Felger & Mazz

[HuskyHawk]

That was the topic of conversation on Dale and Holley on Monday. I listened for an hour from my office in SE CT to Chicago Sams in Cromwell. Callers were commenting that BC has stricter admissions policies than UConn and they don't bend them for athletes (BS, BTW). Both Dale and Holley said that is fine, but if that is actually the case, the administration needs to own it and not fire the coach after 3 years when they don't meet UConn's level of expectations. Callers also thought that the APR ban was caused by players on the current team (False). Everyone seemed to acknowledge that BC Basketball and Football is an afterthought to The Sox, Celts, Bruins and Patriots and then some...as far as 7th or 8th in interest within Greater Boston (i.e. inside 128). Judging from this thread, those callers are not totally off the mark. They then brought up the condition of BC's facilities. It's not that they are not bad, per se...its that they none existent. Conte houses both the hockey team and basketball arena. The NCAA stipulates that the basketball team is allowed to warm up earlier in the day on the court and baskets where the game will be played. That means the Hockey team practices off campus (Waltham, IIRC). Dale then indicated that football fans tailgate on the baseball field. It's not used as an axillary parking lot. That is the parking lot. I don't know if that is true. Any football game I've been to at BC, we've taken the T. Painful ride really. The B green line stops every 13 feet. In the winter they inflat a bubble over the field so virtually all of their varsity teams can practice. There was no mention of a weight room or intramural facilities (e.g. the Greer Fieldhouse). They then brought up the O'Brien episode of 1997, where 3 AAU teammates (Jonathan Depina, Michael Bradley, and Elton Tyler) were recruited by O'Brien and all but guaranteed acceptance, but 2 were reject by admissions. Incidentally, Bradley played at Burncoat High in Worcester and was coached by my high school Health teacher...different schools. I'm not from Worcester. On a related note, I'm happy Dale Arnold is back on the air full time again. I didn't mind Mike Salk like a lot of EEI's listeners, but I though Dale got a bum deal when Holley was teamed with Ordway. Dale Arnold is incredibly knowledgeable about hockey, a sport that get far too little play on that station, even though they won the cup in '11 and were in the Finals last year.

Heard some of this. I like both of them, and Dale knows hockey, but he is clueless about college sports. Holly is ok, he's an Ohio State guy I believe, so he can speak intelligently about college sports and football in particular, but he never has a chance.

Felger and Mazz are politically correct morons. That whole show was only created to give left wing sports fans an option other than the Big Show, which was pretty conservative (for Boston). I thought Mazz knew his baseball, until they brought Sean McAdam on WEEI, and he just owned it over Mazz.

 

[The Viking]

As a Sox fan I'm embarassed at how bad most Boston sports talk is. I do like Mut and Merloni though. Maybe the only show I can listen to on EEI. And Felger can be OK about 25% of the times while Mazz might be the worst person on sports radio in the country.

 

[dsturdy5]

To the people bemoaning the current state of Boston sports talk radio, you need to go back less than ten years to find where things went terribly wrong.

WEEI in its glory days of 2001-2006 was incredible to listen to, honestly. They were the only show in town and they got fat on their success. Over time their brand suffered, they thought it didn't matter what they or the competition did, that they would still be #1...not in Boston, mind you, but nationally. There was great, innovative, entertaining sports talk most of the time (Saturday/Sunday show with Larry Johnson/Craig Mustard not withstanding).

When 98.5 came on, people were ready for a change and it didn't really matter what it was they were airing. WEEI was slow to react and the lost audience, by and large, has not yet returned. Since they took the Patriots, Bruins, and now Celtics, they have the live stuff cornered as well. Their "specialty" shows like the hockey show, Celtics show, baseball show are good listens, mainly because they don't have their regular "personalities" and that's what they are, personalities.

I can't stand either morning drive programs. Mid-day I like 98.5 during football season. I love Mutt but can't stand Lou Merloni. Every other word is "damn". The afternoon drive is much better now with Dale and Holley back together. They are a tremendous upgrade over Felger and Tony "You are absolutely right, Mike" Mazz.

What gets me most about Felger is he HATES basketball, especially the Celtics. He bends over for the Bruins and, while he likes the Patriots, he spends his shows pushing their fans' buttons. When I met him around 2005, he was a nice, engaging guy who spoke intelligently about many subjects. However, his contrarian schtick has reached a lot of ears and they like it. Not sure why, but they do.

 

[dsturdy5]

D &C went on about UConn and "how does uconn recruit against better academic schools like duke stanford unc, who wouldn't want a degree from those schools first". I think they're so old school that they don't understand what UConn has turned into and it's superiority among NE public schools. They also don't have a clue about the UNC academic scandal.

They are recycling the exact same argument they made after the 2004 and 2011 championship runs. Seriously, same thing, same examples. All of it, the same. I called in after 2004 and spoke about guys like Rudy Gay going to UConn, being a top recruit, etc and they laughed. "He isn't a top recruit. UConn doesn't get top recruits. It's all Calhoun taking kids and pushing them." Before I could reply, they hung up on me. I emailed the show and was told to "give it up, fanboy."

Funny, I don't hear that argument about football players going to Alabama over, say, Notre Dame. Tools, all of them.

 

[HooperScooper]

I don't think Tony has ever been outside of 128.

Well 10 miles outside of 128. He lives in Sudbury.

I listen to them a lot and besides Felger's knowledge of the local college hockey scene (he went to BU) they know nothing about college sports. So I couldn't care less what they said about UConn.

 

[UConn07]

Ok - which one of you guys called into the show yesterday around 5? The tear Mazz went on about the state and then Felger joining in for 15 minutes made me want to rear end the Mass car in front of me. Their comeback to a UCONN fan calling up was, "How's your hockey?" Well guess, what, we are joining Hockey East next year and will be kicking BC's, Northeastern's and BU's a$$es within 2-3 years.

 

[Yonick]

Just remember the Boston media's reaction to Hartford & CT, and it's fans when it appeared the Patriots would move to Hartford.
They acted like little kids losing their toys to someone else. Name calling and other remarkably unprofessional behavior by these small time moguls towards CT.
This is why I cannot root for anything Boston based.

 

[Rondogg]

Your gonna hear this stuff a lot on talk radio, in 04 a lot of people liked to see the dual championships, this year your gonna hear a lot of jealousy and hatred from people, who cares let them be mad thats the reaction they want from us is to be mad. Who cares enjoy this.

This is true. Go to ANY board and you will see their fans complaining that ESPN is biased against them. Common theme. If KY had won, all of these shows would be complaining about the One and Done and how Calipari only won because he assembled an all-star team. Etc, etc. These shows need to rip apart the champ because they know 95% of the people watching/listening don't want to watch a 100% love fest.

 

[dsturdy5]

All you need to know about sports talk radio is right here.

http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/2014/04/the-devolution-of-sports-talk-radio-is-it-permanent

 

[amory]

Ok - which one of you guys called into the show yesterday around 5? The tear Mazz went on about the state and then Felger joining in for 15 minutes made me want to rear end the Mass car in front of me. Their comeback to a UCONN fan calling up was, "How's your hockey?" Well guess, what, we are joining Hockey East next year and will be kicking BC's, Northeastern's and BU's a es within 2-3 years.

who in their right mind gives a about college hockey anyway?

 

[intlzncster]

who in their right mind gives a about college hockey anyway?

If you a hockey fan, the tournaments in college hockey are awesome.

 

[Connrack]

Well 10 miles outside of 128. He lives in Sudbury.

I listen to them a lot and besides Felger's knowledge of the local college hockey scene (he went to BU) they know nothing about college sports. So I couldn't care less what they said about UConn.

FWIW, I heard Mazz just say that he would love the Celtics to take Shabazz with their (currently) 18th pick. Bertrand chimed in that Napier wouldn't last so long in the draft.

 

[intlzncster]

FWIW, I heard Mazz just say that he would love the Celtics to take Shabazz with their (currently) 18th pick. Bertrand chimed in that Napier wouldn't last so long in the draft.

How do they have the 18th pick? Did they get rid of their own 1st rounder? They suck this year.

 

[UMass]

How do they have the 18th pick? Did they get rid of their own 1st rounder? They suck this year.

Didn't they get a first round pick as compensation for Doc Rivers?

 

[Husky25]

How do they have the 18th pick? Did they get rid of their own 1st rounder? They suck this year.

2 1st rounders, no second rounders. NBADraft.net indicates they get the worst of Nets or Hawks pick. They have them taking Dante Exum from Australia at 4 (Currently tied for the 3rd worse record, so it may be a few days old) and Elfrid Peyton at 18 from LA-Lafayette. Nappier predicted to go #24 to the UConn Husky Bobcats at Charlotte.

Incidentally, I will watch every Celtics game next season if Napier is drafted 18. Celticsblog.com said that Danny Ainge was in NYC for the MSU game.

 

[intlzncster]

2 1st rounders, no second rounders. NBADraft.net indicates they get the worst of Nets or Hawks pick. They have them taking Dante Exum from Australia at 4 (Currently tied for the 3rd worse record, so it may be a few days old) and Elfrid Peyton at 18 from LA-Lafayette. Nappier predicted to go #24 to the UConn Husky Bobcats at Charlotte.

Incidentally, I will watch every Celtics game next season if Napier is drafted 18. Celticsblog.com said that Danny Ainge was in NYC for the MSU game.

Thanks.

I'll definitely tune in way more often if the Cs draft him. Him and Rondo together would be a really tough backcourt to defend.

I can't say I'd be disappointing seeing Bazz and Kemba playing together again, though.