges.

Did Boston Media Influence The Booing Of Josh Beckett? – The Red Sox pitcher has deserved to be booed this season. But Tuesday night after getting injured pitching off a wet mound in a one-run game? There were other factors at work here. In my SB Nation Boston media column, I examine them.

ESPN radio returning to Boston dial – Chad Finn reports that 850 AM will soon be the home to ESPN Radio.

Live Chat with WEEI program director Jason Wolfe, 11 a.m. – You can chat with the Entercom honco about the move.

Chat with Chad Finn at noon – You can then chat with Chad from London.

NBC isn’t hurt by showing Olympics on delay – Finn notes that despite complaints, the ratings numbers have been huge for NBC.

Check all your Patriots coverage today over at PatriotsLinks.com.

And finally….

Um, whoops.

Filed Under: Morning Links
  • Hoss

    This Red Sox team is such a nauseating soap opera.

  • Winning_Again

    No offense Bruce, but I think we already know what will be said on the chat with Jason Wolfe. Its wash, rinse, repeat everytime.

    1) “I think Mutt and Merloni are making great strides everyday”

    2) “I like Pete in the role we have him in right now.”

    3) “Dale is a good fit in the role we currently have him in and is a valued member of the EEI family.”

    4) “Michael Holley is a star.”

    5) “Ratings are good but they still don’t count Providence. Wahhh”

    Ok so the #5 is a stretch but still… J Dub is worse with corporate speak than BB.

    • http://bostonsportsmedia.com/ Bruce Allen

      The link was posted strictly for the potential of unintended entertainment.

      • Winning_Again

        Haha, I know, just busting ya. It should be included in the section along with Rob Bradford’s hard-hitting Josh Beckett analysis, Ron Borges unbiased Pats coverage, and Mike Felger’s NFL Salary Cap powerpoint.

        • bsmfan

          A+.

      • Winning_Again

        Some snippets from Wolfe’s useless chat. Someone did mention BSMW amongst other laughable responses by Wolfeman:

        1)”Comment From High Life Mike Some of the personalities on your station were very open about their lack of interest in the Bruins prior to the Cup run. Hard for me to take them seriously when the B’s are discussed now. Am I off base?Jason Wolfe: Sure you can take them seriously. The Bruins cup run was huge and I thought we did an excellent job covering it. Prior to the run, if you mean, earlier that season, we did discuss the Bruins. Certainly not as much as our competitors did but they were certainly on the radar screen. And as I mentioned earlier, we’ll have another solid year of Bruins programming on the station.

        2)Comment From Radatzs Acrobatics
        Do you monitor what listeners are thinking through focus groups, Boston Sports Media Watch, blogs, etc?
        Jason Wolfe: Certainly. I always want to know what the audience is thinking about. Focus groups can be extremely effective, we’ve done them in the past and I’m sure will again in the future.

        3)Comment From elfowuf So I’ve heard you and Bruce Allen don’t get along with each other…why so much hate for Bruce? He’s pretty objective.
        Jason Wolfe: Not at all, don’t know where you would’ve heard that. I don’t agree with some of his opinions about the station, but he’s certainly entitled to them. “

  • http://twitter.com/awesomeneil Neil O’Callaghan

    Bruce, I think you give the media too much credit. You’re assuming everyone at Fenway only booed because they all listen to sports radio. I don’t boo because some ass hat on sports radio tells me to, I boo when I feel like I care about a championship more than they players on the field.

    The guy didn’t get injured running through a wall. Beckett’s back spasms, if it is as was reported, are likely the result of being a fatty fat fatso (or possibly not properly stretching your fatty fat parts properly before the game). You become a fatty fat fatso when conditioning is not the priority it ought to be. When conditioning is not a priority, how can I believe that you are committed to winning?

    Since no one in the front office, coaching staff, or clubhouse is going to express even the slightest modicum of disappointment with the lack of production from Beckett (and anyone else on the team, for that matter), I see absolutely zero problem with booing till my lungs hurt.

    • http://bostonsportsmedia.com/ Bruce Allen

      I don’t think that’s what I said at all. I asked how much influence does the media have, and added that I didn’t know the answer to that. I also believe I acknowledged that they were booing more than just because he was leaving with an injury. It was a combination of things. (No moves at deadline, overall performance, crappy night.)

      • bsmfan

        Actually, don’t you raise an interesting question/research topic here? How many fans going to X ballpark/X stadium actively listen to Sports Talk? I’d be interested to see the numbers and if an independent firm did this over time.

        I’d be very interested to see the numbers, throughout major markets and across sports, if this was done.

        I tried to Google for something like this but did not find anything.

        It would be interesting to see in towns where they really only have one, maybe two major sports as a focus (Green Bay) and how this works. Or, if you go to Pittsburgh, where 2 major sports have been huge for a decade (Penguins/Steelers) and only recently is their MLB team picking up steam. Here where all four teams have been really good for 5+ years.

    • latetodinner

      Nothing happens in a vacuum. So you don’t directly boo because some talking head told you to…I agree…you probably don’t. But because Mike Felger points out the lack of shape Beckett is in, coupled with the fact that Mike Hohler points out Beckett and friends were more interested in drinking beer than supporting their teammates on the field, you start making judgments on Beckett’s character. When you see his performance not match your new expectations which were clearly influenced by the media coverage…you boo. We all would.

      I think Bruce’s point is a a good one. He is trying to ascertain how much influence the media coverage has on our experience watching sports. he has been asking that question for 10 years now. It was and is one of his primary reasons for starting this website. I think all of us are aware that the media coverage shapes our perception…it has to…we don’t have access to the players, coaches or management. The media does and they act as our proxy when asking questions and reporting stories.

  • Alex

    I’ll admit my ignorance … What’s the “Whoops” for?

    • http://bostonsportsmedia.com/ Bruce Allen

      There’s a clipped image there of a goof from a local newspaper. I guess it isn’t always loading correctly.

    • http://twitter.com/DryHeave1 DryHeave

      Probably cause EUGENE Chung was an O-Lineman who last played for the Patriots in like 1994….the Chung Pats have now is named PATRICK and he’s a safety

  • GRBSPR

    Very pleased that The Boston Globe continues to lock Dan Shaughnessy behind its paywall. File under, ‘Addition by subtraction.’

  • bsmfan

    Yeah, CHB wrote another “lets burn everyone” column that seems locked behind the bostonglobe.com paywall. What happened to their “we will put all but sports behind the paywall?” thing? Seriously. If you’re gonna try to game people with “maybe it works or doesn’t”, that’s already proven a loser. I can’t delete cookies or use the normal methods to get around it. Let people access it or don’t, a la ESPN Insider. This, “lets be cute with making people think it works but it’s only a teaser” is a loser.

    Anyways, since it has become “toxic” to talk sox, here is Mike Reiss’s Sunday column: http://es.pn/PW8bVu

    • http://www.jimmacleod.com JimMacLeod

      They can put it behind a paywall because Shaughnessy doesn’t write sports. He’s an internet troll on a large platform.

  • bsmfan

    Assume this will get the rounds on EEI/TSH today:

    QUOTE:

    Bobby Valentine never fit here, should go now

    Time for error to end

    Tomasse

    ENDQUOTE:

    http://bostonherald.com/sports/baseball/red_sox/view.bg?articleid=1061151173&position=0

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