WEEI: Patriots Monday...and Friday [UPDATE: Felger out at 890 and Herald]

[fgssand]

Re: WEEI: Patriots Monday...and Friday

You can be a homer and be objective, just like you can be an anti homer and it is not indicative of objectivity, though lots of folks try to ascribe to that theory. Felger has long had criticism and objectivity confused, as do his handful of full of it callers. All last week he and his idiot producer Ross were in heated debate over whether no team hiring Barry Bonds had to be collusion and wasn't having Belichick on your team just as evil...

Felger will be down to his Comcast/formerly FSNE gigs. And the Wood got canned a couple of months ago by WBZ. The Feger's may have to move out of the mini-mogul Back Bay digs before this is over...

I agree with those who say too much of Fred and Steve is bad for your psyche. Zo and Fred doesn't thrill me. Zo tries to hard to be somebody. Steve would be great absent Fred and some of the politically induced horse**** they get into. Used to listen to him back in 2000-2001 when he did the Sunday Sports Page radio show on WBZ and it was an enjoyable couple of hours of straight sports heavy on the Pats if you were on the road since it was on a pretty much post game time slot.

WEEI has been adding some talent. Lou Merloni is excellent taking on any sport. Max can be OK when he's not acting out. Even Brian Daubach is a welcome addition because they seem to to trying to wean off the mediots at least in tandem. I always find it amusing when a mediot has to go up against an articulate former player (which is what makes Fred matched up with anyone hard to listen to at times...).

Terrific point - having smart, sharp ex-players that are articulate with decent radio voices and inside knowledge of the game is FAR FAR superior to that group of ,newsboy (not to be confused with fanboy), swolen headed, holier than thou type mediots like Felger, Tony Maz, Ryan and the like.

 

[BradfordPatsFan]

Re: WEEI: Patriots Monday...and Friday

Felger is heading back to WEEI according to Boston Radio Watch.

 

[DarrylS]

Not a big fan of Zolak, and also heard that Felger will take a spot on their new website and contribute their.. not sure if they will allow Felger to be the in house contrarian as he was in the past..

 

[Rob0729]

Re: WEEI: Patriots Monday...and Friday

Felger is heading back to WEEI according to Boston Radio Watch.

I wonder now that he no longer has his own radio show if he will stop the fake Ron Borges Jr. persona that he created for himself to try to drum up ratings at ESPN890 and go back the intelligent and insigtful journalist that he was before he felt he needed to be controversial to drum up ratings. Back in 2001 - 2004, he was what Mike Reis is today - the primary voice of reason in Boston Sports Media when it comes to the Patriots. He was slightly too Pro-Patriots especially in his battles on Sports Final with anti-Belichick and anti-Brady bashers Borges and Cafardo, but he was the closest thing to objective we had when you added Kevin Mannix into the mix.

I know a lot of Pats fans hate him now, but before he started with his fake schtick he was an outstanding columnist and contributor to both Sports Final and WEEI's Big Show.

 

[Rob0729]

BTW, ESPN890 is going to be dead soon. In a months' time, their afternoon show lost it's host, Patriots Fridays, and Tom Casale (who is a near regular from training camp through the Super Bowl). The only thing they have going for it is that they get ESPN regulars like John Clayton, Chris Mortensen, Peter Gammons, and Mark Schlereth. Personally, I don't think that is all that much especially if you have Satellite radio and can get ESPN Radio anyway.

 

[BradfordPatsFan]

Re: WEEI: Patriots Monday...and Friday

From the link I provided above, it is not clear how much he will be on the air, if at all. It would assume he will be. At the moment the release says his role will be that of "writer". I find it hard to believe that he won't be on the air though.

This could rather interesting. First, his regular role on the air could go one of two ways:

1. He could be placed as a Big Show co-host opposite Pete/Fred. Good radio or just more yelling over each other?

2. He could be a fill-in during the week, sort of a utility guy a la Craig Mustard, with some regular weekend shifts. Anything that gets Craig Mustard and LJ less air time is good IMO.


Then you have his schtick. Let's face it, for the two drive time slots and the night shift, WEEI is 20% sports knowledge, 50% entertainment, 30% contrived point of view. Plenty of on-air personalities take positions just to get people to call in and create listenership. Half of the stuff that is said by the "talent" is not what they truly believe. That being said, does Felger...

A. Continue his anit-Patriot/Boston ways? There were hints of this during his first stay at WEEI. He used to rag on the Red Sox and their fandom (not always uncalled for either), he bashed the Bruins (see previous comment), and beat up basketball fans in general. He did this all while being pretty fair to the Patriots. Since he left, he has been somewhat more fair to the Sox but very anti-Patriot.

B. Begin to make ammends with the Kraft family, who are receiving big bucks from the station for the rights to Patriots Monday and Friday and Revolution Soccer? If he does this, he could begin to mend the bridges and regain some of the contacts he had down in Foxboro before his tirades.


Felger's choice will be interesting. This isn't like he was at WWZN where no one could hear him. He was not "out of sight, out of mind". Even if his radio ratings were low, he still wrote for the Herald and was on FSN/CSN almost nightly. His views are very well known and sports fans in Boston have very long memories. Will the average Pats fan let him forget what he has said and done?

 

[IcyPatriot]

Re: WEEI : Patriots Monday... and Friday

Deossie is great, IMO. Freddie is great as a homer...but if I had to keep one, its gotta be Deossie. He generally has great insight into things - I think Zolak has been really good on his EEI appearances so far.

Fred can be his own worst enemy and DeOssie does see the bigger picture better than Fred ... I agree.

 

[IcyPatriot]

Re: WEEI: Patriots Monday...and Friday

WEEI blows.. THey are all homers and are rarely objective.. The only person worth listening to is Holley..

Perhaps true when the Patriots aren't in season but when they are ... the Big Show has the affection of Belichick and for that alone they are worth it for us fans and the station.

 

[E Belichick Unum]

When Fred and Steve talk football there aren't two better insiders on radio anywhere, but when times are slow they get a little carried away with the schtick. But listening to bad football talk is still better than listening to good baseball talk.

At least Felger talked about football in May and June.

 

[patchick]

When Fred and Steve talk football there aren't two better insiders on radio anywhere, but when times are slow they get a little carried away with the schtick. But listening to bad football talk is still better than listening to good baseball talk.

I understand the sentiment, but I can't agree. I'd rather listen to intelligent discussion of baseball, bocce or macrame than, say, Meterperel bloviating on the Patriots. (And I agree that Fred & Steve are very good when they talk serious football, but they can turn very bad when they get off topic, which unfortunately is most of the time these days.)

 

[captain stone]

Re: WEEI: Patriots Monday...and Friday

1) You can be a homer and be objective, just like you can be an anti homer and it is not indicative of objectivity, though lots of folks try to ascribe to that theory. Felger has long had criticism and objectivity confused, as do his handful of full of it callers.

2) Zo and Fred doesn't thrill me. Zo tries to hard to be somebody.

3) WEEI has been adding some talent. Lou Merloni is excellent taking on any sport. Max can be OK when he's not acting out. Even Brian Daubach is a welcome addition because they seem to to trying to wean off the mediots at least in tandem. I always find it amusing when a mediot has to go up against an articulate former player (which is what makes Fred matched up with anyone hard to listen to at times...).

1) And you can be anti-homer and also be objective.

2) I agree regarding Zolak; in fact, I think he plain sucks. Of all the wonderful former Patriots from which to choose, why the eff does this lousy QBing, Bledsoe buddy/caddy have a job telling me about the NEP? Why not add Todd Rucci and Chris "Home Game" Slade, too?

3) As long as those ex-jocks are local dudes (and only local NE-area dudes) like Sweet Lou Lou Lou Merloni, and have had a history of being fair and honest with the press and the fan base, then I have no problem with them as analysts. But they need to call a spade a spade, and to give credit where it is due, and blame where it is due, too. In general, I would rather listen to scouts, personnel execs and coaches.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

When Fred and Steve talk football there aren't two better insiders on radio anywhere, but when times are slow they get a little carried away with the schtick. But listening to bad football talk is still better than listening to good baseball talk.

Agreed.
I don't mind F&S off topic, when football news is slow. I enjoy the reparte. Their TV show is hilarious with a good 5 minutes of interesting film analysis.

Steve is more on point football wise while Fred has wild, indefensible opinions and serious man love for Brady. Hey, I wonder if he posts here a lot?

I cannot stand Felger, period. The guy has serious issues with various Pats (Flutie must have dated his wife or something) and Pats org that he lets unbridled affect his commentary, commentary that is never insightfull, simply contrarian but without substance to back it up. He's still got a Green Bay mentality. Let him return there and cover the Lord Favre debacle.

I think Zo can be interesting. No problem with him at all. I only see him post game as I've given up on EEI.

And don't mention Meathead on EEI with D&C. That dweeb is THE worst.

 

[BradyManny]

I cannot stand Felger, period. The guy has serious issues with various Pats (Flutie must have dated his wife or something) and Pats org that he lets unbridled affect his commentary, commentary that is never insightfull, simply contrarian but without substance to back it up. He's still got a Green Bay mentality. Let him return there and cover the Lord Favre debacle.

Agreed re: Felger for the most part, although back in college I and some co-workers met Flutie through a work function, and through the course of dealing with him we all felt he was a total jacka** - of course, you can catch any person on a bad day...but he showed up late for a charity function (that was being held up to wait for him, ultimately went off without him), didn't give a damn, and proceeded to act like a d*ck the rest of the day.

It's not just Meter that sucks on D&C - especially when it comes to football, D&C are completely clueless. I can't stand that its those bozos that get to interview Brady. I'd love to see Brady paired up with the guys on the Big Show, or Dale & Holley.

 

[signbabybrady]

Reading between the lines seems like everyone likes Dale and Holey as no pne bashed them like D & C or like Fred & Steve.

 

[BradfordPatsFan]

Agreed re: Felger for the most part, although back in college I and some co-workers met Flutie through a work function, and through the course of dealing with him we all felt he was a total jacka** - of course, you can catch any person on a bad day...but he showed up late for a charity function (that was being held up to wait for him, ultimately went off without him), didn't give a damn, and proceeded to act like a d*ck the rest of the day.

It's not just Meter that sucks on D&C - especially when it comes to football, D&C are completely clueless. I can't stand that its those bozos that get to interview Brady. I'd love to see Brady paired up with the guys on the Big Show, or Dale & Holley.

During the crossover today with Dale and Holley, John Dennis at least hinted at the fact that Felger will be involved with the morning show. One more reason not to listen.

 

[Rob0729]

I understand the sentiment, but I can't agree. I'd rather listen to intelligent discussion of baseball, bocce or macrame than, say, Meterperel bloviating on the Patriots. (And I agree that Fred & Steve are very good when they talk serious football, but they can turn very bad when they get off topic, which unfortunately is most of the time these days.)

Meterperel is just awful because he is the guy designated to say stupid outrageous contrarian things to rile up the callers. He would be forced to argue that he thinks that the Dolphins are going to crush the Pats last year when no one would argue that other than Joey Porter. It is because they don't know how to do a contrarian viewpoint on Dennis and Calahan without making Meterperel look like a moron, not because Meterperel doesn't know how to talk about the Patriots.

I hate baseball talk around this time because it is all about stupid baseball trades that people throw out that even the most moronic general manger would laugh at. Give me Pete Sheppard gushing on and on about Brady over that.

 

[signbabybrady]

During the crossover today with Dale and Holley, John Dennis at least hinted at the fact that Felger will be involved with the morning show. One more reason not to listen.

Come on Felger as such good opinions don't you want to hear what he has to say about politics

 

[Rob0729]

During the crossover today with Dale and Holley, John Dennis at least hinted at the fact that Felger will be involved with the morning show. One more reason not to listen.

Actually, if Felger is going to be on Dennis and Callahan, that could mean that the intelligent, insightful, and balanced Felger will be back and he will drop the Borges Jr. act (yes, it was an act, not Felger's true thoughts to try to generate ratings). He will need to revert back to his true self to conteract the moronic banter on the D & C show.

 

[BradfordPatsFan]

Actually, if Felger is going to be on Dennis and Callahan, that could mean that the intelligent, insightful, and balanced Felger will be back and he will drop the Borges Jr. act (yes, it was an act, not Felger's true thoughts to try to generate ratings). He will need to revert back to his true self to conteract the moronic banter on the D & C show.

You are correct. It was an act. I saw him at training camp the summer before he started on 890 and he was very easy to talk to. Very polite. Very complimentary of the program that the Patriots had built. It is his on air persona that began to wear thin.


As to the comment on politics, he is the polar opposite of Callahan. That could be interesting radio.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Intelligent, insightful and balanced Felger. His natural state?
I think not. I see little evidence for that position. I will agree that he DID change his media persona over the last several years but he strikes me as being disengenuous and extremely self important. I don't need to waste my moments watching a phoney.

An the reason Meterperel is so good at the 'dumb opinion' role is that he obviously comes by it naturally. I thought Callahan filled the stupid opinion role there?

And BradyManning 2344, maybe Felger was lurking when you met Flutie.
I've heard similar stories about Flutie arrogance and totally opposite stories from Natick FD guys I met playing hoops at a Club Med in '86 who played local Natick ball with him.