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

amRadio

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I want the east coast to sink into the ocean and for the apocalypse to begin so that Felger will be unhappy, so by comparison, you're super well adjusted.
 

RedOctober3829

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Felger "can't stand" the positive coverage of Ima Udoka and wants to root against him because of everyone saying positive things about him. Murray thinks we're being sold something.

Mazz thinks he's going to be a shill for Brad Stevens/ownership and won't challenge anything that they've done.
 

Dim13

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Felger "can't stand" the positive coverage of Ima Udoka and wants to root against him because of everyone saying positive things about him. Murray thinks we're being sold something.

Mazz thinks he's going to be a shill for Brad Stevens/ownership and won't challenge anything that they've done.
Yeah, they certainly twisted themselves into a hot take pretzel trying to criticize the hiring. Don't forget Mazz's "He seems like someone just happy to have the job."
 

bankshot1

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I listened to hear the hot take, that I was certain was going to be negative. The Celts/Brad like most organizations had some criteria for the hire and from what I gathered, Felger was upset that Udoka checked too many boxes in the hiring criteria.

He's young, smart, hard-working, African-American, solid coaching resume, approved of by the Js and Smart, great league-wide reputation, and probably came highly reccomended by Pop. And was apparently someone that Brad could work with. This last one seemed to be an issue with Felger. I wanted to scream. What boss would hire a guy they thought they couldn't work with, or would continually butt heads with?

Mazz at least had a defensible point, that he would have liked to see a bigger name to perhaps have a greater impact on younger players, who may not be wowed (my word) by Udoka. Once the hot take was laid down, I bolted.
 
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joe dokes

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Felger "can't stand" the positive coverage of Ima Udoka and wants to root against him because of everyone saying positive things about him. Murray thinks we're being sold something.

Mazz thinks he's going to be a shill for Brad Stevens/ownership and won't challenge anything that they've done.
Those are the reason why: 1)I hope Felger loses his tongue in an accident; and 2) we're always hearing about coaches in all pro sports "challenging" the owners and GM of their team. Remember that time Stevens called a press conference and announced that he had no respect for losers like Ainge, Wyc and Pagliuca? We need more people like that Pitino fellow, whose first act upon arrival in town was to tell Red Auerbach to go back to the home.
 

cornwalls@6

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Wants to , cough, cough, “root against” Udoka.......... Hmm, wonder why?....... for all the bullshit innuendo he’s trafficked in through the years, people should be hammering him for his objections to a young, successful, highly regarded African American getting the job.
 

JimD

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Does Boston have the market cornered on prominent sports radio hosts/columnists who don't show any enjoyment of sports? Sure seems that way, but I haven't spent much time listening to similar shows in NY, Philly, Chicago, etc.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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Does Boston have the market cornered on prominent sports radio hosts/columnists who don't show any enjoyment of sports? Sure seems that way, but I haven't spent much time listening to similar shows in NY, Philly, Chicago, etc.
I think we are the only place with a Fellowship of the Miserable who gives hosts like this such good ratings. I just don't get the appeal. I mean, on a National "how can you support ideas like this" level I see that this kind of attraction exists

But I don't get it.
 

bankshot1

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Francesa used to troll Mets and Jets fans, but he was generally supportive of home town teams. F&M's level of hot take negativity aimed at provoking a good % of listeners, makes them somewhat unique. And has been said of many things that I don't fully appreciate, apparently its a feature not a bug.
 

scottyno

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Wants to , cough, cough, “root against” Udoka.......... Hmm, wonder why?....... for all the bullshit innuendo he’s trafficked in through the years, people should be hammering him for his objections to a young, successful, highly regarded African American getting the job.
Have you never listened to Felger? They could have hired his mother for the job and he would be rooting for them to fail regardless of skin color.
 

shaggydog2000

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Francesa used to troll Mets and Jets fans, but he was generally supportive of home town teams. F&M's level of hot take negativity aimed at provoking a good % of listeners, makes them somewhat unique. And has been said of many things that I don't fully appreciate, apparently its a feature not a bug.
And when the Giants got knocked out of the playoffs, Francesa was either devastated or legitimately angry about it. It was actual emotion. When Boston teams get knocked out it's nothing but pure glee and I told you so's from these guys.
 

cornwalls@6

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Have you never listened to Felger? They could have hired his mother for the job and he would be rooting for them to fail regardless of skin color.
Many times. And I think you’ve missed my point. He’s spent years doing his snarky, wink, wink, this guy’s a cheater, that guy’s a cheater schtick. . A little turn about would be well deserved, whatever his motivation for ripping the hire. He’s earned no benefit of the doubt.
 

richgedman'sghost

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Wants to , cough, cough, “root against” Udoka.......... Hmm, wonder why?....... for all the bullshit innuendo he’s trafficked in through the years, people should be hammering him for his objections to a young, successful, highly regarded African American getting the job.
Would he have rooted against Rick Carlslie ..cough cough..cough... Sometimes Felger gives away his true feelings and intentions pretty easily.
 

fairlee76

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Does Boston have the market cornered on prominent sports radio hosts/columnists who don't show any enjoyment of sports? Sure seems that way, but I haven't spent much time listening to similar shows in NY, Philly, Chicago, etc.
I mean, things may have changed since I moved, but Boston/New England has long been known as an area where showing enjoyment is not exactly the norm.
 

scottyno

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Would he have rooted against Rick Carlslie ..cough cough..cough... Sometimes Felger gives away his true feelings and intentions pretty easily.
he rooted for years against bill belichick and tom brady while calling them out for fake scandals, so yeah probably
 

joe dokes

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he rooted for years against bill belichick and tom brady while calling them out for fake scandals, so yeah probably
Would he have rooted against Rick Carlslie ..cough cough..cough... Sometimes Felger gives away his true feelings and intentions pretty easily.
As far as I can tell, he never gives anyone the benefit of the doubt, so why should he get it? Felger's hoping Udoka fails because of the color of Udoka's skin until Felger proves otherwise. But it's hard to prove a negative? That's right, Mike, it is.
"Sports" "talk" radio was ahead of the curve in terms of ubiquitous media making people dumber. Fortunately, it's generally limited to making people stupid about sports, but not always.
 

bankshot1

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I may be misunderstanding, but I don't think Felger's criticism of the Udoka hire was based on race, but rather ratings. But it could be a dangerous troll to play, so he has to be careful.

If the Celts hired a white guy the hot take would be about the Celts insensitivity to the needs of its players and Wyc's and Brad's inability to reach past their color comfort zone, or some other contrived bullshit.

Felger needed a contrarian hot take, so he found one. Its what he and his lap dog feed on. And they eat well.
 

Quiddity

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I hate to be in the position of having to defend Michael Felger, but his hot sport takes on Udoka have nothing to do with race. It does not matter who they hired, Felger and Mazz were going to bash them to death. Even if the Celtics went ahead and did what Felger and Mazz wanted and hired Chauncey Billups, they'd spend a day gloating and patting themselves on the back, then the next day they would proclaim how it was a massive mistake and spend the next 5 years bashing the decision relentlessly. They could hire Felger's neighborhood best friend from Wisconsin, they could hire Felger's wife, they could hire one of his current or formet cohosts and there's no bigger guarantee then him bashing them and the team to death immediately on his show to get attention.
 

Sille Skrub

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Agree with the last two posts.

As predictable as the swallows returning to Capistrano, Felger will find the most contrarian island and set up camp there. He's very good (and entertaining) while he does it, which is why they dominate the ratings book. Part of the allure for me is how predictable he is and how much it gets under people's skin.
 

joe dokes

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I hate to be in the position of having to defend Michael Felger, but his hot sport takes on Udoka have nothing to do with race.
I haven't heard any proof that it wasn't. Just giving him a taste of his own medicine. It *should* should be a firehose enema. He and his ilk are the the Alex Joneses of sports entertainment.
 

Quiddity

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I haven't heard any proof that it wasn't. Just giving him a taste of his own medicine. It *should* should be a firehose enema. He and his ilk are the the Alex Joneses of sports entertainment.
So I suppose its worth considering whether media members like Felger deserve the same treatment that they show towards the players, coaches, owners, etc... that they cover. I do think calling Felger a racist is an outlandish claim without merit, he's an equal opportunity hater of everyone. He is very obviously an elitist who looks down on the local fans, his listeners, callers, etc... and portrays himself as better than everyone else (regardless of their skin color). I tend to find that he and other media members are far more sensitive to criticism than virtually anyone else. Chris Gasper for example this past week on Twitter tried to portray Boston fans as being racist about the Udoka hiring all based on a single caller to Felger and Mazz, who was hung up on so quick his point wasn't entirely clear (it came off like he was being critical of Felger). When challenged on his claims Gasper got extremely defensive about it and ultimately blocked the person pointing out that he was trying to create a controversy over at most one caller. If media members are trying to cause controversies over something so flimsy, why are they exempt from the fans doing that to them?
 

scottyno

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Agree with the last two posts.

As predictable as the swallows returning to Capistrano, Felger will find the most contrarian island and set up camp there. He's very good (and entertaining) while he does it, which is why they dominate the ratings book. Part of the allure for me is how predictable he is and how much it gets under people's skin.
Will never understand how anyone thinks this is a good thing, he's just a radio troll saying bullshit he doesn't even believe
 

joe dokes

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Sille Skrub nailed it, in my opinion.

The entry following his is exhibit A.
FWIW-- I have never actually listened to the show. (its on at a time that listening to a game on 98.5 from the day or night before wouldnt cause to me to hear it, as I might have 15 seconds of Callahan on weei in the morning after a sox game). What I know about what they say I read here. Which is approximately the same level of knowledge that Felger and Mazz have about *anything* they talk about. (in fact, I get better info here, than they get from twitter or instaface or whatever supplies their blowholes). Therefore I am qualified to criticize them from *my* air conditioned couch as they do to others.

None of this is to say that I could do what they do. They've monetized ignorance and stupidity as entertainment. They aren't the first. But I happen to like sports, and when the fandom becomes more stupid and ignorant, I think it brings down the sport a bit, and it's because of people like them.
 

Sille Skrub

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At the very least give us a change-up twice a week and give us some honest analysis.
They definitely do this. One example was Felger absolutely railing on the B's when they went with Rask in Game 6. He was doing it before the game even started. Also, their interview with Wyc Grousbeck the other day was phenomenal. They will ask the tough questions while most of the rest of the local media (especially the Celtics beat) will just lob softballs.

I think people get so upset with the trolling that it drowns out the good stuff. I know this happens to me with Jim Murray. He almost makes the show unlistenable, but I have conditioned myself to tune him out when he speaks. I think F&M balance the trolling a lot better than Adam Jones, who takes it to an absolute extreme. Thank goodness for Christian Arcand, who does add some balance to the evening show.
 

Humphrey

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I hate to be in the position of having to defend Michael Felger, but his hot sport takes on Udoka have nothing to do with race. It does not matter who they hired, Felger and Mazz were going to bash them to death. Even if the Celtics went ahead and did what Felger and Mazz wanted and hired Chauncey Billups, they'd spend a day gloating and patting themselves on the back, then the next day they would proclaim how it was a massive mistake and spend the next 5 years bashing the decision relentlessly. They could hire Felger's neighborhood best friend from Wisconsin, they could hire Felger's wife, they could hire one of his current or formet cohosts and there's no bigger guarantee then him bashing them and the team to death immediately on his show to get attention.
They'd be all over this Billups story from 1997.
 

Granite Sox

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They definitely do this. One example was Felger absolutely railing on the B's when they went with Rask in Game 6. He was doing it before the game even started. Also, their interview with Wyc Grousbeck the other day was phenomenal. They will ask the tough questions while most of the rest of the local media (especially the Celtics beat) will just lob softballs...
I have to disagree with this perspective. The impression I got is that while true that they asked Grousbeck SOME questions that could be considered "tough", they also spent the majority of the interview trying to play 'gotcha' and asking questions that were thinly veiled attempts to validate the hot takes that they'd been trying to hump on the show for weeks. Grousbeck wouldn't take the bait, and at the conclusion of the interview Felger said, "Well that was a whole lot of nothing... I wish he'd answer the tough questions instead of being so PR conscious." I don't know why Grousbeck would want to play the sucker, so the F&M approach came across to me as (typically) cynical and a demonstration of bad faith media interviewing.
 

PC Drunken Friar

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I have to disagree with this perspective. The impression I got is that while true that they asked Grousbeck SOME questions that could be considered "tough", they also spent the majority of the interview trying to play 'gotcha' and asking questions that were thinly veiled attempts to validate the hot takes that they'd been trying to hump on the show for weeks. Grousbeck wouldn't take the bait, and at the conclusion of the interview Felger said, "Well that was a whole lot of nothing... I wish he'd answer the tough questions instead of being so PR conscious." I don't know why Grousbeck would want to play the sucker, so the F&M approach came across to me as (typically) cynical and a demonstration of bad faith media interviewing.
Yea, I heard that inter iew and the whole point of it was to get him to mess up and make F&M look right. He definitely called them out on it a couple of times.

The Celtics media won't ask those "tough" questions because they are stupid and asinine.
 

scottyno

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They definitely do this. One example was Felger absolutely railing on the B's when they went with Rask in Game 6. He was doing it before the game even started. Also, their interview with Wyc Grousbeck the other day was phenomenal. They will ask the tough questions while most of the rest of the local media (especially the Celtics beat) will just lob softballs.
And if the Bs had gone with Swayman Felger would rail on Rask for being soft and coming up small in the playoffs, that's not having an honest take, he's ignored facts and trashed Rask for years
 

Sille Skrub

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And if the Bs had gone with Swayman Felger would rail on Rask for being soft and coming up small in the playoffs, that's not having an honest take, he's ignored facts and trashed Rask for years
For someone who doesn’t understand why they are popular, you sure do listen a lot.
 

scottyno

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For someone who doesn’t understand why they are popular, you sure do listen a lot.
Yeah it's not like there's a 214 page thread on this board that gets updated after every asinine take that they have or something.

Haven't listened to them in probably 10 years outside of a couple of interviews. Also considering people here can predict almost word for word what half of those takes are going to be it's not like you need to listen to know what he's going to say
 

amRadio

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I feel like in this thread of all places we should avoid attacking each other for listening to this show. This thread is more like a support group. We're all trying to just get better one day at a time, right, Mike?
 

Humphrey

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What will Mazz say about the Red Sox if they manage to win a series in Oakland, a place where they've sucked since the As moved there from Kansas City?
 

Patriot_Reign

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Turned on the show for a few minutes when I was in the car yesterday.

Felger: "Let's talk about the NBA finals - can you imagine if Giannis doesn't play in this series!?"

Murray: "If he doesn't play his leg better be hanging by a shred to not want to be out there"

Felger: "I mean, that's an all time no show if he doesn't play in these finals!"

/change station - why do I bother tuning in

Turn on game one of the finals - Giannis is starting.



College professors who teach debate classes should have the students tune into this show for insight in how to craft endless strawmen.
 

shawnrbu

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Felger has berated callers for over a decade when they call with a poor cell phone connection. Any time Felger works remotely from Nantucket, he gets disconnected multiple times during the course of the show.
 

amRadio

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Forgot to shut my radio off at 2pm while driving. They open up with thoughts on the Red Sox deadline; talking about how ownership isn't committed and it's totally unacceptable that they blew the trade deadline because Henry didn't want to go over the luxury tax.

How does that narrative get trotted out so consistently? It's fair to be disappointed in the deadline, but there could be analysis within that perspective beyond beating the ever living shit out of the dead luxury tax horse for the millionth time.
 

amRadio

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Why can't Boston just have a couple guys on the radio in drive time that don't openly hate the Boston teams?
 

ifmanis5

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NDame616

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In case anyone is wondering, Jim Murray is already saying it much be time to call Mac Jones a bust.
 

Helmet Head

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In case anyone is wondering, Jim Murray is already saying it much be time to call Mac Jones a bust.
The show has somehow become a parody of itself. They always had hot takes mixed in but they somehow spiraled to a point where they are all trying to out hot take each other now. And sadly it won’t end given their ridiculously high ratings. Only thing that will change it is if ratings start dropping.