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

[ObstructedView]

The two main rules of Boston sports punditry are (1) always go negative and (2) fans are to be mocked. So that's two strikes against Celtics talk these days.

And the "tomato can" trope is of course a classic. Instead of acknowledging the greatness of the home team you diminish their competition and set things up so anything less than a championship is a humiliating disaster worthy of relentless ridicule.

 

[Quiddity]

Celtics win by 6: "They should be blowing this team out Mike! What are they gonna do when they face real competition?!"

Celtics win by 20: "The win doesn't count Mike! The opponent sucks and blows! Fake championship!"

 

[4 6 3 DP]

Mazz would say the 86 Celtics championship wasn't as "real" as the 84 championship because the 84 team had to beat a good Knick team in 7 and then Philly before a great 7 gamer against the Lakers.

As opposed to annihilating Atlanta and Milwaukee before Houston.

Even though the 86 team would beat the 84 team in probably the same 6 games. Amazing.

 

[NDame616]

So with last night's game I'm assuming we will go from "they are front runners and this is a joke of an NBA season because the C's are going to roll to the championship" to "Does Tatum have IT? Can these guys even win tight series? They're probably going to lose in Cleveland and may lose the series! When that happens do you fire the coach?"

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

So with last night's game I'm assuming we will go from "they are front runners and this is a joke of an NBA season because the C's are going to roll to the championship" to "Does Tatum have IT? Can these guys even win tight series? They're probably going to lose in Cleveland and may lose the series! When that happens do you fire the coach?"

I watched BST with Felger and Holley and he (Felger) zigged when everyone zagged. Basically he said he's sick of the Celts making him look dumb (that they lose a bad game, he says they're done, they rip off three games is a row and the 'Green Teamers' yell at him for a week) and he thinks that last night was a bump in the road and they still finish a gentleman's sweep.

His contrarianism* kinda makes sense here.

Not sure if he'll do that today, but I wouldn't be surprised if he did.

* Like him or not, but Felger is really good at this hot take thing.

 

[bosox2398]

About 10 minutes ago he claimed, with a hint of faux surprise, that he was getting some “blowback” about his comments. He said it was a mistake and that he didn’t intend to make fun of Montgomery’s past issues. But he never apologized, and imo was not at all contrite. I thought he was borderline indignant: “if you’ve been listening to the show at all you’d know…”.

He’s an asshole.

I remember years ago he ripped Jimmy Hayes from the bruins mercilessly (something about Hayes was from Dorchester and appealed to the local towny "Big Bad Bruins" meatheads with his physical style of play). Jimmy actually confronted him once on Nantucket about it. Of course Felger turtled in person against Hayes. Anyway, Hayes tragically died a few yrs back and Felger couldn't even bury the hatchet and say he felt horrible that he died. Iirc he just said a generic "im sorry for his family." Not that he was sorry for Jimmy for losing his life at 32 yrs old. Dude is human fecal matter.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

I remember years ago he ripped Jimmy Hayes from the bruins mercilessly (something about Hayes was from Dorchester and appealed to the local towny "Big Bad Bruins" meatheads with his physical style of play). Jimmy actually confronted him once on Nantucket about it. Of course Felger turtled in person against Hayes. Anyway, Hayes tragically died a few yrs back and Felger couldn't even bury the hatchet and say he felt horrible that he died. Iirc he just said a generic "im sorry for his family." Not that he was sorry for Jimmy for losing his life at 32 yrs old. Dude is human fecal matter.

He also said horrible things about Roy Halladay when he died. I understand that saying horrible things on the radio is par for the course because ratings uber alles, but it was still reprehensible.

 

[joe dokes]

Talking about the Celtics

I couldn't embed this since it's Instagram but holy fucking shit this is sickening. Mazz suggests that if the Celtics win the title, it's hollow because it would be too easy due to the teams they played. Just wow.

If anyone knows anything about wining while facing no competition, it's Felcher and Miseratti.

 

[Erik Hanson's Hook]

Joking about Monty "having to go back to rehab because he was drinking the panic juice" is funny?

Given Monty's struggles with alcohol and how forthcoming he's been about it, no, it is not.


EDIT: Clip here:
View: https://twitter.com/davecullinane/status/1787971270841188513

Sorry, didn't mean to respond like that.

I can tell you though, friend, as someone who has lots of experience with the sauce, (and I'll be happy to lean on V&N about this) please don't call me out about this

I respect everything Mont has been through. BC I've been thru it, too

 

[Rusty13]

Mazz outdoes himself with this HOT Take.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

I just had to drop off my kid at dance so I just listened to these clowns for ten minutes. Good lord, I don't see how anyone can listen for more than 15 minutes. Felger just said that Brown's shot wasn't all that great because it went in off the backboard and Brown wanted to swish it.

So now these morons are figure skating judges.

"Celts can't win the close ones. They're too soft."
They do.
"Celts can't win the close ones with beautiful shots. They're lucky."
Sure Jan.

 

[CantKeepmedown]

I just watched Brown’s shot 15 times and cannot see at any point it even grazing the backboard. Granted, my eyesight is poor. What am I missing?

 

[Cotillion]

Mazz outdoes himself with this HOT Take.

It's such a cry for attention. It's not even worth time especially when you consider the bigger moment he picks out is Mueller hit scores a run. Yes it does. But why does it score a run Mazz?

 

[Mystic Merlin]

Mazz outdoes himself with this HOT Take.

 

[snowmanny]

It is an extra-big moment in large part because for decades and decades we were conditioned to expect that he would be out. Maybe he’d stumble. Maybe he’d trip over the bag. Maybe it would be a missed call by the umpire. And this is all on the heels of the 2003 ALCS where so much went wrong, including multiple Red Sox players being thrown out at second in key spots. But what actually happened was that the player they traded for to do something was put in the game to do something and he did it and the Yankees knew it was coming and couldn’t stop it. It really was a watershed moment.

Mazz knows this and is an idiot.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

It is an extra-big moment in large part because for decades and decades we were conditioned to expect that he would be out. Maybe he’d stumble. Maybe he’d trip over the bag. Maybe it would be a missed call by the umpire. And this is all on the heels of the 2003 ALCS where so much went wrong, including multiple Red Sox players being thrown out at second in key spots. But what actually happened was that the player they traded for to do something was put in the game to do something and he did it and the Yankees knew it was coming and couldn’t stop it. It really was a watershed moment.

Mazz knows this and is an idiot.

Not only that but he did it against arguably the greatest reliever of all time. GMAFB.

 

[NortheasternPJ]

Mazz outdoes himself with this HOT Take.

All Felger and Mazz is doing at this point is bringing cable news to sports. They don’t really believe any of it, if they do they’re so far into their ego they’ve lost sight of reality. I do believe they don’t believe 90% of it and just playing extremes for ratings. The fools are the ones that believe this shit.

 

[The Napkin]

I have an old school ipod nano (yes. I'm old.) that I use to listen to the radio on the T on my commute to/from work because it's nt really long enough to deal with an audiobook or podcast or whatever. One of the benefits of listening to the new Rich show on ZLX is it's still set to ZLX when I turn it on on the way home and music is fine for 20-30 minutes and I'm too indifferent to change the station so I haven't heard this show all week. That's a pretty nice little side benefit.

 

[Humphrey]

If Haliburton can't go, expect the likes of F&M and Shank to beat us to death with the Tomato Can angle.

 

[chonce1]

I agree totally.

I have been a Felger fan for a while, but I'm really surprised at how much better I like Mazz than I thought I would.

I think it's because on "The Big Show," everybody has to play a character. And Massarotti's character was the unbearable, high-pitched complainer. It's just the character he got stuck with.

I am thankful for this alternative, especially on days like this. I flipped it over to EEI during a commercial break, and Smerlas is on today. Thank God for Felger and Mazz.

Definitely reverted back to that character pretty quickly

 

[chonce1]

Man the replacement host today are dreadful. Who is this Mark guy.

Some bizarre comparison to the San Francisco 49ers (He says their window is over because their quarterback isn't good enough which seems pretty insane to me)... And somehow trying to tie that back to Tatum and the Celtics.

Didn't take me long to turn that off

 

[j-man]

about sf their window has only 1 year left max the qb is fine its just in the last 7 seasons kyle has blew a good shot at a least 2 rings

we all know 28-3
so i will get in to sb 54 and sb 58

sb 54 had a 20-10 lead going into 4th then started to get too cute and throw the ball now jimmy gets part of the blame but kyle wants to win his way
sb 58 u have to know the rules they failed to put the game away in the first haif letting kc hang in it

with purdy getting 55 mil a year and auiak getting 15-18 a year unlees they draft well they will be a 500 team by 26

 

[bankshot1]

Heard JJ Reddick on F&M this afternoon talking playoffs Celts, usual suspects. I'm not sure who was the bigger jerk, JJ or Felger. Felger asked some hot takey stuff, which is his thing, but JJ didn't want to play and basically called Felger an idiot, without telling him he was an idiot. JJ couldn't bail soon enough.

 

[onthereg527]

I don't think JJ was a dick at all, he didn't feed into any of this nonsense.

 

[Vinho Tinto]

I don't think JJ was a dick at all, he didn't feed into any of this nonsense.

He was talking and saying nothing. I don't understand why he agreed to the call.

 

[onthereg527]

He was talking and saying nothing. I don't understand why he agreed to the call.

He wasn't feeding into Felger's bullshit, that's why he wasn't saying much substantial, Felger kept wanting to get him to agree with his contrarian takes. Asking him to rank the remaining three coaches just so he can say he thinks Kidd sucks and Mazulla is a liability. Saying the Celtics can shoot themselves out of it, JJ responds they had the best statistical three point shooting team in the entire regular season and playoffs. Felger ignores that point and steamrolls through his slants. Just pathetic.

 

[54thMA]

They've pivoted away from the JJ talk, now saying "If another team got to the finals with a path as easy as the Celtics had (beating 3 40 win teams who were all missing their best player for the second half of each series), Celtics fans would point that out" or words to that effect.

So they are dismissing the fact that they went 4-1, 4-1, 4-0 all the while missing one of THEIR best players; had they been taken to 7 games in all three series, then maybe they'd have a point.

Their contrarian bullshit is just too much.

 

[scottyno]

They've pivoted away from the JJ talk, now saying "If another team got to the finals with a path as easy as the Celtics had (beating 3 40 win teams who were all missing their best player for the second half of each series), Celtics fans would point that out" or words to that effect.

So they are dismissing the fact that they went 4-1, 4-1, 4-0 all the while missing one of THEIR best players; had they been taken to 7 games in all three series, then maybe they'd have a point.

Their contrarian bullshit is just too much.

Not sure if the parenthesis is something they actually said or implied, but calling teams that won 46 47 and 48 games 40 win teams sounds like something they'd do. Cavs and Pacers were legit really good teams this year.

 

[54thMA]

Not sure if the parenthesis is something they actually said or implied, but calling teams that won 46 47 and 48 games 40 win teams sounds like something they'd do. Cavs and Pacers were legit really good teams this year.

Felger referred to them as "40 win teams"....................you can only play the teams in front of you and injuries are part of any sport.

Love how they totally dismiss KP being out for half of the first series and both of the second and third series.

 

[Hal Waffid]

I will never understand why so many people listen to this show. Does anyone actually learn anything about sports from these guys?

 

[shawnrbu]

Perk will be their guest tomorrow in the 3:00 PM hour.

 

[Patriot_Reign]

I will never understand why so many people listen to this show. Does anyone actually learn anything about sports from these guys?

This.
Turn the station off.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

He was talking and saying nothing. I don't understand why he agreed to the call.

Wild guess, but I bet it wasn't Redick's decision. It was probably something lined up by his bosses at ESPN rather than something JJ did on his own. I imagine being the lead color guy on the national broadcast comes with some obligations to do local radio hits, particularly with stations in a participating team's market. Not suffering BS narratives are a big reason he's ascended to the A-team so quickly.

 

[bankshot1]

Redick came in with an edge, and to be fair to Felger he asked some legit questions, which I have no doubt that a less guarded (Laker candidate) dont rock the yacht, more candid Redick would have easily answered.

 

[Vinho Tinto]

Wild guess, but I bet it wasn't Redick's decision. It was probably something lined up by his bosses at ESPN rather than something JJ did on his own. I imagine being the lead color guy on the national broadcast comes with some obligations to do local radio hits, particularly with stations in a participating team's market. Not suffering BS narratives are a big reason he's ascended to the A-team so quickly.

I think all of this is a reasonable take and would explain his energy from the jump.

I do find his potential hiring with the Lakers far more interesting than his current work with ESPN. He's a sharp guy and has a strong personality, but that is one of the biggest job in sports and he would be jumping in with no ramp up time. Not even sure how much say he would have on his staff.

He knows how often they fire coaches in LA; but the prestige the Lakers job still has, and a chance to work with LeBron, make it understandable why he appears to be pursuing it.

 

[steveluck7]

Redick came in with an edge, and to be fair to Felger he asked some legit questions, which I have no doubt that a less guarded (Laker candidate) dont rock the yacht, more candid Redick would have easily answered.

This.
Despite their initial trolling, contrarian intentions, they reframed questions, asked different questions, and gave him every opportunity to say anything remotely interesting and he wouldn’t budge.
I’m with you, I think his “leading candidate for the Lakers job” persona took over and he treated that conversation much more like a coach’s press conference than an interview between a network analyst and a drive time sports radio show.
Any savvy media personality would have taken the obvious troll questions and been lighthearted in offering the “contrary to the contrarian” opinion while giving the audience some entertainment.
The awkwardness was 100% JJ’s fault here.

 

[NDame616]

They've pivoted away from the JJ talk, now saying "If another team got to the finals with a path as easy as the Celtics had (beating 3 40 win teams who were all missing their best player for the second half of each series), Celtics fans would point that out" or words to that effect.

So they are dismissing the fact that they went 4-1, 4-1, 4-0 all the while missing one of THEIR best players; had they been taken to 7 games in all three series, then maybe they'd have a point.

Their contrarian bullshit is just too much.

Just so we are clear, if they had been taken to 7 games their takes would be "you coasted through the regular season which was a joke, now that the games are tough you can't even beat THESE LOSERS without going to 7? Jeez they should've swept them without breaking a sweat. They're frauds"

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Redick came in with an edge, and to be fair to Felger he asked some legit questions, which I have no doubt that a less guarded (Laker candidate) dont rock the yacht, more candid Redick would have easily answered.

I thought Reddick was pretty damn direct in calling Felger's assertion that the teams outwork each other in the playoffs "asinine."

Felger was desperately trying to frame the playoffs and the Celtics in particular as a character issue and Reddick was having absolutely none of it.

 

[The Napkin]

This.
Despite their initial trolling, contrarian intentions, they reframed questions, asked different questions, and gave him every opportunity to say anything remotely interesting and he wouldn’t budge.
I’m with you, I think his “leading candidate for the Lakers job” persona took over and he treated that conversation much more like a coach’s press conference than an interview between a network analyst and a drive time sports radio show.
Any savvy media personality would have taken the obvious troll questions and been lighthearted in offering the “contrary to the contrarian” opinion while giving the audience some entertainment.
The awkwardness was 100% JJ’s fault here.

or, he - a guy who played in the league for 15 years, is a lead broadcaster, and a leading candidate for a top HC job - gets on a local show to talk some basketball and the dumbass hosts immediately start with trolling contrarian intentions (I didn't hear it so just using your words) and he says fuck this I don't need this shit and just bides his time until he can hang up.

 

[PC Drunken Friar]

or, he - a guy who played in the league for 15 years, is a lead broadcaster, and a leading candidate for a top HC job - gets on a local show to talk some basketball and the dumbass hosts immediately start with trolling contrarian intentions (I didn't hear it so just using your words) and he says fuck this I don't need this shit and just bides his time until he can hang up.

I heard it. He was trying to get JJ to say three things.

Tatum shoots too many 3’s and is a chocker in the playoffs.

The Celtics get outworked by teams that “want it” more.

Mazzulla isn’t a good coach.

His rebuttals…JT has struggled with the 3 recently (but literally 2 more made 3’s give him a decent %) but he does everything else so well he can’t abandon it or he can’t fake, drive and kick it to someone else. Horford was assisted on 5 of his 7 3’s by drives from JT.

He just called bullshit on the not wanting it more and shut it down because it wasn’t worth discussing.

If you get the the final 3, you are a sucessful coach, end of story.

 

[chonce1]

Felger: "Perkins is one of the most important commentators in the entire sport but Celtics fans have shunned him because he's critical of the team."

How about because he's chronically wrong and says anything to be a hot tag artist. He said Jaylen Brown should have been traded last year. He said Kyrie Irving should retire.

And one thing that every fan base agrees on is that perk is not only bad but bad in a legendary way that's kind of a perfect case study in the problem with hot take commentary.

Not surprised felger is pumping his tires though.

 

[j-man]

have not watched this show in 4 mo gonna be inesting to see how they handle the pats

 

[Salem's Lot]

have not watched this show in 4 mo gonna be inesting to see how they handle the pats

The 2 minutes that I heard the show when me a co worker were driving to a job yesterday, Felger already has Maye being a bust because the awful 2nd rate cast off coaches (that they only hired because the good assistants on the market didn’t want to take their pitifully cheap contract offers) that they hired are ruining him, and furthermore they’re ruining him because they have him using virtual reality training, which Felger surmised came from the Krafts because they probably have a sponsorship or other business interest in the VR gear. Complete trash.

 

[j-man]

maybe fegler and mazz shouild move to denver

1 awful baseball team that does not spend
2 good hockey product
3 they hate baketball anyway when jokic leaves that wouild have a field day
4 murray choice as head coach of NE coaches Denver denver ownship has spent money just has not worked out and rip up the field for 1 home game because the field was starting to look bad for tv
but fegler couild live for 6 mos to a year bashing all the missteps since 2017