The Celtics traveled to Mike Felger’s home state of Wisconsin last night for a late (9:00pm start) with the Milwaukee Bucks. In all the years I’ve followed the Celtics, dating back to the 1980’s, this has always been a tough place for the Celtics to play. Last night was no exception, but the Celtics managed to execute down the stretch and pulled out a 89-83 win over a game Bucks squad. Get all the coverage over at CelticsLinks.com.

Late push enough for Celtics – Steve Bulpett has the Celtics winning their fifth straight with a combination of smoke, mirrors and a defensive revival.”

The importance of getting the top seed – Paul Flannery says that while this game will not make the postseason highlight DVD, it was nonetheless an important step towards a bigger goal for the Celtics.

Krstic excels in transition game – Gary Washburn’s notebook has the big man continuing to seamlessly fit into the Celtics offense. A. Sherrod Blakely reported yesterday that Shaquille O’Neal will be out indefinitely with a sore foot. Chris Forsberg has a number of reactions following the game last night. Steve Bulpett‘s notebook in the Herald has more on the Celtics waiting on Shaq and the other injured players.

It’s all in place – Nick Cafardo has a feature on why some left-handed hitters are made for Fenway Park, and he believes Adrian Gonzalez is one of those.

Healthy dose of optimism – Michael Silverman has Red Sox team physician Dr. Thomas Gill hopeful that he won’t be quite as busy this season as he was last.

Sox duo feels for steal – Scott Lauber has Tommy Harper praising the base-stealing instincts of Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford.

Expect big things from Papelbon – Jon Couture says that the Red Sox closer is going to have a monster season in 2011.

For Josh Reddick, the challenge is about more than just drawing walks – Brian MacPherson has the outfielder honing his skills at the plate.

This smacks of real progress – The Globe notebook has Gonzalez taking his first live BP of the spring. The Herald notebook from Michael Silverman has Terry Francona watching the kids yesterday. MacPherson’s Red Sox journal has Papelbon’s mechanics back in sync.

Lately, Bruins taking it from the top – Fluto Shinzawa has the Bruins top line leading the way as of late. Steve Conroy has the Bruins getting ready for another challenging week.

Mankins isn’t first Pats’ front office/football squabble – Tom E Curran takes exception from a line in Greg A Bedard’s Sunday NFL Notes in the Globe (Unnecessary roughness with Mankins, team)

With Dale Arnold filling in for John Dennis this week on Dennis and Callahan, and the new Mut and Merloni show debuting this morning on WEEI, the stage was set for an awkward crossover between Arnold and the guys who replaced him on the 10-2 timeslot. WEEI smartly avoided this, on the first day anyway, by not having a crossover segment at all.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

19 thoughts on “The Bucks Stopped Here”

  3. Well I guess avoiding how poorly you handled a situation is a solid way of dealing with a potentially ugly crossover…of course the ever professional Dale Arnold would not have embarrassed himself, Mutt, Merloni, Jerry Callahan or WEEI. I bet Julie Kahn wishes she could say the same thing based on the decisions she has made in the last month.

    Quick question, with all the fill in hosts available, did WEEI really need Dale Arnold this morning filling in for John Dennis when launching the replacement midday show? Was Steve Buckley preoccupied? Was Butch Sterns busy Mayoring? Was Neumy at the races? I guess my underlying question is…after handling the Dale Arnold situation as poorly as you possibly could…did Jason Wolfe have to make WEEI look even more foolish by giving listeners a side by side comparison of a Dale show (albeit with Callahan) and then the new Mutt and Merloni show. It only took me 15 minutes of listening to know quality took a huge hit.

    As a total aside…I drove to NYC on Saturday…streamed 98.5 on my iphone through the car the whole way down because Craig Mustard and Larry Johnson (my first choice) are completely unlistenable. It is dead air.

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  5. Now that we've had a week of Ordway and Holley and comments. I know it's early and they haven't gotten into a groove yet but so far I don't think it's the blockbuster pairing 'EEI thought it would be. Mostly it's just awkward.

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    1. Awkward is a great word for this pairing. What I loved about the big show was the ever revolving voices and points of view. I like Glen when he straddles the fence and is the voice of reason. He is at his entertaining best then. With Holley he is forced to take a position. I have zero interest in listening to a Big O / Holley debate on any topic, never mind constantly. I suggest this will be a disaster and they will change the format within 6 months.

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      1. I'm with ya, LTD. The long-time Big Show format may have grated many a day, but at least you knew a different pair would join Ordway the next day with the potential of a better show. Now it's Ordway and Holley…every day. Haven't heard much of the duo so far, have they been disagreeing on most topics? Has it sounded contrived?

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        1. Today they argued for 30 minutes about preseason games. Holley argued that the owners could meet the fans request by untethering them from season ticket packages. Glenn argued that then the Owners would lose money. It was an argument between two people stating the obvious and it was inane. It did not play to Glenn's strengths and I have always thought Holley is/was a moron. He brings no insight whatsoever to the conversation. It was painful.

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          1. Yeah, that was not a fun argument. Meanwhile, Felgie disappointed me by spending his time mocking the Miami Heat. At this point, that's like shooting fish in a barrel.

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    2. The only conclusion I have is that they are both dumber than I thought they were.

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    3. Agreed.

      Ordway is doing a lot of not actually listening to things Holley says (or was last week), and going off on his pet rants that, actually, have nothing to do with what Holley or the caller just said.

      When he /does/ listen to what Holley's saying, the conversations are still dominated by Ordway, and Holley's doing a lot of devil's advocate stuff which just doesn't thrill me.

      Meh.

      I do like Holley, as a radio guy, and I did see some signs that it was becoming less awkward, all in all… But Merloni and Mutnansky had a better debut.

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  6. I have to wonder about Mutt. I never even understood why he got the weekend gig. He seems like a decent guy but, I don't hear anything special. He has no long, impressive resume. And now for some reason he jumps over a bunch of people who are seemingly more quailifed, to land the mid-day show. Is he Julie Kahn's boy-toy? What gives?

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  8. Felger might be a "must listen" tonight if only to hear how he deals with the defeat of his beloved Bucks. I think maybe the real issue with him is that he has a basketball team other than the Celtics and football team other than the Pats (the Packers) so he that fuels his contrarian act. (it doesn't help that Mazz thinks he's some sort of squeaky voiced bulwark against the fans with Bruschi jerseys and footy pajamas). Probably another reason why he's better off talking about the B's than the C's.
    Although if that was the case, why isn't Fred Toucher – the Jets fan – as insufferable as Felgie when he discusses football?

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    1. It's because Toucher isn't as insufferable as Felgie in any aspect of life. Also, Fred is a fan who fears the worst for his team, while Felger just uses his team for the sake of being an obnoxious DB.

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  9. The change that was implied for the Big Show has been underwhelming. The Whiner Line, the sophmoric digressions, the new WTF segment all still play to the Lowest CD. Ordway has his contract, and is acting like a willing team member who has promised to improve his behavior but in reality has no intention of doing so. He's already got his. Holley I suppose didn't have any choice when ordered to move to 2:00 and is trying to make the best of it, realizing that his best effort is the best ticket to a fatter contract, wherever that may be.

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  10. Ordway and Holley sound like a recording of a blind date. I have come to the conclusion as to why Dale is the fall guy for all of this: he's basically boring–the one unforgiveable crime in talk radio.

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  11. Hey you guys! I did it! I listen to "Weekends in the Midday with Mut and Merloni" for 20 minutes today. And after a riveting straw-man discussion about Tom Brady's hair critics, I switched to my Pandora station. Maybe tomorrow I'll get to 25 minutes.

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  12. Mut's stance on the Chara incident was indeed contrived if you ask me. And the Big Show is just strange..from the shortened 'James Brown-less' opening to the awkward banter between the hosts. I give it six months tops

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