The finishing touches are being put on yet another championship parade for the city of Boston. The Bruins Stanley Cup parade will begin at 11:00 tomorrow in front of the TD Garden.

There are so many stories and links and columns about the Bruins this morning, that I’m going to just bring you a select few. You can find just about all of them over at BruinsLinks.com.

A Black And Gold Day for Boston. Finally. – Bill Simmons on Grantland weighs in on the Bruins finally getting that Stanley Cup back to Boston.

Bruins take their rightful place – Jackie MacMullan has the Bruins joining the champions circle in Boston. The video on the page though, (nothing to do with MacMullan’s column) is underwhelming. Reference to the “Curse of the Bambino?” DISAPPROVE.

Upon reflection, nearly perfect – Bob Ryan says that this run to the Cup couldn’t have been any better for the Bruisn and their fans.

Campbells enjoy the Stanley Cup as father and son – Joe Haggerty has Colin and Gregory Campbell enjoying this Stanley Cup win.

Winners And Losers Of The Boston Bruins Stanley Cup Run – My SB Nation Boston media column looks at the media winners and losers from the last six weeks or so.

Goucher crossed threshold, too, with ‘call of fame’ induction – Chad Finn compares championship call of the Bruins radio voice with those of past Boston champions.

Conway celebrates B’s win from afar – Bill Burt checks in with legendary Bruins writer Russ Conway for his thoughts on the Stanley Cup returning to Boston.

Bruins announcer Jim Martin says victory hasn’t sunk in yet – Richard C. Dujardin of the ProJo has the Bruins PA announcer thrilled with the win.

CTV’s Rob Brown, ESPN Book, Marv Albert highlights Media Power List – Richard Deitsch has his monthly media power rankings, including Bill Simmons apologizing to Mike Tirico for comments in the ESPN book.

What an ending! – Michael Felger signs off with his last mailbag. Some interesting stuff in here. I knew that Felger, Tony Massarotti and Bill Simmons had been together at the Herald as young reporters, and Felger notes that Steve Conroy (Herald Bruins writer) and Paul Perillo (Patriots Football Weekly) as well as Felger, Mazz and Simmons all came in together to the Herald as interns. Quite a staff.

Felger also reveals that he hates the Celtics with a passion (no surprise there) and also has this:

Some of you folks want an apology from me concerning some of my harsh Bruins commentary this season. Suffice it to say, that’s nonsense.

I think the B’s deserved all the scrutiny and the pressure we put on them. Thirty-nine years without a title is too long for a market like this. The way they were bounced out the last two years was worthy of a lot of criticism. Beyond that, my job is to tell you how I feel about the subjects I cover. Sometimes I’m right. Sometimes I’m wrong. But it’s the straight shot as I know it. If I did the job any other way, it wouldn’t be interesting to me.

So this is the deal. We take a stance, we let it play out, we argue about it, and at the end of the day we have winners and losers. And because we are adults, we admit who is right and who is wrong. You never need to worry about that with me, either. Therefore:

  • I was wrong about Claude Julien. He and his approach are good enough to win a championship.
  • I was wrong about Zdeno Chara. He is elite. A top 1-3 defenseman in the league, someone whose regular-season ability can translate to a championship.
  • And I was wrong about Tim Thomas. He can carry you to a Stanley Cup.

I will say it along with you: wrong, wrong and wrong.

And thrilled to be so.

Say what you will about Felger, I don’t know of many media members in this town who would come out and put something like this in print. Most who have failed in their predictions or stands prefer to just sweep it under the rug and move on to the next “outrage” or stand (Hello, Glenn Ordway!).  Felger is honest here about what he does, and that he was badly off base in his opinion. I can respect that. Now about that stand all last summer that the Patriots were making Tom Brady get on his knees and “beg” for a new contract…

I will also say that his victory lap yesterday after Shawn Thornton told him to “suck it” in the postgame interviews was pretty nauseating.

Michael Holley went off on Felger yesterday afternoon, it was something along the lines of “there are people in the media who called Jeremy Jacobs a criminal which forced the Herald to apologize and they’re the ones now saying they have never left the hockey bandwagon. Don’t believe it!” 

It was sort of out of character for Holley and a little surprising for him to call out another media member so openly like this. I liked it.

Speaking of WEEI, the most embarassing part of their Bruins “coverage” has to be Nanabula. If you don’t know who or what Nanabula is, I envy you. Brutal, just brutal. They wonder why 98.5 is running laps around them right now.

Five things we learned about the Red Sox after a dominating road trip – Rob Bradford looks at the Red Sox as they come off an 8-1 road trip.

Tedy Bruschi: Lockout gives Pats edge – Ian Rapoport has the Patriots legend saying that New England will be more prepared than most when the lockout ends.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

33 thoughts on “Boston Preps For Yet Another Parade”

    1. Todd, Andy Moog and Brad Park had a lot to do with the bringing down of Eagleson. But there is no question Conway's book "Game Misconduct" had a major influence in bringing justice to Eagleson. Bobby Orr still feels tremendous guilt over the fact he recommended Eagleson to so many players. Orr has become one of hockey's bigger agents and I believe it is because he wants to be the exact opposite of Eagleson.

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  2. I didn't hear Holly's take but Felger has always followed and talked hockey. He doesn't deny he wasn't on the bandwagon but he paid attention to the sport, even prior to 98.5. He even covered it enough for Jeremy Jacobs to get him removed from the beat. "EEI folks other than Dale haven't followed.

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    1. Ben, I agree. In order to criticize the Bruins, you have to write/talk/discuss them. Felger did that, EEI barely did. As a matter of fact, the one guy that did know his Bruins was constantly derided by the other guys and even taken from his spot (Arnold). EEI twisting all this to say they have always covered Bruins is like listening to Callahan twist the facts of a news story to fit his political views. It is uncomfortable to listen to.

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  3. So this morning I'm off work and decide to listen to the morning shows. I'm thinking the shows are going to reflect the area and be kind of giddy punch drunk hangover talk. T&R were that way, happy as could be and talking about guests and they even had Bergeron call in.

    D&C? I tuned in and they were talking about the Vancouver riots – all freaking morning! Distracted a bit by a shout-out to a book that blond political woman with a large adams apple wrote then they went back the discussing Canada's evil soshialism and how our country (and our guns) are so much better. Wonder why their ratings are tanking? Everyone associated with that entire program needs an enema.

    Fellas – this entire city is f'ing deliriously happy and you guys are waxing poetically about being paranoid! A wee bit out of touch with the mood of Boston?

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  4. I know Simmons isn't exactly Boston media, but that column had two major errors – both corrected after publication.

    The Game 6 or 7 mistake regarding the 1974 Cup, and the year of the Borque cup parade, 1999 or 2001.

    Both mistakes could have been corrected with a cursory Google search, which means he didn't bother doing that. This is in addition to the Peverly mistake last week.

    Nor do they have a fact checker that bothered to do it. As he explains in his footnote, he "handed it in," but to who? He's the editor in cheif, after all.

    It's not that I care – but shouldn't we? Supposedly they're this great new voice of sports journalism, and they can't have even the remotest fact checking?

    Or maybe I'm the jerk, I dunno.

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    1. There's another Grantland fact checking problem today in Kimmel's (funny) piece: he talks about seeing Ty Edney dribble the court to beat Missouri in the 1995 Final Four in Seattle. Unfortunately, that was a second round game in Boise, ID, not in the FF (where UCLA played Bryant "Big Country" Reeves' Oklahoma State team and Arkansas to win the title). Oopsy!

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  5. So this morning I'm off work and decide to listen to the morning shows. I'm thinking the shows are going to reflect the area and be kind of giddy punch drunk hangover talk. T&R were that way and pretty entertaining. They even got Patrice Bergeron to call in.

    D&C on the other hand talked all morning about the riots in Vancouver and the evils of Canadian soshialism. Angry, paranoid dudes those two. Wonder why their ratings are tanking? They both need an emergency high powered enema. Maybe next week they'll talk about how the Beatles are such a bad influence on today's young people…

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  6. Felger can admit when he is wrong. Ordway and Holley can't or won't. The big edge always to Felger and to 98.5. WEEI is a sinking ship that is trying to copy and react to the competition. The Bruins run to the Cup is like a perfect storm and EEI is the Andrea Gail.

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    1. Well, can you blame EEI for basically ignoring the Bruins for so long? They haven't done much in almost 40 years…and hockey is still a #4 sport in terms of popularity.

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      1. Ignoring is one thing. Openly mocking it is quite another. WEEI is getting it's comeuppance and it is sweet.

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      2. They're still ignoring it – at least they were this morning. All D&C could talk about was… (get this) the Vancouver riots and the evils of soshialism…

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  7. A few items:

    1) I do not believe you will ever see Felger take back what he has said about either the Patriots or the Celtics because in my opinion something personal must have happened with regards to both teams. Felger seems to have problems with both ownerships. He has questioned how the Krafts do business. He has complained about Gillette Stadium and called them cheap. With the Celtics, he has called Wyc Grousbeck insufferable on numerous occasions without ever explaining why.

    2) Chad Finn had another great chat, talking mostly about the Stanley Cup, but he did talk about some of the media issues. Regular poster Jason Coyote was all over it. I believe he had three questions answered. One of the topics was what Bruce posted on Michael Holley hammering Felger for being a fraud. Finn thought it is was hypocritical of both Ordway and Holley to go after Felger when they should be pointing the finger at themselves. Finn said no one made hockey more of a punchline than Ordway. Ordway then went after Finn for writing that WEEI had ignored hockey for years. Finn brought up the point that Sean McAdam has talked more hockey in two months at 98.5 then during his entire tenure at WEEI.

    3) Finn does believe though that Mut and Lou will be a wash with Gresh and Zo. I believe him. I find it hard to believe that when people listen to Andy Gresh the first thing that comes to their mind is "talent".

    4) Finn was asked about Dave Portnoy at Barstool Sports becoming a weekly guest on D&C. Finn likes Portnoy a lot but believes it is a much-too-late grab for the younger demographic.

    Here is the chat from Boston.com http://www.boston.com/sports/touching_all_the_bas…

    5) Speaking of Portnoy, Bruce I'm not sure if you follow El Pres on Twitter but he is incredulous that you did not include him as one of the winners of the local coverage of the Stanley Cup. Especially since Brian McGonagle (AKA, Rear Admiral) was able to crash the Bruins press conference. LOL

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    1. David Portney of Barstool is complaining about all the Boston media outlets that are suddenly jumping on the Bruins bandwagon but talk about being hypocritical; Barstool has never ever highlighted the Bruins but now you'd think that they are the flagship blogger for all things Boston Bruins. He's now even selling bootleg Bruin t-shirts. In fact, the image that Portney tries to portray that Barstool is the cool alternative sports blog where all the hip non-conformists go hang out but then he sells out to Dennis and Callahan. I'd bet only 1 out of 10 stoolies are regular D&C listeners and know most of them hate D&C by reading the comments when he announced he was doing the show. Who's zooming who here?

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  8. Why does Felger hate the Celtics? If anything, next to the Bruins, their championship is the purest one Boston has. As a Boston fan, mentioning any Patriots titles gets the tiresome "…but you cheated, spygate, belicheat, blah blah" and the Red Sox "Ortiz, Ramirez on roids".

    There's not much to say about the B's and C's titles except that they were the best teams in their respective sports.

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    1. He could just not like the sport of basketball. Or it could be that he's a Bucks fan and they haven't won anything ever.

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  9. The Boston Globe, in a plea for more money, is attaching videos to practically EVERY story now. It really is sad to see, because the videos feature people who really ought to be read (at best)…not seen and most certainly not heard. But The Globe knows that these videos represent place-holders for 'commercials,' which is also pretty much why local TV news still exists. I don't even click the videos any more.

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  10. Felger really is an uneducated media hack. The term is 'Suffice to say.' The mistake all Plebes make is to say, 'Suffice IT to say.' That's OK; we don't expect more from this class of people.

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    1. Eh…I've met people with PhD's who say "All intensive purposes". It's a common mistake that lots of people make.

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  11. Was there EVER a worse time for Dale Arnold to be diminished to invisibility than this year? Talk about one of media's cruelest ironies.

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  12. I'm betting Felger got static from all owners and was complained about to management at the Herald constantly. I think he doesn't like Wyc just because of his persona. Felger has his flaws, but he is actually willing to admit when he's wrong. Morover, the idea you have to "be on the bandwagon" all the time to be a great fan is not how he or I roll. If a team stinks, if a team seemingly refuses to really compete, you should call them out. I like Holley, but I think he is off base with his comments towards Felger in that vein.

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    1. I agree with you on Holley. As Chad Finn said, it is like pointing the finger at someone and that person is standing in the mirror. I do disagree with you on Felger. If Felger does have an issue with Grousbeck he should state what it is. He should not call him insufferable without a reason. He did admit he was wrong with the Bruins. How could he not? They won. But there has been numerous times where he will not admit he was wrong. As Bruce mentioned, Felger continues to say that Tom Brady had to beg for his contract. He was wrong time and time again with Randy Moss. With regards to the Red Sox, he looks you straight in the eye and tells you that the injuries on the team was not a major reason why the Red Sox did not make the playoffs. I have no problem with criticism but Felger's is usually misguided and wrong.

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  13. My thought is that Felger is quite frequently wrong because of his relentless, baseless S-stirring as a means to attract and sustain readers, listeners and viewers. Rather than pin a medal on him for occasionally admitting he's wrong, done only in the face of incontrovertible evidence, why don't we take him to task for manipulatively stirring the S in the first place?

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  14. If you want to know why the Boston Bruins have been irrelevant for twenty years you need look no further than the owner of the team, chief buffoon, Jeremy Jacobs, who inexplicably thought the pre-parade was a good time to take a shot at Cam Neely. The crowd let Jacobs have it with a series of boos and telling Jacobs it was his fault. The term "won something despite someone" was never more appropriate then with Jacobs. The Bruins won the Stanley Cup despite their owner Jeremy Jacobs. By the way, his son Charlie shows that the apple does not fall too far from the tree. A few years ago Boston Magazine did an interview with Charlie Jacobs. Charlie had a marketing person call Boston Magazine and said if the story is positive then Delaware North will do business.
    http://blogs.bostonmagazine.com/boston_daily/2007…

    Jeremy Jacobs, along with the other two stooges Harry Sinden and Mike O'Connell tried to "save hockey" at the expense of putting out an inferior product to the fans year after year. Despite being right in the middle of the financials, Jacobs, Sinden and O'Connell never saw the players taking a 15% percent pay-cut. They let just about the entire team go other than Joe Thornton. Teams like Detroit, who Sinden constantly chastised, wound up resigning all of their free agents.

    One more thing, Mike O'Connell had the gall to go on Felger and Maz and tell them that the trade of Joe Thornton was a good one and that the Bruins would never have won a cup with him on the team. He maybe right we will never know. Here is what O'Connell fails to mention. Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, or Jean Beliveau would never have won with the team the Bruins had after the lockout. It was Bruins management complete screw-up of the CBA that put the team in the hole. It seems like O'Connell and management have gone out of their way to make Thornton a scapegoat which I find appalling. Oh and Mike the fans thought the bag of pucks you got in return for Thornton was just aces. And to think, you lost your job over that.

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    2. Well said.

      First of all, I was shocked that Jacobs spoke to the crowd at all, given that he's been a reviled figure here for years (deservedly so). Second, what little I heard of the crowd reaction (on TV) sounded like they were cheering him, which shocked me. Had I been there, I would have booed lustily. I mean, so over the last five years he and his kid finally opened up the checkbook and spent up to the salary cap, and it worked out with a championship. That's supposed to make us forgive the first 30 years of his ownership, when the B's were the second-cheapest team in hockey (behind old man Wertz's Blackhawks)? Um, no. I actually saw a couple of "Thank You Mr. Jacobs" signs along the parade route. What were those people thinking? They must be newbies, because they couldn't possibly have followed the B's at any time between 1975-2005 and still have those sentiments towards Jacobs. And his "joke" at Neely's expense was insane. Yeah, he never won a cup as a player, because of YOU, Mr. Jacobs. Because of you.

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