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

[BannedbyNYYFans.com]

Can anyone else imagine the scramble at F&M yesterday?

"Wait, how do you say his name? Kaypack? Coh-pick? What is it? OK..."
"30 seconds of googling..."
"OK MIKE I LIKE THE DEAL AND HERE IS WHY..."

Right after the season they were discussing Boston's lack of young pitching (organizationally) compared to the team's everyday players. A listener called in and asked about "The kid in the minors who is rated highly and throws really hard, over 100".

Mazz dismissed the caller because the pitcher is working through "anxiety and mental health issues". Then Jim Murray went on to state that it was understandable because he had been in a car jacking.

They were discussing Brian Johnson. It was obvious Murray and Felger had no idea who Kopech was and Mazz forgot all about him. It's pretty embarrassing.

 

[Granite Sox]

Yep. And suddenly, Mazz is an expert not only on Kopech ("he got popped for PEDs and punched out his roommate, so there's all kinds of meatheads in this deal!"), but on LAX Basabe as well ("he's an outfielder with a high ceiling!") and Dubon.

Mazz: "And I can't believe they threw in one of the Sox' best OF prospects, Basabe, as well as a kid who hit like .350 for most of the year and plays SS!! (Dubon). The Red Sox have traded the #'s 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 19 prospects in their system!" (Failing to realize that Basabe, Kopech, Dubon, and Pennington were all re-ranked upwards last year after the Kimbrel and Pomeranz trades."

Felger: "But you still have Bogaerts. And Betts. And Bradley. And Benintendi. And Swihart. And Eddie Rodriguez"

Mazz: "Look... I told you I like the trade... but that's not the point!!!"

Felger: "It's not? What is the point?"

Mazz: "I just don't know what Dombrowski is DOING!!"

... and repeat.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

I miss Rudy Pemberton.

 

[Dummy Hoy]

Why do you people continue to listen to felger and mazz?

 

[Vinho Tinto]

Why do you people continue to listen to felger and mazz?

Because they are entertaining.

 

[Dummy Hoy]

Because they are entertaining.

Sure, in a particular way.

Not my cup of tea so I don't listen...but obviously I follow this thread. It's a major part of the Boston sports landscape, so I'm always curious to see what's going on.

I think Mike Felger is one of the more talented sports radio host to ever come through this market. It just ruins it for me that he takes the hackey way out.

 

[Vinho Tinto]

I think Mike Felger is one of the more talented sports radio host to ever come through this market. It just ruins it for me that he takes the hackey way out.

This makes me wonder: Can you do talk radio without being a Carny? I'd say the two shows that got the biggest in the last 30 years (Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh) definitely subscribe to playing games with their audience. I love listening to talk radio, but I don't think there's a track record of highbrow or 100% integrity drawing a wide scope of listeners.

 

[Ralphwiggum]

I think it's possible. F&M were not the out-and-out trolls that they are now when they first started on TSH. I used to listen because I thought they at least tried to have intelligent sports conversations, and I thought they succeeded more than they failed. Felger has always been a contrarian, but it mostly worked, particularly when his contrarian takes were at least partially fact-based, and he had Beatle to call him on it when he was being an idiot.

We're covering ground that has been covered in this thread a million times, but the main issue with the show is Tony Mazz who (a) is horrible in his own right, and (b) also has zero ability to keep Felger honest and instead just gets swept up in whatever issue Felger has decided to use to troll his audience on any given day. Felger has gone from being a contrarian to being a douchebag (and he knows it), and Mazz is his pathetic enabler sidekick.

I don't think it's the same show they started out with, but obviously people listen so I guess it works for them.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

This makes me wonder: Can you do talk radio without being a Carny? I'd say the two shows that got the biggest in the last 30 years (Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh) definitely subscribe to playing games with their audience. I love listening to talk radio, but I don't think there's a track record of highbrow or 100% integrity drawing a wide scope of listeners.

I don't think that you can. Like Wiggum said, usually these things start out pretty good with intelligent sports talk (I remember Felger legitimately talking soccer during the 2010 World Cup and it was really good -- even though Mazz wouldn't STFU about how "stupid" the World Cup is) but it quickly goes down hill when ratings show that people want to hear sports fights. The only show that I don't think that this has happened to is Dale and Holley but they get dinged for being "too vanilla".

And VT, I like listening to the radio too. I say download some podcasts and listen away.

 

[cshea]

Jim Murray also sucks and is a downgrade from Beetle. He does a good Jim Gray impersonation, but beyond that has no real value. To me he just sounds like a miserable SOB 99% of the time. Add that to contrarian Felger and useless whining Mass, I think the show has dragged down further. I wonder if they would be better if Keefe was in the 3rd chair. Adam Jones may be the worst of all the local radio personalities, but Keefe seemed to not get sucked down into the vortex of Jones suck. Although in fairness I hardly ever listen to the night show, so I could be wrong.

 

[NDame616]

Jim Murray also sucks and is a downgrade from Beetle. He does a good Jim Gray impersonation, but beyond that has no real value. To me he just sounds like a miserable SOB 99% of the time. Add that to contrarian Felger and useless whining Mass, I think the show has dragged down further. I wonder if they would be better if Keefe was in the 3rd chair. Adam Jones may be the worst of all the local radio personalities, but Keefe seemed to not get sucked down into the vortex of Jones suck. Although in fairness I hardly ever listen to the night show, so I could be wrong.

I think the guys at EEI may not allow that.......

 

[cshea]

Yeah, I know he's on EEI. Worded poorly but I meant if F&M hired Keefe over Murray back when Beetle's spot opened up.

 

[NDame616]

Gotcha.

I agree. I thought Murray could've been pretty good in the seat but he's been awful. Keefe would've been much better

 

[jimv]

Why do you people continue to listen to felger and mazz?

As someone else mentioned they can be entertaining and its better than a silent office if I happen to be sitting at my desk. Felger's ability to keep the show moving briskly helps - callers with a bad connections are dropped quickly, he'll make a caller's point and drop them if that caller is incapable of getting there in a reasonable amount of time, into and out of breaks efficiently, etc. He keeps it moving along

I even think he'd love to dispense with the "Hi guys, how ya' doin" - you can practically here him thinking "I'm fine caller, get to your point!" - each time but clearly a CBS higher-up has told them to let it go

.....Keefe would've been much better....

Keefe did fill in a few times and I really enjoyed it. Felger would spout some hot take and Keefe would respond briefly and sarcastically. Felger just did not how to handle that. Very entertaining

 

[NortheasternPJ]

Yeah, I know he's on EEI. Worded poorly but I meant if F&M hired Keefe over Murray back when Beetle's spot opened up.

It's in the D&H thread, go listen to the Minihane podcast with Keefe. It was covered quite a bit.

 

[j-man]

i guess felgar is going to be a sad SOB for a while because the Red Sox are the best in the AL on paper anyway

the Pats are plob the best in the AFC after last night game even without rob g

the c's are too vanilla for him + he HATES the NBA i love teams like the ceits team Basketball i have a man-crush on Stevens

and his Fav team the Bruins are just OK not too bad but not great in the playoffs

we are at least 2 or 3 seasons away from a brady/jimmy g choice

on the off change u play GB in a super bowl again gonna have to root for NE because GB are still very bitter about the 1997 super bowl and to troll felger

 

[Vinho Tinto]

Massarotti sounds like he just smoked an entire carton of unfiltered Pall Malls. Not sure why he is working when he can barely speak.

 

[chonce1]

Just noticed that Keefe, who used to occasionally fill-in on Felger/Mazz, is now on the other station 2-6.

Big score for WEEI. He is so much more informed, interesting than Jim Murray

 

[Scoots McBoots]

Massarotti sounds like he just smoked an entire carton of unfiltered Pall Malls. Not sure why he is working when he can barely speak.

Yeah, it's really bad. They could have had Keefe fill in...Oh.

 

[NDame616]

His voice was awful yesterday and slightly better today (relatively speaking).

I don't know how they let him on the air.

 

[Mueller's Twin Grannies]

In general or presently?

 

[Harry Hooper]

Tony looks in the mirror and sees a potential Wally Pipp. He doesn't want a fill-in getting any traction.

 

[Kramerica Industries]

Tony looks in the mirror and sees a potential Wally Pipp. He doesn't want a fill-in getting any traction.

He doesn't have to worry as long as Murray is the fill in. Murray is the worst

 

[BigJimEd]

Listened Monday on way home. No Felger. Usually with him, I turn it off within a couple minutes mac but listened the whole drive homeg. About 45 minutes.
I'm not a Mazz fan but he was fine, mostly facilitating other hosts.

I know most will disagree but thought it was much better show without Felger. Actual discussion going on instead of trolling.

 

[RedOctober3829]

Listened Monday on way home. No Felger. Usually with him, I turn it off within a couple minutes mac but listened the whole drive homeg. About 45 minutes.
I'm not a Mazz fan but he was fine, mostly facilitating other hosts.

I know most will disagree but thought it was much better show without Felger. Actual discussion going on instead of trolling.

It helped that Paul Perillo was in studio with Mazz giving intelligent discussion about the Patriots game.

 

[BigJimEd]

Yes. That was very helpful. He does a good job discussing football.

 

[Granite Sox]

Felger > Mazz in the A-hole chair, and it's not particularly close.

Mazz has been screaming nonsensically for two days about the Buchholz trade, beating down everyone with inane takes (How will they replace his innings? What is so important about being under the luxury tax level? Somebody tell me WHY! Why just give away a ML pitcher when we all know they will need another pitcher at the deadline?). Perillo and Murray won't even engage at this point. Mind-numbing stuff. At least Felger would have a somewhat nuanced take on the situation. Mazz is making my ears bleed.

 

[Vinho Tinto]

Mazz has been screaming nonsensically for two days about the Buchholz trade....

It's funny, last offseason he would have moved him and Hanley for a bag of balls.

 

[YTF]

Felger > Mazz in the A-hole chair, and it's not particularly close.

Mazz has been screaming nonsensically for two days about the Buchholz trade, beating down everyone with inane takes (How will they replace his innings? What is so important about being under the luxury tax level? Somebody tell me WHY! Why just give away a ML pitcher when we all know they will need another pitcher at the deadline?). Perillo and Murray won't even engage at this point. Mind-numbing stuff. At least Felger would have a somewhat nuanced take on the situation. Mazz is making my ears bleed.

My God, he's fucking beating this to death. What exactly does he propose the Sox do with Buchholz until the trade deadline? Keep him on the roster and stash Rodriquez in the minors? If they have a need for a Buchholz level pitcher at some point during the season I'm guessing they can find THAT guy. He has an issue with the Sox "dumping salary" because they have so much money and it shouldn't stop them if they are in GFIN mode. In affect you swapped Buch for Sale after picking up Clay's option as insurance. That policy is no longer needed. Move the player, thank him for all of the good that he's done here (and he has provided the Sox with some very good pitching over the years) and give him the opportunity to make something more out of what is left to his career than you can offer him here. Sure it would have been nice to get more for a bottom of the rotation guy than Josh Tobias, but I suspect that a lot of teams would balk at that. If you want to argue that perhaps DD waits and sees if Buch has a good spring and increases his value, fine. If you think they should have gotten more, fine, but the 13.5 million owed as well as whatever the cap would be has to be in the neighborhood of 20 million, yes? That's a considerable amount regardless as to how deep your pockets are and one point that I haven't heard mentioned out of Mazz's pie hole is that they are eating money in other places, so yah, I'm OK with a "salary dump" in this instance.

 

[Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat]

Felger > Mazz in the A-hole chair, and it's not particularly close.

Mazz has been screaming nonsensically for two days about the Buchholz trade, beating down everyone with inane takes (How will they replace his innings? What is so important about being under the luxury tax level? Somebody tell me WHY! Why just give away a ML pitcher when we all know they will need another pitcher at the deadline?). Perillo and Murray won't even engage at this point. Mind-numbing stuff. At least Felger would have a somewhat nuanced take on the situation. Mazz is making my ears bleed.

It's not remotely close.
Felger is good at what he does. He can be annoying, infuriating, etc, but he's a smart guy with 4 hours to fill each day.
Massarotti is absolutely terrible. Stupid, boring, and unprepared.

 

[Scoots McBoots]

I wonder how McAdam would work with Felger. Not that it would happen, but a man can dream.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

I wonder how McAdam would work with Felger. Not that it would happen, but a man can dream.

Back when they both were on the Big Show years and years ago, McAdam sarcastically called Felger, "Mr. Baseball", which was a sick burn. You could tell Felger was legit pissed.

I'm sure they patched things up but I'm not sure if Felger would want to work with a dude that doesn't take his shit. And Felger is the star here.

 

[Vinho Tinto]

McAdam is working with Dickerson on F&M.

JMOH: I remember that on the Big Show. I've wondered if there was carry over to the Sports Hub. I don't recall McAdam doing a spot on F&M.

 

[RedOctober3829]

McAdam is working with Dickerson on F&M.

JMOH: I remember that on the Big Show. I've wondered if there was carry over to the Sports Hub. I don't recall McAdam doing a spot on F&M.

IIRC, he usually fills in on a bunch of shows during this holiday break F&M included. I don't think this appearance is abnormal.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

McAdam is working with Dickerson on F&M.

JMOH: I remember that on the Big Show. I've wondered if there was carry over to the Sports Hub. I don't recall McAdam doing a spot on F&M.

Do you remember what Felger said? I can't.

I do remember Peter Gammons losing his shit on Felger when Felger said Manny was one of the best right hand hitters in the game. "Have you ever heard of Albert Pujols," Gammo sneered. FTR, I thought that Felger was correct but Gammons had a hair across his ass for some reason.

 

[the1andonly3003]

Bradfo, Tomase and McAdam would be quite a team for baseball coverage on EEI.com - although TSH could just create a bigger role for McAdam

 

[shawnrbu]

Did anybody hear the caller named Noah today unload on Dickerson with some vicious personal attacks? Dickerson took it well, but the guy was incredibly mean and I can't believe they let this guy go on for 2 or 3 minutes about how much he hates Dickerson, Dickerson shouldn't be on the radio, etc.

 

[the1andonly3003]

Did anybody hear the caller named Noah today unload on Dickerson with some vicious personal attacks? Dickerson took it well, but the guy was incredibly mean and I can't believe they let this guy go on for 2 or 3 minutes about how much he hates Dickerson, Dickerson shouldn't be on the radio, etc.

was this the same caller who was bashing Slick for calling anyone he disagrees with an idiot/moron?

 

[shawnrbu]

I don't think it was the same caller. Noah went into great detail how painful it is for him to listen to Dickerson on the radio, how Dickerson should be pumping gas for a living and how much he dislikes having to look at Dickerson on the simulcast.

 

[the1andonly3003]

I don't think it was the same caller. Noah went into great detail how painful it is for him to listen to Dickerson on the radio, how Dickerson should be pumping gas for a living and how much he dislikes having to look at Dickerson on the simulcast.

damn, James Stewart must not like Dickerson if he let that call through...damn

 

[Helmet Head]

I can't even listen to this show when they have Greg Bedard on anymore. I use to look forward to the 2 hours he was on every Tuesday. Mazz is just useless and feeds off of whatever Felger says. Today it's all yelling and screaming about the how weak the pats schedule was.

I don't disagree with them but it is literally all they have talked about.

We get it, let's move on guys.

 

[RedOctober3829]

Carlton in Norwell giving the lesson of winning the turnover battle and how that's going to be the Patriots downfall.

 

[Maximus]

I can't even listen to this show when they have Greg Bedard on anymore. I use to look forward to the 2 hours he was on every Tuesday. Mazz is just useless and feeds off of whatever Felger says. Today it's all yelling and screaming about the how weak the pats schedule was.

I don't disagree with them but it is literally all they have talked about.

We get it, let's move on guys.

Mazz is just a little weasel, it was great not having him around for a couple of weeks.

 

[double4life]

Rich Keefe on EEI is always a nice escape if you're looking for an alternative. I've given up on F&M as their formula for success has already been exposed...piss off and troll the hell out of your listeners until you get a reaction out of them; then take your foot off the pedal when you're driving them too close to the edge. No thanks.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

It's interesting, I was in Atlanta over the weekend visiting some relatives and my brother-in-law and I were driving somewhere. He had on the local sports radio on and the host was speaking positively about the Falcons. He was talking about how given Atlanta has played this year, teams are going to have a tough time winning in the Georgia Dome in the next few weeks.

I turned to my BIL and said that I was surprised to hear a local guy talk so well about the home team. My BIL said it was "homer radio" but I said something like no, what this guy is saying is the truth. It is going to be hard for a team that's played the previous week to come into a tough building and beat the second ranked team in the NFC, that's just a fact. Compare that with F&M or the rest of the Boston media who think that every team the Pats might play are the 85 Bears and that New England was incredibly lucky to have a 14-2 season.

Yes, too much homerism sucks and too much pedantic bullshit sucks just as much, if not more, because you're just looking to find things to freak people out about. The Patriots are good, maybe it drives ratings to not say that, but at the same time it's just a lie. Sooner or later people (should) be able to figure this out.

 

[RedOctober3829]

Now we aren't supposed to be excited about Isaiah Thomas as a player. Mazz complaining that he had 0 assists when he scored 52 and that that game means nothing.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

You guys are fucking crazy.

Every day you voluntarily get gaslit by these two morons.

 

[E5 Yaz]

You guys are fucking crazy.

Every day you voluntarily get gaslit by these two morons.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

Ouch. Tough but fair. And true. Very true.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

Compare that with F&M or the rest of the Boston media who think that every team the Pats might play are the 85 Bears and that New England was incredibly lucky to have a 14-2 season.

Not only is every team the '85 Bears leading up to the game, but when the Patriots beat them, suddenly, they're the '76 Bucs and of course the Patriots beat them.