It certainly was an ugly rant. I'm not sure what sent Mazz over the edge. It had to have been more than some negative texts and emails, since I'm assuming Mazz receives dozens of those per day.
I think Mazz misses the mark a little bit, though. My biggest issue with him, in isolation, isn't that he doesn't disagree with everything Felger says. Mazz is right when he says there isn't much disagreement on other sports talk radio shows, either.
But every show is structured differently. Rich, for example, brings a lot of value to T&R without arguing with Fred over-the-air. Rich is the mastermind behind most of the bits, and all of the production work on the show.
The format of "Felger and Mazz" is almost solely dependent on "hot takes," and the tone is argumentative. They don't conduct many interviews, and don't do many comedic off-topic segments. Thus, Mazz' value to the show is in his supposed ability to advance conversation, and provide a counter to Felger. But when Mazz just parrots what Felger says, and doesn't provide an altering viewpoint, the show doesn't move. It turns into Felger arguing against a straw man for four hours (the BBWAA, Patriots media, Gary Tanguay, etc). The discussion doesn't advance, because Felger doesn't have anybody in-studio to directly challenge him.
Rich doesn't have to debate with Fred, because he adds value to the show in a different way. Unfortunately for Mazz, he has to debate with Felger, because the show's format is dependent on give-and-take.
I will be very interested to see what the summer ratings show. I think Mazz recently signed an extension, so it's unrealistic to expect "The Sports Hub" to dramatically change the show. But if the ratings suffer for a second straight book, could we the see the addition of a more permanent third man, or a rotating third man?
