QUOTE (kolbitr @ Feb 4 2010, 08:36 PM)
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A deeply irresponsible attitude from Felger or any sports voice who wants to be more than a media "personality" (i.e., a talking dolphin), and one that is offensive to me as someone who studies history for a living. No, I don't mean to blow it out of proportion here--in the end, it's just sports talk--but even according to its own yardstick of judgement, it's an inchling.
Much of the show today *was* intriguing, but here is where Phenom and I part company: he has noted, rightly I think, how Felger seems to be a real "fan" of hockey, and by extension (I guess since he is in Boston) the Bruins, with all of the good and bad qualities associated with that fandom. And I fully agree that this makes him fun to listen to on the Bruins. It is the *lack* of those same qualities that turn me off from his and Mazz's Pats talk, since it is clear that neither of them are fans of NE *at all* (and Mazz doesn't really seem to understand the sport). My ideal would be to have someone like Joe Benigno on the air here--someone who rips the team when they break his heart, but beams when they give him reason to rejoice. Felger is quite the opposite--he gives props only to support his attack somewhere else. Even the 59–0 sand-kicking-in-face of the pre-VY Titans only served to highlight exactly "what was lacking in the team this year."
That being said, Rocco and others are right, that their chemistry is excellent. I just wish I enjoyed their football talk, even a little.
That's a really good post, and raises a lot of good points about the show.
A lot of Felger can be explained in that short clip on the show that boston.com ran last week. They showed Felger before a show saying, "this will really rile them up...the idea that the Jets are better than the Patriots."
Felger likes to stir the pot and to "rile the masses." He especially loves to do it with the Patriots, because out of all of the Boston sports teams, fans are the least critical when it comes to the Pats. For some reason, that seems to be the truth.
I happen to agree with a lot of his larger points with the Pats. I think some of the obsessions he has (Randy Moss says hello) are excessive, but usually it produces some stimulating ideas and causes me to think. For example, a few weeks ago when they compared Tom Brady's numbers to other QB's in the league to show how the league has changed (very good quarterbacks aren't as hard to come by) was interesting.
So I don't really have a problem with their critical nature with the Patriots. I just think with the Patriots, it's that Felger loves to stir the pot and finds it easiest to do that with the Pats.
And today's Adalius Thomas interview was great. They asked tough questions, weren't afraid to push the issue, and got the revelation that Thomas was called out after week 1 and from there it really was a downward spiral.
