Steve BurtonLast Friday we rated outgoing WBZ-TV sports director Bob Lobel. Today we’re rating his successor, Steve Burton.

Burton has been at WBZ since 1994, serving as sports reporter and anchor on both WBZ and TV38. He has been a fixture on the Patriots pregame shows, as well as on Patriots Fifth Quarter, where he is usually stationed inside the press conference room at Gillette getting reaction to the game.

Prior to joining WBZ, Burton worked for NESN between 1988 and 1994, hosting pre and post game shows for the Red Sox broadcasts. He has been a regular on WEEI’s Big Show recently as well.

Burton was raised in Framingham, and attended Northwestern University, where he was on the football team. He is the son of former Patriots player Ron Burton, and his brother Phil Burton works as a sports reporter/anchor for CN8. His brother Ron Jr works in the community relations department for the Red Sox, and brother Paul Burton works for WBZ as a general assignment reporter.

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{democracy:29}

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

61 thoughts on “Approval Ratings – Steve Burton”

  2. The WBZ/Patriots 5th Quarter Steve Burton is an approve. The WEEI/Jose buddy Steve Burton is a disapprove. Enough said there.

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  4. the empty vest. has an unhealthy mancrush on Jose Canseco. asks “questions” in the form of statements to which his subjects must react awkwardly.

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    1. Damn if he didn’t do that statement-question thing during a segment on “Sports Final” with Sam Ryan last night. She waited about three seconds before awkwardly responding, during which ol’ Stevo chimed in, “So whaddya think?”

      If it’s possible Burton is becoming a bigger broadcasting abomination with each passing week. If it weren’t for some of the halfway-decent guests on “Sports Final” that show would be totally unwatchable. As it is, it’s pretty close to that now.

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  8. You won’t find a bigger sycophant or example of the Peter Principle in the Boston media. DISAPPROVE.

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  10. In a battle of wits between Steve Burton and a pound of thinly sliced Hans Kissell Bologna, the match was stopped in favor of the bologna via the mercy rule.

    DISSAPROVE 100,000 times.

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  12. his work during the press conferences on the fifth quarter is the most annoying look at me stuff that is out there in this town right now. saying something because he has some stiff competition.

    feeble attempts at gotcha journalism that seem to confound the person being questioned and the audience.

    also seems to never have heard a sentence that he thinks he shouldn’t finish.

    probably a decent guy but caters to ordway, callahan, wolfe, and the shemale.

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  13. Holds the world record for most consecutive ‘Rock,Paper,Scissors’ losses. Almost most injuries sustained while playing ‘Rock,Paper,Scissors.

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    1. I’d like to explore this further. Among the most salient comments ever made in this forum.

      Steve Burton is an insult to all of us. Not a bad human being. Just incredibly vapid.

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  18. I don’t think he’s as bright as Butch Stearns.

    The ultimate jocksniffer.

    Should not be allowed anywhere near Fenway Park as his brother is employed by the team.

    Offers little or no insight into football which is hard to believe because he played the game at a high level in the Big 10. Whether it’s birthday greetings for DeOssie or asking Randy Moss fashion questions – he’s out to lunch.

    His Patriots pre-game show consists of stuff that he’s already shown thru the week and he’s trying to pass it off as some sort of breaking news.

    Have I mentioned that I think he’s dumber than Butch Stearns?

    Always afraid to ask the tough questions.

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  19. When I look into his eyes as he’s looking into the camera, it’s like staring at a playful puppy that just wants to please but doesn’t quite know how to do it. He also can’t take direction well, doesn’t understand simple voice commands and refuses to do #1 on the paper.

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  20. If it guaranteed a ratings win for Channel 4 I would trade him to the CBS affiliate in Des Moines for a bucket of cow manure. No, imagine a bucket of manure doing the sports sitting next to Jack Williams? You HAVE to do that. If it GUARANTEED a ratings win, you have to make that trade. Wow.

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  21. Actually, he’s brilliant. He’s drawing a paycheck from WEEI for having Jose Canseco’s cell number, saying Wow repeatedly and cackling like some birthing hyena during the Whiner Line. Nice gig if you can get it.

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  22. DISAPPROVE, in fact hoping people are jumping the gun in annointing Steve as the successor. I’m hopeful that Dan Roache jumps over Steve to earn that job. Steve’s ‘aw, shucks’ grin as he asks flattering questions in the form of statements is brutal.

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  23. “I don’t think that we should all waste our time on these Internet polls, because … hey! is that a marble over there in the corner?”

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  24. Know the bit on Howard Stern where they conference called 2 Chinese Restaurants at the same time and then just listened to the 2 of them trying to figure out what was going on? It’s my dream to do that to Steve and Butch.

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  27. Ok, I disapprove, but I don’t think he’s as bad as some of the cast of characters polled here.

    And, shame on Bruce for slanting the poll with a photo of the guy that just encourages “dumb” comments. There has to be a better picture out there. I mean, heck, even Stearns looked ok, didn’t he???

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  28. Uses his relationship with a guy to determine their merit. Doesn’t watch sports beyond the Boston teams. Appears on WEEI’s big show and passed off as an expert. Wow.

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  29. The photo doesn’t make him look dumb Bill. The dumb makes him look dumb.

    And no there are no other pictures, that one stole his soul.

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  30. Thinks the whiner line is the most side splittingly hilarious, cutting edge comedy he’s ever heard. Also, falls for “got your nose” every time.

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  31. We have a winner in the dumbest person pulling down 6 figures for a Boston news station…Steve Burton! Every time this guy cashes his paycheck he’s committing robbery. Like the football player said about Bradshaw, “He couldn’t spell cat if you gave him the c and the a.”

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  32. Not a bad guy, but only a matter of time before he’s seen on-camera with a “Kick Me” signed taped to his back.

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  33. To be fair…the pound of thinly sliced Hans Kissell bologna also pummelled Bob Halloran, Butch Stearns, and Larry Johnson in successive battles of wit.

    Larry tried to make a sandwich out of the bologna but tripped on his moo-moo while chasing the elusive deli meat.

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  34. He should borrow some of Ordway’s mock turtlenecks…his in-grown neck hairs frighten me.

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  37. On the positive side, he won a grievance against Channel 4. Jack Williams will no longer be permitted to jiggle plastic toddler keys behind the teleprompter while Burton is on air.

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  38. To extend the dog analogy, Stearns is more aggressively stupid, sort of a retarded doberman. He enjoys rubbing his idiocy in your face.

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  39. It is beyond me how Steve Burton, seemingly a nice guy but a first-class jock sniffer is able to hold his job. When he appears on WEEI, I am forced to turn the station off. I have a lot of “nice” relatives, but that does not mean I wish to hear him twice or three times a week talking nonsensically and otherwise making inane comments about sports.

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  40. Joseph O’Leary wrote,

    “Buddhism queries the reality of the passions that make forgiveness necessary and queries also the reality of the objects of those passions. My anger, resentment, hatred are a delusion, and so is the crime or offence the other is thought to have committed against me. Indeed my very conception of myself and of the other is pervaded by delusion and fixation. Even if these Buddhist ideas were totally untrue, it would still be very wholesome to meditate on them.”

    I am reminded of this when I wonder on the utter lack of brain function of Steve Burton and then feel badly about my feelings toward him. Thankfully, according to the Buddhists, I don’t need to forgive him for ruining everything he touches with stupidity. I am one with his lunk-headedness.

    My mantra for this is, “Ohhhm- WOW!…Ohhhm- WOW!” They hate me in yoga class.

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  41. Vapid is a great term to describe him. As far as I can see, he is pretty much talent-less and is riding the family name. I once went to a charity fundraiser for inner-city kids at Fenway, and he was there as a celebrity. He spent 90% of the time talking on his phone. A jack-arse’s jack-arse.

    Disapprove.

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  43. I read a poet recently who said he was reassured by scientists being able to only identify 4% of the known matter in the universe. As a Boston sports fan I was horrified by the knowledge that the remaining 96% of unknown matter resided between the ears of Steve Burton.

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  44. buttercup, RACK IT!

    I cannot fathom how somebody as stupid as Burton has a job. It’s disgusting that this is what is foisted on the Boston market. WBZ must write out the teleprompter in phonetics so that dimwit can talk good.

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  45. born on third base, steve thinks he kicked a field goal.

    incapable of asking a question.

    a dullards dullard

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  46. Make book on this: Burton will actually outlast Lobel at the helm of WBZ sports. The favorite play-toy of all TV news hacks is the diskimination lawsuit, which Burton will wield like a threatening ax as his years move along. His is the closest thing to an entitlement program out there.

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  47. Unprofessional and not knowledgeable. Embarrassed himself with his “Curt, I need you!” routine at the World Series Parade while Francona was giving him an interview.

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  48. LMAO at the picture of Burton, it’s almost as bad as the one of Larry Johnson in his “hospital garb”….I can’t wait to see what kind of picture Bruce digs out for Pete Sheppard

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  49. RAMONE!!!! I NEED YOU!!!!! RAMONE!!!!!!

    Steve Burton, outside of Butch Sterns, is the biggest idiot on EEI. To think I had respect for this guy before he became an EEI regular… @_@

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  50. This guy is playing up the family name. Not much talent . Awkward on the air. Not talented. Suprised he has remained on the air this long.

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