Oh good. Another huge portion of the show dedicated to "last night's Sox game was too long, we hate baseball because we can't stay up late to watch it, baseball has no stars, will die soon, and did we mention we hate watching baseball games?"
Felger and Mazz - Creating False Naratives one day at a time
- Thread starter HomeBrew1901
- Start date
I turned on the baseball show coming home from an appointment. I don't know who the co-host was. This was the sum total of what I heard:
It's like this guy hosts a sports talk show:
Then my eyes rolled back into my throat, so I stopped listening.
It's like this guy hosts a sports talk show:
Mazz is on to something here but he's too lazy to do the work.
As Chad Finn and others have pointed out (LINK: http://www.weei.com/blogs/alex-reimer/red-sox-ratings-nesn-are-down-20-percent-season) NESN ratings for Sox games are way down this season. Exactly why that would be (Pats/Celtics exhaustion? Other factors?) is an interesting area of discussion. But Mazz isn't going to go there. As well pointed out above, it's easier to be Grandpa Simpson and be mad dancing.
As Chad Finn and others have pointed out (LINK: http://www.weei.com/blogs/alex-reimer/red-sox-ratings-nesn-are-down-20-percent-season) NESN ratings for Sox games are way down this season. Exactly why that would be (Pats/Celtics exhaustion? Other factors?) is an interesting area of discussion. But Mazz isn't going to go there. As well pointed out above, it's easier to be Grandpa Simpson and be mad dancing.
I would agree with your phony Mazz in that Chris Archer hasn't been here long enough.I turned on the baseball show coming home from an appointment. I don't know who the co-host was. This was the sum total of what I heard:
Then my eyes rolled back into my throat, so I stopped listening.
It's like this guy hosts a sports talk show:
In what way is it interesting?
FTR, when I was single, I never missed a pitch, let alone an inning. But as the years have passed and life has gotten busier, I find it hard to watch an entire game and usually just catch an inning or two while doing other things. And when I do catch those innings, I usually see at least 3 strikeouts, a walk or two, a ground ball into a shift, and maybe a homer (if I'm lucky).
So - an aging fanbase, with shifting priorities coupled with a game that has gotten longer, and has less action. This isn't hard, or particularly interesting. Baseball is in major trouble, but at least Manfred seems aware of the pending crisis. As "core" fans age (and die), there are fewer fans taking their place – mostly because baseball has changed into a game where "action" happens rarely and the three true outcomes are the majority of the "excitement" provided to viewers.
Also, watching Drew Pomeranz pitch is like watching paint dry, only less interesting. It's like someone took the worst aspects of watching Clay Buchholz, multiplied them by a factor of 10, and made it lefthanded. There's 10% of the decline right there - people who would rather do literally anything instead of watching Pomeranz LABOR through five innings in three hours.
At the start of the season there were many complaints that the team wasn't likable or interesting and the ratings reflected that. After their recent success you would expect a change in attitude and ratings but it kind of hasn't. What's turning people off?
Nothing? This is a demographic problem, mixed with one unwatchable starting pitcher and the Celtics dominating the local front page/interest. If they are down 20% over the whole season, it might be worth exploring why Boston has fallen out of love with the Red Sox but since it's July, they're in first place, and there's literally no competition for eyeballs until the first week of August, I have a feeling those ratings are about to skyrocket.
Long term, the decline is almost entirely about baseball's time management problem and it's action problem - not the local 9 being somewhat business-like and boring.
Long term, the decline is almost entirely about baseball's time management problem and it's action problem - not the local 9 being somewhat business-like and boring.
Are the ratings systems accurately catching folks who stream as opposed to traditional cable?
Are you confusing "good at baseball" with watchable? I am a very happy fan to see Pomeranz pitch well in the box score; I am much less enthused to actually watch him pitch. The time between pitches is ponderous.
EDIT: It might help to know that Mark Buerhle was my favorite non-Sox player, ever. That guy was a joy to watch.
Prediction:
Mazz says Marcus Morris "sucks." And then he emphasizes the point with more volume and adds something like, "he sucks rocks!"
I doubt he knew who Morris was yesterday. But I feel pretty confident that is what he will say. Still a better take than Murray who thinks the "Bridgies," is a funny name. I understand getting cynical around over optimistic fans but Murray is just not as smart or charismatic enough to make it work even as a heel.
Mazz says Marcus Morris "sucks." And then he emphasizes the point with more volume and adds something like, "he sucks rocks!"
I doubt he knew who Morris was yesterday. But I feel pretty confident that is what he will say. Still a better take than Murray who thinks the "Bridgies," is a funny name. I understand getting cynical around over optimistic fans but Murray is just not as smart or charismatic enough to make it work even as a heel.
The real problem with the show is Murray. He's not funny, his songs are terrible, his takez are bad and he just feeds into Felger and Mazzs negative bullshit.
Beetle for years made the show listenable because he'd call out their nonsense and be the voice of reason. He definitely gave up towards the end of his run on the show as he got tired of it. Murray offers none of that. As a third wheel he's a terrible fit for the show. As you said above he's just not smart enough or charismatic enough to add any value with his shtick.
In defense of them they even admitted that it's a slow news week with the lack of sporting events to talk about. There's only so much you can say about an All-star game that no longer counts for anything and about Aaron Judge. The callers' topics even reflected the lack of ongoings in sports. Give them a break. Every progran is grasping at straws for interesting content. You can't beat up in them for trying to fill air time.
I think the David Ortiz being gone hangover is doing more to affect the Sox's ratings and/or buzz than the team being "unlikable" or one particular pitcher's plodding pace. He was the face of the franchise and now he's gone. I think a lot of people, especially those who got into the team right around the time his Boston career was taking off 13-14 years ago, just don't have the same compulsion to watch because they know they won't see Big Papi sock a clutch dinger. And once you get past him, the list of players who've been around long enough to still resonate with newer fans (i.e., those who don't subscribe to the "root for the laundry" rule) is pretty much an exclusive club and its one member is Dustin Pedroia. He's a great player and can be a flashy player, but isn't a human highlight reel like Ortiz and isn't as media-oriented as Ortiz is and was, plus he's on the back 9 of his own career. The young players will hopefully make and keep fans interested as their legends continue to grow, especially the four players whose last names all start with the same letter, but they aren't household names yet. All of that adds up to considerably less buzz surrounding the Red Sox than I've noticed in a long, long time, even despite them leading the division. It's odd but I guess the Pinkhat Era and all the hoopla that surrounded the team for a decade or so after they won it in '04, especially after 2013, has kind of died down now that the Red Sox being a successful franchise is old hat. Maybe we're finally seeing the evolution from "cursed" to "another big market team" at its endpoint and the fervor just isn't there any longer after 3 World Series titles in a decade and the strong likelihood of winning several more within 8.5 decades. Maybe the love affair has cooled off to strong affection?
I agree that Ortiz being gone is definitely a factor, but run scoring is a lot more exciting than run prevention when it comes to casual fans. The lack of any real power on this team has to be affecting ratings and buzz.
Maybe McAdam and Felger will reenact their famous "Okay, Mr. Baseball" passion play from when they were both employed on Glenn Ordway's "Big Show"?
Very telling of Felger in how he appears threatened by a news website that doesn't offer outlandish hot takes and click bait.
He ls taking it as a personal shot against his style of media delivery.
He ls taking it as a personal shot against his style of media delivery.
Maybe he's is getting his own show: The Everything Sucks Hour, with Big Jim Murray. From 2-3 AM.
Here is the big reveal. Greg Bedard is starting his own Boston sports paid subscription site with McAdam and Chris Price already on board. He will be bringing on board a B's and C's reporter as well. It actually sounds like a very promising and interesting idea.
http://bostonsportsjournal.com/
http://bostonsportsjournal.com/
never knew Bedard was let go from MMQB...always thought the King vertical was immune from the other SI layoffs
I'm skeptical of its chances. I shuddered when Bedard mentioned he's putting his life savings in to this. Hoping for him that it's successful.
Yeah... Pretended not to know what click bait was, and strenuously objected to the idea that anything he says may sound contrived. "I mean, I don't say anything that I don't truly believe... just because it's contrarian doesn't make it contrived..."
Sure, Felgie.
He actually moved from the MMQB to the mothership a few years ago, and presumably of his own accord.
apparently he was pissed at Bedard for being late. Early Edition gave him some grief for that
Ive been a big Felger supporter but this is complete BS. He has said on multiple occasions that his takes are his takes in order to make the show interesting. "If we always agree on everything and never have an opposing view, the show would be boring." Is something he's said many times
In addition to Felger's admitted hypocriscy isn't he undervalung Groome?
We have already traded two of our best starting pitching prospects for Pomeranz and Sale. I would be irate if we traded Groome for that return.
It is possible Groome's stock has fallen more than I thought. I also dont hold it against him (barely out of high school) that his dad was a drug dealer. Can't choose your parents.
We have already traded two of our best starting pitching prospects for Pomeranz and Sale. I would be irate if we traded Groome for that return.
It is possible Groome's stock has fallen more than I thought. I also dont hold it against him (barely out of high school) that his dad was a drug dealer. Can't choose your parents.
He tweeted that he was laid off. http://awfulannouncing.com/nfl/greg-bedard-among-latest-prominent-layoffs-sports-illustrated.html
I would guess they took their previous position assuming the Frazier deal would go down and they would be setup to rip the team. Now it goes the other way so they are under valuing Groome as a way to flip flop so they dont have to give the team credit for patience.
It was hysterical today listening to them talk about Pedroia. For YEARS it's been "he's overpaid, he's here forever, makes too much money and doesn't do enough. We need to trade him for anything now and move on" Talking about how awful his contract is and how the team would be better without him.
And today all of them were going on about how he's a gamer, he's the only one who has any balls, the only one we can really rely on, etc.
And today all of them were going on about how he's a gamer, he's the only one who has any balls, the only one we can really rely on, etc.
hmmm...so is there a thread where we discuss the Red Sox vs the media this season? F&M are going through the CHB article, and this sounds a bit different from the issues w/ the media in the past...Red Sox feel more Trumpian
Surely Eck could not have observed the spitting and deep breaths himself. No baseball watcher could have noticed Dave Price's mannerisms.
We Murray-bots must bow before his great observation powers!
We Murray-bots must bow before his great observation powers!
Check the time stamp on this post: 1:30 PM.
This dude is from the future. Someone tell the Men in Black or whomever we should notify about this.
Time stamp says 2:30pm from what I see. Sure your time zone settings are correct?
I didn't hear all of it, but the Eck excerpts seemed more than a coincidence to me. Plus, we know from the legendary Eck-Radatz blowup that Eck does listen to sports radio.
EDIT: Mazz's Baseball Reporters audio {with Eck excerpts} is here. I consider Murray insufferable, BTW.
Last edited:
Damn it. I was excited to find out about the future. (Also, I suck.)
Though of course he was right - they were insufferable. Especially their mutual distaste for the "effeminate dancing" of the outfielders.
I'm fine with F&M being negative, especially when the teams are detestable, but when they take credit for something any observer will notice, that doesn't fly with me