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

54thMA

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Murray also keeps referring to Alex Cora as Cheatin' Alex Cora during every one of the updates. So we know how that'll go over if Cora is brought back.
Do these three clambrains not realize if the Red Sox and Patriots stink, so will their ratings?

Do they honestly think people call in/listen due to their engaging personalities; they want to talk and hear about winning teams.

That goes away, so will the ratings.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Do these three clambrains not realize if the Red Sox and Patriots stink, so will their ratings?

Do they honestly think people call in/listen due to their engaging personalities; they want to talk and hear about winning teams.

That goes away, so will the ratings.
I've said it before, but these guys cut their sports radio teeth on The Big Show. The show that originated and reached its peak at the height of "fellowship of the miserable" times in the late 90s/early 00s. People live to whine and complain on sports radio. Bad teams give them something legitimate to complain about, and they will.

Besides, we're talking about professional trolls here. If everyone wants to go negative about the local teams, these guys will just start blowing sunshine up everyone's asses to be contrary.
 

54thMA

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I've said it before, but these guys cut their sports radio teeth on The Big Show. The show that originated and reached its peak at the height of "fellowship of the miserable" times in the late 90s/early 00s. People live to whine and complain on sports radio. Bad teams give them something legitimate to complain about, and they will.

Besides, we're talking about professional trolls here. If everyone wants to go negative about the local teams, these guys will just start blowing sunshine up everyone's asses to be contrary.
"Fellowship of the miserable"; things have been so good for so long here I forgot all about that, but you are right, they have the contrarian role down to a science, so they will flip and be positive.

For them, it's about whatever works.
 

Quiddity

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Murray also keeps referring to Alex Cora as Cheatin' Alex Cora during every one of the updates. So we know how that'll go over if Cora is brought back.
Well, they take every opportunity to call Belichick and the Patriots cheaters, so we can't expect them to not do it for the Red Sox.

Do these three clambrains not realize if the Red Sox and Patriots stink, so will their ratings?
I don't think Felger and Mazz have ever really existed in an environment where the teams weren't good? I think they both got their start around the mid to late 90s? Maybe a little earlier for Mazz? Around that era we had the Pats getting to the Super Bowl with Parcells, and Pedro being a super star for the Red Sox with them making the playoffs several times. Then we hit the Belichick era and the Patriots have been great ever since. If we ever see what both portray as what they want on the radio show every day, all the Boston Sports teams sucking, then no one will listen and their show is finished. They are smart enough to know that though (well Felger at least, I question Mazz and especially Murray).

hey have the contrarian role down to a science, so they will flip and be positive.
Felger is the ultimate contrarian. While I struggle to think of actual examples off the top of my head, there are many times where a team has done poorly, deserves to get ripped to shreds, and he has had a positive take about it just to go against the popular sentiment.
 

amRadio

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They've completely lost me for the moment because 2020 has been stressful and crappy. I'm not my usual self who is sometimes open to these idiots pissing in my ears for 20 minutes or so on the ride home. If they're just going to abandon all pretense and just openly bag on the local teams, I think I won't be back until Murray gets re-located or something. Murray is really becoming a dull caricature of a sports radio host.
 

DaveRoberts'Shoes

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They've completely lost me for the moment because 2020 has been stressful and crappy. I'm not my usual self who is sometimes open to these idiots pissing in my ears for 20 minutes or so on the ride home. If they're just going to abandon all pretense and just openly bag on the local teams, I think I won't be back until Murray gets re-located or something. Murray is really becoming a dull caricature of a sports radio host.
Totally agree with this. I used to really like Murray as I thought he was one of the few who were actually giving an actual opinion instead of just pushing people’s buttons, but he’s become a caricature of himself. The only one I can possibly listen to anymore is Matt McCarthy, who seems like a legitimate, honest voice in the midst of all the bullshit.
 

Quiddity

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After going cold turkey and turning the show off for a couple of weeks I decided to tune into the podcast of the first hour of the Friday show.

Murray and Mazz are proclaiming Belichick could be fired by the Krafts as early as next season if it doesn't go well.

Going cold turkey was the right decision.
 

j-man

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but the clock is ticking on bill let say they go 8-8 this season to be honest every spot except RB and P needs look at bill best hope is jimmy g leaves SF because stafford is not a winning player ryan is unlikey to leave ATL Alex Smith will not push the ball down the field he has to go to a team with a top 5 defense and running game
 

ramfan

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Totally agree with this. I used to really like Murray as I thought he was one of the few who were actually giving an actual opinion instead of just pushing people’s buttons, but he’s become a caricature of himself. The only one I can possibly listen to anymore is Matt McCarthy, who seems like a legitimate, honest voice in the midst of all the bullshit.
McCarthy? He's so bad, even the other 98.5 hosts call him "McTakey". He's an Adam Jones wannabe. He's supposed to be a baseball expert. He was discussing Bloom's 1st Redsox draft. He started with "I don't understand the draft and the slots but..." then proceeded to trash it. He also called Tristan Casas a "fat bust" after 30 career games. Does that sound like your type of host?
 

amRadio

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Is McCarthy the guy who does their "Hardcore Baseball Podcast?" I checked that out one time. It was casual takes from a doofus with contempt for the sport.
 

ramfan

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Is McCarthy the guy who does their "Hardcore Baseball Podcast?" I checked that out one time. It was casual takes from a doofus with contempt for the sport.
That's the guy. he has a condescending tone on all 4 Boston teams. they're all idiots

Going back to Murray, i used to like him too. What annoys me is how much he complains about working. He complains about doing the Saturday show, he complains about doing the baseball reporters, he complains about doing the Patriot's post game. He's got a full time job on the #1 sports station in a major market. People in that industry are losing their jobs permanently.
 

Sille Skrub

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Going back to Murray, i used to like him too. What annoys me is how much he complains about working. He complains about doing the Saturday show, he complains about doing the baseball reporters, he complains about doing the Patriot's post game. He's got a full time job on the #1 sports station in a major market. People in that industry are losing their jobs permanently.
Other than some of his impressions, Murray is awful and often the reason I will shut it off. He's a wanna be Felger especially when he gets all charged up and tries to fire out a hot take.

F&M have their schitck and it's great radio. Murray is just plain annoying.
 

NortheasternPJ

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Jim Murray is the worst full-time person on the station by far and he's getting worse. I barely listen to Felger and Mazz, usually only if Bedard is on or I'm bored, but Jim Murray couldn't be much worse. His whole schtick, his awful songs, he's just depressing and comes off like an entitled Trustafarian hipster at an open mic night reading misery poems.
 

Quiddity

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While I really think a big part of it is Felger's need to always be the contrarian, he ended up being right. Even a hardcore Pats fan like me was expecting a Ravens blowout tonight. Felger had faith, even picked the Pats to win and was right. Credit to him.

As for Murray, I am hoping for a lot of "Bllllllllllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh! Murray you suck!" tomorrow. I agree, he is the absolute worst on the station. Let's not forget this is the guy that told a caller his children should die because he disagreed with him on one of his ultra negative Celtics takes. I'm surprised the Krafts let him host the post game show.
 

Sille Skrub

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Ehhh, I wouldn't give him too much credit.

It's fun and seems prescient and all, but that's his schtick. Although he plays the contrarian very well, it's laughably predictable at this point.

Take the contrarian angle, fire up the masses, collect the ratings. Lather, rinse, repeat.
 

ramfan

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Felger is doing his usual complaint that despite all his efforts, he can't make Celtics fan's miserable and turn on the team.
 

shawnrbu

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Felger: Celtics fans are like that kid who was born into money. They aren’t desperate for a championship like Bruins fans are. I guess they are happy with looking up at the banners from the 50’s and 60’s.
 

JohnnyTheBone

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Felger: Celtics fans are like that kid who was born into money. They aren’t desperate for a championship like Bruins fans are. I guess they are happy with looking up at the banners from the 50’s and 60’s.
He's dead wrong. I like looking up at the banners from the 70's and 80's, myself.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Felger: Celtics fans are like that kid who was born into money. They aren’t desperate for a championship like Bruins fans are. I guess they are happy with looking up at the banners from the 50’s and 60’s.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Bruins have a championship (and subsequent trips to the Finals) since the Celtics' last title (and Finals appearance). Why are B's fans "desperate" but not Celtics fans? Aside from trolls gotta troll, obviously.
 

RedOctober3829

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Their take on the Celtics draft.

Felger: Danny's plan hasn't worked because he took picks last night instead of trading up. Not an abject disaster, but he hasn't built a championship team with this group. Mazz now says they've now missed out on Jimmy Butler and the chance to trade up for Luka because they sat on their assets. They've ran out of money and the extra picks. They say Tatum and Brown better be the Splash Brothers or Danny is a failure. All the cap space and extra picks are gone and you're stuck waiting for Tatum and Brown to get better while the rest of the East is getting better. Says their first rounders have been really bad outside the top 10. Felger: I don't care about any of the kids they've drafted. They're not going to amount to anything. Mazz says they've gotten worse.
 

bankshot1

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Boston's drive time kings of hot takes are just 2nd guessing for the sake of 2nd guessing and something to talk about. These guys had no idea who Tyler Herro was until the bubble series, but knew well after the fact Danny blew it by not trading up for him. They have absolutely no idea who Nesmith is. btw either do I.
 

j-man

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Boston's drive time kings of hot takes are just 2nd guessing for the sake of 2nd guessing and something to talk about. These guys had no idea who Tyler Herro was until the bubble series, but knew well after the fact Danny blew it by not trading up for him. They have absolutely no idea who Nesmith is. btw either do I.
nesmith is the best shooter in the draft but they know nothing about basketball
 

scottyno

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Their take on the Celtics draft.

Felger: Danny's plan hasn't worked because he took picks last night instead of trading up. Not an abject disaster, but he hasn't built a championship team with this group. Mazz now says they've now missed out on Jimmy Butler and the chance to trade up for Luka because they sat on their assets. They've ran out of money and the extra picks. They say Tatum and Brown better be the Splash Brothers or Danny is a failure. All the cap space and extra picks are gone and you're stuck waiting for Tatum and Brown to get better while the rest of the East is getting better. Says their first rounders have been really bad outside the top 10. Felger: I don't care about any of the kids they've drafted. They're not going to amount to anything. Mazz says they've gotten worse.
Jimmy Butler has been on 3 different teams in the years since they missed out on the chance to give up multiple draft picks including picks that became either Tatum or Brown as well as the max slot that eventually became Hayward so he could probably walk away when he became a free agent and they never had a prayer in the world of being able to trade up for Luka. Nevermind the part where their first rounders outside the top 10 have actually been good for the most part.

I can't believe anyone listens to this show, nevermind the fact that it's the #1 show in Boston and they win awards from people that actually enjoy it.
 
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Humphrey

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One of the best things about retirement is hardly ever being in the car when any of the drive time shows come on the radio. I can't even recognize the voice(s) of whoever's on WEEI in the morning now.
 

cshea

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Bedard and Felger are yelling at each other today. Bedard opens by trashing Newton's performance on Sunday saying "the Patriots were the Jets with Sanchez on Sunday." Over the course of the first 2 segments, Felger develops the take that he'd take Alex Smith as his QB next year and that it would be a significant upgrade on Newton. Bedard loses his mind. Lots of yelling ensues,
 

54thMA

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Jimmy Butler has been on 3 different teams in the years since they missed out on the chance to give up multiple draft picks including picks that became either Tatum or Brown as well as the max slot that eventually became Hayward so he could probably walk away when he became a free agent and they never had a prayer in the world of being able to trade up for Luka. Nevermind the part where their first rounders outside the top 10 have actually been good for the most part.

I can't believe anyone listens to this show, nevermind the fact that it's the #1 show in Boston and they win awards from people that actually enjoy it.
Thanks for the clarification and for summing up the situation and how it would have played out because in truth, I'm a very casual NBA fan and it's really not in my wheelhouse.

That said, could you enlighten me as to how that Brooklyn trade finally played out, ie, what did they get in return or are there still draft picks yet to be determined from that trade?
 

scottyno

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Thanks for the clarification and for summing up the situation and how it would have played out because in truth, I'm a very casual NBA fan and it's really not in my wheelhouse.

That said, could you enlighten me as to how that Brooklyn trade finally played out, ie, what did they get in return or are there still draft picks yet to be determined from that trade?
There might be a future 2nd or something that they got or owe from a trade of a pick they got in the nets trade but essentially they got:

2014: James Young- Bust, long gone
2016: Jaylen Brown- Great pick
2017: Tatum- Home run
2018: Draft pick was used to get Kyrie, who was useful at times when here but now gone
2019: Langford- TBD (came from trading the nets #1 to move down to #3 and still get tatum)

Plus a bunch of cap space that eventually became horford and hayward though they would have had that space eventually anyway. You could also argue they got some indirect value because those trades let them showcase guys like Jeff Green to get increased trade value, and to trade Rondo for more value, but that's harder to quantify.

edit: And I don't think it's 100% clear what they would have had to actually give up to get either Butler or Paul George at the time, but it was almost certainly at least one of the nets picks that became either Brown or Tatum plus more
 
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j-man

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Bedard and Felger are yelling at each other today. Bedard opens by trashing Newton's performance on Sunday saying "the Patriots were the Jets with Sanchez on Sunday." Over the course of the first 2 segments, Felger develops the take that he'd take Alex Smith as his QB next year and that it would be a significant upgrade on Newton. Bedard loses his mind. Lots of yelling ensues,
bedard is right on this one smith is trevor simen 2.0 he wouild have like only 3 int but only about 10 td's
 

54thMA

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There might be a future 2nd or something that they got or owe from a trade of a pick they got in the nets trade but essentially they got:

2014: James Young- Bust, long gone
2016: Jaylen Brown- Great pick
2017: Tatum- Home run
2018: Draft pick was used to get Kyrie, who was useful at times when here but now gone
2019: Langford- TBD (came from trading the nets #1 to move down to #3 and still get tatum)

Plus a bunch of cap space that eventually became horford and hayward though they would have had that space eventually anyway. You could also argue they got some indirect value because those trades let them showcase guys like Jeff Green to get increased trade value, and to trade Rondo for more value, but that's harder to quantify.

edit: And I don't think it's 100% clear what they would have had to actually give up to get either Butler or Paul George at the time, but it was almost certainly at least one of the nets picks that became either Brown or Tatum plus more
Thanks, I appreciate you taking the time to lay this all out...........
 

Quiddity

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They love to taunt Mike Lombardi who said N'Keal Harry was a much better player than DK Metcalf. Agreed. That was a massive bust.

They're sitting next to the guy who made similar comments over the Pats drafting Gronkowski. How about we call him out on that someday?
 

shawnrbu

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Felger on Jets tanking:

“It’s not going to work. Tanking will come back to bite them. It’s too bad because I like rooting for the Jets. It’s fun to troll the losers around here.”
 

cshea

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Felger had a real doozy early on. In the same take he said he had no time for special teams and that Bill invests too much into it, but that special teams is an indicator of if a team is well coached.
 

Mystic Merlin

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Felger had a real doozy early on. In the same take he said he had no time for special teams and that Bill invests too much into it, but that special teams is an indicator of if a team is well coached.
I suspect he would reconcile these statements by saying that you should be able to find guys to ‘coach up’ without investing the assets that the Pats do. I think there is an argument to be had on just what the right balance there is, especially with how the return game has been gradually de emphasized in importance in the last decade, but Felger naturally isn’t interested in that good faith discussion any more than he is interested in discussing the salary cap (‘cap is crap!’).
 

j-man

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I suspect he would reconcile these statements by saying that you should be able to find guys to ‘coach up’ without investing the assets that the Pats do. I think there is an argument to be had on just what the right balance there is, especially with how the return game has been gradually de emphasized in importance in the last decade, but Felger naturally isn’t interested in that good faith discussion any more than he is interested in discussing the salary cap (‘cap is crap!’).
feglar wants the wins but he wants them to win his way when this pats team is not made that way the pats are made in a 1990 ginats way
 

Quiddity

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"The Celtics are gonna suck this year! They're predicted for 39 wins!"

*Goes through game by game and have them for a 46 game winning pace.* Oops

Of course I don't know why anyone would even bother watching the Celtics if they are to be believed. They have 0% chance to win a championship according to them and anything other than that is a massive failure.
 

shawnrbu

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Felger taking a victory lap for Giannis.

“How’s it feel Green Teamers? Another superstar who doesn’t want to play for you. He would rather play for the Milwaukee freaking Bucks than you.”
 

NortheasternPJ

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Felger taking a victory lap for Giannis.

“How’s it feel Green Teamers? Another superstar who doesn’t want to play for you. He would rather play for the Milwaukee freaking Bucks than you.”
If anyone watched the 60 Minutes like 2 years ago on Giannis and his beginnings and about him in Milwaukee, this really isn't a surprise. A lot can change, but after watching that (which is excellent and I highly recommend) I figured he'd never leave there.
 

Mystic Merlin

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Wait, who thought Giannis to the Celtics was plausible, and how isn’t his staying in Milwaukee as much of a rejection of LAL, GSW, MIA, and every other team as it is of the Celtics? And that is even granting - which I don’t - that this is more about the lack of appeal of other teams than it is a desire to stay in Milwaukee. What a cheap point, even by Felger’s standards.