Michael Holley's Revolving Hostatorium

PeaceSignMoose

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I have been pleasantly surprised with Jerry Thornton so far.  Granted, expectations were set pretty low, but it seemed like he was trying way too hard to be edgy and hilarious prior to getting the contract with WEEI, Now it seems like he's settled in a bit and he barely talks, but when he does it's something relevant.  Not bad.
 

J.McG

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Just heard Dale responding to a text asking why Thornton has yet to be heard on the air for the first hour of the show since being hired "full time" last week.

According to Dale, Thornton is the "3rd man in" from 3-5 pm only (except when Dale has Bruins/NESN duty, one would assume). So the Entercom suits thought so much of the guy that they were only willing to give him a "permanent role" with 10 hours of air time a week?
 

Vandalman

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Harry Hooper said:
Have to give Thornton props for going after the CHB yesterday, both on air and on WEEI.com.
 
And the first comment is from none other than Pete Sheppard from "Connecticut School of Broadcasting - Needham Campus". He's not a Shank fan, either.
 

jasail

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I've been a fan of Thorton's writing since before BSS was a blog. Sure he's an unabashed homer, but this is a town with countless sports media contrarians and trolls. His Monday morning Pats recaps were always thorough and entertaining and he's long thrashed Shank (and Borges) for his control-c techniques and increasing irrelevance. While Jerry's got a face for radio and a voice for print media, glad to see he's bringing his vitriol for Shank et.al., from a smut blog to the mainstream. 
 

southshoresoxfan

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jasail said:
I've been a fan of Thorton's writing since before BSS was a blog. Sure he's an unabashed homer, but this is a town with countless sports media contrarians and trolls. His Monday morning Pats recaps were always thorough and entertaining and he's long thrashed Shank (and Borges) for his control-c techniques and increasing irrelevance. While Jerry's got a face for radio and a voice for print media, glad to see he's bringing his vitriol for Shank et.al., from a smut blog to the mainstream. 
Yeah this guy catches a lot of flak but I enjoy him. Nice break from felger telling me that BB would rather look smart than win games.
 

MyDaughterLovesTomGordon

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I've been listening through the EEI app much more lately, and to be able to pick and choose which portions of which shows to listen to improves the experience greatly. Dale and Holley are often really funny together. Their bit with Thorton yesterday (maybe?) lambasting the Globe's sportsmanship editorial was pretty good. Dale did a "dramatic reading" that was actually really well done as per the right level of irony. 
 
And to have Thorton only as part of the show makes sure the doses aren't too heavy. 
 

grimshaw

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I'm on the bandwagon now too.  He doesn't shout over anyone or talk too much, is self-deprecating, and doesn't force as many jokes as I thought he would.
 

yeahlunchbox

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On the second page I called it subtraction by addition when they added Thornton, but I've found him to be much better since he's gotten his permanent role. I'm not sure if he was forcing things before when he was the third seat so he could get the role, if they've found their stride as a group or I've just gotten used to him more, but I have noticed an improvement with him.
 

Harry Hooper

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If Holley's playing the stooge today for "lively radio" purposes, he's doing a great job. He keeps insisting {in the face of all evidence} that the officials on the field screwed up the Patriouts ineligible receiver stuff.
 

Dotrat

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That's good to hear--I've been tuning in online to D&H over the last couple of months and enjoyed it far more than the increasingly insufferable Felger & Mazz shrillfest. I even like Jerry, at least when he's talking about football and not trying to do stand-up sitting down.
 

wilked

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I personally can't stand D&H, rarely agree with their analyses, find their humor to be something my grampa might enjoy, and just don't dig their shtick.  Am I an outlier there?
 
FWIW I find Mazz and Felger awful, but at least I know they are purposefully trolling their listeners.
 

PBDWake

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wilked said:
I personally can't stand D&H, rarely agree with their analyses, find their humor to be something my grampa might enjoy, and just don't dig their shtick.  Am I an outlier there?
 
FWIW I find Mazz and Felger awful, but at least I know they are purposefully trolling their listeners.
 
I mean, when we praise them, we're grading on a scale. Let's be realistic, we're almost never going to get actual, quality analysis on talk radio. There's just not a market for it. You get ratings with simple talk that can be understood and discussed quickly. You need to hold their attention long enough for a standard car ride, not to accurately and adequately break down a game.  D&H at least approach the situation with some level of maturity compared to F&M. I don't usually listen to Sports Radio for that reason. For actual analysis, there are podcasts out there for my drive time that hit things much better, but the tradeoff is timeliness. If I want to hear about (even relatively) breaking news, well, at least I know D&H might take it seriously instead of just trying to get my blood boiling.
 

NickEsasky

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I realize D&H can be kind of bland and boring at times but it's a needed remedy to the constant negativity and trolling of F&M. I am sure F&M will tell you that the constant "pom pom" waving is boring and I actually agree, but so is the constant negativity and trashing of all the Boston teams that you get on F&M. Too much of anything gets boring on the radio. Trash a team when they deserve it but ripping them for everything is shitty radio too.
 

MyDaughterLovesTomGordon

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Thornton was schooling Holley today on the value of wide receivers. Made Holley look like the Dave Stewart of football.

So bad that Kerry from pro football talk actually called in to back Jerry up.

Think Holley sometimes tries to hard to be contrarian.
 

JimD

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D&H may be vanilla but at least you don't get the distinct sense that they have an agenda or are playing a role the way so many other sports radio hosts do.  Their show the afternoon of Pedro's HoF induction was perfect - it was a celebration. 
 

Dirty Sanchez Forever

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Arnold has Peter King's same self entitled, smug sense of right and wrong, wrapped in superficial conventional wisdom.  But it's delivered in a folksy way and he keeps the show moving along.  
 
I don't think anyone can make a convincing case for Michael Holley's continued existence in radio.
 

Corsi

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Dirty Sanchez Forever said:
Arnold has Peter King's same self entitled, smug sense of right and wrong, wrapped in superficial conventional wisdom stupid tuft of white hair.
 
 
 
 

Gambler7

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I gave up on F&M the last two days and switched over to EEI. It's been fine, but do they really still have that cars for kids commercial???
 

Harry Hooper

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Holley mentioning one of my pet peeves from the NFC Championship, how could the Packers not be anticipating the fake field goal in those circumstances by Seattle?
 

southshoresoxfan

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Me and my brother were watching the game. Up 16 zero chance you should have kick block on. Just do the base cover 2 on the field. We said it as it was unfolding this has to be a fake right? Fg does nothing there. Awful. Just everything by the GB coaching staff from the two fgs inside the two to the 4th q play calling to not being ready for a fake fg up 16!!!!
 

the1andonly3003

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during previous Super Bowl weekends, EEI's weekday lineup used to work on the Saturday and Sunday, and the different hosts would mix with each other...I kind of missed that today
 

NortheasternPJ

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the1andonly3003 said:
during previous Super Bowl weekends, EEI's weekday lineup used to work on the Saturday and Sunday, and the different hosts would mix with each other...I kind of missed that today
Not a Mustard fan? Brutal radio.
 

Harry Hooper

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the1andonly3003 said:
while TSH gives an extra dose of F&M, EEI's weekday regulars get nothing...EEI probably sent their guys on a flight back to Boston today
 
I think I heard Dale say on Friday that they were headed back before the game.
 

Harry Hooper

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Dale was trying to raise the issue of guys like Mortensen having no obligation to protect sources feeding them false/misleading info, and Holley kept saying as a journalist you're always probing why someone is giving you something. He couldn't grasp the point wasn't about agendas driving sources, but the sources providing bogus stuff to you.
 

the1andonly3003

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soxhop411

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A.J. Black ‏@BCHysteria 12m12 minutes ago
Caller on @WEEI, "Bill Belichick is a C+ general manager, if he didn't screw up so much the Pats would have had 10 Super Bowls in 15 years”

Scott McLaughlin ‏@smclaughlin9 23m23 minutes ago
Caller says the Patriots would have 10 Super Bowls in the last 15 years if Belichick were a good GM. Don't do drugs, kids.
 

Harry Hooper

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Dale referring to Wellsreportincontext.com today seemed to be completely ignorant of McNally's 'deflate-jacket' text to Jastremski during the game at Lambeau Field.
 
Link for Dale
 

grimshaw

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As much as we knock ESPN, I have to say that Trent Dilfer is a surprisingly great guest each week with his quarterback insight. Certainly way better than any painfully vanilla Patriot interview. Matthew Slater is articulate but still doesn't really say anything interesting.
 

PC Drunken Friar

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Thornton is beloved by the Pats fans on Barstool. Yeah he gets mocked because of his age but the readers love his analysis. His post game reviews and draft previews were excellent. Commenters have been begging Portnoy to hire him back ever since he left.
People go to Barstool for analysis?

Guess you learn something new everyday.
 
People go to Barstool for analysis?

Guess you learn something new everyday.
I get it. Their content isn't for everybody and you're above Barstool. You've repeatedly said so....congrats on that.

But Portnoy sold 51% of the site for almost $12 million so he's clearly doing something to attract an audience (and analysis is part of it otherwise Jared Carrabis would't be a well known name in the Boston baseball media circles). And the Pardon My Take Podcast is one of the most downloaded on the web. But you keep doing what you do, PC. Fight the good fight, brother.

Edit - Here is one of Thornton's last Pats Draft Previews for Defensive Tackles where he correctly predicted NE would take Dominique Easley. You can hate the site but Thornton's Patriot-centric blogs are excellent.
 
Last edited:

PC Drunken Friar

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I get it. Their content isn't for everybody and you're above Barstool. You've repeatedly said so....congrats on that.

But Portnoy sold 51% of the site for almost $12 million so he's clearly doing something to attract an audience (and analysis is part of it otherwise Jared Carrabis would't be a well known name in the Boston baseball media circles). And the Pardon My Take Podcast is one of the most downloaded on the web. But you keep doing what you do, PC. Fight the good fight, brother.

Edit - Here is one of Thornton's last Pats Draft Previews for Defensive Tackles where he correctly predicted NE would take Dominique Easley. You can hate the site but Thornton's Patriot-centric blogs are excellent.
Sorry you took my response as sarcastic. I truly did not know that they have stuff like that. I obviously haven't read in years.

I didnt mind the small amounts that I heard from Thornton on EEI
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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I really disliked Thornton when I first heard him on EEI, but he grew on me. In the limited times that I listened to him on D&H, I thought that he was actually pretty good and I guess that I'll miss him a bit.
 
Sorry you took my response as sarcastic. I truly did not know that they have stuff like that. I obviously haven't read in years.

I didnt mind the small amounts that I heard from Thornton on EEI
Well now I feel stupid. I know you're not a huge fan of Barstool (and I get that, I have my issues at times too) and I thought you were just busting my balls. Sorry for being snarky.
 

NortheasternPJ

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I really disliked Thornton when I first heard him on EEI, but he grew on me. In the limited times that I listened to him on D&H, I thought that he was actually pretty good and I guess that I'll miss him a bit.
This is exactly where I'm at. My dislike of him was very vocal when he was on F&M. I thought he added to D&H. They can be way too bland/cardboard at times, he at least broke that up.

Looks like no 3rd seat coming back either.
 

Harry Hooper

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This is exactly where I'm at. My dislike of him was very vocal when he was on F&M. I thought he added to D&H. They can be way too bland/cardboard at times, he at least broke that up.

Looks like no 3rd seat coming back either.

I was in the same boat, very down on Thornton's addition to D&H. He proved to be a real asset to the show, especially through the "heights" of Deflategate.
 

MyDaughterLovesTomGordon

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Recently, Thortnon led to one of my recent favorite moments in sports radio. They had Belichick on right after the Collins trade, and Belichick was in just no mood. They finally get him to open up a little bit by asking football questions and then this happens:

Thornton: People talk all the time about "bend but don't break" with the Patriots. And that does seem to be working for you. While you're giving up a lot of yards, you're only fourth in points allowed. Is "bend but don't break" something that you really do work on and how does that work?

BB: Yeah, I've never used that term. I don't even know what that means.