Felger and Mazz - Creating False Naratives one day at a time

[steveluck7]

I'm in the majority in believing that Felger overstates his case for the sake of the audience. I do believe that he believes a ot of what he says, he's been bashing Claude from day 1 so his "panic" probably comes from a real place... it's probably just played up for the show. I do wonder is Salk & Holley's "vanilla" is one of the reason's that Felger is becoming this way, he's trying to be the antithesis of what they are.  Hell, one of the biggest complaints of Ordway for years was that he sat on the fence and flip-flopped "That's not what I said", maybe it's no coincidence that, at that time, the biggest praise of Felger was that he took a side, stuck with it, and admitted when he was wrong, the anti Big O. 
Maybe this is his response to WEEI's new team

 

[lostjumper]

Well this sucks. Just like Felger warned us, the Bruins came out and played with no heart, Tukka was a clown in goal and all around lazy player, and the rest of the team just sucks. There's no question about it, the Bruins are going to lose this series in game 7 after being up 3-0...wait, they won? Huh, now what is Felger going to bitch about for 4 hours on Tuesday?

 

[steveluck7]

Well this sucks. Just like Felger warned us, the Bruins came out and played with no heart, Tukka was a clown in goal and all around lazy player, and the rest of the team just sucks. There's no question about it, the Bruins are going to lose this series in game 7 after being up 3-0...wait, they won? Huh, now what is Felger going to bitch about for 4 hours on Tuesday?

easy...
"I completely underestimated how little the Rangers care"

 

[riboflav]

It's the hyperbole that will kill Felger (Dave Roberts flashback) not the minority views or strong opinions. People will start to tune you out with ridiculous statements like those.

 

[allstonite]

"Suck it Felger. Guess we aren't that bad after all"

 

[soxfan121]

Did he really say that? If so, was he joking or serious?

 
 

He did. And honestly, i couldn't tell if he was joking or serious.

 
I thought he was serious and I think Felger did too. Felger seemed shocked and gave Mazz multiple chances to walk it back or make clear he was joking but Mazz just kept repeating "I'm just saying that's what he sounded like!" At the tail end of that first segment, Jimmy Stewart chimed in that "industry sources" said that Francona had just woken up for the interview with Gresh & Zo (11:20 AM, which makes sense for a guy who arrived in the early AM after a night flight) and Mazz still wouldn't walk it back. 
 
Then, when they came back from commercial, it wasn't mentioned again. 
 
Awful. Unprofessional. And inappropriate. 

 

[twibnotes]

 
 
 Awful. Unprofessional. And inappropriate. 

You may want to copyright that before 98.5 starts using it to promote the Mazz and Felger show

 

[PeaceSignMoose]

Felger and Mazz back to whining about how long baseball games are.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

Felger and Mazz back to whining about how long baseball games are.

 
Isn't that D&C's schtick?  At least D&C have a viable reason for bitching...they've got to get up in the morning.  It's still annoying as fuck and entirely non-compelling radio.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

Felger and Mazz back to whining about how long baseball games are.

 
Last night's game was over by 10:00, right? I know that is a little unusual, but what's the big deal? Football games are getting longer and longer (and I'd argue that they're getting a bit more boring with the extra TV timeouts, replays, flags, etc) so much so that I think that the game flow is being ruined.

 

[PeaceSignMoose]

Last night's game was over by 10:00, right? I know that is a little unusual, but what's the big deal? Football games are getting longer and longer (and I'd argue that they're getting a bit more boring with the extra TV timeouts, replays, flags, etc) so much so that I think that the game flow is being ruined.

 
I may be alone (although I suspect I'm not), but I'm not bothered in the least by the length of baseball games.  I'm way less frustrated by mound visits and pick offs than I am by automatic instant replay after touchdowns and turnovers.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

I may be alone (although I suspect I'm not), but I'm not bothered in the least by the length of baseball games.  I'm way less frustrated by mound visits and pick offs than I am by automatic instant replay after touchdowns and turnovers.

 
I'm not either and that's because a. I'm used to mound visits/pick offs and b. both of those things are in the fabric of the game. And a lot of time, they do mean something. I don't necessarily like mound visits or pick offs, but I get why they're there.
 
As far as instant replay goes, it's more of a philosophical for me, I guess. It goes against the spontaniety of being a sports fan, of cheering for your team. Brady throws a perfect pass to Gronk for a touchdown and you want to cheer, but you have to wait to see if it's a. good and b. some asshole offensive lineman didn't chopblock someone 40 yards from the play. Once the referees meet and decide the score counts and no penalties were committed, they have to throw it upstairs to make sure Gronk crossed the goal line correctly. Then the ref throws up his hands and you can celebrate.
 
It almost feels as if you're getting permission to cheer a play and validate your joy. Because if it's called back and nullified it's like it never happened. I mean there's nothing worse than your defense picking off a play and changing the momentum of the game only to have Ed Hockili make some bullshit call. It's a tease.
 
And yes, I get that the above explanation makes me different from the majority of this country who loves football unequivically (and I do love football) but in the NFL's constant quest for everything to be pinpointed, 10000% accurate and controlled, I think that some of the fun, excitement and interest has been lost from the game. The replacement refs, for the most part, sucked but they brought a chaos a level of danger (maybe not the right word) that hasn't been in an NFL game in years. I liked that chaos, I liked that shit was going down and we were in the wild, wild west and people were blowing gaskets. It made things interesting.
 
I don't know, it seems to me that the human element of all sports is slowly being sucked out of it; athletes are machines, games are contests, every single thing is taken so seriously. And I think that the popularity of the NFL is the reason for this. What I like about baseball is that it meanders. If I want to watch a ball game, do something else and come back to that ball game a few hours later, that's okay. I like that baseball will be around mostly every day from April through October and if I want to spend some time with the game I can. Football is a great excuse to get blasted during the day without feeling any shame (and that's great too) and lose your rent check betting on the Raiders. But that's not baseball, and that's what fools like Felger fail to realize. And shame on Tony Mazz for not pointing that out to him.

 

[Marbleheader]

Mazz made it clear that he doesn't care about baseball in that discussion, that it 'doesn't bother' him if MLB kills the game by letting games too long.  Really tells you all you need to know.

 

[PC Drunken Friar]

Baseball games ARE too long. They have never enforced the seconds between pitches rule or the batter stay in the box rule.

That's not to say the nba fluent have their own problems, but baseball has the last amount of action in a game, yet sox games ARE the lowest of all the boston teams. That might not mean much to you or I, but it doesn't help baseball attract younger fans

 

[joe dokes]

I may be alone (although I suspect I'm not), but I'm not bothered in the least by the length of baseball games.  I'm way less frustrated by mound visits and pick offs than I am by automatic instant replay after touchdowns and turnovers

 
The length of baseball games is due mostly to stuff that happens while the baseball players are playing the baseball game. Things like time between pitches, batters stepping out, mound visits -- whatever you think of them -- they are part of the actual game. (I dont think commercial time between innings has increased much in the last 10 years, but I could be wrong there).
 
I dont see the replay as a problem delay, but in the NFL, if a team is in the middle of a historical, 99-yard 23 play drive, and if there haven't been enough "natural" breaks in the action -- changes of possession, etc, we'll get a potentially momentum-and-tension-snapping TV timeout after a measurement, so the network can get to its magic guaranteed number (20?) The NBA & NHL have TV timeouts; the NCAA has TV timeouts.
 
Baseball is the only one of the 4 major US sports that doesn't insert "fake" timeouts into the game. "The count to Middlebrooks is 2-2, we'll be right back after this message . . ."

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

That's not to say the nba fluent have their own problems, but baseball has the last amount of action in a game, yet sox games ARE the lowest of all the boston teams. That might not mean much to you or I, but it doesn't help baseball attract younger fans

 
I'm not going to argue that football is less "exciting" than baseball is in terms of action, but an NFL game is literally 30 seconds of action (if you're lucky) followed by 22 guys standing around for the next two minutes trying to figure out what they're going to do. Hockey and hoops have way more continuous action that football.
 
And if that's your bag, than you can watch hockey or basketball. Baseball has been what it is for almost 150 years. It hasn't changed very much and I doubt that it will. All of the naysayers that keep predicting baseball's demise look like idiots when the next generation gloms on to the sport. This generation's PS4-addled youth who aren't going to watch the Sox are the same as the Atari-bred kids of my generation and the Woodstock kids of a previous generation. Baseball will be fine, it's always going to be fine, it's going nowhere.
 
I have no idea what "Sox games ARE the lowest of all the boston teams" mean.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

I'm not going to argue that football is less "exciting" than baseball is in terms of action, but an NFL game is literally 30 seconds of action (if you're lucky) followed by 22 guys standing around for the next two minutes trying to figure out what they're going to do. Hockey and hoops have way more continuous action that football.

 
I know you're exaggerating to make a point, but for most NFL games, it's really more like 10 seconds of action followed by 30-35 seconds of inactivity (since the play clock is 40 seconds long).  It's amazing how perfectly the 30-second jump works when watching a game on the DVR.  Whistle blows the play dead, hit the 30-second button, and the teams are lined up to snap the next play.  You can cut watching an entire game down to about an hour.  I think that speaks volumes about the amount of dead time in football games.
 
Of course, the Patriots like to throw a monkey wrench into the works with their uptempo offense...the 30-second jump with them could cause you to miss an entire play.  I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to watching games, so I don't bother with the DVR but my roommate will record a game specifically to watch it more or less in fast forward.  Really puts a damper on my experience as I watch the game live and keep getting asked from the next room to keep it down so I don't "give anything away".
 
Can't really do the DVR thing with a baseball game...there's no consistent rhythm that allows you to skip things.  Either you watch it in real time or you're jumping back and forth in order to not miss something.  It's part of the charm of the game, IMO.

 

[PC Drunken Friar]

Should have been slowest....and the NFL does have more action than baseball. 54 outs, maybe 15-20 hits. 250 pitches. That's like 8 minutes or so that the ball is in play. A game should not be 3 1/2 hours.

The number of little league players declined by 24%, while football and hockey participation has jump by the same about- give or take. This is a problem for MLB going forward.

 

[Ralphwiggum]

 
The length of baseball games is due mostly to stuff that happens while the baseball players are playing the baseball game. Things like time between pitches, batters stepping out, mound visits -- whatever you think of them -- they are part of the actual game. (I dont think commercial time between innings has increased much in the last 10 years, but I could be wrong there).
 
I dont see the replay as a problem delay, but in the NFL, if a team is in the middle of a historical, 99-yard 23 play drive, and if there haven't been enough "natural" breaks in the action -- changes of possession, etc, we'll get a potentially momentum-and-tension-snapping TV timeout after a measurement, so the network can get to its magic guaranteed number (20?) The NBA & NHL have TV timeouts; the NCAA has TV timeouts.
 
Baseball is the only one of the 4 major US sports that doesn't insert "fake" timeouts into the game. "The count to Middlebrooks is 2-2, we'll be right back after this message . . ."

I have watched about a million football games and I cannot remember one example of a network going to a commercial after a measurement. After an injury? Absolutely. After an extra point and then again after the ensuing kickoff? Yup, and that is really annoying. But unless there is otherwise a stoppage in the action due to injury, replay, timeout, etc. they do not interrupt drives. The problem with football isn't that there are not enough natural breaks it is that there are too many and the networks stretch them too long.

Baseball's issue isn't the commercial interruptions, the time between half-innings is perfect whether at the game or watching on tv to get a beer or do whatever you have to do. The problem with baseball is pitchers take too damn long to deliver and batters are allowed to step out way too often. Taking kids to the game when the game is 3+ hours is an issue. Getting my kids to sit and watch on tv for that long is impossible.

 

[steveluck7]

Should have been slowest....and the NFL does have more action than baseball. 54 outs, maybe 15-20 hits. 250 pitches. That's like 8 minutes or so that the ball is in play. A game should not be 3 1/2 hours. The number of little league players declined by 24%, while football and hockey participation has jump by the same about- give or take. This is a problem for MLB going forward.

Does that 24% just count participation in "little league" the organization? I ask because I know RBI & Cal Ripken have grown in recent years.
Edit: when I say grown, it's purely anecdotal and from a visibility stand point. I can't look up stats at this moment
 
edit 2: RBI now has about 180,000 total participants but that number has risen dramatically since they started the Jr RBI program with players from 5-12 years (the direct competition to "Little League")
I haven't had much luck finding Cal Ripken #'s

 

[joe dokes]

I have watched about a million football games and I cannot remember one example of a network going to a commercial after a measurement. After an injury? Absolutely. After an extra point and then again after the ensuing kickoff? Yup, and that is really annoying. But unless there is otherwise a stoppage in the action due to injury, replay, timeout, etc. they do not interrupt drives. The problem with football isn't that there are not enough natural breaks it is that there are too many and the networks stretch them too long.

Baseball's issue isn't the commercial interruptions, the time between half-innings is perfect whether at the game or watching on tv to get a beer or do whatever you have to do. The problem with baseball is pitchers take too damn long to deliver and batters are allowed to step out way too often. Taking kids to the game when the game is 3+ hours is an issue. Getting my kids to sit and watch on tv for that long is impossible.

 
Even if the time that batters and pitchers take were cut in half, I'm not sure the game would be cut by more than 15 minutes overall. I dont think that would solve the kid problem. (I dont know what would).
 
As far as NFL TV timeouts go . . . .I can't find the link, but sometime when I was looking at blackout rules, I saw the commercial rules that were then in effect. The network was basicaly guaranteed a certain number of breaks during the game (20 or 25 come to mind).  Some gave the league no option, like after kickoffs. But there was some sort of kicker that allowed the network to call for a TV timeout if they hadn't gotten close to their requirement.  I am pretty sure I've seen games where there were TV timeouts called at odd times -- maybe not a measurement, but something else where there was only a brief pause, not like a change of possession or score. 

 

[PC Drunken Friar]

Does that 24% just count participation in "little league" the organization? I ask because I know RBI & Cal Ripken have grown in recent years.
Edit: when I say grown, it's purely anecdotal and from a visibility stand point. I can't look up stats at this moment
 
edit 2: RBI now has about 180,000 total participants but that number has risen dramatically since they started the Jr RBI program with players from 5-12 years (the direct competition to "Little League")
I haven't had much luck finding Cal Ripken #'s

there were 11.5 million youngster baseball players in 2011.  2/3 of those were in Little League, which is about 7.6 million.  Down from 9.5 million in 2002.
 
So the 180,000 (and growing, admittedly) #'s in RBI are really just a drop in the bucket compared to how far LL has fallen.

 

[CoffeeNerdness]

The independent Atlantic League is experimenting with reducing the length of games:
 
http://www.baseballnation.com/2013/4/25/4266420/atlantic-league-shortening-baseball-games

 

[RedOctober3829]

Jimmy Murphy on Felger and Mazz is still talking about Chiarelli/Clode disagreements with Cam.  He thinks if it goes poorly next season they could both be gone.  This is maddening to me as to why this subject keeps coming up.

 

[Corsi]

Jimmy Murphy on Felger and Mazz is still talking about Chiarelli/Clode disagreements with Cam.  He thinks if it goes poorly next season they could both be gone.  This is maddening to me as to why this subject keeps coming up.

 
Earlier in the show, they both said "If the Bruins lose to the Penguins, the series will have been lost at the GM-level."

 

[RedOctober3829]

Earlier in the show, they both said "If the Bruins lose to the Penguins, the series will have been lost at the GM-level."

Yeah, I heard Mazz railing on Chiarelli for not getting Iginla or Morrow or Michael Ryder while Shero "won" the trading deadline.  Bunch of crap. 

 

[PC Drunken Friar]

A caller brought up that there were 3 big name FA, Weber, Nash and Bobby Ryan and all three stated that they would come to the Bruins (is this true) and while only two were available, they didnt go after Weber or Nash.
 
Cue Mazz...i can't BELIEVE they didnt get any of those three.  Bobby Ryan on this team would be great! 
 
Its like they expect the Bruins to be able to force FA to come here and GMs to trade with us.

 

[BannedbyNYYFans.com]

I can't listen much anymore because of work so I was wondering if someone could help me out - has Felger made a prediction yet?

 

[tim mccarver]

I can't listen much anymore because of work so I was wondering if someone could help me out - has Felger made a prediction yet?

 
Felger picked the Bruins - going with his heart.
 
Tony the Hockey Guru picked Pitt 

 

[allstonite]

"I don't think there's any question McQuaid embellished. He got up and walked to the locker room right after" -Tony Mazz
 
Never mind the idiocy of that statement itself, I hate Tony's new trend of taking his stances like this. I think it's a response to being called on "You're right Mike" so often. Instead now Felger will say something and he will take it to the extreme. I think he's 100% wrong about McQuaid embellishing but even if you do think that, to go as far as saying there's no question is just dumb. 

 

[RedOctober3829]

"The Stephen Drew signing sucked.  You pay Iglesias all this money to develop him."
--Felger
 
Oh boy.....guess they don't like looking at numbers.

 

[PeaceSignMoose]

Why do I continue to listen to this garbage, especially on Tuesdays?  Wiggins brings ZERO to the table constantly.  And less than zero after hockey games.

 

[lostjumper]

Thanks for the headsup. I just got out of a meeting and was going to flip on 98.5, but I checked SOSH first and was reminded of Wiggy Tuesdays. WEEI it is...

 

[SidelineCameras]

Different strokes and all that, but I actually enjoy Wiggy. He can sound ridiculous, can be a homer, and sometimes he doesn't even realize he's contradicting himself, but he's totally speaking from the heart and actually believes what he says. Listening to him, he doesn't have a schtick or persona, he's just speaking from the heart. He also isn't afraid to challenge Felger, which this thread has suggested is the biggest thing the show needs to stay fresh.
 
No way could I stand him in a five days a week, full-time gig. But once a week, he shakes them up and keeps them on their toes a little bit.
 
Now, if you want to tell me that a lot of people could play a third-man role once a week and do it better, I probably wouldn't argue with you. I'm not saying he's the best man for the job, but I don't go to any lengths to avoid him and I always try to catch "10 Questions."

 

[Kramerica Industries]

Different strokes and all that, but I actually enjoy Wiggy. He can sound ridiculous, can be a homer, and sometimes he doesn't even realize he's contradicting himself, but he's totally speaking from the heart and actually believes what he says. Listening to him, he doesn't have a schtick or persona, he's just speaking from the heart. He also isn't afraid to challenge Felger, which this thread has suggested is the biggest thing the show needs to stay fresh.
 
No way could I stand him in a five days a week, full-time gig. But once a week, he shakes them up and keeps them on their toes a little bit.
 
Now, if you want to tell me that a lot of people could play a third-man role once a week and do it better, I probably wouldn't argue with you. I'm not saying he's the best man for the job, but I don't go to any lengths to avoid him and I always try to catch "10 Questions."

 
Absolutely there is.  I really enjoy Gasper and Paul Perillo for instance. I think they add a great wrinkle to the show. They know what they are talking about and they will challenge Felger. Thats all i want Tony! But Im a huge hater of Wiggy. I listen/watch the show almost everyday but on Tuesday there is a 0.0 chance (see what I did there?) I will be listening. Not only does he add nothing to the show he is a deterrent.

 

[Buffalo Head]

Felger: "We are trying to scale back on the celebrity callers"
 
There is hope...

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

Felger: "We are trying to scale back on the celebrity callers"

 

There is hope...

 
Thank god.
 
Wasn't one of them getting cut off a lot because he couldn't get it through his thick skull that he can't make sexual innuendos on the air? These people are knucle-dragginly stupid.

 

[HomeBrew1901]

Thank god.
 
Wasn't one of them getting cut off a lot because he couldn't get it through his thick skull that he can't make sexual innuendos on the air? These people are knucle-dragginly stupid.

Wayne from Grafton. 
 
The problem will only be fixed though if scaling back the "celebrity callers" includes Mike from Attleboro and the other angry phone spitters that have no other point than to be pissed off.  The Bruins just swept the Penguins, the Sox are in first place and there isn't anything to talk about regarding the Celtics and Patriots right now, any spitting anger being generated right now would have to be 100% fabricated and just phony.

 

[Buffalo Head]

I think this might be the case. Felger only mentioned it because "Frank the Tank" called in today -- first caller of the day -- and started his call by publicly expressing his butt-hurt feelings because they intentionally didn't let him come on a couple times last week, and asking why that had happened.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

Good gravy. How could we have had a week go by without knowing Frank the fucking Tank feels about the local sportscene? God, I was on pins and needles wondering what that clown thought.
 
These things always start harmlessly enough, but after a year or six months these jackoffs get Lupica-sized egos and think that people actually give a shit what their feelings on anything are.
 
Go away. All of you.

 

[americantrotter]

I was watching on TV when Felger used a quick trigger finger when he tried to take a break from the Bruins for a segment.
 
It was the first time I'd laughed watching Felger in a while, he kept chastising the audience for being unable to contribute quickly and coherently.  He kept referencing it and didn't let up. Of course I think less callers= a better show when you have good hosts.

 

[Haunted]

Felgers response to the Tebow news was positively hilarious.

 

[TheRealness]

Felgers response to the Tebow news was positively hilarious.

 
He's still cumming going.

 

[Haunted]

And then he loses me with the Brady succession talk, but his reaction is pretty awesome.

 

[mabrowndog]

Felgers response to the Tebow news was positively hilarious.

 
For those only listening, on Comcast he literally bent over with his ass facing Mazz.
 
"Hey Tony! What is this? Any idea what this is? This is my butt-tox."

 

[mabrowndog]

And now he's playing air drums to the "Our God is an Awesome God" song as they return from commercial break. Tremendous.

 

[NortheasternPJ]

Ugh Mike in Attleboro the first real caller.
 
How many auditions do you think he's signed up for for the weekend job? 

 

[HomeBrew1901]

Ugh Mike in Attleboro the first real caller.
 
How many auditions do you think he's signed up for for the weekend job? 

Yep and it sounded like he read my post above and faked unbridled joy at the Tebow news.

Mike from Attleboro if you are reading this, get a fucking life.

 

[NortheasternPJ]

Yep and it sounded like he read my post above and faked unbridled joy at the Tebow news.

Mike from Attleboro if you are reading this, get a fucking life.

 
Isn't Die in a Fire a better response.
 
Honestly, Mike from Attleboro makes some good points and I think he knows some sports (more than the average caller), but his shtick is so bad it makes him so horrible to listen to. Hopefully, like Frank the Tank, Mike from Attleboro is the next to be reduced to 2-3 times a week. 
 
The worst celebrity caller these days is the guy who calls GRESH! & ZO and ends all his calls in a WWE/WWF rant screaming at the tops of his lungs with them playing music behind it. That guy deserves to never be on the air again.
 
TSH seems to be making some proactive changes regarding show formats which I see as a sign for the better. Hopefully they keep making more of them and improve the product. 
 
Best point of this week was when Fred Toucher called Hardy & Toup and went on a tear about Blackhawks fans. It was 10x better than anything Mike in Attleboro would ever come up with and it was an honest real angry take, not just screaming to scream.

 

[soxfan121]

TSH seems to be making some proactive changes regarding show formats which I see as a sign for the better. Hopefully they keep making more of them and improve the product. 

 
Not to dispute your point but it feels like shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic. Sure, the reduction of celebrity callers is good for the afternoon show. Having a co-host (Mazz) who actually gave a shit and/or did some show prep would be a proactive change. 
 
Seems like they are now trying to spin Mazz as a mouthpiece for the clueless fan but it is so obviously manufactured that it irks me more than when he was simply the "You're right Mike!" parrott. 
 
In summation, get rid of Massarotti.