Felger and Mazz - Creating False Naratives one day at a time
- Thread starter HomeBrew1901
- Start date
Towney007 said:
If that was the case, then wouldn't their treatment of the Patriots, Bruins and Celtics be more positive? Broadcast rights are irrelevant.
Relative to their level of success, the Patriots are criticized by the show far, far more than the Red Sox.
Radio sports talk shows have obviously figured out that they can make more money by being more negative than positive. You can argue about the reasons why they believe this, but I'm sure it has to do with the average commute time, getting people to not change the channel during that time, demographics of the listeners and the general knowledge of the average fan.
If it didn't work, they wouldn't be doing it and the various stations have been doing it for decades.
There are 139 pages on these clowns airing exactly the same complaints.
If it didn't work, they wouldn't be doing it and the various stations have been doing it for decades.
There are 139 pages on these clowns airing exactly the same complaints.
Except I would argue that F&M were not like this when they first started. They were an alternative to the stupidity that The Big Show had become on WEEI. Felger has always been a bit of a contrarian for sure, but he was more measured and his arguments were more intellectually honest back then. He did not stake out these positions in the middle like he does now where no matter what happens he can take a negative view of things. And most importantly he owned it when he was wrong about stuff, rather than constantly shifting the goalposts and declaring victory no matter what he said before and no matter what actually happens in the games. Mazz has always been an idiot but I think he put more effort into the show back then, and didn't just parrot back Felger's talking points. And Beetle would also keep Felger honest when he was being an asshole, but not anymore.
They knocked off WEEI and ascended to #1 in the ratings not by just being negative (or positive), but by being interesting. "If it didn't work, they wouldn't be doing it" was what people said to defend WEEI for years, until another station came along and did it better. I think F&M have completely lost sight of what caused them to be good.
They knocked off WEEI and ascended to #1 in the ratings not by just being negative (or positive), but by being interesting. "If it didn't work, they wouldn't be doing it" was what people said to defend WEEI for years, until another station came along and did it better. I think F&M have completely lost sight of what caused them to be good.
Ralphwiggum said:
I'm arguing it was just a different form of asshattery that we hadn't recognized nor tired of yet.
WEEI and The Sports Hub are like the Democrat and Republican party. There are core diehards that will never switch, but for great swaths of people, they eventually grow tired of one or the other and switch. Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
Just saw a clip online where they mock Steamer/other projections (shocking, I know) for saying the Red Sox have the sixth best projected rotation right now. Surprised me a bit even though I don't think the rotation SUCKS and BLOWS. This was the impetus for the entire five minute segment I subjected myself to and I'm guessing hours of their actual program. So, I head on over to Fangraphs to check out the current projections. The Red Sox are 22nd in projected team RA/G. 22nd. And that's including the bullpen which I'm guessing projects very well.
Would you be shocked to learn we're currently being lectured about how its obvious Pedro was a steroid user and we're all sheep for not accepting it?
I know their schtick and that's why I don't listen to the show, but that fucking pisses me off anyways. What a couple of miserable fucks.
Buffalo Head said:
Did Felger put on the clown nose for today's show, just to complete the heel turn?
Hendu for Kutch said:
Which is exactly what we say about Dennis and Callahan. Hope Felger's not developing a fivehead too.
Bruce Allen @bruceallen 2m2 minutes ago
So the top sports show in Boston called Tom Brady a "prima donna" and then on the day Pedro gets in the HoF, accuses him of steroid use.
So the top sports show in Boston called Tom Brady a "prima donna" and then on the day Pedro gets in the HoF, accuses him of steroid use.
I did catch Sports Tonight on CSNNE, and Felger was just fucking disgusting. What the hell happened to him? He was always a shit-stirrer, but this was birther-level stupid. Mocking everyone who thought Pedro was clean, but refusing to answer repeated point blank questioning from Holley if he thought Pedro was dirty. Frankly, I thought Holly made him look stupid by point blank pinning him down on the issue.
Even Shaughnessy was put off by Felger's attitude. Shaughnessy!
Even Shaughnessy was put off by Felger's attitude. Shaughnessy!
Anyone who likes baseball and listens to Felger and Mazz is a masochist. The two of them have no respect for the game or its fans.
Hendu for Kutch said:
I saw that this morning and Felger is an ass. His line of "reasoning" was that if Pedro wasn't on steroids, then why did he bring it up at his conference?
Two reasons:
1. The HoF elections were almost as much about the people who weren't elected (Bonds, Clemens, etc) because of steroids than about who was elected. It's the gigantic pink elephant in the room that needed to be addressed. And BTW, if Pedro didn't say anything about it, Felger would have said, "Why didn't he talk about steroids, what does he have to hide?"
2. A program on the radio home of the Boston Red Sox tweeted out a story from 2002 that implied Pedro was on steroids. So yeah, people were talking about it.
You know, Boston has had a lot of really cool things happen to the city, sports wise, since 2001. But the media wants the fans to be miserable all the time. I think that yesterday was the tipping point for me, fuck them all.
Dead Balls said:
Quoted for truth. And they seem to revel in that contempt for the teams, the players, and the fans "lemmings" who follow them.
John Marzano Olympic Hero said:
I think the key is just to avoid the ones you know are going to try and suck the joy out of it. D&C, F&M, Wilbur, Shaughnessy, Borges, etc. I enjoy T&R and Dale & Holley, they seem to actually enjoy sports, which is nice. D&H spent quite a bit of time talking about Pedro moments and what his presence meant to the city and the atmosphere around the team.
Everyone knows what they are signing up for when they tune in to these guys. And everyone should know that tuning in to them rewards the behavior.
Even if this most recent incident brings a storm of criticism, that criticism will reward the behavior. (I would not put critical remarks here in that category, because they are not sufficiently visible to raise the meter for these guys).
It is nice to see Dale and Holley doing reasonably well, but there is no arguing the point that this crew is winning the time slot. So the only reasonable but sad conclusion is that F & M are giving this beloved demographic what it wants.
This century, inarguably, has brought great success to the local franchises, well beyond what any reasonable fan has reason to expect. Yet the preponderant media voices are those of assholes. And they are depressingly mediocre, especially when compared with what was a glorious past in this media market, both in print and on the air.
Even if this most recent incident brings a storm of criticism, that criticism will reward the behavior. (I would not put critical remarks here in that category, because they are not sufficiently visible to raise the meter for these guys).
It is nice to see Dale and Holley doing reasonably well, but there is no arguing the point that this crew is winning the time slot. So the only reasonable but sad conclusion is that F & M are giving this beloved demographic what it wants.
This century, inarguably, has brought great success to the local franchises, well beyond what any reasonable fan has reason to expect. Yet the preponderant media voices are those of assholes. And they are depressingly mediocre, especially when compared with what was a glorious past in this media market, both in print and on the air.
I honestly feel D&H won me back yesterday. I used to hate rewarding WEEI because it had D&C on, but now I hate 98.5 for F&M in much the same way.
This is where I'm at and why I have stopped listening and defending the show and I'm in a media market where the Sports Radio fucking sucks. As recently as a few months ago I knew when to avoid them and when I might enjoy listening to the show, but man do they know how to suck the fun out of every moment that should be a celebration for this town and go too far on things that have little to no meaning.dcmissle said:
I listen to T&R in the morning for my Boston fix and music in the evening, although I should probably download the EEI App so I can listen to D&H because I loved them mid-days.
Simple, don't listen to them, hope their ratings fall to the point of them being dismissed. Share your displeasure with your friends, create a movement and hope to send him back to Wisconsin.
I'm still enjoying it. Yesterday was not the day for that nonsense, but I still tune in daily because I guess I just kind of enjoy the sophistry of it all. I think it was ultimately pretty tone deaf to try to "go after" Pedro on HoF day, but I generally enjoy that they'll find some fact or fact like point and run with it in an unexpected direction. In this case it pretty much backfired, but that probably says as much about me and how I feel about Pedro as it does about them. Hell, if it had been about RJ they probably would have had me.
I agree with all of the criticisms of F & M, but I can't even listen to D & H anymore. Thornton totally ruins that show for me. Dude is just like Mikey Adams: A sitcom writer's idea of what a radio sports talk show host should act like.
I rarely post, but wanted to add my voice to the chorus of those for whom yesterday's Pedro slander was the tipping point. On principle alone, I will never watch or listen to this show again.
Seriously, how is Felger able to walk the streets of Boston without getting spit on? Sometimes I think he believes he's bigger than the market. He works in one of the greatest sports cities in America; I don't understand why he thinks he needs to be controversial to get ratings. In this city, a drugged up Ben Stein would get ratings from 2-6.
The only other possibility I can think of is: being an out-of-towner, he really does harbor hatred/resentment for everything Sox/Pats/Celtics, and is literally trying to bring them down or affect their bottom line in some way. If that's truly the case, I don't think he is long for Boston. Sports fans here won't stand for it...I hope.
D&H or a good podcast from now on.
Seriously, how is Felger able to walk the streets of Boston without getting spit on? Sometimes I think he believes he's bigger than the market. He works in one of the greatest sports cities in America; I don't understand why he thinks he needs to be controversial to get ratings. In this city, a drugged up Ben Stein would get ratings from 2-6.
The only other possibility I can think of is: being an out-of-towner, he really does harbor hatred/resentment for everything Sox/Pats/Celtics, and is literally trying to bring them down or affect their bottom line in some way. If that's truly the case, I don't think he is long for Boston. Sports fans here won't stand for it...I hope.
D&H or a good podcast from now on.
I didn't listen yesterday but read about it here and it was the tipping point for me as well. People say this is the way he always was but I disagree. He used to have at least semi-coherent arguments when he was playing contrarian and would make you think and start good discussions and then admit if he was wrong.. He also would occasionally play the homer side and it made it a bigger deal because he of all people was on the same side as the home team. I think back specifically to his hatred of all things Habs and how much fun that was in 2010-2011.
I gave up on the show about a year ago because it had devolved into 95% trolling but still occasionally go back if I run out of podcasts or don't want to listen to music. It was still entertaining and funny when they went off topic. But if you can't be positive about PEDRO FUCKING MARTINEZ in this market on the day he gets inducted into the Hall of Fame then I can't give you any of my time. That's just completely insane. It sucks what this show has become because it was once a good, somewhat intelligent alternative to the Big Show.
I gave up on the show about a year ago because it had devolved into 95% trolling but still occasionally go back if I run out of podcasts or don't want to listen to music. It was still entertaining and funny when they went off topic. But if you can't be positive about PEDRO FUCKING MARTINEZ in this market on the day he gets inducted into the Hall of Fame then I can't give you any of my time. That's just completely insane. It sucks what this show has become because it was once a good, somewhat intelligent alternative to the Big Show.
So Brady is a prima donna, Pedro is a steroid abuser, I wonder if they'll get around to trashing Orr and Bird before the end of the week.
I switched back to Dale and Holley. Breath of fresh air to say the least. Honest, fair, sports talk show? Sadly it likely wont last.
I'm all for humorous bitching and moaning and piling on when a team is playing badly or management is making stupid decisions. But there actually is a lot to be said for, you know, actually enjoying ourselves when the Patriots are playing well or the Red Sox are putting together an exciting line-up or Pedro is going to the Hall of Fame.
I also stopped listening to them because they are utterly joyless, like D&C. I used to be big fans of theirs but now I listen to Paul Finebaum way more than I listen to them, and I wouldn't care if every SEC school except (maybe)* Vanderbilt folded tomorrow.
*edit
I also stopped listening to them because they are utterly joyless, like D&C. I used to be big fans of theirs but now I listen to Paul Finebaum way more than I listen to them, and I wouldn't care if every SEC school except (maybe)* Vanderbilt folded tomorrow.
*edit
You eventually become what you used to hate.
Felger and Mazz have become everything they hated when they first took the air. It's sad, but true.
I haven't listened to them more than the time it takes to start the car and plug in my iPhone after listening to T&R in the morning.
Felger and Mazz have become everything they hated when they first took the air. It's sad, but true.
I haven't listened to them more than the time it takes to start the car and plug in my iPhone after listening to T&R in the morning.
Probably not a good sign that I'm once again an inspiration for a title change in the forum, but I thought the interview with Neely today was really good. Felger asked some tough questions and Neely mostly dodged as best he could, but there was a real tension and Neely almost can't help expressing himself between the lines or giving some information even if it isn't a full answer. Worth a listen for Bs fans I think.
Listened yesterday for the first time in about a month just to see what the vibe was and it reminded me of how good this show can be. That interview with Al Michaels was great and so was the Patriots/Ravens discussion that followed.
Maybe they got a memo recently. I feel this week theyve toned down a bit. Ripping Pedro on his way into the HOF not with standingHomeBrew1901 said:
Felger can't stand the fact that they signed Chung and Bolden because it takes away any money to sign Revis and McCourty. God forbid they fill out the bottom of their roster at next to no dollars.
Looking forward to mea culpa's from the two of them today about Denver's all in strategy being significantly better than Pats approach to offseason.
I think he is referring to the fact that the Pats have made it farther in the playoffs than the Broncos, when the offseason was largely spent shitting on the Pats for being cheap and not going "all-in" to maximize the chances of winning again during the Brady window, like Elway did in Denver.
BlackJack said:
I think he's referring to the fact that the Broncos lost and the Pats didn't. That doesn't really lend itself to the argument that Denver's approach last spring/summer was superior to the Patriots.
BlackJack said:
There's no way they can ignore this issue, if they don't bring it up a caller will very quickly.
Their strategy tends to be to steer into the skid. I expect Felger to address it very early on with his purposely exaggerated impression of a Pats fan calling him out. "HEY FELGER WHOA!"
Then they'll proceed to crapping on Talib and saying that Revis is a better player.
They'll bring it up, but declare they were still right because, if Manning didn't shit the bed, the strategy would have worked.
Felger so far: the good far outweighed the bad; could chalk it up to bad matchup and a little of post bye rust
Mazz: concerned about the D
Mazz: concerned about the D